xbike impressions

Yesterday was 40* and it poured rain. The bad news about all of that is a crap-ton of rain mixed with a metric crap-ton of melting snow is more water than this area can handle. The good news is that the snow is gone, and everything was wet/muddy today, so I went for a ride with my Guru.

The bike is awesome. There are a few things that need a little adjustment, like my front derailleur only shifting if it wanted to, or my rear brakes locking up if you turn the handlebars more than 30*s, but overall I was very happy. The custom geometry is perfect. Zero back pain. The only discomfort I felt at all were little pains from not riding my bike enough. The numbness in my feet and gentleman area were completely gone.

The compact gearing is comical to me. It's so much easier going up hills. I know that if I get used to it, I'm going to hate my road bike. The difference in tire pressure really stood out a lot. I thought both tires were flat until I hit gravel and then it felt perfect. The shifting in the rear is addictive. Up shifts are fantastic. I just tap it a little bit and the chain clunks into the next gear with no wasted energy. I found myself changing gear when I didn't need to just because I like it so much. Downshifts aren't nearly as much fun. It's similar in motion to Campy but requires more effort. It's not bad, it just isn't as well done as either Campy or Shimano. The bike is also a lot quieter than my road bike thanks to the lack of King hubs. I'm used to the killer bee noise and the quiet really stood out. So did the lack of instant engagement. If I stood up while not in a high enough gear there was a huge dead spot. My lack of a smooth pedal stroke probably exacerbated the problem.

The ride itself was beautiful. I've been to where the Perkiomen Trail turns into gravel, but never rode on the gravel. I had no idea how far it went or what it was like. The first bit of it was under two inches of water, so it was interesting. Once it dried out it was like riding at Valley Green (Forbidden Drive) except there were more interactions with traffic. I was enjoying myself so much that before I knew it I was in Collegeville. I have no idea how far that is. I've intentionally left anything "scientific" off of the Guru. Ironically, it's my training bike but I don't want to know how fast I'm going, how far I've gone or what my heart-rate or cadence were. I just want to ride it. I didn't look at my stem once today. It was liberating.

I took a shot of the bike after my ride today. It was much dirtier, but the paved section of the Perkiomen was under water as well, and while I rode in the mud/muck on the way up, on the way back I rode through the water because I was tired. It washed away a lot of grime, but you can still see that I had fun.

Almost

Last Friday I went over to the shop and my cross bike finally got put together. The stem and seatpost are out of stock so I'm using a Ritchey Pro stem on loan from the shop and a Ritchey Pro Carbon post that Jen never used from her Guru. The best part about it was that when I got the bike home I took it for a spin up and down my street and realized that the crank was standard gearing and not compact gearing like I ordered. Yesterday the correct crank came in and today the bike is all together. It's in the 20's and we're expecting nothing but snow for the next few days, but I should have an actual ride report sometime next week. Until then, admire the crappy pictures and hope I get around to getting a white drop cloth so you don't get distracted by the TV or radiator in the background.

Parts

The parts for my cross bike finally showed up. I'm going to be heading over to the shop tomorrow and by early next week the damn thing should finally be built and ready to ride. I'll post pictures of the bike when it's together and still pretty. Then I might toss up a few pics once it's not so pretty because that's pretty to me.

Crossbike update

The frame is in. It's been on display at High Road for the past two weeks waiting for parts. It looks fantastic and is lighter than I thought it would be. The spec list has changed from what I had originally wanted. I'll be getting a Rival group with Force crank (it's carbon and lighter/stiffer than the Rival crank). Brakes are TRP carbon (a bit pricey for brakes, but I couldn't help myself when I saw them). Stem, seatpost and bars are all FSA. Wheels are still the Shimano whatever came off my Tarmac. Tires are going to be whatever is in stock, not discontinued (like the Kendas) and not complete garbage. I picked up a 143mm white Romin saddle today as well as Specialized Comp Mt shoes. High Road only has one white Romin in stock in 143mm, or else I would have bought two and replaced the Toupé on the Tarmac. I have a feeling both saddles will see time on both bikes until I get another Romin. If my parts get ordered, I may actually get to ride this stupid thing before the new year. I've only been trying to buy it since July. We'll see. Until then I'll just look at the pretty pictures.

$80 & A Few Months...

...later and my Garmin is finally what it should have been the whole time. I now have detailed street information, and can even use the stupid thing in my car. It also tells me where local ATMs are as well as places to eat. There are more pizza joints in Bridgeport than I thought.

I rode into work yesterday, and on the way back I blew myself up. My co-worker Isaac was riding with me and even though I was done, I went out and did the Audubon Loop uphill with him. When I got to the steepest section of the hill, the muscles in my right leg started popping and just felt awful. On the way back to Norristown I just couldn't keep pace. I felt fine and I had the energy to keep riding but my legs and back hurt. On the bridge from Norristown to Bridgeport I tried to stand and the popping came back. I just sat my ass down and crawled home.

Riding with Isaac is fun because he forces me to do things I wouldn't normally try. He's heavier than I am, and has much better bike control and just kills me on downhill/windy sections. He has a compact crank with a 28T rear cassette so I can climb faster, but he can climb longer. Since we ride a lot of rolling hills, he will lose me on the downhill and then I'll catch and pass him on the uphill, only to have him whiz by me on the next downhill. Regardless, it's someone to ride with and someone I enjoy riding with. Now, if I can just convince him to ride in the cold...

Nick Went Mt. Biking

High Road Cycles had it's annual employee appreciation day this past Tuesday and this year it was held at French Creek National Park. I had never been on a mt. bike before (on a trail anyway) so I was a little excited. Luckily for me, my co-worker Issac hadn't either. At least I had someone to be terrible with. The plan was to have a road ride and a trail ride and some people would switch off so that everyone could do everything. Funny thing about plans is that they rarely work as such. EVERYONE wanted to play in the woods. There were technically enough bikes for everyone to ride, but not enough sizes. Issac and I decided to do a road ride thinking at least someone else would join us, but no one did. So we went off on a beautiful ride on roads that were two lanes of twisting, rolling fun. The weather was brisk (mid 50's) and windy, but the sun was out and that was all we needed. We finished the ride with two climbs. The first was long but constant, so we just slowly pulled ourselves up. The second was shorter and easier, but was pretty close on the heels of the first, so it burned. We swooped back into camp and enjoyed a nice hot lunch.

The shop's Specialized rep came out for the event and he brought Specialized's new Romin saddle with him for us to test out. Since Issac and myself were the only two who bothered to use any of the road bikes, we were the only ones to test it. neither of us are pleased with the Toupé saddle that came on our bikes. He took his off after five minutes, and I am still using mine, but have been pretty unhappy with it for a while now. It's finally at a point where I can ride without complete discomfort, but I still notice it. I was so happy to be where I was with my saddle that when I was offered to try the Romin, I initially declined because I didn't want to ruin my fit. I'm glad I reconsidered. Both Issac and I LOVE the saddle. As soon as it's available I'm buying it. From the very moment my chamoised ass touched the thing, it was angels singing and harps playing. I was seated for most of the ride, and to do so with the Toupé causes me a bit of numbness, but I felt like I hadn't even been on a bike after my ride with the Romin. Great Saddle.

After everyone got back and we ate, we headed back out on an "easy" ride around the lake. I was using a StumpJumper Hardtail 29er. Te first part of the ride was just rolling terrain with gravel paths and some roots sticking up. I enjoyed it very much. The second part was a rocky, rooty death march that I did not enjoy at all. It started when Ian (another co-worker) fell right in front of me. He didn't bring me down, but his fall took away all of my momentum. Then other people started to fall, or slow too much and a traffic jam would occur. It got to the point that I just couldn't get started, and when I did, I would almost fall over becuase I didn't have enough speed to make it over obstacles. My continuing problems with SPD pedals was also hindering any kind of enjoyment. I finally just waited for everyone to go and got myself some room and started getting in a groove again when I went right over my handle bars. I was only doing like 2mph, so it didn't hurt at all. I actually enjoyed that more than having to constantly clip out. At one point I even got lost. I lost sight of the guy in front of me and then had no idea where everyone was, so I guessed. Everyone stopped to wait and I showed up to a resounding "how did you come from that way?" Eventually we made it to the paved road that runs through the park and two other people joined me on just saying "fuck it." We rode back to camp and were discussing how we enjoyed the first section, so we went back and did it again. Again, I enjoyed it very much.

After we got back I decided to give the Guru Geneo a thrashing. Link This is the bike that Jen rides, and I've always wanted to ride it on more than a test ride. The bike that we have at the shop is a 55cm green and black beauty with full Dura ace 7800 and Ritchey Carbon everything else. The bike weight 16.14lbs without pedals. It's awesome. Stiffer than my bike in every situation, it climbs well, it handles just how i like... it's a great bike. I can see why Jen likes her's so much. I can also see why she will not ride it on windy days. One good side wind is enough to toss you in a ditch. The aerodynamic shape is great for stability, efficiency, and being blow around by side winds. Still, if I had the money and was getting another road bike, I would strongly consider it.

Speaking of new bikes, I'm getting a cross bike made by... you guessed it, Guru. It's an aluminum frame with dark blue paint and red accents. Because it's a Guru it will also be made to my measurements. My recent enjoyment of gravel sections with only minimal rock/root interference has me really excited for the bike. I'm up in the air on what group to build it with, but the front runners are full Rival or just putting my 105/Ultegra from my Tarmac on the cross bike and getting Force for the Tarmac. I'll be using the wheels that come off my Tarmac with Kenda Kommando tires, and I'm getting Zipp's SL carbon bars with a Ritchey Pro stem and seat post. You can use your imagination and guess which saddle I'll be getting.

A Little TLC

Last night I got sick of looking at my dingy brownish-blue bar tape so I swapped it out for fancy new white tape that will be dingy and brown in about five minutes. I had also gotten around to getting refitted, but wasn't very comfortable afterward. I felt too cramped in the cockpit, so while I was changing my bar tape I also readjusted my shifters and tilted my bar back to being level. My saddle height was also a little high (still acceptable, but just barely), so I brought that down about a centimeter. I went for a ride around Valley Forge today and had no comfort issues. Everything felt... well, I didn't notice anything, and I think that's about as high of praise as you can give when it comes to fit. We'll see if I feel the same way in the coming weeks.

Audubon UH Route

Now that my Garmin is working like it should out of the box, I've decided to throw up elevation graphs for the routes I take. The other day I did the Audubon Loop the more difficult way (going up, not down the hill). I also tacked on an additional three miles compared to the way Jen does it. The addition is slightly up hill so it gets me warmed up for the Audubon Hill (the almost vertical part in the middle of the graph). The Audubon Hill is a very short hill, but it's steep (9% average with the steepest part being 16%) and it's challenging without being punishing. I hadn't done the hill in a while and I was much slower on it than I thought I was going to be. I'm going to start incorporating it into more rides, like after I've done Valley Forge.

Acadia N.P.

On the way back from Canada, my dad and I stopped at Acadia National Park to take care of some unfinished business. Twenty years ago my dad asked some chump at the hotel we were staying at what would be a good family activity for a day. The chump suggested a walk around Eagle Lake. It turned out to be a ten mile hike around the lake in which my mom and year old sister got split up from my dad, six year old blind sister and my eight year old self. It's now referred to as the Gresh Death March. Our plan for this trip was to just ride our bikes around the driving loop of the park, and that, some how, would be vengeance for the Death March. Whatever, it makes sense to us.

The loop is a really pretty ride. It's almost twenty miles (there's an additional climb you can do, but we'll get to why I didn't in a moment) and has a lot of elevation change. The only riding I had done before this was my five mile leg destruction ride in Cape Breton, and that was a week prior. My dad hadn't done any riding in over a month before hand, and I don't think he had taken his bike up a hill in two or three months. I think you can see where this is going.

Before I had really gotten a chance to get warmed up, the first hill showed itself. The nice thing about the loop is that the grades a pretty gradual and they go on for a good bit. I slowly climbed my way to the top, then waited for my dad. This went on for a while, us riding together, a hill shows up, I spin up to the top, then wait for my dad to show up. I didn't really mind because I was just happy he was riding.

About a third of the way around the loop we came across a hill that went on for a while. I, again, just spun up. I got about half way and decided to wait. And wait. Then wait some more. I saw another guy and asked him if he had seen a guy with a beard on a hybrid struggling up the hill. "He's about halfway up." At least he was still going.

Turns out my dad had stopped. A new pattern had developed. We would ride, I would spin up hills and wait even longer at the top while he stopped to take a break, then slowly spun up. At the halfway point of the loop he finally just told me to go on my way and get the car, then pick him up at where ever he finally gave up. He looked really tired, so I agreed.

From that point on, I was motivated to just get to the car as fast as I could. I pushed myself the entire way, and the combination of pace, scenery and terrain was fantastic. We had done so much climbing at such comfortable (for me) grades that I kind of didn't want it to end.

The road flattened out for a bit and the turn for the climb came up on my right. A ton of riders were coming off the road and I really wanted to give it a go, but I kept picturing my dad, completely spent on the middle of one of the hills and decided to move on. To that point, there had been far more up hill than down, so I knew something fast was coming up.

Two and a half miles of downhill is a lot for me. I mostly ride rolling terrain where I go up for a bit, then down for a bit. So this was a blast for me. Still worried about my dad, I geared out and just flew down. I usually find 40+mph on my bike terrifying, but this time it was great. I passed cars and got to see that "WTF?" look on drivers faces when some skinny kid passes them on a bicycle. It's the little things.

After two small climbs there is a toll where cars and bikes have to stop to show their pass, or pay to enter the park. I spent over five minutes waiting to get through then rode the last mile to the car. I got my bike in, threw on my clothes over my bibs and started the drive to get my dad. I had no cell reception for most of the drive, so it was kind of a "so how far did he make it?" game. I got to the point where I was sure he would throw in the towel... nothing. I drove up the second long hill expecting to see him half way up... nothing. I finally got a signal and a text from him saying where he was. Three miles from the end. I was shocked. He said he couldn't make it up the last climb, and I get that. It didn't matter if he finished, I was proud of him for making it as far as he did. I took him out for beer and mussels afterward. He earned it.

If you're ever in the Bar Harbor area, bring you bike. The driving loop is a great ride that's not too challenging (my dad later said that if he had done any kind of riding beforehand, he could have finished it), but would be good for all levels. If you include the climb I skipped, it turns out to be about twenty seven miles of awesomeness, and if that's not enough, you can do the loop twice. I highly recommend it.

Cape Breton N.S.

I recently went to Canada for a wedding, but on the way my dad and I took a side trip through Nova Scotia. The top island of Nova Scotia is called Cape Breton and at the top of the island is a park that has some amazing and beautiful roads. I brought my bike on the trip just for these roads and was quickly humbled.

To be fair to myself, I had only ridden twice in the two weeks leading up to the trip (there's always an excuse), and not for over a week before jumping right into the steepest hills I've ever gone up. I also ate like complete crap for the week before. I knew I wasn't going to make it far, so I set a goal for myself of three hills. If you look at the elevation chart, I did just that. Barely.

When I started the ride, I knew I didn't eat enough and I forgot to bring a bar with me, so I was proper fucked from the get-go. I felt terrible for the first fifteen minutes, and having scouted the terrain the day before, I knew I was a dead man. The first real hill (the lump in the middle) was about as long as the Manayunk Wall, but, according to my Garmin, was a 16% grade. I haven't done the math (height in ft./distance in ft. x 100) but I think my Garmin is wrong. Either way, the hill was fucking steep. Knowing how out of shape I was and how crappy I felt, I just attacked it. I stood up and powered my way to the top. It felt great. I didn't get tired, my legs felt good and I wasn't losing my breath. I soft pedaled down the hill and pushed it a little on the flat. I felt so good, I got over confident. Enter hill number two.

The second hill was a mile long and, again, according to my Garmin, was mostly 11% with a taper to 8% for the last few hundred meters. Unlike the first hill which was a steady grade and straight, hill two was a winding, pitch changing challenge. I started off strong, but by the last three hundred meters, I lost everything. It started in my legs. I dropped into my granny gear (28T) and slowed my pace to try to bring my heart-rate down. No dice. My legs were burning, and not that nice burn you get on a challenging hill. It was the kind of burning that causes your legs to send messages to your brain saying "Enough already, get the fuck off the bike!" Then came the gasping for air. I've struggled on hills before, but I was audibly horrifying this time. By the time I made it to where the grade dropped off a little, I was done. I thought I had a flat tire from how slow I was moving per how much resistance my legs perceived. I was way to far into the red, but I could see the top. I always crack when I can see the top. Always. On the Mother Fucker Hill, once I knew the top was around the corner, I hopped off my bike. When I rode up The Wall with Ted, I saw the top and hopped off my bike. I wasn't going to do it again. I just kept the wheels turning and made it to the top. Victory.

At the top, I could no longer bring my legs around any more. I could see the next hill in the distance and knew that no matter how much soft pedaling I did on the down hill, I wouldn't have the legs to make it up. I actually felt fear. I clipped out and collapsed on my bike. Still gasping for air, and massaging my legs in an attempt to get them to move, I just stood there, staring at the hill in the distance. I wanted to do it, I just couldn't.

Yea Picture!

I've only been riding to work lately, but last week I only drive my car once for the whole week, and that's just awesome. My knee was causing me problems last week, but has since healed up. This week, my stupid ankle is acting up, and I have no idea why. It's a much worse pain than my knee, so I'm probably going to take the week off and see how I feel then.

All the down time has allowed time for me to take a few pictures of my bike (finally), but you only get to see one of them.

Almost

I finally got my Garmin 705, and it is almost awesome. I also signed up over at map my ride, and it, too, is almost awesome. I'll start with the Garmin.

BAD

-Map sucks. Only shows major roads.

-"User friendly" was not in the design philosophy.

-Saving rides is not nearly as easy as advertised. I'm still not sure how to do it or where to find the saves.

-Makes unnecessary "laps" saved if you start it and then stop it, without going anywhere.

-"Go to" feature is fucking useless. I can go on the highway or a direct route to the location. and by direct, I mean a straight line from I.E. Bridgeport to Wayne.

GOOD

-Gives me grade and elevation, real time. Fucking awesome.

-Screen is bright, even in direct sunlight.

-Even though there are no roads or bike paths, the recorded map of my ride today was spot on to the turn.

-Once I figure out how to save my maps, I'll be able to download them onto my computer for analysis, and upload them to map my ride.

Now for Map My Ride

BAD

-Can only do roads from what I can tell. I can't map routes on the bike path, even though it shows up on the map.

-The part that drives me crazy about this site is that the Step by step directions are wrong, every single time. For the way I go to work by myself, it was spot on until it got half way through my 7 mile ride and then it just skipped to the last 2 turns I have to make. If I just printed out the step by step directions for someone (like for cue sheets) they would be completely fucked.

GOOD

-You can share rides with other people.

-You can map your own routes to anywhere... as long as it follows a road.

I know I have a lot of playing to do with both of these things, and the fact that they can kind of work together is awesome, but given their short comings, it would be fantastic if they worked together in the opposite way. My going on a ride with a device that doesn't have an accurate map, and can then load it to the site that has the accurate map is okay, but I would like to be able to go to the site with the accurate map, and save a file that I can put on my inaccurate device. From what I can tell, I can't do that, but if any of you know how to make it happen, please let me know.

Hopefully A Sign Of Things To Come

This weekend Philadelphia hosted the 25th running of the Liberty Classic. It's usually nice because it's the one weekend of the year that everyone in the area actually tries to avoid you while in their car. This year was different for a few reasons.

First, Ted was in town for his High School reunion. He flew in Friday and brought wonderful Northwestern weather with him. It was absolutely pissing. We kept our plans and went riding despite the rain, and I'm really glad we did. He had been making all of these claims about how he hasn't had time to ride, and how out of shape he is. If you hear him saying this, don't believe him, he beat me like I owed him money on the way to Valley Forge. Once we got to the park, it was easier to keep up with him for the most part. I'm not comfortable riding in the rain at all, so on every single downhill, he would just go for it and I would ride the brakes like your grandmother. So much so that the next day my hands and forearms hurt from the death grip on had on my brakes.

We also rode into parts of the park I had never been to before, and that was awesome. I always think of the loop I do as being all there is, but there is a lot more to the park that I need to explore. I could get lost in there.

The second awesome thing about this weekend was how many people were out on bikes. Not even just the numbers, but how many people I would never think would be out on bikes... out on bikes! Everywhere I went there were people out and about and everyone was friendly and excited. The thing that shocked me the most was how natural it all felt. When people were riding around cars, the cars respected the cyclists rights, without any air of negativity. It was like it should be every day. Just goes to show you that people on bikes and people in cars can coexist on the same road, without incident.

Thank You Allan

Today's ride was awesome. I went to Valley Forge planning on doing the entire loop (I usually only do about three fourths of it) and maybe even riding up into Audubon. I've been really attacking hills lately and trying to incorporate at least one hard hill into each ride I do. If I go on flat rides, I ride through Bridgeport in my big ring to make up for it. Good pain kind of stuff.

Today, on the way back, I ran into a man in his late 50's riding an old, black Trek 950 with fenders and pulling a Bob carrier. He was stopped in the middle of the park looking at a map, so I rode up to him to see if i could help him out. He was looking for the Schuylkill River Path, so I gave him directions and was on my way.

Once I got to the bridge to cross back to the path, it occurred to me that the path can be slightly confusing to figure out which way to go for people who have never been on it before. I decided I would wait and further explain my directions. The guy was very appreciative. We walked across the bridge, talking, and once we were on the other side I decided that instead of riding up to Audubon, I would help this guy get to Norristown.

His name is Allan, and he is doing a four corners ride of the U.S. He left San Diego a few months ago and rode to Key West. He is now on his way to Maine and will be heading to Seattle after that, then back to San Diego. He's been living in southeast Asia for the past God knows how long, just trying to live a simple life. He has no base of operations there, he just rides his bike everywhere.

On the ride back we just talked about the different microcosms that make up this country, and a little about politics and gun control. I got him pretty close to where he needed to be and we said our good byes. It was really cool to meet a guy living almost completely off the grid, living life the way he wanted to, when he wanted to. It was inspiring, and for that, I thank you Allan. Good luck on your journey.

Good God Man!

I realize I haven't been too strict about updating this thing every time I ride, but I'm okay with that. I've been riding two to three times a week (weather permitting) and I've even started riding to work some days. When I do ride to work, I've been riding in with my boss, John. I meet him in Conshohocken, which isn't the most direct route for me, but it's only a few miles out of my way, and most of those miles are on the bike path. From Conshy to the shop is up hill, but it's only three or four hills with some flat thrown in, so I can keep up with him. Kind of.

The ride home I take the "direct" route home. The roads are a little busier and there are harder hills with one bitchin' descent. I'm getting more comfortable with traffic, and today I bought lights and a commuter bag to make life easier.

I also bought the Garmin 705 today. Finally. I opened it up and read every manual in there. I pulled out the heart-rate monitor, power cord, USB cable, cadence and speed meter, and then the computer itself. I was stoked. Then I realized that there wasn't anything to mount the unit to the bike and that the speed sensor magnet and cadence meter magnet weren't in there either. Fucking awesome. It was a special order item that was returned, and returned useless. Tomorrow I will be going back to work to return it and special order a new and complete one. So, in two weeks I should finally have the damn thing and I can start posting up maps and elevation of my rides so you can laugh at how challenged I am by simple rides.

Fit. I hate bike fit. Last year I started getting taint numbness (yeah, that's a technical term) on longer rides. So, like any uneducated jack-ass, I turned to the internet instead of going to my local bike shop with a guy qualified to fit me. Obviously, I made the situation worse, and this year, I've been getting the numbness much sooner. If I ride in the drops for five or so minutes, my manhood doesn't even feel like it's mine anymore.

Last year I also suffered from "hot spots" in my right foot. I still get them now, but at least I haven't made them worse. To cure all of my stupid discomfort, I'm going to get a "Pro Fit" from John. The only small hang up is that now that I work at my local bike shop, I'm not exactly a priority. I'm hoping he can fit me in within the next month or so. The hot spots don't usually show up on rides shorter than thirty miles (most of my rides) and I've been getting out of the saddle more, as well as readjusted my saddle to help quell my dingle tingle.

If any of you are Bicycling Magazine subscribers, take a look in the July 2009 issue at page 16 of the Woman's Summer Issue (which starts after page 48 in the mag, because that's not confusing or anything) to get fit tips from my boss John. He's taken out of context in just about every paragraph, but that's the nature of magazine interviews. Either way, it's pretty good advice.

10miles >30miles

As much as Bridgeport is an armpit of human coexistence, it's a great spot for cycling. Head off in any direction and you're going to find a big, fat hill. Cheap rent, lots of pizza joints, Bars, and hills. Everything the aspiring cyclist needs.

Thanks to rain and cold weather, plus a holiday for good measure, I hadn't been on my bike for about two weeks. Instead of coming back easy, I decided I needed to just pick up where I left off. I'm fucking stupid. Instead of returning to the safety and familiarity of the bike path, and it's wonderfully flat nature, I decided I wanted to tackle 23. Route 23 is a beautifully laid out road with tons of curves and hills broken up by little towns. It's a great driving road, which makes it a great riding road. It cuts through Bridgeport and becomes Bridgeport's main road, 4th St. If you take 23w you are almost immediately hit with a long, low to medium grade hill. I had never done this hill until today, and since I was brimming with confidence, I figured I'd take 23 for about 10miles or so and then turn around and come back. "A nice easy welcome back ride" I thought.

The hill wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. I made it up at about an 11mph pace without using my 26 or 28 cog. I continued following the road and kept hitting more and more hills. Tiny hills, but they started adding up. By the fifth mile, I was done. I felt like I need to puke and my legs were shaky. I found a parking lot to turn around in, and rested.

My front brake had been making an awful abrasive noise, so I took off my front wheel and inspected everything. I didn't feel anything, I didn't see anything, but the noise wouldn't go away. I put my wheel back on, fired some snot rockets and was on my way.

The best part about the ride home was that even though my legs were gone, it was mostly down hill. Two short hills were all I had to deal with. Before the second hill I was coasting, just enjoying myself, when I came up on a bit of shade. Before my eyes could adjust I hit a pot hole something fierce. I was sitting, and I hit with such force that my seat pillsed me. So now I felt like I had to puke again. A shot to the junk will do that to you. To make matters worse, I had to immediately tackle the last hill before me descent back to Bridgeport. I've dealt with more painful things in my life, but i don't think I'm going to make it a habit of kicking myself in the balls before riding my bike.

If you take away the not easing myself back into riding, and my nuts getting wacked, I enjoyed the ride. I'm hoping to be ready to do it again by next week. Once I'm comfortable with that, there's another hill over on King of Prussia Road that is longer. I want to give that a shot within the next month, because if I can make it up and still have some strength left, I can ride to work, and that would be great.

BAM-B

I did my first BAM-B (Betzwood to the Art Museum and Back. It's Team Tania's group ride) ride yesterday. I work up at 6am and it was dark and 40* out. I laid in bed for fifteen minutes debating on if I would go or not. It took me a half hour to figure out if I should just wear a short sleeve jersey with arm warmers or if I should rock my long sleeve with arm warmers. At the last minute I decided it would be better to be too hot than too cold and chose the long sleeve. I'm really happy I did. I also got to wear my Rapha winter cap, which I love. It's over priced and stylish, but is super comfortable and keeps my head very warm.

Once I started moving on the bike, the cold just started cutting into me. It went through my gloves and tights and was making my eyes water. It took about ten minutes for me to warm up and when I did, the sun had just peeked up and was keeping my back warm while casting beautiful long shadows and golden hues. Even though it's still the Schuylkill, it's absolutely stunning at that time of day.

I got to Betzwood early and said my hellos to people who didn't recognize me. Once they figured out who I was They felt much less confused and as open and warm as ever. Per normal Team Tania tactics, we stood around for almost fifteen minutes past the time we were supposed to leave just talking. The ride doesn't really start until someone gets fed up enough to just leave. Yesterday it was The younger of the two junk brothers and his dad... on a tandem.

Once out on the path, the stronger riders quickly separated themselves from the not so strong riders, and the tandem was know where to be seen. I was trying to be social and talk to people but was quickly getting bored of the 18mph pace we were doing. After we stopped at Conshy (the group makes periodic stops to make sure all riders are still with the group) another rider and I jumped to the front with the tandem. Once we got through Spring Mill and the path opened back up, the four of us started putting a huge distance between ourselves and the rest of the group. After the end of the path there's a false flat that always seems to catch people out and there's always a huge decrease in speed if you don't attack it. I decided I was going to attack it, as well as the first hill on Umbria St. The tandem duo were quick, but the other rider couldn't keep pace. I put on my climbing face and just took off. At the start of the first hill on Umbria I was about 50 yards back of the tandem. By the end of the hill I was slowing my pace to not pass them. Why not pass? Because they're stronger riders than I am and I know they would have just upped the pace more, burning both of us out in a pointless pissing contest. Besides, I needed them for the ride home.

We swooped into Manayunk and stopped at the coffee shop that is the turn around point for early season rides (which this ride was). I spent the next ten minutes getting to know the tandem riders while we waited for everyone else catch up. Again, the group spent forever chatting and the tandem duo and I were getting to the point where we had been stopped for too long, so we said our goodbyes and headed home.

The first couple of hills on the ride back felt really easy for some reason. Normally they siphon off a lot of energy and make the largest of the hills on Umbria a challenge. This time I just casually spun up them at a decent pace. We caught up to a team of riders right before the base of the large hill and the tandem duo threw themselves up the hill in an act of pure machismo. I just wanted to make it up the hill in one piece, so I just went at my own pace. I passed two of the team's stragglers so they HAD to pass me once the road flattened. You know, cause I give a shit if they're faster. I backed off a little just to let them go and enjoyed my ride back to the path.

To my surprise, the tandem duo had waited for me. Not only that, but they pulled me all the way back to Norristown. Damn near insisted. Aside from being beyond nice, it's good to know that the Bam-B rides will have people that are stronger riders than I am so I can actually push myself on them. One of the main reasons I didn't ride with them much last year (aside from the early start times) was because I felt that I was much faster than the people on the rides. I'm actually pretty jazzed up to go on next weeks ride now. Maybe Jen will be better (flu) by then and She'll finally get out on her bike.

Taste like chicken

Spring is almost here, and with it come gnats. Lots and lots of fucking gnats (also known as ice cream bugs). My last two rides have been plagued with the tiny bastards. My nose, mouth, ears and eyes have been bombarded with them. If there is one creature on the whole of this earth that I cannot find one justifiable reason for existing, it's a gnat.

I finally guilted Niko into riding today. I've been harassing him a lot lately. He works a lot, so I don't really hold it against him, but I do like busting his balls about it. Hey, it worked.

I met him at Betzwood and we did the Audubon loop (easy) and back to Betzwood. It was only his second time out this year (the first being an icy/muddy death ride) and the first in two months, so he was feeling it. I'm hoping he gets more time and to ride in the coming weeks. I also realized that I had been missing a key component by not riding with other people: drafting. I forgot how wonderful it feels as well as how awesome it sounds. I can’t wait to ride with other people again.

I'm getting bored. Not completely bored, but I'm tired of riding the same routes. I'm going to start going on recon trips on my days off and finding good, quiet, lightly traveled, hilly rides in the area. I have a few spots in mind, and I'll hopefully get around to driving them next week, and if all is well, riding them the week after. I'm not looking for monster hills, but hills a mile or longer with a decent grade to help me get ready for monster hills. I eventually want to take trips to new places and ride my bike there. I think some new scenery would be nice. I'll let you know how it goes.

Just be warm all the time already!

Between a nice cold streak, me getting a job at a bike shop, and my friend having a baby (I'm going to be the Godfather, hence it taking up some of my time) I haven't been out for over a week. I'm also sleeping like shit, so I'm all types of irritable.

Today was nice though. 60* in the sun and not windy. Since it had been a while I figured I'd take it easy and proceeded to do 18-20mph for the first 10miles because I'm an asshole. Once I had burnt myself out, I stopped for some water and a bar, and allowed myself to recharge. I then did a couple of small hills and headed back. I thought I was out of energy when I reached Bridgeport but I had no problem keeping up with traffic and sprinting up hills. I'm loving that me muscles is recovering now.

I'm also thinking about riding to work. It's about 10miles to the shop, but there are a bunch of busy roads on the way there. I'm going to do a test run or two just to see how long it will take me to get there. It's also pretty hilly so we'll see how well I deal with that.

Hills Are Never Easy

Yesterday I rode up to Valley Forge. It was really windy, and I knew the park was tough enough as is, so I was doing nothing but second guessing the idea the whole time. I had to granny gear it on just about every hill. The largest hill is right in the middle of the park, and doesn't have a tree within five hundred yards of its left side, so the wind was just punching me in the face. I found it encouraging.

The backside of the park wasn't as windy and they finished the construction they were doing so it was nice and smooth. On the downhill heading towards my exit this girl on a BMX bike had her front tire go out on her. Luckily she fell in the grass, so blood shed was minimal. I stopped to make sure she was alright and offer what little help I could. She was fine and her car was close so I wished her luck and was on my way.

When I got back to the bike path I still felt like I had some riding to do, so I did the Audubon Loop (easy). I'm finding that the 28+ miles I've been doing the past two rides is a little more than I should be, but the 20 I was doing is too few. When I returned home my Achilles tendons were a little sore and my left knee felt a bit stiff. My knees are shit, so I was less concerned about that, but Achilles soreness is not cool. I stretched the shit out of my calf muscles, and today I feel fine. My back is a different story though. I've really got to figure something out because at the rate I'm going, I wont be able to ride more than every third day, and that is unacceptable.

On the plus side, my legs were recovering the entire ride. Last year when I went on hilly rides, I would make it up a hill and take it easy, but by the next hill my legs were dead. By the third or fourth hill I was spent. Yesterday, I would get to the next hill and my legs felt fine. I did six or seven small to medium sized hills and my legs never felt like they were done. That's fantastic news for me.

It's raining today, so I may just pop the bike on the trainer for twenty minutes and spin, but there wont be any riding otherwise. Just back and core exercise and some TV. It's going to be about 46* tomorrow so I'm going to make an attempt to ride. 45* is my limit temperature wise.

Sixers beat the Lakers

Sorry, it was an awesome game. Okay, back to the bike...

Lately I've been putting in about 20miles a ride because It's comfortable. Fuck comfort. Monday I wanted change, so instead of just going down to the end of the path and back, I figured I'd mix it up a little.

Right before you reach Conshohocken, there's a small trail that leads off towards the Ikea Shopping Center, and I've never been down it. It's not much of a trail. It's about a mile long, and unless you're riding your bike to Ikea/Home Depot to lug shitty furniture/lumbar on your back, it's not worth it.

After reaching the end of the schuylkill path I headed home. About a mile away from Norristown I felt fine and decided that I shouldn't. So I went up to Betzwood (Bridgeport-Betzwood is 5miles). Even after I reached Betzwood, I felt fine. Thankfully, I was smart enough to remember I'd be riding against the wind on the way back, so I didn't ride any further. I was tired when I got home, but not completely expended. I've been holding back a little because I hadn't been riding for a while and I didn't want to hurt myself, but I'm physically starting to feel good on the bike, so now I want to push myself more. I'm not ready to break myself yet, but the whole reason I wanted to start riding this early was so I could be where I was when I stopped riding in October, around the time everyone else starts riding regularly again. I've got a lot of work to do, but I think I can get there in the next month.

Gloves Are Warm

I finally got a pair of gloves so that my hands don't freeze. They're Trek Mt. bike gloves, but they do the job.

Yesterday I went down to the end of the bike path and back (17miles). They finished the bridge going into Conshy. It's much wider than the old bridge which is great. Two years ago I got my handle bars stuck in the fence lining the bridge while trying to avoid a person coming the other way.

It was rainy and cold for the first half of the ride, and I only saw one other rider. It was kind of nice having an empty path after the mayhem of this past weekend. On the way back through Bridgeport, a kid on a mountain bike tried to race me. I thought it was kind of funny.

As side note, I may have another job soon. If that's the case, then I may end up getting the Garmin computer soon as well. We'll see.

Man, I suck

I did the Audubon loop again today. I hadn't done much since the last time I went out and it showed. I think I ate too much before I left because I felt weird the whole time. I had to stop a few times because I felt awful. My legs felt good though. I feel stronger now than I did in June of last year, so I'm hoping that by June of this year I'm That much stronger.

Back feels good. I had a little bit of lower back pain, but that was muscular strain from having a weak "core" (i hate that term), not the seizing nonsense that plagues my upper/mid back.

It was 70+*s today and it's looking to be the same tomorrow, so I should get a ride in tomorrow as well. I'm thinking of beating myself up at Valley Forge. We'll see.

Greshkov>Wind

I found out something interesting about the wind today. At 32mph it will pick up road debris and pelt you with it so hard that you actually bleed.

62* and windy was the forecast, so of course I was going to ride outside today. I did the Audubon loop the easy way (20m round trip) because I didn't feel like tackling the hill yet. The entire way up was into the wind so I found a nice cadence and just put my head down. Around Betzwood I ran into Kevin and chatted with him for a moment. Once I got around Pawlings the wind was at my back until I turned up to go towards Audubon. From then on, the wind was just pummeling me. When I got to Norristown, the wind took off its gloves. At one point, while crossing the bridge into Bridgeport, I was doing 1mph and could barely turn the pedals. Felt like much more than 32mph in my face. As if the ride up into Bridgeport isn't bad enough when you're tired on a normal day, the wind just kept trying to stop me. Better luck next time punk.

Training Log

Today I did the CTS Climbing DVD workout again. It consists of a 5min warm up with 2 x 30sec sprints thrown in. Then you go for 5min in a hard gear at about 65rpm, followed by 5min in a really easy gear at about 90rpm. Rinse, wash, repeat a few times and then there's 10min of hard effort, 65rpm fun. After another 5min block of easy 90rpm spinning there's a 10min block where every minute I alternate from a hard 85rpm effort to a hard 65rpm effort. Then a cool down period and I stretch. There's a bunch of heart-rate nonsense in there that I can't really keep track of at the moment because Jen doesn't know where her heart-rate monitor is. If I believe all the rumors floating around my job, this Wednesday is the day they're shit-canning people, so I should know soon if I have a job or not. If I have a job come Thursday (assuming the lay-offs happen Wednesday) I will start looking for the Garmin computer so I can "Train Right!" as opposed to approximately training.

OMG! An update!

Months ago, when I last bothered to write something, I was starting to go through bike withdraw. Now, it's actually affecting my sleep. I just lay there at night, thinking about riding my bike. It's agony. But it has given me time to think and figure out what I want to do once I can ride the damn thing again. Before I get to all of that, I'll fill you in one what I've been doing in the meantime...

Nothing.

...And that about brings you up to speed.

Okay, "nothing" isn't entirely true. My back has become a complete asshole. It has gotten to the point that it seizes up once a month now. I've spent the last two to three months trying to figure out how to stop it from locking up. I just finished a month a physical therapy and I've been continuing to build on that. I have a whole routine of stretches/exercises that I do once every three days. The stretching portion I do every day.

I still see the chiropractor once a month. I've found that by the third week my neck starts to feel like it's ripping itself apart and struggling to hold itself together and halfway through the third week it seizes. I immediately take a Flex (muscle relaxer) and that keeps me from being bed ridden for three days. Then my chiropractor cracks my bones and I feel great for three more weeks.

What I started this month was adding massage therapy to the mix. I'm going to see Jen's (and my) friend Amy once a month as well, but I'm offsetting the appointments by two weeks. This way, hopefully, my muscles will relax enough to not lock up. If it works (this is the first month I've done both) I will continue to see both of them for a few months before phasing out the chiropractic part. I'll keep you updated.

As for actual on the bike training, up until two weeks ago there wasn't much. I had been on the trainer a few times but I would much rather bang my head against something hard for a while seeing as how that might actually be more entertaining. Two weeks ago we did get really nice weather from Sunday to Wednesday and I took full advantage. I went out with Niko on Sunday, and we almost ate shit like four times because the path was such an icy/watery/muddy mess. Monday I road fixies for a little with my friend Evan. Tuesday I went for a much saner, leisurely ride with my dad on the path, and Wednesday I went out with Eric and a few people he rides with and the beat me up for twenty miles. It was good riding and helped a little by taking the edge off, but now I'm missing sleep again.

I ordered a new Carmichael Training Systems(CTS) DVD for climbing to go along with the Time Trial one I have and have decided that as much as I hate it, I'm going to have to ride the trainer. It's thirty degrees out and I don't even have gloves, so outside is out of the question, but I need to do something. Two days a week I'm going to do an hour on the trainer, and if it's warm enough I will go out and put in some big (for me) miles in outside on the weekend. If it's not warm enough, I may just pop in a movie and sit on the trainer for two hours. I'm not sure if my mind can take that.

To take full advantage of making the effort to train, I need things like a heart rate monitor, a computer that displays my cadence, possibly a power meter and a training log. For the training log, I've decided to just use this blog. If anyone still reads this, you'll be able to follow my progress, and once I get back out on the bike, you'll get to hear about my rides on a regular basis. Expect stories of me bonking, giving up on hills before I reach the top, crying like a little girl and complaining about what complete D-bags other cyclists are. It should be fun.

The heart-rate meter is an easy solution. Jen already has one she doesn't use. While it might not be the manliest colour, it will get the job done.

Cadence I'm up in the air about. Part of me wonders if I really need to keep note of it. I'm not a fan of wires running all over my bike either, partly for aesthetics, but mostly because it's a bitch when I clean my bike. Yes, I realize those are terrible reasons, but I stand by them. My bike, my stupid hang ups, what I say goes. That leaves wireless computers that keep track of cadence. Coincidently, that would leave me with a lot less money.

One option for all of my "needs" is a Power Tap. It's a power meter that can tell me my cadence and my heart rate. It can even keep track of past workouts so it practically does the training log portion of it as well. It's twelve hundred dollars not including the price of replacing the hub on my old wheels with it.

Another option is Garmin's 705. For half the price of a Power tap, it does everything the PT does except measure power. Since I'm pathetically weak anyway, I don't care about how many watts I make. I just want to be able to keep myself out of the redline while making myself stronger so I can ride longer, more varied routes. The 705 also has GPS so I can store rides I have done and pull them up if I want to do them again. It's even compatible with the PT if I ever decide I want to start training that way. I think I just made up my mind for this years big purchase.

So there we have it. I'll actually be training this year, more stupid blog updates, fixing my back, but most importantly, more riding this year. Wish me luck.