Tour de Tuck, The Hammer Inn, Sunday "Recovery" Ride

Wow. What a weekend!! I didn't think I would ever get away from work last Friday...had to deliver some bbq chicken plates to people at work...took forever!

So, got on the road and made it up to Barry's place on the river around 4:45pm. Tommy and his ferocious dog, Jim, had arrived just a few minutes before me. OK...I've NEVER had a problem with dogs, every one I've ever met has liked me. Until now. So, there is good ole Jim sitting in the yard (guarding the property most likely) and I hold my hand out for him to sniff and see that I'm not there to bother anything. Damn, next thing I know, bad ass lunges at my leg and bites me. Rips my friggen shorts too. Uh. OK. I head towards the backyard, trying to keep this beast away from me and get Tommy's attention. I do and tell him that Jim bit me! Well, Jim gets corralled and tied up, Barry asks do I want a beer? Ummm, hell yes - with the stupid drivers around the A'ville area and getting bit for the first time in my life, that beer is gone in couple o'seconds. Take care of the bite with a little alcohol (no not the beer) and neosporin. All is good now. :)

With that out of the way, cooking goes on for the 3 of us...steak, chops, mahi-mahi, pasta/sauce, salad, bread. Good eats. Barry gets some firewood for the campfire and a nice fire is started. The Raleigh Contingency starts arriving a little later - sit around the fire for a while, talking with everyone, then, unfortunately, it's time to leave. I had plans to spend the night at Andy's for Friday and leave with him to ride to the start of TdT. Get over to his house, get stuff ready for the ride, chat a bit, then off to bed. I slept great Friday night! First time in a long time - didn't get up until 6:30am, about 30min before we were to head out.

Tour de Tuck

Arm/knee warmers/vest was in order for the ride, and something to cover my mouth/nose so I didn't have to breath that cool morning air. Those cool temps will bring on the EIA very quickly (exercise induced asthma). After talking with Barry & Tommy Friday night, I started with the century riders so that I could get through the first 2 'climbs' without having to try and work so hard to keep up with the metric riders. That worked pretty well. I stayed with the group at the start of the climb, but I didn't try too hard to stay with them. Got onto the 4-lane and worked pretty hard to catch up with 2 guys in front of me cause I didn't want to go solo and wanted that draft. Those guys looked to be good for some good drafting. :) So, caught up with them and got a good draft all the way to Sunset Farm Rd.

One of the guys (turns out to be Edde) pulled to the left and told me to go on cause he wasn't a good climber. He lies. Since we were riding about the same pace at this time, we rode together for a while; he dropped me at some climb before getting into Cherokee, but I saw him at the 1st rest stop. The ride into Cherokee was as it was last month - just rollers and some good descents. As I was leaving, the metric riders started coming in...I looked for Andy & Neal, but didn't hang around - I knew they would eventually catch & pass me. On to the parkway. I'm feeling way better climbing this time than last month, but I'm still not able to climb at more than 6.5-6.7mph. Sucks donkey balls big time cause I know I have the power to climb better. Weight is killing me. Anyways - not long after getting on the parkway, here comes Andy & Neal passing me. Andy mumbled something about "let's go catch that break-away!" Right. Not. I climb at my pace and no one else's unless I'm prepared to blow up. I was not.

The climbing was uneventful. Not as bad as last month, but barely better. I had to stop a couple of times to stretch the hamstrings & quads. I wasn't properly hydrated leading up to the ride nor was I very well rested. 4hr sleep a night just isn't cutting it. I knew it was only a matter of time before the cramps hit me. Yep...after that little short descent and then the last little climb, started to get the cramps in my right medial quad. I have learned to just push on through the pain of these cause if I stop, my legs will just lock up and then it's even harder to ride. So, pushed on through the cramping, got to Soco Gap, ate a couple of crackers, filled the bottle up. Saw Edde there too. Met up with some woman from FL riding with her friends. She was hurt (injured back) and just could not keep up with the friends. That's a good thing for me...she and I rode together for more than half of the Waterrock climb. Then, she dropped me cause I was getting cramping in both legs. Had to slow way down. I also dumped all the water. No point in carrying that extra weight.

Finally. Reach crest and who do I see??? Edde. We talk for a couple of seconds and I head on out. I had to put my arm warmers back on during the climb up WR cause the wind was blowing and I felt chilled. So, off I go. Love that descent from WR!! I'm pedalling for all I'm worth and I look back and there is Edde. He hangs onto my wheel for the whole descent. We stop very briefly at the rest stop in Balsam, then head on back to town. We ride together for a while, but I slowed up too much in some of the turns and he hammered away...just couldn't catch him after we got onto the flatter section near town. So, I just eased up and did a good little spin back to the start.

TdT web site has me finishing in 5:02hr but my powertap has 4:52hr. Neither are times I wanted, but I'll just use those as times to beat next year. I wanted 4:30hr and think I could have done that if not for the cramping. Oh well. I did finish and I was not DFL.

Found Andy & Neal, got some food, sat around talking a bit. Saw Edde again. In a kilt. Never knew I'd be seeing him again later that night at the Hammer Inn. /rolleyes/

The Hammer Inn

So, I had told Barry & Tommy that I would be back over to the Inn after a shower at Andy's. Got that done, left directions with Andy on how to get to the Hammer Inn for the 'recovery' ride the next morning and headed on over. Just about everyone else was there. Got the chair and a couple of beers and went down to the river to chill. Then it's decided that we need to head on out to get something to eat. I won't go into all the boring details....supper was at Mill & Main in Sylva...I got introduced to Mr Jamison (several times) along with several Guinness beers. I think I had quite the buzz going on Saturday evening. :)

Back to the Inn after supper, sitting around the campfire talking/laughing. Have no idea the time when I went to bed in the tent. I do know I woke up around 3am and had a splitting headache. Managed to go back to sleep till 7:30am when I heard voices. All went to the Huddle House for breakfast, to the UC at WCU for the 'communal poop' /rolleyes/ and then back to the Hammer Inn to prepare for the Sunday morning ride. Andy and Neal were there waiting on us.

Sunday 'recovery' ride was one of the fastest recovery rides I've done in a while. Same ride up Caney Fork that Andy, Neal and I did after Roan Moan. Except this was a very fast paced ride. I did ok till the climb, got dropped as usual. Caught back up on the descent, mainly cause I think they slowed up a bit. I was able to hang onto the back end of the group till a couple of miles before the turn-around. Made it to the turn-around, got a few pictures taken, then time to head back.

Well, it's pretty much all down hill for a long ways. I went out first and kept looking back to see where everyone was...I was going to be sociable and ride with the group, but they were taking freakin' forever to catch up to me. So, I said F'it. Let them catch me if they can and I cranked it up a notch. Damn. I held them off for the longest time. When I saw that they were going to catch me, I slowed up and jumped into the paceline. Then it got really fun. Lots of fast riding. Awesome! Dropped again on the backside of the first climb, but everyone waited to regroup at the crest. I thought that was nice. Once we regrouped, headed out again. Rich and I nearly got a squirrel that came running out into the road, but fortunately, he (squirrel) skidded to a stop and turned around. I just knew I was going down.

Fast pace on the way back to the Hammer Inn. For some damn reason, I found myself out front a lot pulling - I don't normally do that much pulling - guess I was unconciously making my case for acceptance/membership into the Honorary Hammer Club. :) Good ride back in - fast & furious, hanging onto every wheel I can - not going to get dropped. Managed to do ok till Hammer took off on the last little ascent before the turn to the Inn. I wasn't ready to race it to the turn. Had I known it was going to be a race to the turn, I would've participated, but instead I just let those boys go and took it easy.

So, back at the Inn, people are getting stuff packed away and preparing to head home. Andy & Neal leave and I tell Andy I'll be over in a while for a shower and get the rest of my stuff. Of course, after a ride such as this, one must partake of a little soaking in the river and a few recovery beverages. :) Gary, Mike, Margo, Hammer, and myself did just that. I did not want to go home. But, all good things must come to an end eventually, till the next time. Said my goodbye's & thank-you's, over to Andy's for the shower and then home.....

The Hammer Group at the turn-around Sunday morning. Left to right: me, Neal, Mike, Gary, Margo, Rich, Hammer (Barry), and Andy.

Me & Margo at the turn-around.

Here's The Next Update....

OK, long time between last posts….

Not too much has went on since my last post on September 4th. A couple of rides the weekend of the 6th & 7th and not too much since then. It rained a lot the week of the 8th and I only rode once that week. I think that was a good thing because I had been feeling pretty tired and not sleeping well either. No riding weekend of the 13th either for same reasons. I did take the kiddo to see the Women’s Professional Billiards Tourney over in Durham on the 12th – he (and I) liked that a lot. Some great players.

This week has been a light week for riding too. I rode on Monday at the industrial park off of Greenfield Parkway. It’s a 6mi loop with some little short speed bumps. There’s nothing hard about the loop at all. I was feeling really good, legs seem to be well rested, so I hammered out 22 miles at an 18.5mph average. Pretty damn good I think. I rode over in Cary on Wednesday – managed to stay with the fast guys until just before the turn-around time of 6:35pm. I let them go on, since they wanted to push the time limit a bit. I didn’t have a light, so opted to turn. Only 18-20 miles and something like a 17mph average. My legs were still feeling good.

I’m headed off to Western NC this afternoon for more great riding in the mountains. I’ll be stopping off in Cullowhee to visit another friend up there (Barry, aka Hammer), have some supper with him and some of his Raleigh cycling friends who will be up this weekend. Then off to Andy’s house. We’ll be riding Tour de Tuck this weekend. I’m really looking forward to the ride – I feel great and hope to have a great ride. I want to “save” a little for the last climb, up the backside of Waterrock Knob, and then just give 110% for a good hard 20 minute effort to see what my power numbers are looking like.

Lately, the np I’ve been getting on rides has been consistently above 200w. Andy says it’s just because I’ve been riding in a draft…I’m not so sure because my last few solo rides have had np’s that are above 200w. So, Waterrock Knob will be my first FTP-like test since March……

After the ride on Saturday, I’ve been invited back over to the Hammer's place to sit in the river, have a couple of cold ones, and just chit-chat about the days ride. Also have been invited to stay over – no, not in that way! I’ll be pitching a tent in the back yard, should I decide to stay. I’d like to stay because Sunday morning the guys will be getting up and doing something like a 30-40 mile “recovery” ride, which, again, I’ve been invited to participate in.

Then it’s head back home until the next weekend when I have a trip to NY planned to meet up with some fellow BF members.

Ride report for TdT posted Sunday or Monday.

What's Up? :)

Hey People!!!

I had the most mileage last month Evah!! :) 750miles for the month of August. But, I think it might have been a bit much for me. Along with the not sleeping well since I came back from SoCal, the addition of all these miles has really worn me down. I rode this past Saturday/Sunday (50/31mi), took Monday off. Then I called Lawrence Tuesday to see what those guys had been doing and ended up riding with Dallas, Clifford, & Russell - an easy ride for them, but a bit hard for me - 19.1mph avg for 40miles.

The coach/mentor guy has given me 2x20min intervals at 170w to do 2x/week prior to the Tour de Tuck. I was able to get half of one done on Wednesday before I flatted. But, I just didn't feel like riding to begin with...felt that heavy, tiredness in my legs, and my heart just wasn't "into" the ride. After the flat, I just headed back to the car, finishing the interval along the way. For that one interval, I had a NP of 187 and AP of 168. Not too bad, though the AP should be closer to the NP. Hard to do when there are downhill sections and the power falls.

Then today....after lunch, I was just tired...felt like I really needed to have a nap. But, I didn't want to charge 2hr off from work, so I just tried to stick it out. I was going to leave at 4:30 and go home for the nap instead of riding with Dallas & the guys tonight. But.....Lawrence calls me at 3:50. He and Randall are going to go to the Greenfield Industrial Park off of Hwy 70 and do some laps. Easy, conversational pace is what he says it will be. I can't say no. 6miles per lap. And, what do you know - it was an easy, conversational pace! We did 3 laps and Lawrence had had enough; Randall wanted to do one more and I was feeling up to it, so we did.

Oh yea...during one of these laps, I sprinted up one of the mini speed bumps - attaining my PR for maximum watts!!! 822w!!!!!

We've also got Hurricane Hanna coming this way over the weekend - gonna bring some rain/wind this way - giving me a very good excuse to take a couple of days off......

Rest?

Haven't gotten much of that lately. Since coming back from SoCal, it seems that my sleep has been messed up. For the past 1.5 - 2 weeks, it seems like I'm waking up around 4:00-4:30am and not being able to go back to sleep. Just tossin' & turnin'. I'm thinking that if this continues, I'm going to go to the gym some during the week. It opens at 5:30am, so I could go get a good workout or swim in, get to work, and then do my intervals on the prescribed days...

Interval sessions are starting next month. 2x20min intervals at my zone 4 power. Going to be interesting since I've not done anything like that in 3 or 4 months. Maybe getting more exercise in during the day will help me to be more tired and get to bed a little earlier too.

Anyways.....must remember: Rest.Recover.Get.Stronger.

Condensed Updates....Well, It Is A Bit Long.....

Well, I didn't get around to this over the weekend - it was a pretty full & busy one! So, what's been going on in ole Wolfpack's life lately you ask? HeHe...lots of fun!

So, as I mentioned in a previous post, I think the biggest change happened over the Fourth of July...Officially became separated from the spouse. I left work on 7/3 and drove to Charlotte to spend the evening with my friend J while the spouse was moving stuff out that day/evening. I managed to talk her into riding the Fabulous Fourth Metric with myself and friend Andy, from Sylva. Don't recall if I did a ride report on that ride or not, but I think I did....after that ride I headed on back home to Clayton and was greeted with an empty house....not literally. My kid was gone on vacation with his Dad, some of the agreed upon furniture & stuff was gone. It was kind of scary & sad all at the same time.

I went to bed sad that night, wondering if I'd done the right thing, having tons of doubt. Woke up the next morning and really didn't feel like going for the group ride, but made myself do so because I didn't need to sit around the house thinking about stuff. Had a great ride IIRC. The rest of the weekend went by pretty fast. That following week, I had a freakin' blast - out riding with my friends, making new friends, no one to answer to except myself. Then, towards the middle of the week, Andy asks me to come up and ride with him. So, of course I say yes! There's a ride report on that...

But, basically, the separation has been good for me. I've been tons happier the past 1.5 months - keep asking myself why I didn't do this sooner. Not sure that a reconciliation is in the plans. No new guy either - well, not quite true, but I'll just let y'all keep guessing on that:).....So, that's the life stuff.....now, the cycling stuff! :)

I've been riding a lot this month...mostly Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday/Saturday/Sunday. Tuesday's have been from The Spin Cycle - easy beginner ride of around 18mi and C pace, in preparation for the usual Hammerfest on Wednesdays & Thursdays. Wednesday's are rides from Cary with the pace somewhere between 16-18mph. After the rides are usually at the Ale House next door for a couple of beers & food. Thursdays are from TSC again, the C to C+ pace for 30+ miles. Having a great time on all of these rides!

Weekends....Let' see....I did a metric with one of my friends from the Falls Lake area the weekend of 8/9. Very nice ride & company. A beautiful day - we left at 6:30am - nice views of the lake at that time. I think I got in another 30-40mi the next day. Back to the mountains the weekend of 8/15 to ride with Andy. Since this one is more recent, I can remember more about it.....

WNC Weekend (8/15)
Left work at 11:15am and made super time up to Balsam, where I stopped at the rest area and changed into cycling clothes. My intentions were to ride up to Waterrock Knob. Parked at the Maint. Facility at the BRP and headed out. Made sure that I took it kind of easy for the first couple of miles until actually starting the climb. Initially, I was wondering what the hell am I doing? This is kinda hard. /rolleyes/ But, once I got a little more warmed up, the climb wasn't all that bad. Damn, that was fun! Just me. Just me learning to pace myself for almost 9mi of 6%+ grade. I did stop a couple of times, but only cause I wanted to get some pictures as I went up.

Took me 1:15 or 1:20hr to climb all the way to the top. Wow. I felt great! Great in that I did this all by myself, with no help/pacing from Andy. Even now, thinking back on it...I feel good about the ride. Once at the top, took a couple of pictures, called Andy and told him where I was and that I'd be at his house as soon as I got down off the mtn. Screaming descent! God, I love descending! Back to the car in about 15min! 9mi up, 2400' climbing. Then off to Andy's.

Saturday, I had wanted to do Ring of Fire or Ring of Scott, but when I had the profile up on the screen, Andy walks by and says "I'm not doing that!" Oh why not?? :) Because un beknownst to me, he had plans for a Tour de Tuck recon ride with fellow cyclists Sunday morning. But, for Saturday we did a ride from Whittier (I think) - The Road to Nowhere, in the GSMNP. Had a bit of climbing to do on this ride...ended up with 45mi/3hr/~2400' climbing. Felt ok on this ride...

Sunday - oh boy. Tour de Tuck recon ride with Andy, Barry, Dave, & Odell. Started from the LBS in Sylva, rode to Cherokee and then hit the first 10mi climb. Before we get to the climb, the ride to Cherokee was nice - mostly some flattish sections and plenty of rollers. I did ok on this part and the guys would wait for me at the top of the climbs. Once leaving Cherokee, we got to the BRP and I was in front of the guys for a short bit, just to get some pics. Then Barry, Dave, & Odell were gone! Andy stayed with me for a little bit, asking about my power output...190's. too high and he told me that I better slow down. I listened, but for whatever reason, I had no legs for this ride once the climbing started.

I can usually do climbs around there in the 6.5-7mph range. I was off by 2-2.5mph - slower!!!! It was awful. I didn't think I'd ever get done with the climb. Andy just rode on and left me, which was ok with me. I had the iPod and started cranking the tunes to see if that would help. Nah. All I could do was just put my head down and look at the pedals turning slowly and the sweat dripping off my nose & chin onto my bike. F. That was an awful ride. Made it to the crest, very fast & fun descent to Soco Gap, where we had left water the day before. My legs hurt SO bad!! I ate 2 gels and back on the bike for the last climb up the backside of Waterrock.

4.5-5mi of unrelenting climbing. But, for some reason, this climb did not seem as bad as the first one. I eventually made it to the top, where I found Andy asleep in the grass behind the guardrail. I gave him a shout and kept going. He eventually caught up to me somewhere on the descent and it was a nice ride back to the car. The legs were killing me on any kind of grade though. Seriously hurting. Back to his house, shower, change, pack, and went and had some lunch.

Home in record setting time....left at 3:45pm, hit the Wade Ave/I40 split at 7:30pm. Best time prior to that was 4hr. Bad thing....I hate to stop during my drive unless I have to get gas or the bathroom. Well, I pushed the gas a bit too far and ran out!!!!!!!!!! First time in over 20yrs that this has happened. Called the spouse (what do you call them now??) and asked him if he would mind very much to bring me some gas! I got 2.5gal then to the gas station for 13.5 more. My tank was totally empty.

So, that leaves us with this week and last week......last week was just the shop rides I've mentioned earlier. Plus I did a 1.5mi run on Wednesday. I'm going to try to do a little more of that - maybe pick out a 5k this Fall to do and a tri next spring....

I was supposed to ride with friend Martin to Virginia and back on the 23rd, but I was very tired/sore all week and bailed on that ride - 100+mi. Ended up riding with friends, Tim, Jon, Tracy, & Jon's friend Ed. Route was for 66mi but we (Tim, Tracy, myself) cut out 8mi because Tracy was having cramping problems. Nice ride. Right at a 22mph avg for the first 1.5hr - most like down US 1. Then the pace backed off since we hit the "hills" and no longer working in a paceline. Finished that ride in 3hr something I think....sat around afterwards at Tim's with our favorite "recovery" beverages.

Sunday (yesterday) was a 42mi group ride from the Carolina Brewing Company in Holly Springs. The 42mi group stayed together pretty well until the first real climb. Split everyone up and I burned up a lot of matches bridging the gap to the lead group. Thank god they stopped at one intersection for regrouping. I got into the middle of the paceline and tried to recover. Did manage to recover a bit and had an 18.2mph avg to the rest stop. I did ride behind this woman who pedals toe-down. All the time. Wow. Her calves were always flexed. That's how I used to ride (try not to now) and I can see how I would be cramping from that. And, she is a masher!! I mean, really. It just hurt my knees to ride behind her.

After the rest stop, it was some long downhills - I hooked up with another guy and we (the whole group) were split up. Carlos and I took a short cut back to the CBC - avoiding this killer hill (and, yes, Andy, this one is tough. Very steep). Neither of us could have done it. Well, I'll take that back, yes, I could have done it, but it would have been brutal. Carlos pulled me the entire way back - last 10mi. Such a trooper! And he's got the nice legs to look at as well. :)

Free beer once you got back to the CBC. :) I should've been doing these rides earlier! I think there's only one more from the CBC. :(

So --- I'm caught up! That took a while - need to be more diligent in writing to the blog. I just have Tour de Tuck coming up in a month. Need to talke to that coach/mentor guy and see if I should be doing any "training" for this. After my dismal recon ride, I want to do so much better on the actual ride. Was thinking of it as a C ride, but I'm almost thinking of treating as a B ride. We'll see....

OK - gotta run -- work is calling!!!!

Updates Are Forthcoming.....

Just wanted to let everyone know that I will be updating the blog, hopefully, this weekend. I've been a bit slack about it since I've not been doing any real training.....nothing but just riding for fun mostly. I still use the powertap, but I've learned to just not look at it right now.

Anyways, I'll update with what's gone on in my life & cycling over the past few weeks, hopefully this weekend....

I'm Just Blah

Yea...I'm just in a blah mood this week. I don't feel like finishing the blog report for my Saturday Mt. Baldy ride or the Sunday Newport Beach ride. I'll probably get around to getting the ride report and photo link on here, but I'm just not in the mood right now.

Lots of crap going on in my life this year and it all came to a final decision last month. The SU and I have decided to live apart for a while. I don't know if we'll get back together or not, after or before the end of his 9mo apartment lease. Right now, I'm fairly happy with the way things are, though to have someone to do things with is still on the top of my list. That person has yet to be found. I guess I'm just impatient....Good things come to those who wait and are patient. I will wait and I will be patient.

Dunno. That's gonna be hard (waiting & patience), but I'm going to try....