@Cyclops has taken it upon himself to organize North America’s first official Cogal right in the backyard of where it all started: Seattle, Wa. @Scaler911 and @McSqueak have confirmed that they will be driving up from Portland, OR to attend and we hereby invite any and all Velominati to attend.
We’ll be doing a no-drop ride on Whidbey Island, following a route that is not terribly hilly and easily accommodates varying distances, though I myself will be planning on a 100k or more. We’ll leave the Coffeehouse Bookstore in Langley at V minutes past 10 to give everyone plenty of time to find their way up to the island and into Langley. Route details will be published in the posts below when it is confirmed. (I have to do some research as I’ve not done the ride in it’s entirety myself.) Hope to see you there.
UPDATE: The route has been posted on MapMyRide. It is a 160km ride with the option to cut section off for those who are getting tired.
UPDATE: Those who are interested are invited to dinner Friday Evening at Quinn’s Pub on Capital Hill in Seattle. Please arrive as close to 6:30 as possible; late-comers will not be guaranteed a seat at the table if the place is full.
Yours in Cycling,
Frank
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Though there are two 2011 U.S. National Champions about 30 minutes down the interstate from me – southeast Idaho isn’t exactly a road bike Mecca. And I wear the V-Shirt whenever I’m traveling in the area to races (whether to participate or spectate) but I’ve only had one person recognize the Sign of the “V”. So the chances of running into or riding with a fellow Velominati are pretty slim. Let alone the demented brainchild of all this nonsense – Darth Strack. What’s a boy to do? Take the bull by the horns and make it happen my own self, that’s what. I figure that anywhere that I can drive to in a day is not too far to go for a ride so I’m off to Seattle to see whether this “Frank” character is indeed worthy to be praised or if he’s just some guy behind a curtain pulling levers and turning dials.
The plan is for a meet and greet (and eat and drink) Friday night Oct. 14 and a ride on Saturday the 15th. A few blokes from Portland way are planning on coming up as well so it looks like it is going to turn into a little Gran Fronkdo. Anyone that can make it is invited. We haven’t sorted out the details of the route or meeting place or time or anything important like that but we should have all that set in cobbles by early this week, so stay tuned.
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@ChrisO @eightzero It is weird to see how peoples heart rate ranges work out so differently. I know my resting heart rate is higher than it used to be, last i checked its at about 52 bpm, and depending on cadence rather than effort my heart rate sits quite high. If i am turning 90-100 then i will be looking at 165-170bpm but i feel really comfortable at that rate and can do it all day, if I am turning 60-70 running hardest cog then 140-155. The maximum I have hit in the last few months was about 190bpm although the max recorded when i was blasting it a couple of years ago was 211 but I really didn't feel as bad as I no doubt looked. It is getting harder and harder to get it up there though, I am hoping that is a sign that actually doing some base training rather than threshold all the time is working.
Can't wait to see everybody's write ups but in the meantime what an awesome experience. Great weather, bikes, beer, food, people, ride, etc. To those of you that missed out you really missed out. Sorry that scaler911 didn't make it but maybe next time.
@Eightzero, @Marcus, @ChrisO
Good points all, though I'm a firm believer that spinning higher is not always better. It comes down to your body and how you respond. I ride in the 70-100 range and unless I'm riding á bloc on the flats, I'm not much above 90. I climb somewhere in the 70s, lower when it pitches up past 15%.
My heart rate is an anomaly, on the other hand. About 40 when I'm resting and if I'm on a bike it's above 140. Riding moderately, I bet its in the 170s and going hard I'll be around 190 and it can still go up past 200 even at 35. Go figure.
Hey, look what I found!
Very nice of them.
@mcsqueak
Fuckin A+. Where was Cyclops in that?
@RedRanger
Dunno, we're missing a couple of folks in that picture - the lady just sort of walked up and started taking pictures/asking questions, and then told us it was going to be on the Langley facebook page.
@RedRanger
Signing SC autographs
@frank
That sounds fairly familiar with my experiences. I was struck, riding with Josh back in April, though, that his cadence was much lower than mine (but turning a bigger gear). I've been working on getting the cadence up just a notch higher at the end of the year, but doubt that I'm ever spinning more than 95 on the flats (part of this is a general tendency towards laziness at this time of year).
I'm inclined to agree with this part, too, but I don't have an HRM, so I couldn't tell you where I max out. But low resting heart rate is about the same, although it rises markedly when I see a bike.
Huh. When it's windy here, like too windy to grind I'll happily use the small chainring and spend an hour trying to spin at 100. It's a good workout, and I can tell when I'm doing it right because my legs will relax a bit but the breathing gets quicker. It's training the aerobic system rather than just smashing the legs, and there's definitely a place for it. PS you hip flexors will be sore, your arse will hurt form carrying more weight and it'll be harder to support your upper body weight on the bike. Those are good things cos when you put the power down you'll feel weightless and you won't be restricted by leg speed.
Rode with a local ex pro who wrenches here a couple of weeks ago, and he had it down, it was amazing. Spinning away at the same cadence, he didn't stop pedalling for over an hour staying in the middle of the cassette and around 30kph.
@Cyclops
No one was sorrier than me. Still bummed about it.