Catching up

Sorry for not posting the last few days, but the life of a staffer is very busy.  My mornings start at 5:15 with the alarm and I am at the truck at 6 getting started on the work day.  They go until as late as 8:30 after I pay the meal bills and get the paperwork sorted out.  But I love it.

I got to ride again today, first time since Sunday.  Covered 45 miles, averaging 17 mph.  It misted, drizzled, and outright rained hard during that time.  We are in Hammonton, NJ tonight.  We head to Delaware tomorrow with a 90 minute ferry crossing from Cape May to Lewes.  Cape May is a world-class birding location during migrations.  Would love to come back and spend time spotting birds.  I missed this day 3 years ago as a nor'easter came in and ferry crossings were cancelled due to 15 foot high seas.  We had to shuttle riders 150 miles in the truck, vans, and rental cars.  More rain is predicted tomorrow.

A successful day

It was a hard day for everyone, one I remember as one of my most difficult days on a bike.  It was a 96 mile day with hills around every corner totaling over 6,000 feet of climbing.  Most of the riders made it all the way and were elated, if not tired, when they reached the hotel.  I rode to the first SAG today, 31 miles in total, covering 1800 feet of climbing with one long hill of 2.7 miles.  Twelve of our group kept an Italian restaurant in business for another day.  Only two other tables were used during our two hours there.  Off to snooze-land now.

The two percent solution

The road was wet this morning, but it was from overnight rain.  My wish last night for riding in the two percent chance of no rain came true today.  It made for happy riders today, including me.  I rode 31 miles to the first SAG.  Someone asked me if I was done for the day.  I replied that I go to work now play time was over.  And work it was as I finally got settled at 7:30.

Another rainy day

At least it held off until after 1pm today.  But most of the riders faced many miles of rain and heavy traffic toward the end of the 93 mile ride.  I think that they were relieved to get to the hotel in one piece.  Several thought that we were lucky with no accidents today.  I should clarify yesterday's comment about not riding in the rain.  I do not intend to ride in the rain but it was all hands on deck for the staff yesterday.  We are all rookies at it and need to become a smoothly functioning team.  Mac is the busiest of all with his mechanic duties as the rain likely makes the riders more aware of little things they may not notice otherwise.  Robin and Carol have become fast friends and work well together at the SAGs.

Dinner was great tonight.  One of the best bike dinners I have had.  Several riders were also very pleased.

The precipitation probability is 98% at departure time tomorrow.  Why don't the forecasters just say 100%?  For our sake, I hope that the 2% follows us all day.

In the rain to Portsmouth

Wednesday was a beautiful day with sun all day.  It started raining at 4 this morning.  The riders left in a pouring rain and had intermittent periods of rain and drizzle.  One accident less than 5 miles from the hotel, but he got back on the bike and rode to the hotel.  They were all real troopers out there today.  I am not going to get on the bike until the sun shines.  I already did this ride.

Racing season is over

I had a two-month hiatus from racing, but have had four in the past six weeks, including three in the past ten days.  The first one was a race up Lookout Mountain.  The US Pro Cycling Challenge used this climb on the last day of the tour recently.  Tom Danielson, who finished third in that race and ninth in the TDF this summer, holds the course record at 16:03 for a 4.5 mile climb.  This old guy did it in 28:16.  It makes you appreciate how fast the pros can ride (and also my long-ago youth).

My cycling club puts on a late-season TT series.  I did the first two races and averaged 20.6 and 20.5 mph for the 7.9 mile course.  I think it was superior to my spring TT efforts as the recent TT series features three 180 degree cone turns and more climbing.

The club had its member-only TT hill climb in Deer Creek Canyon this morning.  We started at one-minute intervals.  The results will be published in a couple of days.  I averaged 10.1 mph for the 5.75 mile, 1388 foot climb, an average 4.6% grade.  I had to miss last year's climb as I was touring on the West Coast.  I did it as a hard solo effort the previous week and I am pleased that I rode 2:15 faster this year.

Racing season is now over and we leave for CT on Sunday for CrossRoads training.  We drive the vehicles to Maine on Tuesday.  There will not be much rest as we prepare for the start on Thursday.

Eastern Seaboard 2011

We will be staffing the CrossRoads Cycling Adventures Eastern Seaboard ride starting on September 22.  We fly to Connecticut on the 18th for training and will drive to Maine on the 20th.

Robin supported me on an Oregon Coast ride in 1997 and helped a small group of riders for two days from San Francisco to Santa Cruz last year.  This will be her first large-scale support of a cycling tour.  She is looking forward to it.

Saving energy

This post is not about drafting in a pace line where a cyclist can save 20 to 30 percent of his or her energy expenditure by letting a group of riders take turns breaking the wind at the front of the pace line.

We have had solar thermal panels on our home for our hot water needs since 1985.  They have paid for themselves many times over since then.  They were trouble-free until earlier this year when one developed a leak.  We replaced them and hope to have another 20 plus years of service from them.

This year we invested in photovoltaic panels as well.  They cover most of the remaining portion of our south-facing roof.  They are generating an average of 200 kilowatt hours per week thus far.  The daily high production was 38 kwh while the low was only 4 kwh on a cloudy, rainy day earlier this week.  The supplier estimates that they should supply 90 percent of our annual electricity needs (we have an all-electric home).  They generate twice our current needs with the surplus rolling over to the winter months when our electric demand is higher to heat our home.  The payback on these panels is longer than for solar thermal, but in an age of global warming it seemed the right thing to do.  After six weeks, the panels have offset an estimated 1,364 pounds of carbon dioxide going into the atmosphere.

The map

CrossRoads Cycling Adventures places a map in the hotel lobby upon arrival. Staff notes each day's progress on the map. It becomes a topic of conversation for other guests at the hotel. One rider will receive the map at the final banquet and the other cyclists will sign it. I am holding this year's map. Cyclists will leave South Portland, Maine on September 22 and arrive in Daytona Beach, Florida on October 15. They will cover 1,600 miles during that time with three rest days.