Steve Lummer’s Weblog

This morning to celebrate Independence Day a few friends and I left Preskitt on our road bike and did the Skull Valley Loop.

This map show a clockwise route but we did it the smart way and did it counter clockwise.

Distance: 52.8 miles
Elevation Gain/Loss: 4016 feet

The loop is an amazing scenic, fun, challenging 53 miles of what every roadie likes.

Here are just a few pics of some of  Arizona’s finest miles.

Up from Kirkland junction.

Robert Janice and Becker coming into Skull Valley this morning @ 7:00 am.

Just after reaching the Iron Spring summit.

Taking a little break climbing the “Spars”.

The Skull Valley Loop is a truly a gift.

Steve

Roadie for the summer

A friend of mine told me the other day that with “road biking you get the miles but in mountain biking you smiles”.

He was so right with that statement for the most part , except for today I got both.

Today was my first 75 mile road bike day and as I was riding toward the 75 mile goal I looked around me at the surroundings.

Wow – miles and smiles all in one ride!

Really enjoying the different kind of experience road biking brings.

Also, I’m gonna need to kick it up a notch based on the  week long Itinerary for the Ragbrai ride this summer.

Day 1 — 64.2 miles    4,946 climb
Day 2 — 65.4 miles   4,798 climb
Day 3 — 70.9 miles  1,784 climb
Day 4 — 56.1 miles    1,246 climb
Day 5 — 57.5 miles   3,294 climb
Day 6 — 75.3 miles    2,800 climb
Day 7 — 64.8 miles    2,338 climb
Total — 454.2 miles   21,206 climb

Steve Lummer

Roadie for a summer

For the last two months I have been listening, learning and just getting out on the road to train for Ragbrai ..(a bike ride across my home state of Iowa.)

My first attempt on a road bike was all of 8 miles. Then I started riding 15 miles then 20 and for the last couple of weeks I have been pushing over 60 plus miles on the asphalt .

After about the first 30 miles I started having pain in the ole IT band ( iliotibial band) across the front of my right knee. – The IT band pain was a familiar foe that I was dealing with last year while doing a lot of riding on my single speed 29er mountain bike.

Because this July I will need to ride approximately 65  – 70 miles per day for five to six days I needed to get some advice from some friends who could help
A local roadie gave me the following advice and so far it seems to working.

Here is what Mike had to say regarding knee pain.

Knee pain on the bike is one (or more) of three things:

1. pushing too big a gear.

2. improper fit.

3.  improper form.

spin rather than push a gear. If you have a cadence sensor and it tells you that you’re peddling at 60-70 rpm most of the time you’re asking for knee problems unless you are very strong and have superb form. Typical rpm for me is 90-95 and I can spin up to 110 rpm easily but you have to have good fit and form to spin like that comfortably.

Form is pretty complicated actually and involves fit too. It takes a professional to really teach you proper form and it would also involve a real scientific analysis of fit to get all the angles and position correct to allow you to have proper form easily.”

I immediately started spinning rather than straining in my peddle strokes and my last two 60 plus miles of riding have been working well and I have not had much knee pain to speak of.

My next set of goals will be to ride 60 plus miles for five days in a row to see what if any thing pops up .

Also, here are just a few pics of some road hazards that I have encountered out there .

This tumble weed attacked me from out of no where.

Stimulus money has not reached this road yet.

Common man!

Be careful out there folks ….cars, truck, trailers, motorcycles and all kinds of hazards can make a good day not so good real quick.

Steve

roadie for a summer

I have wanted to ride Ragbrai ever since high school.

Well, @ age 53 I think it might just happen….and what I am really excited about is that the ride finishes in my home town of Davenport.

Just wanted to post the route and mileage for this years route