Saturday, March 9, 2013

Preparing for Singlespeed-A-Palooza 2013

Over month ago I registered to ride muni at a bike race called the Singlespeed-A-Palooza.  This race is for singlespeed cycles only.  One of my Albany muni buddies, Steveyo, has done this race several times on a non-geared muni.  He has a great writeup here for his 2011 race. The race is April 28th and is about 4.5 hours away, near Poughkeepsie in Stewart State Forest.  In the past it was two 12 mile loops, but this year it's a single 25 miles loop.  I've never ridden that far, but I thought it would be good motivation to ride more and stay fit.
I remembered hearing that registration filled up within a few days last year, so I encouraged a handful of muni buddies to consider it and register as soon as it opened.  At the beginning of February, registration opened with 250 spots and they all filled up in just a few hours.  Three of us got in! Myself, Robi from Albany, and Claude from Maryland!  A few weeks later the race organizer opened up 50 more spots.  So it will be 297 bikers and 3 muni riders.

To get trained, I had started doing P90X again over back in January and, without being strict about it, I made it through about three or four weeks.  But then work got very busy and I was working extra hours.  Finally things are getting back to normal and I need to get back to training.

Today I rode on the road, the Hojack trail, and the Rt 104 bike path.  The Hojack had way more snow than I expected, and again, it's the footprints that really make it hard.  It got bad near North Ponds park, so I cut through and tried the Rt 104 bike path.  That was generally better, but on the section that crosses to the south side, it was all snow.  It must take something like 10 times more energy to power through.  I'm pretty sure the shade on the south side has prevented the snow from melting, just like with the Hojack.  At Bay Rd, I headed north mostly on Dewitt and Adams back up to the Hojack where it intersects Vosburg.  Thankfully the shoulders of these roads were generally flat.  Unfortunately this end of the Hojack was no better.  But it seemed like my best choice for heading back, so I did my best to power through.  The snow was wet and crunchy, but some of it was more solid and wasn't too bad.  I got a few bumps and bruises from sliding head first on the ground three or four times, but nothing too bad.  By the time I hit Klem, I'd had enough and followed the streets home.  I avoided 250 because of its insanely slanted shoulders.

I rode 14.5 miles.

Muni on Road, Hojack, and 104 Path - 2013-03-09

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