PolarLava::Blog

So as well as the year started out, my cycling and general conditioning has now gone in the toilet.  I've been battling sinus and lung congestion for three weeks now.  As usual it would start to get better and the get worse again.  I finally went to the doctor yesterday…I appear to be getting to the end of it, but we're wacking it with antibiotics to make sure it goes away.  I'm hopeful that by Monday morning I will be well enough to begin working out again.  I'm so tired of this routine as this seem to generally happen at least a couple times of year to me.  :(

I came across The drugs don't work last month, but never got around to commenting on it.  I think it paints a pretty interesting picture of what was going on in professional cycling during "The Armstrong Years".  Rather sad actually.  And in other regards, rather amazing.

So I mentioned previously in Riding Year Round that I'd write more about how I ride year round.  The first thing one need is some good luck —at least if you live somewhere like Buffalo, by being snow-free or at least cold and dry.  The problem being it's not fun to ride when it's wet and cold.  One or the other is fine, but not both.  Plus that kind of weather really takes its toll on your bike because of all the grit and grime.  It does a really nice job of wearing out all those lightweight, expensive bits.  The other problem is that wet and cold can also mean ice.  Not a good thing when you're rolling along on two wheels that are only about 3/4 of an inch wide.

So let's assume that it's cold, but not wet.  Yeah, lets go out and play.  But first you need to definitely have the proper clothes.  To call good cycling clothes expensive is a huge understatement.  Thus most people do like I did and buy the affordable stuff and improvise until you splurge once on the good stuff.  Then you learn how much better it really is.  So over the course of years you slowly build up a collection of good stuff and then start replacing it as it wears out.  Oh, if you're looking to save money forget about taking up cycling as a sport.  They are completely incompatible.

Anyhow, like any outdoor activity it's best to dress in layers.  The colder it is, the more layers.  This allows you the ability to regulate your body heat conditions change.  At this point I feel I can ride down to somewhere in the mid-20's although I believe I've only actually done about 30°F…not counting wind chill.  On it's own wind chill is bad enough, but on a bike you're going to generate your own because you're moving.  And if you let yourself get cold the wind will quickly sap your energy…to the point you could be putting yourself at risk.  This is something I'm always very careful to avoid.  You can always unzip or strip off layers if you're too hot.  But if you're bundled up and cold, you're asking for trouble.

So for me I have an inventory of items I typically wear when it's cold:

• cycling shorts, preferably bibs
• short-sleeved cycling jersey (with great wicking ability)
• polypro long-sleeved base layer undershirt
• long-sleeved polypro turtleneck
• long-sleeved fleece lined jersey
• fleece lined tights
• a second pair of fleece lined tights
• polypro socks
• Gor-Tex socks
• cycling shoes
• shoe covers
• neoprene/fleece hat
• polypro glove liners
• full-finger medium weight gloves
• My shiny new Sugoi Invertor jacket

So I've ridden most of the year since I started riding seriously again in 1995.  But I used to take off pretty much all of the winter.  But as time has gone on I've ridden more and more in the winter months.  The bulk of that being indoors as snowy and icy days like today preclude being outdoors.  Thus I've always responded to "Do you ride year round?" with a "mostly".

Well, not anymore!  As of my ride this past Sunday I can say that "Yes, I do ride year round".  As this is the first time I've ever ridden outdoors in January.  And it's certainly something I intend to try to do more of in the future.  Thanks to global warming it seems that it might even get easier to do.

I'm short on time today, but in another post I'll discuss what I've done that allows me to ride year round now.

So now that we are into 2009 it's time to look back on how we fared in 2008.  There won't be any set goals for this year as I know my riding will be down.  I have lots of work around the house that I've been neglecting and my position change at work has also put a lot more demands on my time.  So let's review…

I've been thinking the past few weeks about what I want to accomplish on the bike in 2008.  These are the goals I've set:

• Ride 4000 miles. That might have happened in 2007, but vacation, back issues and sickness detrailed that in the early fall. - SUCCESS, 4,001.67 miles.  Required a concerted effort in December as I got lazy in November.
• Ride 10% more miles each month than in 2007.  I probably won't make this goal every month, but if I can do that overall it will put me close to that 4000 mile goal. - PARTIAL, I haven't figure it out exactly, but most months I did do this, but I know there were a couple that I didn't.  But overall I had more than a 10% increase over 2007.
• Ride 3 century rides.  I did one last year for the first time in 9 years.  The last time I did three was in 1996. - SUCCESS, yes, yes, and yes.  And those last two were on consecutive weekends.
• Set a new personnel distance record.  This means topping my 153.90 mile ride in August of 1996. - FAIL, This was a pipe dream and never be topped.  But mentally my goal is to someday ride a double century (200 miles).
• Have an overall average speed outdoors of 18.50mph.  That an small increase over last year's 18.22mph, but still shy of 2004's 18.70mph. - FAIL, I actually slowed down to 18.00, but I did ride faster indoors so my overall average was up about 0.4 mph.