Chafing for Purely Selfish Reasons

It's official... I'll be running in the 2012 Austin Half Marathon. Join me by registering here.

Ride Run Happy. Be Happy.

(Double-Posted here and at lukegmarshall.wordpress.com)

Back in the Saddle for Burritos

Question: How does one shake off a lazy (both in biking and blogging) start to the summer? 


Answer: Sign up for a really hilly ride that starts at 7am and will likely be full of hardcore riders.

I just registered for the Bicycle Sports Shop Tres Burritos Ride on July 16th. That gives me about two weeks to get my legs in gear, I chose the hilliest of the three routes offered, because hey, why not? Proceeds will go to Boltage, a program that tracks the number of times students ride their bikes to school and rewards them for their participation. 

Here is the route, for those who are interested:

Tweeting for a Cause

So for the non-Web 2.0 among you... you probably have no idea that on my most recent ride, I was incessantly tweeting my progress. And if you are Web 2.0 literate... you probably have no idea that on my most recent ride, I was incessantly tweeting my progress (since I only have 10 tweeps on for my @lukechafes account).

Thus, to make my diligent efforts of keeping you in the loop in real time, you know... worth something. I'm going to pepper this update with my tweets:

To start this update (the final one before the Hill Country Ride for AIDS this weekend!), I'm just going to list the first six roads I was riding on:

• Mt. Bonnell Rd.
• Westslope Dr.
• Lookout Mountain Dr.
• Mountain Villa Dr.
• Ledge Mountain Dr.
• Cat Mountain Dr.

So, as you can tell from my incredibly subtle bold-italicizing... yesterday was a pretty low-key, flat day. Probably you should just imagine the great plains of Iowa or something.

Here's the elevation chart for my Sunday morning:

Considering I wasn't quite awake yet as I started to climb Mt. Bonnell... I was a bit surprised when I got to the top, so I decided to celebrate with a picture of the view of Lake Austin:

But there's no rest for the weary... after Mt. Bonnell (which is the shaded part of the first bump in the elevation chart), there was a quick decent (which doesn't really make an appearance on the chart) followed by a series of steep but short hills... which basically amount to that last 100ft of climbing.

At that point I'm pretty sure I sent a text to Hillary with something along the lines of: "I'm in pain... and I've only gone 5 miles so far." To which she replied something along the lines of: "Quit being such a girlie man." [Editor's Note: she actually responded with some really flattering and helpful encouragement... I've just found self-deprecation to be a better tool for getting laughs than sincerity, but please don't judge Hillary for my creative liberties.]

I then got a nice little leg break, as I got to descend the Spicewood Spings hill... which I would meet again later, under less favorable circumstances (namely, that I would be starting at the bottom next time).

I then made my way down Highway 360 to Highway 2222 to Jester Rd. This road is one of the biggest hills in the area, and I've never attempted it before. So I started climbing. And strictly for the benefit of my tweeps (and you all!), and certainly not because I needed a break of any sort as I climbed, I snapped a couple photos:

Obligation to my masses of adoring fans completed, I finished up the hill. You can't see it super well in this picture, but on the right hand side of the road are a series of three signs showing that road turns... but if you look closely, you can see they quickly disappear below sight because of the steepness of the hill... to date, I think it's the toughest hill I've climbed.

But having conquered the hill... I was greeted at the top by an old friend from childhood:

So that was cool.

I had a pretty rough decent from the top of Jester... the road I picked (due to ignorance of the route I should have taken) was Beauford. And was super steep, which isn't ideal for a decent. It also had grooves cut into it. Apparently, this helps cars maintain traction on such a steep hill... but for cyclists who are clamping the breaks as hard as possible, and still managing to be descending at 20mph... they don't help traction. In fact, they make your handle bars shake bar and forth incredibly hard to where you don't have control over your steering... and make you decide that if you see a car coming up the hill, that your best bet for not dying is to purposefully try to crash into something other than that car. Luckily... I was able to somehow get myself to the side of the road and stopped and off my bike before a couple cars came driving up the hill. So crisis averted. I walked the rest of the way down.

So I was alive, and uninjured, which probably makes my mom happy. But it also meant I got to keep riding... so, remember my foreshadowing earlier? Spicewood Springs was my last big hill:

It hurt a bit... but I made it. The rest of the ride was kind of a cool-down recovery cruise. Which was good.

So three big hills... not bad for a weekend's work. As I mentioned before the Hill Country Ride for AIDS is this Saturday. I'll try to do a similar live-tweeting thing again, for anyone who's interested in real-time photo and 140-character updates. You can find me @lukechafes, these tweets will also show up on the right-hand side of the blog (but I think you have to refresh the webpage for it to update with the most recent tweets).

Thank you all for your support and putting up with my ramblings about hills and lycra.

If you'd still like to donate to support the Ride and services for those living with HIV and AIDS, there's plenty of time. You can find my donation page here.

Something that's pretty amazing, and totally because of your very generous support so far, I've already cleared my fundraising goal! So thanks a million! Since I've already cleared my goal, I'd encourage anyone still interested in donating to send some love to my Chafing for a Cause teammates Spencer and Bethany, who are still working hard towards their goals. You can find their donation pages here and here, or you can find all our donation pages and updates at the blog.

Thanks again everyone!

Ride Happy,
Luke

When Chafing for a Cause Becomes Soul-Crushing (Strong Headwind Edition)

Riding your bike in 30mph headwinds--with (we think) gusts up to 45 mph--in 90+ degree heat, is a good way to motivate you...

...to give up cycling, eat a gallon of ice cream, and pout.

At least... that's what it made me want to do. There's nothing quite as frustrating as working your butt off going up a half-mile long hill with a 7% grade into a 30mph headwind and looking at your cycle computer to see you're putting out a MONSTROUS ... 9mph.

Oy.

Spencer has a really great post on the day here. It's worth a read because he communicates the utter soul-crushing nature of the day pretty well.

Another way to demonstrate the soul-crushing nature of the day is to show you two pictures. Before the day:

After the day:

You might be tempted to say to yourself, "He chose poorly" (+10 kudos points to he who can name the movie first... the big hint is the shriveled Nazi above) while considering that we rode out with a 30 mph tailwind... the logical corollary being that we were basically asking for it. And you'd be right.

But, being that we're only 20 days away from the Hill Country Ride for AIDS, we decided to test our metal. It was a tough day... but at least we all survived. Mostly thanks to the courageous efforts of Matt and the Glorious PowerAid of Victory he delivered from his SAG wagon (read Spencer's post for details on the SAG wagon). So many thanks to him... we literally had buzzards circling above, and without that liquid gold I think they would have been the victorious ones.

Thank you all again for your support. With 20 days to go, the Hill Country Ride is almost half way to it's goal of raising $500,000 toward services for those living with HIV and AIDS. And because of you, I'm about two thirds of the way to my personal goal! And if you're so inclined, you can donate here.

Thanks again!

Ride Happy,

Luke

Spencer vs. Parmer Lane

With Luke and I in full fund raising and training mode, we got together with Andrew on Saturday to get some miles in. It was a simple proposition: a sub-50 mile ride straight up Parmer Lane and back, starting in Northwest Austin.
We struck out through the tree-lined neighborhood on an idyllic April afternoon. As we meandered out to the roadway, we chatted casually. Luke has just completed training for a half marathon and Andrew is active in two soccer teams. I... ride my bike to work sometimes. It was clear from the very beginning that I would be having a very different day.

We made it to Parmer Lane, with Luke starting out strong, holding down an average pace of 24 miles an hour. Andrew and I were clocking in at 21 miles an hour on average.

Very soon into the ride, it became apparent that casually riding around Austin averaging 15 miles an hour on neighborhood streets is no way to "totally dominate the open road." Clearly I have lost a bit of fitness over the winter. But, I was still enjoying the rolling countryside, the wind at my back, and the sunshine. Little did I know these things would conspire against me in the end.

Okay, at this point I thought the sunshine has become a bit more oppressive, and perhaps I'd get my second wind to catch them at the next light.

Then, there was this hill at about mile 20 where I realized I may not have enough gas in the tank to make it to Andice, Texas - our original destination. When I finally caught up to Luke and Andrew at a T in the road, they were nice enough to turn around a bit before Andice. I thought this would give me a fighting chance. After all, we had hit our turnaround at only about an hour in.

After the turnaround, the temperature had risen to over 91 degrees, and the nice tailwind I was enjoying on the way out was now destroying my dreams, aspirations, and pace. I found myself in my lowest gear, facing the wind and averaging 8 miles an hour with over 15 miles to go. I'm not a math genius, and I had very little oxygen in my brain at the time, but I figured it would take me at least 2 more hours to make it back. I was officially "toast," "hit the wall," and was fearful that my tongue would become sunburned from hanging out of my mouth for 2 hours. There was really only one option for me -the SAG wagon. I called Andrew, who was able to dispatch his roommate to come sweep me off the course.

Having a friend drive 15 miles out in the middle of nowhere to pluck me off the course was not exactly what I had in mind for the ride. Having to choose between sucking up the pride or becoming a human raisin, I had no other option.

With the bike in the back of the trunk, I caught up to Luke and Andrew, dropped off some additional sports drink for them, and headed back to the house.


The course bested me this time. Time to double down on the hard work that makes weekend tours of the Texas Hill Country and raising funds for great causes possible.

A huge thanks to everyone that has contributed and those that have encouraged me to keep working to raise funds to help others.

We have 20 days left and 9% of the goal raised. Make your contribution here.

The Hill Country Ride for AIDS is an annual event to raise funds to support people with HIV/AIDS in the Austin area. Ten organizations are are benefiting from this year's ride that takes place April 30.

Commitment to Fitness (and Chafing!)

First, I would just like to thank everyone who has donated to the cause so far. Even though this is the third time I've done the whole charity ride thing, I continued to be blown away by the generosity of my friends and family. After just one email update, we've already risen $325 toward much-needed services for those living with HIV and AIDS! So thank you again from the bottom of my heart!

I'd also like to give a shout out to Bethany Sims who has joined the Chafing for a Cause team! She's got a great new bike and is using it to chafe for others. Spencer gives her a great introduction, and you can show her some love here!

This last weekend, I was able to get out on a nice little training ride. The weather was great, the traffic was mild and it was just overall, pretty awesome. Mostly, it was awesome because I was able to go out and ride with my Dad! He and my Mom were both in town this last weekend! (And I have to say... I probably gained more weight from all the good food we ate than I lost doing the training ride... and by "probably," I mean: "definitely.")

Because I totally spaced and forgot to take pictures on the ride. I'll have to include a picture from last Fall that I was sent:


Hey... wait a minute... there's waaaaaaaaaay too little lycra in that picture.


Ah, there it is. Much better.

Although, I have to say, while my dad looks quite smashing in his bright yellow lycra Oregon jersey... if you saw him today (and this is really why I should have taken some ride pictures), you might do a double-take.

You see, my Dad made a strong commitment to fitness a year ago... and recently has really started to see some results. So I just wanted to congratulate him on his progress and his commitment, and encourage everyone else to take some time for yourselves, and enjoy the outdoors and a fit lifestyle: it really pays dividends. Whether on a bike or just with a trusty pair of hiking boots, breaking away from the computer screen and getting outside can really brighten your day.

That's basically how this whole project started: I needed an excuse to take care of myself... and like my Dad, I do better with a goal. So I decided on a fitness goal for me, paired with a fundraising goal for others, and one year and about $2,000 fundraised later: here we are.

So, thank you, so much, for your encouragement and support throughout my journey. Congratulations to my Dad for committing and sticking to his own path to fitness. And I would just like to say to anyone considering jumping on the bandwagon (and I know of a few of you reading this who are): it's worth it... and you'll find more support than you would have ever guessed if you just take that first step.

Or you can be lazy like Eddy:


Fix your ear, Eddy!

Sorry... felt like I needed a gratuitous puppy photo in there somewhere. Anywho, thanks again for taking the time to read my blatherings. If you would like to contribute to the cause, you can do so here. As always, you can follow along with the entire Chafing for a Cause team at our blog (you're, uh, already here) at: http://www.chafingforacause.blogspot.com

Ride Happy,
Luke

Un Nuevo Ciclista

Thirteen and three quarters miles, with one hour, nine minutes and forty-five seconds of rolling time, and a maximum speed of twenty three point four miles an hour - myself and our newest Chafer, Bethany completed her first ride as a "cyclist." We woke up early, like real cyclists do. Then, we rode without a specific destination in mind, focused on keeping our pace up, and we even celebrated the hills - all things that run counter to our cycling commuter sensibilities. Hill avoidance, sweat reduction, and constantly mentally calculating whether or not the bus would have been faster usually take up almost all of ones concentration. It is freeing to sit back, relax and enjoy the ride.

We set out with our sites on Shoal Creek, a local mecca for casual riders wanting to get fit.

The streets that run along Shoal Creek feature bike lanes wide enough to ride two-by-two, and on spring mornings, our kind outnumber the cars greatly. Our route is one that I did when I first started riding for reasons other than getting from point A to point B.

And Bethany did a fantastic job of climbing the hills of West Austin. She even had the opportunity to try out her granny gear for the first time. She has ridden 83 miles in the two weeks that she has had her new bike:

The bike, a KHS Flite 220, is seemingly made for her:

• Non-jarring CROMO 4130 frame
• Upright riding position, with the option to tuck and zoom
  
• Indexed STI shifters
• Wide 700x26c urban/road tires

It's a nice upgrade from her previous ride:

(From http://noquedanblogs.com/inspiracion/wouter-mijland/)

Getting in shape to ride for a great cause, or a great cause, hanging out with Bethany, and enjoying the wonderful Austin weather is what weekend mornings are all about.

And getting a workout under your belt in time for neighborhood brunch specials is not too shabby either!