Tail winds are a wonderful thing...

David Kerber

.... and hills at the end of a 40 miler are not.

My longest ride so far this year was earlier today. Temp in the 50's
(F), sunny and a little breezy out of the WSW. I did a big loop which
had me going with the wind at about the 28 mile point for 7 or 8 miles,
and on that stretch, I was running 23 to 28 mph on the flats in the big
ring! That's real fast for me to maintain for any distance.

It let me rest up enough that when I got to a side road where I do some
of my hill training, I was feeling kind of cocky, so I decided to do a
run up it. Not a good idea with 39 miles already under my belt. By
halfway up, I could tell it was going to be a close call whether the
hill won, or I did. I was grinding hard standing in my lowest gear
(30x23), gasping for air, and my hamstrings and quads felt like they
were getting ready to start cramping up. I seriously considered turning
around and heading back down, but ended up forcing myself to finish what
I started. I did make it without stopping and walking, but it was
definitely the toughest thing I've ever done on a bike. I've done this
hill several times in the past, but never with any where near that many
miles already on my legs for the day. It was the first time since I
swapped cassettes last fall that I really wanted that 28- or 32-tooth
cog that came on the original cassette. For those of you who know RI,
this was Gilbert Stuart Rd; it's an elevation gain of about 150 ft with
an average grade of about 10-12%, with short pitches at about 16%.

Even so, the coast back down at 40 mph around the sweeping curves was
almost worth it. Then I finished the last 4 miles back home at a very
easy pace, mostly in the small ring. Ended up with 43.3 miles at a
moving average of 15.0, with just over 3 hours of elapsed time door to
door, and felt pretty good, all things considered.

--
Dave Kerber
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William Holiday

On Sat, 10 Apr 2004 16:47:28 -0400, David Kerber <ns_dkerber@ns_ids.net> wrote:

<For those of you who know RI,
<this was Gilbert Stuart Rd; it's an elevation gain of about 150 ft with
<an average grade of about 10-12%, with short pitches at about 16%.

How does that climb compare to the Pequot Trail in No Stonington, the reservoir
area, and in Pawcatuck by the Franchi property, over the bridge from Westerly?

David Kerber

In article <ekog70hiu3lbevfft4fgc81aq0q7r8jka1@4ax.com>,
hattertown@yahoo.com says...
> On Sat, 10 Apr 2004 16:47:28 -0400, David Kerber <ns_dkerber@ns_ids.net> wrote:
>
> <For those of you who know RI,
> <this was Gilbert Stuart Rd; it's an elevation gain of about 150 ft with
> <an average grade of about 10-12%, with short pitches at about 16%.
>
> How does that climb compare to the Pequot Trail in No Stonington, the reservoir
> area, and in Pawcatuck by the Franchi property, over the bridge from Westerly?

I've never ridden in those areas, so I don't know.

--
Dave Kerber
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Eric S. Sande

>Ended up with 43.3 miles at a moving average of 15.0, with just over
>3 hours of elapsed time door to door, and felt pretty good, all things
>considered.

Nice job, David.

--

_______________________ALL AMIGA IN MY MIND_______________________
------------------"Buddy Holly, the Texas Elvis"------------------
__________306.350.357.38>>cwhitman@texastwr.utaustin.edu__________

David Kerber

In article <40789280.BEC35677@erols.com>, esande@erols.com says...
> >Ended up with 43.3 miles at a moving average of 15.0, with just over
> >3 hours of elapsed time door to door, and felt pretty good, all things
> >considered.
>
> Nice job, David.

Thanks; I didn't hit this level last year until after mid-summer. The
winter trainer time is definitely paying off.

--
Dave Kerber
Fight spam: remove the ns_ from the return address before replying!

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Scott

David Kerber wrote:

> cog that came on the original cassette. For those of you who know RI,
> this was Gilbert Stuart Rd; it's an elevation gain of about 150 ft with
> an average grade of about 10-12%, with short pitches at about 16%.
>

I recall GS Road as winding, however, with speeding (albeit
infrequent) cars. At least I liked to go fast on it on the
drive towards Wickford. Maybe there are fewer speeders now
that I'm not in RI

Better it than Bridgetown Rd, though, I guess. That hill up
to 138 is a killer. Short, but a killer. And all that traffic
to GSO.

Scott, really at notscape det not

David Kerber

In article <407aa4e4$0$1157$80265adb@spool.cs.wisc.edu>, ScottLWI@mouse-
potato.com says...
> David Kerber wrote:
>
> > cog that came on the original cassette. For those of you who know RI,
> > this was Gilbert Stuart Rd; it's an elevation gain of about 150 ft with
> > an average grade of about 10-12%, with short pitches at about 16%.
> >
>
> I recall GS Road as winding, however, with speeding (albeit
> infrequent) cars. At least I liked to go fast on it on the
> drive towards Wickford. Maybe there are fewer speeders now
> that I'm not in RI

You recall correctly, though I haven't been on it enough to verify the
speeders. The turns are just wide enough that I can take them at full
speed on my bike.


> Better it than Bridgetown Rd, though, I guess. That hill up
> to 138 is a killer. Short, but a killer. And all that traffic
> to GSO.

That traffic is why I've never ridden this section; it's just a bit too
narrow for comfort with the amount of traffic on it. Though I imagine
that going down, I wouldn't be passed much even on my bike. If I want
to go up to Rt 1, I usually go up Torrey Rd. It's much steeper, but
much shorter too.

--
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Scott

David Kerber wrote:
> In article <407aa4e4$0$1157$80265adb@spool.cs.wisc.edu>, ScottLWI@mouse-
> potato.com says...
>
>>David Kerber wrote:
>>
>>
>>>cog that came on the original cassette. For those of you who know RI,
>>>this was Gilbert Stuart Rd; it's an elevation gain of about 150 ft with
>>>an average grade of about 10-12%, with short pitches at about 16%.
>>>
>>
>>I recall GS Road as winding, however, with speeding (albeit
>>infrequent) cars. At least I liked to go fast on it on the
>>drive towards Wickford. Maybe there are fewer speeders now
>>that I'm not in RI
>
>
> You recall correctly, though I haven't been on it enough to verify the
> speeders. The turns are just wide enough that I can take them at full
> speed on my bike.
>
>
>
>>Better it than Bridgetown Rd, though, I guess. That hill up
>>to 138 is a killer. Short, but a killer. And all that traffic
>>to GSO.
>
>
> That traffic is why I've never ridden this section; it's just a bit too
> narrow for comfort with the amount of traffic on it. Though I imagine
> that going down, I wouldn't be passed much even on my bike. If I want
> to go up to Rt 1, I usually go up Torrey Rd. It's much steeper, but
> much shorter too.
>

Oh gawd, that hill. I swear they were running out of
asphalt so they made the street as short as possible,
running it straight up the hill to 138. I never made
it up that hill without stopping in one of the driveways
for a breather.

Scott

David Kerber

In article <407aabc6$0$1163$80265adb@spool.cs.wisc.edu>, ScottLWI@mouse-
potato.com says...

....

> >>Better it than Bridgetown Rd, though, I guess. That hill up
> >>to 138 is a killer. Short, but a killer. And all that traffic
> >>to GSO.
> >
> >
> > That traffic is why I've never ridden this section; it's just a bit too
> > narrow for comfort with the amount of traffic on it. Though I imagine
> > that going down, I wouldn't be passed much even on my bike. If I want
> > to go up to Rt 1, I usually go up Torrey Rd. It's much steeper, but
> > much shorter too.
> >
>
> Oh gawd, that hill. I swear they were running out of
> asphalt so they made the street as short as possible,
> running it straight up the hill to 138. I never made
> it up that hill without stopping in one of the driveways
> for a breather.

I've never had a problem on it with the 11-32 cassette (and the 30-tooth
small ring on the front) which came on my Fuji Touring, but I don't
think I've tried it yet with the 11-23 I put on last fall. Sometime
this spring, I'll see how a 30x23 does on it. I better not try it at
the end of a 40-miler, that's for sure <grin>.


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David Kerber

In article <407aabc6$0$1163$80265adb@spool.cs.wisc.edu>, ScottLWI@mouse-
potato.com says...

....

> >>Better it than Bridgetown Rd, though, I guess. That hill up
> >>to 138 is a killer. Short, but a killer. And all that traffic
> >>to GSO.
> >
> >
> > That traffic is why I've never ridden this section; it's just a bit too
> > narrow for comfort with the amount of traffic on it. Though I imagine
> > that going down, I wouldn't be passed much even on my bike. If I want
> > to go up to Rt 1, I usually go up Torrey Rd. It's much steeper, but
> > much shorter too.
> >
>
> Oh gawd, that hill. I swear they were running out of
> asphalt so they made the street as short as possible,
> running it straight up the hill to 138. I never made
> it up that hill without stopping in one of the driveways
> for a breather.

I've never had a problem on it with the 11-32 cassette (and the 30-tooth
small ring on the front) which came on my Fuji Touring, but I don't
think I've tried it yet with the 11-23 I put on last fall. Sometime
this spring, I'll see how a 30x23 does on it. I better not try it at
the end of a 40-miler, that's for sure <grin>.


--
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newsgroups if possible).

amh

David Kerber <ns_dkerber@ns_ids.net> wrote in message news:<MPG.1ae2276a98d04d2a989935@news.ids.net>...
> ... and hills at the end of a 40 miler are not.
>
The best ride I can remember was the last 60 miles of the Icefields
Parkway (in Canada) into Jasper. My GF and I had the wind at our
backs, the sun in the sky and most of the road downhill to go with
spectacular scenery. We averaged 20mph with paniers.

I know there will come a day that will be the direct and exact oposite
of that day.

Andy

Hunrobe

>David Kerber ns_dkerber@ns_ids.net

wrote a description of a ride that- even including the pain- made me jealous.
Nice post, David.

Regards,
Bob Hunt

Jonathan Quist

Tailwinds can be a trip! I rode the Pacific Coast Highway last year
from Half Moon Bay (about 30 miles south of San Francisco) to Santa
Cruz, about 50 miles south of HMB. In the afternoon, the onshore winds
came up, and at one point the wind was directly at my back. I didn't
realize what was happening until I tried to shift into a bigger gear,
and realized I was in my big ring/small cog combination. I never use
that unless I am going down a pretty good hill. I double checked and
was clearly not going downhill, checked my computer and was doing
25mph, then realized that I was hearing absolutely no wind noise.
Also, drops of sweat were dropping off my forehead and falling
(relatively) straight down to the road, not blowing backwards at all.
I was doing 25 mph in a 25 mph tailwind! I also got really warm really
quickly because I didn't have any airflow to cool me off... Made the
advantages of drafting pretty clear!

Enjoy 'em when you get 'em!

David Kerber <ns_dkerber@ns_ids.net> wrote in message news:<MPG.1ae2276a98d04d2a989935@news.ids.net>...
> ... and hills at the end of a 40 miler are not.
>
> My longest ride so far this year was earlier today. Temp in the 50's
> (F), sunny and a little breezy out of the WSW. I did a big loop which
> had me going with the wind at about the 28 mile point for 7 or 8 miles,
> and on that stretch, I was running 23 to 28 mph on the flats in the big
> ring! That's real fast for me to maintain for any distance.
>
> It let me rest up enough that when I got to a side road where I do some
> of my hill training, I was feeling kind of cocky, so I decided to do a
> run up it. Not a good idea with 39 miles already under my belt. By
> halfway up, I could tell it was going to be a close call whether the
> hill won, or I did. I was grinding hard standing in my lowest gear
> (30x23), gasping for air, and my hamstrings and quads felt like they
> were getting ready to start cramping up. I seriously considered turning
> around and heading back down, but ended up forcing myself to finish what
> I started. I did make it without stopping and walking, but it was
> definitely the toughest thing I've ever done on a bike. I've done this
> hill several times in the past, but never with any where near that many
> miles already on my legs for the day. It was the first time since I
> swapped cassettes last fall that I really wanted that 28- or 32-tooth
> cog that came on the original cassette. For those of you who know RI,
> this was Gilbert Stuart Rd; it's an elevation gain of about 150 ft with
> an average grade of about 10-12%, with short pitches at about 16%.
>
> Even so, the coast back down at 40 mph around the sweeping curves was
> almost worth it. Then I finished the last 4 miles back home at a very
> easy pace, mostly in the small ring. Ended up with 43.3 miles at a
> moving average of 15.0, with just over 3 hours of elapsed time door to
> door, and felt pretty good, all things considered.