Consecutive Riding Days

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.

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Cycling buddy Ricochet sometimes cracks me up.

Between Christmas and New Year's, he mentioned that he'd figured out that a 1200 km Grand Randonnee was essentially a four day ride, and since he wanted to complete at least one of those, maybe he neede to do some cycling on 4-consecutive-days as practice.  Sounds like a good idea to me.

In another conversation he expressed ... I guess the word would be ... amazement ... that I was planning so much consecutive riding from just before Christmas through New Year's Day.   I didn't think it was so much -- certainly it was less than at then end of 2009.


But that got me to wondering ... how much cycling do I do on consecutive days? 

I know that the most days I've ridden consecutively was in 2010 when I did the Blue Ridge Parkway, north-to-south, with Lt. Dave and his family ... 7 days; but other than that ... ?  I decided to do a little magic with my 2011 Excel cycling log, and see out what I had done. 

All it took was a little jiggering things around to use existing auto-generated reports to generate the following, somewhat informative, although boring, summaries.


First, total cycling in 2011, sorted by day of the week.  (Note that the 400-km brevet and the 600-km brevet are entirely included in Saturday stats -- not split between Saturday and Sunday.)

All rides		# rides	miles	Hours	mph	m. / r.
Saturday		44	4,257.1	280.4	15.2	96.8
Sunday		36	3,014.3	205.1	14.7	83.7
Monday		3	308.4	20.9	14.8	102.8
Tuesday		5	351.3	23.5	15.0	70.3
Wednesday		6	492.9	33.5	14.7	82.2
Thursday		7	469.3	30.7	15.3	67.0
Friday		12	311.5	20.3	15.3	26.0
Total		113	9,204.8	614.3	15.0	81.5

That chart certainly indicates that I did the "lions share" of my cycling on the weekends.  71% of my total rides, 79% of my total miles and 79% of my total time in the saddle were done on Saturday or Sunday.  Add in the (mostly) Friday afternoon short rides, and its 81% of the rides and 82% of the miles and time on the Friday to Sunday weekends.

Next, consecutive days, sorted by day of the week.

consec rides		# rides	miles	Hours	mph	m. / r.
Saturday		31	2,881.8	188.9	15.3	93.0
Sunday		28	2,128.4	146.5	14.5	76.0
Monday		3	308.4	20.9	14.8	102.8
Tuesday		1	65.2	4.3	15.0	65.2
Wednesday		3	112.1	7.6	14.8	37.4
Thursday		5	440.6	28.8	15.3	88.1
Friday		10	283.5	18.6	15.3	28.4
Total		81	6,220.0	415.6	15.0	76.8

The above chart includes the data from 23 back-to-back "events", 9 "triple-events" and 2 "quads".  There were no times last year that I rode more than four days consecutively -- and I only did that twice.

The "consecutive days" still add up to 72% of my rides and 68% of my miles and time-in-the-saddle.  It is interesting to note that the avg pace of the consecutive-rides was the same as the avg pace of all rides.  The avg distance of the consecutive days was within 6% of the avg distance for all rides -- close enough, I think, to think of them as "the same". 

No chart is shown for this, but if one removes the Friday rides from all the ddata / charts, the avg pace remains at 15.0 mph (to the nearest tenth-of-a-mile), and although removing those "short" Fridays would bump-up the avg distance shown in each of the above charts (and also the following one), the relative relationships remain almost exactly the same.


Leaving the non-consecutive riding.

non-consecutive		# rides	miles	Hours	mph	m. / r.
Saturday		13	1,375.3	91.5	15.0	105.8
Sunday		8	885.9	58.5	15.1	110.7
Monday		0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Tuesday		4	286.1	19.2	14.9	71.5
Wednesday		3	380.8	25.9	14.7	126.9
Thursday		2	28.7	1.9	15.0	14.4
Friday		2	28.0	1.7	16.1	14.0
Total		32	2,984.8	198.7	15.0	93.3

The above chart may be a bit skewed because I only did one 300-km, one 400-km and one 600-km ride last year, and those three rides are included immediately above.  Removing those three rides would give:

remove 3, 4 + 6		# rides	miles	Hours	mph	m. / r.
Saturday		11	748.9	47.8	15.7	68.1
Sunday		7	696.7	46.0	15.1	99.5
Monday		0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Tuesday		4	286.1	19.2	14.9	71.5
Wednesday		3	380.8	25.9	14.7	126.9
Thursday		2	28.7	1.9	15.0	14.4
Friday		2	28.0	1.7	16.1	14.0
Total		29	2,169.2	142.5	15.2	74.8

Removing the three longer brevets brings the avg distance for the non-consecutive rides into alignment with the earlier two charts, and avg pace of those "stand-alone" rides does pop-up a bit -- a "whopping" 1.4% -- I think it safe to ignore the inclusion / exclusion of those 3 rides for comparison purposes.


Initial conclusion(s):

On average, I rode almost the same pace regardless of whether I had ridden the day before, or if I was going to ride the next day. 

Of course, if I had actually done any intentionally short, fast rides targetting bettering my speed ... maybe the results would look considerably different.

Based on the above:  What advice can I share with Robert regarding the value of riding multiple days in a row?  Answer:  I don't know; probably nothing; my results are probably only an indication of my riding style / ability.


Other thoughts?

I can segment the consecutive-rides data by "1st-day", "2nd-day", etc..  That may show something more interesting than what I got from looking at the above. 

But I won't include those charts / discussion in this post.

NC 2010 Rando Rookies -- Revisited

I joined RUSA in 2010 and by happenstance became part of a pretty amazing group of NC rando rookies.  I thought it might be interesting to check into what the group has been up to lately. 

You may recall that I originally thought there were only seven NC 2010 rando rookies.  But, 

• There were 34 of us that made up the NC 2010 rookie class.
• 7 never got credit for any RUSA ride.
• 26 of us got credit for at least one ride by the end of 2010.
• 1 of us first got credit in early 2011 (therefore, 27 of us eventually got credit for at least one RUSA ride).  [I used to be incredulous that one would join-up but then wait a year before riding – but then, for kicks, I decided to look up the results for those with really low RUSA numbers starting with RUSA #1 – I didn’t need to look up RUSA #2 in order to experience an epiphany.]  
• 
  
• During the “free period” in late 2009, four of us accounted for 1,808 RUSA credit kms.  
• 26 of us accounted for 49,859 credit kms in 2010 (an avg of 1918 credit-kms).  
• 18 of us accounted for 73,329 credit kms in 2011 (an avg of 4074 credit-kms).  
• Eight attained SR status in 2010. (JohnO, Maria, Bryan, BikerBob, TerryT [never met him], Tim, StephenB [never met him] and Ian.  Bob doubled-up and completed two series in 2010.) 
• Eight attained SR status in 2011 (JohnO, Bryan, Bob, Tim, Stephen, Ian, me, and Denis).  JohnO, Bryan, Bob and Ian doubled-up in 2011; Tim tripled-up.   [Some of my fellow NC 2010 rando rookies are just plain crazy!  Very nice, but crazy!  In a good way -- but crazy!]   
•  
• JohnO, Tim and Ian completed 1000 km brevets in 2010.  
• The most RUSA credit kms by any of us in 2010 was 7,050 (Tim).  
•  
• Ian completed two domestic 1000k brevets in 2011.  
• Ian and Denis went to France and started PBP – an accomplishment in and of itself.  Ian completed PBP – but he, along with the others riding with him, “messed up” and failed to qualify for the Adrian Hands Society – maybe next time.   [edit Jan-18-2012:  there seems to be some more recent information regarding entry into LSAH -- see below.] 
• Tim completed two domestic 1200k Grand Randonnees in 2011 – Texas Stampede and Taste of Carolina.  [Tim’s report on ToC was recently published in American Randonneur.  Tim's report on Texas is also on MikeD's RTP blog.]  
• Bryan also completed the Taste of Carolina 1200.  
•  
• JohnO and BikerBob started the Taste of Carolina, but had to bail.  [As noted above in regards to PBP, I think just having the guts, etc. to start is an accomplishment.]  
•  
• The most RUSA credit kms by any of us in 2011 was 15,061 (Tim).  
• Two others attained 10K-Hound status in 2011 (JohnO and Bryan).  
• Four others finished in the top-100 RUSA k-hounds in 2011 (me, Ian, MikeH, BikerBob).  
•  
• I didn’t check the R-series stats very carefully.  If someone reads this and identifies and informs me of a mistake, I will correct same.  
• At least 8 of us have snagged an R-12; as I compose this, I understand that 6 of us still have intact streaks of at least 12-months.  
• As of the close of 2011:  BikerBob was at R-24 – having overcome a hernia operation in late Jan-2011 and some broken and cracked ribs thanks to a dog in the road in late-May-2011. 
• Super-crazy-man Tim and almost-as-crazy Bryan were at R-23.  
• Also, Ian was at R-21; I was at R-17; MikeH was at R-14.  
•  
• Five of the aforementioned six snagged our Jan-2012 R-rides on Jan-01.  
• BikerBob, Tim and Bryan at TonyG’s 200-km brevet.  
• MikeH and I snagged ours doing the Tar Heel Permanent. 
•  
• Two others may have re-started their R-streak recently.  
• Maria (whose previous R-12+ steak ended in late-2010 or early-2011) also snagged her January-R-ride on the Tar Heel on the first.  
• Stephen completed TonyG’s Jan-01 brevet, and may have restarted his R-series (he broke his previous R-series after getting to R-13 in March-2011).  
•  
• I wonder what slacker Ian was doing on the first?  

        
Btw, other NC randos did some noteworthy stuff in 2011, but this post is about the 2010 NC rookie class, so I won't mention all the PBP finishers, etc..  

...Martin 
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Edit Jan-18-2012: 

I received an e-mail from Ian ... he claims that the following photo is proof that he got a time of at least 88h55 stamped on his PBP time card.  I dunno'.  

Accompanying the above pic, was some official-looking verbiage, supposedly originating with Cap'n Ende -- leader of the LSAH:  

"According to statute #88 in the official rule #55  located on the
8855th page of the official LSAH rule book (aka some neurons in La
Capitaine's head) a rider with a card time >= 88:55 should be granted
entry into LSAH. 

See attached photo. :-D" 

The Decline of Sport

E. B. White,
Preposterous Parables,
New Yorker Magazine,
Oct-25-1947

http://instruct.uwo.ca/kinesiology/378/files/essays/sport.pdf

E. B. WHITE 

The Decline of Sport 

In the third decade of the supersonic age, sport gripped the nation in an ever tightening grip. The horse tracks, the ball parks, the fight rings, the gridirons, all drew crowds in steadily increasing numbers. Every time a game was played, an attendance record was broken. Usually some other sort of record was broken, too - such as the record for the number of consecutive doubles hit by left-handed batters in a Series game, or some such thing as that. Records fell like ripe apples on a windy day. Customs and manners changed, and the five-day business week was reduced to four days, then to three, to give everyone a better chance to memorize the scores. 

Not only did sport proliferate but the demands it made on the spectator became greater. Nobody was content to take in one event at a time, and thanks to the magic of radio and television nobody had to. A Yale alumnus, class of 1962, returning to the Bowl with 197,000 others to see the YaleComell football game would take along his pocket radio and pick up the Yankee Stadium, so that while his eye might be following a fumble on the   Cornell twenty-two-yard line, his ear would be following a man going down to second in the top of the fifth, seventy miles away. High in the blue sky above the Bowl, skywriters would be at work writing the scores of other major and minor sporting contests, weaving  an interminable record of victory and defeat, and using the new high-visibility pink newssmoke  perfected by Pepsi-Cola engineers. And in the frames of the giant video sets, just behind the goal posts, this same alumnus could watch Dejected win the Futurity before a record-breaking crowd of 349,872 at Belmont, each of whom was tuned to the Yale Bowl and following the World Series gamein the video and searching the sky for further news of events either under way or just completed. The effect of this vast cyclorama of sport was to divide the spectator's attention, oversubtilize his appreciation, and deaden his passion. As the fourth supersonic decade wasushered in, the picture changed and sport began to wane. 

A good many factors contributed to the decline of sport. Substitutions in football had increased to such an extent that there were very few fans in the United States capable of  holding the players in mind during play. Each play that was called saw two entirely new elevens lined up, and the playerswhose names and faces you had familiarized yourself with in the first period were seldom seen or heard of again. The spectacle became as diffuse as the main concourse in Grand Central at the commuting hour. 

Express motor highways leading to the parks and stadia had become so wide, so unobstructed, so devoid of all life except automobiles and trees that sport fans had got into the habit of traveling enormous distances toattend events. The normal driving speed  had been stepped up to ninetyfive miles an hour, and the distance between cars had been decreased to fifteen feet. This put an extraordinary strain on the sport lover's nervous system, and he arrived home from a Saturday game, after a road trip of three hundred and fifty miles, glassy-eyed, dazed, and spent. He hadn't really had any relaxation and he had failed to see Czlika (who had gone in for Trusky) take the pass from Bkeeo (who had gone in for Bjallo) in the third period, because at that moment a youngster named Lavagetto had been put in to pinch-hit for Art Gurlack in the bottom of the ninth with the tying run on second, and the skywriter who was attempting to write "Princeton O-Lafayette 43" had banked  the wrong way, muffed the "3," and distracted everyone's attention from the fact that Lavagetto had been whiffed.

Cheering, of course, lost its stimulating effect on players, because cheers were no longer associated necessarily with the immediate scene but might as easily apply to something that was happening somewhere else. This was enough to infuriate even the steadiest performer. A football star, hearing the stands break into a roar before the ball was snapped, would realize that their minds were not on him and would become dispirited and grumpy. Two or three of the big coaches worried so about this that they considered equipping all players with tiny ear sets, so that they, too, could keep abreast of other sporting events while playing, but the idea was abandoned as impractical, and the coaches put it aside in tickler files, to bring up again later. 

I think the event that marked the turning point in sport and started it downhill was the Midwest's classic Dust Bowl game of 1975, when Eastern Reserve's great right end, Ed Pistachio, was shot by  a spectator. This man, the one who did the shooting, was seated well down in the stands near the forty-yard line on a bleak October afternoon and was so saturated with sport and with the disappointments of sport that he had clearly become deranged. With a minute and fifteen seconds to  play and the score tied, the Eastern Reserve quarterback had whipped a long pass over Army's heads into Pistachio's waiting arms. There was no other player anywhere near him, and all Pistachio had to do was catch the ball and run it across the line. He dropped it. At exactly this moment, the spectator - a man named Homer T. Parkinson, of 35 Edgemere Drive, Toledo, O.- suffered at least three other major disappointments in the realm of sport. His horse, Hiccough, on which he had a five- hundred-dollar bet, fell while getting away from the starting gate at Pimlico and broke its leg (clearly visible in the video); his favorite shortshop, Lucky Frimstitch, struck out and let three men die on base in the final game of the Series (to which Parkinson was tuned) ; and the Governor Dummer soccer team, on which Parkinson's youngest son played goalie, lost to Kent, 4-3, as recorded in the  sky overhead. Before anyone could stop him, he drew a gun and drilled Pistachio, before 954,000 persons, the largest crowd that had ever attended a football game and the second largest crowd that  had ever assembled for any sporting event in any month except July. 

This tragedy, by itself, wouldn't have caused sport to decline, I suppose, but it set in motion a chain of other tragedies, the cumulative effect of which was terrific. Almost as soon as the shot was fired,  the news flash was picked up by one of the skywriters directly above the field. He glanced down to see whether he could spot the trouble below, and in doing so failed to see another skywriter approaching. The two planes collided and fell, wings locked, leaving a confusing trail of smoke, which  some observers tried  to interpret as a late sports score. The planes struck in the middle of the nearby eastbound coast-to-coast Sunlight Parkway, and a motorist driving a convertible coupe stopped so short, to avoid hitting them, that he was bumped from behind. The pile-up of cars that ensued involved 1,482 vehicles, a record for eastbound parkways. A total of more than three thousand persons lost their lives in the highway accident, including the two pilots, and when panic  broke out in the stadium, it cost another 872 in dead and injured. News of the disaster spread quickly to other sports arenas, and started other panics among the crowds trying to get to the exits, where they could buy a paper and study a list of the dead. All in all, the afternoon of sport cost 20,003 lives, a record. And nobody had much to show for it except one small Midwestern boy who hung around the smoking wrecks of the planes, captured some aero news-smoke in a milk bottle, and took it home as a souvenir. 

From that day on, sport waned. Through long, noncompetitive Saturday afternoons, the stadia slumbered. Even the parkways fell into disuse as motorists rediscovered the charms of old, twisty roads that led through main streets and past barnyards, with their mild congestions and pleasant smells. 

Jan-01: Spanish Moss 200 km Perm

Crew of nine for the 7 am start in Benson.
I didn't know, still don't know, what the group-riding plan may have been.
I do know that one Irishman, who came to NC by way of Harrow and Brooklyn,
And numerous other spots, had expressed concern about the dark-monster
Finding us while still on Dawg Avenue (aka, Fairground Rd).

The "Crazy Irishman", MikeO, zoomed off the front just after clearing Benson town limits.
I.e., one mile.
Those of us in the "mid-pack-5" saw him as we crossed paths near the bridge outside Tar Heel.

We mid-packers drifted off the front of the pack-with-the-most-Determination
Before the first info control.
I hate to admit it, but I may be the one that caused that split.
I was also concerned about the dark-monster.

Those in the pack with the most Determination
(I'm borrowing that description from "Determination Over Speed";
The person who came up with that description will recall,
And I hope she, Andy and Maria accept that description as the honor here intended) ...
I know they are not fond of the dark-monster, either.
But ... what can I type? -- I am without knowledge.

Perhaps the dark-monster was not too bad on the Determination-crew.
Andy mentions not-at-all.
But then, he only ever covers one subject / angle per blog post.
(He is Determined about that.)

We crossed paths with the Determination-crew on River Rd on our return,
Near the outcropping of lichen known as Spanish Moss.
Only a little bit south of where we earlier crossed paths with the Fayetteville cycling crew.
I heard MaryF call out to us; I think I recognized her compact form.
Didn't notice TomF in the mass of mostly males, though.
I think it better to notice Mary than Tom.

We mid-packers did a pretty good job of sticking together
While maintaining a relatively high pace (for us).
Some occasionally drifted off the back or drifted off the front.
But upon realization of what had happened,
The pace up front was adjusted to allow regrouping on the road.

Except once.
One person drifted off the front, and
Apparently upon realizing the same,
Kept going to the home-bound Erwin control.
(I heard he was wanting to do a "hot-interval".)

We shed clothing along the way in the morning hours.
Never needed to put it back on later on in the day.
The temps did reach the upper 60's, after all.
Warm enough that Alan was dumping buckets of sweat from his helmet at each control,
And also when we stopped for ... see the next "stanza".

Byron's rear fender broke -- we stopped so he could remove the back half
And he strapped that half to his rear bag and carried it to the finish line.
Fender only about a year old.
Velo Orange -- I think I heard.

At some point during the day, I overheard a snatch of conversation
Between the route-owner of this "Spanish Moss" route (Dean)
And the route-owner of the Leesville-Leasburg-Leesville Perm (Byron).
Couldn't quite make out what Dean was saying though.
Something about a New Year's Resolution.
Probably that he was resolved to make it through another calendar year
Avoiding doing L-L-L.

Dean later claimed I must have mis-heard,
As he claimed he told Byron that he was committed to doing L-L-L this year.
MikeH claimed that I had finally come up with the appropriate full-court-press winner:
Recruiting the owner of L-L-L to come do Tar Heel for the first time in over two years.
I can claim no credit for Byron's presence.

There were few dawg-encounters on the day, and
None on Fairgrounds Rd late in the day (that I recall).

Also, unlike last year when Dean and I did this route on Jan-01
(And JohnO well ahead of us on the return leg),
Only one or two joggers all day -- maybe none
(I recall quite a few last year).

With the good tailwind that found us on the return,
The dark-monster never got close to those of us in the mid-pack.

Great day for a bike ride.

Great company for a bike ride.
Alan always has a story or two.
Dean points out the sights or the flora or fauna.
Byron had cute stories about his 2-year-old son.
I found MikeH indispensable this ride -- I got a ride with him from Raleigh to Benson, and back.
What did I offer in return?
Probably just a boring story or two.
Aah -- I did tell Alan one fun cycling story
When we were well ahead of the other three, soft-pedaling, waiting for them to regroup.

Great bike ride (even though the course is a bit on the FLAT side).

All of us in the mid-pack definitely did lichen the ride.
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Dean is reportedly working on a new Permanent.
One that would start a bit closer to Raleigh / Garner, and
Turn around at Cedar Creek.

I was worried that he'd lose the opportunity to wax knowledgeable about certain lichens.
Then I remembered,
Dean found more Spanish Moss last year.
Farther north than he'd ever found it before.
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Jan-01:  

Tar Heel 200 Permanent; 126.4 m.; 7h,53 in-motion; 16.0 mph; 9h28 official rando time (at least that was the time that RBA Alan called out when we dismounted -- who knows what time the receipt showed -- I got one "right quick", but I didn't look at it).  

Jan tot: __1 rides; __126.4 m.; __7 h, 53 m; 16.0 mph. 
YTD tot: __1 rides; __126.4 m.; __7 h, 53 m; 16.0 mph. 

Eddington Cycling Number: 
After this ride:  82. 
Meaning I have ridden at least 82 miles on at least 82 different occasions.  
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Other stats that may be of more interest to the avg RUSA member (please note that I did a quick check of some of the results for the following, but I could have mis-counted, etc.): 

Dean -- R-60.   
Janis -- R-34. 
Andy -- R-34. 
MikeO - R-34. 
Alan -- R-31.  
Byron -- R-20. 
Me -- R-18. 
MikeH -- R-15. 
Maria -- I don't know if she is counting after restarting recently after a year of fewer kms.