Eagle Crest 2013 (May-June)

In the past I have normally done a quick post for each ride for our week at Eagle Crest, but that seems like too much work, so here is a summary of the whole week.

All 4 Eagle Crest Rides Ride Distance: 303 miles   Elevation Gain: 15,600 feet   Average Moving Speed: 15.88 mph

Riding In The Rain

It is official. I have abandoned good ship Marathon in favor of rainy ship Bicycling. I don't know how you triathletes do it. I lost just a little ground in marathon training, due to riding my bike on those nice days back in February, and I was hooked on cycling again. Or maybe I was looking for any excuse to stop running. It never really has been my thing. The big problem with all this, though, is that running on an indoor treadmill was my cardio upkeep exercise during all the cruddy weather. If not running, it is either significant cardio fitness degradation, or I need to ride in the rain... Hence, the fenders.

First 17 Rides
Stat Total Ride Distance: Average Ride Distance: Total Elevation Gain: Average Elevation Gain: Average Moving Speed:	First 6 Rides 237 miles   39.46 miles   13,587 feet   2,265 feet   15.21 mph	Next 11 Rides 472 miles   42.91 miles   23,357 feet   2,123 feet   15.52 mph	All 17 Rides 709 miles   41.72 miles   36,944 feet   2,173 feet   15.41 mph

First 6 Rides of 2012

We have started riding earlier in the 2012 cycling season than we did in any of the prior three seasons. The weather has been cold, but it has also dry enough to ride. In fact today was the only non-wet day on several of the multi-day forecasts I have been checking, so I made sure to get out and ride.

First 6 Rides Total Ride Distance: 237 miles   Average Ride Distance: 39.46 miles   Total Elevation Gain: 13,587 feet   Average Elevation Gain: 2,265 feet   Average Moving Speed: 15.21 mph

The Tandem Experiment

Okay, so we've seriously considered riding a tandem. Before actually riding one there were a few things we figured would be nice on a tandem.

1. We liked the idea of going at the same pace. We actually already ride very similar paces on separate bikes, but of course on one bike the pace is... exactly equal.
2. We also figured that already having a similar overall pace we wouldn't have too much trouble acclimating to the world of riding a tandem.
3. And finally, we hoped that perfect drafting on a tandem would significantly boost our overall speed since we don't draft at all (for various reasons) when riding together on separate bikes.

Those were our pre-conceived ideas. What happened when those ideas were hit by the reality of actually riding a tandem together?

Eagle Crest 2011

We spent the last week at Eagle Crest in Redmond, Oregon and did several rides, just like we did last year and the year before.

Summary Stats (3 big rides) Ride Distance: 284 miles   Elevation Gain: 13,000 feet   Average Moving Speed: 15.50 mph

Fitness Progress, 2009 vs. 2010

One way to measure my fitness progress is to compare some data from this year to last year. I have a plethora of data available for this year due to my iBike and associated software. Last year I was using my G1 phone with the My Tracks app. Interestingly, while my G1 certainly wasn't as accurate for the elevation gain numbers, it did keep track of my overall time in addition to moving time. I wish my iBike did that! Also note that the 2010 season is not yet over, so those total values will grow a bit more.

2010 Rides At Altitude

Altitude Comparison	Mountain Lakes Challenge (6/19/2010)	Cascade Lakes Century (7/25/2010)	Mt. Shasta Century (8/1/2010)	Crater Lake Century (8/21/2010)	Cascade Lakes Super (9/1/2010)
Lowest Altitude	1,860 ft	3,600 ft	3,030 ft	4,150 ft	2,700 ft
Average Altitude (over the entire ride)	4,160 ft	4,800 ft	4,350 ft	5,770 ft	4,330 ft
Highest Altitude	5,400 ft	6,400 ft	7,800 ft	7,900 ft	6,400 ft
Ride Distance	95 miles	97 miles	100 miles	102 miles	140 miles
Climbing	8,073 ft	5,424 ft	10,585 ft	6,668 ft	7,574 ft

Which ride was the hardest? Believe it or not it is hard to say. Our fitness level increased through the season, and each of these rides was hard for its own reasons.

2010 Eagle Crest Rides

QUICK STATS	Distance	Elevation Gain	Average Moving Speed
Monday: Rainy Bend OB	46.94 miles	2,225 feet	15.91 mph
Tuesday: Bend Prineville Redmond	110.02 miles	3,712 feet	15.75 mph
Thursday: Active Recovery	11.44 miles	254 feet	14.60 mph
Friday: Cascade Lakes Super	140.35 miles	7,574 feet	15.15 mph
Saturday: Active Recovery	5.41 miles	315 feet	8.12 mph
Cumulative for the Week	314 miles	14,080 feet	15.21 mph
2010 Cumulative	4,142 miles	44.77 miles	15.05 mph

The rain on Monday threw us all out of whack. We had originally planned the Cascade Lakes Super for Monday, the Prineville ride for Wednesday or Thursday, possibly another biggish ride on Friday, and then on Sunday riding from Eagle Crest to Madras to close out the week. We still got in the two big rides though. And probably could have done the Madras ride today, but sleeping in was much nicer, particularly knowing we can do a nice ride on Monday at home.