I missed the line and went down HARD

I've been a little out of action for a couple of days due to a little fall on my commute to work last Wednesday. We had a nice midwinter thaw over the weekend and it was around 34 deg. when I left for work at 5AM on February 11th, my birthday. As I came down the final 14% grade into High Bridge to catch the train I saw that I had a car WAY behind me so instead of slowing way down for the 10mph turn, I took it a little faster than normal and chose a beautiful line that gently swerved into the center of the lane before cutting into the shoulder to make the turn. What I failed to remember was that I was still on my Studded Nokians and as I banked over my fixie with the 12" clearance and 172.5 cranks, the I came off of the studds and the back end quickly fell out from under me. The last I remember was realizing I couldn't revover the bike and going down on my back. I vaguely recall the driver of the car that was behind me stopping to see if I was ok, and another driver from the other direction asking if they should call me an ablulance - to which my reply was "I think I'm ok and besides I DON'T need anyone to tell me why I hurt so much." I picked myself up and rode the last couple of blocks to the train where I folded up the bike and got on the train. It is amazing how nothing really hurt too much immediately after the fall. As I sat on the train for the hour ride to my next leg of bikeing I realized that I was bleeding a little from my cut on my hand (a superficial polyester burn from the inside of my gloves, and although my tights weren't ripped, I must of had a couple of "rug burns" on my knee, as well.



The ride from Westfield to Rahway was a little slower than usual and although my muscles hurt, I could still grip the handlebars so everything must have been ok - for the time being. The warm shower at work felt good, and I appeared to have full motion of my arm but it was beginning to hurt a lot to raise my arm and pulled it back. I noticed that I could still breath deeply so I figured the ribs must be ok, as well. However by mid afternoon, it was starting to hurt to breath deeply and it felt as if I must have pulled a lat muscle or something.



The commute home was slow and painful but I made it back ok on the bike/train/bike and even though it was my birthday, managed to get into bed with a hot pad on my shoulder as soon as I got home that evening at 7PM. I found that I could sleep ok on my back and by morning I was stiff, but still able to ride into work. It hurt more the second day than the first so I take it as a good sign that most of my injuries are to the muscles and not to the bones. Friday was also painful riding to work. I managed to straighten out some pieces of bone in my collarbone during the day and once I massaged the parts into place, it didn't hurt so much. (note to self, try to avoid moving arm to the poit that this pice pops back out.) I missed my weekend rides. The pain is more localized on Monday but the commute wasn't all that painful, as long as I didn't move too quickly. It still hurts, but hopefuly with time things will get better. The forecast doesn't call for too bad of weather for at least a week so I hope to make it through until I need to do some more technical riding. Fortuantly I got in my February Brevet the Saturday before so I'm also looking to see if I can continue my daily commute and be able to ride a 200K in scheduled for three weeks from now.

Now about the bike: Although I'll need to purchase a new helmet (the Giro Transit sacrificed itself to protect my noggin), the purple beast survived the laydown with hardly a scratch. One wouldn't know that either of us had the nasty fall if one didn't notice how slow I'm riding.

WJW's Longest Night - 2008

Although this is generally reserved for randonneering items, I've been too busy fighting the weather on my daily commutes these last couple of weeks so I'll post this item from yesterday. The Western Jersey Wheelmen, (ACP Club Code: 930025), holds a "Longest Night" ride every year on the weekend closest to the Winter Solstice as a compliment to their "Longest Day" ride held on the Saturday closest to the Spring Solstice. The Longest Day is a 200 mile ride and the Longest Night is generally whatever distance the the group can make riding on a local bike trail leaving from Clinton, NJ.

Previous rides have encountered icy, snowy, muddy, freezing rain, and sometimes a nice clear trail under a full mood. The snow storm followed by freezing rain the day before last night's ride made for one of the more challenging rides. True to form, I rode my fixed gear commuter bike 12 miles to the start. This ride in itself would have been adventure enough to qualify for the Longest Night as once the freezing rains the previous night had ended, the temperature had dropped into the teens and had never risen above 25 degrees the following day leaving the roads pretty much a packed slush that had been coated over by a layer of slick ice. The photo is a representative photo that I took on my way back. The 700c Nokian Hakkapeliita W106's 35mm performed flawlessly on the ice, with the 106 nickel-carbide studs doing their stuff.

At Clinton I met up with four other riders and we managed to make it approximately 2 miles down the path before we broke out the celebratory "goodies." The conditions were so slow-going that slips and falls were minimal. One pretty pretty much came to a halt even while pedaling. The only observed fall occurred just after the turnaround and may have been attributed more to a little too much "holiday cheer" rather than the deep snow conditions. On the return trip, on some of the softer, deeper stretches, a couple of us found that we could make better time if we just got off of the bikes and walked. This was also a lot less work, as well.

While we all had a great adventure, and will remember the ride with fond memories, all of us were happy to see the ride end safely back in Clinton and rather than meet for the end of the ride meal at Pizza Como, we all opted to part our ways and head home for some warm recovery fluids. My ride back home was pretty much uneventful and I preferred the iced roads - including the 14% climb up out of High Bridge - over 0% grade of the deep snow along the bike path along the old railroad bed.

Dark Moon 200K - Saturday, December 6th, 2008

We had 12 riders start out the ride and eleven successfully completed the brevet.



The one rider who abandoned, pretty much figured they were under-dressed at the start but managed to use their DNF as a "learning experience' for future brevets. Several of the finishers, came to the realization that, although the conditions never got much above freezing and they'd probably had preferred riding in Florida to the "high teens and middle twenties" that they experienced during the brevet, had they had a warm place to sleep, they probably could have gone on to successfully complete a 1200K in these conditions. A couple are also contemplating working on a training schedule for this year's Iditabike!

Those who saw fit to use their full time allotment of 13.5 hours for the brevet were rewarded with a couple of hours of pelting ice and snow for the last two hours f th ride with approximately 1/2 inch of snow accumulation by the end of the ride. I had my own unique problems - which provided an excellent learning experience and as time permits I'll post a ride report.

Dark Moon 200K - Saturday, December 6th, 2008

Since I haven't been doing too well writing up my rides - I'm almost ready to post the one from LAST month "32.4 miles and a Tornado Short of an Epic" or "Tom Rides a Fixie" (a.k.a., The Eastern PA 204K November R-12 Series Ride Report, Saturday November 15, 2008) - I thought I'd post a "pre-ride" summary of tomorrow's PA R-12 "Dark Moon 200K"

The ride details including a map and cue sheets are posted at:

http://users.rcn.com/trosenbauer/R12ClubDec1.html

Basically this is a new series that Tom has created to promote participation in the R-12 challenge. It is also an excuse for fellow randonneurs and randonneuses to get together and ride through the off season.

Tomorrow's ride might be interesting as the forcast calls for temps in the high teens/low 20's in the morning with highs in the low 30's. The conditions were supposed to be dry with temperatures plunging in the evening with snow arriving late in the evening or early Sunday morning - well after the ride is complete. However, one forecast is calling for the cold front to arrive sooner - if it does, and conditions become "epic" I might have a ride report up sooner than later.

If not, I'll be looking forward to the ride up the Delaware Water Gap and over to Hope and then up to Newton before turning south to passing through Traquility and Allamuchy and up over Schooleys Mountain to Gladstone and back through Califon over Point Mountain and back along the Musconetcong river to Easton via Asbury, Bloomsbury, and Phillipsburg.

Not doing to well on postings

I realized that is it now October and my delusions of posting daily - or at least every other day - have been shattered, first by the realty of riding brevets and randonnees in the summer, and now just by work, and life, in general. Leaving the house at 4:30AM to ride my bike into work all the way or 5:00AM to catch the 5:51 train and not making it back to the house until 7:00PM doesn't leave a lot of time for the computer once one completes the other tasks of eating, sleeping, and general bike maintenance.

I got in a 300K over the weekend - in the continuous rain, thanks to Floyd. I rode my fixed gear RV (Randonneuring Vehicle) - and, needless to say, am finding the Lantiseptic medicated cream is a "gift from the heavens" in helping make the commute this week less painful (again, in raining or at least drizzling conditions on most legs.) As long as everyone else is doing it, I'll attempt to write an "Ode to Lantiseptic" sometime in the near future.

What constitutes an Epic Ride?

Having just returned from the Last Chance, I had some time to think about what constitutes an "epic" ride.

Merriam-Websters defines epic as: e-pik\ adj. 1: of, relating to, or having the characteristics of an epic 2a: extending beyond the usual or ordinary especially in size or scope 2b: HEROIC

Several riders I know have commented that this ride is a "classic epic" ride but, meaning no disrespect to the organizer or the wonderful volunteers, as a fairly experienced randonneur, I would be hard pressed to describe this ride as epic - i.e., extending beyond the usual or ordinary especially in size and scope. We had a little wind (including tail, head and crosswinds) and it rained for a half day but in general it was a fairly uneventful ride from Louisville, CO out to Kensington, KS to mail a postcard back to the RBA, and then ride back to Louisville, racing back to see if we could beat the post card. I found this ride to be pleasant with a great course (only a couple of bonus miles on this one - you who know the cue sheet, don't ask were they were. You wouldn't believe me if I told you.) with wonderful scenery (which I'll describe in the upcoming ride report) but I'd have trouble categorizing this ride as epic, and wonder if, perhaps this term isn't overused by many in describing the various brevets and randonnees.

...which brings me back to my original question, of what constiotutes an epic randonneuring even. After much contemplation (83 hours on the LC1200) I've concluded that as with most things a ride is "epic in the eyes of the beholder." I've ridden a 600K in 39:59 which, to me was epic, and some have ridden 200K's that start out sunny and in the 50's that have finished in an ice storm/blizzard with several iunches of snow, the riders fighting off hypothermia and the sno plows as they completed the ride. To many, the recent PBP would be epic, yet to me as one who enjoys riding in cooler weather and "soft" days, I thought the weather conditions quite pleasant ( the crowds at controls were a different matter. As a year 'round commuter, had I stayed at home and done my routine commute that week in August, I would have encountered MORE rain and much lower temperatures.

For this year's randonnees, I'd classify the Shenandoah as epic due to the heat which resulted in many "experienced" riders recording thier first 1200K DNF. This year's Cascade, while subject to warm conditions on the second day, was pretty much what everyone would expect, and although AT LEAST the one person who suffered extreme heat stroke might call this an epic ride, the condistions really were not as severe as the previous running of the event two ywars ago - can an even ALWAYS be epic due to it's difficulty or are there epic years and non-epic years? The RM1200 would be epic, in my eyes, at least to me as it was my first time experience riding in the Canadian Rockies and the ride from Jasper to Banff, to me, meets my criteria of the definitiuon: extending beyond the usual or ordinary especially in size or scope. Those who have ridden this event previously or live in Kamloops might not feel this same way - and one rider (to remain nameless) prefers riding in open plains with wide open vistas, and to this rider, the RM1200, while challenging, would not meet thier expectations of an epic ride. The Last Chance, while a great ride, and one that I hope to do again soon, for me was not epic this year. Perhaps the next time I ride it, I'll encounter less pleasant experiences, or more inhospitable weather and I'll refer to that event as epic.

...come to think of it, as much as I pretty much enjoy riding EVERY brevet and randonnee, it is my hope that NONE of them EVER present so much of a challenge that I'd refer to them, in hindsight, as epic - but then that is what make EACH event so interesting. They ALL present thier own unique difficulties and challenges and it is up to us to properly prepare for all contingencies that the event requires. :-)

Look for the Reports

Having returned form the 1000K at the beginning of the month I had all of the best intentions of getting out the ride reports - yes, you've heard that before, but getting up and out of the house by 4:45AM for the ride into work and not returning from the bike home until after 7:00PM, after eating dinner there isn't much time to get the writing done unless i do it at work - and with the time out for all of the randonnees this last few month's I'm still on catch up mode there, as well. Did a ride each weekend, including a great 200K RUSA Anniversary Brevet last Saturday which also limited my time but it DID give me another ride reprort to get behind on. I'll be teaching a bike safety course on Saturday and then its off to another week vacation (with bike) but I'll also take the computer to finish up the back-log of reports. I'm also working on a couple of other items.