« Day off, part II | Main | Marathon »
December 12, 2004
Fall ride, part IX
This afternoon I rode for 3:07:04:48, adding the trip down to Tencin then across to La Terrasse to what I did last Sunday. That's roughly 30 km more riding.
Yahoo weather says the high today in Chambery was 9 degrees Celsius, but I never saw our thermometer go above 4, and when I set out it was about 3 (almost 38 F). When I got back, it was about 2 (almost 36 F). I need warmer clothing at those temperatures. In the sunlight, that's about as cool as it can get without becoming uncomfortable. When the mist comes out, or you go in a direction where there's a mountain between you and the sun, fingers and toes start to hurt. Also, all the sweat underneath my windbreaker outfit starts turning to icewater. In terms of weather conditions, the roughest 15 km were in the valley over to La Rochette and back from Pontcharra. Shadowy and damp.
After 2 hours, my waterbottle was dry. Now I know why they put an extra set of waterbottle studs on the downtube. Surely In the summer I'll need an extra bottle at least.
My aim today was to deplete the glycogen in my muscles. Don't think I got all the way there. I'm exhausted, but don't feel like I hit a wall. My energy was fading fast after La Terrasse, however, so perhaps I was getting close. The last hill in La Buissiere was rough. Even in my lowest gear, I had to get out of the saddle several times.
Posted by Mark at December 12, 2004 06:13 PM
Comments
We plan to mail the cyclocomputer tomorrow so maybe you will have it in a week or so. So maybe in a little over a week you will no longer have to guess how far you went.
When setting the size of the rear wheel, you will probably be very close to the circumference given for 700mm wheels. When I used 120 psi tires and weighed at least 190-195 lbs, I had to deduct 0.9% from the circumference for a 700mm wheel. If you weigh less and perhaps are using higher pressure tires, you should be even closer.
I noticed on the package that the Astrale 8 uses the rear wheel for the speed/distance sensor. I have talked to people in the past who thought the rear wheel is more accurate because your front wheel wanders/wiggles more as you ride.
I do not know anything first hand about hydration packs. It seems they would work very well for cycling but then water bottles work well for cycling also. For running, there is probably no perfect solution outside of having someone follow you in a car and hand you drinks out the window. If you went to some runner forums on the net and did a search for hydration packs, you would no doubt find a lot of discussion about their use.
If you were running in the area around you house, you could arrange to pass the house every 20 - 30 minutes and get long drink then. I did this some years ago during hot weather running when going for more than six miles. Of course this is very limiting as to where and when you can run.
Posted by: Dana at December 14, 2004 05:02 AM
Thanks for that. While riding this noon, Matt was telling me I should aim for a cadence of 95-100, sometimes spinning much faster than that to work on my form.
I keep my tires inflated at 120 psi or more, up to 9 bars, and weighed 84 kg this morning (185 lbs).
For the hydration pack, what I'll probably do is find a circuit down on the flats for my long runs, take the car down there, and keep a couple of liters of water in the car. I was running over to Chapareillan and leaving a water bottle out in front of the house. But I don't want to run a long way on the slant of that road, and I don't want to drink only 3 times in 32 km when I go for that. Instead, I'll aim for a short 4 km route perhaps off the road, and just deal with the boredom the days I run extra long.
Posted by: Mark at December 14, 2004 10:27 PM