Cycling

Journaling my way through a bicycling lifestyle…

December 12 Group Ride

Dec 9

Posted by Jeremiah in exercise | No Comments

Hey everyone,

Well, I’m back to riding on Saturday mornings again!

I’m going to do something a little odd this coming weekend: I’m not going to provide a map. I have a good reason, though. It’s the first time riding in any kind of snow or ice, or very cold temperatures, this year. I will meet whoever wants to ride at New Hope at 9:45 on Saturday, and we can decide on a route then. That way, we can customize the length and complexity of the route to the average winter riding experience of those who show up. Trust me, it’s better to take it easy the first few times you ride in this kind of weather, until you know exactly what you are getting into and how your body is going to respond.

However, there is one caveat that I would like to throw out there. I would really prefer that you only come to the ride if you have the right kind of tires for dealing with ice on the roads, i.e. studded tires, or something similar. With the weather that we have experienced the last two days, there is the definite potential for some ice on the roads this weekend. There may not be much, but trust me, one seemingly microscopic patch is MORE than enough to send you crashing to the ground! Bicycle tires are thin enough, among other things, that without some type of extra support, such as studded tires, there is nothing you can do about falling on the ice.

So, for those brave souls, I will see you on Saturday morning at 9:45 at New Hope in Waterloo!

Jeremiah

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November 28 Group Ride Cancelled

Nov 25

Posted by Jeremiah in exercise | No Comments

Unfortunately, I have come down with a pretty nasty cough that I can’t seem to shake. So, I think it is best if I do not go out and ride for several hours in relatively cold weather.

I am pretty disappointed, because I was really looking forward to riding this weekend, but getting rid of my cough and not getting any sicker is probably a smarter move.

However, if anyone would like to ride, you absolutely should! It is supposed to be nice and sunny with a high around 47. As long as you have a hat (like a beanie) that can cover your ears, some type of long sleeve shirt that blocks the wind (not cotton), and long pants that block the wind (again, not cotton), and some long fingered gloves, you will be fine to ride.

Have a great weekend and a good Thanksgiving! :)

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November 21 Group Ride

Nov 19

Posted by Jeremiah in exercise | No Comments

Here is the map for the ride this weekend.

It is a little over 29 miles.

It is starting to get a little cooler, so if you aren’t certain what to wear, but want to go, let me know. I will be glad to help you figure out what clothing you need to stay warm.

Hope to see you Saturday! :)

November 21 Group Ride

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November 14 Group Ride

Nov 12

Posted by Jeremiah in exercise | 2 Comments

UPDATE: Chris noticed some gravel, so I modified the route just a little bit. This is now a 24.9 mile ride.

Hey everyone, here is the map of the ride for this weekend!

It looks like we are going to have some pretty nice weather again! Check it out.

We will take CR 35 South to CR 34, turn left and head to CR 41. At CR 41 we turn left again and go to CR 28 and turn right. When we get to the Co-Op on CR 47, we turn left, cross SR 6 and go to CR 22, where we turn right. We take that to CR 61 and turn left, then a left on CR 12, and we take CR 12 all the way to to CR 45 and turn right. We turn left on CR 10 and take that all the way to CR 35, turn left and then back to New Hope.

This is a 24 mile ride.

See you Saturday morning at 9:30! (Remember, I will leave promptly at 9:45, unless you contact me.)

November 14 Group Ride

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Review of the November 7 Ride

Nov 7

Posted by Jeremiah in exercise | No Comments

Average Speed: 13.3 mph
Distance: 24.45 miles
Average Cadence: 80
Average Heart Rate: 160 bpm
Altitude: Climbed total of 1034 ft
Total Time (including stops): 2 hours 30 minutes

Well, we had our first group ride this morning! Chris, Layna, my dad and myself were all there. It was a good ride.

We left New Hope right at 9:45 and headed West on CR 28. Boy, was it windy! Weather.com showed the wind around 15mph, gusting to 20! Combined with the hills on CR28, it was a pretty good workout. Several of the riders had not been on a bike for several weeks prior to this ride and made sure that I knew they were putting in some effort. :)

We were a little concerned about turning South, because the wind was more out of the South than the West. Once we got turned, though, it wasn’t too bad. It turns out that 327 has a lot of hills that are lined with lots of trees on both sides of the road. The trees broke the wind surprisingly well, especially considering that they had no leaves on them. After we got past the big S-curve on 327, somewhere around CR40, the tree line broke and the wind really picked up. We dealt with that wind all the way into Garrett. I think at one point or another everyone had a turn to do some drafting off of someone else. That wind was pretty stiff.

We made a pitstop at Huck’s in Garrett to use the restroom and refill waters. It seemed like a long stop. And, Layna may have scared the attendant… (She went to the soda dispenser and hit the water tab to refill her water without first explaining what she was doing to the attendant…I guess she got a pretty funny look!) Once we got back on the road, we switched over to 205 and stopped again for a phone call, and to pack a coat that was just too warm for the amazing 60 degree weather in the middle of November.

Now, we had a tailwind…and what a tailwind it was! We flew to Auburn. As we were coming into Auburn we decided that we would stop at the Methodist church and pick up a loaf of Kiwanis Holiday Bread. When Chris and I got there, we had lost sight of my dad and Layna, so we went ahead and stopped. As we were going in to get the bread they passed by and didn’t see us. So, we hurried up and got the bread and then hopped on the bikes and took off to catch them. I think we averaged around 23mph while we tried to catch them. I know that I topped out at 27mph and stayed there for about a minute! That was a good workout.

We finally caught them at Dekalb High School (about 3.5 miles from the Methodist church). They told us they didn’t know if or where we turned, so they decided to keep going. That was okay with me, it was fun racing to catch them!

Then, we got back to the church and broke out the Holiday Loaf…it was SO GOOD! I could feel my arteries clogging with every bite…but I had just ridden nearly 25 miles on a bicycle, so a little bit of that type of food is okay.

Layna missed riding so much that she decided she wants to ride again tomorrow! So, I am working out a 30-40 mile map, and we are going to meet up and ride again tomorrow afternoon. I think we might have one or two more join us. If you’re interested, just leave a comment and I’ll get you the details!

Well, the first winter (if you can call 60 degrees in November “winter”) ride is down…we’ve got the rest of the winter to go. Maybe we’ll see you guys next week!

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November 7 Group Ride

Nov 4

Posted by Jeremiah in exercise | No Comments

Hey everyone, here is the map for the ride this Saturday!

We will start in Waterloo, go down CR 28 to Corunna, then down 327 to Garrett, take 205 to 11A to 427, then CR 52 to CR 35 and north on CR 35 back to New Hope.

It’s 24.94 miles.

Hope to see you there!

November 7 Group Ride Map

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Weekly 25 Mile Group Bike Ride

Nov 1

Posted by Jeremiah in exercise | No Comments

I am a part of a bike club that meets in Waterloo through the Spring, Summer and early Fall. We stop riding once it starts to really cool down, but I am going to continue to ride on through the winter and I am inviting anyone who wants to join to ride with me!

I’d like to get a decent number of miles in every week, so I will be riding several days a week, but I figured, if anyone was interested, I would make one of the rides happen at the same time every week so that it was easy to remember and everyone had access to it.

So, without further ado, here is my plan: I am going to do a 20-25 mile ride every Saturday morning at 9:30 throughout the entire winter. This is a standing ride, and anyone can join in, but there will not be an easy loop, and it’s not officially a part of the bike club. It is the “But don’t stop riding…Ride with each other to keep yourselves encouraged.” that my dad talks about in his end of season email.

If anyone is interested in riding, but the time doesn’t work, let me know. If enough people can’t do that time, but are interested, I may adjust it.

So, if you want to ride, I will be at New Hope Christian Center in Waterloo under the drive-up in the front of the building every Saturday morning at 9:30 AM. I will wait until 9:45 AM for anyone to show up. If no one shows up, I will leave promptly at 9:45 (unless I hear from you that you are on your way). If anyone shows up, we can ride together.

I will notify you by email and a post on this website if, for some reason, I am unable to ride on a given Saturday. And, I will post a map of the route each week on here no later than Wednesday of each week. (Tip: If you subscribe to the RSS feed, you can get the maps each week without having to go out and manually check the website.)

If anyone has questions about dressing properly for the cold, or what to do about the ice or the snow, feel free to give me a call or shoot me an email. I’ll be more than happy to help you figure out what you need to do it! Also, if you have questions and post them on the website as comments other people can join in the conversation and give tips and learn (trust me, I don’t have all the answers…and I’m sure I can still learn too!).

You can call me on my cell phone by clicking the “Call Me” button over on the right and putting your phone number in, shoot me an email at jeremiah (at) jeremiahotis (dot) com, or leave a comment on the route map for that week here on the website if you have any questions or concerns, or want to let me know you are on the way to the church so that I don’t leave without you.

Also, if you don’t think you can do the whole route, feel free to meet up with us part way through the route. Just make sure that you are there before us, or text me, so that we know to stop for you.

Looking forward to seeing some people out on the roads this winter!!!

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70 Mile Exercise Ride – Sunday November 1, 2009

Nov 1

Posted by Jeremiah in exercise | No Comments

Average Speed: 15.9 mpg
Distance: 70.15 miles
Average Cadence:  89
Average Heart Rate: 180 bpm
Altitude: Climbed total of 442 ft
Total Time (including stops): 4 hours 42 minutes

So, today I did a 70 mile bike ride. It was good. It was a little chilly when I started out. I was actually slightly worried that my cough from last week would come back in full force if I stayed out in the cold for the full 70 miles. I spent the first 15 miles trying to breathe only through my nose, and not my mouth…it didn’t work out. It turns out that it’s impossible, at least for me, to keep my heart rate up in the Level 3/Level 4 zone and my cadence above 95 and breathe through my nose! So, I started breathing through my mouth more, but it had started to warm up by then (not that it ever got WARM), so it wasn’t as bad. When I got home…I noticed that the toes on my left foot were numb and cold. Definitely not frostbitten…but cold. Cold enough that a hot shower would have been painful (I put on some slippers and waited about 10-15 minutes for them to match the rest of my body temperature wise, then I took the shower.)

I wore wool socks, clipless shoes with spd cleats, fleece lined arm warmers, fleece lined leg warmers, baggy cycling shorts, and underarmor compression t-shirt (short sleeved), a yellow cycling jersey and my full fingered non-vented gloves. I was a little chilly when I started out, but I warmed up nice, and never got too hot. So, that was a good outfit, temperature-wise (I certainly won’t win any fashion contests dressed like that :P )

I took two four minute stops. Both were to pee. I ate on the bike for all of my meals. I had two small snacks, plus a small breakfast. I ate some granola after the ride.

I did have a third stop at New Hope in Waterloo about 6 miles before the end of the ride. I saw Becky’s van and thought I would surprise the kids…if it could be quick. I called her, she didn’t answer. Adam pulled up and I talked to him for a moment, and then I went ahead and left. I really didn’t want to stiffen up and go slow for the last 5-6 miles. I think I was stopped for about 6 minutes, but it might not have been quite that long.

I’m thinking that I might include maps of the routes in future posts about exercise…I’ll look into what it would take.

Well, that’s all for this post. See you next time!

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Bicycling Blog…

Nov 1

Posted by Jeremiah in General Stuff | No Comments

So, I’ve decided to start blogging again…

But, this time, it’s sort of a bicycling journal. I want to accomplish a couple of things:

  1. I want to be able to look back over the years and see trends in my journey as a cyclist.
  2. I want to be able to share my experiences as a cyclist, and hopefully connect with other more experienced cyclists and learn from them.
  3. I hope that in some way I can encourage others who are interested in using cycling as either a commuting method, exercise or lifestyle change by sharing my own experiences.
  4. I hope to be able to help educate cyclists and non-cyclists about the real dangers of cycling, and how to properly handle, and hopefully completely avoid, those dangers.

Frankly, I’m an odd duck. And not just when it comes to cycling…ask anyone who knows me. :) As far as cycling goes, I’m not your typical racing/exercise enthusiast. I’m what I like to think of as a “lifestyle cyclist”. By that, I mean I ride a bicycle as a means of transportation, including everything from going to my parents for Christmas, babysitting my sisters kids and picking up the groceries. If I can’t use my bicycle to accomplish it, then I seriously consider whether it’s even worth doing. I also like to ride my bike as an exercise tool, and I enjoy racing with some of the guys in our local bike club.

I live in Northeast Indiana, so I have had the opportunity to try to incorporate a bicycle into my life in a variety of seasonal weather, including rain, hail, snow and suffocating humidity. And, most of the time I do this in street clothes…i.e. heavy blue jeans and a button up shirt (It really sucks when it’s humid!).

It’s been interesting. There have been days that have been so miserable, I wonder what drug I must have been taking when I thought this lifestyle change was a good idea. On the other hand, there are days that are so much fun, and such a blast, that I can ever imagine how I could ever get frustrated. All in all, it has been great, and I wouldn’t go back and change a thing. I’m looking forward to many more years having a blast on a bicycle in Indiana!

I don’t really have a schedule for posting…I’m kind of thinking that every time I do a long exercise ride, I’m going to journal the ride with statistics and things I noticed throughout the ride. Outside of that, I want to try to publish something about once a week…but no guarantees. Most of the weekly posts will be about the everyday cycling: what to wear when it gets cold, how to deal with the sweat during the summer, are helmets important…things along those lines. I might, if there is anyone out there reading this other than me, consider fielding questions, or having comment driven discussions…because, frankly, I’m still learning about bicycling too. :)

Well, so much for a boring first post. I guess I’ll just have to see where this thing goes! :)