Brewery to Old Federal Road - Knocking At The Door

Not far from the base of Fort Mountain

 Garmin Connect Data 
Ride with GPS Data
Garmin Summary
Moving Time: 5:16:00 (5:34:18 total)
Distance: 88 miles
Avg Moving Speed 16.7 mph

Group: solo  
Goal: Going for 300 TSS at a steady pace, extend my saddle time and miles.

The Ride: The brewery was a very empty place today. I know some of my friends were headed to Burnt Mountain to train, but usually there are quite a few people that show up in various clubs or as individuals. There were only a couple of people getting ready when I rolled out near 8:30 this morning and I saw only a couple of people on the return. Maybe it was the weather forecast again that sounded really intimidating with cold temperatures and high winds. Not sure. Kind of a weird ghost town feeling.

I went on about my business heading out on my typical out and back route heading due north into what was supposed to be headwinds, but it seemed pretty calm so I kept going forward and would have anyway. The temperature seemed to warm up faster than expected as well and it wasn't long before I realized that I once again overdressed. I think I could have gone with summer gear, base layer and leg warmers.

Overall the day felt pretty good.  I kept my intensity a little lower and hoped to add a few more miles and time to the ride. Once I was near Hwy 61 (Hwy 411) I was really tempted to do a century and I started that direction going toward Fort Mountain, but realized I had not told my wife and decided to turn around. My legs really felt like they were ready for the 100 miles, but I think heading back was the better choice for today. On the return the winds really began to pick up, but fortunately they were crosswinds. The type that you can just about lean your shoulder into them and not fall over. A few times I hit those as headwinds and it dropped me back to about 10 mph at 250+ watts. Those were about the only times I really had to push hard to go anywhere. I think if I had that as headwinds all the way home it would have taken me all day and more than likely I would have just pulled over and cried. That was some stiff wind. :-)

I was well within range of Fort Mountain and was just about ready to knock on the door.
Soon, Very Soon!

Nutrition Intake During and after the Course: ~40 oz. of water with Hammer Perpetuem, BCAA's, Gluatamine (1) Hammer Gels (2) Cliff Bar (1) 30 gram whey protein post ride recovery drink (1) chicken casserole, corn chips and water.

The Weather: Sunny skies at the start @ 35 degrees, End sunny skies @ 60 degrees, 13+ mph winds from the W to NW.

Bike: LOOK 585 , Garmin 800, Powertap SL+

Overall Power Data:
Entire workout (131 watts):
    Duration:      5:26:43 (5:34:24)
    Work:          2566 kJ
    TSS:           301.5 (intensity factor 0.746)
    Norm Power:    153
    VI:            1.17
    Distance:      88.119 mi
        Min    Max    Avg
    Power:           0    504    131     watts
    Cadence:         7    206    74     rpm
    Speed:           0    35.5    16.2     mph
    Pace             1:41    0:00    3:42     min/mi
    Crank Torque:    0    1811    156     lb-in
    Temperature:     35.6    60.8    51.4     Fahrenheit

Brewery To Fort Mountain - 102

RidewithGPS Ride Data
Garmin Connect Ride Data
Ride Summary (totals):
Distance: 102 mi
Moving Time: 06:20:25
Avg Moving Speed: 16.1 mph
Max Speed: 38.5 mph

Group: Neal, Nancy, Keith, Mike and me

Goal: L3 +/-

The Ride: No doubt some of us need some mental help or at least there were a number of people thinking that we are crazy for doing a 100 plus mile route in near triple digit heat. I am grateful that we did, but then again I had a rare good day on the bike. For some reason I did not rack up my usual training time during the week and that left me feeling a little fresher than my typical state for the Saturday group ride. I did have a saddle sore and some tender knees earlier in the week, but today fortunately it was almost as good as what my friend Gary would say, "a no chain day." Or it was due to Keith doing long pulls in the first half of the ride. I kept thinking, "take us north Keith, take us north."

And north we went as we rolled out of the brewery parking lot just around 7 am with the 5 of us set to see if we could endure this course and the heat combined. My goal starting out was to keep a solid pace to "beat the heat" and both me and Keith were keeping the pace above 18. Some of the roads going up were near Silver Comet flat and the pace line of 5 was smooth as butter. We had quite of few stops along the way, but not really a big deal with this type of heat it was good to stop and refill often. Being that it was an out and back route the store we selected were more than sufficient.

As we closed in on the halfway point and the base of Fort Mountain climb we decided that Mike and I would turn as we saw the first person descending, which we expected would be Keith. Sure enough as Mike and I stopped at a pull off area in the shade we see Keith coming quickly. Now it was our turn to join in on the fun descent and this is a fun descent.

Only problem we have now that the descent is done is 50 mile ride back with the sun in a full beat down on our carcasses. This is when it became a little tougher. What seemed like a lot of shade earlier in the ride out was now gone for the most part. We kept a fairly solid pace until we arrived at the store in Cash to wait for Neal. Keith and I decided to hang around and Mike went with Nancy since she had an afternoon event to attend. After Neal insisted, Keith and me went back together for the remaining 20 miles. I received a call that Neal came in safely. We all endured it. It wasn't pretty, but we did it.

It was tough in some ways, but I did enjoy the ride.

Nutrition Intake During and after the Course: ~52 oz. of water with Hammer Perpetuem, ~52 oz water (1) Hammer gel (1 1/2) Cliff Bars (1) Perpetuem Solid (1) 40 gram Whey protein post ride recovery drink .

The Weather: Sunny, Start @ 71 degrees, End @ 96 degrees
Bike: LOOK 585, Garmin 705, Powertap wired, Contour GPS camera

Power Summary: (Based on Coggan's Levels)
Summary Table of Minutes of Duration in Each Training Zone
  Level   Minutes       TSS
      1      8.82      1.82
      2    176.71     94.78
      3    186.98    212.51
      4      0.00      0.00
      5      0.00      0.00
      6      0.00      0.00
      7      2.10      2.88

Overall Power Data:
Entire workout (116 watts):
    Duration:      6:20:25 (7:45:20)
    Work:          2610 kJ
    TSS:           325.8 (intensity factor 0.729)
    Norm Power:    150
    VI:            1.29
    Distance:      102.011 mi
        Min    Max    Avg
    Power:           0    533    116     watts
    Speed:           0    38.5    16.1     mph
    Pace             1:34    0:00    3:44     min/mi
    Hub Torque:      0    46    6     lb-in
    Crank Torque:    0    668    137     lb-in

Cartersville Brewery - A little Respect Please!!

Generally since I am a cyclist I side for the rights of cyclists to use the roadway and be respected while on the road by non-cyclists, but there are times when cyclists absolutely make me equally as mad. Some cyclist have absolutely no respect for anything but their own pleasures as if the world should stop for them and allow them to break any rule or disrespect the rights of others. No wonder there are some non-cyclists that loathe us.

Now for what steams me today regarding the disrespect of a few that are about to ruin it for many of us.
We (cyclists) have been kindly warned again by the plant manager to respect their property.

Here is a note from plant management that was forwarded to me:

This past weekend we had truck traffic problems at shift change and employees had to wait for truck traffic to clear before entering the plant. We have a complaint that one of the bikers in an SUV with three bikes on the back cut across the grass to get by the trucks, while we had employees waiting to get to work. Can you please put out a note on the sites that you normally contact to ask that they respect our property?


Thank you,
Anheuser-Busch Companies, Inc.
Cartersville Brewery

This is not asking anything unreasonable is it? As a matter of fact I am shocked that anyone would even consider such antics. If someone were to intentionally and disrespectfully drive across my yard I am taking plate numbers and calling the authorities. Time and time again the management at the plant have endured cyclists and have been tremendously patient with us. How much longer will they endure us with these types of attitudes?

Please remember that parking at the brewery is a privilege given to us by plant management and it is a privilege that we can soon lose if respect for the property, on-going business flow and appreciation is not given. We need to remember that this is their property, not a state or city park, and that there is business going on that we do not need to disrupt in any manner. They also ask that you please go well off their property if you need to pee. They can view all of your actions with the security cameras.

Why not be respectful in all places?