Gear up for November-December bike events

November is almost here, which means this is prime time in Florida for cycling events and related activities to help you get out and enjoy the fine weather.

Kimberly Cooper, cycling advocate and Personal Best reader, put together this handy list so we can all mark our calendars:

Nov. 1 through Dec. 31: "Donating Gas Money to Charity" fund drive.
Bicycle, be a pedestrian, and/or use mass transit to save gas.  Then, donate all or part of the saved money directly to your favorite non-profit or charity.  It's an earth-friendly fund drive, too. Go to the St. Petersburg Cycling Club's site, scroll down to the red picture, and click on the link to get info about how to participate.
 
Sunday, Nov. 15: Suncoast Cycling Club's annual "MDA Challenge Bike Tour".
Bicycle routes of 6, 16, 31, and 62 miles are available.  The Suncoast Cycling Club has held the Challenge event for many years for non-profit organizations, the past two years for the MDA.
 
Saturday, Dec. 5, 2009: "Ride and Run With the Stars".
Bicycle, run, and walk routes are available.  The Ride and Run With the Stars started in 1993 and is held on the first Saturday in December each year.  Sponsored by the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office, the event raises money to help families through the holiday season.
 
Here are two worthy charities where you can donate used and new bicycles and other toys to encourage physical activity:
The Christmas Toy Shop

The Marines' Toys for Tots
 
More bicycling events can be found on the Florida Bicycle Association's Florida Bicycle Touring Calendar.
November's offerings include:

Nov. 1  Bradenton  Cycle Fest

Nov. 14  New Port Richey Brake the Cycle of Poverty Bike Ride

Nov.  21  Pasco County Ride Without Limits

So, get the bikes (and helmets) out, check the tire pressure, and enjoy. Think how many Halloween candy calories you'll burn.

[Times photo, 2006]

Exercise: mix it up

Not getting results from your favorite physical activity? Then mix things up. Alternate between walking and cycling, swimming and jogging, group aerobics and self defense. Add strength training at least one day a week. Change challenges your heart, lungs and other muscles. 

Irene Maher, Staff Health Writer

Training for RAGBRAI: The taper

After the hundreds and hundreds of miles and before the big event always comes the taper -- taking it easy for a few days to hold a peak fitness level and yet allow the body to recover to take advantage of all that training.

In readying for RAGBRAI, (the Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa) I don't taper by kicking back on the sofa. I relax with a few days of low-effort rides of 15 to 20 miles. Doing nothing is a shock to the body, so it's important to stay on the bike, just to take it much easier in the final few days. I had my last day of hard training on Saturday, trading shorter miles (I rode 50 instead of 84) for quite a bit of hill work (I rode 6 miles of climbs using repeats of the Misener Bridge as my "hill"). Then I rode easy recovery days on Monday and Tuesday. Tomorrow I fly to the Midwest. I may check in one more time before RAGBRAI starts to roll across Iowa on Sunday.

-- Jim Verhulst, Times staff writer

Training for RAGBRAI: Seven days, many ways

In training for RAGBRAI ( the Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa), I've tried three different approaches the past three years.

They've all worked, they've all let me flex my workouts around family and work commitments, and they've all shared two important characteristics: (1) enough base miles to be aerobically fit, which allows for (2) the final weeks of training that have several longer days in the saddle. Florida lets cyclists spin outdoors year-round, of course, which is a great advantage because you never fall out of fitness. Each year, between commuting to work and lunchtime bike rides, I've started the ramp-up to RAGBRAI with a base of 100 to 150 miles a week without riding on the weekend at all. Here's what happened next:

In 2006, my first RAGBRAI, I was freaked out by the sheer mileage I would be riding and didn't know if I could do it. I was working a night shift for a couple of weeks that summer, which allowed me mornings to train. So for a week in late June and early July, I would look up the RAGBRAI mileage for Day 1, Day 2, etc., then go out and ride that same distance for each of seven days. I was well prepared.

In 2007, my second RAGBRAI, my family and I visited my inlaws in Michigan in mid-summer. I took advantage of some beautiful routes along a small hilly peninsula jutting into Lake Michigan and rode 60 miles early every morning for five days straight. That worked out well, too.

In 2008, my family was out of town in June, so weekends were free for rides. I rode the length of the Pinellas Trail every weekend -- and often twice a weekend. I was ready for RAGBRAI, even though I did not have a single weekday long-distance ride.

This year, I've largely mimiced what I did last year, riding the Pinellas Trail (84 miles from my house) every Saturday. I'm feeling prepared.

Every year, my program, even as informal as it is, has left me in great condition to do RAGBRAI. I've learned a couple of lessons. You don't need a heavy-duty formal training formula to be ready. And you can shape and bend your conditioning regimen around family life so cycling doesn't get in the way of living. But it''s important to have a good base and then to have several long-distance rides under your legs before heading to Iowa.

--Jim Verhulst, Times staff writer

Training for RAGBRAI: Eating

When I started training for my first "century" nearly a quarter century ago, I obsessed over how and when to eat. I would carry bananas in my jersey's back pocket and practice peeling and eating them while riding no hands. A banana that has been marinating in the heat and sweat of my jersey pocket for 40 or 50 miles -- and becoming more liquid than solid -- is not a thing of beauty. Eating it was not pleasant. And as I now know -- not exactly necessary for me either.

I'm a lot older now and less prone to such rookie mistakes as I prepare for RAGBRAI ( the Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa). I have learned that if I eat a light breakfast -- typically a bagel with sliced turkey, a glass of grapefruit juice (and maybe even a banana -- they're really good when they haven't been in a back pocket for hours) -- I can ride 75 to 85 miles at a good clip before my reserves run low.  I guess that is about a fist-sized portion of food, as recommended by this nutritionist.

I make sure to stay well hydrated, but I don't have to eat on the road unless I'm riding farther than that. For RAGBRAI that means I'll usually eat two granola bars while breaking camp to hit the road at 6 a.m. each day. Then my riding partner and I will typically put in 15 to 20 miles before stopping for breakfast. (Often on the menu are breakfast burritos, which aren't as explosive as they sound.)

Then I won't eat again until the day's ride is over, though I'll take care to consume another granola bar or two right as I get into town each day. It's really important to put back some carbs and a a few nutrients right at the end of the ride; that's when it does the most good.

I'm pretty low-tech, so I don't use energy gels in those foil packets or anything like that. I will carry a couple of granola bars in my jersey pocket as a reserve in case I feel my energy flagging. But I've not bonked in the more than 20 years I've lived and cycled in Florida. (I did bonk twice when I lived in New Hampshire in my 20s. But that's another story for some other day -- and a lesson in why it's important to hear when your body is screaming at you.)

There's no magic to this except to listen to your own body. Some people need to eat on the road. Others literally can't stomach it. So learn about yourself and your on-the-road nutrition needs. Do this by practicing on long rides on local roads. If you bonk, you can call for a ride home. If you eat on the road only to discover that you can't keep it down, you won't face the embarrassment of having thousands of cyclists watching your distress. Don't wait for an event like RAGBRAI to begin experimenting. It won't end well.

A footnote: At the end of each day's RAGBRAI ride, we eat and eat and eat, mostly church food. We've burned so many calories that we want and need to put them back.

--Jim Verhulst, Times staff writer

Training for RAGBRAI: Hydration

If you're bicycling long distances in the heat, humidity and intense sunlight of Florida, you need to drink incredible amounts of fluid. And even then, it's hard to keep up.

It can feel as if you're guzzling fluids only to have them immediately pour out of your pores. On my long-distance training ride Saturday, I measured my fluid intake. I carry two large water bottles, which I refill several times. By the time my ride was over, I had consumed more than 5.5 liters of water (1.5 gallons) and 1.9 liters (0.5 gallon) of sports drink, which I purchase along the Pinellas Trail. And still, I lost five pounds on the day. I didn't know it, but my tendency to gulp rather than sip water is actually the best method as explained in this New York Times piece. Shedding body heat and staying hydrated is even a problem for Tour de France riders, who might rely on ice-stuffed nylons in their jersey pockets.

Keeping hydrated in Florida's heat is great preparation and acclimation for the sun-baked roads of RAGBRAI. One tip for RAGBRAI riders: Hydrate all day even after the day's ride is finished. You're living in a tent and will not have air conditioning all week, so the body can keep losing fluids even after the ride is over. I like to drink water all afternoon and evening to soak my tissues to begin the next day's ride with my hydration tank topped off.

It's important to learn your body's unique fluid needs and to drink accordingly.

--Jim Verhulst, Times staff writer

Training for RAGBRAI: Going the distance

Training for RAGBRAI ( the Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa) is not much like getting ready for a century -- a one-day 100-mile bike ride that is a rite of passage for serious recreational cyclists.

The main difference is that a century rider can train and taper for that one day, put in a killer effort, and then go home and recover. Being a little stiff or sore the next morning isn't really a problem. On RAGBRAI, I like to ride fairly hard -- but not that hard, because I have to get up the next day and do it again and again and again. So on RAGBRAI, I probably go at 85 to 90 percent of the intensity that I might exert on a one-day effort. Remember that RAGBRAI is a ride, not a race, after all.

I train for long days in the saddle by, yes, spending some long days in the saddle. Once a week, beginning with the first Saturday in June, I ride from my house to the southern terminus of the Pinellas Trail by Demens Landing in St. Petersburg, up to the end in Tarpon Springs, and back. That's about 84 miles. I don't try to set a record pace, just a nice smooth, solid effort.

Why? Even when I'm in good aerobic shape, the other parts of my body -- my wrists, my hand, my feet, my shoulders, my neck and, yes, my butt -- have to get used to sheer time in the saddle. I've found that one long ride a week for the six weeks preceding RAGBRAI does the trick. I add that mileage to my weekday lunchtime rides, which are typically 20 to 25 daily miles of varying intensity, as well as my bicycle commute.

It's important to have a really solid base of training before starting these longer rides -- and even so, I violate the rule of thumb not to ever increase mileage by more than 10 percent or so a week.

You're really supposed to add the long mileage more gradually than I do, but like most people, I have to fit cycling into a busy life. It's one of the training compromises I've been able to make without injury or other problems. The overall point: You need some long-distance days for your body to acclimate, no matter how good your aerobic conditioning is.

In my next posts, I'll talk a little about how I stay hydrated, what I eat, and three different approaches to the final training miles that have each worked for me.

Jim Verhulst, Times staff writer

Fourth fitness

Planning to fill your Fourth with hot dogs, burgers and beer? Bank some physical activity today to make up for the damage on tap for tomorrow. At work, park further away, only take the stairs. At home, take a brisk walk in the evening, go for a record breaking swim, invite someone to play basketball, dust off your bike and go for a ride, go dancing, vacuum the entire house. Do something active for at least 45 minutes to earn tomorrow's treats.

Irene Maher, Staff Health Writer 

Training for RAGBRAI: Riding in the rain

RAGBRAI, the weeklong bicycle ride across Iowa, goes on, rain or shine, so it's important to know how to ride when it's wet. These tips apply whether you are training, commuting or even if you simply get caught in a downpour. (There's been a lot of that the past few days.)

* First, if there is lightning or the threat of lightning, don't be stupid. Get off your bike and find the nearest safe haven and wait it out. Don't take a chance, period.

* Don't ride through puddles. You don't know what's down there beneath the surface.

* Avoid manhole covers and be careful of painted stripes on the roads. Both become slick when wet.

* Look down the road, not right in front of you. You need to plan ahead, as any quick movements are likely to cause a skid or worse.

* Brakes work poorly when wet. If you're coming to an intersection, apply the brakes early to scrub water off the rims. Don't plan on stopping quickly, because you won't.

* Get away from everything as best you can -- cars, other bikers, obstacles and debris. Everything is much more dangerous in the rain.

* Even if you need to wear glasses (and I've got the visual acuity of a bat), in a downpour you might see better by taking them off. Slow way, way down so you don't "override" your visual field.

* Good bike-handling is more important than ever. In turns, I put my outside pedal down and put my weight on it to "load" the tires and push them into the pavement for traction. You should do this anyway, but it's doubly important when conditions are slick.

* If you are training in the rain and have a choice, pick quiet routes like the Pinellas Trail where you have to worry only about yourself, not cars flashing and splashing past.

* Be visible. I have LED lights front and rear on my commuting bike. I had them on during a lunchhour ride on Wednesday.

* Be aware that flats are more common in the rain. Tires pick up more debris, and the rain lubricates the rubber so foreign objects are more likely to pierce the casing. You can avoid some of this by stopping periodically and wiping off the tire with the palm of your cycling glove. (Some riders do this on the fly.)

* When your ride is over, bounce your bike up and down a few times on its tires to shake off the water. Lift up the back of the bike and spin the cranks fast to throw water off the chain. Lubricate the chain as soon as possible, and gently spray grit off your bike as well.

* Oh, and keep this in mind. If you've taken proper precautions, it can actually be kind of fun to ride in the rain. You're going to get wet from sweat if not rain anyway.

--Jim Verhulst, Times staff writer

Training for RAGBRAI: Make headwinds your hills

There are hills -- big, bad hills -- in Iowa, as this photo taken last year at the start of the RAGBRAI ride shows.

 And as thousands of riders train to bike across Iowa this month on RAGBRAI ( the Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa), the big question mark hanging over us flat-landers is this: How to prepare for them in flat-as-a-pancake St. Petersburg?

Here are three things that have worked for me.

1. Find a headwind, which isn't hard here in the Tampa Bay area. I ride into it with the same intensity that I use to climb a hill. I don't drop into an aerodynamic position to cheat the wind, because I'm pretending it's a hill, not a headwind. Sometimes I shift into a higher gear, which makes pedaling even harder. I look down the road for a landmark -- a light pole, a road sign, whatever -- that I treat as the top of the hill. Psychologically, it's a lot more fulfilling to pretend that I have crested the hill by reaching a landmark. On a windy ride, I can pretend to climb several hills using this method, with breaks of lower intensity, higher cadence pedaling in between to recover.

2. High-gear, low-cadence intervals. I do this only after a thorough warm-up of several miles. Rolling along at a slow-ish pace, I drop my derailleur into a very high gear where I can turn over only about 50 rpm -- my normal cadence is 90 rpm or so. I maintain this cadence for a minute or two. I recover at a normal, high cadence and repeat. And repeat. This exercise will quickly build power that is useful for climbing hills or for going much faster on the flats in a short burst of speed to bridge up to a pack of cyclists.

3. Find actual hills or at least overpasses. The Misener Bridge -- the hump of a bridge that is north of the Sunshine Skyway -- has a beautiful, tough inclined bike path. For a real hill workout, I will ride up and down it for 20 to 30 minutes. If you live in Pasco or Hernando County, you're fortunate to have actual hills to train on.

Other alternatives in Pinellas are the overpasses on the Pinellas Trail, a parking garage or even the undulating, bumpy brick streets of Roser Park, just south of Bayfront Hospital. I do circuits of the little hills of the brick streets, riding around and around, up and down, for half an hour.

Jim Verhulst, Times staff writer