First long ride on my new bike (long)

On Mon, 24 Nov 2003 19:58:45 -0800, "Josh Gatts"
wrote:
Of course, everybody has different tastes. The idea is to have mostly
simple sugars while you're riding, with a bit of starch, sodium, and
potassium thrown in. Apple, raspberry, etc. newtons are pretty

Hmm...I thought that simple sugars were ineffective because they are
processed so quickly.

nutritionally similar to the fig species. Protein seems to help recovery
after a hard ride.

I almost always have protein after a ride, even if it wasn't a hard
ride.

it). Next time I'll remember a baggy of powder (and hope nobody
sees it and thinks I've got cocaine .

I don't think cocaine comes in purple and pink, does it? :-)

Beats me, but it's always white on tv -- and my drink mix is white,
until you add water.

I'll try PB sandwiches, and I expect that the breakfast that serves
me well (Rice Krispies + whole milk in large quantities) ought to
work for lunch, if I ever remember to use that strategy.

Oooh, Rice Krispies treats are a nice snack for the sweet-toothed bike
rider, too.

I figured as much, but when I had two pizza strips and a Rice Krispy
Treat for lunch on a century attempt, I bonked.

--Josh
--
Rick Onanian

"Rick Onanian" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 24 Nov 2003 19:58:45 -0800, "Josh Gatts"
wrote:
Of course, everybody has different tastes. The idea is to have mostly
simple sugars while you're riding, with a bit of starch, sodium, and
potassium thrown in. Apple, raspberry, etc. newtons are pretty

Hmm...I thought that simple sugars were ineffective because they are
processed so quickly.


Simple sugars are your main fuel. In my experience, it's better to have a
reasonably steady influx of sugar (maybe a couple hundred calories every 45
minutes) than to cram a whole bunch down all at once. I ain't no
physiologist, but I suppose this results in a somewhat steady level of
glucose in your system, rather than sending your insulin level all over the
chart.

I figured as much, but when I had two pizza strips and a Rice Krispy
Treat for lunch on a century attempt, I bonked.

I suspect that has more to do with the pizza strips than the Rice Krispies.
I also have found myself not feeling too great immediately after mid-ride
high-cheese meals.

Anyway, just experiment, and eventually you'll find some combination of
foods that will keep you feeling peppy -- what works for me might not work
for you. Half of the fun of riding is finding interesting ways to replace
the calories you burn.

--Josh

On Mon, 24 Nov 2003 10:24:11 -0500, David Kerber
wrote:

As I've posted here over the last two months or so, I got my new Fuji
Touring in early September.

snip

We did several miles on a couple of roads with wide shoulders (wide
enough to ride side-by-side and still leave room between us and the
travel lanes), with a side tour through the veterans cemetary, then a
short stretch on a narrower busier road with little shoulder room, but
which took us to the South County bike path. This path was extended
within the last two months to about 7 miles. At the end of the path,
a half-mile or so on a busy commercial road brought us back to
residential streets.

Last summer our bike club (Naperville Bicycle Club) took a trip to
Rhode Island for a week of cycling. I took my Fuji Touring Series
(coincidence). I'm pretty sure one day we rode the South County Bike
Path. I believe it was the day we started at the athletic department
parking lot at URI, a mile or two west of Kingston.

A stop for lunch, and then we took one of my regular routes along the
ocean, which was gorgeous riding: a good tail wind meant that with a
nice easy speed of 16+ mph, we were feeling basically no relative
wind. Of course, that only lasted until we turned around after
another short rest at the Pt. Judith light house.

We also cycled to Pt. Judith, perhaps on the same day we did the bike
path. Nice ride, but I can see it might be brutal on a really windy
day.

snip

The ride was great, and now I can't wait for next summer when I hope
to join some of the local group rides to rack up a few more miles in
warmer weather.

One day we rode with the Narragansett Bay Wheelmen. I'm guessing David
(the OP) already knows all about them, but we had a great time on
their ride. See: http://www.nbwclub.org/

John Everett - Aurora, Illinois


jeverett3ATearthlinkDOTnet http://home.earthlink.net/~jeverett3

On Mon, 24 Nov 2003 22:36:35 -0800, "Josh Gatts"
wrote:
"Rick Onanian" wrote in message
I figured as much, but when I had two pizza strips and a Rice Krispy
Treat for lunch on a century attempt, I bonked.

I suspect that has more to do with the pizza strips than the Rice Krispies.
I also have found myself not feeling too great immediately after mid-ride
high-cheese meals.

Actually, they were those deli-style cheeseless pizza strips; they
may be a regional food, or at least have a different name elsewhere.

Anyway, just experiment, and eventually you'll find some combination of
foods that will keep you feeling peppy -- what works for me might not work
for you. Half of the fun of riding is finding interesting ways to replace
the calories you burn.

If all I needed was interesting ways to replace calories...well
hell, I'm great at that!

--Josh
--
Rick Onanian

In article ,
says...
David Kerber wrote:

As I've posted here over the last two months or so, I got my new Fuji
Touring in early September. This past Saturday, I got my first long
(for me, anyway) ride on it, and was very impressed with it. I had
done plenty of rides up to about 22 miles before, but for this longer
ride I rode with another poster here in the NG's; I won't identify
him, but if he wants to chime in with additional comments, you'll
know.

My first _real_ bike was a Fuji, by today's standards heavy, but sturdy
and a good ride. I used to rip around town doing 13-15 miles each day,
before I really knew anything about cycling or proper kit. My first 25
mile ride was a painful experience.

I have never owned a MTB, but my first 10 to 15 mile rides last year
weren't a whole lot of fun at first; my thighs were so tired I could
hardly walk at the end, but my conditioning improved rapidly as I
continued to ride.



The weather on Saturday was great: temps in the 50's, bright sun, and
a little more wind than I would have liked, but nothing horrible. I
have described all the stuff I have hanging on my bike in other posts,
so I won't repeat it here except to say that I was curious to see how
my homemade wheel covers would work out. I brought along a jacket,
but could tell within the first 1/2 mile that I wouldn't need it. I
was hoping that riding with a partner would help me to keep from
pushing too hard and burnng out early.

Sounds like you put a fair amount of thought into it, that's always a
good sign. :-) How many times have I felt like the "rudder-less child"
a long way from home and wondering if I'd ever see it again? Too many.

I learned long ago that I don't like to do things without some pre-
planning. I don't try to anticipate every little detail, but I like to
have a decent outline in my mind before I start. Sometimes I don't have
a choice, but when possible, it's nice to plan ahead.


A moderate pace for a first long ride is a good idea. When I got my
new road bike in Sept. I did some long rides, 60-80 miles, but very
slowly, trying to convert a mountain biking physiology to road, it did
hurt the first few times, but got better. Now I do 40-60 miles, trying
to pick up the speed each time.

Weather permitting, that's what I hope to do.


I left the house at 9:15 and rode the 8 miles or so to the starting
point (a Walmart)

They just let everyone congregate in their parking lots, don't they? ;-)

Even us low-life bikers! Grin


and got there a few minutes early, so I sat on a
bench in the sun; it was so nice that I was really tempted to just sit
there for the rest of the day. He pulled up in his truck with the
bike in the back and unloaded. After a few minutes we took off.

Sit too long and it gets harder to get started again. This effect
increases with age. ;-)

Yes, I know!


We did several miles on a couple of roads with wide shoulders (wide
enough to ride side-by-side and still leave room between us and the
travel lanes), with a side tour through the veterans cemetary, then a
short stretch on a narrower busier road with little shoulder room, but
which took us to the South County bike path. This path was extended
within the last two months to about 7 miles. At the end of the path,
a half-mile or so on a busy commercial road brought us back to
residential streets.

Next time out, practice taking turns at the front. You'll be surprised
how much easier the ride goes and how much faster or further you can go.

We did that some, but spent a good part of the ride side-by-side just
tootling along and talking.

....

together about half this distance, and then I turned around and turned
on my headlight to ride the five or six miles home because I didn't
fancy riding any longer at twilight than necessary. I pushed pretty
hard on the way home, staying on the aero bars for most of it, and
running over 18mph almost the whole way except for the one big hill.

Aerobars? Leave those home unless you're Tri or Time Trial training.
You should be able to ride comfortably and quickly in the bar drops.

I can, but it's nice to get the weight completely off my hands
occasionally, and the aero bars seem to be more aero than the drops.
Also, I ride in a local TT series just for fun and exercise during the
summers.


I ended up pulling into my driveway at 4:16, (which is just a few
minutes before sunset this time of year), having covered 61.45 miles
on my computer in almost exactly 7 hours. The computer said the
moving time was about 4:45 (didn't record it), with a moving average
of about 12.9 mph. This was nearly three times my previous longest
ride on this bike, and also the longest I've ever done. When I was a
kid my Boy Scout troop did a 50 miler once, which was my previous
long.

Keep doing them and when spring/summer roll around you'll be able to
cover more ground and do some excellent touring.

I survived it much better than I expected. As expected, my butt was a
little sore, but nothing serious, and my legs and arms were tired but
again nothing serious. I could have easily gone longer if I had
enough daylight. The next day my shoulders were just a little sore
and my legs a little tired; it just felt like I had done a good whole-
body workout the previous day (which is exactly what it was, I guess).

As for the lessons learned, I think I need to shorten my stem by 10 or
15 mm to reduce the weight on my hands a little, but other than that
it felt really good. I was pleasantly surprised how well my
Specialized Body Geometry seat worked as long as I made sure I was
well back on it. If I let myself slide forward too much it was
causing a little numbness. I had previously noticed that I tend to
slide forward when pushing hard on training rides, occasionally
causing some numbness. And based on how my legs feel, I don't think I
want to move the seat any further forward. I was glad I had long
sleeves on, but didn't really need as much insulation on my torso as
I had. I also think leg warmers are in order when the temps are in
the mid-50's and below, so I'll have to look into that as well.

Knee warmers at the least. It's surprising how fast I find myself
chilled to the bone on 65 degree days when I drop into a long descent in

There's no such thing around here :-)

the shade. They're light and can be kept in a jersey pocket.

Do a few more rides, try to pick up your pace and then think again about
what adjustments you'd like to make. Some of what you're feeling is
just getting used to riding the bike. I figured a months riding, 3-4
times a week, was sufficient to get a clear picture of what changes I

I was doing that until we lost daylight savings time, though the rides
were shorter.


You might start looking now for weekend tours, groups which do a long
ride over Sat/Sun and you catch train back home, etc. I live on the
west coast and there's a few of these every year. I hope to do the ride
from Big Sur to San Luis Obispo.

Good idea!

--
Dave Kerber
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In article , jeverett3
@earthlink.DEFEAT.UCE.BOTS.net says...
On Mon, 24 Nov 2003 10:24:11 -0500, David Kerber
wrote:

As I've posted here over the last two months or so, I got my new Fuji
Touring in early September.

snip

We did several miles on a couple of roads with wide shoulders (wide
enough to ride side-by-side and still leave room between us and the
travel lanes), with a side tour through the veterans cemetary, then a
short stretch on a narrower busier road with little shoulder room, but
which took us to the South County bike path. This path was extended
within the last two months to about 7 miles. At the end of the path,
a half-mile or so on a busy commercial road brought us back to
residential streets.

Last summer our bike club (Naperville Bicycle Club) took a trip to
Rhode Island for a week of cycling. I took my Fuji Touring Series

I hope you enjoyed your trip!


....

One day we rode with the Narragansett Bay Wheelmen. I'm guessing David
(the OP) already knows all about them, but we had a great time on
their ride. See: http://www.nbwclub.org/

Yep, that's the group I was thinking of.

--
Dave Kerber
Fight spam: remove the ns_ from the return address before replying!

REAL programmers write self-modifying code.

On Tue, 25 Nov 2003 19:34:39 -0500, David Kerber
wrote:
Next time out, practice taking turns at the front. You'll be surprised
how much easier the ride goes and how much faster or further you can go.

We did that some, but spent a good part of the ride side-by-side just
tootling along and talking.

Yup, it's a tough decision, really:
Choice 1: Side-by-side, forcing conversational pace by talking
Choice 2: Drafting, gaining efficiency, but more difficult to pace

Knee warmers at the least. It's surprising how fast I find myself
chilled to the bone on 65 degree days when I drop into a long descent in

There's no such thing around here :-)

I think we had one, once, but it may have been a thermometer fluke.

For the benefit of people who haven't lived here, our weather
choices are as follows:
95 degrees f & 95% humidity
40 degrees f & 40 mph wind
20 degrees f & 20 inches per hour of snow
0 degrees f with 40mph wind and 20 inches per hour of snow

Last spring, we had one day that was 30 degrees f, and the next day
it was 82 degrees f, and then back down to 35 the day after. I was
working outside that week.
--
Rick Onanian

In article ,
says...
On Tue, 25 Nov 2003 19:34:39 -0500, David Kerber
wrote:
Next time out, practice taking turns at the front. You'll be surprised
how much easier the ride goes and how much faster or further you can go.

We did that some, but spent a good part of the ride side-by-side just
tootling along and talking.

Yup, it's a tough decision, really:
Choice 1: Side-by-side, forcing conversational pace by talking
Choice 2: Drafting, gaining efficiency, but more difficult to pace

Knee warmers at the least. It's surprising how fast I find myself
chilled to the bone on 65 degree days when I drop into a long descent in

There's no such thing around here :-)

I think we had one, once, but it may have been a thermometer fluke.

I was referring to the "Long descent" part of that statement!


For the benefit of people who haven't lived here, our weather
choices are as follows:
95 degrees f & 95% humidity
40 degrees f & 40 mph wind

and raining.


20 degrees f & 20 inches per hour of snow
0 degrees f with 40mph wind and 20 inches per hour of snow


Now, now Rick, you're leaving out the one day per year when it's 82,
dry and sunny! Of course, I usually have to work late that day...
Grin.


Last spring, we had one day that was 30 degrees f, and the next day
it was 82 degrees f, and then back down to 35 the day after. I was
working outside that week.
--
Rick Onanian



--
Dave Kerber
Fight spam: remove the ns_ from the return address before replying!

REAL programmers write self-modifying code.