Century Cycles Night Ride - 08/07/10

So, you call yourself a cyclist?  Well, what do you think about riding at night?  And I'm not talking about casually tooling around your brightly lit neighborhood, but rather, cruising along the pitch black trails of a national park with about 150 other cyclists to boot?  Sound like fun? Well, that's what you can expect on one of the many Night Rides organized by Century Cycles in Peninsula, Ohio.  These rides typically take place every other weekend during the Summer and into the early Fall.  They start promptly at 8:00pm and are short rides of no more than 15 miles total.  Of course, the best part of the ride takes place after the Sun sets!

Typical crowd size for our Night Rides.

This past weekend was exceptionally fun as I got to ride with some of the younger guys from the Century Cycles store I work at in Medina. 

Russ, from the Medina store, sportin' the frat boy look.

"I AM SPARTA!!!"  Well, ummm, with a smile.

Chris, also from the Medina store, with girlfriend Mary.

Right out of the gate, we blew past most of the riders and charged to the front of the line, all the while challenging each other with breakaways and fixed gear spin-outs.  Unfortunately, my 44 year old legs started to show their age as I was eventually 'dropped' unceremoniously by those same young whipper-snappers just a couple of miles from the halfway point!!

On the return leg, the Sun had finally settled below the horizon, and only the dancing head and taillights of 150 riders illuminated the inky black trail ahead.  This time, I ground down on the pedals and raced towards the finish, determined to get the better of those pesky younglings (Star Wars reference there).  As I passed other cyclists riding "bumper to bumper", it reminded me of the traffic lines filing out of the Jake after an Indians game...well, back when the Indians were, you know, good. 

"Bumper-to-bumper!"

Speaking of those dancing headlights, we were fortunate enough to have some representatives from NiteRider, the company that actually makes several high-end headlights for biking, handing out light kits for our cyclists to test on the trail.

Again, as these rides are relatively short, we finished around 9:30pm.  Of course, all good night rides must end with alcohol, so the whole gang tromped over to the Winking Lizard across from the Century Cycles store for beer, wings, and great company.  Unfortunately, I had to bow out of the post-ride festivities this time, but I assure you, they had a blast inside all the same.  Occasionally, someone will even bring a classic cult movie like 'Godzilla vs something' or, in the case of this evening, "Monty Python and the Holy Grail"!

So, if you get the chance, be sure to join us on one of the remaining Night Rides.  For a list of dates, check out our website at http://www.centurycycles.com/.

Cycling in 2010...thus far!

Well, the year that is 2010 is, amazingly, half over. Say what??

Now, as a cycling enthusiast, I have taken full advantage of the warm, sunny days and pleasant, starry-sky evenings to put both my classic Raleigh Peak and my studly Giant Defy Alliance through their paces.  BUT, as a cycling blogger, who supposedly writes about cycling, well...there I have failed miserably.  And as if that were not embarrassing enough, I also have no clever retort prepared to cover this blogging faux-pas!  SO, in the interest of time, let's just sweep the whole dirty mess under the rug and move on, shall we?

Regarding that aforementioned riding, I have taken a slightly different approach this year.  Instead of cranking out the 60+ mile rides I normally do over the course of the summer, I decided to tackle shorter distances (30-40 miles) and load them with more challenging terrain.  I do so in order to hopefully gain more strength and power, subsequently improving overall endurance and speed on the bike.  The rolling hills of Hinckley and Brecksville, Ohio, have afforded me just such a challenge.  You see, I've done the touring rides, like the MS Society's 150 mile 'Pedal to the Point' Tour, for many years now, easily conquering the 80 mile days with a stamina I didn't have when I was ten years younger.  However, I feel it is now time to try the other side of cycling. The racing side! Hopefully, this new training will get me 'up to speed' quickly.  Stay tuned for more on this exciting venture...

But challenging terrains are not the only thing I've added this year.  I've also started looking at different riding techniques.  Firstly, I changed my pedals.  Yes, for the last 13 years of serious riding, I used those sometimes annoying strap-type cages.  Most of the time, I was able to easily blow off the peanut gallery commentary from fellow riders regarding my caged feet.  Everyone had an opinion, and I was fine with hearing them all.  BUT, when the 70 year old grandmas started getting in on the act, blowing by me on their high-end racers with toothless laughs that mocked my bike's lack of clip-in pedals, I knew my 'serious' cyclist status was shamefully hanging by a thread.  Caving under this geriatric pressure, I picked up a pair of SBD's...and immediately discovered all the truly efficient pedalling power that was so painfully lacking in my riding.  Lesson learned.  Secondly, I started to employ the 'standing to pedal' technique.  As odd as it may seem, I never rode this way because I never felt I had good control of the bike.  Recently, however, I decided to give it another go.  After several practice runs, I found that leaning forward on the bike while standing to pedal was the key.  Instantly, I understood the technique, and now use it with reckless abandon!

So, with these new approaches under my belt, I look forward to a stronger riding season and the challenge of entering the world of racing in the seasons to follow.

Finally, I came across this rather interesting ride (pictured below) when strolling through the town of Geneva, Ohio with my girlfriend several weeks back.

Naturally, my mischievous nature demanded that I ride this sweet set of wheels.  Unfortunately, upon closer inspection, I noticed both a loose bottom bracket and busted crank arm, clearly indicating I was not the only individual to contemplate tackling this behemoth.  Abandoning the endeavour, we both headed for a relaxing day on the beach.  

Century Cycles Night Ride

Well, did my first Century Cycles night ride last weekend...in a torrential downpour. The starting point for the ride was at the Peninsula Century Cycles store, of which the towpath trail runs right through their backyard. Now, I had never ridden on the towpath before, but had heard all kinds of wonderful stuff about it, so I was very excited. The fact that it was at night only served to heighten that excitement. The fact that it was RAINING added a level of intrigue.

With a total of about 20 cyclists in attendance (down from the usual 100), the ride started out rather mundanely, the first 3 miles passing without incident. Soon, however, the heavens opened up and the pace quickened. I found myself leaping to the front of the line and joining the two pace setters. We quickly arrived at the halfway point (only 8 miles out due to the weather) and waited for the rest of the troops, but only two more cyclists arrived. After another 5-10 minutes, it was obvious no one else was coming, and the rains began to fall in earnest. We remounted and started cycling back, setting a pace of around 18 mph. Interestingly, we passed a bunch of riders that obviously chose to turn around short of the halfway point. With the rain coming down now at a blinding rate, and a growing fog forming out of thin air, several of us broke from the pack in an all out sprint to the finish, myself taking the lead for the last 5 miles.

Now, it should be pointed out that the towpath is not a paved trail. Rather, it is a highly compacted dirt path with small bits of gravel throughout. It is a course meant for hybrid and mountain style bikes. Fortunately, my Raleigh Peak was just the right bike for the job (as there was no way I would be using the new Giant Defy Alliance road bike on this path)! Unfortunately, when that compacted dirt and gravel road comes in contact with monsoon rains, it quickly turns into...yep, mud. I can honestly say I didn't see that coming. Consequently, when I did make it back to the starting line, I was covered in that very same mud. Nasty stuff. In fact, had to head to the girlfriend's house to spray down the bike and wash all my clothes before I could go back home. (See, I live in an apartment and keep both my bikes in the bedroom, so they can't exactly be dripping in mud!)

All in all, it was a fun and challenging ride. I look forward to the next, sans the rain.

Night riding.

Did my first night ride on the refurbished Raleigh Peak last night. Headed out about 9pm and rode for two hours. Managed to squeeze in 35 miles. Ride was very easy with no wind or blazing sun to contend with, just the ever watchful eyes of Jupiter and a beautiful crescent Moon. Need to do more of these. In fact, I will be doing my first organized night ride with the gang from Century Cycles this coming Friday (8/28/09). Promises to be fun.