Spring has sprung!

I can't believe it's been a month since my last post! Things do always seem to get extraordinarily busy in schools as winter turns to spring and this year has been no exception. In other words, I've not been able to ride nearly as much as I would like. I have been able to add some commuting to my routine again, which has been delightful. With various complications brought on by the children I need to get to school and the late meetings and after-school rehearsals I need to shuttle between, it's been hard to ride in more than one or two days each week

In addition, my family and I just spent our spring break on Block Island. Early spring, while the weather is mild and before the tourists invade is one of the best times to take it all in. I made sure to ride every day and while my rides were not as long as I would have liked, the regularity made me feel like a rider again. I concentrated on quick tempo rides and threw in a few sprints here and there in hopes that I might actually improve my speed on the road. We'll see.

My first big event of the season arrives next weekend with the Princeton (NJ) 200K. This brevet is an old favorite filled with quiet roads through historic towns of western New Jersey. There are a few respectable hills along the way and I look forward to catching up with friends and acquaintances that make up the NJ Rando scene. I plan to ride this one at a steady, fast pace making very few stops along the way. I finished in 8:05 in 2010 and while that is an unrealistic goal at this point with my level of fitness, I am eager to see if i can break the 9-hour mark. I'll be sure to pack enough food to ensure that stops require me to stop just long enough to fill water bottles and get my card stamped. I'm eager to take my new Indy Fab out for a ride.

Block Island Training Camp 2011

Out on Block Island in August, the roads are pretty congested with all sorts of vehicles and pedestrians for much of the day, but if you get out early enough, the roads are simply magical. They are smooth and winding with modulating rollers and sea views from various vantage points along the way. For the past week, I've enjoyed riding these roads each day as I do my best to get back into form before D2R2 later this month.

Even though it's a tiny island, you never know exactly what might appear along the way. Yesterday, I felt a swift breeze as what first seemed like a locomotive but then turned out to be a young guy on a Cervelo tri bike dropped me like a cold fish. He must have been turning his cranks around at about 25 mph on the flats and I just let him go knowing I would not be able to hold his wheel. After returning home a bit demoralized, I looked out the window and saw . . . wait for it . . . a white and blue Cervelo with shoes still clipped into the pedals leaning against the hedgerow. "It couldn't be," I thought. A peek out another window revealed a small party assembling for cocktails on the porch next door, so I mustered some confidence and walked over to introduce myself to our new neighbors.

It turns out that the Cervelo in question was owned by a nice guy named Joe wearing an Ironman Kona t-shirt. "Kona?!?" I thought, "No wonder that breeze felt so pronounced." After chatting a bit about Kona, PBP and my accident, we arranged to ride the following morning at 6:00 am. At this point, I realized that not only had Joe raced in Kona last year, but he was also in training to race it again THIS October. "What was I thinking?" I asked my wife and sister-in-law as we prepared dinner. "This guy is going to eat me for breakfast."

I set an alarm for the first time this vacation (at 5:30 am) and predictably went to sleep a bit later than I might have hoped. The next thing I knew, I was tossing around in a difficult dream about oversleeping and alarm when I sat bolt-upright and realized that the sun had not even risen. I still had about 30 minutes of sleep in the bank. After a few more minutes of sleep, I rose alert and ready to ride, tossed on a clean jersey, fought with a pair of contact lenses and enjoyed a hot cup of coffee before heading out to face my sentence of suffering. Joe was bright and eager as I thought he would be as we exchanged greetings and carefully pulled out of the stone driveway together in search of the paved road about 400 yards away. Luckily neither of us took a humiliating spill and we hit the road with fresh legs.

It was not as hard or uncomfortable as I thought it might be to ride at 20-24 miles an hour while carrying on a conversation, but I found myself huffing and puffing a bit more than I would like on the hills. Despite that, it actually felt VERY GOOD to be riding in such a manner for the first time in quite a while. Joe was a gracious riding partner from the start who knew I was not eager to threaten his preeminence on the island. I made sure he knew that my feelings would not be hurt if he took off ahead at some point if I was holding him back, but he declined. It turned out that we both bought our bikes through Signature Cycles and had a few other things in common, so despite our different fitness levels, frame types and race goals, maybe we weren't that different after all.

We decided to stop riding after enjoying a vigorous single lap of the island at which point I pulled in for a family breakfast and Joe dismounted to run 18 more miles. While I'm not yet up to quite that level of hardcore exercise, it did feel really great to ride 16 miles full out, even if the guy I was riding with was holding back just a bit.

Training at the Block Island Velodrome

No, there is no REAL velodrome on Block Island, but cycling the island’s 16-mile loop of smooth, gently undulating roads can feel a bit like riding on one. Block Island is one of New England’s true treasures. An exceptionally beautiful and peaceful 21-square mile spit of sand off the coast of Rhode Island, the Nature Conservancy has deemed it to be one of the “12 last great places in the Western Hemisphere." It’s also a wonderful place to ride a road bike. I’m fortunate to be a frequent visitor to the island since my wife’s family lives here year-round. This week, I’m spending spring break resting and catching up with family as I top off my training for the upcoming Connecticut River Double Century race this Sunday.

Steady 25-mile per hour winds have been ripping off the ocean for several days which makes sections of the island simply awful. At times like these, I am reminded of something I read by Dr. Bob Breedlove. Breedlove, the late RAAM record holder and endurance cycling god who was cut down in the prime of his life on a desolate road in the Midwest by two yahoos in a pick-up truck while competing in RAAM, referred to headwinds as “Quaker winds” because they are “friends” of the training cyclist. I like to remember, as I scream nasty epithets into each giant wall of wind, that at least there may be some gain from the pain.

In the off-season, Block Island is a cycling paradise. The roads are generally car-free with dramatic vistas in every direction. The island bears a strong resemblance to sections of the British Isles so it is not too hard to squint my eyes and imagine my upcoming L-E-L odyssey through the countryside of England and Scotland as I spin past lovely stone walls. During the high season, the roads can be jammed with day trippers, cars, scooters and bikes and it is HIGHLY recommended that the serious road rider get out before 9:00 a.m. or after 5:00 p.m. to avoid the knuckleheads. There’s more fresh ice cream available in the summer months, too, so it’s a trade off.

The paved roads on the island peak at 108 feet so the “BIKE ON CHEESE” signs are a bit of an overstatement. Installed for the faint of heart who may not have ridden a bike in over 30 years (a common species here in the summer months) these signs clearly identify the island’s three main hills. Don’t expect too much from these hills; with the prevailing headwinds, it was hard for me to surpass 30 miles an hour on descent so far this week. The roads are currently devoid of traffic and have only a minimal sprinkling of sand around the edges to slow a body down. I brought my Bianchi out this week with the compact 34/50 and 9-speed rear cassette, yet I would be perfectly happy with my single-speed or with a fixed gear track bike.

With Sunday's race in mind, I've shifted my training into a lower gear this week. Last Sunday, I rode 4x5 intervals into a 25-mile an hour headwind. On Monday, I decided to focus on “distance” and rode three laps at tempo pace which added up to 50 miles if you count the cool-down at the end. Today, I took a yoga class with my wife AND rode a gentle lap at recovery pace AND updated my blog. Ain't vacation grand?!? I really need to be sure to work yoga into my regular training routine when I get back home. It increases flexibility, focusses the mind and builds core strength, all of which are tremendously valuable on the bike.

While I have a great place to stay on the island, daily and weekly rentals are plentiful and ferries from several locations transport bikes and riders for a nominal fee. During the summer high season, boats run frequently from Pt Judith, RI, New London, CT and less frequently from Montauk, NY. Come for the day or spend a week. You won’t be disappointed. You can even leave your geared bike behind and ride the velodrome on your single speed and remember: the winds are good for you.