This past week Anne reached a new milestone, having bike over 7,000 miles so far this year, quite a few more than the total for 2008.

Franz has reached 10,000 miles so far this year, but that is more than 1,000 miles less than last year at this time.

Running

This has not been much of a year for running, although Anne is much closer to her 2008 level of total running miles than Franz is.  We decided to run the Salt Lake City Half Marathon in April, so we have been taking our miles up.  You can see from this chart that  that Anne continues to out-run Franz.

At the end of the ride we stopped for a sandwich. It was getting late in the day as we were biking back home.

Great roads, great weather, and friendly riders again sum up our experience with riding the Cache Valley Century. On Friday we drove up to Logan Utah to stay the night. After a lousy experience at an expensive Italian restaurant in the town last year, we decided to eat at the Olive Garden, which was much better.  We returned to the motel to get an good nights sleep, although Franz didn’t think he slept that well.

Right at 6 am, we got up to get ready. The Best Western motel we were staying at had a great breakfast buffet so we fueled up before heading up the 12 miles to Richmond for the start.

We started at 7:40 am, along with two Utah Velo riders we knew.  Last year we had damaged the rim on the front wheel of our tandem while we were in a pace line because the rider in front of us didn’t signal, but did manage to escape it himself.  Riding a tandem is more difficult than a single bike because you can not try to bunny hop over such a hole.  So this year we decided to not do much drafting.  It would be fine if other riders wanted to ride behind us, but we didn’t want to get into a large pace line nearly as much.

We rode mostly solo, or with one or two other riders behind us for the first 35 miles where we made a stop at the second rest stop (we skipped the first one). After a short stop we were back on the bike, skipping the 3rd rest stop with a plan to stop at mile 69 for lunch.  About five miles before the lunch stop, a very long train passed us and we decided to get into the line, being a bit weary of taking the headwinds all alone. That group was going very fast, 23-25 mph.  We had to join near the rear and some of those riders were erratic, so we made our way up to the front and ended up taking a 1 mile pull.  So the four miles of drafting was about it for the ride and after lunch we went back to solo riding.

We rolled into the finish averaging 19.2 mph, a total of about 5.25 hours riding time, and about 35 minutes of stopping time. It was a lot of fun. When comparing it with last year, the solo riding did end up taking another 13 minutes to finish and reduced our overall speed by about 1 mph.  But it was much easier than being on constant guard trying to ride a tandem in a pace line.

Here are the stats for the past two years.  It is interesting that Franz’s average heart rate was exactly the same.

This chart clearly shows that this year Franz has been out run by Anne.

For the third year in a row, we completed the Ulcer Century, around Utah Lake.  Once again we rode our tandem.  We were joined this year by my brother, Mike and his friend, Steve.  The four of us stayed together for the entire event.  One of their friends also started with and another friend was on a tandem, with his 14 year old son and rode much of the ride with us.

My Brother Mike

Whereas the weather was hot the last two years, this year was cool.  There was even a forecast of rain so we carried rain jackets along, but fortunately we never needed them.  The cool weather really helped because we were not overheating. We started out with arm warmers and a vest but for most of the ride we were in short sleeves.   We made our first stop at 26 miles because some of the other riders in our group were off the back.  Our average speed to that point was 21.2 mph.   After waiting for them to arrive at the rest stop, one decided to switch to the 60 mile route, so we headed back.

This year they changed the lunch stop to mile 47, right off the shore of Utah Lake.  But we did not expect a lunch stop so early in the ride and flew right by it.  Consulting the route sheet indicated there was no food until mile 68, so we plugged on.  Before we reached that rest stop the winds started to pick up and it looked like we might have a headwind.  Our speed started to slow slightly but we continued to make good time.  When we finally reached mile 68, our overall average speed had dropped to 20.3 mph.

It was not like the lunch stop last year where they had sandwiches we could enjoy sitting on the lawn of a park.  It was more the typical rest stop stuck on some corner in the gravel.  But we were running low on fuel and needed to eat what they had on hand.  The other tandem arrived before we departed and joined again with us.  We didn’t want to stick around too long so after about 14 minutes we headed out at 11:18 am.

It was now only about 40 miles to the finish, not bad I thought.  We should be able to finish that in 2 hours and certainly come in before 1:30 pm.  But as we started to bike we realized the turn we had made now had us heading into a headwind.   The last two years that 40 mile stretch was a tailwind and we were thinking something was not right because we had not enjoyed any tailwind on the way there.  We started to realize that it was one of the rides where it feels like a headwind the entire loop.

Driving into a headwind was made worse by a long series of rollers that went on the far side of Utah Lake.  The combination made it seem to go on forever.  After about 20 miles we made another quick stop, mainly just to get some relief from driving into the wind.  Our average speed for that 20 mile segment was 18 mph, still not too bad.

Even though our stop was only 7 minutes, it seemed like someone had turned the wind fan up another notch.  I wish we had some way to measure the wind speed.   The last 20 miles were our slowest, averaging only 16 mph.  So that last 40 miles took us quite a bit longer than the past two years when we had a tail wind on that section.

We don’t have a picture of us, so here is the one from last year.  Notice how it was sunny in 2008!  Also this year we wore our Keen cycling sandals for the whole ride instead of cycling shoes.

Franz’s average heart rate of 150 was slightly higher than last year.  Looking at the segments is more revealing.  For the first 68 miles to our first stop for food, the average heart rate was 152, and we averaged 20.3 mph.  The next 20 miles into the wind the average heart rate had increased to 155 and our speed dropped to 18.3 mph.  For the last twenty miles fatigue was setting in and Franz’s average heart rate was now down to 144 and the speed showed a corresponding drop to 16 mph.

This table shows a comparison with the last two years.  Overall we were very happy with how we did, especially considering the headwinds at the end.

We did make a stop on the way up for a photo op.

Heading down American Fork canyon we went cautiously.  After dropping 2,500 feet, we arrived at Mt. Timpanogas Cave National Monument, where we stopped at the snack bar.  As soon as Franz got off his bike, he could tell his rear wheel was not rotating completely free.  It was rubbing against the right chainstay.  That was odd and even after getting greasy hands and trying to take the wheel off and put it back on the bike, it kept rubbing and would not rotate freely.  It was as if the frame had become bent, which is not possible with a carbon fiber frame.  Franz then noticed that the connection betweent he metal dropout and the carbon fiber chain stay had started to seperate, which was forcing the wheel off center.  Yikes, what to do?

After making some adjustment, tightening the wheel and opening the rear brake, it was finally able to rotate freely.  We then headed down carefully, stopping a few times to make sure the seperation was not increasing because if it came apart it would be disastrous.  We decided to ride directly to the Trek bike store in American Fork.  There they confirmed that the frame was broken and advised against riding it even one mile.  They were kind enough to switch the pedals with Anne’s bike and Franz took it to ride the 12 miles back to the house to get the car, while Anne waited behind.  Anne offered to make the ride herself, but Franz couldn’t pass up a chance to get in more miles!

The Trek store will not send the frame into the factory where they will either do a repair or hopefully a replacement with a new frame.  It might be 3 weeks before we get the bike back.  It is a good thing that Franz brought both of his road bikes so John could use one for the race on the 22nd.  We are hoping we can get the one bike back from the factory before that date.  We are also glad that the whole thing did not come apart during the descent.  Franz had come down the same canyon road last week at a much faster speed.  We are lucky that Anne wanted to descend slowly today.  Sometimes in life it is smart to slow down.

Squaw Peak

On Tuesday we decided to climb up Squaw Peak, on our single bikes.  It is only about 7 mile ride from our home to the base of the climb.  We made the climb in just over 40 minutes.  The grade is steady until the last half mile where it gets rather steep.   This was the first time Anne attempted this climb on her single bike and her time was very good, not much longer than our best tandem time.

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Alpine Loop

On Wednesday we decided to go over the Alpine loop.   It is about a 3,000 foot climb from the start.

It was then down American Fork canyon.

After descending down the canyon road, we made a lunch stop at Timpogas Cave park headquarters.

It was then back through the valley back home.

Nebo Loop

On Saturday we joined a club ride that started in Payson, up Payson Canyon road.   It was a very long climb, over 20 miles when we reached 9,000 feet..

The ride was going over the summit and down to Devil’s Kitchen.

Just past the summit we could see Mt. Nebo.

On the way back, we stopped to enjoy the beautiful meadow.

We ended up with about 50 miles.  It is a great ride.

Bike to Steilacoom

On Thursday we headed out from Sara’s house on a route that took us to Far West, then on to Steilacoom.    We made a stop at the Pioneer park where they were having a street fair.

Anne went to buy some goodies at the street fair.

Someone offered to take our picture together.

We then rode to do a loop around Graverly Lake before heading back home.   It seemed like a long ride with all the traffic, but we only ended up with 28 miles.  We used the iPhone to plot out the course we had taken.

Biking to Yelm

The next day we decided to go on a longer ride so we put the tandem in the car and drove about 10 miles to past Lacey to ride on the bike trail out to Yelm.  It is an interesting ride and a way to avoid all traffic, except at some of the roads where the trail crosses the streets.  The trail went under an old rail road bridge so we had to get a photo of that.

We stopped for lunch at Yelm, thinking to try a different place than we had ate at before.  But I guess there are just not any good places so next time we should pack our own lunch and enjoy it at one of the picnic tables along the trail.  We returned to the car and then headed the other way on the trail to see where it went, but after a couple of miles it came to a busy street so we went back to the car.  The parking lot for the trail is right next to a lake.

You can see the route we took on this map.

I decided to take my new iPhone 3GS on the run today with Anne.  It is not exactly small enough to run with but I wanted to test out the GPS function.  My original iPhone did not have the GPS.  I used the MapMyRide application that recoreded the run.  I also used my Polar heart rate monitor with a footpod which I have previoiusly calibrated.  We ended up with 7.40 miles per the Polar and 7.42 miles per the iPhone.  Remarkably close.  The iPhone application also saved my workout and route we took, as you can see below.

This past weekend John was able to stay over an extra day after a business trip. Jeff also drove over on Friday, bringing his road bike. Both joined Anne and Franz on a 33 mile  bike ride around the reservoir.  The weather was perfect for cycling.

We had a great time.   I think this is the first time Anne and Franz rode together with both John and Jeff.  We love it when the kids get a chance to visit.

On Saturday, John and Franz  joined a club ride that was going up Mt. Diablo and then climb Morgan Territory.  Franz was hoping to break the 1 hour barrier on the climb but was not quite able to do that.  Near the bottom a fast rider went by us and John jumped on his wheel but Franz kept the pace.   Franz lent John his second Polar heart rate monitor so we could capture the data for both riders.  It is amazing how close the heart rate curves were during the climb.   Since this was John’s first time up Mt. Diablo, he stopped before the final steep section, thinking he was already at the top, so his real time would have been closer to 58 minutes.

We got so far ahead of the other club members that we decided to descend part way down and then climb the top portion again.  We then biked with a couple of other club members over to have lunch.

After lunch the four of us headed out but since John was on a red-eye flight that evening, we went ahead.  We made a brief stop at the top of Morgan Territory for a quick picture (using the iPhone)

It was then a fast descent to the valley floor and then a stiff headwind for 15 miles back to the car.  We ended up with nearly 70 miles and over 9,000 feet of climbing.  Good training for our Tour of Utah race next month.