10-K kms On A Single RUSA Course

A week or so ago, several of us joined Dean for what we thought was Dean's 100th Get 'er Dunn.  Turned out that "we" didn't do a very good job of counting.  It was only his 99th.  MikeD did a little write-up on RTP; he skated over the mistaking quite neatly.  And truthfully, as Mike hinted, what better way to spend most of a Sunday than in the cold, with some drizzle, tempting frost-bitten feet? 

At least Dean did (probably) accomplish one record that day -- first person to get to 10-thousand kms on a single course.  (I am unaware of any others having accomplished the 10-K on a single course AT THE TIME that Dean did get 10,098 kms on Get 'er Dunn.) 

However, perusing the RUSA website for non-interesting information, I discovered that Dean getting to 10-thousand that day was NOT the first time a RUSA member got to 10-thousand on a single course.  No, that honor does not go to Dean on Get 'er Dunn. 

Instead, it appears that the honor goes to Dean on the Tar Heel 200.  Jan-01-2012 was his 51st time completing that course -- for 10,200 kms.  Back-tracking through the records, Dean did his 50th Tar Heel 200, and got to an even 10-thousand-kms on that one course, on Dec-04-2011.  

Congratulations, Dean! 

All Years, # rides, avg time, kph by route

route            #    kms       avg time    kph

589 Tar Heel 200 51  10,200  10.711  10:43  18.7 

878 Get 'er Dunn 99  10,098   5.422   5:25  18.8 

Jan-29: Inaugural Bahama Beach route #1404

MickH and I "opened" the new Bahama Beach 103-km Permanent-Populaire today (Jan-29-2012). 
The third Musketeer from yesterday, Dean, cancelled due to a sinus issue. 
Oh, well.  I hope Deaner will be able to do the route in February. 


Local randonnuers may notice that the first 25-miles of this new route are identical to the early route on Byron's Triple-L (except that the two routes start from different locations).  Byron and I had discussed that issue in early to mid-2011; there are only two ways to get to the north side of Falls Lake from north Raleigh.  Although there are then a plethora of options, they all branch from those two road "across" the lake.  Further, although there are a plethora of options leading to great riding, not all those options make for a sensible rando-route, e.g.:   stores for controls in the wrong place, no stores at all for 40 or more miles on some routes I've designed and ridden in winter.  

This route has no real hills to climb; instead it has many creek/river valleys (and 4 man-made lake valleys), deep and shallow, to ride down-and-up.  Those wanting some climbing training, but without time to do Byron's Triple-L on a given weekend may find the route useful ... and much of it is also easy on the eyes and ears. 

I figure even Byron will ride this route more than once.  After all, he told me that Ellis Chapel Rd is his favorite road to cycle upon, but he couldn't fit it in to logical-looking Triple-L.  MickH enjoyed the   scenery along Ellis Chapel so much that he remarked that he didn't even realize the number of down-and-ups we did on that road.  I'm not lying, and even if I am -- that is my story, and I'm sticking to it. 

Mick and I did not push the pace.  Mick had no idea what to expect after the first 25 miles or so, and was therefore being conservative.  I knew what to expect, but knew we had about 6h50 to complete the course, and I am not in as good a shape as I was a month or two or three ago.  I also knew Mick would want to conserve something for the unknowns en route AND Mick had mentioned early-on that he legs felt a bit tired from yesterday's effort.  We concentrated on enjoying the ride, the day, the (mostly) good roads, and the mankind-assisted-nature's scenery that was on offer.  

In contrast to yesterday's ride, there was very little traffic on today's route.  I think we were on Robert's Chapel Rd when a car passed us, and Mick made a big deal of it.  He was having me on (a bit).  

However, when on Brogden Rd, headed for Creedmoor from Stem, after we were passed by 9 or 10 cars in a two-mile stretch, Mick complained that the he was finding the heavy traffic annoying.  He was not having-me-on nor otherwise joking.  After so many miles of NO traffic, his internal traffic-tolerance-gauge had reset itself.  

No ducks nor geese nor wild turkeys today. 
We did see horses and ponies and (probably) beef cattle. 
One hawk. 
Quite a few ponds. 
Four lakes -- one of them looked more like a large mud-hole. 
Two dogs -- one an ankle biter that never made it to the road, the other larger, but turned back when its owner called.  Amazing!  Someone has actually trained their dog to come when called. 

We also encountered one Little Mountain Rd.  

At one time I had considered naming the route "Four Lakes and a Little Mountain (Rd)", but that is hard to fit nicely on a control card.  I also considered "Mt. Bethel and a Little Mountain (Rd)", but again ... .   Finally, I figured Bahama Beach would confuse enough people, local as well as non-locals ... so that's what I went with.  

Oh, yeah ... the Beach was submerged under Lake Michie today.  

It was great to be outdoors on a bike, on (even if I do type it myself) a pretty dang nice route. 
----------------------------------------------------------------
Jan-29:  

--> Bahama Beach 103 km Perm-Populaire -->; 78.9 m.; 5h,34 in-motion; 14.2 mph; official rando time (for the BB-populaire only) -- 5h22 .  

Jan tot: __5 rides; __412.1 m.; _27 h, 50 m; 14.8 mph. 
YTD tot: __5 rides; __412.1 m.; _27 h, 50 m; 14.8 mph. 

Permanent route 1404: Bahama Beach
Date: 2012/01/29 

cert. no.	RUSA #	Name	Time
RUSA-T21476	6xxx	S___, Martin	05:22
RUSA-T21477	6xxx	H___, Mick	05:24

Jan-28: Inaugural Cameron-Carrboro-Cameron route #1399

New route owner / organizer MikeH, Dean and I "opened" the new Cameron - Carrboro - Cameron 113-km Permanent-Populaire today (Jan-28-2012).

The route starts about 1-km from MikeH's abode.
Very handy for him.


The route features sufficient Piedmont rollers to give most anyone some good climbing training.
It also passes Meredith College, the NC Museum of Art, NC State (particularly their football stadium), the North Carolina State Fair Fairgrounds and, knowing the previous, locals will also surmise that the route gets quite close to the RBC Center -- home to the NC State Men's Basketball team and the NHL Carolina Hurricanes.

The route then passes into Cary, traversing same in a more-or-less East-West direction on High House Rd.
After Cary, there is some pleasant riding between Raleigh / Cary on the East and US-15/501 on the West.
A mile or two on that US highway, then one takes Smith Level Rd (more-or less) up into Carrboro.
The UP is particularly noteworthy after one passes under NC-54 just south of Carrboro.

For the non-locals, Carrboro is cheek by jowl with Chapel Hill.
Yes, THAT Chapel Hill -- home to UNC.

As indicated above, the route has more climbing than one might expect.
Some interesting man-made "scenery", and some nature-made (more-or-less) scenery.
The rollers are a result of where the "fall line" from the mountains in the western part of the state, and
The FLAT coastal plain is located.

We saw sheep and goats on the NC State farms.
We saw an obviously pregnant pony.
We saw twelve wild turkeys cross the road and start up a farmstead driveway.
We saw geese and ducks, horses, beef or dairy cattle.
No dawgs.

We also saw more automobile traffic than I care to encounter on a cycling adventure.
Traffic on both ends of the ride.
Based on Mike's previous mid-week rides, and
The check-out ride Mike and I did on a Sunday in September ...
Saturday may be the busiest traffic day for this route.

MikeH grew up in Brooklyn.  His tolerance for traffic is quite a bit higher than mine.
And the route starts and ends only 1-km from his abode.
I expect he will "ride the heck out of it".
Will he ever catch Dean for most times riding one's own permanent?
Highly doubtful.
Dean already has 99 complete Get 'er Dunns in the books.

One redeeming feature of the ride, or two, depending on how one counts,
Is the ability to sit down, possibly in the sunshine, at the turn-around, and shoot the breeze.
AND, there is the same possibility as the finish.

In fact, Dean, MikeH and I enjoyed quite a nice conversation, not all of which was about cycling,
Sitting outdoors in the sunshine at one of the establishments at the finish.
That was very nice.

Jan-20: Get 'er Dunn 102 km Perm-Pop

Route-organizer, MikeH, me.
Got 'er Dunn, again.
Good ride with good company.

Appears to have been the ninety-ninth ninety-eighth Get 'er Dunn for Dean.
99 98.
No wonder he cannot recall details from a specific ride.

Appears to have been the thirty-third Get 'er Dunn for MikeH.
33.
I doubt he can recall details from a specific ride.

Appears to have been the twelfth Get 'er Dunn for me.
12.
I can still recall some specific details from some specific rides.

Oh, almost forgot.
MikeH became the first RUSA member in 2012 to cross the 1000-km "barrier".
Maybe not the first to cross it, but certainly first to have his results up:

1 members were eligible for the RUSA 1000 km distance award in 2012

RUSA#	Name	Club / ACP Code	Dist (km)
6xxx	H____, Mike	Randonneurs USA / 933095	1019

----------------------------------------------------------------
Jan-20:  

Get 'er Dunn 102 km Perm-Populaire; 63.8 m.; 4h,35 in-motion; 13.9 mph; official rando time -- 5h39.  

Jan tot: __2 rides; __190.2 m.; _12 h, 28 m; 15.2 mph. 
YTD tot: __2 rides; __190.2 m.; _12 h, 28 m; 15.2 mph.

Consecutive Riding Days, Part-3

Spoiler alert / geek alert! 

The following is just a comparison of some boring stats from my 2011 rides.  Even I think the resulting stats and the short discussion boring.  This is so boring that I might delete the post even after publication -- if I bother to publish.  You have been warned. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  

In the previous two posts, I looked at data by day-of-the-week and by day-within-the-series of consecutive riding days.  The conclusion(s):  (a) I rode the same overall pace whether the ride was "stand-alone" or part of a "series of days", and  (2) I did slow slightly over the course of a "series", but not much.

Today, I'm looking at charts that will segment between "stand-alones" and "consecutives", and by type of ride, or type of group, within each.


Total cycling in 2011, sorted by type of ride.

All rides	kms	# rides	miles	Hours	mph	m. / r.
"irregulars"	0	40	2,892.1	186.9	15.5	72.3
	0	0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
other grps	0	4	295.3	20.8	14.2	73.8
Brevets	1,500	4	940.9	64.0	14.7	235.2
Permanents	3,492	17	2,240.2	149.6	15.0	131.8
	0	0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
solo Perms	2,048	10	1,302.2	87.8	14.8	130.2
Perm Pops	1,128	11	721.6	50.9	14.2	65.6
	0	0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
solo Pops	102	1	65.2	3.9	16.7	65.2
	0	0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
city/errands	0	16	279.9	18.8	14.9	17.5
other solo	0	10	467.4	31.6	14.8	46.7
Total	8,270	113	9,204.8	614.3	15.0	81.5

[There is just no way around it -- blogger insists on left-justifying words from an Excel cell, AND insists on right-justifying numbers from an Excel cell.  Sigh.  I'll try "shoving" the column headers to the right by inserting some blank characters -- looks like it might improve the final result.  Btw, on "looks" ... these three posts -- the charts -- look significantly differently on Google-Chrome than they do on Microsoft Iinternet Explorer.  IE keeps the chart when drafting the post; Chrome does NOT.  IE keeps the internal and border lines, and as a result, the charts look better; Chrome eliminates all the internal and surrounding "border" lines.  Other than the pitiful handling of Excel charts being copied into the draft, Chrome generally seems to work better with Blogger -- they ought to, as each is a Google product.] 

Observations / comments: 

• I'm faster with the Irregulars than when doing rando permanents; but the permanents are twice as far. 
• Not much difference between my solo permanent performances and those with others. 
• The permanent-populaires were my slowest rides; but I happen to know that all of them were either in cold-cold January, camaraderie / recovery rides, or "whew-yesterday-beat-the-heck-out-of-me" recovery rides. 
• The one solo permanent-populaire was an attempt to go all-out (on the third day of consecutive riding), staying in 50/17 faux-single-speed gearing as I tried to better Dean's best time on "Get 'er Dunn" -- I failed.

Consecutive days, sorted by type of ride.

consec	kms	# rides	miles	Hours	mph	m. / r.
irregulars	0	29	2,089.5	135.5	15.4	72.1
	0	0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
other grps	0	4	295.3	20.8	14.2	73.8
Brevets	600	2	374.5	24.9	15.0	187.3
Permanents	2,268	11	1,450.0	96.5	15.0	131.8
	0	0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
solo Perms	1,028	5	666.8	45.0	14.8	133.4
Perm Pops	1,128	11	721.6	50.9	14.2	65.6
	0	0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
solo Pops	102	1	65.2	3.9	16.7	65.2
	0	0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
city/errands	0	10	191.2	13.0	14.7	19.1
other solo	0	8	365.9	25.1	14.6	45.7
Total	5,126	81	6,220.0	415.6	15.0	76.8

Observations / comments:  Essentially the same distances per ride and average pace as in the total chart.


Stand-alone" days, sorted by type of ride.

non-consec	kms	# rides	miles	Hours	mph	m. / r.
"irregulars"	0	11	802.6	51.4	15.6	73.0
	0	0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
other grps	0	0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Brevets	900	2	566.4	39.1	14.5	283.2
Permanents	1,224	6	790.2	53.1	14.9	131.7
	0	0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
solo Perms	1,020	5	635.4	42.8	14.9	127.1
Perm Pops	0	0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
	0	0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
solo Pops	0	0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
	0	0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
city/errands	0	6	88.7	5.8	15.2	14.8
other solo	0	2	101.5	6.5	15.6	50.8
Total	3,144	32	2,984.8	198.7	15.0	93.3

Observations / comments:  Essentially the same distances per ride and average pace as in the total chart.  The mix of rides is different, and that causes the apparently significant difference in "miles per ride" of the total-stand-alones.


Conclusion(s):

In 2011, whether the ride was a "stand-alone" or part of a "series", there was no difference to my average speed.  Either I don't get tired  OR  I was moderating my pace at the beginning of a multi-day effort.  I know I get tired.  But there is so little difference between "stand-alones" and "consecutives" that, if I was moderating my effort, it doesn't appear to have been much.

Three days.  Three boring posts.  All to conclude that I'm just as "fast" ("slow" might be a better fit) whether rested or fresh, whether anticipating riding more the next day or not.

Consecutive Riding Days, Part-2

Spoiler alert / geek alert! 

The following is just a comparison of some boring stats from my 2011 rides.  Even I think the resulting stats and the short discussion boring.  This is so boring that I might delete the post even after publication -- if I bother to publish.  You have been warned. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 

Previously, I posted some charts that segmented my 2011 cycling by day of the week and further segmented based up the rides being part of a back-to-back (or more) series versus no-ride-the-day-before-or-after (non-conseuctive).  There were also some lame observations / conclusions included.  This post will present a chart or two regarding the consecutive rides, some discussion or observations regarding same, and who-knows, maybe there will even be something similar to a conclusion.


Straight to the chart:

	kms	# rides	miles	Hours	mph	m. / r.
1 of 2	1,024	23	1,801.3	118.6	15.2	78.3
2 of 2	1,839	23	1,819.2	124.4	14.6	79.1
	0	0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
1 of 3	408	9	396.3	25.6	15.5	44.0
2 of 3	412	9	824.2	53.9	15.3	91.6
3 of 3	1,032	9	859.6	59.0	14.6	95.5
	0	0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
1 of 4	0	2	85.6	5.2	16.5	42.8
2 of 4	102	2	147.1	9.7	15.2	73.6
3 of 4	207	2	132.8	8.6	15.5	66.4
4 of 4	102	2	153.9	10.6	14.6	77.0
	0	0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
	0	0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Total	5,126	81	6,220.0	415.6	15.0	76.8
non-cons	3,144	32	2,984.8	198.7	15.0	93.3
Grand Tot	8,270	113	9,204.8	614.3	15.0	81.5

The above is a chart that is auto-generated from within my Excel log; however, to make the above chart, I re-coded from the usual to categories specifically and only to obtain the above chart.  You'll notice three series of data-rows:  the first is for the front and back ends of a back-to-back series; the second is for the first, middle and last of three consecutive days of cycling; the third is for the two "quads".  At the bottom are the totals for all the consecutive days (to double-check that I've got the same totals as in the previous charts), the totals of the "non-consecutive" days, and the "grand total" of all my rides.


Observations:

• The average distance of first and second day of a two-day-series is almost the same; but the second day is considerably slower (3.7 % slower). 
• The second day appears to have been more likely to have been a rando ride -- that would be consistent with my intent for much of last year to ride Irregularly on Saturday and rando on Sunday -- I'm still not sure if I actually accomplished that, or if I just intended that, but ... .
• The average distance of the second and third days of a three-peat are about the same; but the first is considerably less.  That would be consistent with the first day often having been a Friday that included a short "spin-out" or errand ride. 
• The average pace got slower over the course of the three days; but the second and third day averages are almost the same as the averages from the first and second days of the back-to-backs.  That might suggest that the first day of the three-peats had little to no impact on the following two rides.  The majority of the rando rides included in the three-peats was on the third day.
•  
• The average distance of the first day of the "quads" was about the same as the first day of the three-peats, but the pace was considerably faster.  But with only two sample points for the "quads", ... .
• The average pace of the second and third day of the quads are about the same as the second day of the three-peats and the first day of the back-to-backs.  Also, it is very interesting that the average pace of the fourth day of the quads is the same as the last day of the three-peats and the last of the back-to-backs, but ... as there are only two sample points for the quads, ... .
• Looking at the Total, non-consecutive line, and the Grand Total line ... the non-consecutive rides did have more than "their fair share" of the rando rides.  I probably should amend the above chart to include a non-consecutive line that excludes the three longer brevets; I think the non-consecutives would then appear to be more in-line with the consecutive rides (as far as "share" of the rando riding is concerned).

Conclusions:

None other than those included in the observations above.