Jack Frost Results

Tandem - Mixed (Co-Ed)

 Pl   First Name     Last Name            Team             Time
  1   Tim/Georgia    Winestorfer/Win...   Just for Fun     31:09.94
  2   Carol/Mike     Petersen/Petersen    Bike Peddler     32:17.74
  3   Mark/Lynn      Godfrey/Hughes-...   Bike Central     33:32.37
  4   John Henr...   Maurice/Hellinger                     34:13.09
  5   Nancy/Ric...   Seton/Seton                           34:47.16
DNS   Dave/Sue       Ripp/Ripp            Specialized/River City Bicycles                    
DNS   Scott/Angela   McCanna/McCanna      EWEB Windpower                                     
DNS   Gary/Lori      Cornilles/Miller     Specialized/River City Bicycles                    

We came in fourth place, 41 seconds behind the Godfreys. So, missing our starting time by 26 seconds did not effect the standings. We were 3:08 slower than last year.

An interesting observation is that our time last year was five seconds faster then the first place team. Yes, the wind did effect everyone's time.

Posted 10:33 PM by John Henry

Jack Frost Report

We woke up to rain, and it rained on us as we drove north to Vancouver. It was still raining when we arrive, and it continued to rain while we checked in and waited for our start time of 9:50 am.

Our plan was to warm up on the road and return to the starting gate with just a few minutes before our 9:50 AM start time. I confirmed time by checking my cell and Joanne and I went out on the road to warm up. We returned to the starting gate with 2 minutes to go and saw Richard and Nancy Seaton just leaving. But wait, as we rolled up to the starting gate, we were told we were late and missed our starting time by 26 seconds. It seems OBRA time is three minutes earlier than the rest of the world.

So out of the gate and the chase to catch Richard and Nancy began.

With the wind in our face, we headed for the first turn. As we approached it, I realized that with the confusion at the starting gate, I failed to start my computer so I turned it on just before the first turn, about 3/4 of a mile after the start.

After the turn, the wind was still in our faces and Richard and Nancy were
not getting any closer. After the second turn, the wind was at our back and our speed increased dramatically.

But just then, we were passed! I recognized the team - the Godfreys. They won the tandem division last year. After passing us, they did not pull away. We matched their speed and then slowly closed the distance between us. With an extra effor, we passed them. I dropped down on the areobars and put the Seatons in my sights. But they were riding so well, we could not gain on them.

Then I heard Joanne, who was wearing a mirror, shout "Here come Tim and
Georgia!" They passed us as if we were standing still. As they passed us, we did manage to pick up some speed. We were able to stay with Tim and George as they closed and then passed the Seatons just before the turn around point.

We must have managed the u-turn around a bit better as we were able to
close the gap and (slowly) pass Richard and Nancy. Or perhaps it was
the fierce head wind that we now faced. All I know is my heart rate
climbed and our speed dropped after the turn around. But, we could
still see Tim and Georgia and they were pulling away from us. Soon,
we lost sight of them.

As we fought the head wind, I knew that the two tandems behind us, the
Seatons and the Godfreys saw us as a rabbit to be caught and passed.
We worked as hard as we could, but the Godfreys did pass us and slowly
pulled away. I had thoughts of catching them, but we began to succumb
to the head wind and slowly dropped back.

As we neared the finishing line, we were glad that the "ripping out of
the lungs" was over. We turned the conner to see the "200 M" sign,
which Joanne read as "zoom", which we did as we now had a tail wind.

I do not know our time, but the computer recorded 32:00 and it was
started late (at the first corner). So, I am guessing that our time
was also 1:30 to 2:00 slower than last year, which I attribute to the
head wind. It will be interesting to
see the final standings.

Some stats:

DST: 11.44 Miles
ATM: 32:00
AVG: 21.4 mph
AVG - First half: 24.1 mph
AVG - Second half: 18.8 mph
MAX: 28.0 mph
AVG HR for John: 164 bpm

Posted 9:59 PM by John Henry

Jack Frost Time Trial Pre-Race Notes

The final start times have been posted. They are:

9:49:00 Ripp, Dave / Sue Ripp   
9:49:30 Seton, Nancy / Richard   
9:50:00 Maurice, John Henry / Joanne Heilinger  
9:50:30 Godfrey, Mark / Lynn Hughes-Godfrey 
9:51:00 Winestorfer, Tim / Georgia  
9:51:30 McCanna, Angela / Scott  
9:52:00 Petersen, Carol / Mike Petersen  
9:52:30 Miller, Lori / Gary Cornilles  

We will be starting third, after Richard and Nancy Seaton. The Godfreys, who won last year, start 30 seconds behind us. Then, the Winestorfers, who should have won (IMHO) but they blew their start time and started at least two minutes late. After the Winestorfers, our friends the McCannas start. Last year, they started 30 seconds behind us and passed us on the second half of the the time trial. But they could not pull away and we passed them back "unlapping" ourselves.

Like last year, I expect to pass the Seatons, and then I hope to set my sights on the Ripps, who I do not know. Opps, I just googled Dave Ripp. He is listed as the contact for the Specialize River City Racing Team. And I thought we could catch them.

The weather forecast continues to be less than good: "Rain - 90% chance of precipitation". It rained hard today, but in the afternoon, the front had passed and the rain stopped. We even saw some blue sky. However, another front is expect to come in tonight and bring more rain. The bottom line is that we may have to race in the rain.

The tandem is ready. We are ready (as ready as we can be without any training). Now, let's race!

Posted 7:33 PM by John Henry

Racing in the Rain?

The Jack Frost Time Trial is Sunday.

The weather forecast for Sunday is "Rain Showers - 70% chance of precipitation".

Looks like we will be racing in the rain.

2006 Jack Frost Time Trial

Posted 10:13 PM by John Henry

More Racing Stuff

Brett Walker blogs about his win at Sebring 12/24.

Local racer Omer Kem was in the break for 140 km in today's stage of the Tour of California.

But much closer to home, I picked up our Meridian tandem from The Bike Peddler today. Eric installed a 12-27 Dura-Ace cassette and changed the 30 tooth inner chain ring down to a 26 tooth. The idea is to have smaller gear jumps and yet retain "granny". By the way, while at the shop, we put it on the scale and it came in at 34.5 lbs with pedals and water bottle cages. Then, once I got the tandem home, I install a set of Syntace SLS aerobars. The bike is now ready for Sunday's Jack Frost Time Trial. Now, if the weather forecast would only improve (Showers likely. Highs 45 to 50).

Posted 8:08 PM by John Henry

The Bicycle Racing Season has Begun!

The first three Ultra events of the season occurred last weekend. The Sebring 12/24 Hour is a RAAM qualifier. Results and not reported on the Sebring site yet, but can be viewed here. Brett Walker will race RAAM this year, and looks like his training is going well as he rode 467.5 miles in 24 hours.

On the west coast, the Butterfield Double enjoyed nice weather for the first time in two years (thereby losing the "Butterflood" nickname). Suzy Degazon, an Ultraman eight time finisher, completed her first double at Butterfield.

Up north in Alaska, the Susitna 100 was held in below zero weather. For a well written race report, go to Jill Homer's blog.


Meanwhile, on the local front, the Cherry Pie was last Sunday. Many friends of mine rode, and I would like to mention them all, but I can not. But, I must point out that Tina Brubaker took first place in the Woman's Cat 1/2 division. And, Mark Nurre and Kathleen Kolman took first place in the tandem division. Lastly, I will leave you a phone of Richad and Ann Seton who also raced in the tandem division.

Posted 9:09 PM by John Henry

not a Sunday Century

Miles: 52.51
February Miles: 501.95
Year to Date: 810.93

I had intended to ride another century today, but my plans were unrealistic. I woke up with sore legs and no ambition to ride 100 miles. So, Joanne and I rode the Salem Bicycle Club ride - The Presidents Day Ride. The ride takes us to all of the nearby towns with streets named after Washington or Lincoln. Fun.

What's Next

Next Sunday is the Jack Frost Time Trial. Last year we did the 12.4 mile course in 31:05.37. We hope to better that time.

The course is simple, a flat six miles out, turn around and six miles back. It is also very flat. RouteSlip.com says the elevation gain is less than 50 feet for the entire route. The current weather forecast is for "Rain likely. Highs around 50". Not promising.

Posted 8:15 PM by John Henry

Saturday Century - A Sunny One!

Miles: 95.80
February Miles: 449.44
Year to Date: 758.42

All week long the weather forecast has been calling for nice weather for Saturday - "Partly Sunny". Well, there was just a bit of fog in the morning, but it soon burned off and what a glorious day! We had clear (yes clear) blue skies and the afternoon warmed up to the high 60°s.

This ride had several firsts for the year...

1) The ride of the year that I left the house with just a wind breaker; I did not wear my rain jacket nor my friged weather jacket.
2) The first ride of the year without my booties.
3) The first ride of the year that we heard frogs croaking.
4) The first ride of the year that we saw daffodils breaking ground.

Sal joined Joanne and I as we rode to Philomath. We took Kings Valley Highway south and Corvallis Road back home.

Posted 7:53 PM by John Henry

Let the UltraCycling Begin!

This weekend, the UltraCycling Racing Season begins with two events at opposite ends of the USA. For the road racers, there is the Bike Sebring 12/24 Hours time trials at the Sebring International Raceway in Sebring Florida. Meanwhile, for the Mountain Bicyclists, there is the Susitna 100 located near Mt. Susitna, popularly known in Southcentral Alaska as Sleeping Lady, which lies across Cook Inlet from the City of Anchorage.

I would rather ride for 24 hours on a raceway track rather than 100 miles across the Alaskan wilderness, but that is just me.

While these two races are going on, I intend to ride a century on both Saturday and Sunday. These are the last long rides before the Spring Death Valley Double. Currently, Saturday looks to be dry while Sunday could be wet.

Posted 9:25 AM by John Henry

Sunday Showers

Miles: 36.24
February Miles: 353.64
Year to date: 662.62

Joanne was the ride leader for today's Salem Bicycle Club 10:00 am ride. The route is an old "Bionic" Bruce Mathae route. We called him "Bionic" because he had legs like the Six Million Dollar Man.

The name of the route is Willamette Mission Impossible. A play on words between Willamette Mission State Park and the old TV show Mission Impossible. The concept was an impossible route to follow to Willamette Mission State Park. Bruce had a sense of humor.

The wind changed this morning, so we had a strong tail wind going out and a strong headwind coming home. In addition, there was some sun and there were some showers.

The Cannondale tandem's rear derailleur decided to stop shifting in the middle of the ride. I had to make adjustments and shifting performance suffered for the rest of the ride. It needs to see the tandem doctor.

Posted 7:16 PM by John Henry

Saturday Century - In the Rain

Miles: 101.02
February Miles: 317.4
Year to Date: 626.38

Jon Wolf, Dennis Wolcott joined Joanne and I for the first Saturday Century where we got rained on. After 65 miles of just cloudy weather, a light rain began to fall and lasted for the rest of the ride.

Dennis was coming off a long ride last week, the Casa Grande - Saguaro National Park 300 km brevet. Also, I was coming off a week of climbing in Phoenix, so our pace was slower than normal and the route was flatter than the last few rides.

South Mountain Results

2/7/07
Miles: 46.74
Elevation Gain: 2782

2/8/07
Miles: 21.99
Elevation Gain: 3422

In an earlier posting, I mentioned that Greg worked me hard when he led me up South Mountain for my second time that night. Well, after downloading the data from my HAC4, I did an analysis. For the 2.62 miles that Greg paced me, my speed was the same as my first solo climb that evening, but my average heart rate went from 145 bpm to 154 bpm. No wonder I was gasping for air!

the Next Few Weeks...

Next week is the last hard training week before the Death Valley Double. I hope to ride a century on Saturday and another on Sunday. Notice the key word "hope".

The following weekend is the weekend before Death Valley. So, no long rides, but Joanne and I will be riding in the Jack Frost Time Trial. Our time last year was 31:05.37. Our only goal is to improve, which means we should have been training for a short time trial, instead of training for endurance rides.

Posted 5:17 PM by John Henry

South Mountain - Part Two, the Climbing Continues

The conference ended at 5:30 pm and the sun sets at 6:07 pm. So, I loaded the rental bike into the rental car and drove down to the foot of South Mountain instead of riding to the mountain. After unloading the bike, I started climbing at 7:00 pm. My legs felt the prior day's climbing but I worked hard on the climb trying to get the most benefit.

As this was the second night in a row that I climbed South Mountain, I now had an advantage: I knew the road and where the steep portions were. As such, I could better pace myself and attack on the shorter steep pitches and hold back on the longer ones. However, the steepness of pitches near the top surprised me. They are truly tough!

As I obtained the top, there were several cars in the parking lot. Instead of stopping, I just circled the lot and immeaditely headed down the hill.

Since I drove to the mountain, I was playing with the idea of riding up the mountain twice. I had the battery life, but did I have the determination?

Well, when I reached the bottom, I was not inclined (no pun intended), to turn around and do it all over again. I was tired and I wanted to wimp out and head back to the hotel. But, as I reached my rental car, I saw a cyclist coming up the mountain. We each turned around spoke. Greg allowed me to join him on his climb up the mountain.

Never trust anyone who says "I'm not a good climber." They lie! As we headed up the mountain, my heart rate soon climbed to new highs for the evening. As Greg chatted away, I could only respond with very short, single syllable sentences sandwiched inbetween my gasping for air. This is just what I needed, someone to push me to work harder when I wanted to quit. Thank you Greg!

We did not do the entire climb as Greg was out for a shorter ride. This was fine with me and it was getting late and I needed to pack once I got back to my hotel.

All in all, I did over 21 miles and over 2100 feet of elevation gain for the evening. Ride data to follow once I return home.

Fun Thoughts About South Mountain

1) Wildlife - I saw only one coyote out for a ramble one the first night. I did not see any snakes (dead or alive) on the road.
2) Sportbikes - I saw a line of 25 (Greg counted them) sportbikes in a single line. Impressive sight. We were stopped at the time so they did have to pass us.
3) The View of Phoenix is great! As you climb up you can see the lights of Phoenix below you. As you climb, the city lights drop away below you. A very impressive sight indeed.
4) The TV Towers are at the top of the climb. You can see them on and off as you climb and this provides you a good judge of how much futher you have to go. The number of antennas is also impressive. I have not seem so many in one location before.

Posted 9:26 AM by John Henry

South Mountain – Phoenix, Arizona

Work has sent me to the Phoenix area for a conference. The weather hear is near perfect for cycling, highs near 70° F during the day dropping down to the low 60s° in the early evening. With this nice weather, I really should be on my bike. But do not worry, as soon as the conference ended today, I jumped on my rental bike and headed for South Mountain, the closest hill around.

I lived in Phoenix in the late 1980s. I did climb South Mountain back then, and I remembered a steep climb on a very rough surface. I was looking forward to climbing it again.

I left my hotel in Tempe at 5:30 pm and headed west and then south on Hadley Rd. I had a general idea of the route I wanted to take by searching out routes on www.routeslip.com, checking the local bicycle map and talking the folks at Dominic's Bicycles. However, all good plans sometimes do not work out as expected and my plan was no exception. I intended to turn west on Baseline from Hadley Rd, but when I got there, I found a six lane expressway busy with rush hour traffic and no bike lanes. So, I continued straight on Hadley and worked my way through a neighborhood. Much to my distaste, Baseline was my only choice to head west, unless I backtracked up to the north, something I did not want to do because of the setting sun. So I road the sidewalk.

As darkness fell, I somehow found myself at the base of South Mountain and began to climb. I was pleased to find that the road surface was much improved. Very nice! After entering the park, the road gently climbs 300 feet in 2.25 miles to the left turn onto Telegraph Pass Road. Now the real climbing begins. For just over 1.6 miles, I climbed 438 feet. I then had a short descent before the climbing continued. The next 3.7 miles contains nearly 650 feet of elevation gain. As such, the steepest portion of the climb is the middle section, although there are some steep pitches near the top. All of the distances and elevations noted here are based upon routeslip.com.

The top was an empty parking lot that overlooked the city of Phoenix.

The descent was slow as it was dark and the temperature had now dropped to 60°, so I wanted to keep the speed down to keep the wind chill in check.

The ride back to the hotel was in the dark and mostly utilizing bike lanes. I arrived shortly after 9:00 pm.

Ride data to follow once I return home.

Posted 12:55 PM by John Henry

Saturday Century 2 & 3

Late January and early February has been kind to me so far. There has been no rain the last two weekends allowing me to get in a couple of centuries.

Date: 1/27/07
Miles: 115.37
January Miles: 308.98

Mark Janaba joined me for the first, a fast ride to Brownsville courtesy of a strong tailwind. However, the wind made the return to Salem much more slow. I was thankful that Mark joined me so we could take turns breaking the wind for the other. I was ready for Salem way before Salem came into view.


Date: 2/1/07
Miles: 107.89
February Miles: 107.89
2007 Miles: 416.87

Jon Wolf joined me for the second, a hilly ride in the East Salem foothills. We climbed Kingston-Jordan Road out of Stayton, Fern Ridge Rd out of Lyons, Silver Creek Falls Hwy up to and through the park and if that was not enough, I climbed Victor Point, Drift Creek, and Fox roads out of Silverton.

Date: 2/4/07
Miles: 39.76
February Miles: 147.65
2007 Miles: 456.63

Sunday was so nice, Joanne and I took the tandem out for a spin. We joined the Salem Bicycle Club on a somewhat hilly route out of Salem southward to the Ankeny Wildlife Reserve. This was our first tandem ride since the icy fall on December 30. Yes, I was nervous but the ride went well; no troubles.

We climbed Liberty Road hill leaving Salem and I was surprised to see the amount of development that was taking place. We saw lots of new houses going up.

Posted 9:30 PM by John Henry