Tuesday After Work Ride re-cap

Five of us started from Panera in Wilmette and did a brisk single paceline to Fort Sheridan. Dave had to go back to pick up his daughter, so the remaining 4 did 5 hill intervals down the long ravine in the Fort. On the way home we continued the single paceline and made it home with the sun still up. The weather was perfect, as was the company. We should try to do a similar kind of ride during the week more often.

Monday 7/4/2011 Ride

Dear All,
I will lead a Very Fast (20+ mph) ride on Monday 7/4/2011. We will start at 07:00 from Panera Bread in Wilmette.

We are going to go to Cuba Road. The total distance is going to be around 60-70 miles. There will be one food stop in the middle.

Felix Angelov
vikfel at yahoo.com

After work ride on Tuesday 6/28/2011

Dear All,
I will lead a Very Fast (20+ mph) ride on Tuesday 6/28/2011. We will start at 17:30 from Panera Bread in Wilmette.

We are going to go to Fort Sheridan. The total distance is going to be around 30 miles. There will be no food stop.

If you are planning to join, please send me an email so I can look for you.

Felix Angelov
vikfel at yahoo.com

6/26 Ride Recap - 53 Mile Ride Practicing A Rotating Pace Line

We had spectacular weather for today's ride, and our rotating pace line riding was somewhat improved under Clay's tutelage. We had seven riders, 6 of whom had recovered enough from yesterday ride (which may not actually have been a century according to a couple of riders that were monitoring their bike computers) on  today's ride. Clay dropped off at 176, and Martin peeled off early to head home to Deerfield, but we picked up a couple of extra riders at a stop at Panera Bread. There continues to be a lively debate as to whether our group is better off using a double or single pace line, but consensus that we need more practice before we can come to a sound conclusion

6/25 Ride Recap - A Pleasant 100 Mile Ride to Pleasant Prairie, WI

The 13 riders that made the trip to Pleasant Prairie enjoyed near perfect weather, a nice group, and 26 tires that stayed inflated the entire ride. We rode at a fairly brisk pace, although not fast enough to achieve John Chisholm's goal of a 6 hour century. Once we arrived at Culvers, John attempted to recruit other riders for a quick turn around for the trip back home. However, there just were not enough riders willing to give up eating Butter Burgers to make the effort viable. Once it was obvious that we would not go for a fast overall time, adding an extra stop at Panera Bread in Lake Bluff started to seem like a good idea. Between dawdling at Culvers, the extra stop at Panera, and the group getting separated and part of the group making a wrong turn, the journey somehow expanded into a seven hour ride, despite traveling at a brisk pace most of the day. However, no one seemed to mind two much. A couple of notable events, Martin completed his first century bike ride (he was still leading sprints even after riding for 80 miles), and Heidi Hoppe rode with the group from start to finish for the first time.

Sub-5 Hour Century

Since we have a team for the Sub-5 Hour Century, here is a link to the promotional video:

Sub-5 Hour Century 2011

Obey The Rules!

Very interesting blog found by Rich:

http://www.velominati.com/blog/the-rules/

Many of the rules are good to be followed ;-)

We also need to learn the correct terminology:

http://www.velominati.com/blog/the-lexicon/

Saturday & Sunday June 25th & 26th, 2011 Rides

Dear All,

This weekend I will lead two Very Fast Rides (20+ mph). Both rides will leave Panera Bread in Wilmette at 07:00.

On Saturday we can do a faster version of the Jelly Belly Century ride. We can practice double and single paceline riding as the road conditions permit. There will a food stop in the middle at Culver's in Pleasant Prairie in Wisconsin. Bring two water bottles and snacks.

On Sunday we can do a ride similar to what we did last Sunday. Go to Waukegan Road and Voltz Road and practice double paceline all the way to Belvedere and back. Depending how we feel, we can do an extra loop. Total distance 60-85 miles at around 22 mph for the paceline. If we decide to do two loops we can have a food stop at Panera Bread on Route 176. If we do only one loop we can stop for a snack at Panera in Wilmette. Bring two water bottles and snacks to eat during the ride.

If the weather is bad I will post a cancellation on the listeserve by 06:00 on the day of the ride. If you have any questions send me an email at vikfel at yahoo.com

6/19/2011 Ride Re-cap

We had 10 riders today. Started with 8 and picked two on the way. The day started nice, not too hot, minimal wind. We re-grouped at Voltz and Waukegan road and did a double rotating paceline all the way to Waukegan and Belvedere. The group stayed together for most of the time. Everybody got a little surprised that the rotating paceline actually worked. There were moments that we were doing it very well and there were moments when we were opening bigger gaps in the line. But overall it was much better than the first time on the bike path. We had more riders this time and Clay and Mike were very helpful with tips, hints and being a perfect example. We turned back on Waukegan Road and continued the double rotating paceline back to Old Elm. There were couple of brisk sprints that broke the paceline at the end. At that point the sky turned darker and we decided to head back home instead of doing another loop on Waukegan road. We took the Old Elm Road, and did the usual return via Fort Sheridan, St. John, Lake Cook, Green Bay, Forrest Way roads. Just north of Tower Road it started raining. It rained almost all the way to home. Overall a very good ride, and promising paceline training.
P.S.
This was the first EBC ride with no food stop!!!

Servizio Corse Opera Rosa - Chapter II

Check out this behind the scenes video from the 2011 Giro d'Italia from the Vittoria's car perspective. Very interesting.

This is what happens when you have some free time and not riding...

Enjoy

Hugo

Saturday 6/18/11 Ride

This suggests a route for Saturday's ride that would include the 3 little sisters on St. Mary's, the little hills just south of Libertyville. If we want to save our legs for the ride Felix is leading on Sunday, (which may be grueling  if it is at the pace of the 80 mile ride he led last weekend) we can cut east at Atkinson Road and head for a mid-ride stop at Panera Bread in Lake Bluff (about a 50 mile round trip ride). If the group is feeling strong, we can head for the rolling terrain on River Road, which would extend it to about a 65 mile ride. Regardless of whether we follow this route or someone else comes up with a better one, I'll see you at Panera Bread at 7:00 am on Saturday

Sunday 6/19/2011 Ride

Dear All,

I will lead a Very Fast (20+mph) ride this Sunday, June 19th, 2011 at 07:00 AM from Panera Bread in Wilmette.

The total distance will be between 60 and 80 miles, there will be one food stop in the middle or between the second and the last thirds of the ride. We will try to practice rotating double paceline on wider, not so busy roads for a part of the ride.

If the weather is bad, I will post a cancellation on the listserve by 06:00 AM on the day of the ride.

If you have any questions, send me an email at vikfel@yahoo.com.

6/12 Ride Recap - Panera to Panera

We had a nice 40 mile ride today taking advantage of lovely weather. Our group included 7 riders for a Panera Bread in Wilmette to a Panera Bread in Lake Bluff ride. This was the first one on which our group  practiced a rotating paceline. Not unexpectedly, the rotating paceline was a bit ragged, but improved over the course of the ride.

We took the Skokie Valley Bikeway up to 176. When Felix threw out the suggestion that we consider adding an extra 10 mile loop to the ride, it was met with very meager enthusiasm. After yesterday's long hard ride, it did not take much discussion before the group reached a consensus that a 40 mile ride would be just fine. We  had a nice relaxing stop at a Panera and a discussion that included lots of anecdotes about past Evanston Bike Club rides.

With the wind at our backs on the way home, we returned back down the Skokie Valley Bikeway at a really brisk pace. Weather.com reports that the wind is from the ENE, but I'm going to believe my own eyes and the flag that I saw blowing true south. It's always pleasant to have the wind directly at your back on the way  home.

6/11/11 Cuba Road Ride Recap

Sort of  smallish group today for an 80 mile ride to the rollers on Cuba Road and Barrington Hills. A competing  ride to the Waterford Precision Bicycle Factory drew off some riders and mediocre weather held back others. It was damp and foggy at the start and frankly, about the middle of the ride, when a drizzling rain started fogging up my glasses and the temperature dropped back into the low '50's, we weren't having a ton of fun and thought that those that had passed on today's ride were not so foolish after all. However, the rain soon stopped and the day got warmer and we got back to enjoying a very scenic route.

We started with 7 riders, but 3 of them dropped off early as planned, including Martin, his friend Joe, and Bill Rizek. Thus, for the majority of the ride it was Felix, Paul, Charles, and me. Felix navigated the dozens of turns on our route flawlessly, and took the lion's share of the pulls.

A highlight of the ride was rescuing a damsel in distress. Well, "rescuing" might be a bit of an overstatement, but Felix saved her from a long 10 mile walk home pushing her bicycle by changing her tire. A lowlight of the ride was Charles losing the head to his new power meter. He is not sure whether it fell off or was taken in that den of thieves called Barrington. Somehow after looking around at the other patrons at our mid ride stop at Einstein Bagels in Barrington, it seems an unlikely spot for a thief. The loss remains a bit of a mystery.

All things considered, it ended up being a pretty good ride. Good company. some great scenery, and riding through rolling terrain at a fast pace, in weather that was just fine during the last quarter of the ride.

Rides for June 11th & 12th

Dear All,
I will lead two Very Fast (20+ mph) rides on Saturday 6/11/2011 and Sunday 6/12/2011. Both rides will start at 07:00 from Panera Bread in Wilmette.

On Saturday we can do 60-80 mile ride going west on Cuba Road. There will be a food stop in the middle.

On Sunday we can do the usual 45-60 mile trip to Lake Bluff or Gurnee. There will be a food stop at Panera Bread in Lake Bluff.

If the weather is bad I will post a cancellation on the listserve before 06:00 on the day of the ride.

If you have any questions send me an email at vikfel at yahoo.com

Paceline Choices

From Left to Right: Single Paceline Double Paceline Rotating Paceline Echelon http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S129pCsN-YU For our group (small size) we should do the Rotating Paceline if we are 6 or more, or Single Paceline for 5 or less. If there is a strong side wind Echelon is a good option. The Double Paceline works better for larger groups (12 or more). Just my opinion. We can expirement and see what works for us.

June 5th Ride Recap

It started as a much cooler day than yesterday and stayed like that for the entire ride. 6 of us took the usual route to Panera in Lake Bluff. The usual pace line on the Skokie Valley Bicycle Path. Nice snack and conversation at Panera Bread. Brisk pace line back on the path. Made it home earlier than usual (I hope the wives appreciated it).

Just few seconds before...

Hi there,

I hope you are all ok and having a great time riding your bikes. It seems like you are truly enjoying the rides, since I have been reading the blog. I wish I was there riding along. Anyway, my pelvic bone fracture is healing ok (I saw the specialist on Thursday) and I should be able to ride again in about a month.

I was reviewing my power file on the day of my accident and it is interesting what my computer recorded a few seconds before the crash. The file shows that I was going at 22.8 miles an hour, with a heart rate of 162 bpm, power was 407 watts, 104 rpm cadence, with a 3% of slope. There is more info on the upper left corner and at the bottom.

Little did my computer know what was about to happen...

Take care and have a nice ride.

Hugo

June 4th Recap

Another +90F ride today. The difference this time, was one of those rare rides where you have a tail wind on both halves of the ride. The type of ride where you feel you can compete professionally until you realize it was the gentle hand of God pushing you along.

The roads were filled with MAMILs (Middle Aged Men in Lycra) just like us. Seeing this community of riders along the way made me feel good inside. I felt part of something larger, a club that wears clothes that are way too tight. When you ride, it's close to impossible to tell how old another rider is. I think it's more than just the clothes. Riding brings you back to a time when bikes were the way you and your friends got around. On the way home, if I squinted just a little bit, and looked at the shadow everyone castes, we were kids again. Try it.


The 80 miles we rode is now taking it's toll on me. Can't wait to meet my friends on bikes and ride again tomorrow