2020: About That Canceled Event

I have been in weekly contact with a lifelong friend who is the Director for a long running Michigan cycling event.  Here are a few of the challenges that he, and his volunteer committee, are dealing with in making decisions for 2020 and beyond.

• Public and private facilities opening schedules
• Changing Food Service requirements 
• Pre-paid, unrecoverable marketing expenses
• Pre-paid insurance expenses
• Refund processing expenses
• Volunteers concerned about working in large group settings (and many volunteers are in at-risk groups)
• Participants concerned about large group settings (and many are in at-risk groups)
• Social distancing and group size limitations, and when they might change, and change again
• Extended merchandise delivery schedules
• Supporting businesses and sponsors financial commitments
• Bankrupt/closed business that provide mid-route meals/support

Most, if not all of these events are fund-raisers for a non-profit or small bike club, and few but the largest maintain a large year-to-year reserve of funds.  A large financial loss in 2020 might mean a permanent end of the event, or even the supporting organization.  

Please remember that most of our favorite bicycle events are volunteer staffed and run, and all of those same volunteers are dealing with the pandemic in their regular lives, just like you are.  And as a source of day-long (and longer) recreation, meals and fund-raising purpose functions go, most of these events are already an exceptional dollar value in every aspect. Under normal circumstances, these events require months of meetings and hundreds of hours of preparation.  And now they have to make very difficult decisions in a compressed time-line with no more information than you have.

Your "hosts" of these events are just as disappointed as you are, and working hard to find the best solutions they can in these challenging times.  Keep that in mind as you contact then and comment about your canceled plans for this year.

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2019: By the Numbers

2019 is officially a wrap, so it's time to run down the numbers. My final tally was 5,009 road miles logged on 256 rides.  My total ride count was down a bit since I didn't have has many 2-a-days from commuting.  This was my 25th year to ride over 5,000 miles.

Miles by Bike:
Assenmacher: 294 (Almost 50,000 miles on this bike!)
Santana Sovereign: 578 (retired with 34,000 miles, for now, in September)
Santana Spirit: 280 (Our new tandem!)
Trek 850: 18  (Still comes out for the 4th of July Parade!)
Trek 920: 2162 (my go to bike for much of this year)
Trek Domane 2.3: 1677 (All 4 of this years centuries were on this bike!

There was also 550 indoor miles on my trainer bike, a Trek 1200, but that is not in the road miles total.

Here the highlights:

4 Centuries (all over 100 miles this year, just for you purists).

Logged miles riding in 4 states: Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio and Illinois.  Missouri was on the list, but our planned routed was underwater in June.  Also disappointed we didn’t make it to Michigan this year, and will fix that in 2020.

Commuting:  30 days/60 trips.  I had fewer bikes to work due to changing work roles; however, I have kept my string of consecutive months alive, now at 51 (months with at least one bike to work).

April: My 14th Annual Tour de Mulberry was officially a CIBA Gran Sport Ride.   Still a lot of work on to create a new ride class for CIBA

TOSRV 2019- Riding into the mural in Portstmouth

May:  I rode my 20th TOSRV in 40 years. My first TOSRV was in 1979, and I have now ridden 9 times on a tandem, and 11 times on a single.  And yes, every year has been a GOLD sticker.  (I may be back on the tandem for #21 in 2020.)

June:   I again rode the Adventure Cycling Bicycle Travel Weekend, hosted by CIBA, however another chance to ride overnight (or nights) eluded me (see July!)

July: Our oldest son’s wedding.  Cycling took a back seat!

August: The WRCC’s Wabash River Ride was my 157th century.  Always fun to ride the roads in the Lafayette, and on an event I ran for a number of years in the mid-80’s

Linda with our new Santana Spirit

September: While attending our 5th Midwest Tandem Rally (We have made at least 1 every decade since 1986!) our venerable (maintained, not restored!) 1985 Sovereign was replaced by a new Santana Spirit.  It was dialed in very quickly for some amazing fall riding, and Linda and I are looking forward to more miles in 2020.

Finishing the day at 200,000 miles.

September: I rolled over 200,000 road miles; I didn’t ride it on a set a date, I just sort of celebrated the entire month. How does it feel to ride 200,000 miles?  I feel fortunate that have so many thousands of hours of memories of riding with my family and some amazing friends.  My next goal comes from brother, Jeff - a Lunar!

Each of these could be story in their own right (and a few already are).   Look for a few more in the weeks ahead!

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2019 - Bicycle Travel Weekend - a group camping ride

The Adventure Bicycling Association has sponsored Bicycle Travel Weekend on the first weekend of June since 2016 and this was the third year Nathan and Kristen Dinges have organized CIBA’s participation.   The goal of Bicycle Travel Weekend is to expose more riders to bicycle travel, and Nathan and Kristen have done this for dozens’s of CIBA members.  A first this year, along with 8 riders starting from Beech Grove, 4 riders started from the Columbus (Indiana) area and joined us at the campground in St. Paul.

Picture perfect passing Red Mills

The touring experience of this year’s riders ranged from 40 plus years and thousand of miles to first timers riding with borrowed gear.  This also meant that some of the riders were on purpose built touring bikes, including some of the latest features like disc brakes, gravel-ready wheels and full touring bits; while the first timers were just on a road bike with a rack added.  This lead to lot of experience sharing, with each rider relating their trips and gear selection.

A short portage across some construction

After a 10 am start on Saturday, we rode under dry and sunny skies along a route that followed the back roads from Beech Grove to Shelbyville, with a few short detours and a portage over railroad crossing construction.   In Shelbyville, we stopped for lunch at the Bear Drive-in, and we all welcomed the cold mugs of root beer.  After lunch, it was another  15 miles of riding to the Paradise Campground on the Flat Rock River.

In bike camping, just like bicycling, it’s all about the weight you save, and what keeps you comfortable. A wide selection of backpacking tents went up in our riverside campsite, and out came a variety of light weight chairs.  After the tents were up, most of us hopped on our now emptied bikes, and rode the mile back to St. Paul for additional groceries and refreshments the night and morning.  Back in camp, and after showers,  the cookstoves came out, and we prepared our own meals, comparing notes and favorites.  Dinner was finished a few shared deserts came out as the sun went down.

Dinner time - the table cloth was a small touch of elegance

After dinner, it was relaxing and storytelling around the campfire till almost 11, before we all retreated to our tents.  It only took a few minutes for a pair of visitors, 4 legged and masked, to come out and investigate the remains of our dinner.   There were just a few scraps left, and I did learn that raccoons don’t like strobing, 800 lumen headlights, and they moved on for the night.

Our night was otherwise quiet, and the threatened storms never came south of I-70. In the morning,  the stoves fired up again for a mix of hot breakfasts and coffee, along with the juice and fruit we had picked up the night before.   We then broke camp, and after a group picture, including the poster that Nathan and Kristen had carried, we were all on our way.  Our Columbus contingent now had the tailwind, and we had the headwind for ride back to Beech Grove.   The ride home included a second breakfast stop in Shelbyville, and then a final ice cream stop, before finishing back in Beech Grove.

Group shot before we were on the way home.

Thanks again to Nathan and Kristen for organizing the ride, and I look forward to joining them again for next year’s Bicycle Travel Weekend Ride, the first weekend of June.

2019 - The Tour de Mulberry Century - CIBA Gran Sport Ride

A version of this Ride Report appears in the June, 2019 edition of CIBA News, the newsletter of the Central Indian Bicycling Association – CIBAride.org.

A total of 7 riders participated in the first CIBA Gran Sport ride of 2019 (and the first under the new adopted guidelines), on Sunday April 27, 2019.  Starting from the north side of Carmel, the Tour de Mulberry century has been a spring tradition for a circle of north side riders (and my family) since 2005.   Why ride a century in April? To prepare for the annual TOSRV ride in Columbus Ohio in May, which includes TWO centuries when you do the full ride.  And why ride to Mulberry? Well, it just happens to be 50ish miles to Mulberry from the end of my driveway; riding 50 miles from home and then turning back is a simple way to get in a 100 miles!

Finishing up brisk miles.

Another aspect of this route is the option for riders to join along the way.  The route passes through Sheridan, Kirklin, Frankfort (Indiana), and over the years, riders not ready the full 100 would join in along the way, and this year’s was no exception. Three riders started from my driveway, another joined us heading north on Monon Trail, and another tandem couple met us for lunch in Frankfort on the return leg. Gran Sport rides are self-supporting, so we “sagged local” in the small towns along the way. This included our 60-mile lunch stop at Arni’s in Frankfort.

Gran Sport ride are based on speed groups, and the Tour De Mulberry goal was for 15 mph – or 7.5 hour century (riding time).  And while we were all ready for that pace, the challenge is always presented by Indiana’s spring winds.  The course is North/Northwest going out, and South/Southeast for the return, and this year we were dealt a steady 10-15 mph wind out of the Northeast.  So while we had some favoring winds for much of  the 50 miles out, and managed a little faster, our return ride required good team work, and some tandem help, to maintain our pace heading in.

Thanks to everyone who came out for the inaugural CIBA version of this annual ride!

Lunch in Frankfort at 65 miles.

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2019: The Simple Truths of Group Riding

Unless you are riding on a closed course or other controlled route,  bicyclists riding in a group must follow the rules of the road, including the requirement to ride no more than 2 abreast and obey traffic signals and signage.

Speed is an ability, group riding is a skill.

Safe group riding requires Teamwork and Trust, Communication and Compromise; the larger the group, the faster the pace, the more critical those requirements become.

Safe riding can be encouraged in a pre-ride announcement, but that cannot take the place of training to ride safely, an understanding of the requirements of safe group riding, or the attitude of the participants toward safe riding practices.

Every cyclist is solely responsible for their safety, and for the situations they choose to participate in.

When riding in a group, your skills, experience and decisions impacts the safety of every rider in the group.  If you are not willing to accept that responsibility, you should not be riding in a group.

2018: What is #10weeksto100

What is #10Weeksto100?  At its heart, it's a 10-week training framework to help the novice (or experienced) bicyclist prepare for bicycle rides of 3 hours or longer. However, it is more than just a calendar and mileage chart.

Whatever your interest or goal, the #10weeksto100 series will help you prepare for a fun and comfortable ride through a progressive, weekly riding plan. While this series is focused on a 100-mile ride, (also referred to as a century), this program can be used for preparing for rides of 50 miles (roughly 3 hours of saddle time) or more. In general, riding for 3-4 hours or more can be considered endurance riding. This series can also help you prepare for a multi-day bicycle tour or fund-raiser, such as a Tour De Cure or an MS 150.

It is important to understand that endurance training in cycling is preparing your body in three different ways:

• Cardio Conditioning: Training your heart and lungs for long, steady workouts
• Muscular Conditioning: Legs, back, shoulders, neck and arms all play a role in endurance riding
• Mental Conditioning: This is developing the habits of training, nutrition, pacing and most of all, confidence. Your mental conditioning may also be in making the shift from shorter running or gym workouts to an “all-day” activity like a century or multi-day tour.

During the course of the series, I will also share advice on bike maintenance, clothing, gear and nutrition. I am going to assume you have the bicycle basics covered; a bike you are comfortable riding, a basic understanding of riding safely, and basic cycling skills like shifting. It is also important that you have a bike computer for tracking your speed and miles. You will learn more as you progress, and I am available to answer questions and give advice on all the related aspects.

Full Intro: #10weeksto100 - Preparing for Your First Long Ride or Century
Week 1:  Three Questions to Ask
Week 2:  The Training Plan
Week 3:  Faster is as Important as Farther
Week 4: Your Bike is Your Training Partner
Week 5: Getting Your Bike Gear in Order
Week 6: Training Aches and Pains
Week 7: How To Find the Time
Week 8: Drink, Eat, Repeat
Week 9: Be Visible, Be Predictable, Be Aware
Week 10: Ten Tips from Experience

Coaching vs. Mentoring: #10weeksto100 is intended as mentoring, rather than athlete specific coaching. That being the case, these are broad, general guidelines of a riding style and philosophy.

Medical Advisory: PLEASE consult your physician if you have a chronic condition requiring medication. Endurance riding and training, and the hydration and nutrition changes they bring about, may all have an impact on your medication’s effectiveness and daily needs.

Questions?  Contact me at thinktandem@gmail.com, or message me via my Facebook page: The Ride So Far

Jay Hardcastle, May, 2018

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2017: DALMAC - Wrapping Up

The final afternoon of my sixth DALMAC (Dick Allen Lansing Mackinac) ride this summer. 

With the bridge behind us, we ride over a hill and drop down into St. Ignace.  The small bay is on our right, with a row of waterfront businesses and hotels between the road and the water.  We

Life is good in camp.

are riding with dozens of bikes, and Sunday morning tourist traffic.  St. Ignace is expecting 60,000 for the famous Bridge walk, and there is a Labor Day weekend street fair in progress. The main road is blocked down to just 2 lanes, and pedestrians, bicyclists and vehicles are now working there way along the crowded thoroughfare.

We find our regular breakfast spot, Bentley’s BML Cafe, a local landmark, and it appears little has changed in the 8 years since Steve, my son and I last ate here. (In fact, it probably hasn’t changed since before the bridge was built!)  The dining room is long and narrow, with a service counter the length of one wall, with tables and seating for about twice what you think the room could hold.  We are lucky to be seated right away in a booth, and place our order for second breakfast/first lunch.

Positive Mental Outlook!

The ride has been everything I expected, and more.  The weather, while cloudy and cool, has been dry and without challenging winds.   Even though the route had only minor changes from my last two rides, each day of riding felt fresh and added more to my mental album of DALMAC memories.

I can’t say enough about the being able to ride with a friend that I can share so many laughs with after almost 40 years.  And the experience of riding with my brother for an afternoon, and sharing M119 with him,  will always make this one special.

I had wondered about touring without two of my regular companions, an Eclipse handlebar bag and a ready camera.  I know it meant a lighter, faster bike, but I traded that for fewer pictures.    While an iPhone has a pretty good camera, it is not a camera in my sense of the word. I have taken some good pictures with it, but even with the latest feature changes, it does not offer the same readiness. And when I pull a camera up to my face and use a viewfinder, I just take better pictures, most of the time.

It's nice to know I still enjoy sleeping in a tent.  Maybe worse weather would have changed my thoughts on that, but I was always comfortable and rested in the morning. I hope I can look forward to many more nights of camping.

Did I mention the food?

It was also fun to tour with a GPS (the Wahoo Elemnt Bolt).  I like having navigation and the extra data is fun too.  I don’t feel I obsess to much on it, and looking back on the route, elevation and temperature data has been fun while writing this.   And besides, Steve always had his mapbook out if I had any questions; (I had mine packed, I just never pulled it out).

I was very happy with my bike; no flats, no mechanicals, it was a joy to ride.  The same for my riding clothing; everything worked and packed nicely.  I have come a long way from the days of relying on a wool sweater and a garbage bag because nothing was available or worked.  And no more suspenders, but I do prefer bib shorts.

We wrap-up a breakfast of shared stories and laughs and head back out to our bikes.  We have a few miles of riding to a St. Ignace school campus where we rejoin our baggage.   From there, the first leg or our journey home is back across the bridge to the Mackinac City. After a shower at the local high school, we help load our bags and bikes into one the rented sag cars, and a the driver is going to drop us off before he heads back to Lansing.

We are dropped off a mile west of the bridge at the Mackinac City high school, which is buzzing with DALMAC activity. Baggage for almost 500 riders is now scattered across a grassy lot near a picnic shelter behind the school. A couple of hundred bikes and riders are already checked in  The now empty baggage trucks are lined up, and riders are walking the bikes their bikes to the crew of loaders, who hang each bikes upright, securing the the wheels with zip ties the the steel frame of the box trucks.

Inside the school, we are able to buy a simple lunch from a band booster mom, and then we relax at picnic table.  It is early afternoon, and we will be hanging out for a couple of hours, since some of the last riders or doing a long day to finish either the 5 Day west route. It has turned into a beautiful sunny afternoon, and I am down to just a T-shirt.

The bike loading crew hangs my Domane.

I will riding back to Lansing in the cab of a baggage truck, but not as the driver, only riding shotgun to keep the driver company. This is my second time to take the baggage truck option, in `79, Steve grabbed me as a last minute baggage truck driver, and I recruited my own shotgun companion.

While waiting, Steve and I are chatting with the ride director, Joel Wickham, and a couple of committee chairs. One is in charge of meals, and interested in comments on the highs, (Central Lake’s barbeque) and the lows, (Pellston overcooked oatmeal).  We also hear from some ambitious riders, who having raced up to cross the bridge, took the St. Ignace ferry across to Mackinac Island, rode around the island, and then got on the Mackinac City ferry.

I can see the wheels turning in the Joel's head on hearing this.  I have to admit, it would be nice to have a few more Mackinaw City experiences once up here, and I file possibility that away for my next time.

At one point, Steve and I get tagged for errand, as the bike check in crew needs some more zip ties.   After a quick drive to the downtown tourist strip, we find a full hardware store above one of the tourist shops.  It is kind of a surprise, but when you realize this on the edge of huge outdoor area and just off a small harbor, it alls makes sense.

It looks square from here.

Back at the school, our next task is handing out the box dinners for the riders returning by charter bus. There are 5 busses, 70 riders per bus. It is noticed that some baggage isn’t claimed, and another riders is unable to find his baggage.  It turns out there is some confusion with his family as to which of the end points his bag was supposed to go to.  Meanwhile the unclaimed bags to in the directors truck.

By 5 pm, things are winding down and ready roll out  We distribute the last of the box lunches on the buses, and finish loading the tables and administrative supplies from check-in into the baggage trucks and the directors van.  Steve is riding back with Joel, and we will catch up back at MSU. I climb into the cab with my driver.  He has been doing this same task, driving back a baggage truck, for almost 20 years.   With a last check with the director, we hit the road.

It is a half mile back to I-75, and then we are on interstate almost all the way back.  We are on the road less than an hour, and we are passed by each of the tour busses; but then pass them again when they pull over for the big rest stop at Claire.  The sun finally sets south of Claire, and we then pass through another string of towns before finally hitting Lansing.  My five days of riding north, is now all rewound by 5 hours of driving, in this case non-stop.  

We pull into the parking lot, the fourth baggage truck to arrive. Three loads of bikes are now laid out on the grassing medians of the parking lot, and a crew of about a dozen volunteers is waiting to unload this truck.  Working under a pair of portable flood lights rented just for this, the door is rolled up, the ramp is pulled, and using side cutters, the the bikes are methodically cut down, and handed to volunteers at the top of a ramp, and we form a human conveyor belt. It took over an hour to load truck with 70 plus bikes, but we have them unloaded in less than 15 minutes.  I was asked if I had ever handled this many bikes before, and I have to explain, yes (besides DALMAC), twice a year for 5 years, working bike sales for a shop in Indianapolis.

Thanks to Steve and Maria, many more miles ahead!

I find Steve, and we gather our baggage from the directors van I thank the event director, and end up with a crew hat; it’s nice to considered part of the team.  We are able to quickly find bikes and load up my van for the drive back to Steve's house.   We finally pull into his driveway about 11 PM.  It has been almost 18 hours since we broke camp in Pellston.   We head inside, and it does not take long to fall asleep.

The three of us enjoy a light breakfast in their kitchen.  Maria is pleased to hear we had safe and dry ride.  Steve is going to rest his ankle for a few days. (It turns out to be fine after some rest, a little bit of overuse, go figure!)

At breakfast, Maria mentions riding DALMAC next year; It would be fun to ride with the 2 of them again, but I will probably skip a year at least, but know I will be back sooner than 8 years.   I would like to end up with at least 4 more, since 10 is nice round number.  I especially want to make DALMAC 2024, and I also want to try the ride around the island after crossing the bridge. It’s fun to look ahead, and recall riding a few days ago with that couple in their mid-70’; I have a lot riding to look forward to.

We finish our breakfast and I am soon on my way home, another 4 hours in the car ahead of me.  I have an early start, and get a call from Linda checking on my progress.  If I am home by 1 PM, she asks, would I like to get the tandem out for ride to lunch? But only, she says, if I am interested in getting back on a bike.

I make the drive non-stop.  We had a fun ride to lunch.

Not all those who wander are lost.

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