The alarm goes off at 5:55 a.m. The room is so pitch black we want to slide back into bed again; we can’t think about it or we won’t go. We get up and methodically start getting ready. Riding clothes on, contacts in, sunscreen on, hair brushed and pulled back, quickly munch a rice-cake with almond butter while we get ready to go, sunglasses, gloves, hydration pack, helmet, clear the cycle computer for today’s ride; we’re out the door.
At 6:35 a.m. it’s so dark that the birds are still asleep and we need a full set of bike lights for visibility. Chelsea has a super-bright red taillight on her bike as she brings up the rear; I have a bright headlamp lighting our way, with the addition of a red taillight attached to my hydration pack.
Though we are leaving at the same time every morning, the world is vastly different in the early dark of the shorter days. We see far fewer cars and people – perhaps they feel as we do – it’s too dark to be getting up.
Fewer cars means more relaxed riding and fewer auto emissions to inhale. The air is cooler and more refreshing than it will be later in the day. The only folks we see are those who head to work before sunrise; pet owners walking their dogs; fellow cyclists, walkers, and runners. Winds are usually calmer.
The weekends have still been busy with cyclists, but the weekdays are much lighter, possibly due to a combination of heat, winds and the early dark.
Throughout May and June we were religious about our riding, but when Tyler left and we started the intensive downsizing, our riding started fading out. When the data was in and the months were done, we’d skipped two weeks in July, three weeks in August, and another two weeks in late August/early September. The good news is that the breaks weren’t any longer than three weeks, and we’ve managed to keep riding with only intermittent days off since those longer breaks.
The heat throughout the summer was truly awful. We had record-breaking heat from early May all the way through September. That meant it was a real feel of 105 degrees or more most days when we arrived home at 9:30 or 10 a.m. The humidity was usually around eighty-five degrees when we left each morning, not going down by much when we finished the morning’s ride.
By mid-September, getting up in the pitch black to such heat and humidity, our need for self-discipline was pronounced.
Routes
It wasn’t all grim, though. We dearly love seeing the ocean alongside us on A1A, with all its daily and seasonal changes. We see the cargo and container ships with their misty shapes offshore, heading to and from the Port of Miami and Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale. The rigging on the sailboats stored on the beach in Delray jingles and clacks in the easterly winds; we see all our regular locals; we’ve seen sunrise over the ocean.
We dearly love the Boynton Inlet, too – the changes in the number of fisherman when the tide is at different levels, especially falling and rising tides; the year-round fishing; the green herons, pelicans, terns, osprey, and little blue herons.
One morning in late July was particularly exciting – a fisherman spotted manatees right next to the fishing wall; they’d clearly floated in on the rising high tide. We counted at least four; they hung out near us for over a half hour. Chelsea got some good photos – we kept wishing that we had our underwater Pentax camera with us. I told Chelsea she needed to get in the water and swim with them, but she wouldn’t consider it. Can’t imagine why…
Boynton Inlet hasn’t been our only destination – we finally got up enough energy to ride up to Lake Worth, about a thirty-four mile round-trip ride for us. The new pier looks great – it was rebuilt last year after the 2004-2005 hurricanes. The ride past the Inlet, heading toward Lake Worth, is much prettier than the rest of our ride – we’ve got better views with gorgeous boats and mansions along the way. Several points along the ride give us a view of both the Intracoastal and the Atlantic.
The Lake Worth pier itself isn’t nearly as interesting as the Boynton Inlet, but the ride is much prettier, and we need the extra miles for our training plan. For several weeks we rode the longer route at least two days a week, but we’ve cut back now that we are back to our 3-day a week weight workouts. We’ll gradually increase our mileage over the next few weeks.
Though we’re getting along okay with our riding, we do long for nicer riding conditions. We’re very tired of urban riding, and we’d be overjoyed to be in a situation where we can ride hills. As part of our training regimen we are planning on riding to Sebring from here, about 135 miles, spending several days once there to get practice on the rolling hills. Meanwhile we’ll just continue with our present routes, gradually adding on daily mileage.
Food
Food on the bike is always a big issue. How do we keep our energy up, enjoy what we eat, and get some nutrition? For some months now we’ve been using almond butter and rice cakes as our staple for our morning rides. Lately we’ve added a mix of pecans and almonds, with dried cranberries and shaved chocolate tossed in the ziplok. It’s made our snacks a lot more interesting.
In early September our buddy Jaimie Snoddy, from Gueydan in southwest Louisiana, sent us some of her homegrown and home cured beef and crawfish jerky. Mmmm, is it ever good! We’ve been carefully rationing it out to make it last as long as possible.
We’ll have to get even more creative though, when we start doing 50-75 mile rides.
Clothing
Lately, well, as long ago as July of 2009, we’ve been trying new approaches to our cycling clothes. We really dislike cycling shorts for a number of reasons: the spandex feels really uncomfortable after hours and hours on the bikes; the grippers at the legs irritate our skin and often cause rashes in the heat; not only do we hate the tan line, but shorts give us much more exposure to the sun; the chamois feels like a diaper, and worst of all, just doesn’t dry easily; and last but not least, the shorts are not particularly appropriate for wearing while doing errands off the bike, as we so often find ourselves doing.
While riding in Louisiana, we finally gave up our shorts with chamois. We just couldn’t take the soggy, sodden feeling of the chamois any longer, and the sun exposure was making us nuts.
Chelsea started using a pair of North Face pants with roll-up cuffs, and she’s been fine with those for the most part. The roll-up part is pretty irritating to roll and unroll, taking a bit of time to button and unbutton, and it leaves a lump of fabric around her knees; and the fit is not wildly flattering.
She does like the drawstring waist (unusual for her); the look is a much more “normal” look than cycling shorts; the fabric dries really quickly and seems to keep her cooler than she’d expect. She’d prefer more of an elastic waist, so she’s not unsnapping, unzipping, and untying, then re-snapping, zipping and retying, just for a quick bathroom break (although the zipper does make it easier to use our stand-while-you-pee Travelmates).
I’ve had a rockier road to success. I wore my Danskin capris for many, many months, but they are extremely thin and seem to be a veritable mosquito magnet. They are too hot to wear when it’s really hot, and the tight fit bothers me after a while. They do fit well – no bunching, pinching, or soggy chamois. I like the greater sun coverage too, and they look “normal” off the bike.
For my birthday we bought a pair of simple shorts similar to the Danskins, but unfortunately, without the quality. These shorts fit a bit strangely after wearing for a half hour or so, and they tend to ride up and pinch in tender areas when riding.
We are looking at cycling capris now, especially ones from Ground Effect out of New Zealand, but we have our eye on several other pairs as well. The good news is that we are gradually seeing a number of offerings, unlike 2006 and 2007.
We’ve also finally abandoned our Ex-Officio shirts. They’ve become stiff and a bit scratchy over the last two years, and have become badly discolored by the salt under the Camelbaks. While we still love the sun protection, we are tired of the “safari” look, and would really, really like something more feminine and flattering, with less “wind flap”.
I’ve got my eye on some choices, and when the time comes to buy, I’ll be checking out those choices, and seeing what else is available.
Look for an upcoming article on the clothing, though it may be a few months. I am constantly updating my resource files, and as time gets closer, I will detail what options we are considering, and why.
Hydration
For five years or more we’ve been completely pleased with our Camelbak hydration backpacks, but they’ve gradually come to be more annoying than pleasing. They are hot and heavy on our backs, preventing us from cooling down in the hot weather. They keep our clothing much wetter under the backpacks, which means more discomfort when we stop. And worse yet, the salt accumulation under the pack straps has gradually stripped all color from the shirts we wear under the packs, making them unusable for anything except riding.
The upside is the sizeable quantity of water we can carry (100 oz.) and the convenience of the one-handed, easy-access drinking tube, not to mention the ease of cleaning them, and the lack of any taste generated by the reservoir.
We recently found a hydration pack (Hydrathon) that goes over the bicycle top tube, has two separate reservoirs, and has the drinking tubes. It looks interesting, but we can only find one review (a mixed review to boot), and I think the company is very new. I’m not interested in spending sixty-five dollars on something I’ll have to send back in a week; I want to have more confidence that I’ll like it. I will likely write to the company and see if they’d let us “test-drive” one of them.
Bike repairs
Chelsea’s tire finally, finally gave out, so we made a trip to Bicycle America to get a replacement. They didn’t have any tires in our size, so Chelsea ended up getting an excellent quality Trek tire, but a 1.75 width instead of a 1.9. Visually it’s quite a bit smaller, and Chelsea loves it. She says it’s quieter and rides more easily. Now we want to replace the remaining three tires (one on hers and both of mine) with these new tires.
I’ve got much, much more on the riding and bicycle side of our lives, but in a few minutes I need to see a woman who’s coming to look at an outdoor table we have for sale. We hope she likes it and we can move it on to a wonderful new home. Meanwhile I’ll try to keep writing more frequently. (Update: the table did sell to a wonderful woman who turns out to be a neighbor in our subdivision, only three blocks away.)