On The Road Again

In the words of Willy Nelson, our cycle team was On the Road Again this weekend: Our first official training ride.  Up to this point we have spent each weekend sharpening our bike handling skills, learning to corner at high speeds, sprinting, jump-sprints, weaving, and even learning to pick up a water bottle on the ground without stopping.  This week was a 30+ mile ride with a few climb-repeats at the Hobe Sound Water Tower.

Let me start by explaining the challenge we have training in Florida for a not-so-flat ride in Tahoe: we have very few hills to train on for challenging climbs.  However, as Coach Big Mac explained to us this weekend, we have a little advantage being in Florida, believe it or not.  In Florida when we training for cycle events, we are always pedaling.  In areas that have more hills than flats, they spend part of the time coasting.  Our advantage is we training for constant pedaling, never coasting, never resting, a cadence of 90 is the goal at all times.  What does that mean for Tahoe... Well, considering the hills, not much.  But on the long 8-mile climb in Tahoe, this means a lot.  We should be able to manage a constant motion pedaling the entire 8-miles without wearing down too much:  or that is our goal, at least.

Now, for those of you in the South Florida area, you know this weekend we have had some very uncharacteristically high winds. I am not exactly sure what the metered wind speeds were this weekend, but by my estimate (based on years of working in Emergency Management with hurricanes and such), I would say the winds were upwards of the high teens with gusts that were easily in the mid to upper 20s.  (miles per hour that is)  Yes, it was VERY WINDY this weekend.  At some point Coach Big Mac noted "Wind is our friend!", however, I beg to differ!

If this was a true headwind or tailwind, maybe I would think differently.  The winds this weekend were a very nasty crosswind.  One word... YUCKY!!!  At first I did not think it would be too awful.  That lasted about two miles into the ride when a nasty gust caught me and almost blew me off my bike.  My front wheel swerved and I struggled to hold on.  All of a sudden my grip on the bike was tighter (not necessarily a good thing...)

Hobe Sound Water Tower - Google Maps
Although you can't see the actual hill,
you can see the distance of the ride on
Water Street.  Note: It is all Up Hill!!!!

Our normal bike route when we travel to Juno for training is from Loggerhead Park to Hobe Sound and back.  That is roughly a 30 mile ride.  Just for giggles (well actually for hill training) Coach Big Mac took us to the Water Tower.  I was slightly scared when the previous season's team (training for triathlon season) snickered and offered wishes of luck to us all.  Not all that comforting for someone who had never been to the Water Tower.  Being the wonderful coach that he is, Coach Big Mac led us to the Water Tower and with about two seconds notice hollered "Get ready to climb!"  As I turn the corner on to Water Street all I saw was this nasty hill in front of me and I suddenly forgot how to shift gears.  Half way up the first climb I was suddenly stalled.  Kind of a scary thought when you are clipped in to your pedals and not able to move much.  I unclipped real quick, stopped, turned around, and headed back down the hill.  What a wus I was!!!  Could not make it all the way up the climb on my first attempt.  The fact that I was caught slightly off guard did not help matters much.

At the top of the hill at Hobe Sound Water Tower
Photo By:  Debra Buwalda Vanderlaan

I was determined, not about to give up.  This time I took a little stroll down the street, gained some speed, and just as I approached the climb I quickly shifted to the little gears and up the hill I went.  About half way up I felt as though I was barely moving, but at least I made it up.  I got to the top and realized I was barely breathing.  A quick hit on the inhaler and down to the bottom and back up again.  This time I got to the top with a little less effort; but given there was a 15-mile ride back to the start, with a little more of a headwind than a tailwind, I knew I needed to reserve some energy for the bike back.

So as my teammates, much more experienced on the bike than I, continued to go up and down the hill, I rested with the coach.  Although the goal here was to get in as many climbs as we could, double-digits is what he was looking for, I explained that although I only got two and half climbs in just think of how much room I have to grow over the next few months as we continue to challenge ourselves through our training.  (PS: I don't think Coach Big Mac was buying my positive twist...)

As we were about to take off and head back to the start line, Coach gave us a few tips for heading back.  After I thought he was through, I started to head out.  Coach Big Mac was still talking so I turned around to listen to him...  I was still clipped in on my bike, still in my little gear, and as I was spinning my feet the bike was barely moving and I started to slow.  Realizing I was still attached to my pedals, I attempted to clip out on one side (my right side).  Unfortunately since I was barely moving, when I attempted to swing my foot out of the clip I jerked my bike to the right and pulled myself over.

Yep, that is right... I fell.  I have gotten quite good at falling: not that falling is something you want to be good at.  However, if you are going to fall, you don't want to do so with your elbows out, that will cause more injury.  I just kinda tucked in a bit when I realized I was going down.  My head was still turned a bit and that jar against the ground cause me to pinch a nerve in my neck.  The 15-mile ride back was not going to be fun.

I got up, brushed off (both my rear and my ego), and got back on the bike.  Off we went for the ride home.  About two miles in I realized my neck was hurting.  This was going to be a long 15 miles.  After about 7 miles the pain traveled down my shoulder.  This is when I decided I needed to call it a day.  Coach Big Mac agreed and called for the SAG Wagon to come get me.  What is a SAG Wagon you ask?  This is a volunteer support crew for our long rides.  They are there to help ensure all riders make it back to base.

Coach and I agreed I would stop off at Coral Reef park (actually Coral Cove Park) and wait for the sag to get me.  This is approximately 7 miles from the start.  I waited and waited.  Half hour later when they had not actually made it to me yet, I decided it was time to ride the last 7 miles back.  "Suck it up and head home" I said to myself.  I figured they would find me along the way.  What I really needed was ice for my neck/shoulder.

So battling the wind on my own, I powered home averaging only 15 mph on the bike with the crosswind that had a touch of a headwind fighting me the entire way.  I just wanted ice.  In my head I was seeing visions of Finding Nemo and instead of swimming, I heard Dori singing "Just keep spinning, just keep spinning, what do we do we sppppiiiinnnnn!"  Ya, I know, I am a bit on the crazy side.

Back at base I immediately reached for the ice as the team called the Sag back.  It turns out they could not find me because we had the park name wrong Coral Cove, not Coral Reef.  Good thing I took off and battled back on my own, or I would be camping at Coral Cove for the night!  (Oh, I am sure the team would have eventually come to get me!  Maybe...)

All in all it was a not so bad day.  Yes, a little injured; but, nothing a nice hour massage wont fix.  After training, the team grabbed breakfast at Seagulls in Jupiter.  While there we planned our trip to Clermont where we will get a good 35-Mile ride in on Friday April 8th, then at least 60 miles on Saturday April 9th.  This is the one place in Florida where we can actually train for hills.

Stay tuned for more in the upcoming weeks as our TNT TAHOE Team trains to complete America's Most Beautiful Bike Ride on June 5th.  Until then:

Just Keep Spinning!!!