http://johnbissell.com/blog/ Conquetn Land Use Blog Wed, 17 Dec 2008 23:01:58 +0000 http://conquent.com/ en hourly 1 http://johnbissell.com/blog/index.cqs?blogid=7e4470464a9c11df8aa3689cf4dc4335 http://johnbissell.com/blog/index.cqs?blogid=7e4470464a9c11df8aa3689cf4dc4335#comments Sat, 17 Apr 2010 20:43:03 -0800 Conquent http://johnbissell.com/blog/index.cqs?blogid=7e4470464a9c11df8aa3689cf4dc4335
It’s all in your head. At the 1995 Davis Double Century I was goofing around with a few friends early the ride. We were loudly singing “Bohemian Rhapsody” and telling jokes while passing people on hills and otherwise being generally obnoxious.

At around 130 miles into the ride there is a hill called Resurrection Hill. Resurrection is about 8.5 miles long. There is no shade and it is always very hot. Going up this hill, I felt like hell - nauseous, tired, wishing it would all be over. Someone recognized our obnoxious group from earlier in the ride.

He said “Oh it’s you guys! How you feeling?”

To which I responded with a James Brown Scream “Wow! I feel good”, and the rest of my group joined in: “du, da du, da do do” I sang “Like I knew that I would” etc.

We sang this most of the rest of the way up the hill. Some one else said – “don’t every ask them how the feel again”

I really didn’t feel good, but I was glad to be riding, and so I kept my sense of humor. That’s were all those good feelings come from for any endurance athlete.
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But why? We need gears to be able to stay efficient. A human male athlete produces around ½ horse power. We are most efficient with our feet turning close to 90 revolutions per minute (RPM). We can deviate down to around 80 RPM and up to around 110 RPM and still maintain some level of efficiency, but for an all day thing we would not want to go much below about 85 RPM and not much above about 95 RPM. By increasing the number of gears an a bike, we can get our legs moving at the right RPM no matter the speed.

But at what cost and what benefit. I’ve run a few numbers here. First the benefit. Using a 39-53 double chain wheel and a 12-25 - 8 speed cog set (a very standard racing set up for mountain areas) there is no need to ever have you legs move slower than 87 RPM or faster than 95 RPM. That is right in the range of efficiency. Thus adding gears to 9, 10 or 11 speed cog sets benefits you not at all assuming your range stays between 12-25. Most racers will not expand to a 26 tooth cog, and more often the range is 12-23 or 11-23. If you want to expand the range for a lower gear, you can add a triple chain wheel. Some racers will do this with a 34, 42, 53 tooth chain wheel combination.

Also, if you’re not racing your sensitivity to just the right speed and just the right cadence is less. So for instance a triple crank set with 26, 38, and 52 tooth chain wheels combined with an 8 speed cog set ranging from 12 – 28 teeth will provide ample efficiency from 4 mph to 45 mph. That’s more than enough for a touring bike.

Here’s the cost. The average life span of a good quality 8 speed chain is 10,000 miles. The average lifespan of a good quality 10 speed chin is 1,000 miles. That’s right: the 8 speed chain, because it is thicker, wears 10 times longer. Further, the good quality 8 sped chain costs between $15 and $20, while the 10 speed chain costs $65 - $75.

Further, this benefits Shimano and Campagnolo very much. Both companies have made all of their decent quality 8 speed equipment obsolete. If you break a shift lever, or ne3ed to replace your cog set, you need to upgrade your entire drive train.

My racing bike with eight speed was perfectly serviceable, except that the cog set was worn. Here’s what I bought to replace my cog set: Cog set, crank set, rear wheel, chain, shift/break levers. Eight Speed Cog set $75.00. Drive Train upgrade $2,000.

Some will say that that the upgraded stuff shifts better and is lighter weight. There some truth to this (though not much), but it is not because it is 10 speed. Changes in technology have made shifting generally smoother. Those changed could be applied to 8 speed just as easily as to 10 speed.

This mandate to go to greater and greater number of gears just makes cycling more of an elite sport. There was a time when you could race fairly nicely on what today would be a $500 bike (calculating in today’s dollars). It wasn’t supreme, but it did not keep you out of the race. Today, you need at least and $1,800 bike to try to race, and then you need to put in the maintenance cost.

So Campy and Shimano capture more money from a smaller market, while excluding young riders and expansions into population sectors that just can’t afford it. Maybe a good short term business plan, but not so good for the long term.
]]> http://johnbissell.com/blog/feed/ http://johnbissell.com/blog/index.cqs?blogid=3ee188ce3a1311df8e3a298a22f0b5cc http://johnbissell.com/blog/index.cqs?blogid=3ee188ce3a1311df8e3a298a22f0b5cc#comments Sat, 27 Mar 2010 19:40:17 -0800 Conquent http://johnbissell.com/blog/index.cqs?blogid=3ee188ce3a1311df8e3a298a22f0b5cc
This year several of my friends are going to California with me. Three of them have done doubles before, and one of them has also done this particular ride a few times before, so I’m confident in their ability to prepare as well. However, one friend, Geoff, is doing Davis as his first double. He is strong and confident, and trains hard, so I’m really not worried about his fitness. However, he still has to learn what strange things his body does on long rides, and how to manage fuel, fatigue and pace.

To this end, I put together a series of training rides that longer than I usually recommend in training for a double. The point is to get him to ride into distress on his training rides, not at the event. We all learn more from mistakes than from success.

This past Wednesday we had one of the breakthroughs I was looking for. First Geoff used a nutritional product that many have trouble with. Then when that product ran short, he diluted it and relied on gels and Power Bars. Next he road hard, and went up O.K. Mill road at a pace I was not comfortable with. I watched my heart rate monitor to make sure I was not overdoing, and paid attention to my fuel intake while a kept up. After about ½ hour of this Geoff started to fade, then he went into a bonk including stiff muscles and no power.

But here’s the good part: We talked about how to fix this problem, including the ingestion of some maltodextrin and caffeine (Hammer Gel Espresso Flavor w/50mg caffeine), followed by some Hammer Sustained Energy, all while concentrating on keeping the heart rate down as close to 120 as possible. With about 20 miles to go Geoff was ready to quit, but I could see the recovery was starting to work. I suggested he see this through.

Sure enough, by the time we got home, Geoff was nearly fine. And he learned several important lessons 1. what to eat, 2. what not to eat, 3. how to pace, and 4. how to fix things when they go wrong. A fine example of the need for distance training to learn how everything works.
]]> http://johnbissell.com/blog/feed/ http://johnbissell.com/blog/index.cqs?blogid=3fcc5f4035ca11dfb59855e822f0b5cc http://johnbissell.com/blog/index.cqs?blogid=3fcc5f4035ca11dfb59855e822f0b5cc#comments Mon, 22 Mar 2010 08:47:41 -0800 Conquent http://johnbissell.com/blog/index.cqs?blogid=3fcc5f4035ca11dfb59855e822f0b5cc http://t.conquent.com/U800 ). The idea of complete street is that the streets are designed to work for all users, not just automobile users (peds, bikes, trucks buses etc).

However, design is always tied to funding. With the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA) the Federal Government stopped resisting changes that promoted designs other than auto-centric, however, the bulk of transportation funding was still outside of ISTEA, and thus the automobile was still promoted as the highest and best use of our transportation system.

It looks like these long standing policies are changing. On March 11, 2010 the USDOT issued a policy that will put bicycle and pedestrian road design and funding on par with automobile transportation design and funding (http://www.dot.gov/affairs/2010/bicycle-ped.html) with the announcement made through Ray LaHood’s blog on March 15 (http://fastlane.dot.gov/2010/03/my-view-from-atop-the-table-at-the-national-bike-summit.html)

This is a big step for the federal government. And even though several jurisdictions like Charlotte, NC and Seattle, WA have made the change to complete streets, most have not. With the federal government adopting a policy giving cyclists and pedestrians equal priority to cars, other jurisdictions will start to make changes, even if they don’t like bikes. They’ll change to get the funding. And since funding is where it really is, this policy will lead change.
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“I don't take my car and ride on the sidewalk because I understand that's not for my car. Why do these people think that these roads were built for bicycles?...They don't share the road. They dominate the road. They dare you to run them down....And then when you do, they get angry. What is that about?....And so you tap them. I'm not saying you kill them. I'm saying you tap them. Tap them once....If you're not rubbing, you're not racing right? So you pop them a little bit and see what happens.”

Lance Armstrong got into the fray on Twitter and said some not so nice things about Kornheiser. Now the bloggers and e-mail guys are all saying everyone should lighten up. They say Kornheiser was just in character. It was just a joke. I say bull shit, I don’t care if it is a joke. Let’s change what he says just a little bit. Let’s say he says “Why do these people think that these roads were built for black people.” All of a sudden it’s not funny.

Let’s be clear. This is the same thing. It is someone in a place of influence suggesting organized violence against a defined group of people. The difference is that the people are on bikes, not of one race, but it is still an identifiable group to which a person in a position of influence is suggesting violence. And for those of you who don’t ride, be certain that tapping a bicyclist with your multi-ton vehicle in traffic very likely will lead to the death of that rider.

If Kornheiser made his comment against a racial group, he would be fired. He might be tried for a hate crime. If he acted on his statement, he would be tried and convicted for premeditated assault or even murder. But some out there think we should go easy on this guy. They are wrong.

I have so much to deal with while I ride – careless drivers, bad roads, rain, and mean people. Now I also have a sports guy telling the world that it is a good idea to cause bodily harm to me while I ride. That is no joke.
]]> http://johnbissell.com/blog/feed/ http://johnbissell.com/blog/index.cqs?blogid=832ddbcc2d3911dfb02abdd322f0b5cc http://johnbissell.com/blog/index.cqs?blogid=832ddbcc2d3911dfb02abdd322f0b5cc#comments Thu, 11 Mar 2010 10:11:28 -0800 Conquent http://johnbissell.com/blog/index.cqs?blogid=832ddbcc2d3911dfb02abdd322f0b5cc
There are several things to remember when using this tool. First, the route I like is not always the route that the other cyclist will choose. This seems to me one of the biggest gripes “I used Google Maps for Bicycle routes and it routed me this way when I prefer that way”. Here’s a tip – The computer can’t read your mind. Sometimes it feels like it can, but it can’t – really.

The real test here is “would that route have worked for someone from out of the area who does not know the nuances of the local roads?” So I asked Google maps to get me to places I know well to see if the routes were o.k. In each case Google gave me routes different from what I would have selected for my self, but the routes would have worked if I were from out of town. It appeared the main difference between the Google routes and my own was hills. Google notes in their blog that they will try to avoid hills. I like hills and don’t make an effort to miss them. Thus I see lots of neat stuff and take routes that are less traveled. However, that’s me – not everyone. When I tried customizing the routes to go on the hills, the entire route adjusted much more to my liking.

Next I went to cities that I am less familiar with and asked Google Maps to get me from one likely touristy place to another. In Denver went from Sloan Park to the Denver Zoo, and on the eastern seaboard I went from Veteran’s Park in Trenton NJ to Long Beach NY. In both cases Google Maps gave me options. I reviewed the routes against other data and found that the selected routes were really very good. Were there other secret routes the local cyclists would use to go to the same place? Probably. However, the routes selected by Google were better than I would have done on my own, as a geographer, map geek, and cyclist.

The second thing to note is that Google is only able to work with the data available. In the Seattle Area, the City of Seattle and King County (in which Seattle sits) have done a very good job of created bike route maps. Whereas Snohomish County, the next county north of King has done a poor job of creating bike rout maps. When using Google in both King and Snohomish Counties, I find Google lacking in Snohomish, while doing very well in King. Google is apparently trying to fix this lack of data. They note that the bicycle route function is in Beta and that they would like input on errors. If all of us cyclist tell Google about issues, they will fix the issues and the maps will get better and better. Remember how bad the car routing was when Map Quest first came out? Now you can get good reliable routing from Map Quest, Google, and Yahoo without any worries. I think we should expect the same improvements from Google Bike Routes as well.
]]> http://johnbissell.com/blog/feed/ http://johnbissell.com/blog/index.cqs?blogid=99f4c198262e11dfac6915b822f0b5cc http://johnbissell.com/blog/index.cqs?blogid=99f4c198262e11dfac6915b822f0b5cc#comments Tue, 2 Mar 2010 11:05:43 -0800 Conquent http://johnbissell.com/blog/index.cqs?blogid=99f4c198262e11dfac6915b822f0b5cc
Our local YMCA bike club is growing, and the members are growing more ambitious. Several members have decided to train for longer rides, centuries and double centuries and were asking what they needed to do to train for those rides. We had a meeting to discuss this, and the following articles in three parts are a summary of the discussion.

Three legs:
1. Hydration
2. Nutrition
3. Physical stress and Recovery (riding your bike)

These legs all go together, but the story will get too long, so I will post it in three parts.

Part III Riding the Bike

I’m going to start by saying that there are whole books written on this topic. This is just a short article, so I’m really only hitting the highlights. There is also quite a bit of controversy here. I’m going to go over what works for me and many in the masses riding the recreational centuries and double centuries. For more detail please look up one or more of the great books on this subject such as The Cyclist’s Training Bible by Joe Friel or Bicycling Magazine's Training Techniques for Cyclists (Revised: Greater Power, Faster Speed, Longer Endurance, Better Skills by Ed Pavelka and many others.

Also I’m going to give you a disclaimer. I’m a cyclist who has been doing this for a long time. I’ve read lots of stuff, and have ridden some really hard ultra-distance rides. I’m not a doctor or a nutritionist or a physiologist, or a psychologist or a personal trainer or a physical therapist, or any other thing that I’m not. This is just a forum for me to share my experiences. Be sure you are medically capable to train and ride a bicycle – and seek medical advice if there is any reason in your judgment (not mine) to do so.

I’ve read somewhere that 60% of doing well in an endurance sport like cycling is mental – “you can do it” attitude, and that about 60% is nutrition and hydration. Since that’s 120%, I guess you don’t even need to ride the bike. No really that’s not true.

The first thing that makes those numbers not true (besides being more than 100%) is that you learn the mental part by riding. Every body is different. The way your body responds to particular nutrition or recovers from particular stresses will be different from anyone else’s. That is important because on a long ride you’re always on the fine line of messing up by not drinking enough or too much or my not eating enough or too much or by going too hard and needing to recover. You can only learn those limits by riding – blowing it – and fixing it. Once you have that down you have about 1/3 of the mental stuff care of. Another third of the mental stuff is the knowledge that you can survive this (whatever this is). You get that by riding too.

Say you’re out doing the Seattle to Portland (STP) and you get across the bridge into Oregon and find out that its 97 degrees. If you’ve ridden enough in hot weather or in a hot spin class room or some other adverse condition, you’ll say “this is no big deal, I’ve done this before”.

The other third of the mental piece is sheer determination. I’ve coached for a long time in several sports, and have not really found easy coaching for sheer determination. Nike says “Just do it”. The Hours have a song (that Nike has borrowed) that says “Everybody gets knocked down. How quick are you going to get up?” Some people do well by looking at the person who does not give up and copying. What ever you have to do, this part is huge and cannot be underestimated.

So on to the actual riding, because you really do need to get in shape.

I Assessment

The first thing you need to do is plan. You might have some goals – a century ride or a double century. You might need to decide if this is a this year thing or a next year thing. Look at what kind of shape you’re in. Do you need to lose a bunch of weight? Have you been exercising at all? Do you know how to ride a bike? Figure these things out to find a starting point. If you are starting from scratch, you may want to find a coach or a club to help you with your initial planning.

Next go for a ride. You need to find a base line; you need to know what you can do. Find a nice route that is mostly flat but has enough hills to find out if you can climb. Take note of how you feel on the flat and on the hills. Take a look at the distance you go and how fast you cover the distance. You are not trying to race; you’re just trying to find out where you are.

See how you feel the day of your test ride, and see how you feel over the next couple of days. Did you get nutrition right? (See part II before this article). Did you get hydration right? (See part I before this article). Did you go for more or less than 2 hours? If less, you will need to work up to a 2 plus hour test ride, because your metabolism has different needs when you go more than two hours, so how you feel after two hours will be different.

Now compare your results to your goals. Don’t get discouraged. Your goals should be along way from your starting point. Now that you know where you are, don’t go out and over train. Every time you stress your body, you do damage. Your body needs to rebuild and heal (recover) to get in shape. If you go out and ride hard every day, then you will never rebuild, and you will never get strong.

II Training Types

Plan to train more than just the long distance systems. Most riders find that they do best with interval training 2 – 3 times a week and one long ride a week. Some even space the long ride out more than once a week. The long ride is training endurance, and getting you used to your nutrition and helping you find your limits. This is not when you should be peaking your max heart rate or ripping the hills down. We call this LSD (long slow distance). As you get stronger, this distance will speed up and you will be able to maybe rip the occasional hill down, but always remember that that is not your goal for the long rides.

III LSD

At the end of the long rides, evaluate. How did the nutrition and hydration work out? How do you feel? How was your time? Are you comfortable? Could you do more now or did you need to stop at the end? When you have answered these questions you can plan your increase for the next long ride. For most riders 25 – 35 miles is not that much different. 50 miles feels like a much bigger deal than 35 miles because you will be out for 3 – 4 or more hours. Remember from article II you need protein for rides lasting longer than two hours. This means than in 3 – 4 hours you will be testing your metabolism. Once you reach that 50 mile mark for most the 65 mile mark is an easy next step, while 75 miles is still a challenge. Once you make 75 miles seem easy, 85 will be no problem, but 95 will still be a big deal. Once 95 is easy, you pretty much have it in the bag - 120, 140, whatever. To achieve each of these levels, you need to ride the prescribed distance until it feels comfortable. If you get home after 35 miles and feel horrible, ride that distance again next week, and so on. When 35 miles seems easy move to 50 miles, and from 50 to 75 and from 75 to 90 and from 90 to more.

After that it’s a mater of daylight. How fast did you cover the distance and how much time do you need to cover more distance. This magic 100 mile thing is because you have now trained your body and mind to keep going. You have figured out what nutrition works hour after hour, so add another hour, no real big deal. If you get 100 miles done in less than eight hours, you likely can finish a double century in less than 16 hours – daylight in mid summer in the northern parts of the world.

IV Interval Training

The interval training is shorter. You can do this on an indoor trainer or outside. This is where you push yourself. The purpose of the interval training is to raise you heart rate and empty your systems faster than you would do in a long event. You do this by going as hard as you can, recovering, then going as hard a you can, then recovering. There are lots of drills to do this including fast out of the saddle climbing up hills about two to five minutes long, then repeating, or longer climbs, increasing difficulty as you go up to exhaustion, or flat time trials pushing your max heart rate for as long as you can sustain, then repeating. Many riders find that an indoor cycling class with a trainer is the best place for this. The trainer will likely push you harder than you would go if you were alone.

V. Training for power and endurance gains vs. weight loss

It is just about impossible to do both. (There are always exceptions to the rule and I have read about those who have done both, but it is so hard that no trainer or doctor I have heard of would recommend it). If you need to loose weight to achieve your goals, then set that as your goal. It may be that you need to set one year for your weight loss goals and another for your distance goals. You just need to set priorities. Also, while cycling is an anti-gravity sport – and the pros are super skinny – there are plenty of riders out there who are a little heavy. If you have weight to loose I would recommend you talk to your doctor and get checked out. Extra weight often indicates other issues that might make you want to be cautious in an exercise program. But if the Doctor says o.k., then set your goals – either weight loss or endurance and power gains. And start going for your goals.

VI. Recovery and Over-training.

You need to give yourself ample recovery. If you don’t rest you will suffer from over-training. You will have trouble raising your heart rate, and your resting heart rate will not go as low as your normal resting rate. You will not be able to generate the power you are used to. Your immune system will struggle and you will likely get sick. You will be hungry all the time, particularly for simple carbohydrates. You will get tired easily and want to take naps.

The time your body needs for recovery is individual to you. We know that as you get older the amount of time you need increases. For a 5 year old kid it seems like it is about 45 minutes but really is about one day. For someone in their 30’s recovery after a complete body draining day – the long ride or a day for of repeating intervals – will likely be about two days. 40’s and up it can take tree days to recover. So plan your training schedule accordingly.

During a long workout or ride your body is using fuel for energy. During recovery, your body is using fuel for repair. Your by can’t really do these things at the same time. It takes somewhere between 10 and 45 minutes (studies and personal experience) for your body to switch systems. This is important for two reasons: 1) when do I change my fuel so that my body can recover?, and 2) what happens to my metabolism in the rest stop during a ride?

First, when you get done with a ride you need to increase the amount of protein related to carbohydrate. I have read studies indicating that recovery protein should be anywhere from 25% to 50% of your post work out diet, and it should be within 45 minutes of getting off the bike. There is lots of debate about this. If you go really hard, you will probably not want that much protein right away. If you went to hard and messed up your nutrition, you will likely want simple carbohydrates for a while. So listen to the advice to increase protein, but also listen to your body. If you cannot increase protein right-away, be sure to increase protein during your recovery day or three.

How much time in the rest stop? Once your body switches to recovery, it is really hard to get back to energy. So if you’ve been on the bike a long time, you may really want to rest a while, but if you do, you will not want to get up again. I recommend trying to keep your rest stops to less than 10 minutes. Sometime this is impossible because of bathroom lines and food replenishment, but do what you can to keep it short.

The exception to this is when you have tanked. It happens. You’re on a ride that is really important to you and you feel like road kill. Sometimes, you just need to rest and re-set. In these cases take the break you need. Be particularly careful of pushing yourself in hot weather. Heat stroke is nothing to toy with. Rest and cool down if that is what is going on.

VII How to prepare for the big day

So you’ve done all your training and the ride you seat your sights on is coming up. Remember the recovery thing above. Add to that that it takes about 10 days to rebuild depleted glycogen supplies in your muscle. So set you last big training ride for about 3 weeks before the big ride. Two weeks before do a smaller big training ride – maybe half or ¾ of the distance of your big ride. One week before do a nice easy ride. The week before the ride, you can spin gently for days 7, and 6. Days 5 and 4 take pretty easy, go ahead and move around, swim gently or some other activity where your heart rate never quite gets to the brisk walk level. Days 3 and 2 rest rest rest. Day 1 RIDE the Big RIDE!

During those 7 days you want to start with fairly high protein on days 7 and 6 , but you want to be tapering your protein down and increasing your complex carbs so that by day 2 your protein/carb ratio is closer to 20/80. You really want to stay away from trans- fat and greasy hard to digest stuff, and you want to stay away from simple sugars. Try to keep your cards complex. You probably cannot eat too much during this week, so that is your training goal. If you’re like me, sitting still for a week with not real training is a nightmare. So I tell myself that my eating is my training.

Now go and get your goals set and do your riding.
]]> http://johnbissell.com/blog/feed/ http://johnbissell.com/blog/index.cqs?blogid=f5445e76142411dfa150edf070eda0db http://johnbissell.com/blog/index.cqs?blogid=f5445e76142411dfa150edf070eda0db#comments Sun, 7 Feb 2010 12:11:21 -0800 Conquent http://johnbissell.com/blog/index.cqs?blogid=f5445e76142411dfa150edf070eda0db
Our local YMCA bike club is growing, and the members are growing more ambitious. Several members have decided to train for longer rides, centuries and double centuries and were asking what they needed to do to train for those rides. We had a meeting to discuss this, and the following articles in three parts are a summary of the discussion.

Three legs:
1. Hydration
2. Nutrition
3. Physical stress and Recovery (riding your bike)

These legs all go together, but the story will get too long, so I will post it in three parts.

Part II
Nutrition:

In the previous article which focused on hydration (http://t.conquent.com/c800 ) I noted that the story of drink, drink, drink is a little more than misleading. Well the story with nutrition is the same but with added complexity. The complexities are how much, how often, and what is the make up – protein, carbs, simple sugars, complex sugars etc. This is all made more complex by the marketing of many different products from Gator Aid to Powerbars to gels and supplements. And don’t underestimate the power of marketing. They all say they are good, but most are not going to help you at all.

First is the question of how much:
With nutrition, your body can process much fewer calories than you can burn once you work as hard as a brisk walk (over about 120 beats per minute). I’ve read several articles about this and the study groups show that the athlete can process fewer than ½ the calories burned. To use myself as an example: I weigh about 175 pounds, and I am about 6’ 2” inches tall. In an hour of hard work I can burn about 900 or more calories. In a multi hour sustained effort I often burn closer to 600 calories per hour. Through trial and error, I have found that I can process about 300 – 400 calories per hour. The variable is with effort; as I slow down – and burn fewer calories, I can process more calories. Part of your training program is learning how this system works for you. I smaller person will burn less, and will be able to process less as well. You need to know the maximum number of calories your body can take in while exercising. You need to figure this out on rides longer than two hours because things work differently the longer the ride. Plan enough training rides of substantial distance to test your different ideas of what will work for you and how much you can take in.

This theory goes against what most of us have been told all our lives. You need to fuel or you will bonk. You need to replace your calories or you will not be able to go. However, studies have found that even the racers in the Tour de France who enter the race at 4 – 5% body fat have enough reserves to fuel their bodies through the grueling 21 days of riding – with a caloric loss every day. This is because there is stored energy in your body in the form of glycogen in your muscles and stored fat.

The problem here is nearly the same as the problem with fluids. It is very easy to get behind. If you are burning 600 calories and hour and taking in 300, you’re behind, but your body knows how to deal with it. However, if you forget to eat for an hour, you’re now behind an extra 600 calories. Your body cannot process extra calories per hour, so you can never really catch up.

This process ties I with the fluid consumption process, the electrolyte consumption process and the ride and rest rate witch I will talk more about in part III to come. It takes fluid to process the electrolytes, and to process the calories. Some find that it works to mix the electrolytes and the carbohydrate source in the same bottle. HEED made by Hammer Nutrition and PowerBar Endurance Sport Drink are two examples of this type of product. This seems to work well for rides less than 2 hours, but can lead to real problems on longer rides. During the ride, your effort will change as will the conditions you’re riding in. Even with no outside changes, the demands of your body are likely to change over a very long ride. Mixing the carbohydrate, water and electrolytes together limits you. Even if you are consistent and drink one bottle of water with electrolytes per hour and you consume your magic number of calories per hour, you may need more fluid at 1:15 and more food fuel at 1:40 and so on. For rides longer than two hours, it really is important to keep your food and drink separate (though I am a big believer in putting the electrolyte supplement in the water as I noted in part I)

How Often:
Studies have found that the trained athlete has about 90 minutes of glycogen supplies stored and accessible in his/her muscles. If your ride is less than 90 minutes you can usually get away without eating. But it takes about a week to 10 days completely recharge depleted glycogen supplies (so those 90 minutes without food could take you off the bike for a week). If your ride is longer than 90 minutes, you CANNOT skip the first 90 minutes and run off your stored energy. You may not be hungry in the first 90 minutes, but you will need that stored energy through your ride, and trying to do a ride entirely off what you eat, when you eat it is horrible.

People often make the mistake of eating at the rest stop and not in between. Why doesn’t this work when on a normal (not workout) day you eat just three meals? When you’re going above a brisk walk your body processes differently. Energy stores are made available for action. Muscle repair becomes a secondary consideration, as the body needs to keep moving forward. But when you stop for more than about 15 – 20 minutes, the system changes form energy store going for action to energy store going to repair or what we call recovery today. Once you are in recovery it is very hard to get going again.

So if you stop for a small meal at each rest stop, you are changing you’re metabolic system each time you stop. Each time getting going is a little harder, until you finally decide it just might be better to give this ride up. So eat often, measure your calories and don’t stop long. Make sure your bike and jersey are designed to allow easy access to food while riding. When you do stop it should be to refill your jersey pockets, fluid and get going again. There are some exceptions to this rule and I will talk about those in Part III to come.

The bottom line is: you really need to be consuming something about every 20 minutes starting at the very beginning of the ride. You also need to start with your tank topped off. That means taking care of your nutrition every day while training (on or off the bike) and being very careful the whole week before your big event.

What to eat:
What an array of options out there. There are things we know your body needs and a wide range to meet those needs – then there is the range outside of what works that lots of riders like to try. I urge caution here. When there is a wide range available, it is tempting to say that something works well for you and to ignore the fact that it doesn’t actually meet the nutritional need you have while on the bike.

When exercising for more than two hours your body needs protein. If you don’t give your body protein you will take it from muscles, which decreases power, adds to fatigue, increases muscle soreness and in some people adds to cramping problems. If you ride less than two hours, just about anything you can easily digest works – powerbars (I hate those and feel like I have a rock in my stomach if I eat one, but if it works for you..) gels, cliff shot blocks – simple sugars (maybe – I’ll explain further on).

On a ride longer than two hours you have to treat things differently. And you need to start treating things differently right at the beginning of the ride, not two hours in. It is important to understand that when you go for more than two hours you are really stressing your system. That’s not bad; it just means you can’t put the same stuff in your body as when you’re sitting around. Your body wants easily digested foods that hit the right spot. Often simple sugars sound the best (glucose, dextrose fructose, sucrose, brown rice syrup), however, those can be very hard to digest, and can lead to spikes and falls in energy. Most of the athletic nutrition available out there uses these simple sugars so be careful what you buy and use.

The sugar that seems to be the easiest to digest and leads to a constant energy flow is Maltodextrin. This sugar is a long chain carbohydrate (considered a complex carb). It burns slow and leads to fewer conflicts in digestion. Maltodexrtin is found in several products so you have to read the labels. One issue found in some studies is that mixing simple sugars with either complex carbs or protein causes upset stomachs in many athletes – especially ultra endurance athletes (I’m one of those). Many brands of gel and other sports supplements mix these three which can lead to trouble for some. According to a Hammer Nutrition study, most high functioning endurance athletes cannot tolerate simple sugars – even by them selves, when under load, and never if mixed with complex carbs or protein. However studies done by others (PowerBar, Carmichael Training Systems, Robobank Pro Cycling Team) have found benefit to mixing complex and simple sugars so that the athletes get an immediate boost with a slow let down. The Robobank study found that athletes could process more total calories per hour with this mix. So we find PowerGel, Gu and Accelerade (Gel and drink) all using the mix of a simple sugar with maltodextrin (and Accelerade adds protein).

You also need to find a protein source you can digest. You want protein to be about 15% – 20% of your calories with carbs making up the rest, and maybe a little fat in there if you can stand it. There are some bars like the ProBar and the Larabar that come close to these numbers and are all natural real food (mostly raw), which makes them easier to digest. Cliff bars also can work here. In the old days we ate a lot of peanut butter and jelly to get this ratio (before anyone knew this ratio was important). I have a friend who brings hard boiled eggs to get his protein while riding.

So you can mess around with all of these ides, but be aware: Peanut butter is hard to digest and the simple sugars in the jelly upset some stomachs. Eggs are hard to keep fresh and require you to ingest a big quantity of protein all at once, (which works fine for my friend, but would certainly make me barf) and the bars can be challenging on the stomach for many.

I have moved to an almost all liquid diet. I use Hammer Nutrition Sustained Energy which tries to hit the carb – portion ration just right. Hammer also makes a product called Perpetuem which is slightly higher on protein and has a little fat in it. I have trouble digesting that much protein with the fat, but Perpetuem works well for many others. Hammer uses soy protein which they have found to be easier to digest.

Accelerade is another one with protein that many people like. It is about 20% protein, (whey protein) so it is on the mark for what you body needs for the long rides. I have heard people complain that it is too sweet, and the first ingredient in the powder form is sucrose, while moltodextrin is there too, but much further down the list. So it mixes simple sugars, complex carbs and whey protein which is a mix that has been shown to cause upset stomach in some people (like me). That does not mean it won’t work for you, because it works well for lots of people. It just means use caution.

It is worth noting that what tastes good when at a rest state (like when you’re shopping for products) is never what tastes good 120 miles into a 200 mile ride. I find I never want the sweet stuff when I’m beat tired. So I buy unflavored gel and unflavored sustained energy. Off the bike it takes like rubber and pancake batter respectively. However, on the bike it is just right. (My friend Geoff disagrees and thinks the unflavored gel never tastes right).

It is also important to note that if you use a liquid with protein in it, it will get rancid just like milk does if you set it out for a few hours. Bacteria loves to eat protein in a carb solution. Bacteria in your drink will make you sick. So plan to bring the powder with you and make new batches as you get more water on the road.

The key to all this is practicing with what works. You need to know how your body responds to what kind of food. My goal here is to narrow your spectrum so you try things in the range that might work, and can eliminate those that we know will not work. After you know what works, you need to stick to the plan. That means being very careful rest stops during supported rides. I’ll talk more about that in part III

There is much more to know, like how to eat when you’re off the bike, how to eat when you are preparing for and event and how to eat when you are recovering. That is all for a later article. And nutrition discussions invariably bread controversy, so feel free to e-mail me or file comments on this blog and I will try to answer any questions.
]]> http://johnbissell.com/blog/feed/ http://johnbissell.com/blog/index.cqs?blogid=7b22781c135211df84fbb3ba70eda0db http://johnbissell.com/blog/index.cqs?blogid=7b22781c135211df84fbb3ba70eda0db#comments Sat, 6 Feb 2010 11:04:41 -0800 Conquent http://johnbissell.com/blog/index.cqs?blogid=7b22781c135211df84fbb3ba70eda0db
It's a nice ride down the trail in the morning -- some joggers, a few bikes in the other direction and an occasional bike to pass in the same direction. I can look at the wetlands, maybe see the eagles circling, and basically just ride.

Not so when I take the same route on a Saturday morning.

Let's start with the marathon trainers. Apparently the way to train for a marathon is to join a group... a BIG group. I'm talking 20-30 people running in an amoebic mass, chatting with each other, and not really aware that there might be 230 lbs. of man and steel hurtling towards them. Only thing worse than one of these blobs is two blobs going in both directions -- it's like sheep blocking an Irish road, only without the charm.

Then we've got the weekend warrior riders who fall into two categories of danger at the same time -- too fast and too slow. I'm not in any kind of decent riding shape, but I know what my pace is, and while I hate someone being ahead of me who I can't quite catch, if I pass them, they stay passed. But there are these pseudo-hotshots on the trail who push past me, and then slow down. I have to wonder if these are the same guys who do that to me in their cars...

Of course the other too slow category isn't people who just ride slower than me, it's people who meander all over the trail. It's bad enough when I come up behind them and ring my bell a dozen times but then I have to yell "On your left! Um... your right... Never mind, right between the two of you..." But the people coming in the other direction, riding side by side, sort of, and looking everywhere but the direction they're going are just asking for a head-on collision.

I have to say for the record that don't mind the families with the tykes on bykes that much. Sure, it's annoying for me to have slow down, but it's nice to see a family out doing something together. I don't like seeing Dad without a helmet, but I always slow down, ring my bell, pass carefully and say "excuse me" as I go by.

It's not their fault I'm riding like a maniac on a Saturday... ]]> http://johnbissell.com/blog/feed/ http://johnbissell.com/blog/index.cqs?blogid=176c841c12d411dfac88520771eda0db http://johnbissell.com/blog/index.cqs?blogid=176c841c12d411dfac88520771eda0db#comments Fri, 5 Feb 2010 19:59:58 -0800 Conquent http://johnbissell.com/blog/index.cqs?blogid=176c841c12d411dfac88520771eda0db
Our local YMCA bike club is growing, and the members are growing more ambitious. Several members have decided to train for longer rides, centuries and double centuries and were asking what they needed to do to train for those rides. We had a meeting to discuss this, and the following articles in three parts are a summary of the discussion.

Three legs:
1. Hydration
2. Nutrition
3. Physical stress and Recovery (riding your bike)

These legs all go together, but the story will get too long, so I will post it in three parts.

Part I

Hydration:
We’ve all been told to drink, drink, drink because you will never get enough. There is both truth and fiction to this story. The truth is that you will never get enough. In an hour workout you can easily loose 30-40 ounces of water from your body. The problem is that you cannot process 30 to 40 ounces of water per hour. I’ve read articles that say you can process as little as eight – ten ounces an hour and other article that say an athlete can process between 20 and 26 ounces per hour.

These articles lead us to three questions. 1) why the big difference (8 – 10 v. 20 – 26)? And 2) How can I stay hydrated if I loose a quart and the most I can possibly process is 26 ounces? And 3)what happens if I get too much hydration or too little hydration?

To answer the 1st question, it appears that there is a big difference between what trained athletes can tolerate verses what couch potatoes can tolerate AND using an electrolyte supplement appears increases the absorption rate. The study that revealed a processing rate of between 20 – 26 ounces of fluids study was done by Hammer Nutrition and they used Iran Man tri-athletes and ultra-distance runners for the study. They also used an electrolyte supplement. The other study used short distance weekend mountain bike riders and if they used any electrolytes the article did not mention it. After reading these articles it appears that part of your training program is teaching your body to process the greater amount in that spectrum (8 – 26 ounces) and learning how much you can tolerate.

The Hammer study looked into the question “ how can I stay hydrated if I’m not processing enough fluids to replace?”. The basic point of the study was to look at the difference between replacement and replenishment when the body is under load. What the study seemed to show is that when the body is under load (the study defined under load as being faster than a brisk walk) it knows how to solve the problems with less than is being burned (both for food and water). The body replaces during recovery, but only replenishes while under load.

So the answer to the 3rd question is that you walk a very fine line with hydration while under load. The point here is that you are making do with less. Thus you are always behind in hydration while you’re riding; there is nothing you can do about it. If you forget to drink for an hour, you will be behind even more leading to a dehydration problem. All sorts of bad things happen here, like cramping, dizziness headache, and if it gets severe there are lots of very severe consequences to dehydration. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dehydration )
If you drink more than you can process – especially with no electrolyte supplement, you can get hyponatremia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyponatremia). Hyponatremia is a disturbance or reduction in the electrolytes in the blood. Basically you drank so much that your blood thinned. This problem can lead to a reduction in power, nausea, a feeling of bloating etc. So now if we look at the dehydration caused by forgetting to drink for an hour, and then trying to fix that problem by drinking three water bottles at the next rest stop, you will find that you have not solved your dehydration problem because you cannot process that much water, but you very well may have increase the fluid I the blood without the electrolytes causing hyponatrimia (over hydration) while you are still dehydrated (under hydration).

So the key here is to work on learning how much your body can tolerate while you’re training. I and many others have found it important to time myself just to be sure I’m getting enough at a good even rate. It is also important to note that these extremes are only going to happen with long sustained effort. Most athletes can stand just about anything for about 90 minutes. So even if it is not recommended, you likely could go out hard for a 30 mile ride with no food or water and not encounter any problems that you noticed. You will pay with a hard painful recovery, but you might just say – “I worked hard so of course I’m tired and worn out.” Really you just blew it and got away with it, and if you went any farther you would be calling for a (car bus or cab) ride home. You pay later for the mistakes you make earlier: You feel great during that 1st hour so you don’t drink. You will never catch up. All day you go into a bigger deficit, and hour eight you feel like road kill and don’t know why. It was hour one – that’s why.

It is important to note that at hour eight, you may not jut be paying for the problems created in hour one. If you work out hard the day before, or spend the day before in the sun, or do any number of things the day before that did not focus on hydration, you may be starting the ride in deficit. Most ultra-distance athletes will work on hydration the day before the big event. And any alcohol the day before will make this situation worse. Alcohol will dehydrate you and you need to recover from it’s other effects as well. So always remember, the day before is very important – and for longer rides, the week before is really key.

In this section I mention electrolyte supplements a couple of times. There are a few good ones and several lousy ones on the market. The reason for the lousy ones is simple – most people are not athletes, and most people do not stress their bodies with a sustained effort for 6 – 16 hours (time you would expect to be on the road on a century to double century). If you’re sitting on the couch watching the super bowl and you drink a Nuun tablet, or three Hammer Endurolytes every hour, you will probably get sick. But if you sit on the couch drinking PowerAde, you might be fine. Conversely, if you use PowerAde for your long ride, you will likely find that it works not so well, while the Nuun and the Hammer Endurolytes work great.

I don’t know all of the brands out there. I have researched Nuun and Hammer Endurolytes and believe they both do what your body needs. I like the Nuun better because of the packaging, the flavors and the way it mixes in the bottle to give me a little electrolyte with each sip of water. It is also important to note that your body has the same issue with uptake of electrolytes. There is a maximum you can do. The good electrolyte supplements will give a dosage recommendation. It is a good idea not to go beyond the dosage recommendation.

Part II on nutrition will be posted soon.
]]> http://johnbissell.com/blog/feed/ http://johnbissell.com/blog/index.cqs?blogid=efef4fc212cf11df80749af870eda0db http://johnbissell.com/blog/index.cqs?blogid=efef4fc212cf11df80749af870eda0db#comments Fri, 5 Feb 2010 19:30:13 -0800 Conquent http://johnbissell.com/blog/index.cqs?blogid=efef4fc212cf11df80749af870eda0db
“I’m a bit concerned about all the potential bad drivers that I’m more likely to encounter when riding on so many different roads.”

Good, you should, they weigh a lot more than you. Know these things:

1. You are invisible most of the time, even with flashers and a bright yellow vest. Also your visibility depends largely on expectations – you are lots more visible in Seattle than in Lynnwood, because drivers expect cyclists in Seattle, and they don’t in Lynnwood. (Note to readers – this rider lives in the Seattle Metro area. For those of you around the world you can think of similar situations – safer in Portland OR than Beaverton OR, safer in Downtown Sacramento, than in Citrus Heights etc).

2. When you are seen, most drivers are courteous, the second largest group is tolerant, the third largest group is grumpy but not dangerous, and the last few % are flipping insane. Do the math, lets say that the insane “I want to kill a bicyclist today” group is 1% (it could be higher or lower, but we’ll use that number) you see hundreds of cars on the road, even on back roads. – lets say you see 500 cars. That means 5 drivers are actually out to get you. That may not really be right, because I don’t see that many, but it does mean that you need to be alert and know how to mange traffic. (You should note that these numbers are true on the freeway when you’re driving too – maybe even more true, because of the tension created on the freeway. It’s just part of life with cars.)

3. Use a helmet mirror. That way you will know what is going on around you

4. Do not use an iPod – or put anything else in your ears, keep your senses alert all the time – know what is around you

5. Make your presence known, take the lane when you need to

6. Be predictable - Don’t weave in and out of traffic – ride a straight line, make sure your signals are clear and to the point as in don’t just stick out your hand for a turn as a function of following the rules – make eye contact and be sure. I got hit once when I thought I had made eye contact and the driver later said she never saw me.

7. Be empathetic: think about what the other driver sees and how your are seen by them.

8. Also know how the drivers mind works. As we drive we process lots on information. It is not information that we need to remember, so we dump it as soon as the obstacle is passed. When you’re on a bike, you are the obstacle, as soon as you are behind the peripheral vision of the driver, you do not exist. Thus drivers pass cyclists, then make right turns, running over the cyclist that was still next to them. Always be alert to the potential of a driver turning right while you are next to the vehicle.

9. Know your bailout – where can you go to get out of the way of the crazy if you have to.
]]> http://johnbissell.com/blog/feed/ http://johnbissell.com/blog/index.cqs?blogid=6454850c111911dfb93266e570eda0db http://johnbissell.com/blog/index.cqs?blogid=6454850c111911dfb93266e570eda0db#comments Wed, 3 Feb 2010 15:11:00 -0800 Conquent http://johnbissell.com/blog/index.cqs?blogid=6454850c111911dfb93266e570eda0db Portland Bike Plan goes before City Council, but can the city afford it?). They compared this to the cost of the MAX Green Line of $575 or the annual transportation budget of $630 million for all of Portland.

Shocking numbers, and they must have intended to shock because they downplayed some basic math.

First, the big number isn't really that big: $613 million over 20 years is $30.65 million a year or 4.8% of the current budget. They say that 6.4% of Portlanders commute by bike; so we're under serving the bike population with no increase in ridership. Regardless of the fact the plan is intended to greatly increase ridership, that 6.4% also ignores casual cycling and non-commuter trips.

Then there's comparing apples to mushy brussels sprouts. The MAX Green Line is 6.5 miles, as opposed to the 681 miles of bikeways proposed in the plan. And, the development of the MAX line greatly improved the I205 bike lane, getting bikes off the road surface in dangerous places like Foster Road or Powell Blvd. which makes me question how much of that budget would have been defrayed with this plan.

At the very end of the article they quote "Geller" (who's credit was somehow cut from the article but must be Roger Geller, the City Bicycle Coordinator in the Office of the Director, Transportation Planning Division) where he mentions that $630 million would only pay for 12 miles of urban freeway.

12 miles of freeway, 6.5 miles of light rail, or 681 miles of bikeways, but the Oregonian presents it as "too expensive"

What do they teach in these schools these days... ]]> http://johnbissell.com/blog/feed/ http://johnbissell.com/blog/index.cqs?blogid=2b93ff280fa611dfbfe38fda70eda0db http://johnbissell.com/blog/index.cqs?blogid=2b93ff280fa611dfbfe38fda70eda0db#comments Mon, 1 Feb 2010 18:53:41 -0800 Conquent http://johnbissell.com/blog/index.cqs?blogid=2b93ff280fa611dfbfe38fda70eda0db
When we look at a street we may not realize that that street, from the pavement width to the striping pattern had do be designed. The design has to be made as safe as practical and so had to take into account statistics from collisions around the country. It would be impractical for an engineer to gather up all the statistics, study the statistics and design a street based on these studies. However, if the engineer misses something – like the correct angle of a sidewalk ramp entering an intersection for instance – and someone gets hurt at that intersection, the engineer bears the liability.

There are so many details that could lead to litigation (Is it safer to mark a crosswalk where there is not stop sign?) that it is just not possible for the engineer to create a successful design without a well researched manual. So every city, county and state (and tribe and national park etc) has a design manual. But every jurisdiction cannot study everything so they build a manual from the AASHTO (American Association of State of Highway Transportation Officials) manual with additions from the ITE (Institute of Transpiration Engineers) manual. The problem – especially with AASHTO is the forth letter in the acronym: H. These standards are all about Highways, not streets, but they are routinely used to guide the construction of streets in most cities throughout the nation.

The highway manual is designed to keep automobile drivers safe. There is very little about pedestrians, bicyclists, buses, delivery trucks and so on. But if the City or County does not use a well studied design manual as guidance, they are taking on all the liability themselves. Then along comes The Complete Streets Coalition. They have provided lots of data about how city streets work and how they can be designed to accommodate all users. Little by little we are seeing cities adopt these standards. There is some resistance, but as the new concepts are constructed and used, we find that they really work. As they are shown to work, the resistance begins to fall.

If you live in a city that is not using Complete Streets, and you ever walk (from your parking spot to the store counts) or bike or skate or bus, it’s time to get some advocacy going in your neighborhood. This is the kind of thing that Conquent Land use and JBA consultants do, and we’d be glad to help.
]]> http://johnbissell.com/blog/feed/ http://johnbissell.com/blog/index.cqs?blogid=b4e6c4ca090911dfb2fd22bc70eda0db http://johnbissell.com/blog/index.cqs?blogid=b4e6c4ca090911dfb2fd22bc70eda0db#comments Sun, 24 Jan 2010 08:58:33 -0800 Conquent http://johnbissell.com/blog/index.cqs?blogid=b4e6c4ca090911dfb2fd22bc70eda0db
Mind you, I'm probably in the worst shape I've ever been in. When you've done rides like the Davis Double Century or the Ride Around Mount Rainer In One Day, finding yourself struggling though a 12 mile ride is more than a little frustrating. Granted, "the worst shape I've ever been" still seems to be better than the best shape of the average American, but then that's not saying much...

So, I'm trying to force myself into some hard riding. like taking the long route from Sellwood to my office (15 miles through the zoo and Council Crest giving me more than 1,000 feet of vertical elevation gain, and then going back that way, too, rather than the 4 mile drop straight down hill) and, yesterday, I decided it would be better to ride from Sellwood to Camas to see my nephew in a soccer game rather than drive.

Of course that ride turned out to be 27 miles each way, so it ended up being a 54 mile day, which is almost the same distance I did in three days of broken riding last week, but it was fairly flat...

I started out the Springwater Trail, which is an old railway right of way the city paved about 15 years ago. Unfortunately, they haven't repaved it, so it's a little worse than chip-seal. Even when my butt is used to the saddle, bouncing over washboard isn't a lot of fun. On the way out the trail was mainly filled with serious faced joggers and a few Lycra clad cyclists, which made me self-conscious in my poor form. Coming back it was filled with ambling groups of families with strollers and kids on training wheels -- not conducive to a 17mph pace.

The Springwater Trail connects to the I-205 trail; as good as I am with traffic, it is really nice that Portland is creating these interconnected trails. They also greatly improved the I-205 trail when they put in the Clackamas light rail line by putting bridges over Foster and Powell, two streets that were particularly annoying to cross, letting you simply cruise overhead without stopping.

They haven't made such improvements on Division, Stark, and Glisan -- there's something really wrong about being routed onto the sidewalk by the Taco Bell with the seemingly omnipresent Medicare funded folks in their electric wheelchairs. At every intersection in this part of town there is someone holding a cardboard sign with a request for money and "god bless" scrawled on the bottom, and the bike route almost guarantees you're going to plow into these people.

When the makeshift sidewalk-trail ended and the actual trial resumed, the tent pitched over one lane of the trail told me that the Gateway transit area hasn't been gentrified yet. It would be a hell of a way to wake up, having a bike plow into your tent at 20 mph, but then this person obviously hadn't been lucky with life choices to date anyhow...

The path snakes under I-205 just before the Columbia River and then slips between the North and South bound lanes of the freeway, crossing the river in a narrow, noisy track over the freeway bridges. You get the same "kaphump kaphump kaphump" of the wheels on the seams of the bridge as you do in the car, it just goes right through your butt and up your spine...

Finally, getting to Camas is nice on the old Evergreen Highway, although the last climb up to Camas High and climbing back up to the 205 bridge added a little too much climbing to keep this a flat ride.

Recovery time is definitely longer when you're 43 versus 29, and I'll have to watch that extreme hunger that being in the saddle for three and half hours creates if I actually want to drop that layer of fat, but overall, I'm pleased, if even a little surprised, that I was able to get back in the saddle being in this bad of shape... ]]> http://johnbissell.com/blog/feed/