metric century

Necronneuring (Metric Century Training – Week 3)

Standard

I tried to follow my metric century training plan last week.

Here’s how I made out:

What I should have done 8 14 17 off 14 42 14 108 Miles
What I did off 14 off 18 14 off 43 76 Miles

I came up a little short on the weekly total, but I got the long ride in, so I’m calling it a successful week.

This week’s long ride was another Necronneuring™ adventure. I found another old cemetery in the Google maps satellite view that wasn’t on the map, so I rode out to investigate. Sloth came along on this one.

It was a dark and gloomy day. Perfect for a spooky bike ride.

A dark and gloomy day.

Sloth knew a shortcut through the woods to avoid a particularly shitty intersection.

Shortcut

After a great deal of dick-monkeying around, we got to the entrance to the cemetery. Unfortunately, the road was gated, and posted with “No Trespassing” signs.

No Trespassing

A caretaker showed up out of nowhere and opened the gate for us. It was kind of strange. This gate is in the woods, out of sight from anywhere. I’m assuming he was real, and this isn’t some Scooby-Doo ghost story thing, because Sloth saw him too.

Anyways, we made our way up to the grave yard and looked around.

Bikes in the Graveyard

After a few minutes of walking around in wet grass, and breathing in the unwholesome vapours of the graveyard, we rode back down the mountain. Sloth brewed up some coffee to keep our spirits up.

Esbit coffee

After coffee time, we rode back across the river to the land of the living.

I had some minor mechanical malfunctions on this ride. I lost a fender mount, and seem to have picked up a few ticks, squeeks, and moans in the Cross Check. I have about 1600 miles on her since her last tune-up, so I guess it’s time to get the wrenches out and give her the once-over.

These rides are getting longer, and I really don’t want to have a total breakdown 30 miles from home.

[osm_map lat=”40.298″ long=”-76.896″ zoom=”12″ width=”600″ height=”450″ type=”Ext” gpx_file=”http://blasphemous.bike/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/activity_315282914.gpx” extmap_address=”http://a.tile.thunderforest.com/outdoors/${z}/${x}/${y}.png” extmap_init=”numZoomLevels: 17, transitionEffect: ‘resize’, sphericalMercator: true” extmap_type=”OSM” extmap_name=”Outdoor”]

Metric Century Training – Week 2

Standard

I tried to follow my metric century training plan last week.

Here’s how I made out:

What I should have done 8 13 15 off 13 38 11 98 Miles
What I did 8 13 off 16 13 off 41 91 Miles

We had some ugly thunderstorms Wednesday night, so I swapped out the Wednesday ride to Thursday. No big deal.

Thursday, I rode up a mountain and into the woods, while it was pouring rain the whole time, because I am a #rule9 bad-ass.

image

Then, we had heavy rain all day on Saturday, and #rule9 or no, I stayed inside and watched Doctor Who.

So, I did my long ride on Sunday.

I tried to make it to Fort Hunter last week, and that was my destination again. I rode down to City Island, topped off my water bottles and took this panorama of Harrisburg.

image

I fought a gnarly side wind coming off the river, but I eventually made it to Fort Hunter.

image

I had this view of Marysville (where I started). My house was only about 2 miles away (if I had a canoe), but because of how the bridges are set up, I had another 20 mile ride ahead of me to get back home.

I ate an apple for sustenance, and turned the bike back into the wind for the return trip.

image

When I got near my house, I had 39 miles for the day, so I made a loop around the block to try to break 40 miles.

[osm_map lat=”40.298″ lon=”-76.918″ zoom=”12″ width=”600″ height=”450″ type=”Ext” gpx_file=”http://blasphemous.bike/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/activity_311700889.gpx” extmap_address=”http://a.tile.thunderforest.com/outdoors/${z}/${x}/${y}.png” extmap_init=”numZoomLevels: 17, transitionEffect: ‘resize’, sphericalMercator: true” extmap_type=”OSM” extmap_name=”Outdoor”]

All in all, a successful week.

Metric Century Training – Week 1

Standard

Now that #30daysofbiking is over with, I decided to get started training to ride a metric century.

I haven’t done a single ride over thirty miles in almost 3 years, so I wasn’t sure how my legs were going to hold up. But, I did ride about 25 miles one day last week. So, I figured 30-35 miles should be doable without too much trouble.

I headed out with Fort Hunter in mind as a general destination. I was thinking that would be about a 35 mile out-and-back.

Somehow, I miscalculated the distances, and found myself farther from home than I wanted to be, in a residential neighborhood, with a full bladder. I pushed on a little farther, and made it to the Wildwood Lake restroom facilities with only seconds to spare.

I had a snack and decided that Fort Hunter would have to wait for next week. I was running out of time, and needed to turn back.

BikePA Route J
(There are more photos from this adventure in the Gallery)

I ended up with 36 miles for the day. That puts me somewhere between weeks 4 and 5 on the training plan.

[osm_map lat=”40.282″ lon=”-76.931″ zoom=”12″ width=”600″ height=”450″ type=”Ext” gpx_file=”http://blasphemous.bike/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/activity_307600216.gpx” extmap_address=”http://a.tile.thunderforest.com/outdoors/${z}/${x}/${y}.png” extmap_init=”numZoomLevels: 17, transitionEffect: ‘resize’, sphericalMercator: true” extmap_type=”OSM” extmap_name=”Outdoor”]

I’m a little sore today. Surprisingly, its mostly lower back, and not legs. I’m not sure if I have a bike fit problem, or just terrible core strength. (Probably terrible core strength).

At any rate, I’m going to ride week 5 of the plan this week, and see how things go.

Week Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri Sat Sun Total
5 8 13 15 off 13 38 11 98 Miles

#30daysofbiking – Fin

Standard

I got in another 13 miles tonight.

That makes 307.27 miles for the month, which makes this my best month ever!

Woot!

Other stats for the month from Garmin Connect:
32 rides
28 hours, 41 minutes, and 33 seconds in the saddle
29,189 calories burnt (I don’t believe this one)

I recently entered into a gentleman’s agreement with one of my co-workers. He’s a runner, and make the outrageous boast that he could run more miles in 2013 than I can ride my bicycle.

One thing lead to another, wagers were entered in to before witnesses, and now there is money at stake. So, I’ll be transitioning directly from #30daysofbiking into my metric century training plan.

I’ll be a horse’s ass before I let some runner make off with my moolah.