April Showers brings...

The Great Allegheny Passage is on my mind :-)

In a little over two weeks I'll be in Cumberland, MD to ride the Great Allegheny Passage (GAP). This will be my 3rd GAP ride. In 2015, I rode the GAP with a Boy Scout Troop, and last summer, I rode from Washington DC to Pittsburgh on a 6 day solo bike packing trip. I'm looking forward to riding the GAP with two of my brothers, one of my old college friends, and some new friends I look forward to meeting.

In good old Indiana, we've had a good deal of rain. I had outdoor rides on Monday and Tuesday, with a rain shortened ride on Wednesday, and three hours on the exercise bike on Saturday. The weather looks better for the coming week. I plan to go on a 65-70 mile ride Friday morning as I continue to prepare for my upcoming century ride in June.

Until next week...

Shawn

Pushing hard, getting stronger...

Out with 3 Rivers Velo Sport on Saturday

Not a bad day on Saturday!

We're heading to the end of April. The Great Allegheny Passage Ride is a little over three weeks away, and the Tour de Cure in Detroit is just 40 days away.

Indiana has a great deal of wind in the Spring, and this Spring is no exception, Rides have been windy! However, I am taking the wind in stride - knowing that these windy rides are building strength as I prepare for my ride schedule.

Last week, I posted that I joined 3 Rivers Velo Sport (3RVS) is the local bicycling club. On May 1, 3RVS begins the 2017 National Bike Challenge. In order to participate, I need to track my rides on Strava. Strava is an app that keeps track of mileage, but also notes when you pause so you get your actual ride time, The challenge I face with Strava is when I bike alone, I listen to music on earbuds. My phone simply does not have enough battery power to listen to music on Pandora AND keep track of the GPS functions of Stava. May have to look into an inexpensive MP3 player...

Anyhow, I had two rides on Saturday. One was 20 miles with 3RVS, the second was 40 miles on my own, Here are the links to my performance:

https://www.strava.com/activities/953374580

https://www.strava.com/activities/953626785


This is going to be a good week. Tuesday night will be a ride with 3RVS; on Saturday, I will need to split up my long ride into two segments due to work and service commitments with my Boy Scout Troop.

Finally, thanks for reading my blog. On June 3 - I am riding in the American Diabetes Association Detroit Tour De Cure Century Ride. I only need 60 more dollars to reach my fundraising goal. Please consider making a contribution, even if it's just a few dollars. Here's the link to my fundraising page:

http://main.diabetes.org/site/TR/?px=13157476&pg=personal&fr_id=11730

Again, thanks for following me as I prepare for a great summer!

Shawn

Pushing to improve...joined 3 Rivers Velo Sport!

Carroll High School Ride

Kreager Park Ride

One of my cycling goals for 2016 is to ride in the Ride Across Indiana (RAIN Ride). The RAIN Ride is on July 15, 2017, and is a one day, 160 mile ride across the state of Indiana. The ride begins at 7 a.m. in Terre Haute and ends in Richmond. You have 14 hours to officially complete the ride.

Obviously, I will need to put many miles on the bike to prepare. Leading up to RAIN, I am riding the Great Allegheny Passage in May, The Tour de Detroit Century Ride and the Logansport 2 Rivers on 2 Wheels Century Rides in June, and RAIN in July. In addition to miles, since RAIN is a large ride (almost 1,300 riders finished last year), I need to learn how to ride in groups.

3 Rivers Velo Sport (3RVS) is the local bicycle club. I went to their first Tuesday night ride of the year at Kreager Park and rode on a C/D group ride. According to a C pace is 16/17 MPH, and a D pace is 14/15 MPH.

We rode 29 miles. Indiana can be windy, with winds generally from the west. Going out, no problems. Going back, I am thankful for the riders who "tucked the rookie in :-)" and let me do some drafting in order for me to finish in one piece. My average speed was 13.11 MPH, so I guess if you round up...I'm a D rider! :-)

I was so impressed with the conversations, the friendly people, etc. that I decided to join the club.

On Saturday, there was another organized ride. Again, very impressed with how friendly everyone was. The A/B group went out first, then the C/D group (including me). After a few miles, when it was apparent that I was struggling to keep up with the group, a few riders dropped back and rode with me. Saturday was a very windy day (more on that in a minute). We did a 21 mile ride and I was thankful for their help (especially with the headwinds).

After we got back to Carroll High School, I headed back out on the bike to put some more miles in. I rode out to Columbia City and back for a 34 mile ride. To give you an idea about the wind, here are some of my splits:

Mile 15: 7:02
Mile 16: 6:48
Mile 17: 7:11
Mile 18: 5:01
Mile 19: 4:53
Mile 20: 3:11

You get the idea!

Overall, this was a great training week. I rode 107 miles this week - and feel very good about riding the Great Allegheny Passage next month.

Finally, on this Easter Sunday, my sincere wishes for a Happy Easter...and beyond!

Shawn

Has Spring finally arrived? (I hope so!)

It's been a couple of weeks since I updated my blog. As you can see, I've been out and about :-)

Last weekend (April 1) I was in Chicago for the Higher Learning Commission Annual Conference. The Higher Learning Commission accredits colleges and universities in 19 states in the United States. On Friday, I attended peer reviewer training, and Sunday - Tuesday were general sessions of the conference...which meant I was free to ride on Saturday.

I took my bike with me to the conference, since I enjoy riding my bike, and went off on Saturday for a 41 mile ride. Obviously, I stopped by Wrigley Field, but also rode on the Lakefront trail, and went north and rode on the campuses of Loyola and Northwestern universities.

As you can see from the pictures, it was a sunny day, and IT WAS NOT WINDY! It was a little brisk (in the 50's,), but I was dressed for it and enjoyed the ride.

Yesterday I went out on 50 mile ride. I decided to head south from Fort Wayne to Decatur, IN. I did that to take advantage of winds from the south. I rode to Decatur into the wind, and then took advantage of the tailwind back from Fort Wayne. It was a beautiful day yesterday as well; with temperatures in the 60's. It was good to bike in shorts!

My rides were:

March 27 - 10 miles
March 29 - 11 miles (on exercise bike - extreme heart rate interval)
April 1 - 41 miles

April 4 - 11 miles (on exercise bike - extreme heart rate interval)
April 6 - 14 miles
April 8 - 50 miles

I'm looking forward to riding this week. I'm going to go on my first group ride with some members of 3 Rivers Velo Sport on Tuesday. While I like riding solo, I need to work on my speed, riding in pace lines, etc. I also plan to go on a 55 mile ride on Saturday as I work toward riding the Great Allegheny Passage May 18 - 20, and the American Diabetes Association Metro Detroit Tour de Cure Century Ride in June. Speaking of the Metro Detroit Tour de Cure...

The Metro Detroit Tour de Cure Century Ride is a fundraiser. I'm trying to raise $200 for the American Diabetes Association. I'm 55% of the way to reaching my goal, and I would greatly appreciate your help. Even five dollars will move me closer to reaching my goal. Please consider donating. Here's the link:

http://main.diabetes.org/site/TR/?px=13157476&pg=personal&fr_id=11730

Thanks for continuing to read my blog! Have a great week!

Shawn