Wednesday Night Gravel Grinder

If your going to build a bike to race on gravel, I suspect you better do a little research, like actually spend some time on gravel.

Looks like there is going to be weekly Wednesday night Gravel rides according to the Gravel Grinder Blog.

http://gravelgrinders.blogspot.com/2010/10/wednesday-night-gravel-grinders.html

As I say, just so many good days/nights left.

The ride is a loop that starts in Stillwell, Kansas (199th & Metcalf), then goes south of Louisburg and back on gravel roads.

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Tonight there was only four of us.

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Why ride on a gravel roads? They are not as bad as some might think. Especially with 35c tires. After we made it to 215th I think we saw 4 cars the whole time. The area is very scenic, and I highly recommend riding out there.

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I rode my Single Speed. 40x16. I figured with 700 x 35c wheels with that ratio at 70 Rpm=14.25 Mph, and at 100Rpm = 20.5 Mph. Sounds good.

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The distance is about 39.94 miles (Lets call it 40), and the pace is between 16 and 17 average. We covered the distance in 2hr, 15mins. so we averaged 17.75Mph. . . . or a 86rpm average.

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However it wasn't really that way. This afternoon we had 9 million mile an hour winds and gusts. We went out with the wind at our back and I was spun out at times. Then on the way back after the sunset, the winds calmed down for the most part. So that was a neat trick, go out with the wind at your back, then not having to return into them.

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I did pretty good for the first hour, then I started to fade. Rightly so since the longest ride I had done in months had been 58 minutes . . . yep not even an hour. I made the distance fine, It's the speed that got me.

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The Heart Rate Stats:

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6min:18sec (under 134 beats per minute) 3%

8:31 (134-143 ) 6%

16:59 (144-152) 11%

1:15:10 (153-171) 56%

29:36 (172 -186) 23%

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Yep at some point my heart rate got to 186 beats per minute.

My average Heart Rate was 160 for 2hr:15min

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Looks like someone is out of shape

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So what did I learn?

1. I need to aim my light to shine further down the road. Some people make the mistake of having it shine in front of there front tire, but if you see something to steer around, chances are you already hit it.

2. Might try handlebar mount, instead of helmut. When a car passes you on gravel and kicks up dust when it's completly dark. you helmut light reflects off the dust and you can't see so good. My thought is it might be good to be above it. Like the way fog lights on a car are mounted on the bottom of the car.

3. I could probably get away with 32c tires instead of 35c

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I'll probably do it again in 2 weeks. It was hard, but not being sprayed in the face with a firehouse hard.