The limit?

Did an English century today (beware — crappy map). I was able to execute my strategy as if I had planned it: find a group of riders doing the 100 miles, grab on to a wheel and let them pull me along. At about 20 miles the ride split: 50- and 75-mile riders left, 100-mile (it actually clocked in at +/-95) riders right. A group of five quickly caught a group of eight. The octet rode together for 10-15 miles. Just about the perfect size. Seven people could draft and the guy pulling on the front only had to go three to six minutes. Higher speed and energy conservation at the same time — a hard deal to beat. The group started to break up at the first rest stop. One guy rode on; two others stayed behind. Between the first and third rest stops (we skipped the second) a guy dropped off but we caught the guy who rode on. He kept going at the third rest stop, never to be seen again. Still, on flat or rolling terrain, the group of four stuck together thanks in large part to the generosity of the two strongest riders. At the fourth stop, rider No. 4 said he would probably drop off. I was bushed but managed to stay in contact with with the front two for about five more miles. Once we hit downtown Fuquay-Varina, though, there was no use maintaining the charade. the front two pulled away for the last time though they remained in sight for several more miles. The hardest part for the group was on downhill-uphill sections, which tend to pull groups apart and make them hard to put back together.

I crawled back to the parking lot of the Koka Booth Amphitheatre at Regency Park. I point out with some pride that I was not last and it wasn't even close. Based on my experience of Aug. 4, today and several other 80-plus-mile rides, 90 miles may be around my limit. Several of those rides have been solo efforts. I suspect that the group rides have just started too fast over the first 50 miles or so for me to have anything left at the end. Some of you may know that I have fantasies of riding across the United States. If my assessment is accurate, it will have a significant effect on how long the ride would take.

One more thing: this was the Jimmy V Ride for Research. It is the Cadillac of charity rides I've been on with four well stocked rest stops and sag support the entire way. Think what you want about Jim Valvano as a basketball coach and human being, but the foundation has raised buttloads of money for cancer research from, well, schmos like me. And as I said, they put on a hell of a ride.

The Firecracker and more

Today was the 15th Firecracker Ride. This annual 50k and 100k event, sponsored by The Spin Cycle, is one of my favorite rides. Soemthing cool happens every year. Today was my third Firecracker. In 2005 I met cyclebuddy, still one of my favorite guys to ride with when we can both find time. Last year I was able to hop from group to group and wheel to wheel and thus go fast without expending a lot of energy.

This year I ran into a professional contact of mine at the first rest stop. He invited me to ride with his group, which included a guy that I met on my smokin' ride on Sunday. What a blast. They were good folks interested in hauling ass on the road and kicking back at rest stops. The best part is I have a standing invitation to join them on their regular Saturday and Sunday rides. I did try to talk up The Electra Challenge but didn't seem to find many takers.

Having spent the morning drafting behind these fine folks, I decided I wasn't done. I came home, had some water, filled my tires and then went out to complete an imperial century for the day. The bike is parked after 103.5 miles.

At last, a near match of plan and action. Sort of.

The journey described in the most recent ride guide nearly matched the one I went on yesterday. I rode the 100-kilometer leg of the Frostbite Tour through Johnston, Wilson and Nash counties. Though frostbite was never a risk, I was a cold mofo while I waited to get started and I never got warm warm even under bright sun. Just cool warm. Temperature, combined with a dearth of riders going for 100 miles and confidence that I had absolutely no idea where I was going, caused me to pack it in a metric century. Those things and the rest stop located at the 100k start-finish, where my car also happened to be. Now I know what I'll do for half a banana.

C'dork's Friday ride guide: 100 reasons

Sorry to have slacked over the last couple of weeks. But I'm actually hitting the road this weekend and am going to put my money where my mouth is tomorrow when I turn in my application for the Frostbite Tour. Johnston and the other counties involved are largely uncharted territory so it will be good to see a new part of the world, even though I'll be seeing parts of it two or three times over 100 miles. The information is pretty slick, as maps and cue sheets are included. As of a few hours before post time there were still spots left.

One down, 11 to go

As I believe is mentioned previously, cycledork accepted the "2007 Metric Century a month Challenge" posted in the Cycling Plus forums. Predictably the plan is to use many weekend rides over the next year to meet this challenge. So expect to see maps for 100k rides, such as those posted the last couple of weeks, in the Friday Ride Guide. That said, it may become habitual that the trip described in the Friday Ride Guide is not the one that occurs in the two days following. Readers may recall that on Friday, CD mapped out an ambitious, 78+ mile route that would go through parts of five counties. What actually happened is that on Saturday cycledork took the trip described the week before.
Regardless of the route, I got in 65.6 miles in about 3.5 hours of riding time. It was a gorgeous day here even if a tad breezy. Dozens of cyclists were out. Lots of them seemed to have flats but when questioned said their situations were under control. I also got to meet Pete and Mark at the Wilsonville General Store, the popular cyclists' oasis, gas station and bait shop at the intersection of U.S. 64 and Farrington Road. Anyway it may be another month or two, until the days are noticeably longer, before any long ride I outline is the one I actually go on that weekend. My sympathies to cycling brethren and sistren in the UK who get even less than we do here.
Note: while preparing the second map, I was unable to compel GoogleMaps to find the actual location of Pea Ridge Road so the route description shorts me about 3.8 miles. However, in the first map it found the correct road. If anyone can offer any insight into this situation I would appreciate it.

C'dork's Friday ride guide

We'll confirm that the weather's supposed to be sunny in the morning since the 'dork is thinking about going long, or at least longer, this weekend. This route, an extension of last week's unfinished fantasy, would take in bits and pieces of Wake, Harnett, Lee, Chatham and Durham counties over about 78 miles. Part of the incentive is that it would discharge a twelfth of my pledge on the Cycling Plus forum to ride a metric century per month this year.

One man's resolution can be another's challenge

But cycledork is just worried about have three free day-light hours every 30 days or so to complete the 12 missions. I attested earlier this evening that I will complete at least one 100-kilometer, or 62.5-mile, ride per month. This pledge resides nestled deeply in the online forums of Cycling Plus magazine. I don't yet subscribe to the hard copy of this U.K.-based publication but I have a feeling that day is coming soon. The C+ forum is more vigorous and seemingly more populist than the forums of its U.S. counterpart Bicycling, the web version of the American general-interest cycling mag (that I subscribe to already). Anyway, my pledge to pedal shouldn't be a problem. I expect December, because there is so little light, to be the most challenging month to squeeze in those miles in an afternoon. That's not for another 11 months. But as I said at C+, check here to see if hold up my end.