The cycling blog is done, but blogging about cycling will continue.

Where?

Good Question.

The new Adventure Guys blog.

In this new blog, Adventure editor Jeffrey P. Mayor and I will write about our adventures, misadventures and insights in the outdoors, keep you up to date on the latest news and answer your questions.

Talk to you over there,
Craig Hill

If you haven't noticed, this blog has been retired. The plan was for this cycling blog to run for the duration of our STP Project, which painfully concluded in July.

But stay tuned. A new blog from the Adventure team is coming soon.

Thanks for reading,
Craig Hill

If all goes well, we should be celebrating in Portland four days from right now.
But for everything to go well, you better plan for the heat. That means drinking a lot starting right now. (Actually, you probably should have started already.)

I'm trying to down at least 100 ounces per day. Monday I took in 152 ounces of water. So far today, I've downed 170 ounces (Including four water bottles during a two-hour ride this morning).

With a heat wave on the way, hydration will be paramount Saturday. Here's the forecast from the Weather Channel:

SATURDAY'S WEATHER
PUYALLUP
HIGH: 80 degrees
LOW: 58 degrees
HUMIDITY: 59 percent
WIND: SW 7 mph
***
CENTRALIA
HIGH: 81
LOW: 60
HUMIDITY: 62 percent
WIND: SSW 7 mph
***
PORTLAND
HIGH: 84
LOW: 64
HUMIDITY: 59 percent
WIND: WSW 4 mph
SOURCE: Weather.com

Women and cycling will be the focus of a daylong festival on Sunday. Women’s Cyclefest will be from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Seattle REI store, 222 Yale Ave. N., Seattle.
The event is designed to outfit, educate and inspire women in their cycling adventures, especially as more women take part in the sport, organizers said. According to a study from the National Sporting Goods Association, 16.1 million women took part in bicycle riding at least once in 2006. That was up 1.3 percent from 2001, the report said.

The day’s activities include a bike safety check station conducted by REI’s cycling staff, free clinics and a community group/vendor exposition.

Among the clinics that have been scheduled are basic bicycle maintenance for women at 11 a.m., fitting your bike at 1 p.m. and preparing for a big ride at 2:30 p.m.

The groups that will be on hand include the Cascade Bicycle Club, Backcountry Bicycle Trails Club, Group Health Women’s Bike Racing Team and LunaChix Road Cycling Club.

For information, call 206-223-1944.

It’s never too late for a little cycling lesson.
I recently got back from a 10-day vacation where I didn’t a ride a bike. When I came back I noticed I’m clearly a step behind the rest of the guys on the team. Worse yet, I noticed I’ve reverted to some bad habits.
During a ride Thursday I caught myself dropping back behind the rider in front of me and not getting the benefit of being able to draft. Worse, I’d have to burn energy to try and catch back up.
So, this morning Kenny Espinoza and Rick Beitelspacher and I spend a couple hours on the Foothills Trail working on my technique.
Both men are broad, large enough for Tony Stewart to draft behind. We took it slow at about 16-17 mph. As Kenny and Rick took turns in the lead, I practiced staying eight inches or less behind them.
It might seem a little late to be working on this, but I don’t think so. Being able to draft properly will be hugely important next weekend? How important? Perhaps the difference between making it to Portland and bonking at the state line.

At a party this weekend, a woman just getting into cycling asked me about a little chaffing problem she has when she rides.
Actually, she was the second rookie cyclist in three days I gave this advice: Don’t wear undies under your bike shorts.
I mentioned a recent blog entry that pointed out wearing undies as one of the most common mistakes made by novices.
She thought that advice was for men only. “You know,” she said. “Women’s anatomy is different than men’s.”
I do vaguely recall hearing something about that in a college anatomy class, but I told her I was quite confident the rule applied to everybody. Just to be sure, I said, I’d check with a bike shop.
So, today I talked to Alex Warren of Rainier Cycle Sports in Tacoma. Sure enough, he concurred.
“Whether you’re a man or woman,” Warren said, “your chamois should be touching skin.”

Good News

I followed Craig’s advice and ate close to 70% carbohydrates four to five days before our ride on Saturday. I felt at the top of my game for most of the ride except when we missed a water stop or should have stopped to pick up water – more about water later. I didn’t think eating carbohydrates that many days in advance would make that big of difference – Wrong; it made a huge difference. My energy level was high most of the afternoon. The Flying Wheels 100 is a tough century. I say it is tougher than the 2nd half of STP which I find challenging. Since I felt good for most of the ride, I will follow the same eating pattern before STP.

Bad News

About ¾ of the way through the ride, I was close to being out of water, and a couple of the other guys needed water. I personally go through one bottle every fifteen miles, and as we rode through a town, we were thinking water was right around the corner. Right around the corner came about fifteen miles later, and I knew I needed to stop in town at the nearest gas station. I felt a headache coming on and the other guys were complaining of cramps and sickness. Being a man (Read Idiot), I thought I could make it ten more miles instead of stopping at a food mart and buying a gallon of water. At the water and food stop, I consumed a peanut butter and bagel with two water bottles, and with my body and vigor revived, I felt great. I had energy for the rest of the ride. The question for myself is why do I need to be reminded to do the right thing? I have to remember to stop drink and eat before I need to do it.
Many website give the following symptoms for dehydration - thirst, fatigue, irritability, headache, weakness, dizziness, cramps, nausea, decreased performance. Dehydration of just 1%-2% of body weight (only 1.5-3 lbs for a 150 lb athlete or 2 to 4 lbs for me) can negatively affect performance. The way I check to make sure I am mentally with it and not fighting fatigue or dehydration is to play “Slug Bug.” Russ, Scott (Barbie), and I call out VW bugs and keep track of the score. When I have a tough time keeping my mind alert, I need to start eating and drinking fluids.
On my rides, I bring five dollars to buy water and food if I need it. I put the money in my pouch in the back of my saddle with my tools. I hope this suggestion helps, and I will listen to Kenny next time who said “Let’s top off on the water anytime we can.” Remember to drink before you are thirsty and eat before you are hungry.

Have fun riding and be safe – Rick B

POSTED BY RICK BEITELSPACHER

If it works for you, good. And if it sounds over the top,
maybe it is.

This will be the third time our team has done STP in a day. One thing that
has evolved with our team is the idea of roles. Russ is our strongest
rider so he will take longer pulls from the front as well as help
struggling riders keep up. If one of our guys falls way back, we send
Russ to go help him catch up. Craig writes on the blog. Scott keeps
track of time as we take our turns in front of the line. Scott also
makes sure we don't spend all day at a food stop - eating forever. Craig
writes in the newspaper. Kenny helps another guy keep track of water
consumption and eating on the ride. Kenny is also the truth-teller if
something is going wrong or needs addressing; he will bring it up. Craig
goes to Moab mountain biking then he writes about it on the blog and in
the newspaper. I am part coach, part encourager and the biggest smart
aleck (Trust me though all of them have shut me up more than once). I
try to keep track of how guys are feeling and making sure everyone keeps
track of each other. When guys are hurting, I remind them that EVERYONE makes
it to Portland no matter how long it takes for us to get there. I remind
guys that it is a team, not a collection of guys, but a group of people
working together to reach our goal (Finish in one piece).

Cycling can be such an individual sport that I love the team aspect. I
have the privilege to hang out with some great friends once or twice a
week as we get after our training or just riding and ribbing each other.

Have fun riding and be safe * Rick Beitelspacher

When I injured my knee two months before climbing Mount Rainier in 2004 all I could do to train was ride a bike. Not to worry, climbing guide Alex Van Steen told me, that's the second best thing you can do train for a climb (the other would be climbing.) He was right. I trained on my bike and made it to the top.
So, using that logic I decided to shake up my bike training yesterday with some mountain climbing.
I definitely got a workout as I climbed Mount St. Helens with a group of USGS scientists, national monument officials, climbing rangers and others. Whether or not it will pay off on the bike, I'll find out this weekend when I do the 100-mile Flying Wheel with the STP Project team.
Even if it doesn't pay off, I highly recommend St. Helens as a workout, geology lesson or any other excuse you can come up with to make the 10-mile (roundtrip) trek up 4,500 feet to the crater.
Click here for climbing info.

A climber takes in the view from the crater rim of Mt. St. Helens with Mount Adams in the background.

This morning’s ride was anything but memorable.
Cold weather and a steady headwind left several of us – mostly me – feeling nasty and we cut our planned ride from Sumner to the Carbonado Bridge short.
After gauging the team, Rick Beitelspacher made the call to turn us around in Wilkeson, pointing out that suffering for an additional 10-12 miles was going to make or break our training.
“We don’t need to do junk miles,” Beitelspacher said.
So we called it a day after 40 miles.
The biggest problem seemed to be my upset stomach (Apparently a plate of brownies isn’t good carbo loading). Russ Meyers had a tight leg, but he worked it out on Tubbs Hills in South Prairie.
Beitelspacher and Kevin – an occasional guest rider with the group - also felt pretty sick during the 15-mile ride to South Prairie because of the headwind, but they felt much better on the 20 miles home.
Scott Wagar, on the other hand, felt strong and was asking to keep riding at the end of the day.
The chilly morning wasn’t a total loss. It gave me the chance to practice my farmer's blow technique.
Like any sport you do in cold weather, you have to know how to blow your nose without effecting your performance.
Think I’m joking? Watch the sideline next time you are at Seahawks' game. Cameras caught Tiger Woods going tissueless at a golf match earlier this year.
There’s an art to the farmers blow, especially when you are traveling in a pace line with somebody just a few feet behind you.
Beitelspacher almost clipped me with a snot rocket this morning, and I soiled a sock with a misfire of my own.
There are two techniques worth considering. The over-the-shoulder farmer’s blow and the under-the-armpit blow.
I usually go over-the-shoulder, but occasionally have to clean my jersey after rides as a result. And I can usually only do this when I’m at the end of the pace line because spraying boogers at 20 mph makes quite the snot comet.
Beitelspacher says he prefers the under-the-armpit approach. Going under the armpit decreases the time your nasal discharge spends in the air and, unless it’s really windy, the folks behind you are normally safe.
But like most things, go with what works best for you.

Check out this text book farmer's blow from a woman cycling in Portland.

Is your riding or training becoming stale? The answer to stale riding is to mix it up. If you only ride alone, go on a group ride (check out this website www.cascade.org/Home). If you are always with a group, go ride a trail by yourself. If you only ride your road bike, take a day to try out a mountain bike by trading with a friend for a day or so. If you are Joe Fast, take your kids out around the block on their bikes, and slow down to their speed.

My favorite mix it up riding is to go on an organized ride. My next organized ride will be Flying Wheels, which is next weekend. This is a great ride to see just where you might be as you prepare to ride STP in one day. The ride has 25, 50, 65, and 100 mile loops. If you want to ride STP in a day, give the 100 miler a try to see where you are at with your training.

Have fun riding and be safe - Rick Beitelspacher

I have the honor of filling in for Craig Hill, and I like to keep the expectations low so my only hope is to not screw it up. Thanks, Rick B

On Monday as I looked out of my classroom window, I asked the question “To ride or not to ride?” (Okay, we are studying Shakespeare in class) When looking at a rainy day, many riders face this same dilemma. A good rule of thumb is to plan for any type of weather when preparing for STP. If you are thinking “Sure, but it is July,” remember all those Fourth of Julys that you spent indoors wrapped in a blanket with the heat blasting because it was rainy and cold outside. Good coaches have their teams practice in whatever condition they will face, therefore, practice or cycle in the conditions that you will face on the STP which could be rain, wind, or heat.

Some ideas to keep in mind when riding in the rain: 1) Watch out when crossing railroad tracks because they are very slippery. The same goes for cornering on the pavement after an extended dry time and the rain starts to fall. When in doubt, slow down; this is not a race, but a ride. 2) Keep in mind the air temperature. If you are soaked to the bone, and the air temperature drops, watch out for wind chill issues. Okay, maybe not in July, but the low for Thursday is supposed to be 47 degrees. If you ride at a speed of 15 MPH, you are looking at 40 degrees. Add some wet stuff and, you are looking at a bad combination.

Here is a website for ideas and gear info on equipment for riding in the rain:

www.ultracycling.com/equipment/foul_weather_gear.html

Have fun riding and be safe – Rick Beitelspacher