Last Ride of the Year

A good solid 85 for the last ride of 2011.  We'll rotate on Ramah Church and attack on King/Hill/Shi/Moore.  The store stop will be at mile 47 on Johnstonville Road.  This is Baselayer 8.  We only have 5 more to go before bike practice is done for the winter.

Bike route 1365040 - powered by Bikemap 

Play Foxes and Hounds with Dove at 8am

John Dove will lead us on a short ride on Christmas Eve.  We'll have an early 8am start from Mt. Zion Church.  We'll do 58 miles with no store stop, so you'll be showered and in your Santa hat by noon.

 

We'll play foxes and hounds - it'll go like this:

1 - we'll pick a few foxes and divide the rest into packs of hounds.

2 - foxes will start riding at 30-second intervals.

3 - about 2.5 minutes later, each chasing pack of hounds will start at 30-second intervals to chase down their assigned fox. (Chase groups can't drop any hounds or they lose.)

4 - The catch times will be recorded.

5 - The fox who stays away the longest wins the fox contest, and hounds who make the catch quickest win the hounds contest.

We'll do this loop clockwise with a chase starting on Maynard's Mill and will do a second chase starting just past Juliette. (bikemap.net is acting squirrely for some reason, so it might not look right below.  The route goes out Estes, Zebulon, Maynards Mill, Reedy Creek, Rumble and Lee King up to Juliette Rd, over to Jarrell Plantation Rd, and back on Taylor, Pea Ridge, and Klopfer.)

Bike route 1357438 - powered by Bikemap 

With Putnal to Allentown

Charlie will lead us on an 82-mile loop from Geico through Allentown on Saturday, December 17th. We'll do a store stop in Allentown at mile 38. An attack zone will begin at the left turn onto Antioch Church Rd at mile 69 and finish at the county line sign on Davis Rd near mile 76. There are two turns in the attack zone, so study the route in case you're off the front or off the back.

Bike route 1355097 - powered by Bikemap 

Hog Mountain

What happens when you try to adjust
your wheel magnet at 40mph.

From Mt. Zion Church at 9am on Saturday, Bill will lead us on an 87-mile counter-clockwise loop over Hog Mountain.

Double and single rotations when called.

KOM at the top of Hog Mountain.

Store stop in Yatesville at mile 58.

An attack zone will begin at the bridge on Hwy 42 (mile 71.5) and end on Maynard's Mill at the Butler driveway just before Rogers Church Road (mile 75.7).

Bike route 1351706 - powered by Bikemap 

Indian Springs - Home of Chief McIntosh

On Saturday we'll trace a clockwise 77-mile loop through a few roads that you probably haven't seen much - some likely not at all.  And we'll do a store stop we've never done - at Indian Springs.  December is here, so we'll commence with one short attack zone.  I've tweaked the route below from the initial post to avoid many of the 42 and 23 highway miles.  To miss the highways I added a 0.5 mile smooth dirt road section with no mud or gravel.

Bike route 1345234 - powered by Bikemap 

Stony 71 - Saturday

On Saturday November 26th at 9am, Stony will lead us from Midway Church (at the intersection of Mosley and Lower Thomaston Roads).  We'll do a 71-mile clockwise loop, finishing with 12 miles of rotations in groups of five on Maynard's Mill.  You can see by the profile below that the last 20 miles will be mostly downhill - quick for rotating groups.

Thirty minutes of hard rotations at the end will be a good transition to attack zones in coming weeks.  But choose your strategy carefully.  The only rule is that you can't drop anyone in your group.

Bike route 1338290 - powered by Bikemap 

Crisp's Paved Zion 67

This Saturday's 9am start takes us west from Mt. Zion Church on a 67-mile loop proposed by Delmus Crisp.  Unfortunately DC won't be leading us, but we'll give his loop a try. There is no store stop, but we'll stop at Ramah Church for water at 35 mi.

Note that Rock Quarry Rd and Forsyth-Yatesville Rd have been removed from the loop due to an absence of asphalt.

Bike route 1332458 - powered by Bikemap 

I Miss East Macon

Ron Hill will lead us on a 69-mile loop from Geico through Jefferson on Saturday at 9am.  There's great training out on that side of town.  A map to the start is at the bottom of this post.  No attack zones this week, just a bumpy loop.

Bike route 1314516 - powered by Bikemap 

Deer Festival from Northridge Church

Last week Dale led us due south into the howling winds of Byron.  On Saturday at 9am -- to kick off the official Baselayer season -- we'll ride due north for a store stop at the 45th Annual Monticello Deer Festival.  Then we'll wolf down a funnel cake and suffer southward.  The start will be at Northridge Baptist Church on Gray Hwy just north of downtown Macon (location map at bottom of page).   There is a short section of dirt (about a mile) but it's very smooth with no gravel. Hwy 11 is a good stretch of road for practicing rotations.  The route length is 69.6 miles.  No attack zones or sprints for this one.

Bike route 1316544 - powered by Bikemap 

Park in the lot directly behind the building near the dumpster:

Dale - 3.5 hr ride

Gabe has postponed his Milledgeville century until later in the year.  So on Saturday Dale Vaughn will lead us 60 miles through Byron.  The route is shown below

Bike route 1313896 - powered by Bikemap 

FG 50

Thanks to Monty for hosting the Fried Green 50 yesterday.  It was a good event and great fun.

The Piedmont Wildlife Refuge is a beautiful place to ride:

Sunday Ride

On Sunday (Oct 23) at 9am, Christian will lead a 5- to 5.5-hr ride from Howard middle school parking lot on Old Forsyth Road.  Please make sure to e-mail Christian ahead of time at cparrett89@gmail.com if you plan to join him.  This will not be a no-drop ride, although no one will be left lost and stranded.

Monty's Fried Green 50 will be held Saturday at 10am in Juliette.  Fifty miles of dirt and gravel roads.  See you there.  http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=206274419439876

Sapelo Island

I'll be on the coast this weekend. So unless someone wants to lead a ride on Saturday, we'll see you on the 22nd for the Fried Green 50. I pre-rode it Sat and saw a zoo. Bobcat carrying squirrel, et cetera.  What I saw looked just like the pic below.  And it was windy, so he couldn't hear me and I got very close before he dropped the squirrel and hauled ass.

FG50 recon

I'm going to ride parts of the Fried Green 50 route that I don't know well. The pace will be mellow: bird watching speed. Probably about 2.5 hours starting at the Juliette boat launch at 9am Saturday. Join me if you'd like. Cross or MTB.

No ride this Saturday.

No Baselayer ride this Saturday, the 8th.  Macon 'cross at Sandy Beach on Sunday.  Monty's hosting some great dirt roads on the Fried Green 50 on Oct 22; and Gabriel Denes will lead us on the Milledgeville Century on October 29th.  Stay tuned for details.

New Start Location

We'll try a new start location for Saturday's ride.  There are great roads northward towards and around Gray that are hard to access from Rivoli or Geico unless it's a longer (80+mi) ride.  So we'll begin this week from Northridge Baptist Church located 2.6 miles north of I-75 on the west side of Gray Highway. We'll probably use this start point  few times over the winter.

Saturday's route will be a 65-mile clockwise loop around Gray with a store stop in Haddock as shown on map below.  Start is Saturday at 9am at the back parking lot of Northridge Church.

One short dirt section is included to avoid some busy roads.  It is the section we rode last week - it's very smooth with zero gravel.

Map to Northridge Baptist Church, 2360 Gray Highway, Macon.  Park at the area circled in red on the image below.

View Loop around Gray in a larger map

Loop Around the Lake

Saturday September 24th - 9am from Mt. Zion Church
Loop Around the Lake route (67 miles) clockwise
Two-up upper endurance/tempo ride (18.5-19.5 mph)

Fair warning: there is a 1.4-mile dirt road section near Gray.  You don't have to ride it fast unless you want to - we'll regroup at the end.  But this route isn't possible without it so be prepared.

We'll do a brief store stop in Juliette then begin the triple drill for 12 miles.
At the turn onto Taylor Road near the end we'll start a 3.1-mile attack zone with the finish line at Rumble Road (dirt Rd on rt just before taking the left onto Klopfer).

 
View Loop Around the Lake 2 in a larger map

Covered Bridge Ride

Delmus Crisp will lead 83 steady miles at upper endurance/low tempo from Mt. Zion on Saturday at 9am. We'll go westward to Hootenville and over Auchumpkee Creek Covered Bridge.
View Covered Bridge in a larger map

Juliette - Locust Grove 84 miles

Ride leader: Robert Jordan
Date: Saturday, September 10th
Time: 9am
Start from: Juliette (beside RR tracks near the Whistle Stop Cafe)
Length: 84 miles
Ride: steady upper endurance pace - no attack zones - likely about 18.5 - 19 mph
Store stops: one or two, maybe Jenkinsburg and Forsyth

We'll ride about as far northwest as you can get on a "Macon" ride - on some roads the Macon folk likely have never seen.  I've seen them, but not on a bike.  We'll cut just north of High Falls, through Jenkinsburg, over to Locust Grove, and back down to Forsyth, then back to Juliette.  See the map below.


View Juliette Locust Grove 84mi in a larger map

Pacelines

I've been surprised by the number of folks who have asked for information on pacelines, so here it is. This isn't meant to sound preachy. If you are experienced with riding pacelines, just ignore it. If you have additional info or if you disagree with my advice, please chime in. I've spent years riding in pacelines with riders stronger than I am and plan to spend many more. Done properly, riders with a wide range of abilities can get good training in a single group.

In no particular order:

* Single paceline: one rider holding a steady pace at the front, usually from a few seconds to a few minutes, then pulling off and drifting to the rear. Effort ranges from easy to hard depending on the goal of the group (easy training, chasing, break).

* Double paceline: two riders at the front holding a steady pace, usually from a minute to 10 min or more. Effort typically ranges from easy to just below threshold depending on the goal of the group. When finished pulling, the two riders move apart to allow the following dual column of riders to come through (see graphic at top of the blog).

* When front riders are near threshold, most in the group will be riding at tempo. When front riders are near tempo, most in the group will be riding at endurance pace.

* Single rotating paceline: a single line of riders rotating smoothly. As a rider nears the front of the line, instead of pausing at the front his effort increases smoothly and gradually as the rider in front pulls off and he comes into the wind. The goal is maintaining a steady effort and relatively consistent pace for the group. He smoothly rotates off (most often to the left), gradually reduces power, and drifts to the back of the line.

* A paceline rarely includes riders all having the same abilities. In single, non-rotating pacelines, the duration of pulls - not the effort/pace of the line - should be variable. Stronger riders should use lower relative effort and do longer pulls. Weaker riders should use higher relative effort and pull shorter. This keeps the paceline effort consistent. Some situations may have stronger riders at the front for several minutes and weaker riders at the front for less than a minute or just smoothly rolling through when their turn comes to pull.  Having all riders contribute at varying durations and/or efforts is preferable to having some riders working and some sitting on the back.

* In a perfect world, the effort for everyone in a training paceline except the front rider(s) should stay close to the target level. The drafting effect is higher at higher speeds. So the rider(s) working at the front front should pull at 100% of the target effort on the flats, 120% of the target effort on descents, and 80% of the target effort on climbs. This minimizes riders feathering the breaks and crossing wheels on descents or struggling to keep the formation smooth and avoid gaps on climbs.

* In a rotating paceline, all riders will spend about the same amount of time at the front.  If the goal is to keep the group together there are two options: either the entire group must ride at a level somewhere below the cracking point of the weakest rider so that everyone can pull through; or, the weaker rider(s) must get out of the rotation and sit at the back.  Weaker riders should not haphazardly jump in and out of the rotation, but enter and leave the rotation as few times as possible.

* When sitting on the back of a paceline rotating counter-clockwise, ride behind the left line of riders that are drifting back or even a few inches left of the left line if it's safe.  This keeps you in a draft, but out of the vision of riders drifting back, looking right, and fading to the right to catch onto the back of the group.

* When riding in a non-rotating paceline with stronger riders, use 3/4 of your effort during the pull but save 1/4 of your effort to smoothly drift back and catch onto the rear of the line.  If you pull until you are 95% spent, you will struggle to drift back smoothly and make the catch at the back.

*Do everything possible to avoid sudden touches of the brakes. If braking is necessary, do it very smoothly. Anticipate the need to slow and feather the brakes gradually.

* In general, avoid crossing wheels. Don't allow the front of your wheel to get ahead of the back of the wheel you are following. If there is a sudden slowing of the rider(s) in front of you, some wheel crossing might be inevitable in order to stay off the brakes.  If you must cross wheels, then put your wheel in the place where it's least likely to get hit by a sudden lateral move of the rider in front of you. If riding in the right row of a dual paceline, the best spot may be the very edge of the pavement. The rider you are following is less likely to move off the pavement than he is to move left. If you are in the left column of a dual paceline, the safest place to overlap may be between the pair of wheels in front of you. If the riders are close together, it's most likely that they'll move away from each other if they do move laterally.

* Don't half-wheel your pull partner. When pulling a dual paceline, stay even with the other rider at the front. If you ride a foot or two ahead or behind the other rider, it's annoying for him and screws up the alignment for everyone following you. The best way to minimize half wheeling or being half wheeled is just to pay attention. Another way is to align yourself within the group so that you are adjacent to a rider of similar ability and style.

* When you pull off the front of a paceline, do it smoothly - not a with a sudden, herky-jerky effort.  And don't move laterally more than you have to do fade back along the line.  Staying close to the line will give you some drafting benefit as you fade back and will give the group some drafting benefit.  It'll also keep the group nice and tight and keep you further from traffic.

* When you approach the front of a paceline, resist the temptation to accelerate.  Keep it smooth.

* When doing longer pulls, gradually transition from what feels like 90% of your target effort at the start of your pull to what feels like 110% of your target effort as you finish your pull.   If you do that, chances are your actual effort will stay pretty consistent throughout.

* Get water, food, and blow your nose when you are at the back of the line.

I'm sure I could think of more - and maybe I will later. But it's time for a ride.
R

Fall Rides

Check back for rides throughout September and October. We may get this bird off the ground ahead of schedule.

What is Macon Baselayer?

Macon Baselayer will attempt to continue the 9am Saturday training tradition we've had in Macon for years through Chad Madan's Peach Peloton.  Baselayer will not try to recreate Peach Peloton; but hopefully some of the benefits of that good ride format can be perpetuated.

Starting in November, I'll post weekly Saturday 9am group road rides starting from various locations in and around Macon.  Most of the time I won't be the ride leader.  My intention is to serve as coordinator - arranging for different riders to lead each ride.  I'll publish route maps and provide ride descriptions.  And I'll attempt to provide some continuity and flow to the ride formats and durations.

I'll likely also publish mid-week evening dirt road rides in the Piedmont Wildlife Refuge near Juliette.  Those rides will often be hosted by others that like to ride the PWR or sometimes not have a specific ride leader.

Baselayer Rules:
Wear a helmet.
Don't cross the yellow line.
Try to do what the ride leader asks.
Use you common sense and ride properly and safely.

Except in occasional attack zones, no one will intentionally be dropped.  And we'll regroup after the attack zones.  But these are not 'no-drop' rides.  If you fall off the back, you may need a map, a phone, and a basic understanding of where you are in order to get home.  It's your responsibility to bring what you need to survive off the back.

If you have suggestions for changes or additions, send them my way - this is a work in progress.
R