The Sunday Stew Road Ride

For anyone interested in a little motivation and training through the winter, I will be starting a biweekly ride this Sunday, leaving from my house in Bann, at 9:00. It's a road ride and will be a steady pace of about 17 m.p.h. There will be 3 KOM and 2 Sprint zones. The ride is right at 45 miles and should take about 2.5 - 3 hours to complete. This ride is aimed at serious recreational riders and racers looking for winter training. The plan is for a group which can maintain a consistent pace with accelerations on the climbs and sprints. After the ride there will be beef stew served over egg noodles and drinks for anyone who gives me a heads up that they want food, so plan on pitching in a couple of bucks to cover eats. Chad was kind enough to record a GPS map of the route and elevation profile linked below. Send me a message for my address.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/54713852?sms_ss=facebook&at_xt=4cca64480508641c%2C0

I Will have to let you know if I can join in later. You go right by my house when you come into Stelzenberg. Might just tag on when you get to the top of the hill. I will let you know.

I'm a definite for this Sunday...hope to see some of you out there...rain or shine!

I will be there! Rain, snow, sleet or hail we are going right?

That is the plan all throughout the winter. If it gets to the point where it is not rideable or dangerous we will do an alternate route/ride with mtb or cross bikes.

I am not sure exactly what time we will be coming through Stelzenberg but you are more than welcome to join us there. That is not one of the KOM points so it should be a group going up the climb. You are also welcome to still ride over for stew at the end.

What's KOM?

King of the mountains

I will be at your house at 8:45 to have a wet ride.

See you then. I went out for a mtb ride today and it was pretty wet. It should be just as wet and a little colder. I sent you a message with my address.

Great ride, 45 miles. I will posh my gps route later since I made a wrong turn at the top of the first big climb.

Great stew and cookies after the ride thanks Eric and Jen!

See you in two weeks

So, who's the KOM for this week??? Enquiring minds want to know...

I am and that's because I made the wrong turns and had no body to contend with. Just kidding. It was between Velodoc and Slim83, and one other I don't know his username.

How many folks showed up? Sounds like it was a good time.

The inaugural stew ride rolled out of Bann with 5 riders prepared to brave the dreary, winter, German weather. Rain and cold were in the forecast and the chances of actually seeing the sun were zero.

Through Queidersbach, we discussed the route, the weather and the many, many sounds of Jim’s bike. He would drop back and talk, roll back up and there would be a new one. Squeek, Squak, Swoosh, Click, Clack. At this point, I realized there would be no sneak attack from Jim on the climbs, and I was actually a little curious what sounds could be made if he wound it up for a sprint. Only time would tell.

As we made our way to Stelzenberg, we would see the first splinter of the group. This was not a KOM zone and the idea was to roll up it as a group, but anybody who has climbed up to Stelzenberg from any direction knows there is not an easy way to do it. We regrouped at the top and began the cold descent down into the next valley.

The group rolled through the valley on the stretch that led to the first KOM. We took turns rotating on the front gradually rolling up hill. This would be the second and final split of the group. Not realizing we had lost two, we trucked on. Jim had laid back to make sure Brad was alright, and then began the chase to the group.

We made the turn for the first KOM and began the climb. We discussed waiting to see if Jim was on his way but after a vote a little more organized than a Wed. night RACC meeting we pressed on. We went up the climb at a steady pace and decided we would make this a neutral zone due to the confusion of earlier.

Now one KOM passed with no leader designated, we descended into the next valley towards the first sprint. As we made our way down the winding road the group dodged the smashed toad carcasses scattered about. We neared the first sprint zone and no one was feeling too frisky so the three riders rolled on through. It turned out to be a good thing because I had not realized the sign was next to a church and there was new road furniture scattered about on each side. Anyone who has spent enough time in Germany knows that while you will never see a German J-walk, they have no problem parking their cars wherever they feel like it.

The next climb was pretty uneventful. I picked up a few KOM points with Chad in tow, followed up by Justin. We descended into the next valley and began our journey to the final climb of the day. As we turned on the road towards Johaniskruez, Chad took a flyer. Justin and I talked as Chad tapped out a steady rhythm and began to pull away. I didn’t think too much of it, expecting him to get tired, bored, or lonely on the 5-mile trek to the top. It soon became apparent that he really had no intention of allowing it to come to a climbing duel. He soloed to the top taking final honors on the last and biggest climb of the day.

With the group pretty much blown up we followed the smell of stew and fresh baked cookies back to the house. The only thing really going through my mind was beer and getting my feet out of the puddles of water my shoes had collected over the trip. We finally caught up with Jim, and in an effort to head us off he zig-zagged around the route missing us by a few minutes at a couple locations. I never got to hear the full extent of the sounds of his bike, but all in all it was a great ride for the first time. There are a few kinks still to be worked out with the zones but the tally is as follows.

KOM 1- neutral
KOM 2- Slim, Little Lance, *Crossed up, ** Squeeky
KOM 3- Little Lance, Slim, *Crossed up, *** Squeeky

*- Completed ride on Cross bike with Knobies
**- Not sure if Jim went up the climb
***- Sounds like Jim went down the climb and back up it before we even got to it

Riders- Chad, Justin, Jim, Erik, Brad

11/7/10 2:45:17

Next ride is Nov. 21, hope to see you out there.

Good stuff, THX for sharing...

I don't know about "Little Lance"...he's both shorter and lighter than me!! Anyway, great ride and nice time at Erik and Jen's for eats...thanks all. Put this ride on your calendar for the next 5 months if you want to get stronger.

Here is the Map of the route that I did. I should have kept going down and I would have meet you guys. I still got a good ride in.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/56105179

I will have to memorize the route and give you guys my cell phone number but I plan to try this ride next time...

Sounds like fun

don't memorize the route I posted above because it's not total correct!!

Hope to see on the next ride

It is that time of the week. If you plan on eating let me know so we have enough. I think there might be a shorter version in the works as well, but that is TBD. Hope to see you out there.

About what time do you guys roll through Stelzenberg? I'm looking at meeting up w/you there.

I will have to have somebody check their GPS to be sure, but I want to say around 9:30. I will get back to on that or maybe someone can chime in.

The GPS is above and it looks like around 30-35 minutes from Bann depending on the Speed. I would say 9:25 to 9:35. Let us know for sure if you are coming and we ensure we wait for you at the Fire station on the top of the climb.

Bye the I am in and eating the stew!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OK, I'll be there by 0930....if I am not there don't wait. I am grossly out of shape so it'll be a death march for me!

Looks like it will be chilly, but sunny. I am planning on riding this one. What is the address of the start in Bann? Later.