Take this as a hint

Grand Blanc Data

Above is the HR and Speed graph for the group part of the ride.
The total ride was 50.1 miles in 2:35:22

The final 15.1 miles of the group portion:
Duration: 36:35.0
Avg HR: 179
Max HR: 189
Avg Speed: 24.7mph
Max Speed: 39.3
Avg Cadence: 96
Max Cadence: 114

The variation in effort (indicated by the rising and falling HR) during these last 15 miles probably caused the most trouble.

Change of Scenery
I decided to go do the Grand Blanc Tuesday ride yesterday. I needed a change of scenery for my Tuesday ride this week. In Birmingham I've had a lot of issues with getting caught at lights or getting behind the wrong guy in the pack. I needed to do a ride that was more pure cycling, less silliness, and less of those crazy tactics unique to Birmingham (for instance, need to get a gap? no problem, pass that car ahead at the stop sign!!!). Grand Blanc is the anti-Birmingham ride.

In terms of organization and safety Grand Blanc is a symphony orchestra. Birmingham is punk rock.

Grand Blanc is a meditation on cycling. Birmingham is a prison riot.

If Grand Blanc were a movie it would be "Breaking Away" or "Chariots of Fire." If Birmingham were a movie it would clearly be "The Road Warrior" or better yet "Mad Max - Beyond Thunderdome."

You get the point. 60 miles of smooth rolling terrain, and they don't even break laws!

Unfortunately, none of this changes the fact that Grand Blanc is very fast and has few stops. And unlike Birmingham, there aren't many short cuts to catch back on. You drop and you are usually done.

My undoing came about 27 miles in after doing my last nanosecond pull. I went to the back of the paceline and kept right on going. The ride continued on in the distance as I got reacquainted with my lack of POWER. The good news is that the solitary ride back to the car was pretty enjoyable.

I will post some HR data tomorrow to show how this lovely ride has devistating consequences for the power challenged rider such as myself...

Today, Mike Bliss, Kevin Skipworth, and I rode from Royal Oak to Stony.

I didn't use the GPS, but here is some Polar data:
Distance: 56.7 miles
Time: 4:46:36 (not counting a stop at Starbucks)

Climb up Dutton Road: 2:26.1 (I think this is my record. I seem to nip a bit off of it every July.)
Stony Pines start to finish: 5:29.5

I need to get faster in the Pines. I should be under 5 minutes. I think these 3 things will help:
1) buy a tubeless wheelset
2) don't be as tentative in the corners
3) get on the power more exiting each turn

I can do #2 and #3 right away. #1 will have to wait...

Anyway, it was a fun ride. Thanks Mike and Kevin!

I did the Boyne Marathon yesterday. It was a good race for me. I finished 4th (one spot out of the money). My inability to hold a wheel though means my past 3 races have been long time trials. I need more speed endurance before Ore to Shore.

Kevin and I do another epic.
It's Addison again, but this time 70+ miles with Markwood, Drahner and Dequindre climbs thrown in. We also hit Stony.

Went to Addison with Kevin and Mike:




If I wasn't so tired I'd figure out how to merge these 2 pictures together.

Full Motionbased detail here:

http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/episode/view.do?episodePk.pkValue=2603278

Kitt Peak/Gates Pass


After climbing Kitt and flatting on the way down, Terry and I decided to do a quick ride up Gates Pass. It's short, but it's a heck of a 10 minute effort.

Here's a picture taken last year of the final ascent.

Mount Lemmon


If you look close you can see me in this picture.

Here is a dot race of my last 3 climbs of Mt. Lemmon.

Terry and I attended the Nova National MTB Race. That's Geoff Kabush in front. He eventually won the race.

More pictures here

I think I want to go here

Click for an interesting article on Mt. Lemmon where Terry and I will be riding in less than 10 days. Mt. Lemmon is one of the best places on earth to ride a road bike. This picture, by the way, was taken by me last year.

This is Sunday's ride. Did the Rollercoaster at Stony.

The trail was in pretty good shape. There were a few mud spots on the 2 track, but the Rollercoaster was fine.

I did the ride on my Specialized hardtail which feels like it is made out of solid glass on singletrack. Can't wait for Continental to finish the suspension work on my AS-R! With almost 4 inches of rear travel, every line is a smooth line.

I started using routeslip to track some of my rides; especially the ones where I don't take a GPS. It's amazing what you can remember when you retrace your steps!

Here is Sunday's ride.

Skiing is better than cycling. Here's some proof:

http://malzahn.smugmug.com/gallery/2516133