Sometimes they get it right

With the suspension of the RUSA permanents program, the only "for credit" rides that are available are RUSA populaires and brevets. These can be added to the RUSA calendar with 5 days notice for existing routes. Typically, this time of year there's not much point in scheduling a ride because the weather ranges from unpredictable to bad.

However, the long range forecast for the weekend of 12/21-12/22 looked promising with a forecast high temperature above 40F. Bob Booth got in touch with me and asked me to put two populaires on the calendar for the weekend. I agreed and said I'd ride with him if the forecast stayed reasonably decent.

For the most part, weather forecasters can barely get tomorrow right some of the time so the forecast a week away needs to be viewed with a fair amount of skepticism but in this case they nailed it.

The morning of the 21st dawned quite cold, air temperature of about 24F but the forecast high was 43. Equally important, the winds were forecast to be "light and variable" and there wasn't a cloud in the sky so it looked like a good day. As an aside, it's funny how that first 40 degree day in September it's "too cold to ride" but 40 degrees in December is "wow, a warm spell! - let's ride".

In general, the roads were ice free with a slight layer of frost. At this time of year given that the sun stays low on the horizon and that it's hilly there are long stretches of road that never see the sun. Typically, in December these are sheets of ice and you either need studded tires or have to walk. on Saturday these could be ridden with care (no sudden moves, smooth pedaling, etc) and we managed them without difficulty.

At the start

We rode over to Spring Green which is a mid-point for the populaire and had a nice leisurely breakfast at the general store before continuing on and finishing the ride. I'd recently made a route change for the ride that deleted the section after Spring Green that was wide open and generally westward (winds are normally either NW or SW so it's almost always a headwind) in favor of a slightly busier road that's more scenic and sheltered by pine trees on the south side of the road.

We finished the ride in 5:49 which was expected given the long lunch break and leisurely pace.

Overnight there was a lot of moisture in the air which turned into a heavy blanket of frost when the temperature dropped. It was a bit warmer in the morning (28 degrees) but the roads were coated with frost. We thought they might clear when it got warm but the ground is frozen hard enough that the places that don't get sun didn't melt at all despite the warmer air temperature.

Walking a frosty stretch

Not a whole lot different on day 2 than the first day. Leisurely stop in Spring Green joined by Melissa and Marcia which made for a fun breakfast and a longer stop. The wind was a good bit stronger on Sunday out of the SW so the route change was appreciated even more. This plus the longer stop at Spring Green contributed to our 6:09 total time.

All in all, a fantastic couple of days riding!

Beautiful winter day

An update from the weak and infirm

As noted previously, I signed up for the HCR 600K this past weekend for several reasons but the one relevant to this post is to experiment with using aerobars to give my hands some relief. My thinking going in was that if I had the "hands crushed in a vise" sensation post ride then my days of doing long brevets on a DF were over.

I took careful inventory of how my hands felt prior to the ride and they were actually pretty good. Maybe a 1 on a 1-10 pain scale.

During the ride, I really focused on not keeping my hands in the same place for any length of time. My mantra was "tops, drops, hoods, aerobars, tops, drops, ...". I didn't set an alarm or anything, just stayed in one position until it started to feel slightly uncomfortable (this on day 2) then moved on to the next.

I'm happy to report that it was mostly a success. My concern with using the aerobars is that I'd be substituting low back or neck pain for hand pain but this didn't prove to be the case. After the ride I'd say I had "normal" 600K soreness. A bit of tingling in ring/pinkie on both hand and some general soreness/aches but nothing like the post-PBP pain. Post ride I'd say 3-4 level of pain/ache which I'd consider mostly normal, especially for a 600K on Texas chip seal.

In related news, I had the first of several appointments about my hands yesterday. This was with a GP/Sports Medicine doc that does consulting for Trek. I went through the history and my diagnosis and he did some tests. For the most part, he thought it likely that my theory of nerve impingement in my neck was probably correct. I have some weakness in my right hand/wrist as compared to my left and constant readers will recall my right hand hurt somewhat worse than my left.

I've got an MRI scheduled in a little over a week on the C2/C3 area (which are the vertebrae I broke). If it doesn't reveal anything then we'll move on to a test that focuses on the flow of signals through the nerves (don't recall what it's called).

So, some progress. Too early to declare victory but at least some forward movement on a few fronts.

December in Texas - A Risky Proposition!

As previously noted, I signed up to do the Hill Country Randonneurs 600K (the Old Dime Box 600K) some time ago. I did this for a few reasons:

1. To thaw out.
2. To test the theory that I could do longer rides using the aerobars to give my hands a break (more on that in a follow-up blog)
3. To ride with a group of folks that I enjoy riding with.

As it happens, in the last 14 months I've ridden a full brevet series and a 1000K with the Hill Country folks (Jeff Newberry, Rob Tulloh and Amy Russell) along with some assorted Lone Star Randonneurs (Dan Driscoll, Gary Gottlieb, Dana Pacino) and assorted others. I always enjoy rolling with these folks and this trip proved to be no exception.

My friend Eric Peterson was also interested in doing a longer ride so we ended up sharing a rental car and hotel room. I did this ride last year and screwed up my travel arrangements big time. I arrived on Friday after 6 PM so by the time I got my rental car, drove to the hotel, got something to eat and put the bike together it was quite late. I then booked my return flight on Monday at 10:30 AM. We finished the ride at 19:00 on Sunday. By the time I showered, got something to eat and packed the bike it was 01:00 and I had to get up at 07:00 to make it to the airport.

Not again.

This time Eric and I flew in on Thursday and had a leisurely dinner at 600 Degrees (good pizza and a really good beer selection!) then spent Friday assembling the bikes and generally faffing about before joining a subset of the group (Dan, Gary, Dana and Dan Colvin) for dinner at a nearby Italian place.

We rolled out at 07:00 and the weather looked great for the day. It was cold at the start (mid-40's) but warmed up to the mid-60's during the day and the winds were fairly light all day so we made great time. The route goes northward toward Crawford where it turns around and returns to Georgetown for day one. Last year we got to Crawford at dusk and left after dark just before the Christmas parade was going to start. This time, we got there about 16:00 and had a nice meal. Only mishap on the way up was Dan Colvin had a flat, other than that no problems at all.

He's every bit as smart as he was in office

Here's the Strava from day one.

Last year we finished the first day at 01:00. We made much better time this year (the light winds and riding with the Charly Miller group) and got in at 11:50 so a luxurious sleep before rolling out at 07:00 the next day. 

The weather on day 2 wasn't quite as nice on the first day. It was warmer (high in the lower 70's) but quite windy and we'd have a headwind most of the way out to Old Dime Box. We met a group of HCR riders doing a 100K/200K about 8 miles into the ride and the pace picked up dramatically. I knew better than to try to keep up with fresh legs doing a shorter ride so I fell off the back. We eventually regrouped at the first control and Jeff, Amy, Eric and I rode together the rest of the way. We saw Gary, Dana and Rob on the retour when we were headed out to the turnaround at Old Dime Box and would regroup with them at the last control at Thrall. 

The control at Thrall has a good kitchen where they'll custom make pizzas but what I was looking forward to was mashed potatoes. Alas, the Gary/Dana/Rob group had eaten the last of the mashed potatoes (sad trombone sound) so I had to content myself with a couple of pieces of chicken. 

The rest of the ride was uneventful and we finished at a little after 20:00 for a ride time of just over 37 hours. I hadn't done a long ride since my Hound Dog DNF and was really feeling the lack of miles in my legs but I got it done.

Eric and I hurriedly said our goodbyes and went back to 600 Degrees for more pizza and several FCAB's (Frosty Carbonated Alcoholic Beverages).

Here's the Strava from day two.

On Monday, the weather went somewhat to hell and on Tuesday it went totally to hell. Monday was cold and very windy, Tuesday was 38 degrees and steady rain.

We lucked out.

My return trip was mostly uneventful for this time of year. The flight out of Austin was two hours late because they had to de-ice the inbound plane in Chicago so I had to reschedule my Chicago->Madison flight and ended up getting to Madison about 3 hours later than planned.

And the wind chill was -7F when I arrived :-(

Some pictures from the ride courtesy of Jeff Newberry and Rob Tulloh

Yes, we have no bananas

Beautiful sunrise

Me bringing up the rear - as usual

Showing off that winter weight

Living large in Old Dime Box

Eric and Jeff

Eric and Amy with me in my usual position

Happy to be at the top!

Before the ride - look at those bright, cheerful faces!

Beautiful sunset

Got it done with a great group!

Musing on my infirmities

I've been doing a lot of thinking/reading about what's been going on with my hands. Although I've got some of the "classic" symptoms of ulnar nerve compression there's more to it than that. Here's a relatively complete list of the symptoms/sensations:

1. Tingling in ring/pinkie fingers. This is symptomatic of carpal tunnel/ulnar nerve compression.
2. Both of my hands hurt, all over, wrists to fingertips. If it were possible to cause the sensation of pain to generate light both of my hands would glow.
3. No symptoms of arthritis (swelling, pain localized to joints, redness).
4. When it's bad like it was immediately post PBP the sensation is that my hands have been crushed. I mean literally like they were put in a vise and smashed. This was especially bad on ring and pinkie fingers but applied to my whole hand.
5. Right hand marginally worse than left but only a very small amount.
6. Simultaneous and very similar onset with both hands and very similar sensation/level of pain with both hands.

While pondering all this the things that stood out:

1. As I said, it doesn't fully fit the standard "cyclist palsy" ulnar nerve compression symptomology. That's part of it but there's more.
2. The simultaneous onset in both hands seems significant as does the similarity in symptoms and their magnitude in both hands.

So my non-medical conclusion is that although I do likely have some degree of ulnar nerve compression the real culprit is higher up and at an intersection.

I broke my neck (c2/c3) years ago (bike crash). Without going through the details of the crash, imagine taking your head and bending it backward as far (or farther) than it will go, that's what happened. Spent several of the longest months of my life in a halo. 

I didn't use aerobars at PBP, instead I rode long distances with my forearms rested on the top of the bars (how pro is that!) so had to crane my neck to see where I was going.

Like a lot of cyclists, I tend to "hunch" my shoulders (imagine trying to touch your shoulders to your ears - not that bad but that's the idea) at times creating a fair amount of tension. I focus on staying relaxed but it's like telling a teenager to sit up straight. They do it for a little bit then go back to slouching. I'm relaxed when I think about it, I try to think about it a lot (I mean seriously, what the hell else is there to focus on when you're riding?) but I still catch myself doing it.

So my diagnosis: I've got some nerve impingement in my neck that's affecting both hands.

Assuming I'm right, it has some interesting implications wrt cycling, especially long distances:

1. Aerobars is likely the worst thing I could do. Although I do think my position on the aerobars is pretty good and I try to keep my head/neck aligned with my torso, you do have to look up to see.
2. I'm going for comfort rather than aero on the aerobar setup so the bars are up higher than e.g., a world class triathlete or time trialist would have them so I don't have to bend my neck quite so much to see but still my neck is bent when I look up.

So for the moment, my plan is unchanged. I'm doing a 600K in a few weeks, I'll put aerobars on the bike and will see whether it's better or worse.

This could force the "all in" on the recumbent or at least swing the pendulum strongly in that direction.

We'll see.

November 200K

Got out with a friend pursuing a K-Hound (10K RUSA kilometers in a year) yesterday morning for a 200K.

As noted previously, streaks are powerful things ;-) I've finished both my R12 and P12 for November despite my previously posted ambivalence toward continuing the pursuit of both.

Rode the Hampsten equipped with aerobars. As described previously, I'm experimenting with using aerobars to give my hands some relief. The issue historically is back or neck pain unless I'm sufficiently acclimated. I'm planning on a 600K next month so yesterdays ride seemed like a good opportunity to accomplish a few related goals: get some time on the aerobars and see what benefit having another position would give my hands.

In general, things went fairly well. I used the aerobars for a good part of the ride, perhaps 40% including some extended stretches on them. I also focused on varying my hand position when not on the bars and other posture related things e.g., keeping wrists straight, bend in elbows, etc.

My back and neck were OK during the ride but a bit sore/tired after. Started to get some shoulder/neck soreness toward the end of the ride. My hands were OK during the ride but afterwards I had the "fingers are smashed" sensation in the ring and pinkie of my left hand and a bit of tingling in my right.

As I write this the following morning the smashed sensation is gone, replaced by tingling which persists in my right hand as well.

So not a total win but an improvement. It might be a full solution if I'm able to increase the amount of time I spend on the bars somewhat or perhaps this is as good as it gets.

We'll see.

Life, the internets and everything

One thing I've realized about posting my musings about my "problem" on the internets is that it likely comes across that my life is in ruins because of the pain in my hands after long rides. Although my hands do hurt and I hope there's a resolution to that, there's an awful lot of ways to enjoy riding a bike without doing 1200K's. In fact, I rode 10K+ miles a year for more than 20 years before I did my first brevet.

At some point, my long distance riding will come to an end regardless. Right now, it's my hope that I've not yet reached that point and part of what I enjoy about doing longer rides is overcoming the hurdles they present. The problems with my hands is just one of them and I'm exploring different things to ameliorate the problem and writing about what I've tried and what I might try next, mostly for my own edification and to document for myself where I've been.

I've had conversations with other folks my age and older about when we'll stop doing the longer rides. The obvious answer is when we stop getting enjoyment out of doing them. Other answers are if we get a "career ending" injury. A bad crash might also bring about the end. Another answer (for me) is when I'm no longer fast enough to get adequate sleep. When I get to a point where I'm struggling to make control close times that's a clear signal that I'm done.

I'm not there yet and I'm still enjoying the challenge so I'll keep exploring alternatives that let me continue. If I don't find one, c'est la vie. I'll still ride my bike.

At a crossroads - afterthoughts

I've been post-processing my post (see what I did there?) and rather than extend an already long post I thought I'd make a new one with some additional thoughts.

I said that in the list of reasons why I do 1200K's that "the bike I ride" is either not on the list or is well down and that's true. It's all about the best tool for the job.

However, on shorter rides which, let's face it, constitute the majority of my riding the bike I ride does matter. I really enjoy the nuances of one bike versus another. In fact, I usually decide a day in advance what bike I want to ride the next day and if for some reason I'm not able to ride that bike I don't ride. Yes, mental I know but there it is.

For reference, as I write this I'm at 8,106 RUSA K's plus a 1000K and flèche in Australia, PBP and the Herentals 1200K for a total of 11,896 or thereabouts (I don't recall what the exact distance is for PBP) or 7,435 miles. I'm at 14,475 miles total for the year so just about half of my total miles are brevets.

So if:

1. I'm unable to ride one of my many DF's for brevets and can only do longer rides on a recumbent.
2. There's not close to 100% crossover between DF miles and recumbent miles from a training point of view.

Then I would be giving something up to ride 1200K's which is not currently the case. I can e.g., ride my Firefly exclusively for 6 weeks then jump on my Hampsten and do a brevet. No problem, done it. But I don't think I could jump on my Bacchetta (or Cruzbike) in similar fashion. I wouldn't have my "bent legs".

So given my ridiculously overambitious brevet schedule for next year, it's either all in for the DF or all in for the recumbent.

That's the conundrum.