Great Southern Randonnee

RUSA President Mark Thomas is Down Under this week attempting the Australian Great Southern Randonnee. Here's to tailwinds!

Here's his photo at the start.

Also, the sponsoring club has live updates of rider progress. You can check them out here.

Boydton Day 2008

 

Boydton Day: Chase City Run

 

Boydton Day: Halloween Moon Pie

 

Boydton Day: Self Portrait in the Rain

 

Boydton Day: Bros in the Rain on the Dam

 

Opie does his part too...

Doing Your Part by Riding Your Bike

For those who rode on Saturday's Black Creek Permanent, here's a note of thanks for your contribution to a worthy cause:

Dear Mike and the NC Bike Club Randonneurs,

Thanks so much for the gift of $75 from your Saturday 200K ride from Wakefield High School to Black Creek, NC and back again. Your gift will be used to help build and maintain North Carolina's Mountains-to-Sea Trail (MST).

As you know, the route you biked on Saturday is a portion of the MST which runs 940 miles across the state -- from the Great Smoky Mountains to the Outer Banks. Governor Mike Easley declared October as "Mountains-to-Sea Trail Month," and we set a goal of trying to get people out on every section of the trail. We appreciate that the NCBC Randonneurs helped us reach the goal.

We're also delighted you are working to make this stretch a "permanent." It will be wonderful to have you all enjoying it, spreading the word, and reporting any needed route changes, new or closed stores, or other notable events.

Friends of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail is the citizen support group for the trail. We welcome your members to get involved by contacting me or visiting our website at www.ncmst.org.

Kate Dixon
Executive Director
Friends of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail

www.ncmst.org

A couple blog notes

Riding buddy Byron is the latest N.C. rider to launch a blog. He mentioned it on the ride Saturday, and I hunted it down this morning. The name: randonneurextra. His "about me" says it: "born with a wrench in my hand and grease in my veins. i love bicycles -- these simple and elegant machines speak to me in a language i understand."

Byron and I have a common friend in Geof, who is also blogging regularly. Besides being a helluva strong rider, he's also got a terrific photographic eye. He often travels the fair circuit with his parents, who have a root beer booth. That means he gets lots of shots with a carnival atmosphere. I was especially struck by this latest collection from the Great Frederick Fair.

Finally, my son, who is serving in the Peace Corps in Mali, has an interesting post about a new way to water your plants. See it here.

Phun Physiology: The Young at Heart, by Dean Furbish

The conversation in the parking lot at the conclusion of Saturday’s “Showdown in Black Creek” Permanent was delightfully animated (see Mike D's previous post). I mention this because we’d spent the day under overcast, melatonin skies and had battled a slight inbound headwind. No dreary moods here, though. The group of nine riders engaged in mild banter, self deprecation, and story-telling over coffee, pastry, and post-ride picture posing. It can be said that these riders are literally some of the young at heart. Read on.

The topic of this post occurred to me when a couple of riders shared hilarious anecdotes about how their normally slow heart rates had raised eyebrows during annual health checkups. Slow heart rates aside, it’s a fact that endurance training makes hearts young.

One indication of a “young” heart is its ability to metabolize glucose as an energy source during exercise. An aged heart loses its ability to utilize glucose during exercise. The good news is that endurance exercise reverses this aspect of aging.

Moreover, exercise benefits even the elderly, including those who previously have led inactive lives.

Exercise turns aged hearts into “young” hearts metabolically, according to a recent study out of Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, because it reverses the aged heart’s inability to metabolize glucose during exercise. In fact, exercise training enables the hearts of older people to double their glucose utilization during high-energy-demand exercise just like the hearts of younger people.

Women’s hearts benefit doubly metabolically as the result of endurance training. In addition to increasing cardiac glucose metabolism, it turns out that cardiac fatty acid metabolism increases as well in women. The same cannot be said for men.

I include some of the specifics of the 11-month study to point out that people do not need to be randonneurs or RAAM types or even train for years in order to obtain this anti-aging heart benefit of regular exercise.

In fact, endurance training was defined in the Washington University study as hour-long exercise sessions 3-5 times per week consisting of walking, running, or cycling. Participants began at 65% of maximum capacity for three months increasing to 75% for the next eight months. The six men and six women in the study were between the ages of 60 and 75. Although they were non-obese, participants had previously lived inactive lives.

Phun physiology advice: Keep riding!

The reference is here: Soto PF, Herrero P, Schechtman KB, Waggoner AD, Baumstark JM, Ehsani AA, Gropler RJ. Exercise training impacts myocardial metabolism of older individuals in a gender-specific manner. American Journal of Physiology. Heart and Circulatory Physiology. June 20, 2008 (advance online publication).

Showdown at Black Creek: Cowboy Bob, Stuck & a Duck Named Aflac.

When you announce a "Showdown at Black Creek," you better get ready. The good citizens of Black Creek are right damn serious about their showdowns.

When the locals hear a gang of nine rogue randonneurs are riding into town, they bring in the hired gun, Giant Cowboy Bob, to handle the dirty work.



The whole town turns out at high noon to see whether blood will be spilled. Hell, they even sell cotton candy out of a little booth called Custard's Last Stand.



If you're counting on the local law to get your back, think again, Tex. The police have more pressing problems of their own.



The gunslingers square off on Main Street ... someone in the crowd yells "Duck!" ... and a guy named Bobbie shows up with one.



A stunningly handsome wood duck named Aflac.

Yesterday was one of those magic randonneuring days, a two-wheeled trip into the Twilight Zone. Maybe it was the croissants and coffee at the Wakefield High School, courtesy of Jerry and Branson. Maybe it was the street fair in what is normally the ghost town of Black Creek. Maybe it was the first real fall day, where the chilly air made forward motion a must. Maybe it was a grey and purple sky with a promise of rain that never really delivered. Maybe it was the biscuits at Bojangles. Maybe it was the social stop at Sheeeeeeetz, 10 miles before the finish, where we sat outside, warming our insides with coffee.

This was of my most memorable 200Ks ever. Thanks to all who made it that: Branson, Jerry, Bob, Dan, Dean, Tom & Mary, Byron. Slideshow below.



The proceeds of the ride have been donated to Friends of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail. A couple folks made extra donations. You know who you are. Thank you.

Riding? Well, Yeah...

Where have I been? Hanging out with these turkeys.



My little boat has been swamped between work and living, but even so, I've gotten in lots of riding in the past few weeks, and life is good, if busy.

I snapped that turkey shot at a poultry farm about two weekends ago on a really fun ride from Raleigh down to White Lake, a 100-mile backroad jaunt, to hook up with Brother Tim for the last day of Cycle North Carolina and a high-speed run through the coastal plain to Oak Island.

By the way, here's what passes for a henhouse these days.



The best part about that ride was just deciding to go, generating a good google maps cue sheet in about 20 minutes, packing light -- and putting on the lights -- then hopping on the bike and heading out the door on a cycling adventure. The first 20 miles was slightly urban, through Raleigh and Garner, and then I was out in the wilderness of rural N.C. and loving every minute of it. My cue sheet didn't let me down, although occasionally things didn't match up and I'd have to stop for a quick study of a sign like this one.



Also things got a litttle confusing whenever I crossed a county line. Like this one. The names are changed to protect the innocent, I guess.



Traveling without maps, I turned on to a 3-mile section on the cue sheet and came face-to-face with the Dreaded Dead End sign. What the...? A 3-mile dead end? No way. I took it because, well, I didn't have a clue where else to go. Two miles in, there's the "Road Ends" sign. Oh shit. But hey, I wonder what this dirt driveway does? Well, what do you know, it connects to another dirt road that takes me out to my cue sheet road. Nice! And here's the end of it. That sand was deep. It just about took me down twice.



And so it went, a fun day rattling around in my head and on my bike.

I caught up with the Bro and Rich and Paige and Nina and Chuck and had a fine time in a high-dollar White Lake singlewide that I'd rented for the night.

And the next morning, Brother Tim ramped up the pace until I cried uncle as we motored to the finish. He was looking good and riding even better. They string that "Danger" tape around him everywhere he goes.



Last weekend, I joined some Gyro riders for a fun Lake Loop. Another blazing day on the bikes with those guys kicking booty all 130 miles at a painfully fast 19.6 pace. I got spit out at mile 126 or so. Hey, I'm starting to enoy the view from the back.

I won't bore you with the details, but if you want more the Gyros have posted several ride reports on their forum. It was a fun day all around, with lots of my Gyro buddies -- Mario, Derrick, Ed, Steve, Chris, Mike D (did I forget anyone?) -- and rando buddies Wes and JoeRay who hung in there like pros and finished with Steve and Chris. The hat's off to everybody who rode that day, including some who had not done that distance before. I was good and wasted when I got home. It felt great.

Here are the obligatory dam photos....





And the boys heading out....



Last Sunday, I did 43 miles with Jerry as part of NCBC's Fall Rally. We hit it out early and mostly chatted as we rode into a pretty good headwind. Always fun riding with Mr. Phelps.

Wednesday, I did a 30-mile night ride with the Gyros and got to see how the edelux compared with several other lighting systems. The verdict: It kills em.

This weekend, we have a 200K perm scheduled, the Showdown at Black Creek, with about 10 riders. I'm hoping this will be a social event, not Hammer Time, but hey, I'm just along for the ride, I'm hanging with the party.

Weekend after that, it's off to Clarksville to do the Annual Lake Loop with Brothers Rob and Tim. We've done this for the last three Boydton Days. There's always a good barbecue sandwich to be had at the festivities, and a heaping helping of brotherly rivalry out on the road. Should be another fun day.

So riding? Well, yeah.

"No-Lever" Tube Change

Former Bicycling tech editor Jim Langely shows his "no-lever" technique for changing a flat. First, getting the tire off the rim..



..then putting it back on.



Thanks, Jim!

Phun Physiology: Post-Exercise Consumption of Caffeine-Carbohydrate Combo Speeds Muscle Glycogen Re-synthesis, by Dean Furbish

There is something new in our understanding of the effects of caffeine on athletic performance!

Caffeine intake after exercise in addition to carbohydrate consumption boosts the rate of muscle glycogen re-synthesis, thereby speeding recovery, according to a team of Australian researchers. Muscles store energy in the form of glycogen for future use. The application of this knowledge would provide endurance athletes who compete on successive days an obvious advantage.

The article which appeared in the Journal of Applied Physiology in June 2008 indicates that subjects who consumed both carbohydrates and caffeine after exhaustive exercise rebuilt 66% more new muscle glycogen than subjects who consumed just carbohydrate and no caffeine. The dramatic effect was seen after only four hours of recovery.

Our readers know that writers here at RTP have unabashedly extolled the virtues of caffeine. We’ve known for some time based on hundreds of studies that caffeine can boost athletic performance. Thus the pre-ride cup of coffee and the caffeinated gels and other fixes during the ride. Now, thanks to our Aussie friends, we have one more reason to continue celebrating caffeine even after the ride. And that ain’t no hill of beans!

As with most scientific studies, there are some caveats. Obviously, some people do not tolerate caffeine. Additionally, the dosage—8mg caffeine/kg body wt—amounts to the equivalent of five cups of coffee for an “average-size” person, according to the lead researcher. The question is whether similar results can be achieved with less caffeine, something the researchers will be addressing.

One strength of the study was the use of trained athletes as subjects. Moreover, an underlying mechanism was suggested, a calcium-dependent enzyme which speeds glucose transport into muscle. For those interested in the actual study, the reference is: Pederson, D.J. (May 8, 2008). High rates of muscle glycogen resynthesis after exhaustive exercise when carbohydrate is co-ingested with caffeine. J Appl Physiol.