The Junior Woodchuck Training Plan

It has been a cold, bitter winter. The Junior Woodchuck Guidebook has wise advice for maintaining bike fitness, but I did not earnt he relevant merit badge, so I have not been following it.

Well, having completed the study of The Cyclists' Training Bible, I spent a fair amount of time putting together my training plan for the planned attempt to conquer the Banks-Vernonia Trail in less than 4 hours...a marked step up from the 4:45 I believe our prior best time has been.

That would be a 17% improvement in time, just to come in at 3:59.
In a similar vein, riding a century would be a noticeable jump from our longest ever ride of what...55 miles?Something like a 45% increase...though honestly that feels like much less of a challenge. Riding further has seldom been an issue for us. We typically are able to add 10 - 20 miles any time we wish as long as we have a non-repeptitive ride scheduled.

But adding that much speed...that is different.

So I now present the plan based on the aforementioned book.

Polar Bear Riding

The sun was out. Not that the sun being out means much to me...the night before with the temp gauge hovering around 32 degrees I was out playing tennis for 2-1/2 hours. And loving it.

Well, a quick consultation with the Junior Woodchuck Guidebook said an outdoor ride when circumstances permit is better than more time on an indoor trainer.So during a break at church I texted Fluffy the Cat about interest level in a Polar Bear Ride...one in which the miles ridden exceed the temperature.

He did NOT read the Junior Woodchuck Guidebook and ignored said textual action so I set off alone. Pursuant to some study I am doing into training patterns, I elected to go for an "easy ride" involving light spinning instead of my typical pedal-crushing mashing and set a goal of time instead of miles. In the "prep" phase I am just trying to build aerobic endurance.

So I consulted the Junior Woodchuck Guidebook which told me turning left out of the apartment onto the Fanno Creek Trail is a self-control management tool. With all the gates, hills, tight corners, and hills it ensures a more prudent warm-up section than I typically engage in.

So I was pedaling gently, spinning, and reminding myself, "Easy miles" every time I started to stand on the pedals and hit a taller gear. Then I tried to use my brakes.

And discovered the front brake had zip zero nada grip. Whoops. What to do? I could stop at my apartment on the way back by, stay on the trainer all winter and be done with riding outside. But I was enjoying the ride.

Consulting the Guidebook, I discovered it is considered safer to have brakes than not to have them and that having them looked at by a professional was more likely to leave my face in its current configuration than continuing to ride without breaks was.

So I decided to ride to Performance Bike and have them look at it.


By the time I got there I had logged just 5.35 miles at 14.1 mph. With all the stops I had to make, the mph was actually quite satisfying.

Anyhow, they looked at the brakes, thought they just needed adjusting. 10 bucks. I carry ten bucks in my saddle bag for food/water/this type of emergency so gladly paid it so I could continue to ride and enjoy the afternoon. And boy did it change. Touching ion the mere vicinity of the brake not only stopped me, it stopped cars three blocks behind me.

For about thirty minutes. By the time I next checked the brakes...the front brake was right back to not grabbing. By then I was out in Tigard so I decided just to ride slow, be smart, and stop into Performance on my way back.

At the turnaround I was feeling thirsty and regretting the spent ten. I did pound a leftover Butterfinger from Halloween and started my ride back.

I was already thinking about whether I would have time to extend my ride and still get back to performance when I noticed the ride getting rougher.

For those who know me and my history, they already know what is coming.

Let me preface this by saying the last time I tried an outdoor ride, my tire popped just after I inflated it..while it was in the apartment. So instead of riding, I went to Performance, had them install the new tube and rode on the trainer for 50 minutes. Due to tennis, basketball, and racquetball excursions, I had not been on the bike since.

Me being me, there is approximately zero chance I could have an awesome ride like this without something going wrong...like my tire going flat.

So instead of a 4 hour ride, I had just over an hour. Total of 21 miles.

I was discouraged. I have never...not even when I rode bikes all the time as a kid...successfully changed an inner tube. But I was going to try. Until I discovered I had no inner tube.

To say I was discouraged is an understatement. I was about 12 - 15 miles from home as I would have to walk. Fortunately, I have good friends.

So I called Fluffy the Cat and begged for rescue which he very kindly dropped what he was doing to come pick me and my stranded bike up and take me home for which I am eternally grateful.

So lets look at goals and results for the ride;
Goals; ride "easy miles" for 4 hours, and hope to ride between 48 and 52 miles.
Results; Rode less than an hour and a half for 21ish miles (I deleted 7/10ths of riding because all the stoplights made it take about 10 minutes), many of them, if not hard-charging, still stronger then the RPE 6 I was shooting for.

Fail, fail, fail. Oh, and to top it off the equipment is unsafe.

Not the best ride I have ever had, even though I really, really enjoyed the part I got in.

Post script;
Tonight I stopped by Performance on my way to the gym. I purchased 2 new tubes, a patch kit, and slime. When I got home I spent about a half hour trying to get the tire off. I found the hole. I patched the hole. I tested the patch.

I spent 10ish minutes figuring out how to get the tube and tire back on the rim. I pumped it up. I went to put the tire back on the bike...and discovered the patch had fallen off.

So I took the tire back off. I re-patched it. I tested the patch. I re-tested the patch. I checked tire, tube and rim about 4 times each looking for metal flakes, glass shards, thorns, tubas, midgets with sewing needled, Beagle Boys, or Ebenezer Scrooge. Finding it free of defects to all appearances, I put the tube back in the tire and put the tire on the rim.

I pumped up the tube. I noticed the tube and tire were partially outside the rim. I deflated the tube. I made sure tube and tire were inside the rim. I pumped it up. I noticed the tube and tire were partially outside the rim. I deflated the tube. I made sure tube and tire were inside the rim. I pumped it up. I noticed the tube and tire were partially outside the rim.

I used some words not found in the Junior Woodchuck's Guide to Cycling.

 I found some water in my eyes, not sure where that came from.

I pondered throwing the bike in the garbage or at a passing car.

I deflated the tube. I made sure tube and tire were inside the rim. I pumped it up a little and checked to make sure tube and tire were inside the rim. I pumped a bit more and checked again. I pumped a bit more and checked again.

Success. No tell-tale sound of leaks. No bulges of tube and/or tire outside the rim. It looked like a real bike tire. It felt like a real bike tire. I felt...well, not pride but less shame in my complete lack of mechanical ability.

I spent some time cleaning the exposed bike parts.

I tried to put the "quick release, 10 second installation tire" back on. I tried again. And again. And again. I recited the words earlier referenced, though not by any Junior Woodchuck in good standing with the Junior Woodchuck Accepted Vocabulary Council Dictates of 2011.

I tried again. And again. Finally I got it on.I spun the pedals...and heard the most horrible clicking. I looked for the source. I spun it. I looked for the source. I gave up. I set the bike up on the trainer, knowing there is no way on earth I will be riding it outside again as I do not trust the tube, do not trust the tire installation, and could not figure out where the clicking was coming from.

It was at this point I noticed the gears were wrong. When I tried to shift into a taller gear, it dropped into a lower gear instead.

So I looked for potential issues. And discovered the tire might be on, but the skewer was sitting too low. Why that would inverse the gears I will never know, but fixing that fixed both the clicking AND the inverted gears.

So to all appearances, I have a bike fully ready to ride, including an inflated tire, properly functioning gears, no clicking sound, and no front brake.

*Sigh*. I need to be rich so I can just throw out the bike when it gets a flat and get a new one with no issues.

At least I am able to laugh about it...or will be in 6 or 7 years...

Discouragement

Normally I shoot for a specific tone when righting on here. Jaunty, witty, a shade immature, and definitely with psychedelic overtones.

This will not be one of those.

This will probably be the last non-rainy day of the year. Unfortunately, scheduling conflicts meant I would not get in a ride with my riding partner (who still has yet to accept the invite to write on here, by the way...) but I decided to ride anyway.

I blocked out 4 hours for the ride; figured to start by 8 am and finish about noon with a target of 50+ miles.

I stopped and got a cinnabon yesterday, ate my butter-drenched power breakfast and was ready to go. Pumped up my ties, dressed in layers and was putting on my stocking cap when I heard it.

Yep, that old bugaboo returned. The smurfing tire developed a leak. And of course it is not the easy-off, easy on front tire. Oh, no. That would be too easy. It is the miserable, all but impossible to take off and put on back tire.

So yet again I will be dealing with that instead of riding.

*sigh*

You know, there are parts of cycling I truly love. I enjoy the feel of the wind on my face. I love the improvement. I love the companionship of riding with Fluffy the Cat and, next year, perhaps my brothers. I like the physical exercise. The vistas.

But the maintenance issues are so miserable I sometimes wonder if it is all worth it.

Winter Wonder

So having obeyed the dictates of the Junior Woodchuck Guide to Cycling and set up my goals for next year, I went back and read chapter two.

Good thing, too, because it imparted some mighty wisdom to my feeble mind.

Apparently, if you set goals, you need to prepare to meet them. This bit of lucidity eluded my tortured mind until delving into the tome of wisdom so dear to my Junior Woodchuck heart.

Actually, truth be told I was not searching for cycling wisdom so much as a way to untangle the Gordian Knot...information also found within the pages of the Junior Woodchuck Guidebook. But as with all great literature, once I picked up the Guidebook I kept turning pages, enthralled by what I was learning.

Anyhow, the wisdom it imparted was that to achieve goals that are currently beyond my physical ability, I must needs train specifically to achieve those goals.

Inspired, I traipsed to the library to acquire for a period of time access to The Cyclist's Training Bible by Joe Friel.

Yeah, I know, it is for the serious cyclist. I know that because the blurb on the front says, and I quote, "The best-selling book for serious cyclists".

As all who know me know, no description containing the word "serious" without some negative modifier is apt to be designed with me in mind. However, I cleverly used the loophole of the self check-out machine to avoid the watchful gaze and escape with my intended reading in hand.

As such, pursuant to the wisdom found in the Junior Woodchuck Guide to Cycling and my 4th edition library book I have been setting up a pretty stout training regimen involving large doses of pop tarts, Mountain Dew and popcorn...oh, wait, that is for the couch potato Olympics. Wrong training regimen.

I have been setting up a personalized program intended to improve my hill climbing and distance abilities.

Funny thing is, both the Junior Woodchuck Guide to Cycling and The Cyclist's Training Bible are in agreement that my training shows a huge hole; mental toughness.

The longest training ride I have done is about an hour and a half. I struggle to complete intervals not because they are too difficult but because I do not want to. I stop pedaling not because my legs are worn out or because I have something else to do but because I have been pedaling for a while and just...stop, even though I know I should ride further.

I should have my Junior Woodchuck Cycling Merit badge ripped right off my shirt. It probably would be but for two things.

First, I never earned the Junior Woodchuck Merit badge for cycling.

Second, even if I had, when riding the trainer I seldom wear a shirt.

So this is to make public my struggles and hopefully shame myself into doing better.

My goal is a two hour trainer ride at no less than 22nd gear before the end of the year and a 4 hour ride by the time spring rolls around.

Lets see if I have the mental toughness for that.

Goals for 2012

Mr. Riot Kitty and I were talking the other night about our goals for 2012. We then pulled out our tomes of The Junior Woodchuck's Guide to Cycling says goals are more likely to be achieved if they are made public.

So I thought I would put mine down on virtual paper. They are in no particular order of importance, these are just things I would love to accomplish in 2012.

1) I want to complete the Banks to Vernonia ride in sub-4 hours.
  This one should be relatively easy. We average 14 mph on a lot of rides. 22 miles out, 22 miles back...44 miles. We just have to average a shade over 11 mph. In fact, if we ever go the endurance route with more pedaling straight instead of our more casual riding style involving lots of stops, a sub-3 hour would be attainable. But that is more a biking career goal than something for next year.

2) I want to complete a Century
  I do not know why, but hitting the 100 mile mark on a single ride is psychologically awesome. To say I did it would be really cool. I think the longest single ride we ever put together was about 55 miles...so it is a big jump.

3) I want to ride 1000 miles. If somehow, someway we can get a weather break early, we might get 5 months of riding which would just require 200 miles a month...50 miles a week...easily attainable I think.

4) I want to ride to work at least 2 straight weeks. And I want over half the days to be bike to work, not drive.

I am already working on these goals. My awesome wife was on board with me purchasing a trainer and setting it up in the living room so I can ride while watching tv. I have been riding 4 - 6 times a week, anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour and a quarter. By the end of the off season I hope to have gotten in a few two hour training sessions.

I can already feel myself getting stronger. When I first set up the trainer I was struggling to get past about 13th gear with any consistency. Just a couple days ago I got 35 minutes in 22rd gear and another 20 bouncing back and forth between 20th and 21st.

I look forward to getting back out there and riding in 2012. And if we get any more sunny days in 2011...I want to get one in then, too.

Randomocity

With Fluffy the Cat and I having moved our (oft-planned but seldom executed) ride to Monday to take advantage of the holiday, I woke up early and feeling energetic.

"Aha" says I, consulting my handy Junior Woodchuck Guidebook. "When a Junior Woodchuck has time on his hands, energy, beautiful weather outside and a sudden craving for the most nutritious breakfast he has eaten in weeks, he should ride to the nearest purveyor of light calorie, high nutrient food and consume said victuals."

So I pumped up my bike tires, through on my sunglasses and I-pod and headed out the door. Then I thought, "This might be a good time to put on some clothes."

Returning to ye olde abode, I donned shorts, a water-wicking athletic shirt, shoes and headed out the door, this time appropriately attired.

First I did a light bit of reconnaissance riding to find out if the nearby "hidden" tennis courts had lights for night play. Then I headed for the nearby commissary whereby I might consume said hearty meal with which I desired to break my fast.

Unfortunately, the new-fangled mechanical device with which I hoped to check off my time and mileage was, how do you say, not working? Oh, yes, this is how you say it; my Map My ride had weak GPS signal and thus was not working.

I was nearly three minutes into my ride and it said I had gone exactly nowhere.

Anyhow, the first segment of the ride was marvelous. It was along the stretch of the Fanno Creek Trail that begins outside the apartment complex.

Unlike my massive fail-ride, this time there were no hallucinations, no visitations by comic book fictional heroes, no suddenly appearing hemmorhoidal issues.

And, unlike the subsequent ride, this time I was not pedaling like a vaguely spastic rutabaga. This time I started at a genuinely reasonable pace, scaled back when my leg told me it was not a good idea to press, and rode.

Up hill and down I went, being slowed only by red lights, stop signs, and my own lack of biking talent. At last I arrived at that paragon of smart eating, Burger King whereupon I consumed a scrumptious, nutritious, and heartily delicious delectable smorgasbord of cini-minis and French Toast sticks.

The first bit of the ride was nothing spectacular. 5.85 miles at 14.3 mph (I should point out it later logged as 6.03 miles on the main screen...so sightly faster. I think it picked up the first three minutes of my ride on the main screen, but not the one I linked.)

Smacking my lips, I concluded my repast and viewed the nearby pavement with a modicum of trepidation. The TV Highway is a heavily traveled road...yet I wanted to ride out to Rainy Day Games and see if my old friend Adam was there. Hoisting my (not very) trim frame on the (not very) trim bike frame, I headed out along said car-path, only to discover I had chagrin.

And much to the chagrin I had, there was no bike path.

Hurriedly clicking off my music, I tuned my Ipod to the Junior Woodchuck Guidebook to see what wisdom it might impart for this situation.

"Find a bike path, numbskull." The answer was imparted in no uncertain terms. Fortunately, I did locate a bike path...just as I was about to turn off the major thoroughfare, I found there was a spacious, extremely wide bike path. Continuing apace, i rode out to Rainy Day Games...only to find they had not opened. Nor had the nearby Franz Bakery Outlet Store, so my secondary nefarious plot to acquire a pepperoni pack was thwarted.

I then decided to ride by the old homestead on Cornell...well, actually I decided to see if the tennis courts at Terra Linda were lighted. So I set off on 185th to Cornell. It was an exhilarating ride full of hills that I absolutely was demolishing.

The Junior Woodchuck Guidebook refers to this as a "punishing ride"...one suspects the punishment was for my stupidity of riding the TV highway portion with no smurfing bike lane.

Anyhow, from there I rode down Allen Blvd, ironically passing less than a block from where my good from Fluffy the Bunny and his snuggle-bunny Junior Woodchuckette dwell.

At the light by their apartment I saw 2 "real" bike riders at the next light, the one at the far end of the Nike campus. Oho, a challenge...you see, this is a slight but long uphill, the type which often wears on me. I decided to see if I could catch them.

Not only did I catch them...I rode behind them for almost three miles. Not only did I have the speed and stamina to do this...I was chafing.

Because they were slow. I think they were doing maybe 10 or 11 miles per hour. I kept gearing down so I did not run over them.

So I took an alternate route home.

16.6 miles in 59 minutes. Oooooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhh yeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh.

The Junior Woodchuck Guidebook is please with my efforts.

As am I. This ride actually worked out almost exactly the way I designed it. I had no particular goals of time, speed, destination other than the aforementioned Burger King. I just wanted to do a different ride, not be too long to save energy for the longer ride Monday, and get some exercise on a beautiful day.

I saw some places I have not been for a while, scoped out some tennis court locations, and had a really great time. It was a good ride.

Fanno Creek Trail

So after the debacle of too much biking, I settled down to read the Junior Woodchuck Guide to recovery. I took most of the next week off, scaling back my gym workouts, etc, and when it appeared Fluffy the Cat would be unable to ride, I planned to re-visit Banks to Vernonia.

Unfortunately, my legs were still toast when Saturday rolled around and my motivation was already at the top of the climb...but I was still in bed. Since my motivation had such a large head start on me, i elected to skip it entirely and sped the day watching Hard Knocks reruns.

What, you think I made the wrong decision? Child...please.

I did go to the gym a couple times this week, and this evening Smokey the Bear's wife suggested he needed a ride...and I know I needed a ride but would probably not get one in tomorrow. Checking the Junior Woodchuck Guidebook's weather page, we elected to ride Fanno Creek Trail after work.

Unfortunately, overworking your legs and then over resting them is not, despite all received wisdom to the contrary, a good way to build up leg strength and pedaling speed.

So I set off with the speed of an elephant and the strength of a cheetah. Had I but consulted the Junior Woodchuck Guidebook, those efforts might have been reversed. I did not...I also neglected to check the Junior Woodchuck Guidebook to maps, had a brain cramp, and was riding the bike lane-less Allen Boulevard in rush hour traffic.

D'oh.

So instead of a nice, leisurely ride to where I was meeting Fluffy the Cat for our evening ride, I pushed myself hard to get past the dangerous portion of my ride as quickly as possible and by the time I arrived at the trail head I had averaged nearly 17 mph. Of course, it was less than 2 miles, so pushing that hard is no big deal.

We then set off on a nice, leisurely ride. (Have I mentioned I LOVE the map my ride app?)

Sadly, I was pedaling with all the oomph of a vaguely spastic rutabaga. There were spurts of pedaling brilliance...I actually had my highest speeds going UP hills. By far. I was power-pedaling from the base of the hill to the crest, increasing speed on almost every hill.

It was honestly as close as I have ever come to the mythical "dancing up hills" biking nirvana. The downside is flats and downhills had me noodle-legging it along at frenetic paces that can only be exceeded by the speedsters of the animal kingdom. Like...anything faster than a slug. That has been salted.

Fluffy the Cat was less noodle-legged, proving this when he totally velodromed me for about a quarter mile just as the ride was coming to an end, sprinting for about a quarter mile at speeds in excess of 23 mph.

In the end it was a beautiful night for a ride, and checking in at a shade over 20 miles was perfect. We got back in the flow, we got a ride in, it was relaxed, and the rutabaga will be vanquished on the next ride.

All hail the Junior Woodchuck Guide to Cyclings wisdom on maintaining the gains you have made by not skipping it for two or three weeks...

Another ride is in my future. Will Fluffy come along?