The Fit Nation

https://ift.tt/csMd01i This year “Bike Sebring” was again held at the Sebring Raceway in Florida. This has 6, 12, and 24 hour events around the speedway track, which is flat. Recumbents are expected to do well on this type of course, and they did not disappoint, winning several of the events outright. I am on the mailing list of both high-quality recumbent makers in the US, Bacchetta , and Cruzbike , and got the news from both those sources. Both Bacchetta and Cruzbike races were on stock bikes with no fairings. From Dana Lieberman of Bacchetta -“Our biggest news of the week – Dominic Brownlow leads again on his Bacchetta CA3.0 at Bike Seabring 2024! Racing in the 24 hour non-drafting/unsupported division (the most challenging), he completed 389.9 miles in the 24 hours and took 1st place in the division. Overall he was 4th place of all the 24 hour racers and the second place recumbent. His mileage has qualified him for Race Across America. Congratulations! Dominic is a veteran racer o...

https://ift.tt/U7vmEe3 On Tuesday I rode with my group in the hills East of Gilroy. We started at the parking lot of Harvey Bear park at the Mendoza ranch entrance off Roop road. I carpooled to the start with ride leader Kris. My ride to her house is posted here . The group rode out Gilroy Hot Springs road to the end, then came back to Canada road. At the turn onto Canada is the CalFire station where I had my accident in October . Friends asked if riding by there for me brought back anything traumatic, but I said no because I don’t remember the incident! We continued on Canada till it turns left on Jamison road, and rode that till its end, which is at the top of a steep little “stinger in the tail” of a climb, the did another out and back stretch on a different part of Canada rode. The group decided to add in a detour down Coyote lake road on the way back. That is a pretty ride but I was cold up in the hills, not having worn enough layers, so I decided to just ride home instead. The gr...

https://ift.tt/k9YsCyM On Saturday I went on an easy recovery ride because of my tough workout Friday. I cut it short because it started raining heavily, and finished up with some work on my trainer. Sunday I went for a longer ride of a bit over 35 miles. The pace felt “brisk but comfortable”, and my average heart rate was 112. That is very sustainable training for me. Yesterday I did my upper body workout but again took it easy on my rides. Saturday’s post is here and here , Sunday is here , Yesterday’s are here and here . El Toro From the Top of Middle Ave US 101 overpass on Sunday

https://ift.tt/9kUPqAo On Thursday night I mounted my 28″ wheel back on my recumbent with a heavy duty tire. I wanted to try that set-up out off-road. Yesterday I took it to Coyote Valley Open Space, Northeast of Morgan Hill, and it worked out fine, although I must admit an upright bike with fat tires is better suited for this. I then headed up north towards San Jose on Santa Teresa boulevard. I was surprised how fast the bike felt, theoretically it should be slightly less aerodynamic than my set up with two 20″ wheels, although that might be offset because the 28″ rear wheel has a bit less rolling resistance. After about 90 minutes I turned around, and found a had a severe headwind to fight through to get home. So this turned into a pretty tough workout, with an average heart rate of 118. But I made it home ok. Surprisingly, my average speed was 12.6 mph which is a bit higher than I’ve been doing lately. So I guess 28/20 really is faster. Posted on Strava here . Looking out on Coyot...

https://ift.tt/9kUPqAo Wednesday morning I went on a longer recovery ride to the Northeast, mostly on Coyote Creek trail, a very pleasant cruise (posted here) . One of my favorite panoramas on Coyote Creek trail, especially when it is this green. Wednesday afternoon I did some more easy riding in my local neighborhood (posted here ). Yesterday I started out with my upper body workout, then went for another easy ride (posted here ). I have my fatter heavy duty tires on my recumbent, so I decided to see how it did on gravel (that’s what I meant by “bent gravel”). I headed over to Anderson Visitor’s center, the start of the Coyote Creek trail, trying out some of the gravel shoulders along the way. Then I tried one of the off-road paths next to Coyote Creek trail. It went pretty well as long as the path wasn’t too rough. I had my 20″ rear wheel on the bike, for rougher stuff I’d need a bigger wheel, which I’ll try soon. Off-road path near Coyote Creek Trail I did another ride in th...

https://ift.tt/WQaVYEm On Sunday I did a harder ride on my recumbent. I rode a brisk tempo to the Southeast of Morgan Hill towards Gilroy, then crossed over to the West side on Buena Vista, for a total of 32 miles. Ride is posted on strava here Monday I did my upper body workout rode my recumbent on an easier ride 24.6 miles northwest of town, posted here . Tuesday I rode my recumbent locally for a workout, then took my Vado for our group ride, all of which is posted here . I took the long way home after lunch, posted here . This ended up being a total of just under 43 miles. However, because of the assist provided by the Vado this is equivalent to more like 35 miles unassisted. We rode clockwise around the reservoirs (Uvas and Chesbro), with an out and back to Uvas Canyon county park on Croy road along the way. This was a fun ride on a beautiful day. Monday: Looking West towards the fog lifting from the Buena Vista Vista overpass Monday: C ommunity Park in Morgan Hill Yeste...

https://ift.tt/jh84GYd On Friday I did an easy recovery day of just under 20 km. I just did a pace that felt comfortable, which was pretty slow (posted on Strava here ). This ride did put me over 600 km for march so far, which was a Strava challenge I’d signed up for. At my current rate I’m expecting to double that for the month, which will be considerably less than I’d originally thought I’d do when I got excited about mileage after reading the book The Year , but will still be a lifetime personal record. I think I did a max of just under 1000 km when I was commuting to Stanford because my commute was 100 miles a week and I’d sometimes throw in weekend recreational rides. It feels pretty good that my 71 year old self is outdoing my 26 year old self, even if it is at a slower pace! Yesterday I was back to normal so did a longer ride of about 57 km. Both Friday’s and yesterday’s ride were on my recumbent. Saturday was a nice spring day which I spent mostly to the north of Morgan Hill b...

https://ift.tt/mr6UN1a Wednesday was hard upper body day, which I did first for 35 minutes at home. Then I squeezed in a 21 minute easy ride before lunch, and another 34 in the afternoon. Rides are posted here and here . Yesterday my wife had an errand so we were going separate for lunch, so I decided to knock off the metric century ride for the Strava challenge I’d signed up for. I’m still a little gun-shy about flats, so I did three separate sections to minimize the furthest I’d be from my house. I rode 100.4 km (62 miles) in a riding time of 5 hours 12 minutes, and a total elapsed time of 5 hours 40 minutes, with a couple of snack breaks along the way, for an average speed of 19.3 kph (12 mph). That’s not bad considering I was using my heavy duty tires, not performance tires. Fortunately I had a nice sunny day for it. Posted on Strava here . The route, showing sections 1, 2, and 3 Section 1- Heading up Beanral looking towards Santa Teresa Park Section 1- On Heaton Moor Dri...

https://ift.tt/3IBMRs1 I went on a local ride of a bit over two hours, first northwest of Morgan Hill in the Coyote Valley then West of town on some quieter residential streets. After warming up I did a brisk tempo ride of over an hour, then finished up with some intervals and short hill climbs. I felt fine after so I think this is the right amount for me for a harder day. In the afternoon I needed a haircut so I took my vado e-bike there and back, posted here . On Dougherty ave, a quiet and flat rural road in Coyote Valley.

https://ift.tt/3IBMRs1 Today I was striving for a brisk ride in “zone 2” which is heart rate around 110-120 for me. I went up to South San Jose and back on my recumbent at an average hr of 112 so hit my target pretty well. It was unexpectedly raining (lightly) for about the first hour then cleared up on the way back. I posted the ride on Strava here . I also did a short ride in the afternoon to a doctor’s appointment on my upright e-bike which I use for utility purposes because it is easier to lock. My only problem was a flat towards the end of my morning ride. I was able to limp home without fixing it because it was a slow leak, but I did have to stop to repump it four times. Unexpected upper body workout! I’ve had a lot of trouble with the front tire on my recumbent, it is less robust than the one on the rear (a Schwalbe “marathon plus” which has their highest puncture protection). So I ordered another marathon plus for the front when I got home. These have more rolling resistance w...

https://ift.tt/DcRwKkr Sorry I missed some days of reporting, this will catch me up. Thursday was my upper body workout which I did in the garage, then I took my recumbent out, with the performance seat in a highly reclined position and my new headrest. It was surprisingly not noticeably faster than my normal setup. I did do a PR of 94 sec on a local sprint challenge, the Digital loop, which is about 4 seconds faster than the other setup, so at least “performance mode” works a bit better on shorter challenges. Maybe I’ll reserve it for uses like that, like when we do Hellyer Park Velodrome HPV day in May. But the normal setup is definitely more comfortable for longer rides so I put the bike back that way later in the day. Thursday’s ride is here on Strava. Friday was an easy day, so I did a cruise on the recumbent in the morning. out and back on the Coyote Creek trail then east and southeast of Morgan Hill ( here ), then took my upright e-bike out in the afternoon ( here ). Beauti...

https://ift.tt/Cm0ut8y Yesterday I once again got fooled by the weather forecast, but this time it didn’t get me wet, I ended up riding on my trainer when I didn’t really need to. It was supposed to rain earlier in the morning and then clear up, but instead it didn’t start raining until the afternoon. I rode for over 90 minutes on my trainer. I still got a good workout by doing intervals. I posted it on Strava here but it just shows my heart rate. I also posted some other short sessions I did including 25 min late morning when I saw it was dry out. The indoor trainer was useful because it helped me adjust the installation of the neck rest I made for my recumbent, and I was later able to test it on the road in the short outdoor ride. When I have the more aerodynamic carbon seat installed, it has to be fairly reclined to be comfortable (which also makes it aero). The downside is this can make your neck uncomfortable, which is solved by a neck- or head- rest. There are commercial ones of...

https://ift.tt/qSBy97o We have some more rain coming but it held off long enough for us to get our group ride in yesterday. It was a pretty pleasant day, not too windy but cold. We did our monthly outing to the restaurant at Coyote Creek Golf Course, with a detour around the flooded part by going over and back on Malech road, for a total of 36 miles in just under 3 hours. Posted on Strava here . We usually sit outside at the golf course, but on a cold grey day like yesterday it was nice to be inside. The trail on the way back

https://ift.tt/2KV5lgb I’ve changed my schedule so Monday is my longest ride of the week. This is the ride I’ll be ramping up each week until I do a metric century some time later this month (one of two Strava challenges I signed up for in March). Yesterday’s ride (on Strava here ) was 41 miles in just under 3 hours 30 minutes, leaving me pleasantly tired. I had meant this to be my first “Beaumont block” of the year, but had to cut it short because I had to fix a flat. I got this term from Mark Beaumont’s description of his round the world cycling record ( The Man Who Cycled the World ). http://www.Amazon.com/books He achieved his amazing average daily mileage by riding four blocks of four hours each day, with a short break in between, and then one longer daily break. So I did almost one four hour block today. I don’t think I would have been ready to get back on the bike and do another block after a short break, that is something I’d have to work up to. I can see myself doing po...

https://ift.tt/xA46QKL Yesterday I did my upper body workout followed by a cruise on my recumbent. I was semi-rainproof, because the weather report said I had a window of about two hours before the rain would start. If only the weather report could be trusted. I got rained on fairly heavily for about half the ride. Fortunately it was not that long of a ride. This is the second time this has happened this week, so I guess the lesson in err on the side of caution with rain gear on any day there is a chance of rain. Posted on Strava here . Fun picture for the day : This is from Strava. Two French cyclists went on a long ride (2,196 km) to trace out this picture with their gps recording, in honor of the upcoming Paris Olympics. This is the world record for the largest piece of “Strava art” by bike.

https://ift.tt/Xb54YNv After friday’s harder ride I cruised south to San Martin yesterday and did an easier ride for 1 hour 43 minutes. These recovery rides always make me feel better after, I call it “spinning the junk out of my legs”. Posted on Strava After my recent discussion of the year (and month and week) records in cycling, I discovered the World Ultracycling Association website. They keep track of the year record now among others, including distances covered in 6 hours and 12 hours. If you want to submit ride info to them you can just give strava data or other gps data. But there is a catch. You can’t submit a ride of less than 90 miles! Anything less is considered too casual, I guess, which gives an idea of what the “ultra” in ultracycling means. I was able to look up some previous records to get an idea of how fast people around my age might be. I couldn’t find a record for the 70+ category, but in the 60-69 age group the record for a month is over 4000 miles! I mentione...

https://ift.tt/Xb54YNv Today was a hard riding day on my schedule, supposed to be 3 hours 30 minutes. I ended up cutting it short to 2 hours 35 minutes because the rain was much harder and steady than forecast and my raingear was starting to soak through. I headed up Monterey highway to Coyote ranch road which allowed me to join the Coyote Creek trail north of where it is flooded, then I rode up to Blossom Hill road and turned around. On the way back I detoured around the flood by going up and over the big hill on Malech road. I stopped for a nature break at the Anderson visitor’s center and it was there I decided I didn’t want to continue to get soaked for another hour so headed home. I threw in some sprints and my on-bike strength training when I got closer to home. It was actually not that bad riding in the rain, my raingear held up well. The only part I didn’t like was when it was raining harder and getting blown in my face which can sting a bit. I have two solutions for this, nei...

https://ift.tt/jyxUFwe Today was my upper body workout followed by an easy bike ride. I forgot to mention in talking about periodization yesterday that if your main exercise mode is lower-body specific like cycling, it is important not to neglect training the upper body with its own exercises. When I’m heavily emphasizing cycling like now, I still do at least 30 minutes of upper body work twice a week, described here . It was cloudy with light drizzle (like what they call “Oregon mist” in Oregon) for most of the ride, which is the vanguard of our new storm coming in. But it was still enjoyable. I was on my upright with fatter tires so I took it down to Harvey Bear park in San Martin, and rode on the trails partway up the hill on the Willow Springs trail before heading back. Nice view from up there, even on a day on the gloomy side. Posted on Strava here . From the Willow Springs trail. A lit sunshine is peaking through to the southwest Cloudier looking northwest toward Morgan Hi...