The Boss'

On Saturday, the 28th, I headed out for a little training ride with the vague destination of Green Lake. I knew that I wanted to do about 50 miles and I didn’t want to be gone for more than 4 hours. The wind was out of the North/North East, so it was tough going on the way out, but I enjoyed the tailwind on the way back. The temps were not too bad, though it was very humid.

I have to say, it was a lot harder doing these 50 all by myself than it was doing 65 last weekend with a group of people. I’m hoping that on the day of the big ride, the “group effect” will be a positive influence.

I did finally arrive at Green Lake and I enjoyed seeing some towns and places along the way that I had not been to before. Moline, for instance.

• Distance: 50.2
• Average Speed: 14.1

(Note: Sorry that this update is so tardy…it’s been nearly a week since the ride. Unfortunately, my site was suspended because someone or something decided to use it for a phishing scam. We’re back in business now.)

The Holland Hundred was held this past Saturday, July 21st. I completed the 67 mile route. (Actually, it came up as 65.5 on my computer, but it was close enough) I’ll post a pic later, but I just wanted to jot down a few thoughts on the ride.

First, it was great to ride in a group. I hooked up with the guys from the Tuesday night MOB ride. They are a great bunch of guys to ride with, and they’ll usually wait for me to catch up when I get dropped, which has a tendency to happen.

I have to say that I felt really good after the ride. The last few miles going East, into the wind, kind of took their toll on me, but I didn’t feel like I was going to fall over or anything like that. I really didn’t know what to expect after the vomit incident on my last training ride.

I tried to eat more sensibly for this ride. I had some OJ and half a banana before leaving the house, then I downed a Gu Energy Gel before the ride. I had another GU along the way, and I even managed to eat a pancake and some fruit at the food stop at East Saugatuck CRC.

Overall, I’m very please with how it went. I would have liked to do the whole hundred, but it’s a start. I’m looking forward to getting a couple of longer rides in before my bike is taken away from me to be shipped out West.

Tuesday I peddled into Holland to join the MOB (Men On Bikes) group from Providence CRC. It was an ambitious effort for me because by the time I got to town for the ride, I already had 13 miles in.

The MOB ride went really well, at first. Eventually, number of factors would conspire to do me harm. I was planning on splitting off from the MOB group as it got down around 136th avenue, and then head east to Hamilton, and then on toward home base in Bentheim. I started feeling weaker even before I split from the MOB. Once by myself, I slowed even more. I felt as if I had nothing left in my legs, and I knew that from the corner of 58th and 136th I still had 13 miles to go. My goal was to make it to the gas station in Hamilton and refuel. My pre-ride diet did not prepare me properly for a ride of this length. You see, I skipped lunch on Tuesday. I’m not sure what happened exactly. I distinctly remember feeding the children at noon, but I somehow forgot to eat. I tried to make up for that by eating a sandwich at about 4 o’clock, before leaving on the ride. I also brought along a Snickers and two water bottles. My food choices in Hamilton included a bottle of Gatorade and a Star Crunch. This would come back to haunt me later.

I crawled out of Hamilton heading North on 47th street. The climb up toward 140th nearly killed me. My legs were visibly shaking. I enjoyed the nice downhill on 140th but lost my momentum quickly. That’s when the cursing started. Uncontrollable staccato bursts of unintelligible swearing. I was castigating my body for it’s failure to perform. I’m not usually prone to such abuses, but these were special circumstances, and I don’t think the rows upon rows of corn cared in the least.

Finally, around 9pm, I made it home.

• Distance: 46.6
• Average Speed: 14.3

You can see that I even managed to bump my average speed up just a bit. That’s big news for me. Still slow by virtually anybody’s standards, but it is an improvement.

Then the vomiting started. Yep. Star Crunch wanted out. Actually, it was about 11pm before my gas station energy feast made it’s exit, but I would assume that it was ride related. I’m not sure what to make of the whole outing. I’m glad that I was able to do the miles. It was my longest ride of the year, so far. But I’m wondering if this is what I have to look forward to after every long ride. Let’s hope not.

For his seventh birthday, Ben got a bunny from Grandma Boss. It was something that she found for free on the Herman Miller ads, so how could she say “No” to that? The bunny came with the name Skittles, so we’re sticking with that. Woody, the family dog, would love a chance to get acquainted with Skittles. Whenever Skittles is out of his cage, Woody goes nuts. If I’m not standing right there, Woody is required to be tied up if the bunny is out. The last thing I need is for all four of my kids to get a lesson in natural selection as they watch the family bunny get mauled. Here’s a quick pic.

The other day Emma went and picked out a couple of kittens from a friend of my mom. These are going to be barn cats, which I’m hoping will help to control our mouse population. We’ve already caught a couple of mice in the house, so I’m afraid to see what happens when the weather turns cold. The tough part will be keeping the cats out of the house. Emma and the other kids are going to want to play with these things a lot, and I don’t want them getting used to indoor living. Oh yeah, then there’s Woody. He attacks every cat he sees. I’m just praying that we get a couple of cats that can stick up for themselves and put a good smack-down on  Woody for once. He needs to be taught a lesson.

(Woody wants to eat the bunny) 

I set out on a ride on July 4th in an attempt to redeem myself after my poor showing at the JDRF Team Training ride. Starting out, I didn’t have any specific mileage goal in mind. I wanted to put in about 2-2 1/2 hours on the bike, so I was figuring that would be good for 30 miles or so. After 10-12 miles I was feeling pretty good, so I decided to see if I could make it to Fennville. I was thinking that Fennville was on 126th, but I was wrong. It’s on 124th. By the time I got to 126th and 58th street, however, I was thinking that I had better start heading back North. I turned East on 126th street, and what followed was what you see on the map. I got to the corner of 128th and 56th and figured that I should go East as my ultimate destination lay in that direction. There is a big fun hill right at that corner heading East where I hit my top speed of the day, 32MPH. Little did I know that I’d be peddling back up that hill in a few minutes. As it turns out, as 128th hits 54th, Old Allegan Road, and other miscellaneous cow paths, they are all unpaved. I had to turn around. This would not be the last time I back tracked. After some wandering around, I found myself in New Richmond, confronted with a dead end sign. I didn’t realize that it was just a dead end…for CARS! So now I head South down 57th, looking for anyway to get back to 58th, essentially where I started about 40 minutes earlier.

I came out at 130th and 58th, finished off the water I was carrying, and headed for Hamilton. I knew that once I got there a Mobil station would be waiting stocked with Gatorade and other goodies. With the help of a tail wind I blew into Hamilton and refueled. Gatorade, Combos, an Oatmeal Creme Pie, and Swiss Cake rolls where on the menu. The Swiss sure do know how to make a good cake roll, don’t you think?

Leaving Hamilton via 47th street, I climbed what seemed like an enormous hill toward 140th. From there I enjoyed a great downhill pushed by a stiff tailwind. I maintained a comfortable 18-20MPH all the way to Bentheim.

• Distance: 43.6
• Average Speed: 13.8
• Ride Time: 3h, 8min

As you can see, my wanderings resulted in my longest ride to date. And I must say, I had a lot of fun. Most of the time I was thinking about where in the world I was, rather than watching my speed or mileage. I learned that I can do the mileage, but that my pace is pretty slow. I’m happy with that. I’m not trying to win any races, after all. I pushed myself up some hills, and on others, I dropped a bunch of gears and meandered up them at a sluggish 8-9MPH. And that’s okay. The biggest thing is that I had fun, and that I’m looking forward to doing it again.

I turned in a rather disappointing performance on the JDRF team ride yesterday. I felt pretty good before the ride, and I was looking forward to doing the 45 mile loop because it would have been my longest ride to date. Note that I said “would have been”. I didn’t do the 45 mile loop. I ended up taking the short cut which resulted in a ride of roughly 29 miles.

There is just no substitute for time in the saddle. I’m probably the least experienced rider on the team, having a total of 7 rides under my belt…ever, and I could definitely tell. I just watched everyone pull away from me as I huffed and puffed to no avail. When it came time to either take the long loop, or turn the other way and take the shorter route, I had been at the back of the pack for a long while. I was still considering taking the longer route, but then the ride coach said, “Hey Chad, the short route is going this way.” That made up my mind for me. After spending several miles beating myself up for taking the short loop, I actually began to enjoy myself. I figured I might as well make the best of it.

Eventually I’m going to have to just bite the bullet and put in a longer ride. I guess I can’t worry about how far behind I am. I just to focus on finishing the ride, no matter how long it takes.