The indoor season finally ends . . .

And so the indoor season comes to a close, not with a bang, but with a whimper. In true form, March came in like a lion and is certainly going out like a lamb. With a forecast for temps in the mid to upper 70s for the rest of the week, I will certainly not be found grinding away on my trainer. Coincidentally, today marks the official end of the UMCA Indoor Challenge and to celebrate, I logged in a final two hour session.

Well, it's only March and I've already failed to meet one of my 2010 cycling goals. Back in December,a top ten finish looked not only attainable, but also like a nice motivator to increase my base training miles. As it turns out, it was the latter but not the former. Here's what my results look like over the past two years. I actually placed lower with four times the number of hours on the trainer,  five times the number of sessions and almost three times the number of points. Oh, well.

2010: 17th place, 146 points, 87 hours, 28 sessions
2009: 16th place, 52 points, 22 hours, 5 sessions

Like with most competitions, success has a whole lot to do with who shows up. This was a competitive year as one can see by comparing a 10th place finish over the past five years:

2010 = 335 points
2009 = 189 points
2008 = 112 points
2007 = 224 points
2006 = 277 points

The funny thing is that I feel very much like a winner even though I didn't meet my goal. Could I have ridden more? Sure. Could I have added several long sessions to amass additional points. Of course; but at what cost? As it was, I logged 87 hours of training this winter safe from icy, dark roads. My legs feel great and I enter the spring with my most significant base yet. I look forward to seeing how the local hammer fest feels on Saturday morning. My first brevet is scheduled for April 10. Time for a little speed work.

Why I love indoor riding . . .

Call me crazy, but I actually enjoy indoor riding. When the thermometer dips below freezing, the skies darken at 4:30, the shoulders become clogged with ice and that nasty white film of salt covers the land, I move indoors to turn those cranks. Sure I prefer riding outdoors. Like others, I plan to log thousands of miles through wet, windy, dark and unfamiliar roads this year. It's not that I can't stand pain and suffering. So what is it about winter that sends me indoors?

The top 15 reasons I like to train indoors:

1. No bulky clothes.
2. No traffic.
3. It's safe to ride at all hours.
4. No need for lights.
5. No spare tubes.
6. No frozen fingers.
7. No frozen toes.
8. No frozen water bottles.
9. No flats!
10. Ride for 6 hours without having to stop to warm up.
11. Train without muscles freezing up.
12. Improve form and cadence.
13. Listen to loud music.
14. It's warm!
15. When I'm done with a workout, I feel great.
    

The good news is that with the right preparation, even long indoor rides need not be boring. Distraction is key to working through tough peiods on the bike: both indoors and out. It's one reason why riding with friends can make a dreadful stretch of road or weather more bearable. This year, I've been using two new DVDs from the Spinervals "On the Road" series: the Lake Placid Training Ride and the Madison, Wisconsin Training Ride to structure my work outs. These DVDs last three hours each and don't require any special equipment other than a laptop or TV/DVD. Coach Troy Jacobson provides gear advice, a countdown clock and motivating commentary throughout as we watch him pedal his way through these two Ironman bike courses. It's even possible to turn off the music track to listen to tunes of your own choosing. The Spinervals "Hardcore 100" is my DVD of choice for 6 hour "century" rides. Streaming films through Netflix works pretty well, too, but you need to be mindful of mixing the gears up a bit and not just spinning aimlessly.

In the northeast, it's virtually impossible for a person with a full-time job to get in enough base miles without some serious indoor work. This season, I've been trying to fit in both a long mid-week ride of 3+ hours and a long weekend ride of 4-6+ hours in addition to a few shorter 1-2 hour interval sessions each week. If weather permits, as it did today, I may be able to replace a shorter session with a commute to work.

RoadBikeRider.com sent out a special indoor cycling issue this week. One author compared indoor riding (or the "Tour de Rec Room" as he put it) to Elizabeth Kubler-Ross's five stages of grief. You know, denial, anger, bargaining, depression and ultimately acceptance. You can view that here if you do not already receive these free weekly updates. This is the second year I'm participating in this five month UMCA Indoor Challenge.  The mileage competition is free and open to all UMCA members. I'm shooting for a top 10 finish this year.

In ultra cycling it's important to push through pain, discomfort and boredom. Why should winter training be any different? I'm surprised by how many randonneurs scoff at indoor riding. If you have a hard time imagining being on the trainer for more that an hour, find a good video, crank some great tunes and give it another try.

The Saratoga 12-hr Race: A Podium Finish (Almost)

It had been a full year since I last rode in Saratoga at the 24-hour race last July, but the roads were still fresh in my mind. With L-E-L two weeks away, though, I decided that the 12-hour race was more in line with my general training plan. It would provide me with a final long ride, some speed work and a great day of fun out on the road. The other truly exciting part of the plan was that I brought along my first ever crew for support. I may not be cycling in the Tour de France, but with Eli, Izzy and Jessie mixing my drinks and passing me bottles, I felt like a rider on the ProTour (minus the EPO). What a difference a support crew can make. In this case, I was able to stop only twice for a total of maybe 7 minutes off the bike in 12 hours. I also feel like I showed up to the race in good form, having followed UMCA Director John Hughes' advice on tapering to the letter by really keeping the miles down over the past week with a few intense days of intervals to sharpen my speed and keep my legs fresh.

The Saratoga 12/24 is held on a lovely 32-mile course with gentle rolling hills, smooth, well-paved, low-traffic roads, and only one little nasty climb and a few miles of open fields and river which seem to naturally generate headwind. This year, the weather forecast wasn't too promising. It looked pretty definite that rain and thunderstorms would hit by late afternoon. As it turned out, the rain held off until around 6:30, so I only faced a downpour on the final lap. The nasty lightning even held off until the drive home. The headwinds were vicious, though, thoughout the day on the "back 9" side of the course with gusts up to 30 mph.

In all, this was a very successful race for me. I got out in front early and held onto third position for most of the day. Throughout three or four laps, RAAM veteran Rob Morlock and I rode at an acceptable distance away from one another in this non-drafting race, leapfrogging each other from time to time and chatting a little bit as we passed. Rob is an awfully nice guy who rode with the support of a crew that leapfrogged him at various spots along the route. It was a pleasure to watch their well-oiled machine in progress and I definitely learned a few things about racing from the experience. Later in the day, when the rider in first position dropped out, it seemed like I had third place sewn up. It wasn't until the final lap that I was passed in earnest by a rider on his fixed gear bike who went on to take third place overall and first in the fixed gear category.

I always learn something about training and racing with every event. What I learned from this race was:

1. Tapering is very good.

2. Regular speed and hill work are good.

3. Long base miles ridden during the winter seem to pay dividends.

4. Carrying more than two bottles on board the bike should be considered if and when I race without a crew.

5. Racing with a crew that leapfrogs and passes off nutrition and such through pedestrian hand-offs is the next horozon.

6. The race isn't over until its over.

It was such an honor and a pleasure to have my family along for the adventure. I'm sure I enjoyed it much more than they did, but I'm so glad that they have this little window into why I love being an endurance cyclist. I hope to include them in more interesting ways in the future. More immediately, though, I look forward to adding this result to my UMCA UltraCup standings, which have been languishing a bit since my last ultra race in April. With luck, I will finish strong in London and hope to ride at least two of the four laps at the ADK540 in September.

Next year's goal: to qualify for RAAM at one of the 500-mile races with a full crew.

The UMCA Year-Rounder Challenge

Act now! It’s not too late to join the 2009 UMCA Year-Rounder Challenge. Each year, ultra-cyclists from around the world submit long distance rides (anything over 100 miles will do) as part of a global mileage challenge. AnyUMCA member can participate after paying a $10 fee for medals (sound familiar fellow randonneurs?). Participants also receive bi-weekly email newsletters from program coordinator John Lee Ellis with stories from the road and results.

Participants may submit miles ridden on both "organized" and "personal" rides. “Personal” miles are send in by mail along with a simple form and proof of passage (receipts, etc.), but specific routes and distances need not be approved by UMCA. Any route will do. Ride results from “organized” rides, such as brevets and ultra races, can be submitted on-line. Riders can even apply one indoor “century” (6 hour) ride per month, which is a great help to those of us riding in northern latitudes.

The program awards achievement by in several categories. The Larry Schwartz Award is presented to cyclists who ride at least one century ride per month over the course of 12 months. Make-up miles are transferable for two months only, so March is the last month in the year to begin. Other awards include the Gold Award, given to cyclists who ride more than 3,000 miles during the year and the Platinum Award, for riders who log more than 5,000 annual miles. Now, these are not total yearly miles, but rather miles derived from rides over 100 miles in length.

For me, the Y-R Challenge is another way to stay motivated throughout the year and perhaps pedal a few extra miles from time to time. It also provides me with a link to other cyclists who log, what may be long, lonely miles in far corners of the world. Looking at the riders with the top mileage results is also truly inspiring. In 2008, Canadian randonneur Ken Bonner, for example, logged over 17,000 miles!!! Shellene Foster rode over 11,000, Dan Driscoll over 10, 000. Where do these folks find the time?!?

Last year I participated in the Y-R Challenge for the first time and reached my goal by achieving the Larry Schwartz Award. This year, I’m after “Gold.” With L-E-L this summer and several other long rides planned, it should fall into place nicely. (Knock wood . . . ) So register today while there’s still time!

The UMCA Indoor Challenge

What motivates you as a cyclist? It's hard to say, right? In a perfect world, the ride itself would inspire us to pedal forward every time. While I do enjoy most of my rides and would rather be cycling than doing most other things, intrinsic motivation does not work all the time. In order to push ourselves to a higher level of performance, whether that means increasing speed or adding volume, we need to train through the tough times, too. This challenge seems particularly present in the northern latitudes, where snow and ice blanket the ground during the long winter months. These fall during the crucial base building phase where long steady miles are required and yet it’s often too cold, dark and icy to ride any meaningful distance.

This year, I decided to participate in the Ultra-Marathon Cycling Association (UMCA) Indoor Challenge as a way to stay motivated while logging important long miles on my trainer. The Indoor Challenge is open to all UMCA members and is held from November through March. Participating riders log indoor training sessions over two hours in length through a convenient on-line tool. Times are ascribed point values; the longer an individual session, the more points it yields. There are currently 32 riders from around the globe participating including several riders training for RAAM, the current world record holder in the 24-hour time trial and the former world record holder for the longest time spent on a trainer. Since November, participating cyclists have posted sessions of up to 24 hours in duration. Most rides are in the 2-6 hour range.

It's easy to lose perspective on your training needs when you ride longer than most riders in your local club and your wife and kids have long ago written you off as a lunatic. “Why can’t you just go out for an hour-long ride like a normal person?” they ask. It’s easy to lose sight of how much is enough and projects like the indoor challenge connect participants across the spectrum of ultra-marathon cycling. It isn’t the competition per se that gets me on the bike; it’s more the feeling of community with other endurance cylclists and the knowing what other riders are up to that provides me with extra motivation to log long indoor miles even when I don’t feel like it. In what can be an isolated and isolating sport, this feeling of community is important.

One thing I love about being a part of the ultra-cycling world is that as crazy as my wife and friends may think I am, there are plenty of crazier riders out there for me to take inspiration from. Knowing that there are RAAM competitors completing 24-hours indoor training sessions inspires me to get on that trainer and pound out another century myself. Hell, next to 24 hours on a trainer, 6 hours seems like a sprint!

Information about the UMCA Indoor Challenge and be found on their website. While you’re there, look at all of the other great things UMCA has to offer. There are outstanding training articles, other mileage competitions and a full ultra race calendar for the coming year.

So, most of the time it is the pure joy of the ride that gets me on the bike, but sometimes we all need an extra push. The Indoor Challenge is one of the things that helps me get on the bike when I DON’T really want to ride or when the roads are too unsafe to navigate. Hopefully, this will make me a stronger rider when the snows melt. Enough for now, I’m off to grind out another century on the Cycle-ops. Spring is just around the corner.