RECREATIONAL CYCLISTS GET BUSY EVERY APRIL!

Most of the recreational bicycling clubs in the United States get cranked up, literally, every spring as the official “daylight savings” time change occurs. This is when you can begin riding in the famous, or sometimes, infamous group rides and find out who put in work during the winter and who was lazy. April also happens to be the first month of the year that you can begin to find organized century rides, multi-day rides, and fundraiser rides that will be spotted all over the map every weekend through September. RAM Cycling participated in their first big ride, the 2012 Redbud Ride in April, and already have two slated for the month of May, Gran Fondo Louisville sponsored by Upland Brew Co. & Horsey Hundred put on by Bluegrass Cycling Club.

OVERALL FITNESS IS KEY TO SEASON SUCCESS

In my short, but very interesting and somewhat well traveled, cycling career, I have come to the realization that it’s much easier to stay in shape, than to have to get in shape. In the 6+ years I’ve been riding, I have experienced both a busy and lazy off season, more than once. My key tips to prepping for a busy cycling season include: base miles, climbing miles, and speed miles. The more you ride your bike, the better shape your legs and butt will maintain. If you have a lazy winter, then it’s wise to start out slow. Begin riding 15-25 mile loops at a moderate pace, just trying to toughen up your butt, and get your legs used to spinning again. As you feel comfortable, slowly increase rides occasionally up to 40-50 miles. This is will be your foundation (or base miles) for a great season, and if you choose to stay busy on the bike in the winter, then this routine in the perfect goal set! Once your foundation is sturdy, begin incorporating hills and mountains into your regular loops, this will build your overall stamina, as well as, boost your leg strength and aerobic fitness. Finally, it’s a good idea to go for speed at least once a week on a regular training ride. There are numerous ways to ride to increase your speed, but none better than intentionally riding with someone you know to be faster than yourself. I have discovered that I can not push myself nearly as hard when I ride alone as I can when I’m pushing it to keep up with a strong fast cyclist. As I mentioned previously, it’s much easier to stay in shape, and these are some easy ways to do so through the winter until the main season arrives, like it just has!

EASY TIPS TO RIDE THROUGHOUT THE SEASON

The following are simple ideas to help you ride as much as you see fit. Once the bulk of the season is here, it is very important to take advantage of cycling opportunities, because unfortunately, it seems to wind down way too fast. These are some random thoughts that I have personally experienced to help keep you rolling:

* Keep the bike rack or carrier mounted to your vehicle, this can save valuable time and help you make it to group ride on time

* Always take your bike on vacation with you, even if you only ride once or twice, it keeps the habit going which is key to maintaining good cycling fitness

* Pack you bike and gear to children’s sporting events, especially tournaments, there’s always down time that can become up time

* Find group or organized rides that you would like to do and go ahead and register early, it usually saves you a little on the fees, and once you commit, you’ll most likely stay committed

* Do a big organized ride as early in the season as you can . . . they are contagious, once you do one, the passion encourages you to do more

* Use the buddy system for regular riding . . . it’s easy to get burnt out riding by yourself or doing the same route over and over, so have a friend that is depending on you (and vice versa) and keep changing the loop

* The obvious: fuel yourself properly with well balanced meals, proper hydration, and focus on core stretching and strengthening exercises regularly, these tips will make a huge difference in your performance on the bike

BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR MORE RIDE REVIEWS

KP the Masher will continue to post details on future organized rides, including random thoughts from various riders and overall ratings with recommendations at the venues that RAM Cycling participates in. Look for these reviews posted as Masher’s C.H.A.R.G.E. (communicating how all ride group events). If you are a cyclist, and would like to offer a guest blog post review of a ride that you have completed but RAM Cycling has not, we would love to hear from you. Please click on the “Contact Us” box in the right column on this page and let us know.

*   Masher

With riding season fully underway, I have experienced my first component failure in my fledgling cycling career.  As some of you know, I purchased Litespeed C3 carbon fiber bicycle at the beginning of 2011.  My trusty stead has carried me over 3,000 miles with no real mechanical issues.  Well that changed after logging 75 miles on the Redbud Ride in London, KY on April 21, 2012.  After a very wet and chilly 75 miles, I had noticed a slight wobble in my rear wheel.  I was not too concerned about it since I had seen this happen before a few weeks back.  It was quickly remedied by a visit to the LBS for a wheel truing.  So once again, I decided to take the bike into the LBS – more focused on a cleaning than a wheel truing.  30 minutes after dropping off the bike, I get the call from Alan that my rear wheel is shot.  There were fractures at half of the spoke nipples and a through and through crack and two.  The FSA RD-60 wheelset had not been able to hold up to my weight.

So what should I do?  I let Alan at Pedal Power Bike Shop help guide me in a correct direction to find the right wheelset for a person of my stature (read also as weight).  After some discussion and talking to some reps, we decided on the Velocity Deep V with Shimano 105 hubs.  Each wheel has 36 stainless steel spokes and brass nipples.  It mean an extra 1.2 pounds of total weight but in the long term, I think it will be a good decision.

The first ride was unbelievably smooth.  The bike feels much more stable and I can feel the stiffness in the wheels.  There also seems to be more responsiveness as a result.  It is only the first ride, but I am excited about the new look and feel for the bike.

RAM Cycling recently completed the Redbud Ride in London, KY. This was the 5th anniversary of this cycling event in southeastern Kentucky. Tim, the Renaissance Man, and Kevin, the Masher, both had been training since the start of 2012 for this and several other century rides that are on the wish list. We have done a pretty good job of taking advantage of the mild and moderate winter weather, and building our base for a busy cycling season.

Leading up to Redbud, all the talk with locals that had previously done it, and all the social media talk was positive and complimentary info. After having completed it, I have nothing but good things to say. I’m not personally a Facebook user, but on the night before the ride, I read some of the posts by others on Renaissance Man’s page regarding the Redbud Ride. I was anxious, with this being my first century of the season, and the thought of how bad the weather could turn out to be, I didn’t sleep very well at all.

Our ride started out by meeting Jim Simes from South Carolina for the first time in person. We have communicated via Twitter this year and he surprised me when I sent out a random tweet inviting followers to join us at Redbud or Horsey Hundred, by replying “see you at Redbud!” I’m also looking forward to meeting another twitter friend Adam Crowe from Kentucky at the Horsey 100. It was an honor to ride with Jim, who happens to have ridden over ten thousand miles in about a year while losing over 80 pounds! He destroyed us on the climbs and eventually pulled away and finished well before RAM Cycling.  I gave Jim a bottle of KY Bourbon after the ride to take home as a souvenir from our great state, and he commented “The Redbud 2012 will be one to go down in books as a ride to remember.”

He’s absolutely right, and the following review of the 2012 Redbud is my random thoughts from a great ride, definitely one to remember! We pulled out of the London Farmers Market around 8am on the Red Route (100 miler), and the sky was gray, the air was cool, and we knew moisture was on the way. Around the 10 mile mark the 4 routes became 2 as the 25 & 50 milers turned right, while the 75 & 100 mile routes went left up our first climb. At that point, I was uncomfortably cool, but rapidly warmed up. This climb separated Jim, Tim & I for a while. Then came rain … it was a drizzle, then steady, and then it poured. I caught back up to Jim at a turn, where he stopped to put on some rain gear. We tried to talk, but it was more important to watch the road at this point, considering the heavy rains and unknown roads. He kept moving as we arrived at the first rest stop, but I was ready to stop for a moment. A few minutes later, Tim arrived saying, “Are you kidding me? This is crazy.” I played it off smooth by responding, “What do you mean?”

Inside, I was freezing cold, as I chose not to carry rain gear (extra weight in my mind at the start), but I saw frustration in his eyes, and knew he needed some motivation to pick him up. He had an abnormal work week leading up to Redbud having to work over 40 hours in a couple days as his company made some equipment changes at one of the mines they own, and now with the weather set in, he chose to continue on the 75 mile route. So I pushed off immediately, to try not to finish too far behind him. Still raining, I ventured through the beautiful Daniel Boone National Forest over some rugged terrain and difficult pavement that I know was complicated by the weather. My second stop was along the Rockcastle River with a local group playing true KY Bluegrass music in a gazebo! I spoke to several riders and volunteers, and then set back out following a guy from the area that actually told me we would pass by his house on the route. We reconnected with the 75-mile route, crossed a wooden bridge where we had to get off and walk across.  Then I slowed to check on a tandem couple off the bike. The husband said “we are just taking some pictures” and the wife said, “We are not yet ready to turn right here.” I soon found out why, as I turned right myself and read the message on the pavement “Gear Down Baby!”

I had arrived at the infamous Tussey Hill, a climb that actually has its own Facebook page. Uhm yeah, I knew I was in for a work out immediately because it is one of those hills where it turns out of site from the bottom, so you don’t know what lies around the bend until you get there. As I made it up to the first turn it slowly tapered off with another bend ahead. Just as I made it through that sweep and caught my breath, the road went up. Straight up. I saw a sign near the top of this section, then I put my head down and just mashed the pedals and mashed until I could read the sign. It said “Congrats: 22% Grade!” As the road slowly began to flatten out again, I was struggling to catch my breath, and doggone it; we had more to go up. Up, up and away, I finally reached the summit, and know the toughest part of the ride was behind me. Shortly after peaking Tussey Hill, I arrived at my next stop.

Pulled pork BBQ sandwiches, and snacks, and beverages. I warmed up, refueled (regretfully, I passed on the BBQ), and headed back out behind a good friend from Frankfort that I ran into at the break. After a mile or so, I caught and passed him up, only to have him blow by me on a steep winding descent, the pay back from Tussey, but now with the rain steady again, I was timid. Moments later, I heard what sounded like “On your left” being screamed, and sure enough, a crazy female cyclist hauled past me, her bike was doing the wobble as she negotiated the slippery wet sweeps on the downhill. We all came together at the bottom, and I gave her props (I just knew I was going to witness a bad accident, glad I was wrong). They all turned off, as the red route forged straight, I spent the next 15-20 miles in deep thought, with soreness starting to set in on my legs, thanks to Tussey. Next stop was the official lunch stop, where I had a piece of Papa John’s pizza, and took twenty minutes or so to warm up. One of the volunteers approached me as I pulled in and asks, “Are you the Masher?” Stunned and surprised I answered, “Yes sir,” then he informed me that the Renaissance Man waited on me for a while at this stop, but went on and headed back out. It was nice to know he was doing well, since my phone battery had died.

Before I left the stop I ask an elderly gentleman cyclist if this was the last stop for the red route. He said “no, there’s one more at a turn, and then you hit a steep climb immediately after that.” I though to myself, how steep can it be? Surely my thoughts of steep were considerably different than his idea. I mounted up and took off feeling strong still, passing several riders. I did stop at the last stop, only to use the restroom, the caught another group of guys at the base of the elder’s “steep climb.” I felt pretty stupid about half way up it, when it took all my energy just to keep pushing the pedals. Near what I hoped to be the top, painted on the pavement was “20% Baby!” I told the guys in front of me “I hope that doesn’t mean where only 20% of the way up.” The elder cyclist spoke the truth, and the last 10 miles were tough as I was beginning to wear down both physically and mentally, I recall passing a family (a couple with several teen girls) all on mountain bikes, then I pulled back into town and strolled into the finish, very excited to be greeted by Tim the Renaissance Man along with his wife Kelly, and my lovely wife Maria just before 4pm!

What a feeling of accomplishment I had by completing the Redbud Ride, considering the rain, cold, breezy weather. I never once had a close call with a vehicle.  I didn’t even get honked or yelled at. The ride was very well organized, with plenty of up front info leading up to the ride, SAG was awesome, I witnessed numerous vehicles on all sections of the route, all the turns were well marked, all the volunteers were very pleasant and overly friendly. The only disappointment I can report is that I didn’t get to see any of the beautiful Redbuds along the route, but that’s due to the fact that half the miles or more that I rode were behind rain drop covered glasses.

In closing, I am glad that I was able to ride in the 2012 Redbud Ride in London, KY. I would give the overall ride an A rating, and will highly recommend it to cyclist to try for 2013! Thanks Redbud, for a ride that will never be forgotten.

Stay tuned for more cycling event reviews coming in May. Tentatively on the upcoming schedule are Gran Fondo Louisville, and Horsey Hundred in Georgetown, KY! For questions or comments regarding RAM Cycling info, please feel free to contact us in the tab on the right hand column of this page.

*Masher

As the season winded down in 2011, I had my mind set on a new bike purchase and pulled the trigger in October, buying a new Jamis Zenith Pro road bike. I was anxious to begin putting miles on the new wheels, so I chose to take the standard set up on the bike and hop on. Hind sight proved that was not a smart decision. I rode moderately through the winter months, and with the mild weather, began accumulating great base miles in March, but I was not comfortable on the new bike like I was the old one.

I loved the feel of my new ride, the new components & gears, and the look. However, when I went out for a 15-30 mile ride, I experienced finger numbness, lower back pain, and some moderate knee soreness. I actually caught myself thinking at one point “I wonder if I could buy back my old bike?” That’s when I got some much needed advice in the form of a referral from my good friend and cycling companion Tim, the Renaissance Man. “Call Pedal Power Bike Shop and schedule a custom fitting with Alan. Trust me.” So I did. I spent about three hours on a Saturday early in March, being custom fit with my new bicycle, and I am proud to say we are now a real pair. Since being fit by Alan Brady at Pedal Power, I have accumulated over 500 miles on the new bike, and it feels great. No more pain and discomfort on an average ride, and no more thinking about the old bike . . . it’s now a great memory, but a good bike for another new local cyclist!

I should have known sooner to ask Tim for help, because he went through a similar experience. As his first ever cycling season closed out in 2010, he completed a ride across the state of Kentucky on his Giant hybrid frame bicycle, and decided he was committed to cycling. That’s when he got a new Litespeed carbon frame road bike for Christmas, and began the new season a lot faster than the previous. After completing his first century ride in April in Georgia, he began to have some serious discomfort on the new bike. He had purchased the bicycle online, taking advantage of some points that had built up on an account. He had the bike adjusted and fit at a local shop, but as he began to feel comfort issues arising, he began to question some of the settings. He, like me, loved the new bike, and just thought he had to suffer through some of the new pains.

In the month of May, he completed the Horsey Hundred century bike ride in our hometown of Georgetown, KY. Following the Memorial Day weekend riding, he could not bear the pain any more. Now, the numbness in his hands was occurring even when not on the bike, and he got to a point when he lost all strength in his hands, making it nearly unbearable to ride. After seeing several doctors and specialists in the medical field, and being recommended for surgery, he decided to follow his original gut instinct and have a second opinion on his bike fit.

He was spot on! He visited Pedal Power Bike Shop in Lexington, KY and had his custom bike fitting session with Alan Brady. Alan is certified by the Seratta International Cycling Institute (SICI), and uses the techniques and standards that he learned at the SICI school. Both Tim and I highly recommend going to see Alan and Pedal Power if you experience any discomfort on your bike. Trust us! A direct link to Pedal Power is on the right side column of this page and our home page. Please feel free to click on it and check out all of the services that they offer.

I would have to say that my custom bike fitting with Alan Brady at Pedal Power Bike Shop is one of the most thorough experiences I’ve ever had with my bike, other than an actual ride, and because of that experience, my rides are once again enjoyable. So if you’ve added or lost weight, or had any uncomfortable rides lately, maybe a custom bike fit is just what you need, whether you have a new or older bike. Please feel free to share this info with all of your cycling friends and tell Alan that RAM Cycling sent you!

*Masher

If you were to look up the definition of bicycling it would probably read something like “the action of riding a bicycle.” I would also assume that the definition of a bicycle would state “a 2-wheeled mode of transportation with a seat, handlebars, and powered by pedals.”

If you were to ask RAM Cycling how we define bicycling, we would prefer to show you in person. There’s no better way to define bicycling than to experience it for yourself. I cannot list my personal definition of cycling passion in one simple article, because it is far too lengthy to tell my entire story, however I will try to touch on the highlights.

I define bicycling as: the act of pedaling a 2-wheeled vehicle over the roads that are less traveled, engulfing the air that surrounds this earth we live on, creeping up inclines while exerting all the energy I have stored, rapidly rolling down the descends recovering energy one mph at a time, viewing the awesome scenery that is my free and ever-changing art gallery offered by Mother Nature, releasing the weight of the stresses of everyday hustle and bustle in the real world, cleansing my soul, enjoying the moments of true friendship while riding with others, mashing the pedals when I need to or just want to, and coasting when I don’t, and relishing in the awesome joy of knowing that as long as I have my bike, I can go anywhere I want to!

IF I HAD TO DEFINE WHY I RIDE IN ONE SENTENCE:

Masher: “I ride because I am passionate about pedaling!”

Renaissance Man: “I ride because I feel that cycling is the ultimate form of prayer – taking God’s gifts, your life and your body, and you push them to your limits!”

Please post a comment below and let us know WHY YOU RIDE! Thanks