2 Wheels

Rip Van Insect

2011-07-03T17:18:00.002-04:00

Yes, I am still here and still riding, although, as you can see from the mileage log over there, nowhere near as much as before. There are reasons (and not excuses). So much has changed in the past few months, from losing the job at the place I spent 39 years working at, to almost immediately finding a far better job someplace else (and questioning why I spent so much time with, uh, losers), and so much more... Blogging has not been high on the list of things for me to do. I have kept riding, though, except for that brief period when my health insurance lapsed while I was between jobs. It is the one constant. Maybe, as things finally settle, I can relay the things that have happened lately. Sometimes I have to pinch myself to make sure I am not dreaming all of this.

Anyway, that slightly strange looking guy up there - he's a Cicada. He, and his relatives emerge every 13 years to do, well, whatever insects that sleep for thirteen years do -PARTY, I'd imagine. But, what they also do , when you hit them while riding a bike, is HURT, as I discovered multiple times today.

Later....

Half a Mile

2010-09-26T17:48:00.003-04:00

This morning my coffee sipping and watching of the pre-race show for the Singapore Formula One race was interrupted by the sound of police sirens and the ensuing insistent barking of Logan (our newest adoptee, not reported on here - yet). The sirens stopped nearby, Logan quieted down, and, thankful for the quiet, and not really caring what all the ruckus was about, I went back to watching TV. The race was terrific.

Following the race, I went out and rode a quick 24.4 miles, then, around 2:00, left to take Colin to Randleman for his ride back to UNCC. As soon as we turned onto the highway we saw about six police vehicles, plus a firetruck in the other lane.

They were there for this. Less than a half mile from my house.

What can I say?

Did it again.

2010-07-29T21:05:00.003-04:00

This evening's weather forecast was the same as yesterday's - 40% chance of thunderstorms. The difference was that, while yesterday it was overcast, spitting rain, looking like storms could break out any moment, the temp was 88 degrees, and the Weather Channel said it felt like 95, today was nearly cloud free, with intense sunshine, temp was actually 95 degrees and felt at least that. Don't know what the air quality was, but it couldn't have been too bad since i didn't really notice any problems. So, I got in another 23 miles. I realize how much I've missed riding frequently, so I have to find the time.

I tried a new route tonight that left out the road where I was attacked by a dog last night, and ridiculed by its owner. I guess I'm going to have to report it to animal control since it cuts out a huge area I normally ride in, and the next person might not be as assertive as me with an attacking dog and could really get hurt.

Here is the dog. I don't know about you, but if someone came to me and told me my dog had chased them and bitten them my reaction wouldn't be to tell that person they should not have been on the public highway.

VERIFIED

2010-07-28T20:33:00.002-04:00

As noted in my last post, a variety of things have conspired to give me some excuses for not riding. There have only been 15 rides since the first of June for a total of 479 miles. Foremost among the excuses has been the weather. Well, tonight, the air quality wasn't too bad, temp only about 90, humidity 61, and thunderstorms pretty far away according to the radar. So, no excuses and a ride took place. It was only 23 miles and I averaged 16.7 (it was 17.4 into the last 2 miles, but being attacked by a rather large dog and taking the time to chase it home and speak to it's owner dropped the average, but that's another, still percolating story).

As always, I took the time to weigh myself before the ride. I do this so I can keep up with my hydration needs, and, of course, gloat at how trim and fit bike riding keeps me. Not tonight, though. Tonight I verified that the same diet that lets me lose weight all summer while riding enough to burn about 10,000 calories a week will not keep me "fit and trim" when I am not riding. There was a winter type weight gain.

So, it looks like I have to ride more or eat less. I think ride more is the answer.

Troubling...

2010-07-24T07:10:00.002-04:00

This seems to be happening far too often lately. Of course there are the usual comments of bikes not belonging on roads, and roads are made for things with motors. Well, they are not. Roads are made to facilitate travel. They are a huge network of public transport, open to whatever mode of travel the law allows. Bikes are specifically included in that.

Also troubling is the comment by the Highway Patrol officer. His statement that the bikers were riding "where they should have been, single file and on the right hand side of the road" doesn't accurately reflect the law here in NC and misleads motorists into believing bikes need to be "out of the way". Bikes here are entitled to the whole lane. Always. No exceptions. No vague "ride as far to the right as possible" like so many states. I ride about three feet into the lane because that makes me an obvious obstacle that needs to be dealt with, rather than something that can be squeezed of the road because of oncoming traffic. It doesn't always work.

I have not been riding quite as much this year due to this unbelievable heat and the poor air quality that goes with it, many days with severe thunderstorms, a back injury in June that needed to heal, and also kept me from participating in the NC State Games, so there was no third gold medal third gold medal. This year, though I have noticed far more aggressive and dangerous driving directed at me than ever before, and I am at a loss to explain why. I also see more bikes on the road, which should, in theory, lead to safer cycling as motorists become more accustomed to seeing bikes.

I still believe that some sort of public service campaign, like those that have been so successful for drunk driving and seat belt use needs to be launched, along with real enforcement and penalties for harassing, endangering, injuring, and killing cyclists (and pedestrians). It needs to be nationwide and it needs to be overwhelming in it's visibility. So, how do we do it? Maybe then the roads will become safer for what they are intended for - traveling from one place to another, however you choose to get there.

I've also had writers block, as the lack of updates shows.

Oh, I want Andy to win. Hope he's learned to time trial.

Inspired?

2010-04-14T18:05:00.004-04:00

The DirecTV and Versus (Comcast) truce means that, once again, I get to watch two things I love. Indy Car Racing and Bicycle racing. Watching Fabian Cancellara putting an exqusite smack down to all comers in Flanders and Paris - Roubaix was, as they say, "Must see TV". That smooth, fluid riding off into the sunset, leaving a puzzled, almost incoherent Tom Boonen to wallow in his wake was, simply, beautiful.

So, yesterday, after twelve miles of commuting, I came home, changed into the cycling clothes, pulled out the "fast" bike, and went for a ride. There wasn't any real goal, except to ride, but, as these things tend to go for me, it ended up a bit different. For some reason, about 8.5 miles in I discovered an average speed of 18.6. I don't go that fast anymore, do I? No, I NEVER went that fast! Yeah, it was with the wind, and I'd be coming back, but still, it wasn't much of a wind. I went another 21 miles. I did almost the entire thing in the drops, in my most aerodynamic position (at 6'2" and 190 lbs, airflow is more brick like than I want to admit) and pushed, pushed, pushed. My reward? Twenty nine and a half miles with an average speed of 18 mph! Sure, I lost a bit, but most of the ride from the 18.6 point was either into the wind, or up hills. Sometimes you just have to remember how to go fast. It's hard.

There are times I wonder - if I were 30 years younger..... But I'm having fun.

Thanks. Fabian, for reminding me how to go fast.

A Dilemma and Paradox

2010-04-09T12:57:00.002-04:00

Since I live out here in the middle of nowhere - or, to be fair, about 25 miles in any direction from almost everything - it isn't a surprise when I come across rural type things in the road. Goats, and cows are not all that unusual, horses are pretty common - and require great care in passing, as bicycles tend to spook them, giving their riders an unanticipated thrill, an occasional chicken, some guinea hens (my encounter with those is documented here ). Last summer I came across a trail of really nice looking tobacco leaves and contemplated picking them up, taking them home, and trying my hand at homemade cigars, but then I'd have to smoke them, and I don't want to go through that whole quitting thing again. Anyway, on my way home for lunch today I caught up to a farm tractor. This happens two or three times a year, and seems to present me with a dilemma. To pass or not to pass. Now, since I caught up to it, clearly I am going faster, but, at the same time, there is something to be said for just sitting in the draft and enjoying the tow. Tractors push a lot of air out of the way, plus, if the catching was done going up hill, I wonder if I'll really be able to pull out of the draft and into the opposing lane and make the pass safely. So far, as today, I go by. As nice as it is to sit in that still air, going fast is nicer.

The paradox though. I have watched people in cars follow a tractor for miles waiting for a safe place to pass, but on every single ride I go on several drivers will go by me in places where they cannot possibly see oncoming traffic. There are many who pass me, going into the other lane, even when they can see cars coming toward them, nearly causing head on collisions. Like I said - I see this on every ride. So, why will people follow a tractor without much in the way of complaint, but are bothered by a bicycle, especially when the bike is always going faster - usually ten to fifteen mph faster - than the tractor?

Going Retro

2010-04-05T17:05:00.003-04:00

One of the biggest drawbacks to commuting, at least with my bike selection, has been shoes. Sometime, way back when I started thinking I'd like to ride "seriously" (whatever that means) I shelled out some outrageous amount of money for Look pedals, shoes, and cleats. I put in the requisite falls, but finally learned how to use them, and never Looked back. Clipless pedals are the only way to go. Except...

Except if you ride to work. That means keeping another pair of shoes to change into when you get there. That's not too bad, but what if you want to stop off at, say, Food Lion on the way home and pick something up? Food, or maybe even PBR when it's on sale (like this week). That means traipsing about the slick floors on even slicker cycling shoes with cleats sticking out of them and trying to stay upright, plus, there really isn't any graceful way to wander around a store with the clomp - clomp of those cleats announcing your every move. Thus, I have relented. I rummaged around the shed and found an ancient pair of platform pedals, stripped the modern Looks off and now, I can wear whatever shoes I please. I think this will work out just fine. Besides, it's only on the commuter.

But wait, that's not all! Sometime, just before getting the Robauix I found a set of aluminum wheels for the Sports 12 (aka Old Blue, aka commuter) and mounted them to save maybe half a pound. Ever since I did that I have been keeping tube manufacturers rolling in money. My money. I have no idea why, but, after only a few hundred miles the tubes fail at the valve stems. The wheels don't have any obvious flaws, but something has to be wrong with them. Today the steel wheels went back on.

So except for the FSA Stronglight compact crank, plenty of rust, and the rear rack (from the Rhode Gear baby seat Sam used to ride into town in for a bottle of apple juice at Quik Chek - "faster Daddy") the bike is pretty much back to it's 1980 roots.

Ought to make a much better commuter - are fenders next?

100K

2010-03-27T20:03:00.002-04:00

Almost took the day off from riding.

A couple of days with temperatures in the mid 70's is all it takes to spoil me. Today's high of 55 seemed almost cold, but that wasn't why I almost didn't ride. It was considered as an excuse, though.

First we went to Sam's Club in the morning and spent a large amount of money on luxury items, otherwise known as groceries. By the time we got home it was like 1:30, and I just didn't feel like going. But I decided to make myself go: I could always do a short ride and come home. Didn't quite work out that way.

I warmed up, even if the weather didn't, and the further I went, the more it looked like a 100k ride might actually be possible, even this early in the year. I stopped once at about 38 miles, for about a minute, to refill a water bottle, but that was the only time I spent off the bike. So I went from not going to ride to doing my firs 100k of the year, without any real planning. My legs are a little tired, but I noticed that they felt stronger on the hills the further into the ride I got. Must have been flushing the rust out. Average speed was 16.5.

Supposed to have some t'storms tomorrow, so any ride will depend on their timing.

So Close

2010-03-24T20:14:00.002-04:00

I skipped the usual Tuesday evening ride. There was something so demotivating about the 26 mph winds and the knowledge that Wednesday would bring even warmer temps, and no wind, that not even my desire to ride could overcome it.

The anticipated weather change actually happened. Seventy-five degrees and light winds prevailed when I got out of work, and not a cloud in the sky. I set out thinking I ought to push a little and see if maybe I could bring my average speed up, but there wasn't any real goal. Three miles in I noticed my average was 16 mph. Not bad. Six miles in it was 17.2. Not bad, again, especially since it was all into what little wind there was. So, I started thinking - how fast can I go? I started pushing. Did a few intervals, pushed hard up the hills, and by 16 miles I was averaging 18.2. Not too bad for this level of fitness, and the extra ten pounds I'm carrying at the moment (gained since about December, and not leaving without a struggle). I actually managed to hold that average up and down some of the hilliest parts of my ride. Right up to mile 26.3. Then there was the 160 feet of climbing over the next 3.3 miles to home, and that drug the average down. I actually was still at 17.9 at the top of the driveway, but it dropped to 17.8 by the time I got to the shed where I store my bikes (and everything else). I wanted that 18 mph average so much. So close. I think if those 10 extra pounds go away it'll make enough of a difference up the hills to let me get there.

There was also 12 miles of commuting, so it's 42 miles for a week day. Not too bad.
The Thursday ride may get postponed too. My legs are a bit tired and a recovery day might be a good idea.

Are They Serious This Time?

2010-03-20T18:39:00.002-04:00

According to this report the federal government's new policies for getting highway funds must put the needs of cyclists and pedestrians in the same category as motorists. I hope they really do. How about putting some funds toward educating people that bikes and pedestrians really do belong.

Tan

2010-03-19T20:18:00.002-04:00

There were no plans for a Friday ride. I almost never ride on Friday. I subscribe to the theories of all the cycling books that you've got to have ride days and recovery days, and it seems to work pretty well. How commuting will work into this remains to be seen, but it is a different type of riding, so I'll just call it recovery riding for now. Right now it's sort of intermittent, any way. So ride days are Saturday and Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. But when I left work this afternoon (a half hour early, shhh, don't tell) it was 75 degrees, no wind, and not a cloud in the sky. What, exactly, was I supposed to do? Stick to my training plan? I didn't think so. As an added incentive to ignore my usual training regimen, I won't be riding tomorrow. We are going to visit UNC Charlotte. It's open house day and it's one of several places my son's been accepted, so it's a road trip starting at 6:30 in the morning, getting home, who knows when.

It was a beautiful ride. The weather was perfect. Thirty miles with an average of 17.1. It was the first time in I can't possibly remember how long that I got to wear shorts and short sleeves and sunscreen.

The ten day forecast looks pretty similar. Looks like I can do a little more work on the cyclist's tan I started today.

Calculations

2010-03-18T20:24:00.003-04:00

Ok, so I did the math. If I commute the three miles to work I actually save about $3.00 a day. That may seem like a lot, but if you take into account that it's four three mile trips ( I come home for lunch - don't you?) for a total of twelve miles, the commuter car is a 1989 Ford Taurus (V6 with bad bearings and 170,000 miles) and the trip is worst case -cold engine, stop and go through town - well, poor gas mileage is a given. But I don't just save money, according to Mr. Garmin I burn a few (well, several) calories. About 700, in fact. Those calories need replacing. Not all of them at the moment since I've got this extra layer of winter blubber to drag up hills (slowly, painfully), so I need to burn a couple more than I put back. What better way to both get rid of my savings and refuel than to buy some beer. Seems like a win to me, especially when I strap it on the commuter bike rack and burn even more calories hauling it home.

I not only got the commute in today, but a quick 13.6 mile ride after work too. While riding to work goes by at a sedate 14.2 mph, the quickie was a bit better at 17.1. Different bikes and different goals, but still riding.

Excuse me while I replenish....

Good News!

2010-03-16T19:58:00.001-04:00

Well, good news for those of us whose only alternative to free, over the air TV, is DirecTV, anyway. Versus is back! Channel 603 has two things I tend to watch to the exclusion of anything else. Bicycle racing, and Indycar racing. It's about time they came to their senses. Judging from this list of wholesale prices for cable channels, there ought to be enough profits out there for everyone without resorting to games of chicken. I mean, it looks like, to me, anyway, about five bucks of my $85 dollar DirecTV bill is going for content. Talk about overhead! Yeah, I know, satellites are expensive - it's rocket science after all, but still....

DST is a pretty nice thing too. Got in a nice 27.4 mile ride after work today. it was cloudy, so it was getting a little dim by the time I got home, but I turned on the Planet Bike blinkey, so I felt sort of safe. Still wasn't all that warm, though, just 55 degrees, and with no sun that feels cool. The rest of the week is supposed to be about 70. It's about time.

One of the things that surprises me about this past winter is the over all brownness of everything. This winter everything went dormant. So much of the foliage here stays green and alive, but not this year. I can see through the stands of trees now and through fences that have always been covered with some sort of growth. It's almost like riding in a new area. I see views and fields I've never seen before. There are even houses I never knew existed along my usual routes. Things are beginning to green up and blossom, though, so this new world will vanish once again.

Begin Again

2010-03-13T20:56:00.000-05:00

I am slowly shaking off the shackles of seasonal lethargy and beginning to transition back to some level of fitness. This winter's been, well, wintry. We have lived in North Carolina for almost twenty one years and this is the first real winter we've had. Sure there's been cold and even snow, but that was for short periods with mostly lots of warmth in between. This year it turned cold early and stayed cold. It snowed, what, three, four, times in three or four consecutive weeks and, being cold, the snow was in no hurry to melt. So there's been a lot of doing nothing. Through last weekend I'd managed twelve rides this year, and three of those were on the trainer. Last weekend, though, the long awaited warm up began, so Saturday I managed 42.3 miles and Sunday, 34.2. Both were a slow 15.8 mph average and it was really all my legs could take.

The weather cooperated during the week, too, so there were four days of commuting, plus a quick little after work jaunt Tuesday of 13.2 miles. That evening ride was a more reasonable 17.2 average, so, if I can get my endurance back, maybe there will still be some speed. I topped the week off with a 50.3 mile ride today and averaged 16.5 mph. Not too bad given my lack of fitness. Finished the week with 127 miles, the most since the first week of last November.

Clocks get set ahead tomorrow, so longer after work rides are on!

What would Lance do?

2010-02-07T16:43:00.002-05:00

Not what I've been up to, I'll bet. A whole lot of nothing. I hadn't been on a bike since January 19th, and that was riding to work in the afternoon or a total of 6 miles. Snow storms and exceptionally cold weather have made perfect excuses for not riding outside. Setting up the bike on the trainer, well, I'd have to go out to the shed and get the bike, and it's cold out there. There's snow on the ground, and that makes it slippery and I don't want to fall down and hurt myself, now, do I? Ok, maybe it's because I'm lazy, unmotivated and riding inside just isn't any fun.

Yesterday, though, I shamed myself into dragging the bike in and setting it up. Eighteen days without a ride is a long time. I managed a slow (15.5mph) 20 miles, and no, it wasn't any fun, and yes, I am out of shape. So today I decided I'd better do it again. I actually brought the bike in, but before I got a chance to set it up I looked at the thermometer. Forty five degrees, bright sunshine, and a little windy, and I'm setting up the bike to ride indoors? I don't think so. I took the bike back out, put my warm stuff on and set out on a 21 mile ride. My average for this one was 16.4, better than yesterday, but still rough.

I am getting ready to watch the Super Bowl and eat a lot of junk food. I'll need some long rides to burn the calories.

Maybe that is what Lance would do - today, anyway.

Wrap ups and updates

2010-01-05T21:30:00.002-05:00

Seems like five days into the new year might be a good time to tally up last years numbers and see where I went. Thanks to the magic of Excel, I don't really have to know what I'm doing. As you can see from the yearly mileage over there, my total was 4877.63 with 213.95 on the trainer. Since my only goal this year was a vague "ride as much as last year" it was surpassed. I'm a little disappointed not to have made 5000, but given the way I've been feeling and the demotivating weather pattern, I suppose not making it is understandable. Either one of those excuses by themselves would not have stopped me. Both of them together ended up being insurmountable. Oh well, there's always next, errr, THIS year. A few other stats:
Number of rides: 164
Average speed for the 4877 miles: 16.48
Highest speed: 39.7 mph
Total time on the bike: 280 hours 13 minutes,
Average ride length: 1.707 hours.
Total calories burned:288805.

Oh, and one race win and gold medal.

I don't know what all that means other than I spent a lot of time on my bike, and I enjoyed every second of it. If I didn't, I'd not have done it.

As for the update, I am now at a whopping 47 miles for the year. Twenty seven on the road and 20 on the trainer. The heartbeat thing is still being evaluated and I get to wear a monitor until January 19. Amazing thing - it comes with a cell phone and is constantly sending my info someplace where someone is keeping an eye on it (or so I was told). I wonder what they think when they see the traces from those two bike rides and heart rates of 170 bpm. One thing is for sure; they'll have some full out exercise data to play with.

Goals for '10? None, really. Same as last year. Except maybe another race win. I'd like that.

Now, if this cold weather ever breaks....

Maybe.....

2009-12-28T07:14:00.002-05:00

Well, maybe it won't be too bad. Sunday I rode the same route as Saturday in almost identical conditions and averaged 16.8 mph without ever feeling stressed or out of breath. That was a one mph improvement over Saturday and pretty standard for that route.

Off to the cardiologist today to see what he (she?) has to say.

Red Tape

2009-12-26T17:10:00.003-05:00

Seems like no matter what project I get involved in there are always multiple layers of red tape to negotiate. Today's project, though was pure red tape. Finally got the no longer white, almost two year old tape off. Letting me have anything white is a mistake, from the moment it comes into my possession it starts a (rapid) journey to dirty gray. Black would probably be the best choice for me, but I wanted red, so red it is. I think it looks good. Well, at least better.

There were only two things on my Christmas list; red handlebar tape and a new water bottle. I got the bottle too.

Haven't been riding so much the past few weeks. Holiday busy-ness, early sunsets, and uncooperative weather put a limit on the available riding time. On top of that, I just haven't been feeling all that great. Someplace way back there in an earlier post I mentioned a minor heart problem that cycling seemed to alleviate, if not eliminate. Maybe it's age, maybe it's stress, who knows, but after being dormant for a couple of years the irregular heartbeat has returned. Finally saw a doctor about it last week and got put on a medication to slow my heart rate. So far it seems to be helping and today I went for a short 29 mile ride to see how the medication affected me. The ride went ok with heart rates ten to twelve bpm lower than what I usually see. I noticed that maybe I wasn't quite as "aerobic" as before -sort of getting out of breath at the upper rates, but that could just be my imagination. I hope I get to try again tomorrow. As of now I need 151.1 miles to get to 5000, and no, I ain't gonna make it in the next five days. Maybe next year.

Next week more doctors and tests. No fun. There had better not be any mention of not riding.

Resting

2009-12-12T16:16:00.003-05:00

Annie had her kitten prevention operation Wednesday. She seems a little subdued now, bit recovering nicely, with short flashes of the little terror she tends to be. I just added up all her vet bills... shots, worming, de-fleaing meds, and the operation. Let me see, at $600 that would make this one expensive "free" stray kitten, and the most expensive pet we have ever had. Still, though, I'm glad she is here.

Toes Froze

2009-12-05T16:53:00.002-05:00

Yesterday during my cycling shopping binge I spent a lot of time examining wind and water resistant booties. In the end I elected not to buy them. It is just hard for me to purchase winter type stuff given how short and mild the winters are here. Not very far into today's ride having booties would have been wonderful. Forty two degrees, windy and raining is a pretty good recipe for getting chilled, but even though I was soaked within minutes I was comfortable - except for my feet. The Pearl Izumi Softshell gloves kept my hands warm, but they are definitely water resistant, not water proof. They were soaked through too, but still warm. I rode a whopping 21.7 miles, stopping only because my toes were so cold. It's supposed to get down to 26 tonight, but tomorrow will be about 50 and sunny. Quite an improvement.

Given the dark gray dreariness and limited visibility of the day the addition of the Planet Bike Rack Blinky on the seat post made me feel a bit more secure - although it's probably a false sense, but having it on can't hurt. It is a pretty bright light, though and fits quite nicely under the seat bag.

Today's weather forced the Liberty Christmas Parade to be rescheduled to December 19. We were looking forward to going, hopefully we don't have anything that Saturday to prevent us from attending.

Plans

2009-12-04T21:10:00.004-05:00

The thing with plans is that if the best laid ones often go awry, the casual "tomorrow I'm gonna..." type don't stand a chance. Seems to be a good reason not to plan ahead, so mostly I don't, much to the dismay of several people around here who would like to know what we are "gonna do tomorrow". My usual answer "We'll see".

With my flat shortened ride last Saturday (planned 65 miles, completed 34), a scant 20 miles on Sunday, then only managing to commute Monday morning for an additional 6 miles, today's vacation day looked like the perfect chane to do a little catching up. I planned a nice long midday ride. I got 2.5 miles. Then I heard the dreaded tell tale hiss, silence, hiss, silence, hiss of a deflating tire. The rear tire again. It didn't go unnoticed last Saturday when I repaired that puncture that the tire was getting a bit, umm, thin. Four thousand miles will do that, I suppose, but even though the cords were beginning to show through I figured I could get a few more miles out of it. Throw that on the bad decision pile, especially since I went to Performance Bike last Saturday after I got the flat and picking up a new tire would have made sense - which is my excuse for not doing it.

If I was going to do any more riding this weekend it meant I'd have to take a trip to Greensboro today and get another tire. Good thing I had the day off! Having driven the 25 miles to the big city, I couldn't just go one place, so first it was Performance, then REI, and I couldn't just get one tire, I got two, along with some other stuff:

Performance supplied me with the tires, citrus degreaser, and Velcro strap thingies to keep my pants from getting sucked into the chain when I commute. I had one, but I think Annie took it. She does things like that. I came away from REI with a pair of Pearl Izumi (I like their stuff best) water and wind resistant winter gloves and a Planet Bike tail light for the non commuter bike.

Today, then turned out to be a little like an early Christmas. The bike now has a new rear tire and is all set for tomorrow, which is supposed to be 40 degrees and raining. Not the best riding weather, but my hands will be warm. Not that I'm planning to ride....

Stylin'

2009-11-29T17:47:00.004-05:00

Ignore the fact that my ineptitude as a photographer caused me to include a closeup of one of my fingers. I'm new to this camera in a phone thing. This bike caught my eye, first because it was parked at the gas pump, and second because of the unique handlebar installation. I am not sure how the brakes might operate, but, maybe it's a practice thing. The electrical tape is a nice, but I'll bet somewhat sticky, touch. Not sure I'd want the sharp ends of those brake levers pointed at me. Not long after I saw that, I came across this, too at Riding Pretty :

So I guess what I saw is the '09 small town North Carolina version of 1970's California beach coolness. At least his bars and brake levers will only puncture pedestrians.

It was a weekend of half rides. Saturday I intended a 100k ride, but ran over something 34 miles in and flatted the rear tire. Although I had everything I needed to repair it, I just called home and had CJ come pick me up. I figured by the time I got the tire fixed my motivation to ride another 28 miles would be gone.

Lately my Sunday rides have been 40 miles, but today I decided to use up some of the leftover Thanksgiving mashed potatoes in Potato Rosemary bread (we have a huge rosemary bush in the garden) so I squeezed a 20 mile ride in during the second rise. Truth is I'd spent a lot of time raking vast quantities of leaves this weekend, and 20 miles was plenty.

The bread was amazing, by the way. CJ made turkey soup to go with it, and it was a good combination.

About 326 miles to go to get to 5000.....

Rested?

2009-11-14T20:47:00.002-05:00

Thinking that those three days off the bike I mentioned yesterday had left me rested and ready to flatten hills and battle moderate headwinds I set out on a 100k ride. I felt good when I set out, but about halfway through my legs told me they'd had enough. I kept going, even though it was a struggle and finished 100k with an average of 16.1 mph. My legs were stiff and sore, and tired and the usual apres ride stretching was. uh, difficult, to say the least.

Don't really know what the problem was, but I feel like either my allergies are acting up, or perhaps I am coming down with something. Hope not. Tomorrow's weather is supposed to be better than today's (which was pretty nice, even though the wind was 10 to 15 mph) with light and variable winds. I have come to the conclusion that "variable" is a euphemism for " no matter what direction you go, the wind will always be in your face.

But I got 100k in today - so I accomplished what I set out to do.

When up on the roof there arose such a clatter

2009-11-13T13:12:00.002-05:00

I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter. With apologies to Clement Moore.

Much to my dismay, it was not Santa and eight tiny reindeer. No, it was what was left of hurricane Ida bearing the gift of a lot of rain and 40 mph winds. This pine tree became so excited it decided to swap vertical for horizontal, and picked the only direction where anything could be damaged. I don't think I ever went from sound asleep to fully awake that fast before.

We had someone come this morning and remove it from the house. I would have, but I don't do heights, and climbing on a roof doesn't do anything except instill fear in me. So I paid someone with a bucket truck to do it. That truck is neat, though. Now, if I had one of those..... Anyway, it turns out there are two holes in the roof where branches punched through. We repaired those by slipping a couple of pieces of sheet metal under the shingles. Should be pretty watertight long enough for us to get repairs scheduled. The sheet metal, by the way, was cut from an old cookie sheet. Use whatever you have handy, I guess.

Ida brought my riding streak to an end at 28 days, and now I have been off the bike for 3 days. Yeah, I could have ridden the trainer and kept it going but there are parts of my body that are thanking me for the time off. Tomorrow, though is supposed to be sunny and in the 70's so those body parts better be ready.

Today

2009-11-07T18:39:00.002-05:00

Dressing for a ride this time of year seems to be a no win thing. Trying to find something that might be comfortable when it's about 45 degrees at the start and 70 at the finish is next to impossible. I manage to dress so I span the entire range from too cold to too warm, but, for a brief period in the middle, I'm just right. Shades of Goldilocks there....

Now that I'm riding both bikes it amazes me just how different they are, and how much faster and easier to ride the Roubaix is. It can't all come down to weight, can it? Of course I can't put a rack on it and convert it into a commuter, anyway. Maybe pedaling that extra 12 pounds of bike plus about 10 more pounds of stuff back and forth to work is good for me. Can't hurt.

Got in a little more than 100km today (actual was 64.05 miles) and averaged 16.5 mph. This also was my 25th consecutive day on the bike. Should be able to make 30, easily. So now I'm at 4307.19 miles with eight weeks left in the year. Is 5000 miles really possible? That would be an average of 86.6 miles per week. This week was 154.54, so maybe....

Giving Credit

2009-11-07T07:01:00.002-05:00

I've been meaning to do this for a while, but with procrastination being one of the things I do well, it keeps being put off. Since I am waiting for both the sun and temperature to rise before setting out on a bike ride, now seems a good time to take care of it.

Besides - it moves some other stuff to the back burner. That's always a good thing - means I'll have something to do later.

Way back in December 2007 I posted this about a close encounter of the frightening kind with a tractor trailer owned by Allen's Family Foods along with a copy of the email I had sent them complaining about it. I never got a reply, but that doesn't mean it was ignored.

Allen's operation in Liberty is pretty big, and it is rare to go for a bike ride without encountering at least one of their vehicles, whether it's a car, pickup truck, or tractor trailer. Since I am out there so much, I see them all the time, and ever since I wrote to them there has not been one single instance where one of them has passed me with anything less than a wide berth and care. They always stay behind and follow until it is safe to pass. For that, I am grateful.

I can't know if my writing to them caused this, but it doesn't really matter. The respect and responsibility their drivers show for other traffic should be commended and an example for other vehicle operators - cyclists included.

I see, all the time, in cycling blogs and sites the complaints about how we are treated by drivers of motor vehicles, and it is all valid. It takes a lot of courage and faith to go for a ride on public roads. I guess we should give some time to pointing out when an effort is made to reduce the danger, and give credit to those who do that. Maybe that's a step forward in the process of educating drivers that bikes belong. Maybe getting the support of corporations through educating the drivers of their vehicles would be a good place to start, and maybe it would trickle down to everyone.

Shoe Repairs

2009-11-06T14:03:00.007-05:00

While both my bikes are fitted with Look pedals, I wasn't paying enough (any) attention when I bought the ones for the newer bike. Because I don't RTFLable (neither will I RFTM, when one is available) I ended up with pedals using the Keo cleats on the new one, while the pedals on the old bike use Deltas. I ended up not riding the old bike anymore, and there was an ancient pair of Performance cycling shoes stowed away in the closet, anyway, if I wanted to, so there really wasn't a problem.

Then, a month ago I started this commuting thing....

The first few days I wore my steel toe Red Wing work boots, which felt a little weird pedaling on clipless pedals. but it seemed to work ok. After about a week of that, though, I decided to leave the boots at the office and wear the old cycling shoes to ride. Wow, does it ever make a difference both in comfort and efficiency.

Within a couple of days I noticed the soles were separating from the shoes, though.

Not wanting to buy another pair of shoes or pedals, plus being cheap and broke, I decided to fix them. Here's how.

I got some Loctite 480. It is great stuff. I have used it to stick two pieces of steel together, and was amazed at how much it took to break them apart.

Here is how I applied it.

And then clamped them together to let the adhesive cure. I let them sit like this for about three hours, which is overkill, but I had the time.
So now the shoes are as good, if not better than new. And, much to my amazement, I did all this without gluing my fingers together - something I usually do when I use Loctite. All in all, a success.

October

2009-11-01T17:41:00.003-05:00

Today would have been a good day to bring the bike in and set up the trainer. Suffering inside for an hour or so looked like my best option for getting a ride in and extending my consecutive day record to nineteen. It had been pouring all night, the wind was 10 to 15, with gusts to the far side of twenty five, and it was kind of cold (53) for wet riding. For some reason though, just before my mind was made up to stay in, the sun peeked through the clouds, and I changed my mind. An outside for me. Of course the sun stayed out just long enough to suck me into that choice. Within 15 minutes it was raining again, and that wind - from the north - was strong enough to force me onto the small chain ring on level ground. When I turned south, though, I flew. Riding with a tailwind is always a joy and makes me feel fast, even for an old guy. But man did I pay when I turned North. I rode 37.26 miles, averaged 16.4 mph and got home cold, soaked (my fingers and toes looked like prunes) and tired, but it was still a better than riding in the house.

This is what the road in Fogelman Acres looked like this morning. Not just wet, but wet with a layer of drenched leaves. I usually get through this corner at about 25 mph in the dry, and 20 in the wet. Today stopping to take a picture and then coasting around it at about 10 seemed a good idea. It still felt slippery.

October's miles were 469.89 with 24 rides. Commuting really adds to the ride total, even though it doesn't do that much for the mileage - just 57 a week. Now that I am doing it, I can't believe it took me this long to start riding to work. Not having to buy gas is nice. In the past five weeks I figure I've saved about $60. Not bad - a little exercise and a little extra money in my pocket. I like that.

We Need More

2009-10-31T06:45:00.002-04:00

I found this over at Mad Blog Media. The article linked to there is interesting. More riders = safer cycling, and it makes sense. So, how do we get more people out there?

I'll be out there today, making 18 consecutive days of riding. My previous record was 5.

Caveat Emptor

2009-10-30T18:51:00.003-04:00

Or, at least read the fine print.

The prices for chicken seemed pretty good when we last went to Sam's Club. Unfortunately if you read the tag it says "case sell only" so the prominently displayed price was, to say the least, a little misleading. The only place the price per pound for the packages was on the packages themselves, and it was significantly higher. I wonder how many people fell for it. We almost did.

Food Lion has a better trick. Often the items in the cases and shelves for buy one get one free sales are similar to the ones actually on sale, but are not on sale at all. Not being that attentive at the checkout, I would only find this out when I got home and discovered I'd paid double what I thought I had. Now I read the upc labels on the sale items to make sure it matches the one on the sign.

I guess you make money however you can.

Foliage

2009-10-25T20:14:00.006-04:00

It's hard to get some things past me. For instance, recently I became aware that summer is over and fall has commenced. The shorter days and cooler temps gave it away. I'm not all that fond of less daylight, but the cooler temperatures are really, er, cool. Its nice to be able to turn off the AC and open the windows. Our new kitten also seems to enjoy an open window.

It was mentioned to her that she should not do this again.

Another thing I've noticed is the leaves changing color. One of my goals for today's bike ride was to get some pictures of the fall foliage to share. The only other goals were to get in a decent road ride in spite of the 20 mile per hour winds and have fun.

First, the pictures. I took this one:

And this one:

I know what you're thinking: nothing too spectacular. You're right. Now, the fall foliage here is never going to rival that of say, Vermont, and having lived in Vermont, I know first hand how spectacular it can be, but sometimes it is kind of pleasant here. Not this year, though. This year it looks like almost everything is going to varying hues of brown. Oh well, the have been shared so I met all of the goals I set for the day.

The rest of the ride was great in spite of the wind. The temp was in the low 50's and I somehow managed to pick just the right amount to wear, so I was comfortable. I got in 38.46 miles and averaged 16.7 mph. Today made twelve consecutive days of riding, although yesterday was an hour on the trainer due to the uncooperative weather that didn't clear out until it was too late to go for a ride outside. I spent an hour on it for 16.8 miles.

Tomorrow starts another week of bike commuting. Now that I am doing it I wonder why I could never convince myself to before.

Everyone Loves a Parade

2009-10-23T20:48:00.002-04:00

Or not...but it gives me a chance to try embedding a slide show - something new. I'm overdue for learning something new.

Today was the homecoming parade for Providence Grove High School. I saw the floats staging outside my office, and since everyone else had already gone for the weekend, I left too. Having my bike made getting down the parade route quicker than walking and easier than driving, finding a place to park and then walking. As for having my bike, I rode it to work every day this week. In fact, I have ridden it in almost every day for the past month, rain or shine. This morning was rain, even though it was neither forecast nor showing up on the weather radar. Don't know how they pulled that one off. All I know is it was very wet. The lunchtime ride home was partly cloudy, and the evening ride home was shine, so we got it all in one day. The lunchtime ride also put me over 4000 miles for the year, and with the ride home tonight I am now at 4008, with two months left to add some more.

Also a record for me: ten consecutive days of riding. Granted the mileage each day isn't much, just 12 each weekday, but it's still riding. Even though there's still enough daylight to ride after work I'm up against having to ride into the setting sun no matter what route I choose. I figure if the sun is blinding me I can't really expect motorists coming up behind me to actually see me, after all, some of them don't seem to even under the best conditions, so I am reluctant to challenge them further. I can still get long rides on the weekend, though. Well, maybe not tomorrow - thunderstorms and lots of wind are predicted, so maybe I'll have to get out the trainer. There, I said it. But, since I don't have a trainer tire, I have an out, if I feel particularly wimpy.

And now, without further ado, a parade of pictures of a small town parade for your viewing pleasure.

Scary Out There

2009-10-18T18:45:00.005-04:00

It was mentioned that I hadn't updated this blog for a while. So here ya go! I have intended to, but, well, you know what they say about intentions... I compose some pretty good entries in my head during my rides, but they seem to vanish by the time I get home and turn on the computer.

I continue commuting the three miles into Liberty most days. I should have started this a long time ago. Even with the heavy old bike and my bag bungeed to the rack it only takes 15 minutes. Since it's still a little dark at 7:30 in the morning I mounted the five LED Cateye tail light to the rack and put it on flash. That should make me visible enough. I hope. There is a freeze warning for tomorrow morning, so I guess I'll freeze. At least my feet will. That's a given.

Not only is it cooler this time of year, which is nice,but the wind has picked up too which isn't. Saturday's ride was 64.36 miles, but the average was only 16.4 mph. That was because of 10 to 15mph winds. Still, though not a bad average, and I really wasn't too tired at the end. In fact, if it hadn't been so windy I'd have ridden further. That picture up there and the ones that follow show some of the Halloween decorations in the area I came across yesterday.

Today was even windier it felt like 20 to 25 mph. I got in 21.4 miles and only averaged 16.1. I just didn't feel like battling the wind so I took it easy and cut it short. Gave up might be more accurate.

I need 46 miles to make 4000 for the year. Probably by the end of this week.

Check out the bike in the background. I don't know what it is, but it obviously hasn't been ridden for a long time and has been seriously neglected. I'll wait until the zombie vampire is gone and then check it out. Maybe I can pick it up for free?

Another piccture of the bike. Not in focus for some reason so I can't read the decals. I was too scared of the bride to get any closer.

He lost his head....

The cut in half magic trick gone awry.

Car Free Day

2009-09-30T19:16:00.005-04:00

Living only three miles from work and riding about 4000 miles a year, you might think some of those miles would be logged commuting. They aren't though. But yesterday morning I once again drug the old, ultra heavy, steel Fuji out of the shed and rode those three miles. I rode home at lunch and took the car back because, of all things, I wanted to go for a bike ride after work. With the sun going down earlier, getting home as quickly as I can to get changed and get the light Fuji out is imperative. So I got in 6 miles commuting and 22 on my "normal" ride.

Today, though, with no after work ride planned it was a car free day (as opposed to care free - I need one of those sometime, too). Living this close to where I work means I can come home for lunch and ride the bike back for four trips - 12 miles. If the weather stays like this, temps in the high 40's at night and low 70's for highs, I think I'll keep commuting. Not only is it free, I get a few more miles in and it's pretty relaxing.

As I noted a few times, last September I got in all of 29.7 miles in one ride. I did a little better this year. There were 16 rides with total mileage of 426.44. Two of those 16 rides were over 100k. What a difference a year makes, although whatever it is that causes my asthma and allergy problems this time of year was definitely out there again. I just pushed through it.

You know, 5000 miles this year isn't impossible, but I'm not commiting to it. Not yet, anyway.

I leave you with these guys. They seemed pretty interested in my ride when I stopped to take the picture.

And a new picture of Annie. She's pretty cool, and she has taken over. Resistance is futile.

Pie Plates

2009-09-07T16:41:00.004-04:00

This is a pie plate. It's only purpose is to keep the chain from shifting past the largest cog in the rear and into the spokes. This is never a problem if your derailleur is adjusted properly, and most bikes don't even come with them. This is the one I took off my old Fuji several years ago. The Roubaix Pro never had one. Never will, but I could have used one last week.

I didn't mention that in my attempt to make the Wipperman chain shift I managed to get things so badly adjusted that the chain shifted past the last gear and into the spokes. Since that locked the rear wheel, I came to a screeching halt, and it took a while to free the chain. I didn't really want to say anything. I'm a better mechanic than that - most of the time. I lapse once in a while. Anyway, I didn't think much about it.

This morning I went for a short ride, only 20 miles. At about mile 18 a spoke broke on the rear wheel. I opened up the brake, wove the spoke between the others so it wouldn't flop around and proceeded on home. I still didn't think much about breaking a spoke since I had broken a few on the old bike. they just fail once in a while. So, it was another trip to visit a bike shop in Greensboro. This time I went to Cycles de ORO, the bike shop I used to use all the time before Performance opened their store right up the block. Since the broken spoke was on the drive train side I knew I'd have to get a tool to remove the cassette, and to be honest, I just felt like going in and knowing whoever I dealt with would know exactly what I needed, even if it might cost just a little more. I bought the tools I needed and I got 10 spokes so I'd have some spares.

It wasn't until I took the cassette of that I noticed this:

The remaining six spokes that exited the hub between the cassette and hub flange were all badly bent and gouged from having the chain jammed into them. No wonder one had broken. I was glad I'd gotten ten of them, since that let me go ahead and replace all of the damaged ones, and I still have four spares, just in case. The wheel is all fixed and true.

I mentioned the Wipperman chain to the mechanic at Cycles de ORO, and he said he'd had exactly the same experience with one. He also told me to take it back to Performance, they'd give me my money back. Next time I go up there, I'll bring it back and see. I'll let you know. Actually, I'd be fine with a store credit, since I know I'll be buying more bike stuff.

Chains (end of the trilogy)

2009-09-05T20:59:00.002-04:00

Yesterday after work (Of course I stayed 'til 5:00 even though all my coworkers were gone by 2:45. Honest I did. Why do you ask?) I made another trip to Greensboro for another chain. This time I went to REI, which is similar to EMS, but not quite as good. I used to love going to the EMS store in Peterbourough, NH. I could spend hours and way too much money in that store.

But, back to the chain. They only had one ten speed chain. A Shimano 105 for $42. I bought it, brought it home and installed it. Today, I went for a ride. Well, a 100k (63.22 miles and averaged 17.1 mph) ride for the second Saturday in a row. Perfect shifts throughout. No problems whatsoever. So it really was the Wipperman chain causing all the problems. If you get a chance to buy one, DON'T.

Last September I rode one time for 29.7 miles. That was mostly because of problems with my asthma. There is something out there in September that really affects my allergies and my breathing. I had some of the same problems today, but, I have ridden four times for 124.49 miles already this month, and don't plan on stopping unless my breathing gets much worse.

Commuting

2009-09-04T20:31:00.002-04:00

Working a scant three miles from my house would seem to make commuting a pretty easy decision. I keep thinking about it, but never seem to be motivated enough to actually do it. Today, though, I did. It was cool this morning, 59 degrees, and lots of sunshine so I rolled the old blue Fuji out of the shed, pumped up the tires and rode in to Liberty. My first impression was: man, this bike is HEAVY. And it is. It weighs twelve pounds more than the Roubaix I ride all the time. I can't believe I rode it over 8000 miles, some of them as fast as the miles I do on the newer bike.

I took my time so I wouldn't get too sweaty. Still, it only took me thirteen minutes to get to work. I came home for lunch so I got in a total of four three mile trips. So, 12 miles for the day. Don't know if I'll keep commuting, but it really doesn't make sense not to.

Chain II

2009-09-03T08:33:00.006-04:00

So, yesterday evening I spent a little time trying to adjust the shifting of the new chain on the rear cogs. Trying being the operative word here. FAIL describes the level of success. Now, the worn chain was still shifting perfectly on the rear - it was just refusing to stay on the big chain ring, so I started looking at everything a lot more closly, especially the new chain. The picture over there shows what I found. The arrow is pointing to a distinctly beveled edge. My first thought - taken from watching too many Mythbusters episodes - "Well, there's your problem!" Since I have been working as an engineer for, like, almost forever, and have some limited knowledge of how things are supposed to work, my thought process was that if I wanted a chain not to shift, I'd bevel it exactly like that. The only thing those can do is push the chain away from the cog you are trying to shift to.

Here is a picture of the (Forte) chain that came off the bike (it's a piece that came off when I shortened it - it was new this spring). Notice the nice, sharp, corners?

Armed with this new found info, I did a quick search on Wipperman chains and shifting. Guess what I found. Yeah, there are a LOT more reviews complaining about how badly this chain shifts than there are kudos on what a wonderful part it is. Imagine that.

On top of that, I found this, written by Jobst Brandt (for a little info on Jobst you can go here). The chain he is talking about isn't a Wipperman, but a Sachs, and it sounds like it's made the same way, with the same problem.

From: jbrandt@hpl.hp.com (Jobst Brandt) Newsgroups: rec.bicycles.tech Subject: Re: chain stiffness data Date: 2 Nov 1998 21:08:22 GMT Damon Rinard writes: > I thought some of you might like to know that I've just posted the > lateral stiffness of a few bicycle chains on my web site at: > http://www.damonrinard.com/chain_stiffness.htm I think this information would be more interesting if you had their lateral flex of each chain when new and when 0.5% elongated. This would reveal more about the consistency of performance during its usable life and might reveal what causes the change. I has always been my experience that the more laterally flexible a chain became the poorer it shifted. In fact that was one of the early criteria for replacing a chain when it no longer shifted easily due to its ability to snake over to the sprocket it was on even though the derailleur was aligned with the next gear. As I said previously, the new Sachs derailleur chain is the worst shifting chain I have come across because its pins and side plates are beveled to reject climbing to the next sprocket. The intent was apparently to allow extreme crossover gearing with 9-speeds and triple chainrings. I am not impressed. This is another case where the demands of the incompetent bicyclist has prevailed over the riders who use their equipment effectively. Jobst Brandt

Guess I'll be off to the bike shop for another chain, this time it'll be a SRAM, Shimano, or Forte. I'm planning on riding after work tonight, though, so I have at least one more ride with this chain. Saving $20 by choosing the Wipperman over the Shimano last Saturday turns into throwing away $50. Live and learn, live and learn.

Chain

2009-08-30T20:45:00.002-04:00

Today's ride confirmed that the drivetrain problems encountered in my previous two rides were, indeed, caused by a worn out chain. The problem of the chain trying to constantly shift to the small chainring went away with the new chain installed.

But...

This new chain does not shift very well on the rear cogs. I've tried adjusting the derailleur, but it doesn't help. Since it shifts poorly in both directions, adjusting really means I can get it to shift well one way, then not at all the other. Right now it's about as good as I can get it and I am hoping it'll get better if the chain wears a little bit. It did seem to get better towards the end of today's 35 mile ride. Since I paid $50 for it, I'm stuck with it for about 3000 miles.

So, with today's 35 miles and yesterday's 65, I had a 100 mile weekend.

Four Day Week

2009-08-29T20:14:00.002-04:00

Well, for the first time since the end of May I actually got to ride four times in a week. Today I rode 65.7 miles ( 105.1 km). That is the fifth ride of 100 km since May. They're still hard. Today's was not as much fun as it could have been, either. It turns out that the problem with my bike shifting wasn't the cable, but a worn out chain. It took a while to figure it out. The chain kept trying to shift to the small ring, causing a jolt through the pedals every time. It even succeeded in shifting several times. I thought about stopping, but I really wanted to get that 100 km in today. Needless to say, there was another trip to Performance Bike in Greensboro after my ride. They only had two ten speed chains! A Shimano Ultegra for $70 and a Wipperman for $50. No SRAM or Forte. I got the Wipperman, not just because it was cheaper, but because I had heard the Shimanos need a special chain tool, and no one at Performance could verify that either way. I'll let you know how this chain works out, but I did have trouble adjusting the rear derailleur to shift smoothly after I installed the chain.

The mileage for the week is 184.13. That's the most in a week, ever.

Pretty Consistent

2009-08-28T09:41:00.002-04:00

It's been a long time since I got two weeknight rides in. Over a month, in fact. I pulled it off, this week though. Tuesday evening was warm and sunny, so it was a no brainer - which is a good thing as there are those that claim I don't have one. Last night there were supposed to be scattered thunderstorms, and the sky was overcast with impending gloom. The sun was peeking through though, so I took a chance and went. No, I didn't look at the radar before I left so a repeat of Saturday's aborted ride was a possibility. That didn't happen, though. Both rides were over exactly the same route, a 32.75 mile loop and, even though the wind conditions were a little different, there was only a three second difference in the elapsed time of the rides. 1:50:32 for Tuesday, 1:50:35 for last night. That works out to an average of 17.8 mph.

The rear derailleur started acting up a little last night, too. It didn't shift on its own, but it was trying to. I checked the cable when I got home, and sure enough it is starting to fray inside the shifter. So it's off to Performance Bike after work today to get a new one. This one has gone about 3,000 miles.

BSOD

2009-08-27T09:20:00.004-04:00

Windows users are familiar with BSOD, you know, blue screen of death. Well, maybe not some of the younger ones. To be honest, I haven't seen one in at least a couple of years, and since I babysit about thirty computers (or is it the users? I'm never sure) I am beginning to believe Microsoft may be getting the bugs out, finally.

Garmin, on the other hand... I'll call this the Blank Screen of Death. Sunday I went out for a 52 mile ride, it took about 3 hours, and during that time my 305 shut it's self off no less than 10 times. It would power up again, and actually kept track of the mileage even though all the other data only got recorded from the last restart. As far as mileage and time, I always take my Cateye Astral 8 along with the display set to cadence, so all the ride data is there as well as on the Garmin, except heartrate and elevation. When I got home I Googled the problem - I'd Bing it, but Google is so ingrained - and found it's not all that uncommon. The most widely reported problem seems to be a design flaw that causes the battery contacts to fatigue and momentarily disconnect the battery from the circuit board. The fatigue is caused by vibration. Since my Garmin is still under warranty, I immediately emailed their customer support. About lunch time on Monday I had a response. Tech support suggested I perform a Master Reset. This consists of holding down the power and mode button until the unit asks if you want to clear all data, to which you answer yes. So, I did. I didn't think it would work, but it seems to have. I rode 32 miles on Tuesday in an hour and fifty minutes and the unit did not shut down at all. I don't even know what data it cleared, either because everything is still in it.

Can't really complain, they responded quickly with a solution that seems to have worked, and now I know what to do next time.

Caught

2009-08-22T11:23:00.003-04:00

Maybe looking at the weather map before going off on my Saturday ride would have been a good idea, but I didn't. I knew there was a 60% chance of showers and thunderstorms, but it was supposed to be later in the day. Sure it was cloudy, but the sun was almost breaking through. Plenty of time for a nice thirty miles, I thought. I even decided to "go green" today and run my in town errands on my bike rather than later with the car. The errands only consisted of mailing a letter at the post office and getting my Powerball tickets, but it's a start. I did manage to get those out of the way first. About 2 miles south of Liberty I noticed the sky was getting very dark and the wind started to pick up. Two miles from town, and five miles from home if I kept going. I turned around and headed back to Liberty, since there was shelter there in case I needed it. I needed it. That orange area on the radar got there before I did, though, along with thunder, lightening, 45 mph wind gusts and even a bit of hail. It's interesting riding in that stuff, since I still had about 3/4 of a mile to go when the sky opened up. I got to the place where I work, went in and called CJ to come get me. So not using the car today didn't pan out either. But I did get in a 9 mile ride and had a shower too.

Tomorrow's forecast calls for a 20% chance of showers and plenty of sun. I think I'll check the map anyway.

Over 3000

2009-08-18T20:43:00.002-04:00

Finally. There was an error over there in the monthly mileage that I corrected tonight. I won't go into the details, but, it was rider error in EXCEL that caused it. But, I am over 3000 mile for the year, at last. I am about 100 miles short of where I was last year at this time, but the weather has been a bit uncooperative with a lot of scattered evening thunderstorms. This week looks pretty good, and tonight was no exception. I got in 32.8 miles at 17.4 mph after work.

I've been sort of religious about slathering on the sun screen before my rides, but on a couple of these evening rides I've "forgotten". Since the sun was hiding behind a cloud while I was getting ready today, I skipped the SPF 30 and went unprotected. Of course the clouds vanished about 10 minutes into the ride, but since it was after 5:00, there was a lot of shade. Oh, did I mention it was 90 degrees with 60% humidity. I guess I just did. Anyway, has anyone else noticed that their sweat seems to evaporate better without sunscreen? Is that just my imagination? I feel so much cooler without it. One thing that isn't imagined is when sweat runs into my eyes. If I am wearing sunscreen my eyes burn so much sometimes I have to stop and wipe them because I can't see to ride. Without the sunscreen, sweat is just water in my eyes. No problem. I think I'll keep using sun protection, but maybe I need to keep it away from my eyes.

Hope I can get a Thursday ride in too. Maybe four this week?

Not Paying Attention

2009-08-16T17:20:00.004-04:00

I was happily riding along this morning in another world and didn't see this swath of broken glass until it was too late to even think about not riding through it. At least I managed to go to the right of the largest part. I stopped after I got past it and checked the tires, figuring there was no way I'd gotten through it without picking up something. But I did get through. The tires were fine. That never happens. Well, almost never. It was the second time this week I ran through broken glass without getting a flat. Sometimes I get lucky, I guess.

This is why I shouldn't be allowed to wear anything white. Every time I wear this white jersey I get these grease spots within the first five miles. It baffled me where they came from. Today I finally figured it out. It seems that I slightly rest my water bottle against my stomach to reposition it in my hand after getting it out of the cage. I suppose if I washed my bike, this wouldn't happen, but it's been washed already once this year. Twice would be pushing it, don't you think? Besides, as long as we can get this, I'll be fine. It's saved more of my clothes, well, it's saved All of my clothes at one point or another. Magic Stuff.

Today's ride ended up being 52.2 mile with a 16.9 mph average. I went out early, around 9:00 when the temp was only around 70, but the humidity was 92%. Kind of sticky, but it stayed pretty much overcast, so it really wasn't too bad.

Riding

2009-08-06T19:55:00.002-04:00

The past three weeks have featured a lot of riding. Not on the bike, though. I've only managed six bike rides in that time frame for a total of 206.23 miles. Not much for three weeks. But riding I was, every single night, as a passenger and driving instructor. I don't know how many miles we did on all kinds of roads, traffic and conditions with lots of parking and backing up and three point turns, but the student passed his test yesterday and is now licensed to drive in NC and, I guess, the other 49 states too.

Tonight I got out for the first evening week night ride in a long time. Are people driving worse or does not being out there all the time make me more sensitive to how close some of them come? Tonight's high point was a car backing out into the street as I was approaching at 30 mph. That's ok, but the driver blocked the entire lane and the shoulder. I knew right away that there was no stopping so I took the only path open to me, passing on the left. As I went past I turned to the driver, shouted "HEY!" and made the universal "wudduyathinkyerdoin" hand gesture (no, not THAT one). You know, open hand, palm up. Don't know if he got the message, but maybe he'll look for bikes next time.

So, it was short tonight 'cause I started late. 21.83 miles @ 17.8 mph. Guess that's ok for all the time off I've had.

TT Tuesday

2009-07-21T20:33:00.005-04:00

Well, since last Tuesday's more intense ride to improve speed went pretty well, I thought I'd try it again. Around 3:00 it didn't look like there was much chance since there were storms around and it was pretty gloomy looking, but by 5:00 it was all gone and bright sunshine had broken out with only a few stray clouds wandering around.

The TT part was, just like last week, twenty minutes of full effort. I started it at the five mile mark and when I slacked off twenty minutes later I had covered seven miles. Using my abacus, fingers and toes, I calculate that to be an average of 21 mph for that distance. Not too bad for an old guy, I guess.

Here is the speed trace.

The heartrate

And the elevation.

The whole ride worked out to 32.8 miles with an average of 18 mph. I'm wondering, since I ride the whole thing alone with no one to draft and share the work, could that be fairly fast? Wish I knew, but it was fun, anyway.

Watching TDF on Versus now, I must confess, I succumbed to the spoilers on the WWW intertubes today, so I already know the outcome. I need to watch it anyway. Hope Jens gets well soon.

The Hills Are Alive...

2009-07-18T18:28:00.001-04:00

Oops, wrong musical. Needs to be "The corn is as high as an elephant's eye"
So. we're not in Oklahoma, but, that is tall corn, no matter where you are. I don't think I have ever seen corn this tall, and I've driven through the corn fields of Indiana so I've seen corn. I had to stop and take this picture. I have been to the NC Zoo in Asheboro, and suggest that anyone visiting this area take the time to go there, and know just how high an elephants eye is. No elephants can see over this field.

The latest iteration of Saturday's route takes me within couple of hundred yards of Homeland Creamery. One thing they have is ICE CREAM! Depending on the route variation, it comes either at 32 or 38 miles into the ride. Today it was 32, or about 2000 burned calories. Unfortunately I never seem to take enough money with me to stop and replenish. I need to remember to. An ice cream stop on a hot summer day - what could be better. Maybe next weekend.

Not sure what is going on with the weather. Today was about 82 degrees. Believe it or not, that feels cold now. Not a normal NC summer, by any means. An amazing, beautiful day, though. Stats for today; 48.75 miles, 16.9 mph, 3099 calories. Not too bad, I guess.

Speed Hurts

2009-07-14T20:14:00.002-04:00

But only for a little while.

With variable success I've been trying to get back to the same average speeds I reached before last year's month long sabbatical. Part of it was the race last month and knowing I used to be faster, some of it is probably the inspiration from watching the TDF. Riding my bike the way I do gives me a clue as to what it takes to ride at that level. But just a clue. Those guys are tough.

So I've been starting to push for speed. Now, increasing average speed over a thirty mile ride isn't going to come on the downhills. It comes on the flats and the climbs. Mostly the climbs, one or two mph up a hill makes a huge difference, and that can hurt.

Tonight I set out with a goal, for once. GO FAST. After warming up for about twenty minutes I set out on my own mini time trial. Max effort for the next fifteen miles, especially up the hills and on the flats. I kept my heart rate right around the point that the alarm on the Garmin goes off. Going up the hills was the hardest. Legs saying shift down a couple of gears and recover, brain saying "no". Brain won, mostly. I ended that part of the ride - which includes the steepest climbs of my route - with an average speed of 18.6 mph. I forgot to look at my average for the first 20 minutes of warm up, so I don't know how fast I really went, but I doubt it was over 16, it usually isn't for that part of the ride.

The whole ride was 33 miles with an average of 17.8. Although it hurt for a while, it felt good after. I just have to keep doing it. I don't know why, but going fast has always been what I want most.

Picking Up Speed

2009-07-07T20:39:00.002-04:00

Ever since last year's month long pause in riding while trying to deal with breathing problems, getting back to pre break speed levels has been a problem. Ok, I know this extra ten pounds I'm carrying (mostly around the waist - hey, I'm 55, it happens) doesn't help, nor does the fact that I am refusing to take any asthma meds because of the side effects. But still, I try. Most rides have been about a mile per hour off last year's best, but there have been a few that make it seem that speed is within reach.

Saturday I got in a nice 50 mile ride and averaged 17 mph. Not too bad for that distance. Sunday the forecast was for rain and thunderstorms all day, and they were in the area according to the radar on the Internet. So, no ride, just a nice "veg out" day in front of the tube.

Tonight, though....

If you had told me 20 years ago when I moved here from Massachusetts that I would be riding a bike when it was 92 degrees and thinking it was the perfect temperature, I'd have laughed at you. When it was 92 in New England finding an air conditioned place to hang out was the top priority, not going for a 33 .6 mile bike ride. But today was like that. Perfect. So, I pushed a bit. At one point, about 19 miles in, I had an 18.7 mph average. That happened to coincide with the lowest elevation an the loop, and the 200 feet of climbing over the next six miles dropped that to 18.2, but I maintained that for the rest of the ride. So, I equaled my best ever. Speed is still possible, I guess.

Must be getting some motivation from watching TDF. Lets see what Thursday's ride brings.

Just to document this, LAST Thursday's ride included, for the first time, a car crossing into my lane, on purpose, and forcing me off the road at one of the fastest points in my ride. I turned around and gave chase, but there was no hope of catching it. I can't believe how stupid some people are. They must forget - it's a small town, after all.

To Do / Metric

2009-06-28T17:35:00.003-04:00

With all the rain and thunderstorms over the past few weeks quite a few rides got skipped. Like yesterday. There were lots of things on my to do list, including a bike ride, but when the time came a severe thunderstorm rolled through and no ride. No such problem today, the ride was at the top of the list. One thing yesterday's storms did was reduce the humidity, so even though today was hot, it wasn't too uncomfortable. At about the forty mile mark I still felt pretty good so I went for a metric century, and completed it. That gives me three rides over 100k in the past month and a half. Today's, in miles, was exactly 63 with an average of 17.1 mph..

Miles for the month so far are 392.67. If the weather holds I may get one more in before we flip another page on the calendar.

Race City

2009-06-24T16:40:00.015-04:00

If you are going to have a race, what better place than Race City, USA. AKA Mooresville. Of course it's called Race City because almost all of the NASCAR Sprint Cup teams are based there. But it's a nice place for a bike race too. The course covered four city blocks, so it was a nice rectangle, with four 90 degree corners. Slightly downhill from the start line to the first turn, then a little more than slightly downhill all the way to turn three where all of the downhill suddenly turned into a 5% uphill grade. All of the descent was gotten back between turns three and four.

Here is the start of the men's Cat 4 race

Cat 4 men going through turn one

The start of my race.

Since almost all my riding is on open rural roads the only 90 degree corners I get to take at speed are in Fogleman Acres. They are part of every ride I take. There are four of them and they are taken at around 23 mph. Getting through the corners of the race course didn't pose much of a problem, but not ever riding in groups meant I wasn't comfortable going into at least the first one in the pack. So, I simply went to the back at the start.

Me being drafted

At the end of the first lap me and a couple of other riders were only about thirty or forty feet from the back of the main group. Thinking I could get to that group on the downhill back straight before they got any further away, I passed the two riders in front of me. I was wrong. Worse than that, now I had my main competitor for the win on my wheel. After a couple of laps it was apparent that he was happy to stay there. He also told me he didn't think he'd make it at that speed. I didn't say anything, because I was breathing too hard to talk, so I knew for sure if I did make it, I'd finish second. If he could talk and I couldn't three laps into the race, I was a sitting duck.

Now, I pay attention when I watch the races on TV, so I did the only thing I could. I started slowing down. I had to get him in front of me so I could rest a bit. It took a couple of laps, but finally I almost stopped at the top of the climb and he didn't really have any choice but to pass me. Finally I had a chance to get my breathing and heart rate back under control. I stayed behind him for two laps, then halfway down the back straight I accelerated, went all the way to the other side of the road and passed him one more time. When I looked back, which wasn't until I crested the hill leading onto the front straight, I had about a ten foot gap. From that point on I pulled away. It turned out I had made the move at exactly the halfway point in the race. I am not sure how big a gap I had by the end, but I think it might have been the entire length of the straight. If I had known that during the race I'd have slowed a bit, but now I know I can go at maximum effort for a full thirty minutes.

Anyway, I won.

And I'd like to do it again....

A Few Stats

2009-06-21T21:00:00.002-04:00

A few quick stats from todays race:
Total miles: 10.95
Average speed: 20
Total time: 32.52.9
Max speed: 28.1
Heartrate: average 169, max, 184.

It is nice to win two in a row. Last year it was novice, this year it was Cat5, and it wasn't easy, but it sure was fun! More to follow, but I need to work on speed now, I have plenty of endurance.

Got One In

2009-06-18T19:41:00.002-04:00

It hasn't rained now for, I don't know, 14 hours or so. It hasn't just been raining it has been RAINING! Flash flood type downpours every day, along with thunderstorms. So, no riding has been done since I managed to squeeze one in last Sunday. I wasn't planning much of a week anyway, since I'm planning on racing in the NC State Games on Sunday, but I did want to stay on the bike. Finally, tonight, there was only a 49% chance of rain, and when I looked at the weather map, nothing at all in the area. So off I went.

Now, for the past few years, about ever since I started riding, we have been in a drought here. That seems to have ended now, and one thing I had forgotten was just how humid an NC summer really is. When I left for my ride it was, according to the thermometer in the car, 92 degrees, and, according to the Weather Channel, 67% humidity. Don't know if either was right, but it sure was sticky. By the time I got in 25.15 miles at an average of 17.2, I was soaked. I've been dryer coming home after riding in the rain. Still, though, it was a nice ride.

Probably going to get a short ride in Saturday, then spend some time prepping the bike for Sunday's race. Next stop - Mooresville.

Stuck In The Middle

2009-06-09T19:26:00.002-04:00

Well, I checked out the local weather radar before I set out tonight. There were storms to the left of me, storms to the right (as in counties away) but, where I was it was bright and sunny with very little wind. The storm forecast was 30%. Looked pretty good to me. The plan, formulated all day long, was to warm up for maybe twenty minutes and then push for a while and see how it went. It went according to plan. I ended up doing one long 17 or 18 minute intense interval after the warm up with my heart rate right around 105% of lactic threshold. Then I backed off, figuring I'd finish the ride at my normal semi-quick weeknight pace. Then the storms came. I was cruising along on one of the few flats around here and was startled by a clap of thunder that sounded like it was about six inches from me. So, now what? I was at the top of the mile long hill leading to the middle school, so I put my head down and pedaled for all I was worth and got to the school, called CJ and rode home in the car. When we got home I found we were under a severe thunderstorm warning, so stopping was the right choice.

The 16.1 miles I got in went by at an average of 18.1. Not bad. Would have been interesting to see how fast a complete ride would have been.

The weather man says we can expect more of the same for the rest of the week. Hope I can get some more miles in.

Practice

2009-06-02T20:32:00.002-04:00

The NC State Games will be held on June 21. I have been uncertain whether or not to race and try for a second gold medal in two years. Last year the games were held in Greensboro; this year, Mooresville, down by Charlotte, about 75 miles away. I'd kind of like to race again, so I floated a "Anyone want to got to a bike race" idea. We'll see if there are any takers.

There aren't any course maps available yet, but since it's going to be through a downtown, I expect there to be some - or several- tight 90 degree corners. With that in mind I changed my ride tonight to include several laps through some residential areas, primarily Fogleman Acres, just to get comfortable pushing the bike through tight corners at high speeds. I love it. Always have. It is so much fun to find the grip limits of the tires. After that I headed out on my normal route, but did two five minute intervals at max effort with five minutes recovery in between, heart rate 171. It really didn't seem that difficult, so maybe I should push a little harder next time. I ended the night with 31.8 miles with an average of 16.7 mph.

I have three weeks to find some real speed and make up my mind, but I'm leaning toward racing.

Chip 'N Seal

2009-05-31T17:23:00.002-04:00

Most of the roads around here are chip and seal. Or seal and chip. How it works is a truck goes along and lays down a layer of sticky, gooey tar which is then covered with an even layer of little pebbles. Those loose pebbles are left there for a while to let traffic fuse the layers together, then the excess loose pebbles are swept off and the lines painted. Kind of a neat way to make a road, and it's only a little bit rougher than standard pavement. Never much of a problem. Unless it's fresh and you don't expect it.

My Saturday loop includes a tight right hand turn off of Smithfield onto Lake Juno Rd. That turn is at the bottom of steep hill - speed about 32 mph, and requires heavy braking. Me, being me, of course, tries to get through it as fast as possible, not crossing the center line, of course, 'cause it's a blind corner too.

Saturday I came sailing down the hill, did my braking, and turned in and saw - loose gravel. Fortunately I had a chance to hit the brakes one more time and get slowed down a bit more. I almost stayed in my lane, I only crossed one of the double yellow lines, but there wasn't anything coming the other way, so it was OK. Just a little more excitement.

At the end of the new "pavement" I had to stop and wipe all the little rocks off the tires. The tar glues them on pretty effectively. Maybe it'll be swept off by next Saturday, but I'll be braking a lot more for that corner next week, just in case.

Month End

2009-05-31T15:40:00.002-04:00

First, is the last weekend in May designated as national harass and (try to) intimidate cyclists weekend, or were they just out for me? In the past five years I have never had so many cars come so close to hitting me, blow their horns at me, drivers yell at me to get off the road, or intentionally attempt to run me off the road as I did the past two days. It was crazy out there. One, a gentleman in white Chevy pickup - NC plate SSA 2349, has been reported to both the Randolph County Sheriff's Department and the Liberty police for trying to squeeze me off the road, then slamming on his brakes to see if I would run into the back of his truck. All it did was give me time to get the plate number. Hopefully someone will speak to him. Here in North Carolina, a bicycle is entitled to the WHOLE lane. There is no requirement to keep as far right as practical, like in a lot of other states. We all ride to the right to make it easy and cooperate. I tend to ride about eighteen inches into the lane to keep people from trying to squeeze between me and oncoming traffic. They have to go into the other lane to get by, and most of the time it isn't a problem, this weekend, for some reason, it was.

Yesterday's ride started out as just the regular Saturday loop, but partway through I changed the route to take me out Old Liberty Road to Rt.22, then followed that into Climax, riding about thirty miles to there. There is a store there, so I stopped and bought two bottles of water. From there it would be about fifteen miles back to Liberty, then another ten home. That would be fifty five miles, it was a nice day, so I thought, why not go for a metric century. It would just be another seven miles. In the end, I just added a couple of short loops through town and ended the ride with 64.36 miles, or 102.9 km. My legs were a little stiff after, but that may have more to do with all the yard work that's getting done than all the riding. I got in 30 miles today, and my legs felt fine. The Tour de Lions 77 miles two weeks ago and yesterday's 64 were my longest rides since last year's Tour de Lions.

Miles in May went up, 637.17 miles. Last May it was 497.41 miles. For some reason it feels like I'm riding less this year, but, obviously, I'm riding more. Total miles for the years is now 1905.02. I might make 4000 again this year.

Wonder what June will bring.

Fifth

2009-05-25T14:33:00.002-04:00

Five days of riding in a row. That's a first for me, never having gone more than three in a row before. I had been thinking about it since last Monday, when I decided to take Friday off to make it an extra long weekend. Both yesterday and today were a mixture of rain, clouds and sunshine, the rain was kind of nice to ride in, especially since it was warm and not very windy. Today there were two other cyclists going the same way as me, so I rode with them from Liberty to Staley - about five miles. I don't usually get to ride with anyone, so it was nice to have someone to talk to. Their names were Brad and Brian, they had done last weekends Tour de Lions and were out for a training ride for this weekend's Three Mountain Madness . That looks like a fun ride with plenty of climbing, plus "steep and dangerous descents". I'd love to try it, but since it's limited to 600 riders, it's probably too late. Maybe next year.

The past five days produced a total of 182.59 miles, but it will have to stop there. My son's in a play at the High School tomorrow evening, so my next ride will wait until Thursday. My legs tell me that's not a bad idea.

Just In

2009-05-23T18:15:00.004-04:00

This weeks totals are now in. Sunday was a no ride day because of Saturday's 75 miles. It wasn't really necessary, but, hey, it didn't hurt. The rest of the week were the standard 33 miles on Tuesday and Thursday, but I took a vacation day on Friday to make a nice 4 day weekend, and since it was a great day and my chores and a Sam's Club grocery run were done by noon, I rode mid afternoon - a little over 36 miles. That brings us to today. More yard work and gardening in the morning and a planned 60 miles in the afternoon. In fact, my intent was to include the last 15 miles of last Saturday's Tour de Lions in my ride, not just for the added miles, but for the 8% climbs, too. My climbing has to get better, some how. It didn't happen. The problem is the turn off for those 15 miles is 25 miles into my ride. While the water and Gatorade bottles aren't quite empty, they certainly don't have enough in them for a tough 15 miles in 80 degree weather with 70% humidity. There is a little gas station/community store there that I was counting on to stop and refill everything, but it was closed. Bummer. I started out on the route, but after a mile or so a little common sense prevailed (REALLY!) and I turned around and headed back to Liberty, about 10 miles, but with a place to stop and refill. I ended the day with 51.29 fairly easy miles. I want to add that other 15 miles, but I need to work out the fluid logistics.

The week ended up with 153.09 miles. They are starting to add up. Tomorrow, if there is time between the three biggest auto races in the universe, all live on TV. If there is a 30 mile gap, I'll go, if not, it's a couch potato day (with some weeding thrown in). I have Monday off, though, so I can catch up.

Recovery

2009-05-19T20:42:00.002-04:00

I had to drive the 35 miles to High Point today to do about 5 minutes of work on a co-worker's computer. Good thing I get paid mileage for that trip. Forty five cents a mile sort of at least makes it tolerable, and getting to drive for an hour instead of being cooped up in the office is great. The drive let me know just how windy it was, though. I know The Weather Channel claimed 15 mph winds with gusts to 25, but that usually doesn't make staying in my own lane much of a challenge with the Camry. It was today. I was planing on riding, but if the wind stayed like that, I'd have a hard time convincing myself to go.

It was still pretty windy at five, but I got ready and went, leaving about 5:30. It turned out not to be too bad. I didn't push much, I'm still doing a little recovery from Saturday's 75 miles. I did my usual 32.7 mile after work loop, and surprised myself with an average of 17. My legs felt great, heart rates were low. It was a nice easy ride, just faster than I expected.

This weekend should be interesting. Weather permitting I will ride Thursday night, I am taking Friday off, so, probably, Saturday is a given, but Sunday is the Monaco GP, Indy, and the Coca Cola 600, so there may not be a ride. Of course I have Monday off too, so maybe I can get a ride in then too.

Miles and speed are coming up. I think I may be getting back some level of fitness.

In A Crowd

2009-05-16T17:41:00.014-04:00

This was my fourth Tour de Lions in the past five years, every time doing the max distance. Last year the distance was upped from 60 to 75, and although I made it, it was a struggle, the rear brake dragging for the last 15 miles wasn't a help. My longest ride so far this year had been 53 miles, so there was this nagging question: "Can I really do this?"

Friday night's pre-ride bike inspection and tweak revealed an unexpected problem. There was a flat spot on the rear tire caused a couple of days earlier by a momentary wheel lockup while performing a successful (4) deer avoidance maneuver. It was ground through to the last layer of cords, so there was no way to be comfortable riding on that tire, that far from home. So, off to Greensboro to Performance for TWO new tires, leaving, of course, the newly arrived 10% off coupon on the kitchen table - oh, well.

The new starting point at Providence Grove High School is nice. Lots of parking space and plenty of room inside for registration, and much better restrooms. This year's rider count was up to 400, an increase of 100 over last year's.

I've always ended up doing almost the entire ride alone. This year, though, I was determined to get in a group and stay there. I managed to get in a group of about twenty that was, for the most part, going fast enough for me. Wow, does that make a difference. Since I never ride in a group I had to do some fast learning, like lightly dragging the brakes downhill to stay in line, and just going with the uphill speed, even if I felt I could go faster. The first 20 miles went by in exactly one hour, the fastest I'd ever averaged, anytime, anyplace, helped, no doubt, by the general downhill trend shown in the elevation profile, and I was only pedaling about half the time, and coasting the rest.

By the time we got to the rest stop at 60 miles the group was down to six, all of us taking short turns at the front. Even knowing how much climbing was to come in the last 15 miles, there wasn't any doubt that I could make it. I figured I'd be dropped by the group, but my legs felt good, so I didn't think it would be a problem to finish alone. It turned out, though, the except for one other rider (and he followed me the rest of the way), I dropped the group at the first hill. The other four finished about five or six minutes behind the two of us.

Riding in a group was a revelation, and from now on, I'll do anything I can to get in one and stay in one on rides like that.

It was a great ride, the weather held, and I finished. Not a bad day.

Some stats:

75.77 miles

17.7 mph average

4:16:24 riding time

37.6 mph max speed

3102 feet total ascent

8% max grade

5144 calories burned.

I'll do it again next year - maybe faster?

Think I'll take today off and do some much needed bike maintenance and some gardening.

Memories

2009-05-14T19:20:00.002-04:00

This brought back some memories tonight. I recall spending my summers in Vermont when I was about twelve working on dairy farms - either Locke Goss's or Paul Nelson's (if you ever bought a calendar with photos of Vermont, The Nelson's farm was probably on it. I loved all of it, but the best part was being turned loose on a field of hay with either tedder or a rake and a 1948 John Deer. Just pure joy, driving in ever decreasing (or increasing) circles. Really, what could be better than that? Ok, the eighth grade dances were kind of fun, but in a different way...

If you want to see some more gorgous photos of Vermont, especailly the Barnet - Peacham area where I lived, go here Richard Brown knows how to take pictures.

So, where am I in the riding department? Well, after a week with my highest mileage ever, the weather changed and we had a week of thunderstorms and tornado watches. All week. I don't mind riding in the rain, in fact, I sort of enjoy it if the visibility isn't too bad so that I spend too much time worrying about getting run down. But lightning scares me, and I don't want to be chasing Dorthy through the sky in a twister while riding my bike - you know the scene. From 171.71 miles one week to 79.6 miles the next. This wasn't the plan. This Saturday is the annual Tour de Lions charity ride, and, since I don't really know any better, I do the longest ride. Last year it was increased from 60 miles to 75. I made it, but barely, although a dragging rear brake for the last 15 miles may have had a lot to do with the "just barely". My longest ride so far this year is 53 miles. Making the jump from 53 to 75 might be asking just a little too much from these tired old legs. I don't know. Last year, though there was a spot where the 75 mile route and the 40 mile route crossed. At that point, a 75 miler could join the 40 milers and end up with 60. If this year is the same, I won't have to make a decision 'til then. I can do 60, no problem. We'll see how I feel at 50 and go from there.

So far this weeks rides were about 30 on Sunday, 33 on Tuesday, and 22 tonight. A little short tonight, I know, but I just wanted to keep the legs limbered up for Saturday. Average speed for all of them was above 17, so the speed is coming back, nicely.

I'll let you know how Saturday goes.

Open House

2009-05-03T16:16:00.012-04:00

We went to the open houses that I mentioned yesterday. This is the front of the Goat Lady Dairy / restaurant. We stopped there first because we had never been there before, a large crowd was already there. We were about to find out why. The first thing we noticed was the gardens.
This was the first one. I now know how inadequate my gardening skills are. The contents of this little patch were beets, lettuce, spinach, Swiss chard, and broccoli. I planted most of those things too, but you are not going to see a picture of how mine are doing. I have a lot of work to do.

Of course. it helps not only to have goats for organic material, but having one of these

certainly would help. I experimented with a little cold frame - green house this spring and it made a big difference with the plants I started. I am already planning a small green house for next year.

We sampled all the goat cheeses, my favorite was the chive and dill, CJ liked the orange.

There was even an interesting sculpture in front of the restaurant. I was impressed with the place, and would love to eat there someday. Seems you have to make reservations more than a year in advance, though.

Then we went over to Rising Meadow. We have been there several times before, for the annual Farm Fest and fiber festival. It is another small, sustainable farm, as well as a Bed and Breakfast. We wandered around looking at the sheep and llamas, and gardens. It is another beautiful place. I was taken with the herb garden. We are working on one, and it may well succeed.

I have a lot of the same stuff, and, believe it or not, it is doing well.

There are some really cool things around here. Small farms and wineries abound. The decline in tobacco necessitated it. Maybe there should be some sort of bike ride to explore them. Especially the wineries. Anyone want to go?

I did get out on my bike this morning. Just did a nice, easy 30 mile recovery ride and averaged about 16.4 mph. It was cloudy and windy and oh, so humid.

I leave you with a picture of a guard llama at Rising Meadow. I would not cross him.

Garden Party

2009-05-02T19:24:00.003-04:00

With Colin having to go to Asheboro first thing in the morning to take the SAT, and then be picked up around 1:00, it seemed like a good morning to work in the yard and plant some things in the garden. the weather for the afternoon looked a little iffy for a bike ride; 50% chance of scattered thunderstorms, some of them possibly severe, but, if they happened, I always had the trainer. I invited everyone I could find to help with the planting, but, well, there weren't any takers. Not much of a planting party after all. I got a lot done, though, but I still have a lot to do.

When I finally left for a ride the skies looked a bit ominous, but I figured I'd go and see how far I got before the storms came. I didn't expect to go very far. I was wrong. The storms never came, and there was a lot more sun than clouds. I got to work on my "wacky" cyclist tan (as Sam calls it). Every time it looked like it might be time to think about stopping, the sky would suddenly clear and the sun break through. So, I ended up riding 53.36 miles, the most since 7/5/2008. I also averaged 17.2 mph, not too bad, given that it was a little windy and I wasn't really trying very hard.

Well, I say "not too bad", but I'm not sure. I finally figured out how to put the data from the Garmin on here, like Sarah does. That's the elevation profile from today's ride. Not much flat around here, is there?

The week: It looks like my highest mileage week, ever. 171.71 miles. That surprised me. Hope I can keep it up.

Tomorrow's weather is supposed to be a lot like today's. We are also going to go to the open houses at Rising Meadow Farm and The Goat Lady Dairy. Hope they have plenty of free samples and CJ doesn't try to buy too much yarn. I also just found out that it is strawberry picking season. I'll be doing that soon.

WOW

2009-04-28T20:26:00.002-04:00

For those of you in New England, I have been wanting to mention, and keep forgetting to, that it gets dark almost an hour later here than up there. Makes after work rides wonderful.

How many days do we get like this? It was 76 degrees with not much humidity, and bright sunshine at 5:15 when I left for my ride. There was a fair amount of wind coming from the south, and to be honest, if it was ten degrees colder I'd be whining about the wind, but for some reason, the warmer it gets, the less I mind it. Sure, I was riding straight into it when I was doing my intervals, so there was no speed to go with the effort, but I really didn't mind. I was smart enough to just run the intervals up to my lactate threshold instead of going full anaerobic like the last time, so it wasn't so bad. I did five one minute drills with one minute recovery in between. It felt pretty good, so maybe it's time to increase the time.

I rode 33.22 miles in at 17.3 mph. Not bad, and pretty close to what I was doing last year. Thirty three miles after work seems like about the right distance since it leaves some time for supper and maybe doing something in the garden.

I finally updated the yearly mileage over there on the right.

I could use more days like this.

The Pollen Forecast...

2009-04-26T17:17:00.002-04:00

That is the roof of my car. Believe it or not, I washed it yesterday. That gives you some idea of what the Weather Channel means when they say the pollen level in your area is high. Ya think? No wonder I have to keep stocked up on allergy medicine. Even had to use my inhaler today.

Even with a head start on the weekend's chores by mowing the lawn Friday evening, Saturday's ride ended up being a short one crammed between lots of other stuff. By the time I had gotten a haircut, washed the car, changed the tire from the mismatched spare to the repaired flat of last Sunday morning, and spent all my money (and the kid's inheritance) on food at Walmart and Sam's Club, it was after 12:00. I also had to be home by 3:00 because it was prom night. There were pictures to be taken, and Colin had to be with his friends by 4:00 to go out to eat (The Black Pearl in Greensboro - looks like a neat place, but he said I couldn't go. Go figure....). I got out about 12:30. It was a gorgeous day, about 90 degrees, some wind, full sun. Traffic around Liberty wasn't too bad for the Antique Festival, and bazillion yard sales and flea markets that take place on the two Festival weekends every year. It looked like the turnout was huge, given the number of cars I saw parked in the fields at the Festival site.

I rode 36.2 miles at 16.5 mph.

Today was a little warmer, about 92, and I got out a little earlier, about 10:30. The plan was to go for a longer ride, but not really push too hard. It was a success on both those counts. 50.93 miles @ 16.4 mph, with fairly low heart rates throughout. You know, sometimes it is nice to just slow down, putter along, and enjoy the ride and scenery. But it also helps to be in something resembling good shape, so you can.

I managed to stay reasonably hydrated, losing about four pounds on each ride. That is about the max I can lose and still feel ok, and it seems to be taking a bit more to stay at that level. Is that an age thing, I wonder?

Next ride - Interval Tuesday.

Fastest / Not Fastest

2009-04-23T20:27:00.002-04:00

Riding, if nothing else, is a decent stress reliever. Another round of "cost cutting" today, unemploying 5 people and gutting our infrastructure doesn't make for a very pleasant day. We still have to get through tomorrow. I feel sorry for those who are gone, and, of course, worried about what my fate is to be. With that kind of day, getting on the bike was badly needed. The fact that it was sunny, about 80 degrees with light breezes made it even better. I just put my head down and rode. Not really pushing, but not taking it easy, either. It was mindless, relaxing and stress relieving. It ended up being 32.86 miles with an average of 18 mph. Or, maybe, 33.17 miles at 18.2 mph, which would make it equal to my fastest ride, ever. You see, the thing is, there is this little discrepancy between the Garmin and the Cateye I had used up until last Christmas. The Cateye reads .2 mph higher all the time, and it is getting it's readings off a meticulously measured rear wheel. The Garmin gets its readings from satellites several thousand miles away. Which is right? It only matters for consistency, I guess.

In the end, it was a good ride, and plenty fast enough, either way, and I got to forget about things for a while.

Anyone need an Engineer/It manager/ welder / draftsman/etc?

Sunday Ride

2009-04-19T18:06:00.002-04:00

Sunday didn't start the way I thought it would. This was the day the kids from Eastern Randolph and Providence Grove left on their trip to Washington DC, Gettysburg, and Philadelphia. My son ("the boy" according to his sister") was going. That meant we had to get up at 3:30 so he could get ready and make it to the school in time to make the bus, it was leaving at 5:00. We left about 4:40 for the ten minute ride to E.R. About 100 yards into the trip I decided the car did not feel right, so I stopped, got out and looked at the tires. The left rear was flat. Back to the house and a quick swap to Sam's car. We made it in time.

My legs still hurt from yesterday, but I wanted to ride, so I resolved to actually do what made sense - a nice slow recovery ride. My normal Sunday route sort of lends itself to that kind of ride - it is the most flat of all the routes. It actually worked out, for once. I rode 35.5 miles and averaged 16.7 mph. Best, though, my heart rate never got above 159 and mostly hovered around 140 to 145. I think that counts as a real recovery ride.

I am tired, though. I still have not recovered from last week's 2,000 miles in a Toyota Camry, and today's escapades didn't help. I did not take a nap, but I should have.

Isn't that a neat house? I have ridden past it several times, and never seen it until today. You can't accuse me of being observant. I only noticed it because I stopped to take that new picture up there in the header, and I only noticed that because I switched my normal direction on that road. I was going downhill instead of concentrating on getting up the hill. Maybe I need to look around?

I should have napped....

Now, THAT Hurt

2009-04-18T18:14:00.002-04:00

Since there was only one ride in the past week, and my legs felt a little achy and tired I figured today would be a good day to add more miles and more hills. That probably was not the smartest choice, but smart choices are not what I am known for. The first 18 miles went well, so I took the left turn off the Julian - Ramsuer road onto Old Liberty Road and headed for Gray's Chapel. There is a lot of uphill involved, but the only way to get better climbing is to climb. At some point my heart rate went way over max, to 180 bpm, and never really went down to "taking it easy" zone again. I was determined, though to get the most out of the ride, and I was comfortable with the higher than anticipated heart rates - I ended up with a162 average for the ride - but my legs were not happy at all. In true biker fashion, I pressed on regardless.

So, how did I fare? Well, 49.13 miles at an average of 16.8 mph. Not too bad if you consider that a lot of the last 20 miles was spent not only battling tired legs, but also attempting and failing, to bring the HR down to a reasonable number. I am SO out of shape.

Since I am planning on doing the annual Tour De Lions charity ride about mid May, and, of course, I want to do the 75 mile route, which just happens to have some steep climbs right at the end, so, there is a lot of work to do. Maybe I can get there.

Today's weather? Absolutely perfect NC spring. Eighty one degrees, full sun, not much wind. Does it get any better than that?

Tomorrow probably should be a recovery ride, but....

Poor Pitiful Me

2009-04-16T20:24:00.002-04:00

Well, I didn't forget how to ride during my week off. When I left for my ride it was a sunny, slightly breezy 68 degrees. I dressed in my summer stuff, left, and after about half a mile thought maybe I should go back and put on the tights and long sleeve jersey. That is pitiful for a transplanted New Englander. I didn't go back, though, and I warmed up nicely. I ended up with 33.16 miles and my highest average speed of the year - 17.8. I intended to just take it easy, and mostly I did, but towards the end when it looked like I might get an 18 mph average, I pushed a bit. Didn't quite make it, this time.

The weekend is supposed to be warmer, and we have now gone a whole day without rain. Hope I can get some miles in.

That GPS Thing

2009-04-16T15:25:00.004-04:00

Let me begin by assuring you that, since I am a male, I am my own GPS unit. I always know where I am going, never need to ask directions, and, of course, have never been lost. Just ask CJ.

Sam has a Garmin Nuvi she got for Christmas, though, and since I had never used one and already knew where I was going, I thought we'd use it on the trip, you know, see how the machine compared to me. I was shocked when Sam plugged in our destination address and a pleasant female voice (from this point on she will be known as Betty) informed me that our destination was 640 miles away. Six hundred and forty. That's two hundred less MY ROUTE. Now, saving the time it takes to drive 200 miles seemed like it might be a good idea, given that we were starting kind of late and it was going to be a quick trip. So lead on, Betty.

Within the first mile it was obvious that she intended to take us up Interstate 95. I had never gone that way since it goes through all the major east coast cities, Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, but that 200 miles was so tempting. Things went well until we got to the north side of Richmond, where the speed of traffic varied from stopped to 45 mph. This was the pattern from Richmond all the way to the north side of Baltimore. That wasn't Betty's fault though. As we went through Washington, however, I had the first little pang of doubt. It was when we saw the Washington Monument and the Jefferson Memorial and the Capitol Dome. Then , when she told me to exit onto Pennsylvania Ave., I lost faith. I was also stopped in traffic. Now, I am sure that may have been the shortest distance, and maybe under some circumstances it might be the fastest, but not that day. Not having a map, though, left me with no choice but to follow Betty's directions, vowing that if she ever got me back on 95, I would stay there. Eventually we did get back on 95 and there I stayed. It was fun to ignore the "reconfiguring" and "go .2 miles and make a u-turn" she kept insisting on at each missed exit.

At 2:00 AM, 15 hours into the trip, we were in Rock Hill CT so we stopped there. The next morning we drove another hour and a half and Betty proudly announced that we had arrived at our destination. Oh, it turned out to be 840 miles. Exactly the same as the route I always take. Just to top it off, there are no tolls on my normal route, but we paid $27 to come up 95. Thanks, Betty.

The return trip on Monday was down Interstate 81. Betty was silenced, and relegated to map only mode. It took 13. 5 hours to get home. Same 840 miles, included stops for lunch, and a couple of side trips to Walmart (OK, we let Betty find those for us, and she did a good job). Best of all, not much traffic.

I will admit, though, that seeing those monuments in DC, and seeing all those cities lit up at night was kind of cool, and I never would have without Betty's optimistic mileage calculation, and it all worked out. But I won't go that way again.

I almost took my bike, but there wasn't time to ride it, and the weather wasn't really all that great, temps in the 30's and lots of wind, but maybe next time. I'd kind of like to ride up Mt. Wachusett just to see if I can.

It was nice to see New England again.

You Might Think

2009-04-09T20:11:00.002-04:00

You might think that someone who can get on a bike and ride fifty miles or so without ever once stopping would be in pretty good shape. Well, maybe you wouldn't, but, I did. Tonight I found I wasn't. It was time to do a little speed work. You know, start getting the average speed up. That requires, uh, intervals! I don't dislike intervals, but, they can be rough, especially at first, and tonight was definitely "at first". I did five of them, maximum effort, one minute each, with a minute recovery in between. My legs were willing, but my lungs objected in no uncertain terms - burning and hurting, which I ignored. I am stubborn that way. Ok, I'm just stubborn, as some people will attest. When I really am in shape I can maintain that effort for about twenty minutes, so one minute may seem short, and is, but ya gotta start someplace, and I have.

But, did it work, you ask? As in did I go faster? Well, yeah, I did. At the end of the five intervals, about ten miles in, my average was 18.3 mph. At the end of the ride, 32.72 miles, the average was 17.7. That's the fastest since August 21 of last year. Not bad, and it can only get better, right?

I hope to ride tomorrow, I have the day off, but intervals two days in a row are not a good idea.

Last Week and...

2009-04-06T17:55:00.003-04:00

I got in all four rides last week, finally. Weather cooperated, as did the motivation, and I ended up with 136.51 miles. I think that's the most for a week this year. I got in Sunday too, so this week has a good start, but that won't last (more on that later). Saturday's ride turned out to be 44.68 miles at 16.7 mph. The wind wasn't in my favor and I set out thinking it would be a short ride and I'd just take it easy. Taking it easy worked well, and the ride ended up longer and faster than it should have. Funny how that works. When I don't push, I go just as fast as when I do, but I feel better at the end.

The rest of Saturday was spent on long neglected yard work. I cut down several trees near the house that I didn't want to get any bigger. The 20 mph wind was blowing directly toward the house, so, things got really interesting. The trees were just big enough to hit the house, and. well, they tried, but I got it figured out and they all missed. It was close, though.

Sunday, another great, bright, sunny, windy and warm day (77 degrees) was great for another easy ride. About 10 miles in I saw another biker coming toward me. As we passed, I waved, and also noticed that the bike was loaded. I mean really, loaded. It had four saddle bags on the back that were the size of the biggest suitcases I had ever seen, another one on top of the luggage rack, and a big stick with a red flag fluttering behind it. I turned around and caught up to him. When I asked him where he was headed, he told me he had just left Carboro that morning and was going to the west coast. Pretty cool. His name is John, and He looked to be about 22 or 23 years old. Hopes he makes it. I chatted with him a while then turned back around and finished my ride. 36.62 miles at, you guessed it, 16.7 mph.

As for the rest of the week, well tomorrow's high is supposed to be 50 with 30 mph winds, so I doubt I will go out. It improves a bit as the week goes on, so we shall see.

Spring is really here.

2009-04-02T15:53:00.006-04:00

Lots of flowers are blooming and everything is turning green. We've had plenty of rain so far, and today was no exception. Since I have taken vacation days today and tomorrow, and today was a "scheduled ride" day (I use that term very loosely), I decided to get my ride in early. Most of the reason for that was that, although it was dreary and raining in the morning, the forecast for the afternoon was for thunderstorms. Ride in a thunderstorm? Thanks, but, no thanks. They still haven't come, though, and it's 4:00 in the afternoon.

Given the visibility out there I finally relented and attached my five LED Cateye tail light to the left side seat stay. It is not aesthetically pleasing, but, there are times when it might make a difference. Besides, it unclips and goes in the seat bag when it isn't needed. Since it had been stored in the seat bag of the other, old Fuji for the past year, the batteries weren't up for much, and went dead within the first three miles. Since I go through town in the first three miles I stopped at Family Dollar and got some more. Wow, that thing is bright when it has a fresh power source.

With the temp at 58 and the rain, I wasn't sure what to wear, so I overdressed and was a bit too warm, but that is always better than being too cold. I got in 32.87 miles and averaged 16.7 mph and got very wet.

Tomorrow we are supposed to have more thunderstorms and winds up to 40 mph, so I don't anticipate a ride.

This afternoon I got to take CJ to Greensboro to shop for yarn. She shopped, I sat in the car with a laptop and tried to find a wireless network I could connect to in the downtown. I found two that were open but I couldn't get on the Internet with them.

I might have to wash the bike tomorrow, though. I am always amazed at how dirty it gets on a wet road.

I Confess

2009-03-30T19:38:00.002-04:00

I didn't ride yesterday. All that talk of motivation and, blah, blah, wilted in the face of winds a bit stronger than predicted. To ride in 25 mph winds takes about all the perseverance I can muster. Yesterday they ended up being 35 mph. Some sort of sanity prevailed. I mean, really, I ride for fitness and fun. I don't get paid to do it. While riding yesterday was certain to help my fitness level, it sure wouldn't have been much fun. I stayed on the couch. Watched TV.

Today, though, I got in a rare Monday after work ride. Sixty eight degrees, 3 to 5 mph winds and partly cloudy. It made up for yesterday. A nice 29 mile ride with an average speed of 17.2. An hour and forty minutes, non stop, on the bike. If I can get rid of the extra ten pounds of winter blubber, there might be some real speed in these old legs.

If I ride tomorrow, I'll be back on "schedule"

Riding Again

2009-03-28T16:45:00.004-04:00

So much for my ambition last weekend of finally getting back on my four day a week riding schedule. I went out on Tuesday and about 10 miles into the ride I started having problems shifting the rear derailleur. It was sort of random, but frequent. Some shifts would take two clicks of the lever, some just one. On top of that, I'd do a down shift and the derailleur would do an upshift, then a down shift. To top it off, it would sometimes simply shift itself. Up. Down. Whatever, and usually the opposite of what I needed right then. It had a mind of its own. Needless to say, this made the ride a bit difficult, and I almost stopped, but, being stubborn, and not knowing any better, I persevered. It turned out pretty well. I did 22.04 miles with an average of 17.6 mph. At 18 miles I had an average speed of 18.5, but the last 4 miles of that loop climbs 150 feet (I know that thanks to my Garmin!) and was into a light headwind, so there wasn't much hope of maintaining that average. Given the bike problems, I was sort of happy with the final result.

Once home I checked the bike over, but couldn't find the problem. I'd adjust the cable, but nothing made any difference. It was late, and I gave up. Next night I brought the bike in the house and set it up in the trainer so I could adjust things and watch tings and maybe find out what was wrong. Watching it shift was kind of entertaining. I'd shift it one way, and the bike would go the other, first, then do what I'd commanded. Like it was rebelling. "You can't tell me what to do" I get that from the kids, too. So, finally, I pulled the the housing away from the shift lever, and "Well, there's your problem!". All but two strands of the cable had failed. Easy fix, but no spare. The worst part was, I'd been working in High Point, a half mile from a bike shop, all day. If I'd known what the problem was, a spare would have come back to Liberty with me. Thursday's ride was now cancelled. Friday night I went to Performance Bike in Greensboro and spent $6.00 on new shifter cables ( proud of myself, that was ALL I bought), came home and replaced the failed one. Truth is, I haven't even looked at the other one, but, since it gets shifted, like, once on a ride, when I am out of shape, and never when I am not, it isn't a pressing matter. I suppose I should at least give it a token look. Maybe. Later.

Today's ride went much better. The bike shifts like it did when it was new (note to self: replace cable before 4,000 miles). It was supposed to rain all day with thunder storms in the afternoon. I got out around 11:00, rode 42 miles, averaged 17 mph, and stayed dry, it was just starting to spit a little rain as I got home.

Tomorrow is supposed to be partly cloudy with 25 mph winds. It'll take some motivation to go out and fight that, but I'll probably go. Uh, maybe....

Key Lime cake is sitting on the table, waiting to replenish the calories I burned today, and tomorrow and... I added some lime zest to the recipe thinking it might make it more tangy. We'll see, soon.

Spoiled?

2009-03-22T18:13:00.006-04:00

That's in my front yard. It's getting to that time in North Carolina that is just amazing. Everything blooms and flowers in the next few weeks and the temps are moderate. Freezing cold in the morning and in the 70's by lunch, usually with intense warm sunshine. I think the only thing that might compare to the beauty of nature in the spring here is the beauty of the fall in Vermont.

I managed to ride four of the last six days. As noted earlier, I got two weekday rides in after work on Tuesday and Wednesday. Yesterday I felt like I might be just a bit spoiled. I left for my ride about 12:40 and the temp was (supposedly) 53 degrees. I dressed in my cold weather stuff figuring it would get warmer as it got later. I went about a quarter mile and turned around. I was freezing! I went home and in my only concession to the weather, got my full finger gloves. That helped a lot, and although the temp did climb to 57 or so by the end of the ride, I was never quite warm. I got in 42.44 miles at 16.7 mph. not a bad ride.

Today was quite a bit warmer. I dressed the same as yesterday, except for the full finger gloves. It was about 62 when I started and 65 when I finished, so I was borderline over dressed. Today was just an easy recovery ride because my legs were just a little tired from yesterday, but in true cyclist fashion, I ended up going a lot faster than I planned. At least I shortened the mileage, 29.8 at 17.2. Legs are still tired, but I am not riding tomorrow. I hope I can get back on my schedule of four days a week.

I got the garden tilled yesterday and today I got in two rows of beets. I can't wait to get the rest of the plants going. There isn't anything better than food you can walk out, pick and eat.

Two In a Row - Really

2009-03-18T19:09:00.002-04:00

Every week day since March 9 has included at least one trip to High Point to work on a broken server. A couple of days required two trips. All of them included a missed lunch and a late return to Liberty, and home. That deflated any motivation I may have had to ride after work, and last weekend was a complete cold washout. But yesterday I did manage to get in time and I did today as well, although today I didn't even get a piece of Barb's Key Lime cake for lunch because it was gone. I have to get that recipe. So, even though I was running on a half bowl of Frosted Mini Wheats from 6:45 AM, I couldn't NOT go, given the perfect weather. Sixty eight degrees and almost no wind. It felt good to get out there and I got in another 22 miles @ 17 mph. That's pretty good since last night I rode a mostly flat 21 miles and averaged 16.8, while tonight's was one of the more hilly (?) rides. So, an improvement. Can't go tomorrow, though. My son is in a play at the high school, so I think I'd better go to that

I have noticed a couple of riders out in places I don't normally see anyone. Maybe I can find someone to ride with. Hope so.

Wearin' Green

2009-03-17T20:04:00.002-04:00

Happy St. Patrick's Day. Although no one in this family has any Irish, we all managed to wearing green today. Ok, for me, I take green with me every day. No, not money, I have none. But my eyes are green, which, according to the internets (so it must be true)is the rarest eye color - 2% of the world's population, for whatever that is worth. Anyway, for today, we did the green thing, had the traditional corned beef and cabbage boiled dinner, without beets, because Food Lion didn't have any, and beer (for me). I also had some green cake at work (Barbara's concoction) that turned out to be a key lime cake and was an interesting flavor, sweet and tangy, it was really good, and it was my lunch since I was tied up on a conference call with our corporate help desk and Dell enterprise tech support for 3 hours.

Until today, I had been unable to take advantage of Daylight Savings Time since I have spent every day in High Point trying to resolve some computer issues. Today, though, I made it back early enough and the weather was nice enough so I finally got out there. Just 21 miles, but it was a great ride. I am hoping to get another one in tomorrow.

And Now DST, and Riding in the Peloton?

2009-03-08T18:13:00.004-04:00

Now with Daylight Saving Time the after work rides can commence. With the cooperation of weather and motivation, of course.

Today's weather was, indeed, a carbon copy of yesterday's with the exception of the wind. A bit breezy with a pretty much steady 20 to 25 mph wind out of the southwest. I decided that today's ride would just be a slow recovery ride and that I would not battle the wind for any kind of speed. My heart rate stats reflect that. Yesterday my average HR was 161 with a max of 175. Today,it was 145 and 165. Not working very hard, even though when I turned into the wind I had to use the small chainring going downhill. I think, though maybe I discovered what it's like to ride in the peloton when I had a tailwind. Level ground, 33 mph, and no effort. None. Heartrate at about 140. That felt so cool, and so fast. Granted, in an actual peloton there would have been a lot of stress because of all the riders around, but still, to go that fast without having to work is amazing. I paid for that when I turned into the wind, but it was worth it.

So, today's ride was 29.5 miles @ at a sedate 16.1, but it was fun, mostly because, when it got rough, as in into the wind, I just went slow and enjoyed the ride. Sometimes maybe that's the best thing.

SPF 30

2009-03-07T17:59:00.003-05:00

This was my front yard Monday morning as I left for work. We got about 6 inches of snow, at least on the elevated surfaces. The ground was warm, though, and the roads, snow covered as they were, were passable. Even for southerners. The temperature barely got above freezing, but with the ground warmth and bright sunshine the roads were completely clear by , oh, noon. Perfect storm. Pretty white snow on the ground and no complications. It was all gone by Wednesday night.

Ok, I am not exactly sure where I left off in the ride record department, and am too lazy to go back and figure it out, so, as far as last weekend went, 17 miles on the trainer on Saturday and the same on Sunday. Both took an hour. Nothing too exciting there. I had every intention of riding during the week, but well, ya know?

So we segue to today.

It is 6:15 as I write this. I am sitting on my deck enjoying a PBR, watching the sun go down - the deck faces SW, and waiting for a BBQ sandwich.

In order to not feel guilty about a ride today I started out with changing the oil in my Camry, then did some long overdue yard work. About 12:00 I'd had enough of that, or at least I'd made it look good, and slathered on the sunscreen for the first time since - well, since sometime back in maybe October, put on the short sleeve jersey, and the cycling shorts and went for a ride. It was just an amazing day, weather wise. I got in 40.7 miles and averaged 16.7. At about 20 miles I had an average of 17.8, so maybe I am not so slow. The wind picked up and changed direction, though, so I couldn't maintain it. In fact, the last 5 miles went from an average of 17. 2 to the 16.7. That same 5 miles is ridden at the start of my ride, and it went from 16.3 to 17.5 then. So much for the wind.

Still, a great day, and tomorrow is supposed to be just like it.

HEY, I just got bitten by a mosquito. Going in and getting another PBR out of the fridge.

Watts Up?

2009-02-25T19:11:00.002-05:00

According to the chart Kenetic puts out with their fluid trainer, the one I have, I would average about 175 watts while averaging 17 mph on the trainer. At my peak speed of 23.7, it would have been about 350 watts, not for very long, though. Don't know if this is good or bad, but nice to know.

Adjustments

2009-02-25T18:18:00.002-05:00

Rule one of adjusting anything (not just bikes, but anything ) is go little. Having been told once that "there are no rules" and not playing by them anyway, AND being discouraged by this numb toe thing, tonight I went big. Since I was riding in my bedroom and making more adjustments wasn't going to be a big deal, there wasn't much of a downside. I loosened up the cleats and slid them as far forward as I could. Did it work? I don't know. Sure didn't make it worse. I did 10 miles, averaged 17 mph and the last mile or so there was a little numbness in the toes of both feet. Better than last Sunday, I think. I am going to leave things where they are and try a long road ride on Saturday. Hope I am on the right track.

Toes

2009-02-22T15:14:00.002-05:00

Since we have 30mph winds today I set up the trainer and spent 55 minutes on it, just 15 miles. I was going to ride further, but stopped because of some pain in the bottom of my left foot, right over the cleat. From the start of my serious riding, my toes always got slightly numb, but it didn't bother me very much. The past couple of months have been a lot worse, though, and I don't know why. Nothing has changed. Same shoes, pedals, cleats. A few weeks ago I moved the cleats back a couple of millimeters, but that didn't help. It can take as much as 45 minutes after a 2 hour ride for my toes and the bottoms of my feet to feel normal again. Today was the first time there was any pain while I was pedaling, and rather than risk any sort of injury that would keep me from riding, I stopped. So, does anyone have any suggestions? A cure maybe? I am not giving up my bike.

First Flat of 09

2009-02-15T07:46:00.002-05:00

After a full week on non riding, it was time to brave the 65 degree February weather, the blustery 5 mph winds and glaring sunshine and get out there, anyway. How could I not? I hadn't been feeling especially well since last Saturday's 50 miler - still struggling with asthma meds and side effects. Once again I have decided that the benefits of the medicine are not worth enduring the things that come with it. I stopped them after last week's ride, so I was interested in seeing just how well I'd do yesterday. No problem.

Last week when I rode with Dave we followed his route, which took me over roads I'd not been on before. This week I added his route to my usual Saturday loop. It connects nicely and adds 10 miles of pretty, mostly flat, back roads. I need to explore some more of the roads around here.

About a mile and a half from home the front tire started making some noise. I wondered if it might be going flat, but the bike felt ok, so I thought it might just be the pavement. About three quarters of a mile further, a lot of vibration started coming through the bars and the handling got sketchy - the front wheel was trying to slide out from under me. Flat tire. I was still three quarters of a mile from home, but since the next half mile or so was uphill and straight I slowed and kept riding. I hate walking in cycling shoes and I was too close to stop and patch the tube. Riding up the hill went perfectly, but the last 1/4 mile to my house is downhill and through a couple of corners, a pretty good recipe for a crash with a flat front. I walked the last little bit.

So, I got in about 42 miles and averaged 16.5 mph. The Garmin tells me there was 1363 feet of climbing, and even a couple of eight percent grades - glad they are short. I really like the Garmin, but wish the heart rate was visible instead of having to rely solely on the alarm. I'd prefer being able to adjust my effort before reaching my maximum. Still, a minor complaint, though.

Going out to patch my tube, now. Today's weather is the same as yesterday's. Goin' for a ride soon.

This Week

2009-02-07T17:14:00.002-05:00

I thought about taking another picture of the thermometer in downtown Liberty today, but decided against it. I thought it might be a little discouraging to those battling snow and ice. But, it was 74 with bright sunshine and winds at 5 to 10 mph. Not a bad day to ride, and tomorrow is supposed to be identical. It's a little hard to believe that we had two days of no school due to a dusting of snow and days that didn't get out of the 30's.

Last Sunday was in the 40's and I got in a 38 mile ride. I felt good, but it was Super Bowl Sunday and there was a lot of non-nutritious food to prep and cook, so the ride was a little shorter than I wanted. In case anyone is interested, Alton Brown's (Good Eats - FoodTV) chicken wings were well worth the effort. I made a double batch of them and coated one of them with a Ranch Dressing concoction that was good, but needs a little work. Alton's coating was right on. I was rooting for the Cardinals, simply because they beat the Panthers, and the Cardinal is the state bird of NC. It was a good game, anyway.

Tuesday I set up the trainer and did 11 miles. I thought about pulling out the Spinerval dvd, but common sense prevailed. I found that The Who's Live At Leeds is not a bad choice for pedaling music.

That brings us to today. What can I say? How much better can February weather get? I was going to wash my bike before I left, and it would have had a wonderful cherry odor (see twitter update) but, I just went for a ride, instead. About 20 miles in I met up with Dave, another Liberty rider. He hasn't been riding a lot lately, and is starting to get back in shape. We were going in opposite directions, but I decided to turn around and ride with him. He was a little concerned that he would slow me down, but, I think it's fun sometimes to just slow down and ride and chat with someone. By myself there is a tendency to go as fast as I can until I blow up. We rode together for about 10 miles. It was nice. I finished up with 49.8 miles at 16 mph. Not a bad day.

I totaled my January miles and was surprised to see I'd gone about 40 mile further than last January. I was feeling a bit discouraged because I thought I was riding less. I am not.

January Returned

2009-01-27T06:40:00.003-05:00

After 64 degrees on Saturday, Sunday dawned cloudy and cold. My plan (I had one - really) was to watch the live coverage of the last 8 1/2 hours of the Daytona 24 Hours, which came on at 7:00 and stayed on until the finish at 3:30, try my hand at baking The Best Lemon Bars, Cook's Illustrated named them that, and they are right, and, as soon as the temp got close to 40, go for a long ride. The day went pretty much as planned, but the temp never got above 35. That turned out not to be such a bad thing. I pulled out the trainer and set it up in front of the tv and rode there while watching the race. What was fun was when they showed the view from the cameras on top of the cars - it actually made me feel like I was going down a road. Cool. Is that what the computrainer is like? I rode 20 miles, averaged 16.2mph, and discovered the rear brake was dragging when I finished . That made for a more intense workout. I was wondering why I felt like I was working so hard, and relieved to find out that it "wasn't me".

The Lemon bars were great. I had not made them for a couple of years and was pleased to find out I can still cook. I made them before my ride, so I had something to replace all those calories with.

Congratulations to Brumos Porsche for the win. The race was amazing for a 24 hour event: two teams fighting for the win with the cars nose to tail after that long is rare.

Hope the mild winter returns soon.

It is January, isn't it?

2009-01-25T07:21:00.002-05:00

I hadn't been on my bike since last Sunday, not even on the trainer. I wasn't feeling much motivation. Something to do with trying to not take my asthma meds - I'm stubborn that way, but I gave in Saturday morning. Even though I wasn't feeling very good and it was raining and 52 degrees, I thought I'd try a short ride. Within five minutes of leaving the rain stopped and the sun came out. On top of that I found the exercise was just what I needed to feel a bit better. I was wearing a little more than I needed, but I'd rather be too warm than too cold. What started out as a " just get on the bike" ride turned into a nice 46.37 mile ride with an average speed of 16.5.

Today winter is supposed to return with a high of 41 degrees. I hope to get out there again.

It Did

2009-01-20T17:45:00.003-05:00

Well, it did snow, and it was pretty. Accumulation was a lot less than predicted, I doubt we got an inch, but snow is snow. This picture was on the drive into work. It was slick. Packed down polished ice always is. It was all gone from the roads by noon, but the rest of the ground is still covered.

Will it, REALLY?

2009-01-19T17:35:00.002-05:00

SNOW?

The prediction for tonight is 2 to 4 inches. I hope it happens. Real snow, on the ground. It's been a long time. Those of you that live in places where it snows every winter may not understand, but it's exciting. We keep going to the window, hoping to see those first snowflakes. I may stay up late, just to see it. You know, I used to do the same thing, even when I lived in Vermont. What is it about that first snowfall that touches something in us? I want to see everything pristine and white.

As for riding, Saturday, because of the cold I set up the trainer and went exactly one hour, 16.3 miles. I did 5 one minute intervals at max heart rate, but mostly just rode. I chose Guns N' Roses Greatest Hits on the mp3 player to help me through, it seemed to be a good choice. One thing is certain, without the ceiling fan it would be torture. Pretty good workout.

Sunday turned out to be colder than forecast, but I really wanted a ride on the road. About 10:30 it was up to about 37 degrees, so off I went, in hopes that it might warm up. Except for my toes, I was a lot warmer than expected. I rode 44.84 miles at 16.2 mph. The ponds I by had a sheet of ice on them. It's been years since that has happened. I even ran into some sleet, another surprise, it wasn't forecast. At 20 mph it stings on your face. It was a nice ride, and, the mileage is going up. After all, the only way to ride further, is to ride further. Same with going faster. Ya just got to do it.

I'm going to the window now and waiting for the snow. Pics, if it does.

Pepper

2009-01-17T11:24:00.006-05:00

She chose us.

Sam talked us into getting a puppy from her first grade teacher, so we went to just look at them. The teacher lived on a farm, and the puppies were kept outside in a shed. When we got there these six week old black balls of fur came out to greet us. I think there were six of them. They were running around, mostly playing with each other, except for one. This one, the smallest, fattest one came over to CJ and Sam, and stayed with them. She payed no attention to what her siblings were up to. I guess she knew who she wanted to go home with. I kept trying to look at the other puppies, but there wasn't any way we were going home without her

I was going to say more. maybe some other time.

We are glad she chose us. I'd like to think she was too.

Brass Monkey Weather?

2009-01-16T17:58:00.002-05:00

Well, maybe. It is supposed to be nine degrees(that's right, 9 little degrees, in the key of F) here tonight. I can't remember the last time we were into the single digits. Tomorrow's high is supposed to be 35, so it looks like if I want to ride it'll have to be inside. My clothes simply aren't made for those temps. Sunday is supposed to be up to 48, so the weekend might not be a total loss.

A Little Short

2009-01-11T16:47:00.002-05:00

Today's plan was to attempt a 100K ride. Although I haven't committed to the Century Challenge, I haven't ruled it out yet, either. If I made it today, I'd be in. Much like the Panthers last night, I came up a little short. Ok, they came up a lot short, but we won't speak of them again. I should have watched Dr. Who, instead. I found that not only am I slow, I have no endurance, either. Well, the speed may be coming back, but I still have a ways to go. As for distance, I only made 45.47 miles, average speed - 16.9. That was all the fun my legs wanted. But my training log reveals that was my longest ride since July 5 of last year, when I went 54.6 miles. Almost everything since then has been in the 30 to 35 mile range. For me, a feeble old man (really, I am, ok, just old), an increase in mileage has to be gradual. That does not bode well for the Century Challenge, but I still have two weeks to get there, so we shall see.

While looking at my training log I also discovered that I am about 30 miles ahead of where I was this time last year, so I have gotten off to a pretty good start.

Back to the trainer until next weekend. I still haven't figured out how to put my Spinervals DVD onto my Zen Vision, but that may be a good thing.

I will post a picture of Pepper, soon. We have an extensive collection - she was Sam's favorite subject.

Last Week

2009-01-11T08:00:00.003-05:00

I only rode twice last week, 10 miles on the trainer Tuesday evening, and yesterday, 39.57, on the road. Riding wasn't much of a priority because of Pepper's failing health. She was very much a member of this family in ways I have never experienced with any other pet, and she is missed.
As for yesterday's ride, it was a nice day, 57 degrees, but very windy. I put a new chain on and was surprised at how much quieter and smoother it was, as well as the improved shifting. I did have to stop a few times and tweak the rear derailleur adjustment a bit, but once it was dialed in the shifts were quick and crisp. Looks like the 3,400 miles on the old chain might have been a little too much.

I didn't get to use my Garmin yesterday, I went outside, turned it on and found the battery was low. I guess someone left it on (that person will remain nameless, but I think I caught a glimpse of him in the mirror). I have been following some things coming out of this year's Consumer Electronic Show in Las Vegas, and one thing that looks like it might finally be emerging is "wireless power". The best of the products looks like surfaces that will charge your phone, camera, etc. by simply setting it down, and will do several at once. Until yesterday, I wasn't all that convinced. Besides the dead Garmin, though, I noticed when I emptied my pockets after my ride that there were two mp3 players, two cell phones, and a digital camera on the kitchen table, plus my Garmin on the counter being recharged. The stuff being shown at CES would charge all of them at the same time just by putting them on the table - where they were anyway. It's a ways off, but it may just make it. As a disclaimer, I am employed by one of the companies involved, although it is a different division, I have nothing to do with the product, and didn't even know they were involved in this until after I started looking into it. Here's a link to with a little more, for anyone interested.

Today is supposed to be around 50 degrees, I am leaving soon for a ride.

Fresh Page

2009-01-02T18:11:00.002-05:00

The first ride of 2009 has been ridden. It didn't look too likely this morning, we had some real winter weather. Just a little freezing rain, and the temp got above freezing almost immediately. But it kept raining and the temp stayed right at 36, so I wasn't going anywhere. That is, until about 2:30 when the sky cleared, the sun came out and the thermometer went up to 44. I got in 20 miles. The bike is in dire need of some attention, though. Besides being filthy, everything needs adjusted and lubricated, and it certainly is time for a new chain. I did take the time to clean the front derailleur with some 409 and a tooth brush, then lubed and adjusted it. That should help.

Year In Review

2009-01-01T20:31:00.002-05:00

Well, 2008 is gone so it's time to tally the score. I rode a total of 4135.03 miles. Those miles were spread out over 141 rides, the shortest was 3.49 and the longest was 76.82. A little bit of a surprise was the average speed for the 4135 miles was 16.7. That speed was faster that all but a handful of my fastest rides in previous years. I also burned 215,143 calories. Only riding once in September may have kept me from getting close to 5,000, but who knows, maybe this year. At this point I still haven't set any goals for '09 other than to keep riding. I miss it when I don't.

Hope everyone had a great New Year's and has a great new year.

And It Rained

2008-12-27T08:07:00.002-05:00

Between 2004, when I really started riding, and this fall, rain was something I had never really encountered. That's because it simply wasn't raining - we have been in a drought here for most of that time. Now it seems like it rains almost everytime I go out. Like yesterday. It did wait until about mile 26 of my 33 mile ride, so I wasn't out in it too long. It was about 45 degrees, and I stayed warm. I don't mind riding in the rain at all, and we sure can use the water.

I like the Garmin, so far, it's pretty cool. Right now I am leaving the Cateye Astrale on the bike for comparison - plus it gives me a cadance readout, although I probably don't need that anymore. The elevation function is nice - some of the hills are a little steeper than I thought. More on it later...

Supposed to be about 60 today, and no rain. We'll see.

Christmas RIde

2008-12-25T17:45:00.002-05:00

I had no intention of going for a bike ride on Christmas Day, but, it turned out sunny and warm - 67 degree warm, all the windows open and ceiling fan on warm, and there was this one present under the tree; a Garmin 305 Edge, complete with both heart rate monitor and cadence. It had to be tried out, didn't it? I only went about six miles, just enough to check it out, I think I'll like it, but I'll need to get used to not actually seeing my cadence or heart rate, just setting the alarms. The set up before was a Cateye with cadence on the left handlebar and a polar HRM on the right. Lots to see.

My daughter ended up with a Garmin Nuvi for her new car, plus a beautiful hand knitted lace scarf from her mother (I got some nice wool socks, too). We all went for rides in her car to check out how the GPS works, plus she got to show it the car and her driving to her grandfather. Son got a Zune, so he's happy too, and CJ got some knitting stuff. Plenty of CD's, including Jackson Browne's new one.

Oh, I got Ground Hog Day on DVD. I haven't seen it since our tape machine broke.

Tomorrow is a little cooler, but I think the Garmin needs further testing.