Rides for the week of 7/25/2011-7/31/2011

Today (7/26/2011) we will start at 17:30 from Panera Bread in Wilmette and go to Ft. Sheridan. We will do 5 hill intervals in the ravine, then go back to Panera.

Thursday there will be the usual 17:30 Higher Gear Store ride from their store in Wilmette to Ft. Sheridan. I am on call that day, so I will not be able to do it. Martin, Gary and Cons will be there.

Saturday we will do a ride at 07:00 from Panera Bread in Wilmette. We can practice double rotating paceline on Waukegan road and back.

Sunday we are going to do another Sub-5 Century Course ride at 08:00 from the High School in Hampshire, IL. The plan is to do two loops (67 miles) with an optional third loop if we feel like it.

Felix

Sub-5 Hour Century Course Ride

Today 8 of us joined 5 other Sub-5 riders for a 2 lap preview of the actual Sub-5 Century Route. We met at the Hampshire, IL High School parking lot at 08:00. The day started with some clouds and light rain. We started the ride as non-rotating double paceline. The pace was brisk, everybody was feeling good. Few miles into the first lap we started to do a variant of the double rotating paceline, where the rider at the front of the fast line will move over to the slower line and hold it there for a short period of time. Two thirds into the first lap Hugo pulled the same inner thigh  muscle that he recently injured and slowed down. Cons and I slowed down to wait for him. We tried to follow the main group, but we could not see where they made a turn. When we reached the end of the road we made a turn based on gut feeling. It turned out, we went in the wrong direction. After realizing  the mistake, we stopped and resorted to technology. We used the phone GPS for directions. It took several minutes to acquire satellite signal and download the maps (no 3G connection there). We followed the directions until we ended up at the I-90 entrance. At that point we re-routed (going back for a while) and made it to the High School Parking with extra 10 miles on the odometer. Few of the other riders had already left. Hugo and Cons left too. Hugo decided not to push further and risk a more serious injury, Cons was going to be late for a birthday party. The remaining seven of us started the second lap of the course. This time we were doing the rotating double paceline. It was mostly smooth in the beginning, but as we progressed and got a little tired, we started to open bigger and bigger gaps. At that time the wind had picked up a little bit and was in our faces. That added more stress on everybody. With 3-4 miles left, we resorted to a single paceline. At the end of the lap, there was a hill, not very steep, but made us slow down. Randy and Martin reacted quickly and we were back on track. Everybody seemed happy when we arrived at the parking lot. According to the data from the Garmin of one of the riders, we did the first lap at 20.6 mph. The second lap was almost at 22 mph. The question remains if we can maintain the pace for one more lap?

Sunday July 17th, 2011 Ride

Dear All,
Tomorrow we will start from Panera Bread in Wilmette at 07:00. We will most likely go north and do Panera to Panera, with optional extra 10-15 miles loop depending on how everybody feels.
Felix

Saturday July 16th, 2011 Ride

This Saturday we will join a group of other Sub-5 Century Riders for a two-loop ride of the actual course.
The ride will start at 08:00 from the Hampshire, IL High School.

42.121320, -88.497437 GPS coordinates

1600 Big Timber Road, Hampshire, IL 60140

Hampshire High School, located on Big Timber Road approximately one-half mile west of Route 20 near Hampshire, Illinois. From I-90 exit HWY 20 and make a left (South) to Big Timber road, make Right (West) on it and you should see the high school on the south side about a half a mile from there.

 

Send me an email so we can make travel/carpool arrangements.

 

We can try to do one lap with double rotating paceline and the second one with a single paceline and see which configuration will allow us to make a better time. Bring some extra water/Gatorade in a cooler so we can refill between the laps.

Felix

Sunday 7/10/2011 Ride Recap

Three of us - Cons, Herb and I joined 9 other Sub-5 Riders for a ride. The ride started from Union, IL and went north to Lake Geneva. We started riding in a double paceline with a nice tailwind. The ride was in very rural area, the car traffic was minimal, there were very few busy roads crossings. The pace was brisk. Mostly flat terrain until we got to Lake Geneva. There were several, not very long, but steep enough hills to make you shift to the small ring in the front. We made a short stop at an Ice Cream shop in Lake Geneva where we got water and Gatorade. The owner was nice and gave us extra ice. We made a loop around the lake with more hills. A brief stop at a beach stand to get more water and we headed back. Few more hills on the way out of Lake Geneva started to split the group. The wind was in our faces. We re-grouped and started to practice double rotating paceline. It was not a very smooth one. With the heat, humidity and the constant acceleration/deceleration the group started to fall apart and the average speed plummeted. We re-grouped at a highway crossing and continued in a single paceline. Making a good time was out of the question at that point and we continued at a slower pace. We had to make one last water stop at a small store in Union just 2 miles from the finish. We made it safe and stopped for a lunch at the Wild West Town Steakhouse. The burgers were good, the company better. Overall very nice ride, in a new area, with new group, on a very hot and humid day.

Sub-5 Training Ride on Sunday 7/10/2011

Tomorrow we will join a group of other Sub-5 riders for a ride. The ride starts at 08:00 from the Wild West Steakhouse in Union , IL. We will go north to Lake Geneva and back. There will be a snack/restroom stop at the middle at Williams Bay & Fontana. Total distance around 76 miles.
We will leave from Cons' house at 06:30 sharp. Please arrive a little earlier in order to load the bikes. Do not ring the ball or call, so we do not wake up the rest of the family. The address is:
310 Vista Drive, Wilmette, IL
If you have any questions send me an email at vikfel at yahoo.com

7/9/11 Ride Recap - Hugo Returns

Today's ride marked the first time that Hugo Sahagun was able to rejoin the group since his nasty accident. He seemed remarkably fit given how long he has been off the bike. It was great to have him back riding with the group..

Our route took us on a 70 mile round trip to the Wisconsin state line. During much of the ride, we worked on a rotating pace line. Despite some glitches (OK - a lot of glitches), the practice is leading to a smoother ride  with fewer gaps. Also, it helped that we had the wind in our favor on the way north.

We're definitely in a rut regarding our mid ride stop, at we went back to Panera Bread in Lake Bluff.

On the return trip, we took Waukegan  Road south from Lake Bluff to Voltz Road. Suggestion to other bike groups -- not a great idea during when their is lots of traffic, unless you like waiting at red lights.

Weather was great today. It was a beautiful sunny day. Although it heated up by end the ride, due to moderate humidity, it was not unpleasant.

At the tail end of the ride, Cons suggested we stop by his house for a beer, an offer that was hard to pass up. I was incredibly impressed at how gracious Melissa was when with no advance warning her husband walked  through the front door to a bunch of sweaty friends. As an added bonus, we were able to catch the last 15 kilometers of the telecast of today's Tour De France stage.

All in all, it was a very enjoyable ride.

Saturday 7/9/2011 Ride

We will start at 07:00 from Centennial Ice Skating Rink in Wilmette (Centennial Park Ice Rink, 2300 Old Glenview Rd, Wilmette). We will practice double rotating paceline on Waukegan Road. The plan is to do around 80 miles with one stop on the way back at around 55-60 miles. Bring water and food to eat on the bikes. We are going to discuss the plan for the training during the stop or at the end of the ride.
Felix

Thursday 7/7/2011 After Work Ride

Dear All,
I will lead a VF (20+ mph) ride tomorrow.

We will start at 17:30 from the Higher Gear Store in Wilmette on Thursday 7/7/2011. The ride goes to Fort Sheridan at a brisk pace and comes back the same way. We can decide to do the hill intervals or go back with the rest of the ride. Total distance is going to be between 25 (no intervals) and 35 miles (hill intervals).

Let me know if you are planning to join us so we can look for you.

Felix

7/4 Ride Recap - Cuba Road Ride

A good training ride today on Independence Day. We had ten riders (Cons, Dave, Felix, Gary, Herb, John, Martin, Rich, Steven, and me) for a 65 mile round trip ride to the rolling hills of Cuba Road. We picked up Herb about 13 miles into the ride, as he was waiting for once we got to Riverwoods Road (either his timing was really good, or if he waited for us for quite a while). The ride included quite a bit of rotating pace line practice. We may actually have improved a bit today.

We continued to be loyal customers of Panera Bread, as we had a nice break at the Panera Bread on Milwaukee Avenune, just north of Deerfield Road.

It worked out to be a good ride on a glorious weather day.

7/2/11 Ride Recap - Just Short of Wisconsin Ride

I think that we were all surprised that 8 of the 10 members planning on riding in the Sub 5 Hour Century showed up for this morning's ride. That seems like remarkable attendance for a holiday weekend. Then, John Chisholm volunteered to lead a ride to Crystal Lake that Felix had been scheduled to lead so that he could join us. So the ride got off to a very good start. Although three riders (Bob, Clay and Martin) had to leave the ride early due to various commitments, five of us (Cons, Felix, Herb, Rich, and me) made it to Russell Road  which practically sits astride the Illinois/Wisconsin border, resulting in it being about an 80 mile round trip.

Today's ride was the first of the 2011 where humidity played a major factor. As the temperature rose toward mid-day, the high humidity became really draining. It made us wonder why when we had reached Hwy 173, the idea that given we were so close to Wisconsin compelled us to keep going before we turned back, so that we would get in our first ride of July to Wisconsin. At the time (I'm guessing about 9:45 am), it seemed like a good idea.

One of the goals of the ride was to get in some practice at a rotating pace line. Well, we got in some practice, but were still a bit on the rough side. The fact that we were able to hold together fairly well during an energetic sprint while  in a single file line speaks to how much more practice we need if the group is going to master the rotating pace line.

Two of the riders that had to peel off early were Clay and Martin. Given that they are also the only two members of our group that have significant racing experience, it was assumed by all the rest of us that they probably had an energetic sprint or so on their ride home. Of course, neither one of them is very competitive.

Our mid ride stop for food and hydration was at a McDonalds. Once again, it seemed like a good idea at the time. However, 45 minutes of hard riding after deparing had some questioning our wisdom in refueling with McDonald breakfast meals.

As the heat rose to close to 90 degrees with the sun beating down on us on this humid day, we decided to make an extra stop in Lake Forest to ensure that we were all well hydrated and no one risked heat exhaustion. We all agreed that we should probably take it easy the rest of the way home.

Well, we are riding down the bunny trail (Skokie Valley Bikeway) and Martin and his friend Joe come roaring by us. Of course, Felix was not going to let that happen, and the next thing I knew, we are sprinting down the bunny trail at close to maximum speed hanging onto their back wheels. It was a rather swift ride down to the terminus of the bikeway at Lake Cook road. So much for taking it easy.

When I got home, I hopped on the scale and noticed that I had lost 5 pounds during the ride. It was one of those days when it was hard to stay hydrated. However, I think despite the challenging conditions, we all agreed it was a fun ride.