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.
16 April, 2009
06 April, 2009
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.
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.
02 April, 2009
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.
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.
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