Wrap ups and updates

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.....

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

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

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

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

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'

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?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.