Conference noted::bicycle

Have a good pasta meal on Saturday evening.  Spaghetti and Salad, easy
on the dressing, no alc. beverages. Lotsa water, please, an extra carafe,
perhaps.

ed

    I'll be on this ride too.

    My plan for dealing with the heat is to drink lots of water.  I'll be
    carrying two water bottles, and I'm hoping that there will be
    opportunities to re-fill them during each day's ride.  I'll be trying
    to drink before I'm thirsty, which will probably mean taking a swallow
    of water every 15 minutes or so.

    I may also bike without a shirt on.  This will allow the air I'm
    passing through to cool a greater portion of my body.  But there is a
    problem with this - increased are to get sun-burned.  I'll be using a
    sun-screen with a high SPF even though I tend to tan rather than burn.

    As a member of one of the repair vans (who incedently found out
    yesterday that she has to be in at the starting point by 6:30 AM
    and is not very happy about that) we are praying for rain for the
    trip!
    
    Your trip itinerary tells which rest stops have facilities.  I seem
    to remember that at the least each facility had a hose. 
    
    Be careful of sunburn though -- if you get burnt on Saturday, you
    won't be a happy biker on Sunday.  And the medical people will slap
    your wrist and call you a bad boy.  8*)
    
    		-Nancy

    I'll be on this ride too. As in past years, there will be water &
    and goodies at every 12 to 15 mile checkpoint -- don't pass up the
    chance to refill yourself & your water bottle!
    
    A quick reference -- 15 Ways To Maximize Endurance
    
    1. Drink before your thirsty! 
    2. Avoid dehydration-induced fatigue by drinking before, during
       & after rides!   
    3. ON A WARM DAY DRINK TWO BOTTLES OF LIQUID PER HOUR!
    4. Consider using Sports Drinks. The sugar content can help 
       replenish calories while quenching thirst!
    5. Eat Carbo-rich meals (pasta, rice, etc.) during the 3 days 
       before the event.  Have fruit, oatmeal, cereal, bread for
       breakfast.
    6. Don't eat foods high in sugar just before the event because
       your bodys insulin response may cause weakness & dizziness.
    7. During the ride eat before your hungry.  Bananas (105cal),
       dates (228cal per3oz), and cookies w/dried fruit (63cal)
       are excellent!
    8. Eat lightly but steadily. Stuff your pockets at rest stops,
       not your stomach!
    9. Vary your riding position. Move your hands from drops to 
       lever hoods to top of handlebars. Stand on the pedals and 
       arch your back. Do slow neck rolls and shoulder shrugs to
       prevent upper body stiffness!
    10.Divide the ride into segments, and prepare a strategy for
       each segment!
    11.Don't dwell on fatigue and the miles remaining.  Instead
       concentrate on form, efficiency of motion, eating and
       drinking adequately. Rest if necessary, but don't stop
       more than 10 minutes.
    12.Make sure the bike is properly geared for the course. Ask
       the ride organizer or someone who ridden the route for 
       advice. (I'll be riding 12-23 53/42 this year & rode a 
       13-24 52/42 last year)  
    13.Wear cycling shoes that fit comfortably, cycling shorts 
       with chamois, and padded cycling gloves.  Sunglasses
       protect the eyes & reduce fatigue from glare.
    14.Ride with a friend who has a similar time goal. The 
       companionship will help the miles pass more quickly!
    15.When the going gets tough, take a tip from RAM veteran
       Michael Shermer and tell yourself -- "I can do it.
       Thousands of other cyclists have faced these same 
       difficulties, and they overcame them. I can succeed too!"
    
    (from Bicycling Magazine - 8/87 - by Fred Zahradnik)
    

    	The primary problem on a hot day is keeping your body's core
    temp. down.  Sweating does this. But the more heat you generate,
    the more/faster you have to sweat.  So, to keep things reasonable,
    keep your bodies heat output down to lower than normal levels. 
    This means SLOW DOWN just a bit.  The difference between a 5 hour
    75 miler and a 5.5 hour ride is very large re. heat output. Save
    your "personal best" efforts for a comfortable day. - Chris

re: .4 I have heard that "the body can only absorb 800 ml of liquid per hour"
which is about one large waterbottleful.  I originally read the "bottle
per half hour" rule of thumb when all bottles were small -- about 500
to 550 ml.  So do not be surprised if you cannot absorb two large bottles
per hour and feel bloated after 4 or five hours.  On the other hand
you can lose 1800 ml per hour through various means.  So do slow down
and enjoy yourself.

Of course, your mileage may vary, lower in California.

ed

< Note 760.2 by STARCH::WHALEN "I'll be biking for MS on July 9&10" >


>    I may also bike without a shirt on.  This will allow the air I'm
>    passing through to cool a greater portion of my body.  But there is a
>    problem with this - increased are to get sun-burned.  I'll be using a
>    sun-screen with a high SPF even though I tend to tan rather than burn.

I don't know if this is a good idea.  If the sun-screen you'll be using 
inhibits your sweating at all, you could be in trouble.  I'd suggest wearing a 
very light, light colored, relatively loose-fitting shirt.  This will protect
you from sunburn, reflect light (and heat), and allow the breeze to cool you. 

Kevin

    Re riding without a shirt to allow the air to cool a greater portion
    of your body.  Last night on the news a Public Health Official was
    warning people of the danger of using a fan to cool down when the temp 
    approaches 100.  It seams as though the fast moving hot air actually causes
    the internal body temp to rise when the outside air gets much above
    body temp 98+.  I don't know if this applies but I would think the
    results would be compounded by physical excersion.                     
         

    I did this ride last year, and the weather was pretty similar to
    the current forecast: hazy, hot and humid. My suggestions are:
    
    	1) Lots of water at each rest stop. They're very conveniently
    located at 12 - 15 mile intervals. I recall drinking 4 - 5 glasses
    at each stop and not even needing to think about a pit stop for
    the whole ride!
    
    	2) Resist the temptation to take a big lunch and lunch break.
    I made the mistake of stopping for 45 minutes or so and eating several
    (!) sandwiches/drinking a can of Coke. The 60 minutes after lunch
    were pure torture! Little and light for lunch is the rule, and no
    Cokes!
    
    	3) The hills are close to the end of the first day, so save
    a bit for then.
    
    	Enjoy the ride. The scenery is varied and pleasant, and the
    whole thing is VERY well organised.
    
    Regards,
    Alan Kett

I've found that if you sweat a lot the energy drinks are pretty much 
essential to completing a long ride. My personal favorite is ERG, but I 
just tried some stuff called EXCEED (?) which has promise. These both 
seem to do a good job of replacing the electrolytes (salt) that you 
sweat away. If you lose a significant portion of your electrolytes, your 
nervous system sorta starts malfunctioning and drinking water, or orange 
juice, can actually make things worse. The energy drinks help to restore 
the salt balance. Gatorade, BTW, has a very poor proportion of sodium / 
potassium, and works rather marginally for this purpose. I used to come 
back from long hot rides with a layer of salt crystals on my skin, but 
the ERG kept me from feeling bad. I also made the drinks up a bit more 
diluted than they recommend on the package, or drank every other bottle 
with plain water. Straight E-drink for the whole ride was too much.

As for alcohol, it does an amazing job of reducing your heat tolerance; 
an article in BICYCLING (maybe) years back mentioned that 2 beers in an 
evening would reduce your heat tolerance for up to 2 WEEKS! I don't 
recall the explanation for this, but it seems to work that way to some 
degree anyway.

                            ken(10-hot-summers-riding-in-Maryland)

Well, I made it! Thanx to all for help. I wanted to try some of the
sport drinks (Exceed etc...) but having never tried any of them before
hand, I didn't want any unexpected side effects. I stuck with two bottles
of water and a large bottle of Gatoraide. I would refill the water bottles
at the rest stops when necc. The heat on Sat. definately takes a toll if
you try to push too hard. I stopped once on the side of the road because
I felt like I was burning up. Of the six of us, five made the trip with
no problems phisically. A friend of mine had to stop with a mere 4 miles
left because his legs went into spasms. But he was the only one who didn't
finish his Gatoraide. It was also nice to talk some of you whom I've been
reading about! 

Next step = my first full century!!
Mano


p.s. Please post how you did and how you felt the trip went, I had
     a great time and was pleased with the all the services offered.
     Definately on the schedule for next year.

    I made it too.  It was definately hot out there, but for the most
    part I felt like I ate and drank properly for the ride.  I did seem
    to get tired after about the 60 mile point on both days.  I'm wondering
    if that was due to the heat or the fact that my body may have been getting
    it's energy from a less efficient source after having run out of
    glycogen/glucose.  Or, it could be that I was just tired because
    It was my first long ride of the season.
    
    I was impressed by how well organized the event was and I look forward
    to doing it again next year.  I also enjoyed the route.  I've never
    cycled through that area (Essex County, Maine coast) and it was
    very picturesque.
    
    Phil

    Add another "I made it."
    
    This was my first ride of a distance such as this, and I wasn't certain
    how well I would do in it.  I did set a goal for what I wanted my
    average speed to be (for the time spent riding), and I was able to meet
    that.
    
    Saturday I did not drink enough water, so I tried to drink twice as
    much on Sunday.  Sunday wasn't any easier, but it wasn't significantly
    more difficult either.  I stuck to straight water (which everyone
    seemed to be getting tired of at the end), and ate some fruit at each
    rest stop.  I had no electrolite imbalence problems.
    
    I too enjoyed the route.  I've never traveled in that area, and I think
    that some of the route could not be enjoyed if you are traveling in a
    (fast moving) car.
    
    Rich

    I also participated in the Great Mass Getaway and had a great time.
    The organizers of this event should be commended for doing such
    a good job. It certainly helped having water/snack stops every 13-15
    miles with the heat coming at us from all sides. Their proficiency
    helped make the heat more tolerable. Unfortunately some of us missed
    the last water stop on Saturday (we arrived just before the water) and
    were weaving across the road as we entered Durham, NH, our destination.
    A quick stop at a Cumberland Farms and large quaffs of Gatoraide
    brought us back to our senses. I think Matt Johnson's mouth has direct
    access to his stomach, I've never seen anyone "pour" a quart of liquid
    down their throat!
    
    On top of all the fun we raised money for a good cause, Multiple
    Sclerosis, and met a lot of good people. I would recommend this
    trip to anyone.
    
    Jonathan
    

    For a variety of reasons, I was a little late Saturday, so we
    started off at about 7:40, near the end of the first pack of riders.
    The first job we had was threading our way through the wild
    assortment of bikes and riders.  There were Fat Chance mountain
    bikes, Cilos, Kliens, and K-Mart specials.  Some folks looked like
    they'd never ridden more than ten miles before; others were
    obviously triathletes on an extended training ride. 

    Even this early, the air was muggy.  Phil Johnson, Jonathan Bush,
    and I had decided to ride fast and take short stops, so we would be
    off the road before the heat became torturous.  Once we got free of
    the crowd, we did just that, averaging about 20 mph for the first
    hour or two. 

    Phil gave me a lot of grief about my "toolkit," a bright blue orlon
    sock I had stuffed with pliers, a spare tubular, spoke wrench and
    other junk.  Since my psychedelic tie-die t-shirt didn't have
    pockets, and I didn't own a bike bag of any kind, I had to carry it
    in the waistband of my shorts. "Maybe you'll start a new fashion
    trend," he mused.  Meanwhile, the valve stem from the spare ground
    against my lower back, "rubbing it in," as they say. "I guess I'm a
    just cheapskate when it comes to clothes" was all I could reply. (I
    left the sock with a medical support guy at the first checkpoint.
    What a relief!) 

    By the time we got to Portsmouth, we were among the first five
    riders. Much to our chagrin, the drawbridge to Kittery was up.  We
    waited ten minutes or so for a rustbucket cargo ship to go by,
    serenaded by a Monte Carlo with a megawatt stereo. When the
    drawbridge came back down, all the smart people (meaning: not us)
    crossed on the wooden sidewalk.  We on the road got treated to the
    first of many open metal bridge surfaces on the course.  I didn't
    feel especially secure on my high pressure slicks crossing it, not
    because it was slippery, but because I couldn't help thinking what
    would happen if I fell on the serrated grating. 

    I roared past the lunch stop at 10:20, thinking it was just another
    checkpoint. I was just getting into the groove of a fast pull; it
    was hard to stop.  I had to admit that the turkey pita sandwich,
    banana, and cranberry juice tasted good, though, and it wasn't long
    before we were on the road again. 

    Now we were in the middle of York Beach.  Thousands of
    sun-worshippers were just arriving, and they all seemed to be
    opening their car doors at once. Gliding slowly between the parked
    cars and standing traffic, we had time to digest our lunch. 

    Then came my favorite part of the ride.  The arrow markers sent us
    down this little twisty road along the shore.  I accelarated in one
    of my incessant attempts to turn my Olmo into a Ducati, and leaned
    hard through the corners. "He thinks he's in Italy," I heard Phil
    mutter to Jonathan behind me, as they pushed to keep up. 

    I was suitably inspired to pull another five miles or so. I fell
    into one of those endorphin trances mis-named "runner's high."
    Finally, as we turned west towards New Hampshire, into a hot
    headwind, Phil pulled up beside me and said "Would you like me to
    pull for awhile?" "Oh. Yeah." I answered, waking up. Suddenly, I
    realized I was TIRED.  It was getting hotter.  The road was
    straight, and the hills were progressively longer.  We started
    running short on water.  Thirteen miles from the end, we started
    looking for the last checkpoint, but it hadn't opened yet.  My
    bottle was dry and there were ten miles to go. 

    Nearing the finish, we couldn't stand it any longer; we pulled into
    a Cumberland Farms and each bought a quart of Gatorade. I drained
    mine in thirty seconds.  The relief was immediate: I could feel my
    body temperature drop by whole degrees.  Five minutes later, we
    pulled into UNH, where, inevitably, there was a stand giving away
    free Gatorade!  It didn't matter, we decided, we couldn't have made
    it that last mile without drinking what we did. 

    We had assumed we had been the first to finish, but there were two
    guys sprawled out under a tree nearby, wearing bike shorts and
    mirrored sunglasses.  Maybe they hadn't been stopped by the
    drawbridge....  Our average speed (including checkpoint stops, but
    not including the drawbridge or lunch) was 18.8 mph. 

    [I'll let somebody else talk about Sunday. I have work to do!]
    
    
    MATT

    I had the pleasure of riding with Johnson, Johnson, & Bush for the
    first 30 or so miles, caught up with them at the famed "serrated
    draw bridge" where they quickly pulled away, and met again at the
    45 mile Nubble Lighthouse lunch checkpoint.  They were not to be
    seen again until I arrived at the UNH finish -- they were terrific!  
    
    This was my third year, and once again I enjoyed the route, the food,
    the ice cream, and the support along the way!
    
               The event had 18 Digital employees riding . . . 
               from 9 different DEC locations . . .
               who raised, (when we collect our pledges),
               approximately $10,000 including DEC Matching Gifts!
             
    and the riders were . . .
    
    MET - Matt Johnson     SHR - Mano Chinnaswamy   OGO - Mark Phillips
    YWO - Jonathan Bush    SHR - Rich Whalen        OGO - Marion Blackshear
    MRO - Phil Johnson     LMO - Fred Fisher        OGO - George Kontulis
    MRO - Alan LaValley    DLB - Chuck Kiezulas     OGO - Daniel Bonner
    WJO - Hilary ODonnell  OGO - Gary Kenefick      OGO - David Salter
    MLO - Kathy Gossett    OGO - Mike Tuomi         OGO - Steve Baker

    
    
    Add one more DEC rider to the list.  I had a great time, met lots
    of nice people, enjoyed the scenery and rode my longest distances
    to date.  I feel as though a century is now in my future.
    
    Thanks to everyone who gave suggestions for how to handle the heat,
    etc.  I was nervous about that, but all the advice helped.  I drank
    a lot of water and didn't find the heat that unbearable.  (I even
    got a fairly late start both days.)
    
    If anyone is interested, there is a three day ride in the fall on the 
    Cape for the Lung Association that I hear is fun.
    
    Regards,
    Nancy

    Well, I made it for a second year riding in a repair van.  I want
    to commend most of the riders for leaving their K-Mart specials
    at home this year -- there were considerably less of these this
    year than last year.  Our big problem this year -- experienced cyclists
    who went out and bought brand new bikes on Friday to take on the
    trip of Saturday.  The high point of my day was teaching some woman
    how to shift gears before the tour started on Saturday.
    
    The tour seemed very well organized this year, and more cyclists
    were able to deal with their own mechanical problems.  I wish there
    was a way to wean out the people who aren't cyclists, but went on
    the trip since it was "a good cause".   I appreciate their efforts,
    but I hate working on their bikes!
    
    As for my times -- 8 hours on Saturday
                       6 hours on Sunday
    
    Hopefully next year I will be riding, and I'll let someone else
    fix my bike!
    
    	-Nancy