OGRE Scott’s Lake Logan 70.3 – Race Report

OGRE Scott crossing the finish at the Lake Logan 70.3 in 2015

I expect more from myself than I will ever deliver. My best is not nearly good enough and I like it that way. That is not to say that I am not satisfied with my performance, I just always know that more diligent training, better planning, and a calm heart would have created better results. I am capable of more, but I am a product of my choices. That being said, I finished a freaking half Ironman Distance. I am damned proud.

Something in you or your life sets the strange path that few take. Endurance sports are about “before”. Before the race you train. Before the race you establish possible failure by setting expectations. Before the race, you pack and prep. Before the race you get nervous. Before the race you think of everything that can go wrong during the race. During the race you execute the course or you don’t. After the race you start the “before” of the next race. If you want a race report about the race, return to Google and search again. Over here, it is story time.

Sunday before the race, during my ride, something at the top of my calf/back of my knee felt twingy. I decided to take it very easy during the week to avoid screwing up the race. Taking it easy ended up being nothing. Yes, my taper was zilch. 5 days of no exercise at all. I would like to blame work or family; but in truth, I have lost too many weeks of running by pushing through injury. With 8 weeks to IM Chatt, I am petrified of injury. Since I don’t know what will be too much, I choose nothing to allow healing. Decision – 5 day sloth. Bad decision

Tuesday before the race, I spent my lunch reading a few race reports from the 2014 iteration. A 67 degree lake in Augus?. In the South? WTH? Reading these sent me Amazon to buy a cheap wet suit, just in case. Reports also told me that there is A HILL. The organizers talk of a course with wonderful down hills for 27 miles. But since this is not a point to point, one must remember that what goes down will eventually go up. The course profile looks like a cereal bowl, with a striking irregularity. Mile 42 contains a 350 foot climb over less than a mile. Not a novice’s hill and I am not a great cyclist. When reading these reports on Tuesday, I called my brother Dru in near panic. Dru is a very strong cyclist and he agreed that it would suck for me. I realized that I can try it, walk it or quit. Decision – I will be quick to decide to walk the wall. (I decided to quit on the hill I have never seen) Mediocre decision

The night before the race, I arrived about 5:30 PM to hear the pre race meeting at 6. The meeting essentially mimicked every other USTA pre-race meeting you have ever heard. It did get me to packet pick-up and a site review in the daylight hours, rather than waiting until the morning of the race. More importantly, the lake and I would meet. The beauty of the Lake Logan Half Ironman distance is undeniable. Nestled in the Appalachian Mountains, just west of Asheville, NC, Lake Logan is a thin lake fed by a mountain stream (we will meet this mountain stream, again). So, on Friday before the race, I stare at a 75 degree lake and wonder about the wetsuit in my car, with the tags still on it. “Never try new things on race day.” The day before is better, right? I donned my wetsuit (a little bit too large) and went for a 200m swim. It was too warm and pulled in the crotch. However, the buoyancy was nice. Another 200m without the suit reminded me that I am comfortable in the water and 75 degrees is fine. Decision – No wetsuit. Good decision.

The awakening before the race was scheduled for 4:10 AM, but my nervous mind was done pretending to sleep at 3:55 AM. Shower, coffee and a slathering of body glide (trust me, that is not a product you want to borrow from another). TMI alert – Regularity is a great thing, but no amount of coffee was going to move my body off of a 6:45 – 7 AM schedule. A port-o-line was in my future, but starting 30 minutes after the first swim group left me safe on time. 5:10 AM departure from the motel gave me 35 minutes to drive 8 miles. A 5:40 arrival put me deep in the airstrip parking lot. Arrive on time – Check

The part before the swim is the prepping and waiting. 5:45 AM is dark in the mountains. I forget how much ambient light my suburban life has. A head lamp for getting my stuff out of the car would have been a good idea. Using my cell as a flashlight, I got my tire pumped. I was ready to go. I took one last look at my wetsuit in the car and congratulated myself on yesterday’s swim decision. My brother or my father would have talked to every soul on the 1 mile walk to transition; I was stuck in my head. I did notice a random port-o-potty in the parking lot. Friday’s recon meant that I knew exactly where my spot was and I was not sweating packet pick up. I set up my transition, got my timing chip and body marking. Water temperature report for race start – 72 degrees, wetsuit legal. Apparently the icy waters of the mountain stream allow for significant variations to the temperature at this end of Lake Logan. Yesterday’s swim was warm, so 3 degrees did not change my mind. I grabbed my goggles and headed to the secret port-o-let in the parking lot. Set-up and void – check

“During” was about to begin, “before” was coming to an end. At 6:45, everyone was headed to swim start and everyone was wearing or carrying a wetsuit. WTH? Even the super awesome, what does it take to make that body dude was wearing his wetsuit. Crap. Since I had 45 extra minutes until my wave, I got my car keys from transition and made another trip to the parking lot and got my wetsuit. I jogged back to transition to drop off my car keys and shoes before heading to the swim start. I had chosen the Novice Masters group which put me in the last group out with the Relay and Aquabikers. 30 minutes later wetsuit Scott was in the water. I will admit that the life preserver effect of the wetsuit was nice, but it was a good 700 meters before I settled into a rhythm. The wetsuit was hot and my goggles were foggy (Baby shampoo for next swim), but in the last 200 meters I loved the wetsuit. Holy crow it got cold quick. The swim is a rectangle out and back. It starts from one swim platform and ends at a dock in the mountain stream. The temperature drops about 10 degrees in the stream. Maybe I would have just swum faster, but it is nice to rationalize the wetsuit. I am fine with my swim time. Even a great swim gains me less than 10 minutes. Official Swim time – 38:19 (282 of 374 male swimmers).

The path in and out of transition is very long here. The math game across 6-7 hours means that I see very little reason to sprint through transition. T1 went well. I gobbled 2 Stinger waffles to get the nutrition game under way. 3 of 4 bottles on the bike were Gatorade with Endurance powder; the other plain water. I knew the bike was a net downhill for 26 miles or so. The problem is that I don’t like bombing the downhills at 40+ mph, thus I lost some early mph gains burning the brakes to keep a comfortable speed. If you are thinking about doing this race, I recommend slowing for the Railroad crossings (2). Someone is going to make a killing on Craiglist with bottles and bottle racks in that area. I tried to remember to enjoy a GU and bottle of Gatorade Endurance (aka salt water) every hour. My legs did not feel good for 20 miles or so; the price of 5 days inactivity. The “twinge” did not return (although it hinted a couple times). Since I was using real bottles, I stopped at both water hand offs to refill a bottle. I also watered a tree along the side of the road. An equipment adjustment for IM Chatt should pull the water stops. The bathroom stops will remain, peeing myself is not an option.

For 40 miles, I kept thinking about that big damned hill. Once we finally hit it, I was off the bike and walking before I was even standing on the pedals. Folks passed me, grunting and straining. I told myself that this day was about covering 70.3 miles under my own power. I took the opportunity to eat a little extra, drink a little extra and let my heart rate settle. A number of others waited until they were burning and then moved into a walk. Am I a little ashamed that I quit the hill? Sure, but I passed every single person that passed me on that hill and quite a few more. In truth, I finished the ride feeling good, including the long hill back into the lake. As I crested that hill, my brother Dru was standing at the top, camera in hand. I felt the smile on my face fill me to my toes. It feels good have a cheering section. I have ridden faster on local training rides for longer distances. The hills were more than I expected, but done is done. Official ride time – 3:28:52 (16 mph) (303 out of 374 male riders)

T2 was smoother than T1 with less stuff to change out. My one man cheering section saw me onto the road and up the hill. The run is 3 miles out and back done twice. The organizers tell you that it is a 1%-2% grade up and downhill back. The slow uphill is daunting, but I like the running. When I made the turn around at th=op of the hill I thought, “cool, just one more uphill and I am done.” With 10 miles to go, I honestly saw an easy path to the finish. I held a 9:40 – 10:00 pace, only walking through the aid stations, drinking water only. I had some GU and Clif Blocks during the run but my methodical nutrition plan from the bike was ad hoc on the run. The first loop literally runs you to the chute of the finish line and then sends you back for an encore with the mountain. Dru cheered me through the turn around and I readied for one last dance with the mountain. About mile 8, I was dry mouthed, nothing sounded good and my stomach started cramping. They had Heed on the course which is, I think, a blend of salt and urine. While I cannot rave about the flavor, it was the salt I needed to break the cramps. As I headed down the hill with 2 miles to go I actually thought to myself that I could do another 13 miles. I also wondered how in the world I will do 140.6 in a few weeks. Official Run time – 2:10:42 (183 out of 338 male runners)

Total 6:26:29 for 1.2 miles swim, 56 mile bike and 13.1 mile run.

Done is done. I won first place for the Novice Masters. I was also second to last, but I got my award. The design is cool and I love the medal. This accomplishment is really something special. Every person out there, from first to last spent hours training. There is simply no way to wake and decide to do this tomorrow unless you are already committed to miles of training. For some, it represents a culmination. For me, it is a step. 11 months ago, my brother said he was doing a full IronMan.

The end of “during” was just the start of “before” the Full IronMan. We signed up together and will finish on the same day on September 27. After that, I’ll return to marathons and start thinking about an Ultra. We will do Ragnar Tennessee together. We will enjoy Rock and Roll Savannah with our wives. Slow and steady is easier on foot. If you read this far, I will say “I love you, mom and I love you, Dru.” The rest of you should have gone for a run 10 minutes ago.

Secret Map to a Happy Place

Normally this space is reserved for topics that are focused on the triathlon life and training process, or the associated sports. Today, we get to chat about a completely different aspect of life, on a more general level, but still closely related to the triathlon life, the mental-emotional state that goes into finding our happy place.

An old acquaintance of mine recently wrote a magnificent piece You Seem So Happy on Facebook that provoked some thought. It is a difficult conversation for me, because I no longer appear to suffer depression in the same manner as most. Like every other person on the planet, life is messy and has it’s rough spots, but that as they say is life. For me depression is something that is very short lived, as in measured in hours, a day at most. This wasn’t always true, somewhere along the road of life, I had something that flipped a switch in my brain. It was a ‘life changing event’ that happened to me in middle school. I don’t know that anyone outside a select few people understood then the dark places and the emotional minefield that time was, but I know that I came out the other side a very different person.

When I look at things objectively, I wouldn’t say that my life is any better or worse than those around me. We share the same hurdles, kids, money, taxes, marriage, work. Sometimes those things get the better of us, sometimes we get the better of them. But the objective lesson and take away of that examination is that no matter how bad it is, it could be worse. As a parting shot, she asked a question that is half in jest, but I suspect half in honest hope that there is indeed a map to a happy place.

The bad news is there is no Secret Map that will work for everyone. If there was, and I knew how to package it, I promise, it would not be a secret. I would give it to every person I know as a gift, because in life, there is nothing more enjoyable than spending time with truly happy people. It doesn’t happen often, and there are some that fake it well enough that you don’t know. But that is part of my not so secret path, I don’t bother with faking it. If I’m not in a good place, you will probably know it. What I want to share are the keys to my happiness, and some of the strategies I use to get/stay/regain that spot.

Don’t Panic

It seems silly, but Douglas Adams got this completely right all those years ago. No matter what is happening in your life, you are not alone. There are others out there walking the same path. You can reach out and find them, or you can blaze your own path, but there is an equilibrium in knowing that you are not alone. Moreover, I can’t speak for others, but I make really bad decisions when I am in panic mode. Learning not panic is hard, and it is deeply rooted in the very core of the things that are both catalyst and result of depression.

Love Yourself

This one was hard for me, and I’ve had to do it twice. Anyone that knew me in my youth knows that I was a bookish, skinny, nerdy, unathletic, uncoordinated and completely unsure of myself guy that spent more time alone and with a book hiding from people than was healthy. I had absolutely no idea how to deal with people. Socially awkward, and simply didn’t ‘get’ my peers. After life changing event back in middle school, perception changed. I went from timid, afraid of ‘getting hurt’ to fearless to the point of stupidity. I wish I was kidding with that last statement. If anything, I am being nice. What I learned was that I had to be comfortable with who I was and how I looked because if I wasn’t, no one else would. We become what we project.

The second time I dealt with this, was at 40 years old standing on a scale and wanting to find a corner and cry. Asking myself how I let this happen, and seeing the hard road to travel to undo the damage done. This was made easier because of the person standing beside me, but it remained a tough road.

Love Others

But the truth is, we don’t live in a vacuum. In order to truly find happiness, we have to feed the happiness of those around us. Part of this is building others up. Learning to love them, strengths and weaknesses. To focus on the strengths, to encourage, and mostly to learn to show them you love them. Love is an interesting word in the modern world. There is an association with sexual love that is problematic for many. That confusion makes it a difficult concept and word for many, particularly men, to wrap their heads around. It is the right word though. Loving others does not mean that we give so much that we forget about ourselves. This is an important point for all of the parents. So often we become so invested in our children that for 20 years we fail to truly invest in ourselves and our spouses. By the time the kids are moving out and on, we’ve lost touch with who we are, and who our spouses are. Sometimes it doesn’t take until the kids move on. So take special care in learning and keeping that love in place. It isn’t all sexual, though that can help, but finding the love of the person and keeping that is the root that keeps it grounded.

Not What Others Think

Keeping the love of others and listening to their thoughts and opinions is so very important, but there is a dark line that has to be drawn in the sand. Listening, and respecting is one thing, but allowing other peoples opinions color how you see yourself is the first step onto a slippery slope to a very dark place. That slippery slopes starts with the vocalized opinions, but the next and terribly destructive step on the slope is the imagined things of what people don’t say. What we start to tell ourselves other people are thinking. When we start seeing judgement and criticism in the every day actions of others, and use those things to further destroy our own self image and worth.

This is the single hardest thing I have ever had to learn in my life. It is a lesson I battle every single day. ( Even worse for me is when people do things that make my job harder. I know it is not their intent, but dammit it FEELS personal )

Learn to See the “Good Things”

This is the classic glass is half empty argument, with a nasty twist. For the longest time, I was certain that half full people actually existed in nature. Over the last few years, I have decided that no, we, the glass half full people do not exist in nature. We are created through experience and discipline. It took that young trauma to flip that around and teach me to look at things differently. Keep in mind, that there is a truly selfish side to the half empty perspective. Because it isn’t the glass that is half empty. It is MY glass that is half empty. Yours is half full. Once you understand that, the whole picture is easier to grasp.

We take in that there are half full glasses around us, but we fail to see ours as half full. That is where the learning and discipline come in. Learning to not only take in these facts, but to apply them equally to others and ours. To remove our self defeating internal struggles from these everyday facets of life.

As a thought exercise, next time you are driving in your car, and someone triggers your emotional anger response, look at the situation and laugh at yourself. Why did you get so angry? Did they really intentionally do that to piss you off, or were they simply so involved in their own issues that it never registered that there actions might have an adverse effect on anyone else? It is enlightening, and a great tool for learning to SEE things at a less personal level.

Get Moving

Others have addressed this, but I just want to reiterate this. Get up. Get moving. What you activity is, doesn’t matter. There are few certainties in finding a happy place, but this one I promise. No one is finding their happy place sitting on the sofa watching television all of the time. The occasional evening couch potato session is not going to break you, but when the couch is your second home, you aren’t finding your happy place, you are accepting the status quo, and that, simply will not do.

Doing something, anything physical, will help eventually. The first few times when you are starting from a place of weakness are hard, daunting and perhaps even overwhelming. If you can get past them though. If you can get a routine, you will feel the difference.

Along the way, you will also learn the lesson that every born again athlete learns. In the world of athletics, we honor the natural athletes. We revere the self made ones. No one is more respected in the athletic world than the ones that don’t look the part, and yet they are out there every workout, gritting through the crap towards their goals.

In the world of Ironman distance triathlons, there is a tradition that demonstrates this best. The first athletes across the finish line are at that finish line at midnight when the finish line closes to greet the last finishers. IF you ever get a chance to see an Ironman finish, wait until the sun sets to head to the finish line. That is when the greatest stories, the greatest triumphs happen. These are the self made athletes. They have proven themselves worthy of something more than just the humble respect of the workouts. They have pushed themselves to complete a truly daunting task.

Accept Things You Cannot/Should Not Change

This, I learned from my lovely and incredibly supportive spouse. It was her that made the conscious choice to not fight to change my bad habits through force. She accomplished the result by deciding to accept the things that she couldn’t change. It was a valuable lesson early in our marriage, and one that has come to apply to all aspects of my life. Driving, once that guy cuts in front of me, there is nothing I can do about, I accept that. Life is short, I will die, these are things that I also accept. But even the little things. My son is just like me, I can’t change that, and like me, he will have to learn these lessons the hard way, on his own terms. These are the lessons we learn.

We can make ourselves miserable trying to change these things, or we can accept that they aren’t things we can change and get on to the things we can impact. Making the choice to move on has removed an enormous amount of unhappiness from my life.

Smile

And finally, what might be the simplest and easiest, yet most powerful tool we have. A smile is something that has a direct impact on our emotional state, but also on those around us. Tell a joke, enjoy a laugh, and smile.

What does this have to do with triathlon? A lot more than you would think. You see, I have met more people that have found their happy places in the sport of triathlon than in any other place in my life. These are people that have challenged themselves physically and mentally. The longer I have been around this sport the more I have come to understand that the mental adaptations we make to compete in this sport will far outlast the physical ones. The self image things that we have had to set aside on race day. The confidence we have gained through these activities. All of these things are waypoints on the map to that big red X on the map that is your happy place.

Happenings

A busy week is ahead of the OGRE’s. OGRE Scott is racing the 70.3 race at Lake Logan, NC on Saturday. OGRE Dru will be riding 60 miles from Endurance House on Sunday (7:30AM if you want to ride along), with an hour or so brick off the bike. Then next Thursday night, OGRE Dru will be doing a Bike 101 Clinic for roadside repairs at Endurance House Alpharetta (6:30PM).

Feel free to come and join us at any of these.

On a side note, it looks like the Sunday OGRE ride for 08/16 is going to relocate and ride with the Olde Blind Dog crew on a tour of 3 gaps from Dahlonega. Should be a good day of climbing and fun.

Loving the Run

Over the last few years, I have met a lot of runners. I enjoy chatting with them. So many runners talk about the runners high, and their love for running. I admit that I have struggled with this. The run, for me has several distinct phases.

Pre-run: Uggh. Run Day. Maybe lightning will hit me and I can take the day off.
The first 8 minutes: Uggh. It’s hot, my legs hurt, my lungs hate me, running sucks.
The next 8 minutes: Oh fine, I’m out here, let’s get this shit done.
Somewhere around 15-20 minutes in: Lalalalalala, I’m thinking and thinking and singing along to the tunes, oh hi other runner. How far am I going today? Aw screw it, I’ll go till I’m tired.
Somewhere around the time I’m supposed to turn around: I still feel alright, but the plan says only do x.
About halfway back from the turn around: Hmm, still feeling good, maybe I can push the pace a little.
About 8 minutes later: Holy crap, that hurt, WTH was I thinking.
The last .25 mile: finish strong you big dufus.
Post Run: That wasn’t so bad, I guess. I want ice cream. Cookies and Cream Ice Cream. It’ll spoil my appetite, but dammit I want ice cream.

Notice, nowhere in that is the famed runners high. For me, the run is something I have always had to motivate myself to do. Here we are, 4 years into this whole, getting fit and living a healthy lifestyle, and I keep telling myself how much I don’t like the run.

Then I take a few days off for some reason or another and I discover something.

I don’t hate the run anymore. Far from it in fact. Turns out, I really miss the running when I don’t do them. I feel guilty when I skip runs. I struggle to get motivated to DO the runs, but once done, I am satisfied.
Does this mean that I’ve found the love? Perhaps it does. At least it means that I value the work over the guilt of not doing the work. Perhaps, just perhaps, that is the real secret to learning to love the run.

Valuing the results over the actions. The fitness of getting that run done, and being better prepared for the next run with each one. Maybe that will get me over the hump to a point where I am excited about run days like I am for bike days.

Shopping – Road Holland

We here at the OGRE HQ ( otherwise known as the Swamp ), have a strong bias towards shopping local, shopping small, and shopping made in USA. It is hard to do all of the above these days, but with care, you can usually hit 1 or 2 out of the 3. In addition, we like to add a 4th category, and that is shop with quality people.

Shop Small: Yes — Shop Local: Sorta — Shop Made in USA: Yes

Today we are profiling a small apparel vendor from the Palm Beach area of Florida. They are sorta local, though they do not currently have any retail dealers in the Atlanta area (though they do have a small collection of dealers around the world). In addition, they hit the Made in USA category pretty well, with their fabrication being done in the US. Keep in mind, sourcing the fabrics is mostly likely from overseas, the assembly is on shore, so they earn the Made in America badge.

What makes them different is a philosophy. Road Holland is trying to create cycling gear that is not overly loud and garish, while hitting the high points that serious cyclists want and need. The mission is to create cycling kits that didn’t look absurd. Looking at the product on the website, they certainly hit the sweet spot on creating something that looks nice.

We decided to give them a try, despite knowing no one who had done so yet. Ordered a Carolina Blue Hilversum, a lightweight full zip jersey with a club fit with the idea that it would be a great commuter and club ride jersey for the summer and early fall rides. The online ordering process was pretty generic, but worked well. The email confirmation is a little on the simple but effective side, which I for one love. Spend the money and time on the products. Shipping was prompt and the product arrived in just a couple of days.

Keep in mind, this is not a cheap jersey at $100+, so we had certain expectations.

Upon arrival, the jersey came out of the packaging and looked exactly as represented, which is a great start. The fabric itself has an interesting feel. It is not like so many of the current jerseys with a super tight weave of elastane and lycra moisture wicking fabrics. In terms of texture, it actually feels more like a high end polo shirt than a cycling jersey. This is not a bad thing, and when you put it on, it looks sharp, and fits very true to size, with a slightly athletic cut. If you carry a little weight around the middle, you might want to size up. The real test though, is getting out on the bike with it.

We wanted to hold off on writing about the product until we had several rides in the hot and damp summer heat. Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t terribly cooperative the first couple of weeks so it took longer than expected to get some weather appropriate for testing out new gear. While I am happy to get out and ride in the rain, I generally prefer not to test out new gear in the rain until I’ve seen how it holds up in good conditions.

Riding in the Hilversum proved to be an interesting experience, for unexpected reasons. First, for as heavy as the fabric feels, it is far from warm. During a 65 degree morning commute, it can get a little chilly at speeds over 25 mph. The fabric does a great job of leaving just enough moisture on the skin to cool in a hurry. The afternoon rides in 95+ degrees offered another interesting experience. The runners in the crowd will understand this one. The fabric itself has a slightly abrasive and gritty texture to it. This is fine most of the time, but when you get into the 95+ temperatures and you start sweating faster than the air is evaporating it, the wet fabric turns to sandpaper. This doesn’t bother some people, but for others, like myself, nipple chafing can become an issue. For running, I often use compression tops as a base layer for this very reason.

This is not a deal breaker, and honestly with the excellent design, best pockets in the business and hitting so many of my other criteria, the one negative really doesn’t create a huge challenge on the bike. The reason? Bib shorts. The first couple of rides just happen to be days when I wore traditional shorts. Subsequent rides with bibs and the chafing issues simply go away, as the bibs protect the sensitive areas. In addition, I suspect that a slight tighter fit would ease the problem as well.

Are there things I would like to see improved? sure, but understanding the size of the company and the costs associated with them, well, I think that Road Holland has a product that is a good value for the price, and a service level that exceeds expectations.

So at the end of the day, I can see adding a fall and winter jersey to the collection from Road Holland, and I have enough confidence in the brand that I will look to pick up a pair of their excellent looking bib shorts in the coming months.

Link

Article form Lower Extremity Review

The whole article is worth a read, but it supports what the minimal runners have talked about for a long time. Too much padding can produce injury just as quickly as not enough.

Personal opinion? too many of us think we know how to run, but we don’t really know how to run to protect our bodies. Running with good, safe, form is really hard. Most of us have spent so much of our lives in shoes with heel to toe drops and right to left support that our bodies have forgotten how to absorb the impacts through our feet.

That means, you cannot just ‘switch’ shoes, you have to work towards less padding slowly. Apply a method, and most importantly, listen to your body. If something hurts, figure out why.

Cycling Explained to Non-Cyclists

Lycra

Nothing hurts more than unknown chafing in the shower after a ride. Nothing.

Group Rides

Safety in numbers. Provides plausible deniability while drinking at the pub after the ride

Stop Signs

When pedaling a bike at 4 miles an hour, we are effectively stopped.

Filtering through Traffic

Who wants to suck down the fumes of your poorly tuned exhaust. You are only pissed off because you can’t do it too.

Bike Lanes

Poorly planned space at the side of the road that includes drain grates, man hole covers, gaping pits to the netherworld and accumulates all the crap from the cars on the roads. Glass, sand, gravel, nails, screws, used condoms, shoes, gloves, ladders, discarded car parts, etc.

Multi Use Paths

Instant death. Leashed animals, wild children, runners with noise cancelling earbuds that couldn’t here a nuclear explosion, angry mom’s, distracted dads, groups walking 10 wide in a space designed for 4, 2 in each direction. Enter at your own risk. Any accident will be blamed on all cyclists, every where.

Stop Lights

Infernal devices that fail to detect many cars, much less a 15lb carbon fiber bike. 12 second light cycles that barely offer enough time for one car.

Cell Phones

Distraction Devices of Doom. Drivers, walkers, other cyclists, basically anyone looking or talking to a cell phone is an imminent threat, and probably destroyer of worlds.

Helmets

Survival device, not safety equipment. Does not make anything safer, only improves survival rates once safety has gone the way of the dodo bird.

Bike Lights

See that flashing light? DON’T HIT ME BRO! It does not mean, fixate on the flashing sparkly thing and aim for it. Seriously, that the only reason we use those things. A solid light of for seeing by. A flashing light is for being seen.

Cars

The enemy. They are out to kill us, assuming they even see us. When they do, it’s our fault for being on the roads.

Real Sports – Bike Wars

Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel – Bike Wars

Last week on HBO, Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel ran what can best be described as an informational piece on Bike Wars. The presentation is that the bikers are fighting for space against “everyone else”. There are some interesting specifics. 60% increase in bike commuting in 20 years. Increase in deaths per day to 2 per day.
It presents some interesting tidbits, but let is talk reality check time. This is a clash that has been a long time in coming, and it is one that is going to get one hell of a lot worse before it gets better. Car culture is simply too deeply ingrained into the American lifestyle and psyche.

In general, I think Real Sports does a good job of reporting, but this one, they muffed. Short version, the presentation misses some really obvious questions, and has the same fatal flaw that most discussion of cycling in the US does. There are three distinct types of cyclists that are currently on the roads and fighting this battle. Two of them are closely related, the third is another beast altogether. Recreational and transportation cyclists are the first two, while the sport cyclists are the other. By lumping them all together, it is trivial to paint all cyclists into a very bad light.

So looking at the Bike Wars piece, they spent a good bit of time painting a picture about cyclists behaving above the law and as hooligans. They are right, it happens. But they also focused on a couple of other bits. One, video footage of a cyclist hitting a pedestrian (who stepped into a traffic lane from behind a van, not in a cross walk). That accident occurs car or bike, so it is not a good indicator. Interestingly, those situations really aren’t addressed by many bike infrastructure designs used in the US today either.The other was a pair of fatalities in NYC’s Central Park, citing excessive speed. Absolutely a problem. The question to ask however is why cyclists are in central park riding at these speeds? They are being made unwelcome on the roads. They find themselves in a no mans land unwelcomed in either location and it becomes trivial to single out these instances.

So, before we get too far into the discussion of the specific instances, we need to understand the difference in usage, and why the question of differences in usage need to be addressed. This is no different than the discussion of cars and road designs, so we are not talking about a special case here.

In the story, there are a couple of major concepts to address that are to put it simply, ignored, or skirted around.

Cycling, in the US, is a term that is most often used to describe the sport side of the equation. For the most part, the casual recreation and transportation riders don’t enter into the discussion. Some of this is a numbers thing, some of it is a visibility thing. It all stems from road usage and location. Outside dense population centers, bicycles and their riders tend to be of the sport variety. They are travelling at speeds over 15 mph, sometimes in excess of 40 mph. They are ridden on roads that lack infrastructure, and are the prime examples of rage inducing ‘slow downs’. When you look at many of the road rage instances in the last year of car/bike conflicts, these are the primary protagonists, these suburban sport cyclists. They are also the ones frequently involved in car/bike interactions. In urban settings, the typical cyclist is no longer the sport cyclist. Speeds are lower and the nature of the riding is changed. Infrastructure is often mixed, which presents a huge challenge in itself.

I recently spent a week in Salt Lake City, UT. Great urban area, with a lot of good cycling infrastructure, and most of it, wasted. Why? The sport cyclists used the infrastructure to get out of town, while the in town transportation riders? Fully 3/4 of them rode on the sidewalks, for fear of the cars. I had to ask around, because it was driving me crazy seeing all these bike lanes with cyclists riding on the sidewalks right next to them.

There is a lot of effort being put forth to paint the cyclists as the problem, and to a degree, they are. However, the problem remains that to the average American, a road is for cars, and they do not respect any other users. Road rage is normal towards other cars, much less motorcycles, bikes, runners and walkers, yet we fail to place the ownership of this mindset where it belongs.

Cars are the problem that needs solving. Distracted, angry, fast, selfish driving is the norm. You don’t need to even consider bikes in this equation.

And then there is the next bit of conversation. They go to Copenhagen and Amsterdam where bikes have supplanted cars. They show all of the infrastructure, and it is great. It comes however, at the expense of cars. In order to support that infrastructure, they have reduced the car volume. There is the other bit. The parking situation, which they also focus on. Yes, there are a lot of bikes, many parked illegally.

Consider this however. In the US, most cars are single occupant. Imagine that many cars parked in a city. Now you understand why the problem must be solved, sooner than later. You cannot build enough infrastructure to support that many cars. That is the reality that Amsterdam and Copenhagen have both come to grips with. Unfortunately, our car first culture is so deeply rooted, that we need a piece of news to tell us that bikes are the problem and the cure all without once owning the reality that the car problem has to be solved.

So, while I think the piece represents a starting point for a discussion, Real Sports has presented a deeply flawed case that does more harm to the discussion than help.

“It’s Dangerous”

I love this statement. Last night during a new rider/low speed group ride, the group went slow up a pretty harsh little climb and yes, traffic stacked up a little behind the group. Riding in a sweep/control role, I was sitting on the back, slightly into the road to create space for the less experienced riders in front of me (and to limit stupid passing). Limit is the right word too, because you can’t stop stupid.

This is a good place to pass you think.

The evidence? white Lexus SUV, female driver, estimated age mid 40’s. Decided that it would be a good idea to pass the group. Uphill. Into a blind corner. Within a quarter mile of a stop sign. With traffic at the stop sign that held her long enough that the entire group arrived at the stop sign about the same time she did.

During her pass, an oncoming car made her dive back into her own lane, right into the middle of the group. Fortunately we were communicating in the group and no one was placed in harms way, but it could have been a deadly situation. At the stop light, she rolled down her window and yelled at us about how dangerous that was. While I would love to discuss the matter with her, she was clearly not in the frame of mind to handle it, so I waved, smiled and said have a nice day.

She is right, it was dangerous, but it was not the bicycles that made it dangerous. 15 bikes riding single file, as far right as possible. On a rural suburban ‘back road’, with a 40mph speed limit. A road that is designated by the city it sits in as a bike route. What made this dangerous? the impatience of a driver. That right there is when I realized the crux of the truth.

We have become so blinded to the dangers our cars represent and so invested in blaming others for our failures that we use the phrase “It’s Dangerous” towards bikes legally using the road legally to imply that the bikes are at fault when what we are really saying is that our actions as drivers make it dangerous.

She did not need to make that pass on any level, and she lives in the area, she knew this. She made the choice to make it dangerous when there was absolutely no need to do so. When the situation went from risky to imminent danger, she rationalized that the bikes were at fault because they were traveling slower than the speed limit and ‘made her pass them dangerously’.

This is what we have to change. “Share the Road” doesn’t cut it. We have to get it into the open and discuss it.

Weekend Adventure Planning

For the last few months I’ve been trying to organize a regular Sunday ride. For the most part I’ve failed due to my own poor planning, scheduling and training schedule. That changes this week :).

Starting this weekend, I am starting a regular Sunday OGRE ride. It is open to anyone that wants to join in. These are designed to be “long” rides, and as such, they are going to be ridden at endurance pacing, not go as fast as we can. What does that mean? probably averages in the 15-17 mph ranges. It means there will be stops along the way.

In addition, the routes posted below are preliminary. I suspect they will evolve a little as we ride them and make small adjustments to them for what we want to ride. The plan is to start from the Alpharetta City Center, and go out from there.

100 mile tour of Alpharetta, Roswell, Milton and a tiny slice of south Forsyth

Parking is always tricky for something like this. With just a couple of people, you can usually park anywhere, but as these things grow, we can become a nuisance for a business. I don’t want that, so we are planning ahead and discussing parking now. Please park towards the back behind Endurance House, and if needed, use the parking deck immediately behind the area. I will personally most likely be in the deck anyways. It keeps the car cooler for when I get back and don’t want to sit in an oven.

About the ride. The ride is designed to be a 100 mile loop with multiple shorter options. All of the routes share the first 27 miles. At that point, the shorter routes start to peel off, and head back to the start. Just prior to that, there is a Shell gas station in the heart of Crabapple (Crabapple Rd, Birmingham Hwy & Broadwell Rd), that we will use as a rest stop to gather up, reload water bottles and make sure anyone that is peeling off knows the way home.

33 mile tour of Alpharetta, Roswell & Milton

Ideally, the group should arrive here at about 90 minutes after wheels down. This is where the first split will happen. The 33 mile route will take a right turn on Mid Broadwell Rd right after the ride resumes and head back to the start point. The expectation is that this route should take about 2 hours at 16-17 mph. Fortunately, this route is also the easiest directionally. Turn right on Mid Broadwell, go straight until you get to Haynes Bridge Road and turn right.

The second group that will split off will be the 40 miler group. This group will stay with the group until about mile 32, where it will turn right onto Providence Rd. For what it is worth, this is also the route that I like the least, as I do not particularly like the Bethany Rd/Bethany Bend stretch of road. It is not particularly bad, but the stops fall at inconvenient locations.

42 mile tour of Alpharetta, Roswell & Milton

The directions for this return are not too bad. From the Freemanville & Providence Rd intersection where this route splits off with a right turn onto Providence Rd, the route rolls down hill to Haygood / Bethany Rd. A short little climb up Bethany Rd then bear right to stay on Bethany Rd shooting over to Cogburn Rd. Right and then left on Bethany Bend Rd, you will go through 2 stop lights before turning right onto Morris Rd. At the dead end into Deerfield Parkway, hang a left turn, and go through three stop lights before turning right at the top of the hill on Westside Parkway onto Thompson Rd. Thompson Rd will dead end into the Haynes Bridge roundabout in the Alpharetta City Center. There are a couple of notes about this return though. The hill on Bethany coming off of Providence is pretty steep, but short. The last hill coming up Westside is deceptive. It is both steep and comes in two parts.

54 mile tour of Alpharetta, Roswell, Milton and a tiny slice of south Forsyth

The 54 mile split won’t break off until mile 46. That means it includes the popularThis return route will be familiar to anyone that has done the Endurance House routes from the Wednesday Night Rides. Turning right onto Kennemore Rd / Union Hill Rd, it will follow the Endurance House Wednesday Night Ride route all the way back in. Same right on Tidwell, right on McGinnis Ferry, left on Deerfield, right on Thompson finish as that ride. The same warnings apply as well. Union Hill tends to be a little busy at times, and stay right on Tidwell, as it tends to be a bad spot for cars passing aggressively.

For some reason, the 54 miler finish seems to slow down the average pacing a bit, so while we are showing and estimated moving time of 3:15 minutes, plan closer to 3:25 most days.

65 mile tour of Alpharetta, Roswell, Milton and a tiny slice of south Forsyth

Next up, we have the 65 miler split. This split actually takes the Harry’s Not in a Hurry Wednesday Night route back to the start, routing through Windward and Webb Bridge Rd. So it will stay with the longer routes until Shiloh Rd in Bluegrass, where the 65 milers will take Shiloh to McFarland Parkway, while the longer distances will loop Shiloh in reverse and turn on Pine Grove Rd.

Once we get to these distances, we generally assume that the riders have more experience and will not be daunted by roads that have traffic but also good bike access and facilities. The 65 miler and longer routes all include a couple of “fast mover” sections where the roads are 45+ mph speed limits but have rideable shoulders that are more than 4 feet wide. The sections are short, can be discomfiting for novice riders.

As noted, the return route for the 65 miler is the same as the Harry’s route. McFarland to a left on Ronald Reagan. Left on Windward Concourse, left on Windward Parkway, Right on Clubhouse Drive, Right on Lake Windward Drive. Right on Webb Bridge Rd. Left on Westside Parkway. Right on Thompson Rd. There is a good rest stop at mile 57.5 at the Shell station at the corner of Windward Parkway and Windward Concourse.

80 mile tour of Alpharetta, Roswell, Milton and a tiny slice of south Forsyth

Finally, we have the 80 miler split. This split hold together until about mile 66. At that point the 100’s will go right onto Webb Rd, while the 80’s will go left. Both will do a small inner loop of the northern section of the ride to this point. They share some common sections, but won’t be ‘back together’ until the end.

The 80 milers will take Webb Rd through where it becomes Cogburn Rd and continue on through Henderson Place to Cumming St. Taking Cumming St into Alpharetta then turning right on Hwy 9 down the hill to the light and left onto Mayfield. Mayfeilf to a left onto Bethany, a left on Mid Broadwell all the way back to Westside Parkway, right up the hill to Thompson Rd. Right and into the Haynes Bridge roundabout.

Each of the above routes are mapped in Strava, and can be downloaded to a phone or Garmin for navigation purposes.

This weekend, the plan for me is to ride the 80 and then run about 6-7 miles off the bike. Due to the length and projected temperatures, we are going for an early start with wheels down at 7:30 AM. It may just be me, there may be others, and what I do will adjust accordingly.

We Are O.G.R.E.

Old Guys/Gals Random Enterprises