Wednesday, September 28, 2011

10/1 Ride Starting Time is Still 7:00 am

We'll meet at 7AM at Panera in Wilmette and do Panera to Panera with a possible loop on Atkinson/St. Mary. Back before noon. We may move the ride starting time back to 8:00 am the weekend of 10/8 in order to stay in synch with the EBC Fast ride.

Saturday, September 24, 2011

9/24/11 Ride Recap - Panera to Panera

The combination of riders tapering before tomorrow's Apple Cider Century and the wet weather led to it being a small group today. Our ride consisted of just Gary, Felix and me. And while it was a successful ride, the early going in the rain was pretty miserable.

Prior to the ride while gathering at Panera, we took some good natured teasing from Heidi. She mentioned that while the members of the group that rode in the Sub 5 Hour Century are pretty fast for five hours, that the more experienced members of last Saturday's ride can go a lot more than just 5 hours. (Heidi, Phil and Charles added an extra 20 miles to last week's ride by heading up to the Botanic Gardens). We had to admit that there is definitely something to the knowledge and stamina that years of experience riding in the Evanston Bike Club provide, because after riding in the rain last Sunday and again today, I wish the rest of us had gotten in some bonus miles taking advantage of the gorgeous weather last Saturday.

The ride up to Lake Bluff was at a very leisurely pace due to caution on wet roads. It stopped raining after we were about half way, and then suddenly became very pleasant. We debated whether or not to stop, based on getting back home before it started raining again. However, stopping to dry out wet socks won out. While we enjoyed the conversation and hot drinks during the break, as it started raining on us again just before we got home, maybe we should have gone with Felix's initial inclination to not make a stop.

The ride home down the Bunny Trail (Skokie Valley Bikeway) started out at a leisurely pace. However, with each pull, we each progressively took turns speeding up the pace by about a mile per hour. Once we got up to 25 mph, Gary and I decided that we did not want Felix to have tired legs for his century the next day, so for his benefit didn't take the pace up any higher. (I realize that most readers of this post that know Gary and me will be skeptical that we backed off because we were being considerate, but that's my story and I'm sticking to it).

The tail end of the ride was wet, as it began raining again. Once again, as has happened numerous times this year, we got really wet on a day when Weather.com only predicted a 10% chance of rain. However, the middle portion of the ride was so enjoyable that it more than made up for the wet early and late sections of the ride.

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Planned Rides for the Weekend of 9/24-25


Several members of the group are headed to the Apple Cider Century on Sunday.

On Saturday, Felix will lead a Panera Bread in Wilmette to Panera Bread in Lake Bluff ride starting at 7AM. 

Saturday, September 17, 2011

9/17 Barrington Hills Ride Recap

We had a really pleasant ride out to the Cuba Road rollers and Barrington Hills on a gorgeous fall day. Round trip the ride was about 82 miles. Bob, Charles, Felix, Heidi, Phil, Randy, Rich, and I composed our group. We found a pace at 20-21 mph that worked for everyone in the group, with numerous sprints that gave the faster members of the group a chance to air it out. The combination of an appropriate pace, the Cuba Road rollers and some hard sprints made it into a ride that offered challenges for all of us without anyone being under too much stress.

At one point during the ride, I tried to replicate one of Martin's surges going up an overpass, but my effort was widely disparaged because my cadence was way too high to bear any resemblance to Martin.

Randy was a first time rider with our group. His bike was ride-able despite his frightening encounter with a hit and run car driver last week. However, as we went along he discovered his bike needed an adjustment. We were pleasantly surprise to discover that Wheels of Northbrook was open at 7:45 am on a Saturday to make a quick repair. Go figure, a bike shop that is actually open when bikers are starting their rides.

The only note of dissent on the trip came as we passed the Deerfield Bakery on the way home. We had stopped for lunch at Einstein's in Barrington, and while the food was fine, and they had tables out front that allowed us to enjoy the nice day, it was sort of a mundane lunch. Although I am glad we made it home in time to get some afternoon errands in, it was a bit of a challenge to pass up all the delicious sweets at the Deerfield bakery.

The rigors of the Cuba Road rollers obviously did not deplete all the energy of Heidi, Charles, and Phil, as they added an extra 20 miles to the route by making a detour north to the Botanic Gardens and thus getting in a 100 mile ride.

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Ride on 9/17/11

On Saturday, we're headed to Barrington Hills, 91 miles, plenty of hilly roads.  On the flats we'll do 18-22+ mph, with a minimal stop at about 28 miles, and a sandwich stop at about 65 miles. Leaving from Panera Bread at 7:00 am


Sunday is the North Shore Century. A number of the members of the group will be working as volunteers. If you're are not volunteering, recruit some friends for this ride. Registration on the day of the event is $25. There are 25, 50, 62, 70, and 100 mile options. 

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Recap of the Sub 5 Hour Century Ride

It was a good day for the team from the Evanston Bike Club at the Sub 5 Hour Century ride in Hampshire, IL. Bob, Bob, Clay, Cons, Gary, Herb, Ian, Martin, Richard, Felix, and I all rode in the event and John and Heidi followed us providing SAG support in Herb's truck. Nine members of the team rode the 100 mile course in under 5 hours, and a tenth member would have made it if not for a missed turn. All that training that Felix cajoled us into doing paid off with a very respectable result in this event that raises funds for Parkinson's disease research.

It was a long but satisfying day. We departed from the North Shore around 5:00 am in order to get there for the 6:00 am registration. We started around 8:00 am and set off at a blazing pace down the mostly downhill initial segment of the course (for details, click on the links to Garmin data at the bottom of the post). Our first circuit of the 33 mile course was ahead of pace, as we took advantage of the minimal wind early in the morning. However, as the wind picked up mid-morning and energy reserves wore down, we slowed down a bit below our planned pace during the second lap, and really fell off the pace for the third lap. However, our fast first lap and short breaks provided a comfortable margin to hit the goal time, despite the slower following laps. Additional statistics will be added to this post as they become available.

I would like to provide a shout out to Cons and Ian for helping to ensure that leg cramps were not my undoing  again as they had been on the previous two practice sessions in Hampshire. Cons for serving as my OTC pharmacist, and Ian for his reminders to consume a bottle of liquid every half circuit.

Also, Heidi and John deserve a big thank you for following us around the course for 5 hours.

We did a bit better on our post ride celebration, as we had a nice lunch at the Old West Steakhouse in Union Il.

Garmin Ride data:

Felix's Garmin Data

Con's Garmin Data

Sub 5 Century Challenge Results


Results for All Participants

Monday, September 5, 2011

September 5 Ride Recap - Photo Opp At Panera Bread

The ride started with a free breakfast at Panera Bread for those of us that showed up early in Evanston Bike Club Jerseys. This was followed by a group photos of all the members of the Evanston Bike Club in attendance for future posting on the Panera website. The offer of a free breakfast and the opportunity to promote the club turned out to be a big draw. There must have been at least 30 participants and it became a nice social gathering.

Today's ride was our last group training session together before the Sub 5 Hour Century next Sunday, so it was a "tapering" ride. We rode from Panera in Wilmette to Panera in Lake Bluff for about a 42 mile ride. The pace was fairly brisk, particularly on the way home coming down the Skokie Valley Bikeway with a 14 mph NNE wind helping us maintain a 25-28 mph pace.

We had a good turnout of the team that will be riding in the Sub 5 Hour Century, including Cons, Felix Gary,  Herb, Martin, Rich and me. Also joining in on the ride were Heidi Hoppe, John Chisholm, and Dave Reesh. John and Heidi will also be part of the team, piloting our SAG wagon (actually Herb's truck).

At Panera in Lake Bluff, we had our final discussion on strategy for the event. The most controversial decision was about whether to wait for someone with a flat tire or mechanical problems. After much debate, Heidi firmly suggested that we should consider this to be like a race, and if someone has mechanical problems, it should be up to them to catch up to the group. Her logical suggestion sort of put an end to the debate, and we decided that as long as everyone was aware that we are going to be rather cold blooded about leaving folks behind, no one should have any reason for complaint at the end of the day.

It turned out to be an enjoyable and successful final training session.

Friday, September 2, 2011

Preliminary Forecast - Moderate Weather for Sub 5 Century Challenge

Let's keep our fingers crossed that the Weather.com 10 day forecast holds up. The current projection is for a sunny day with a high of 74 degrees and 7 mph wind in Hampshire, IL  on the 9/11 date of the event. After all the nasty weather we have had to deal with this year, it would certainly be a pleasure to have a near perfect day for the event. Good luck to all in having a great ride that day.