Determined to Have a Good Time

A few weeks ago, Robert and I went for a dirt road ride in the Piedmont Wildlife Refuge (PWR).  The PWR is one of my favorite places, especially for riding.  It was a longish ride, and I was glad Robert had decided to come with me.  I was focused on the ride, going at a good tempo.  After a while, Robert commented, "You have a determined look on your face."  I laughed and said, "I'm determined to have a good time."  Robert pointed out the double entendre: a good time, as in enjoying myself, and a good time, as in  being fast and competing well.

This made me think about cycling friends who fall into one of these camps exclusively.  Some ride for fun, which is great, but they look down on others who race or even ride hard.  Other friends are so serious about racing/riding hard that they can't adapt to the different dynamics of a good group ride.  I can't imagine making fun of someone for being slower, and I don't think anyone has ever treated me this way.  On the other hand, several times during charity rides, people have made snide remarks as I pass them, even though I think I have always tried to do so courteously and safely. 

I'm determined to have a good time in both senses.  Sometimes I like to ride just to enjoy being outside and feeling all the wonderful sensations of movement and good health.  Other times, I love the challenge of a race or a hard ride with the guys.

In many ways in my life, I think of myself as a bridge, bringing together different perspectives.  For example, I'm quite familiar with "the two Georgias" because I grew up in a big city (Atlanta), but I've lived about half my life in a rural area (Monticello).  Often, I've been the only or one of a few women in a group of men (e.g, engineering and cycling).  Also, for me, science and faith are not incompatible because they answer different questions.

Therefore, I'm determined to have a good time.  Maybe this will be my secondary life motto after Expect Adventure :)

QOM Hunting

For the past couple of weeks, I've been trying for some nearby QOMs.  It started when I was about to go to bed one weeknight.  As I plugged in my phone to charge overnight, a bunch of Strava notifications popped up.  Another cyclist had stolen four of my QOMs in a single ride!  Arrgh!  Not a very restful way to try to get to sleep, but I did my best to put it out of my mind for the moment.  Come Saturday, though, I would be on a mission to reclaim my QOMs!

Putnam Metric

I didn't have an organized or group ride planned for the next Saturday - a rarity.  So, I mapped out a 100K route.  It would be my first time using Strava segments with my new Wahoo, the replacement for the one that got fried in Tropical Storm Claudette during the Solstice 300K.  I starred the four segments on which the QOMs had so unceremoniously been snatched from me.  They were all in the Stanfordville area.  I also starred a segment on Church Street in Eatonton.  I had had this segment on my radar screen for a while.  I had never made a particular effort on it, and the QOM seemed easily within reach - until this same rival queen got it on the same ride where she stole my four existing QOMs.  Game on!

First up was a stop at the Monticello farmers market.  I bought one of Laverne's fried peach pies for bike food and put it in my jersey pocket.  Then, I headed east toward Putnam County.

Although it was a fairly hot day, I enjoyed the ride.  I pedaled on familiar, quiet, and beautiful roads.  I kept up a moderate, steady pace and anticipated the start of my Strava segments roughly halfway into my ride.  The first four - the ones I needed to reclaim - lay on an out-and-back stretch on my route.  I rode southwest on Glenwood Springs Road and turned left just past the bridge onto Stanfordville Road.  The countdown started for the Stanfordville Full segment...go!

I rode as hard as I could until Stanfordville Road ended at Rabbit Skip Road, catching glimpses of my progress on the live segment on my Wahoo.  I got the QOM for Stanfordville Full!  I was pretty sure I got the QOM for Stanfordville Hill, too, which was a subset of Stanfordville Full.  However, Stanfordville Hill hadn't shown up on my screen, and so I would have to wait until I got home to verify if I got that segment.

I turned around and enjoyed riding back on Stanfordville Road in the direction I usually ride it.  It's mostly downhill going back toward Glenwood Springs with some fun, swoopy sections.  That also gave me a short breather before my next two Strava segments on Glenwood Springs: Out of Stanfordville and Up to Folds.

That's when I noticed that my starred segments weren't showing up correctly on my Wahoo.  Before my ride I had synched my Wahoo and verified that all my starred segments were there.  A starred segment is supposed to show up when you're within a mile of its start.  Why wasn't I seeing the approach to Out of Stanfordville?  Also, it didn't show up as a live segment while I was riding it.  The same thing happened on Up to Folds.  All I could do was to ride hard back up Glenwood Springs, guesstimating the start and end of both segments.

Next, I got to ride a little easier for a few miles into Eatonton.  I turned off of Glenwood Springs onto Loblolly Road.  This is a segment that I've tried to get several times, but I'm currently 1 second off the QOM!  I didn't try for it this time.  I've decided that I need to get Robert to go back over there and lead me out so that I can get that one.  Loblolly is a nice road.  This time I got to enjoy the scenery rather than feeling like my lungs and head were about to explode.

After another mile or two, it was time for my final Strava segment for the day: Church Street.  It didn't show up as a live segment on my Wahoo either, and so I just rode hard from Highway 441 to Oak Way.  Did I get the QOM?  Again, I'd have to wait until I got home.

Time for a break!  I rode about a mile into town and stopped at Eatonton Presbyterian Church for water, where I have stopped before.  I was grateful for a refill.  A friend greeted me at the outdoor spigot.

Eastern lubber grasshopper

I sat on a nearby bench under a shady tree to drink some water and eat my fried pie.  Refreshed, I was ready to get back on the road.  But first, I had to get a photo of this sign at the Putnam County Library adjacent to the church.  I love Little Free Libraries and was happy to see that so many exist in Putnam County.

I had completed all my QOM attempts for the day, and so it was easier riding for the second half.

When I got home, I was eager to upload my ride to Strava.  I got three of the five QOMs - not bad!  I knew I had gotten Stanfordville Full and received confirmation that I also got Stanfordville Hill.  I got the Church Street segment, too - by only four seconds.  Out of Stanfordville and Up to Folds were a bummer.  I was sure I could have gotten them if I could have seen when the segments started and ended.  I'd just have to make another trip over to Stanfordville.

Sunday Afternoon Dirt

The next day I decided to ride dirt...and try for a few more QOMs.  There's one that I've been wanting to go for called Gunn Drag.  It's a slight climb, 1.8%, for almost 2 1/2 miles.  As I was planning my route, I looked for other nearby Strava segments.  It's kind of a game to get as many QOMs near my house as possible.  I noticed a couple of others to go for on Monroe Tyler Road: Speed Wobbles and Up, Up and Away We Go.  So, I planned a moderate route with an out-and-back spur to include these two additional segments.

I hadn't been able to determine why all my starred segments hadn't shown up the previous day.  For this dirt ride, I double checked that the three segments I was going for were starred and that Strava had synched with my Wahoo.  Everything looked good to go.

No problem on Gunn Drag: although I left a piece or two of lung along that stretch, I got the QOM by more than a minute.  I continued on my route and turned onto Monroe Tyler Road.  Alas, the same thing happened as the day before; I didn't see the other two segments as I approached them.  Because of this and because I was a little fatigued after the previous day's effort, I decided not to go for Speed Wobbles or Up, Up and Away We Go that day.

Unexpected QOM

I've been making a halfhearted attempt at mountain biking.  You'd think it would be pretty much like road biking or certainly dirt road riding.  It's not.  It's a significantly different sport.  Robert has been doing a lot of MTBing and has gotten pretty decent at it.  As part of that process, he has developed a series of trails behind our house.  They go on our property as well as cousins' property (with their permission, of course).

Hiking the trails is way more relaxing to me than MTBing on them, but I'm game for trying to develop a new skill.  Last Friday, I worked late and figured that one MTB loop on our trails would be a good, quick workout afterwards.

About a mile into my ride, I felt like I was riding a lot more smoothly than usual.  That translates to going faster, too.  Maybe I'm making some progress on MTBing!  Then, as I was going up a moderate climb, I tried to downshift.  Something was stuck.  I tried another time or two but still couldn't shift.  So, I got off my bike to check it out.  My chain was broken!  At least it was only a single link, which is easily fixable.  A stick must have gotten caught in the chain.

I had to hoof it back to the house.  Nevertheless, it was a beautiful evening to be out.

As I got closer to the house, I saw this sweet fawn grazing.

She probably would have stayed a lot longer, but after I watched her for several minutes, I needed to continue on the path.  She let me get closer than I expected but eventually ran away.

When I uploaded my 1.19-mile ride, I had gotten a QOM!  That's pretty funny.  I think I'm the only female who has ridden the trails behind our house.

D'oh!

Amazingly, I had another unscheduled Saturday this past weekend.  I decided to ride another 100K and go back for Out of Stanfordville and Up to Folds.  It was like deja vu all over again as I started out with a trip to the farmers market.  However, from there I took a different route to Stanfordville so that the two segments would be along the way without any backtracking.

This time I saw the approach to Out of Stanfordville and saw the live segment as I rode it.  I got the QOM!  Up to Folds starts very soon thereafter, but - dagnabbit - just like the previous week, it didn't show up on my Wahoo!  All I could do was go hard and guesstimate yet again.

I had an added bit of excitement.  Shortly after the Strava segments, I noticed that my back tire was going flat - not a good time to realize that I hadn't brought a repair kit.  Robert was mountain biking in North Georgia, and so I couldn't call him.  I could have called someone else, but I decided to try riding home.  The tire was only soft; maybe it would hold out.  I shortened my route as much as I could and rode very easily the rest of the way home.  The tire definitely was flat when I got there.  I was very grateful to make it OK.  The wheel itself seemed fine, too.

I missed the QOM on Up to Folds by 2 seconds - gaaaa!  Maybe the third visit to Stanfordville will be the charm.  I know I can get that QOM if I have the live segment.

So why was my Wahoo still only showing the first starred segment but not any subsequent ones?  Time for some research.

The only potential solution I found online was to log out of my Wahoo account on my phone app, log back in, turn my Wahoo off and then back on, and then toggle off and on all the Strava live segment options on my phone app.  Essentially, I rebooted all the connections between Wahoo and Strava.

I learned something else notable during my research.  Strava blocks live segments steeper than -0.25%.  That's for safety reasons because some people will take serious risks to get the KOM/QOM on a downhill segment.  I don't mind that restriction because I'm more interested in climbs.  Besides, Queen of the Mountain implies a climb, not a descent.  At least that explains why Speed Wobbles (-4.3%) didn't show up as a live segment on the previous Sunday's dirt road ride.

More Sunday Dirt

Yesterday I opted for another dirt ride and still more QOM attempts to see if I had fixed my Wahoo issue.  Because I'd had to slightly curtail my 100K the day before, I wanted a fairly long dirt ride.  Of course, I'd go back for Speed Wobbles and Up, Up and Away We Go on Monroe Tyler Road.  I needed more total miles, though.  Where would be fun to ride?  I found another segment to go for, Holloway Hollow CW.  This would be a good connector from some great dirt roads north of Monticello back toward Monroe Tyler Road.  Then, I noticed a segment I had never ridden before, Champion Road CW.  This looked very attainable and would involve only a short out-and-back.

So, I had four QOMs to go for: Holloway Hollow CW, Champion Road CW, Speed Wobbles and Up, Up and Away We Go, respectively.  The first and third wouldn't show up as live segments because they were descents.  However, both the second and fourth should show up if all the rebooting and toggling had worked.

The first segment, Holloway Hollow CW, was about 11 miles into my ride.  There was no countdown to the start, which I was expecting because it was a descent.  I knew that the segment was essentially the entire length of the road, and so as soon as I made the turn, I started going hard.  I gave it my best effort throughout.  Then, I had to wait until I got home to see if I got the QOM.

Next up was Champion Road CW.  The plan was to ride this segment, hopefully getting the QOM.  More importantly, though, was to see if Up, Up and Away We Go would show up as a live segment later in my ride.  Things didn't go according to plan.  I couldn't find Champion Road CW!  It was the weirdest thing.

According to the maps I had checked beforehand, Champion Road connects Thomason Road and Highway 11.  I had seen the Highway 11 end of Champion Road many times before.  However, I had never ridden down Thomason Road that I could remember, even in a car.  As I pedaled down Thomason Road, my Wahoo signaled the approach to the Champion Road CW segment when I got within a mile - so far, so good.  When the countdown gets to 0.1 mile, the countdown switches to feet: 900s, 800s, 700s, etc.  I was primed for the signal...go!

The segment started on Thomason Road.  I figured it must continue onto Champion Road, but I couldn't find Champion Road!  I continued riding on Thomason Road.  The segment went away.  Hmmm.  I turned around and went back.  I saw the approach to the segment again, but I still didn't see Champion Road.

I checked Google Maps and then the map on my Wahoo.  I could see where the road was supposed to be.  It looked like someone's driveway, but I wasn't sure.  I decided to try it anyway.  About 100 feet later, I noticed a sign that read, "No Through Traffic."  This must be the road after all.  So, I took off!  But the segment went away again.  I rode a short distance but decided that it wasn't worth it.  Apparently, the only way to access this segment is via Platform 9 3/4.

It was another five or so miles of stress-free riding until the next segments on Monroe Tyler Road.  I knew I wouldn't see the approach to Speed Wobbles, a descent, and so I had to estimate the start location.  I started going hard.  The end of the segment is at the bottom of a hill, where a bridge crosses Kinard Creek.  Then, Up, Up and Away We Go picks up immediately.

I did get the countdown to Up, Up and Away We Go.  Even so, because I hadn't been able to find the Champion Road CW segment, I still didn't know if I had fixed the Wahoo issue of seeing only the first starred segment.  No time to think about that now, though.  I climbed Up, Up and Away We Go as hard as I could.  It's an average 3.8% climb for nearly a mile.  It was tough, but I got the QOM!

The hard work was over, and so I got to simply enjoy the rest of the ride home, about 13 more miles.  It was a lot cooler than the day before because Tropical Storm Fred was moving closer.  The overcast day had that late-summer, warm, melancholy feeling that's common during hurricane season.

QOM report: I got Holloway Hollow CW!  I missed the QOM on Speed Wobbles by 4 seconds - oh, well.  And I got the QOM on Up, Up and Away We Go!  Not only that, I also beat the KOM on Up, Up and Away We Go!  That more than makes up for missing Speed Wobbles.

After all this, I'm still not sure if the starred segment issue has been resolved on my Wahoo.  Guess I'll have to do some more field research.

I don't want to get too hung up on QOMs, but they definitely make good intensity training.  Overall, I'm determined to have a good time.  More on that next :)