Saddles Don't Point to the Sky?

Pete has wanted to ride the "211 loop" but hesitated taking me out there due to some of the hills. We tried to go a couple weeks ago, but heard there was some major construction out there. Determined, Pete came up with an idea to go out and back to make for a nice 30 mile route and still get in the hill work. He’s never done this portion of the route in the “back” direction, but figures the hill training is necessary before the big event.

The group headed out and we waited for awhile to safely turn left onto the highway for a green light to get triggered. As we stood there, Christina comments that she’s getting nervous and holds out her shaky hand. I tell her she’s not alone and point to my heart rate and the monitor that is going off. Once the light changed, we were headed up highway 16. It's a four lane highway and has a good, wide shoulder to ride on. Most of the cars move to the left lane so you have a good deal of space between you and the cars going 60+ mph.

I chugged along and quickly realized this highway is a slow and constant uphill. I watched the group pull further and further away from me. My cadence matched the group (or at least Vicki), but my speed and my power just were not the same. About then, Pete pulled in front of me and set pace based on the power he thought I was exerting. He hit it right on and I managed to maintain a comfortable chug up the seven miles of hills. He’s been enjoying playing and learning with his new tool the power meter. Now we’ve learned that I too can benefit from the power meter if he’s setting the pace. It’s one of the reasons he wanted the power meter for pulling a pace line through the wind and now we know that it’s a success!

As we chug up the hill, a pack of motorcycles came roaring by on their way for a Sunday drive. I could just hear each of them thinking how crazy we were out there going up this hill without a motor. Trust me, I was thinking that too a couple of times! The roar of those engines doesn't help your motivation to get up the hill. I have learned to listen to how long they accelerate up the hill to truly know where the crest of the hill is and that's a sweet sound when you realize how near you are to the top of the hill. If the roar of the engines is a demotivator, the sound of them no longer accelerating is a motivator!

Pete coaches me through the downhill with a left turn across the highway and then an immediate climb up the next highway. This next climb is the one he really wants us to train on as it is closest to the Harbor Bridge in grade and length that he’s been able to find in town. He heads down the hill in front of me and makes the left turn. I’m not too far behind him and start to make my left turn. Half way through the turn, I realize I’m going pretty fast and turning pretty wide. I realize I’m going to go through the median section with the large, road turtles covering it. I don’t want to brake too hard and cause a skid as I’m crossing the highway, but I don’t want to hit one of the bumps either. I manage to find a straight path through and take a deep breath on the other side. *Mental note: work on turning this bike so I’m not a semi coming across the road.*

I start the climb and find a consistent pace to get me up. Pete shouts some words of encouragement about getting to the top. Surprisingly, I make it up with a bit more ease than I expected. Good! That’s comforting knowing that I have the physical strength and shifting knowledge to get me to the top of the Harbor Bridge on my bike under pedal power!

As with any uphill, there must be a downhill. Whee!!! This is a good downhill. I blow passed Pete and leave him in my dust. Yeah right! But I do allow my gravitational advantage to get me down the hill fast, and I keep pedaling most of the way so I do put some distance between us. I’m sure he “let” me get the distance, but I’ll take what I can get. As I start up the next hill, I try the attack and decide to work on a “fancy shift”. This is where I switch rings and upshift a couple of gears in order to maintain my cadence and have gears to shift down to on the uphill. I was quite fast enough, didn’t shift in the right order, and began the shifting too early in such a way that I ended up spinning my pedals pretty fast for a few seconds, which causes you to lose some speed, and in the blink of an eye, Pete was on my wheel again. The good news is, as I climbed the hill, I managed to find the some power level that Pete and I had been maintaining for most of the climb and I got up the without exhausting myself. Pete congratulated me on finding the right power level and I beamed in surprise and my newly discovered skill. Yours truly is a fast learner! (That, or I’m just stubborn and my stubborn muscles were holding their ground.)

We pause at the top of the hill and I announce to Pete that I don’t think this saddle is the right saddle for me. This helps to serve as my reminder to go to Bike World later and exchange the saddle. I had nothing to prove, so Pete and I decided this was a good point for me to turn around. The faster group would catch me up the next two hills on the return route. The point in the route was to ride the hills, so going the distance was not important for me. I turn around and Pete goes for the distance. I zoom down the hill I just climbed. As I start the attack for the uphill, I hear Steve telling me to sit back on my saddle to climb the hills. I adjust back in the saddle. Then, I hear Steve say “No, sit back in the saddle!” So, I sit back in the saddle! Honest, I have no idea how Steve gets us to listen to him so well that we hear his voice out on our rides.

Just then, I hear CRRAAAAACK! And suddenly find my saddle pointing to the sky. “Oh! That isn’t good.” I come to a stop and get off my bike. I look at the saddle and it doesn’t seem to have broken, it’s just shifted on the bolt and is now pointing skyward. I know I can’t ride like this. I try calling Pete, who shouldn’t be more than a couple miles down the road by now. No answer. I call a second time as our agreement is to call when there is an issue and text when it’s just a status/progress update. Still no answer. “Hmm… he must be climbing a hill.” I send a text message Broken saddle and continue to examine my bike. I can’t get the saddle to budge. To be honest, if it did I’d be worried that it wasn’t stable and therefore not safe to get me up the hills. I open up my seat bag to see what kind of tools I have on me, but I’m pretty sure I only have tubes and CO2 cartridges. I’m right. So, I call Pete again and this time he answers. I explain what happened. He says he’s with the group and they’ll be here shortly.

Now what? Well, there’s a guardrail next to where I stopped, so I lean the bike up against the guardrail and find a post at the right height and plop down. As I sit there swinging my legs and surveying the countryside around me, I decide to cool off a bit. I laid out my gloves to dry. I hung my helmet on a post. I even wrapped my buff around my ponytail so my hair wouldn’t keep blowing and blocking the view of my mirror. Various riders pedaled by and checked on me. I gave the thumbs up sign, replied “I’m good. Thanks!” and chatted with those who slowed down significantly to check on me. I felt like a kid taking a break. I didn’t have a care in the world. There was nowhere I could go and nothing I could do until Pete arrived with the tool. I swung my legs and relaxed while the rest of the group was pedaling and getting extra mileage. So much for the group catching me along the route.

When Pete arrived he confirmed my suspicion that the bolt wasn’t tight and shifting my weight had allowed the saddle to adjust on the bolt. He loosens the bolt and adjusts the saddle. I climb back on and go for a quick circle to check the adjustment. It feels right. I reattach my underseat bag, adorn my helmet and pull on my gloves.

I’ve had plenty of time to assess this hill, so I’m ready to attack it now. We all start up the hill, but I quickly realize it’s a long hill with a steady climb. Makes sense as it was such a long downhill to get here. To add to the struggle, the wind picks up and it’s a distinct headwind. Well, this is supposed to be training and if we’re pedaling to the beach, there’s going to be a headwind at some point coming from the Gulf. Pete is trying to shield me and pull me up at a constant power, but there is only so much help he can lend. Just then, I look ahead and see the road get steep in front of us. My eyes get big and I shake my head and tell myself to just focus on the road in front of me and I’ll get there. Not much further on, I realize that steep hill is someone’s driveway and the road takes a much “flatter” way over the hill. The “flatter” route however puts the highway in a cut-out between two rock walls and now the wind is really blowing in our faces. “Oh come on!” I shout in frustration, but I keep on pedaling. I make it up the hill and am thankful for a rest at the top.

Down “the bridge”, sharp right turn back onto highway 16 and now to climb up “The Wall” as this hill is called. Pete has told me that he fully expects I’ll have to walk part of this hill. I’m determined to prove him wrong. Then I run out of gears. My legs are burning! My lungs are burning! I have to stop, so I do. I huff and puff and then get back on the bike. I still don’t make it all the way to the top. They aren’t kidding about this hill being a wall! I try to start again and almost slip as my cleat misses the pedal. I see a cyclist approaching and I stand back up and wait for her to pass. When it’s clear, I attempt it again, and this time I get to the top – exhausted! I didn’t have to walk it, but I did have to stop twice on the way up.

After we catch our breath (you know it was all me) Pete and I take off down the hill. This is the constant seven mile uphill, so now it’s a gradual and mostly steady downhill. We hit a great rhythm and sometimes I have to grab the brakes to keep from passing Pete. It’s exhilarating and I feel great! I roll back in with a smile on my face and later learn that we averaged 19 mph on the last stretch. This route is a winner! Not only do we get to train for the Harbor Bridge climb, but we get a great finish to a good training ride. We all agree we’ll have to do this one again.

Pete asks if he should have brought me out here sooner. I comment that it would have been good to bring me out sooner after the Fredericksburg ride so I didn’t forget what real hill climbing was like, and so I didn’t have time to work this route up to such a challenge in my head. But, it didn’t work right in the schedule, so it wasn’t a loss by coming out when we did. I’m glad that the rest of the group liked the route so it won’t be a challenge to get out here again for more training.

Goals
Today's Miles: 21.12
Total Miles Achieved: 733.72
Financial Investment: $2015.24
Total Weight Loss: 0