Tag Archives: bicycle

Not all kilometers are created equal

Ride reports (not Tu/Th), Tdf trip planning, ,


Continuing in the “All miles are not created equal” series (basically a reaction to Strava.com claiming that yesterday’s ride in the rain was worth just 80 on their score of suffering), we have this from last July’s trip to France. About 85 miles into our 103 mile Glandon/Galibier loop, darkness approaching quickly, yes, getting a bit on the cold side, and a sign on the side of the road that says 2 kilometers to go. One of those cute little tombstone signs you see on all the climbs in France. You either embrace them or avoid looking because you don’t want to know.

Worthwhile clicking for the bigger picture showing tunnel location way below
The tunnel and, way up above, the top of the Galibier.

The trouble is, this one lies. 2k. How tough can that be? Barely over a mile! 6 times around the track! Except that it’s not, because the 2k the sign references is to the presently-closed tunnel that cuts off the top of the climb. True, you might not want to go through the tunnel, you might want to be able to say you climbed to the very top of the Galibier and didn’t wimp out. Or you might just want to get down off that mountain before the sun disappears. Good rationalization, but not available to us today.That final section is nasty, but the top is incredible, and you’re thankful the tunnel wasn’t open, giving you the opportunity to wimp out… because you just might have. But Strava tells the story; you would have missed out on about a kilometer at an average grade of just under 10%.

 It does, however, suck that Strava says “There are no achievements on this ride.” With a “Suffer Score” of 367, I think the entire ride was something of an achievement!

We ride in the rain so you don’t have to

Tues/Thurs 7:45am ride, ,

Not quite sure how it works, but the general idea is that there will be, no matter what, a certain number of us who are going to be out there riding on days no sane person would want to, and because we’re out there, you don’t have to be. You can stay inside where it’s nice & warm and think about what sort of crazy person rides a bicycle in the elements, and you even get to feel superior about it. That’s ok. Those of us in the “no matter what” crowd understand that we’re not normal.

Truthfully it wasn’t that bad this morning. Drizzling at the start, but mostly just very wet roads and a bit of that riding-in-the-clouds thing going on. Marcus, Kevin (the pilot), other Kevin, Eric… I think that’s it. As was the case Tuesday I was feeling better than my son on Kings, who was blaming it on being uncomfortable on his bike because he was on his rain bike rather than his newer Trek Madone, and it’s not set up quite the same. In fact, he rode that bike exactly the way it is now for quite some time, and was fine when he didn’t know any better. But when we got the new bike I set it up the way it should be, which meant less aggressively… mostly a higher handlebar position… which he now understands is what he should have, regardless of the fact that it doesn’t look like how racers set up their bikes.

Now remember that part about feeling better than my son on Kings? By the time we got to west-side Old LaHonda the tables had turned, and it was me having trouble keeping on his wheel. Hate it when that happens. In general, it’s the older guys who get stronger later in the ride, while the younger folk, if they don’t feel great early in the ride, never recover (mentally) from that.

Fortunately, the long-range forecast says that was the last of the rain. Unfortunately, I won’t have as much time to ride, because we’ll be open this Sunday (when we’d normally put in a 60-100 mile ride), and the following Sunday is Christmas, and I doubt we’ll get out then. But that still leaves several Tuesday & Thursday-morning rides before the big event, the annual New Year’s Day ride up Mount Hamilton.