Dauphin Island Ride

Yesterday I took two of my programming students to the University of South Alabama just west of Mobile for a programming competition. The competition involves a 5-hour session where we cannot make any contact at all with the students. What is a biking professor to do for those 5 hours? Well, let’s see, I’ll go for a bike ride! Here’s a topocreator.com map of the route I took from the university down to the coast and across a 4 mile long bridge.

I started out heading due south on Hillcrest Road which was surprisingly hilly with some 5, 6, and 7% grades. It was a very wide 4 lane road, but there was a bit of traffic. Eventually, I made my way down to Carol Plantation Rd which took me for the next 14 miles south towards the coast. This road had much less traffic, but it was a narrower 2 lane road with a speed limit of 55mph. The road was very straight so most cars passed on the opposite of the road. I had a pretty strong side-headwind to battle so my pace hovered right around 20mph. It was very windy once I made it to the bridge. The middle of the bridge rose up very sharply with a maximum grade of 7%. Just to the right of the white line was about 18 inches of smooth, debris-free shoulder which allowed me to ride the bridge without being in traffic and without worrying about getting a flat tire. The actual shoulder was probably 6 feet wide, but it was quite debris-strewn past that 18 inch mark. It didn’t matter much though because there was hardly any traffic.

Dauphin Island itself was a great place to ride with low speed limits, and wide smooth roads. I rode to the easternmost point of the island just past the ferry which is a 45 minute trip across the bay to Fort Morgan. Unfortunately there wasn’t enough time for me to ride the ferry across, so I turned around and headed back with a strong tailwind. I was able to average much closer to 25mph for large sections of the return trip, except for the portions of the route which turned northeast since it was a strong southeasterly wind. It was an awesome change of pace from my normal riding in Birmingham.

Tour de Cullman (2009)

Yesterday we went to a great group ride / training race / and party better known as the Tour de Cullman. Carson Glasscock continues to pour into the cycling community by opening up his home to the community and facilitating this informal ride/race/party. The format is to ride at a leisurely social pace for the first 21 miles, then race the next 18 miles over some serious rollers finishing with a nice climb up Skyball Mountain. I ended up winning the race portion in what was a very tactical battle. Here’s my HR data for the race portion of the ride with annotations describing key points in the battle:

1. The wooden bridge that comes before the official start, but this is the spot where the pace really picks up. Nice 12+% gradient for 1/10th of a mile
2. The official start of the ride. It was an exhilarating start with a horse drawn carriage on the right side of the road, a pack of dogs on the left, and us shooting through the middle right as the green flag dropped. My teammate Darryl Seelhorst (Tria / DonohooAuto.com) launched out hard and strung out the group forcing others to chase.
3. As soon as the front group reached the left turn up the steep quarter mile 12+% gradient climb, Jake Brewer (Herring Gas) launched an attack. I covered it and then rode behind him waiting for my teammates to come up.
4. Eventually, Omar Fraser pulled up with Scott Kuppersmith (Herring Gas) and my teammate Sammy Flores. The five of us worked together over this stretch labeled #4, but Jake, Scott, and Omar each took a dig to launch out on their own. I covered each move and tried to help make it stick, but there was always somebody strong enough to pull us back. So we came to the foot of the climb together as a group of five.
5. Omar was in the front and set a fast tempo at the bottom of the climb dropping Jake and Sammy. Here at the spot labeled #5, I picked up the pace passing Omar and taking Scott with me.
6. At this spot, right when the gradient gets really steep, I kicked it up a notch and took it the rest of the way solo. The road was very bumpy so I knew that Omar would be able to navigate and ride more efficiently with his mountain biking skills so I could never let off the gas and pushed it hard all the way to the finish.
7. The finish – awesome to watch people come in one-by-one after making it up the climb.

The Tour de Cullman

I am excited to be able to participate this year in the annual Tour de Cullman – an informal training ride, race, and party put on by Carson Glasscock and the Cullman Cycling Club. Check out the topocreator.com map I made. I’ll report back on Sunday about all the fun!

2009 Year-end review season stats

Definitely my best season ever thanks to a growing strong team, some good luck, and a lot of hard work! Here is the summary statistics for my 2009 season racing as a cat 1 for one of the top amateur teams in the South. This year I am reporting my statistics from January 12 – October 4. January 12th was my first training day back from a two-week mission trip to Nicaragua at the beginning of the year, where I also had the opportunity to race and win a local criterium on a borrowed bike. October 4th was the date of my last race for this year’s season. So over the course of those 266 days, I logged these statistics:

Statistic	Avg	Max	Min	Total
Weekly training time (hours)	14.72	20.77	8.7	559.72
Weekly distance (miles)	268.4	369.4	187.9	10,197
Workouts per week (#)	9	13	4	443
Weekly climbing (feet)	14,124	29,275	4,062	536,772

Just for fun, I’ve also included my yearlong stats from 10/5/08 – 10/4/09:

Statistic	Avg	Max	Min	Total
Weekly training time (hours)	13.3	20.77	1.82	691.65
Weekly distance (miles)	237.5	369.4	31.5	12,350
Workouts per week (#)	9	13	4	493
Weekly climbing (feet)	13,261	29,275	4,062	663,032

2009 Greenville Fall Extravaganza Race Weekend

Even though it was a 5+ hour drive from Birmingham, it was well worth it for a new race weekend on the calendar this year in Greenville, SC put on by the Piedmont Orthopaedic Associates Cycling Team. The first race was at Brookwood Church in Simpsonville just outside Greenville. The church had a huge circular parking lot that surrounded the church with a chicane leading to a perimeter road. The finish came about 300 meters after the chicane up a slight incline. The course was fast and wide open to make for a really fun race. Although the field was small, there was some really strong riders in the field: Andy Baker (Mountain Khakis), Thad Dulin and Cleve Blackwell (Team United Healthcare), Jonathan Clarke (Jelly Belly), and Geri Mewitt (Hincapie) just to name a few. I was in several breaks early, but the move that stuck was a counter attack to a move I was in halfway through the race. Still, with one lap to go they called a $70 gamblers prime so I attacked, won the prime, and stayed away one more lap almost catching the break of 5 but not quite so I ended up sixth.

Sunday’s race was at the BMW Performance Center in Greer. Cleve attacked solo at the beginning of the race. Andy Baker (Mountain Khakis), Geri Mewitt (Hincapie) and myself bridged up to him to form a strong 4-man break. On the technical part of the track, we were making time extending our lead up to nearly 30 seconds. But Jonathan Clarke (Jelly Belly) had missed the move and he ended up slowly but surely pulling the field back up to us. Clarke got away solo a few laps later and a couple laps after that Thad Dulin (United Healthcare) attacked with Juan Pablo (Aerocat). I latched onto them and helped chase for a few laps. Then, the field brought our chase back. Thad counterattacked immediately after we were caught and Juan Pablo went with him again. I was too tired to respond, so the two of them eventually joined up with Clarke and the three of them sprinted it out for the podium spots. With two laps to go, they called a $10 prime which I attacked and won. Then they called a $20 prime with one lap to go, and I stayed away from my previous attack to win that one too. Then on the last lap, it looked like I might be able to stay away to hold on for 4th – but I was caught by Geri Mewitt on the line who had attacked the group and took 4th with me coming in a second later for 5th and the field sprint only a few seconds behind us.

Here is my heart rate data for both races:

• Attacking to win the gambler’s prime
• Holding on for a lap to come in sixth behind the 5 man break

• Attacking for the first of two gambler’s primes and then holding it to the finish