Dobovedo's Journal of Journeys

For as long as I’ve lived here in the WNC area, I’ve had a notion to do a loop ride that involved 50ish miles with a lot of rolling terrain, but no big climbs. Except the route has one big climb (where big = anything over 1000′.) There was only one problem with the route: the vast majority of it is four lane limited access highway. Now… I’m not opposed to riding the shoulder of busy roads like that. I do it all the time because I live on one. My only option, short of putting my bike in the car, is to head either north or south on route 23/441. And as I have stated a million times, I hate putting my bike in the car to go ride it somewhere else. In my experience, the only thing wrong with this type of riding is that vehicle noise and truck fumes can be an annoyance. It’s just not as pleasant as riding along a more picturesque country road. But after two weeks of building up miles and doing a lot of climbing, my legs are getting very tired, and while planning out my ride options for the coming week, I started thinking about the route again. Even if it’s not all that pretty or fun, it was the perfect amount of climbing for the distance. So on Monday I decided to give it a shot, except that I ran it in the reverse direction of what I had originally envisioned.

Because the only big climb is the last climb of the route, I called it the Highway To Hill.

Read more on I’m On A Highway To Hill…

Last week, in the wake of my decision not to do Survival of the Shawangunks, I went ahead and registered for a couple centuries that have been on my calendar for awhile. One of those is the Six Gap Century from Dahlonega, GA. I’ve been wanting to do this ride for the past five years but have never been able to. When I lived in Ohio I could never convince anybody to do it with me and, not wanting to go to the expense of travelling solo, I always opted for the two-day Columbus Fall Challenge. Then, last year when I lived close enough to do it, but was training for Ironman. So this year there’s nothing to get in the way, and it has turned into my #1 event of the fall. While I don’t follow any kind of specific “training plan” for these big century rides, I do try and schedule my weekly rides to build and taper in some sort of loosely organic pattern that makes sense.

Which mean that I’m piling on miles, fatigue, and sweet pain on a number of different loops. Last week’s summary: Read more on Gettin’ Loopy…

“It looks like we’ve got a pretty good day for a ride”. That’s what the nice lady with the microphone said at the start of the Blue Ridge Breakaway. If you ever hear these words, or words to that effect, at the start line of a century ride, especially a ride whose route goes up into the Blue Ridge, or any other, mountains on the eastern half of the US, you should expect that you are going to have anything but a “pretty nice day”.

Thanks for they jinx, nice lady.

Read more on Blue Ridge Breakaway…

When I was a little kid, on warm summer nights, I always wanted to stay out later than I was allowed to. All the houses on the block I lived on were connected by back alleys and driveways, and there were dozens of kids out playing in back yards, riding bikes, shooting hoops, doing the stuff kids do. And I frequently got in trouble for straying into the yard too late past dark. So at some point there was a rule instituted: be on the porch by the time the street lights came on. If I didn’t make it, I’d get grounded. I was reminded of this rule as I was out riding Wednesday evening and the street and other lights started coming on. How far was I from home when this happened?

Let’s just say that if I were still a kid, I would have been grounded. Probably until I wasn’t a kid anymore.

Read more on Ring of a W[h]ee Bit Late…

On Wednesday I ran 8 miles at Deep Creek, when I probably only should have done 5, or 6 at the most. That left me a big question as to what to do on Friday. 8 isn’t really a long run; I had been up to 12 prior to my rest week, and I was still unsure about what’s going on with my ankles and heels. I decided to split the difference and do 10 miles. I also decided not to make it 100% trail run and split the distance into roughly equal road and trail. Mother nature decided to get in on the Split Distance theme as well – and proceeded to rain, and not rain, on me for roughly equal distances. I didn’t mind a  bit.

Until mile 9, when the extra weight of rain soaked shoes and socks started to take it’s toll on my legs.

Read more on Splitting Distance…

Monday it rained. It rained all morning. It rained all afternoon. It rained all day. Almost. Except for the one hour or so when I went for a run, when it was sunny, hot, and extremely humid from all the rain. Most people who exercise would view this as good fortune. I did not. On Tuesday it was nice out. It was nice out all morning. It was nice out all afternoon. Almost. But then I started seeing Accuweather Severe Thunderstorm Watches in my inbox. Just in time for the Tuesday ride. So I wore my RAIN jersey.

It didn’t work.

Read more on It Never Rains On……

While sometime I think it is a source of absolute evil, on other days Facebook is a pretty cool thing. Especially when it offers a chance to catch up with friends you haven’t seen in years. Friends who used to live in Ohio, have been traveling all over the US and even further for the past few years. Friends whose latest adventure is hiking the Appalachian Trail for however long and however far they decide that it’s still a fun thing to do. Friends who posted on Facebook that they would be spending a couple nights at the Basecamp at Nantahala Outdoor Center last week.

The same Nantahala Outdoor Center where I had just happened to want to go and ride a new (to me) mountain bike trail. Read more on New Trails & Old Friends…

A couple weekends ago I had a chance to “commute” between Asheville and Sylva, opting to take the Parkway for a good portion of the 75 mile distance. There is (or was at the time) a section that is closed between Asheville and Mt. Pisgah, so I took the recommended auto detour – Rt. 151. Leaving out of West Asheville the directions are pretty simple: Sand Hill Rd., US 19, Rt. 151, Parkway to Balsam Gap, US74 to 441 home.

The riding wasn’t quite so simple: somewhere between 6000-7000′ of elevation gain and temperatures in the 90s would make for a tough ride. Despite being
“only” 75 miles I thought getting home in under five hours would be a good goal.

Read more on Asheville To Sylva Parkway Ride…

I showed up to ride with the Cows on Wednesday evening while on a business trip to Ohio. So it’s not called a Ramble any more. And it isn’t quite at Ramble pace. And you don’t get totally left for dead if you fall off the back of the group. Nevertheless, while it may be called the Wednesday Night Delight now, it had a lot of telltale signs of being anything but delightful. My heartrate was maxed out much of the time. My eyeballs were about ready to pop out of my head. I felt like throwing up. I got gapped… a lot. I got dropped… more than once.

Call it whatever you want.. it hurt like a Ramble.

Read more on Wednesday Night Not-a-Ramble…

After a full week of running and riding, I was due for a day off. Monday was that day. No plans to ride or run. And I was fine with that. Until it got to be 90 degrees outside. For the second day in a row. And even with the A/C on high, the little window unit in my living room can’t get the temp inside any lower than 80 degrees. Too hot to do anything but lay around and whine. Too hot to do anything outside. All of a sudden my rest day that I wanted to take became a rest day that felt like it was taken only due to outside influences.

I hate it when that happens. Now it’s not restful.

Read more on When Is A Rest Day Not A Rest Day?…

As of a couple weeks ago I had been doing fairly light and short runs of only 3-5 miles. I have had almost no problems with my plantar faciitis or other issues other than slightly tight and sore calves, so I decided to increase my miles a bit. A bit?.. hah! In one week I did 10k, followed by an 8 mile way-too-fast run, and finished up with a ridiculously difficult 10k trail “run”. Total for the week was 20 miles, more than double any previous week so far this year.

Sometimes I take that TS Elliot quote way too seriously. Going too far indeed. Read more on Run Week & Rock2Rock 10k Trail “Run”…

While I would probably get a lot of agreement about being most difficult, I am referring specifically to a trail out at Bent Creek that was labeled “Most Difficult”. Not only was I was able to successfully descend, without falling on my head or breaking any important parts of me or my bike, but I was also able to ascend it too.

Well… almost.

Read more on Apparently I Am Most Difficult…