Ridden Words

I knew it had been a while since I posted but didn’t realize it was May.  I’ve had some posts in my head and have some workouts to catch up on from my Edge 305.  Not much riding going on recently as I’ve fallen into the trap of too much time at work.

My last ride was from North Bend to Issaquah to return fabric swatches to Lay-Z-boy (looking for a sectional for the family room).  It was a fun, but hot ride, basically the bike commute route with a little tacked on to get off of the plateau and down into town and then back.  ~38 miles.  It was hot since I usually ride in the morning but riding in the sun was quite nice.  Only problem was that I rode harder than I should have for my fitness level and was WIPED out for the rest of the night.  I actually went to bed feeling the workout and woke up feeling it still.  Guess I diserve to feel that way for not really having any regular miles in my legs but still trying to hold speed up climbs and on the flats.

I say that was my last ride but that’s not completely true.  Kim and the girls and I did the Tour de Peaks two weeks ago, in the rain.  We did the Family 4 mile route but tacked on ~3.5 miles x 2 on the ride to the start and back from the house.  Kim’s second ride on her bike and she did great.  I had both girls, V on the tag-a-long trek and S in the sidecar.  I was really impressed with my girls, nobody hesitated as we headed off in the drizzle.  V was navigator again this year reading the Dan Henrys and S happily wrote notes in her notebook all the way.

Then last weekend Kim ran the 10K at Snoqulamie Railroad days and the girls and I rode down to cheer her on.  But this time V rode her own bike.  Kim says she wouldn’t have done it and there were some times I questioned doing it myself.  I asked her to ride in front of me but she wanted to ride behind.  That lasted for 30 seconds until I ‘left her behind’ at the round-a-bout when I road through and she stopped to look for cars.  She then rode in front of me the whole way and I worked on the coaching and parenting.

Me:  “Ride on the right side of the white line.”

V: “Is this my right?”

Me: “Okay, no shoulder so ride close to the edge but not too close.”

V: “Where’s the shoulder?”

Me: “Shift to 1 to go over the bridge.”

V: “Ok, can I go to 3 down the other side?”

Me: “Don’t swerve out into the middle of the lane.”

V: “What’s a swerve?”

She did great but I was a bit more stressed than I imagined.  With Veronica on her own bike, Samantha was not content to ride in the sidecar but I didn’t have time to lower the seat on the tag-a-long so she didn’t have a choice.  She wasn’t too happy and when we stopped to cheer Kim on she didn’t want to get back in.  She ran along side us for a little while until V fell trying to go up a driveway.  She recovered well which was good since it would have been a long walk to the car if she didn’t get back on that horse and ride it.  That was ~5 miles of family fun.

I love to cheer Kim on with the girls and when we weren’t where we said we’d be Kim realized she loves it too.  Because it was an out and back we got to cheer twice which was fun for all.  It was another drizzling day but  in true Northwest fashion it didn’t slow us down.

No run for Kim means a ride for me.  No rain means the Trek. The alarm went off at 5:30 and I was pretty slow moving getting out of the house.  I wanted to do 50 miles but figured I needed to be useful for the rest of the day so I had settled in on 40 - a nice ride down to Carnation, over Tolt hill and back.

It looked nice and clear the Sun was just about to peak around Mt. Si as I got ready to go.  I spent some time looking for a missing arm warmer (the pair got separated coming back from 7 Hills) but gave up and I decided I didn’t want to wake the dog that was sleeping in front of the drawer that had the other pair in it.  I figured I’d just head out in my summer attire - shoes (no covers), shorts (no leggings), jersey (short sleeve), gloves (standard, no fingers) and I’d “Warm up” quick enough.

I was so confident with this arrangement I didn’t even bother to check the thermometer.  When I was much younger I used to do this “warm up” for early morning rides so I figured it would still work.  He he he, jokes on me.

I live at the top of a hill that while only being 130ft high it’s a 10% average grade so I easily hit 35mph coasting out of my driveway.  As I descended this morning, I began to shiver pretty bad and actually believe I said something out loud about the cold (no children were around at 6 AM to hear this).  Since I was soooooo cold, I was up for a fast warm up so I was pushing it a little harder than normal.

This faster pace was a bit of a double edged sword - faster meant more wind chill.  I didn’t really take the time to debate or empirically figure out the optimum riding speed for the temperature.  I was just thinking about adjusting my route to include as much of the rising Sun as possible.  I was through town and heading out to Renig.  As I went, I noticed the morning fog.  A cold looking morning fog, was hanging out at the base of Mt. Si.  Right where I was heading.

I looked at my bare arms and noticed that even at 20 mph my arm hair was standing straight out from the goose bumps on my skin.  My fingers were trying to find a spot to hide behind the break leavers that would provide some shelter from the cold, and I decided I needed to turn around and get a jacket and my full finger gloves.  So I did.

I was back at the house a mere 23 minutes after leaving it and even the climb up hadn’t done anything meaningful to warm me up.  I stepped inside and changed gloves and put on a jacket and stepped back outside noticing I was having a bit of a hard time holding on to he door knob.

Back on the front porch (well more of an entry way/walk at our house) I looked out over the valley and it looked cold.  Very cold.  And the expected warmth from the jacket and gloves were not materializing.  I figured I’d be warmed up and would soon feel the heat from the jacket.  Granted I didn’t give it much more than 20 seconds but I decided to head back in and try to get warm in bed.

I crawled back in bed and got a “you’re freezing, don’t come near me” from my wife (which I don’t blame her one bit for) so I snuggled down and tried to think warm thoughts, half (well, maybe only 1/4 if I’m honest) thinking I’d get warm and then go back out since it was really nice (read not raining) and I wanted some miles.  I quickly fell back asleep and didn’t really wake up until 11 AM at which time I still didn’t quite feel warm yet still.

Next time I’ll check the temperature and dress better.

Logbook Activity

• Type: Cycle
• Date: 05/31/2008
• Time: 06:09:00
• Total Time: 00:23:10.00
• Average Heart rate: 164
• Max Heart rate: 190
• Distance: 5.73 miles
• Average Speed: 14.84 mph
• Max Speed: 35.1 mph
• Average Cadence: 80

“What is that noise?” is the thought that went through my head at 5:30 this morning.  “Oh, yeah, bike ride.”  I rolled out of bed and got dressed and the car packed up.  I was meeting Brad at the start in Kirkland at 7:00 and wanted to make sure I made it there in time so I left the house at 6:00.  I always forget there’s really no traffic at 6:00 in the morning so I made it to the start line in 30 minutes.

I saw a few folks I know before the start and chatted with them and realized Brad might be early as well so I sent him a text message.  He was in line at the coffee shop getting breakfast so I rode up to where he was parked.  It was nice and cool with clouds so I threw on my arm warmers but left the rain gear in the car figuring even if we got wet it was only going to be 39 miles.

Brad, of course brought his fixie which was good with me since I haven’t done much climbing this year and with gears he’d probably really kick my butt.  He didn’t learn his lesson after Chilly Hilly and still had the 14 tooth cog in the rear.  Turned out he only really had to work hard up Winery Hill and made me suffer his endless chatter up all the rest of the time.  (not really but it makes a better story).

I was feeling pretty good, no pressure to really plow up the hills but still passing folks and not getting passed going up.  With Brad on the fixie we’d get passed going down since he cannot go much over 22-23 mph.  Didn’t get passed going up until Winery where I got caught by surprise at the bottom and let up a little in the middle.

I left the house planning on just doing the 7 hills.  We left the start planning on just doing the 7 hills.  When we got to the century/metric century turn off Brad asked again and in true guy fashion I said “sure.”  I’ve not ridden further than 50 miles all year.  I’ve not ridden further than 36 miles on a ride since March.  I only rode 20 miles all last week and that was yesterday, but what the heck.  I knew I would finish and I had plenty of fuel so we headed off for the metric century loop.

I did fade in the last 10 miles and the metric century turned out to be about 5 miles short.  I wasn’t tempted to jump on any wheels but Brad was like a leashed dog at a cat show.  He got into a groove but it was hard for him to let others go by.

I did see “Dave the Carrot” out on the metric loop (he was probably doing the full century).  It’s hard to miss a 6′ 5″ guy on an orange bike.  I briefly though about jumping on his wheel but knew better than to blow myself up with 30 miles still to ride.

It was good to get out, a perfect day for a ride weather wise, good company and I really enjoyed it again this year.  I did really wipe myself out and was moving at about 30% for the rest of the day.  At one point Veronica wanted me to run a foot race with her and I had to tell her I had “jello legs”.  She did get Kim to run with her - in the outside lane that goes about 20 yards further around the course than the inside lane

Logbook Activity

• Type: Cycle
• Date: 05/26/2008
• Time: 07:00:00
• Total Time: 3:58:37.00
• Distance: 58.43 miles
• Average Speed: 14.69 mph
• Max Speed: 35 mph
• Average Cadence: 71
• Max Cadence: 130

So I asked my wonderful wife last night if there was a day that I could bike commute to work this week since it’s National Bike to Work Week.  She thought about it and said I could do it every day if I wanted to.  Since it’s ~18 miles each way and I’m not in very good shape for long rides yet I thought if I could do 3 days that would be great.

I got all outfitted with my satchel and new mountain bike shoes for my new SPD peadals, rain pants and rain coat, and clothes for work (good thing t-shirt and jeans works, not really room for much more than that in the satchel) and headed out slightly later than I had hoped.

I was shooting to catch my normal bus which leaves the park and ride at 8:19.  If I left right at 7 I should have plenty of time given the time for my test ride a few weeks ago put the ride at about 1:05.  I didn’t get out right at 7.  Since it’s a bit like herding cats to get our girls up and ready for school in the morning I committed to getting all of my normal morning things done before I left - 2 lunches packed and in backpacks, two breakfasts on the tables, dogs fed, and girls up and down stairs.  By the time that was done and I headed out it was 7:15.  Well, the last bus is the 8:51 so I have some extra time.

Going down the hill from my house I realize the cleat on my right shoe is way off and my heal is pointing out at about 30 degrees.  That’ll really hurt if I leave it alone so I pull over at the stop sign and adjust that cleat.  5 minutes wasted, foot much better.  Now that the right one is not out of wack, I can tell the left one is so I pull over again to adjust it.  5 minutes wasted, pedal, pedal, pedal, still not quite right.  Pull over again and adjust.  Feels right now.  Hmmm. 7:30 and I’ve only gone 1.5 miles.  Not a good start.

Nice ride with pretty light traffic - much confidence is gained by having the mirror on my glasses.  I don’t have any cross traffic turns it’s just nice to know someone is coming up from behind.  As I get to the bottom of the climb I start to think how hot and sweaty I’ll be given the layers I have on so I pull over and take off the outer rain layer.  5 more minutes gone but much cooler.

The climb up Issaquah-Fall City Rd is uneventful but still hard.  Wishing I hadn’t taken that 26 tooth cog off, what was I thinking? Lots more out of the saddle climbing than I like to do but I made it without really struggling.  Getting across traffic at the main road was harder than expected - I’d never thought about it but it is a main drag and it is rush hour…

Some good defensive riding now, take the lane and get in line at the stop lights to avoid the “turn in front” and annoying drivers by riding up the line next to them.  The two dips between on the main road are sort but steep and I don’t quite have the strength to push through them yet.  The last climb up to the park and ride is interesting as well.  It’s a climb so I’m going kind of slow.  I need to cross 3 lanes of traffic to get to the left side of the one way road to pull into the park and ride, and it’s a sweeping right bend turn so my mirror doesn’t really help me see traffic behind to know when it’s safe.

As I approach the park and ride my worst nightmare is realized.  The bus is there and loading.  The temptation to try to catch it is huge.  I know I cannot lock up my bike, take off the lights and computer, and run to the bus before it leaves - yet there it is, tempting me.

I go slowly getting out the bike lock, taking off my gloves, and locking up the bike.  The bus finaly pulls away just as I turn the key and I can relax.  I now have to wait for 15 minutes for the next one but the stress of trying to make the bus is gone.

Pretty good ride for my first bike commute of the season.  Here’s to many more.

Logbook Activity

• Type: Cycle
• Date: 05/12/2008
• Time: 07:10:00
• Total Time: 1:04:35.00
• Distance: 17.9 miles
• Average Speed: 16.63 mph

The alarm went off at 5:00.  It was light enough outside to hop right on my bike but I just couldn’t get myself moving very fast.  I got dressed, mixed up a bottle of Perpetium, grabbed the Trek and slowly headed out the door, 45 minutes after the alarm went off.

North Bend way is still under construction so I decided to go West and do Ernies Grove, around the top of the mill pond, climb up Snoqulamie Parkway and do the climb up to Snoqulamie Point park.  I guessed it would be about 30 miles.

Seems like I can consistently do about 2 miles per hour faster on the flats on the Trek than I can on the Fuso.  Not sure if it’s choice of gears - 10 vs 6 - which give me smaller steps or the 8 lbs of weight the Fuso has on the Trek.  It is nice to cruise along at a higher speed, at least as far as my ego is concerned.

Pretty uneventful ride as I remember it (now a week later).  Watching the elevation counter on the Edge 305 reminded me how flat the valley roads really are - not surprising for roads in a river valley really - I think I could do at least 20 miles with < 200 ft of elevation if I wanted to.  Good thing the roads go up either side of the valley so I can climb some hills.

It was “nice” that the last kick up to Snoqulamie Point Park now goes up about another 20-30 ft to the new parking lot at the park - it was such a bummer to have that part of the climb stop after only 220 ft.  On the other hand, the view at the top - now that it’s really the top - is really nice and that’s a good reward for going that last quarter of a mile or so.

I was kind of hoping that cutting it to only 30 miles I’d be back in time to snuggle a bit before Kim headed off for ez8s but I was greated by Veronica when I first came in the door and she wanted me to help her play a game on the computer.  Kim came down 5 minutes later so no dice.

Logbook Activity

• Type: Cycle
• Date: 05/10/2008
• Time: 05:45:00
• Total Time: 2:13:32.00
• Distance: 32.8 miles
• Average Speed: 14.74 mph
• Max Speed: 35 mph
• Average Cadence: 85
• Max Cadence: 103

After a quick plot of the route on MapMyRide I decided that it was very ‘doable’ to explore commuting to work by riding my bike from my house to the Issaquah Highlands Park and Ride.  The route is straight forward: 202 to Issaquah-Fall City road, to Highlands Drive.  18 miles.  One big climb each way and some rollers.  When Kim got home from the barn I headed out for a ride on the Fuso to test out the course.

So that’s the commuting part.  It’s a nice ride, traffic is light and there are some side roads I can take if I want to avoid it further (though making the trip a bit longer) and it includes the final climb from the Flying Wheels Century up Issaquah-Fall City road.  I like this last climb because it comes at 80 miles in and lots of people are beat.  It’s good for my ego at that point in the ride (if I’ve got the training under my belt).  Only down side is there are only racks at the park and ride, no lockers.  If I really care about the lockers, I can add ~4 miles to the ride and get to a park and ride with lockers.  If I ride the Trek, that’s a consideration.  If I ride the Ciocc or Fuso, not so much.  I don’t think I mind locking up my vintage steel all day but I’m still not comfortable doing that with the Carbon Fiber frame.

Now, gears and ego.  Well, when Dad was here last week riding the Ciocc (on the brand new wheels after the car accident) we were adjusting the index shifting and couldn’t get into the smallest gear which is important since the house is at the top of a 10+% grade hill.  So we where examining the freewheel, or should I say cassette, and something didn’t seem right so we took it apart.  Dad cleaned it up and it turned out that a number of the cogs were backwards and the 2nd to last cog was not sitting on the grooves of the cassette and wasn’t threaded on the threads so it was pure friction that was keeping it in place.  I pulled out my small collection of cogs and we found a better fit and made sure all of the cogs were facing the right way and shifting up to the 23 tooth cog started working.  Excellent.

Since we had the chain whips out and were playing with cogs, I decided to look at the cassette hub on the Fuso.  See, it’s got a 6 speed cassette on it with 7 speed shifters.  That means I’m stuck with friction.  I hadn’t looked a the gearing so I took it apart and checked it out.  I assumed it was a 24 or 23 tooth low gear but it turned out to be 26.  Here’s where ego comes in a bit.  I decided I didn’t need a 26 and rebuilt it with a 23 tooth cog as the largest instead.

First some history.  My first racing bike was a 24″ Peugeot 12 speed.  I didn’t like the Sauc-huret freewheel so I bought campy hubs and re-laced the wheels with them.  I didn’t end up growing the extra 6 to 8 inches I needed to for the 24″ frame to really fit me so when I wanted to buy a proper Italian racing bike my senior year in high school I got a 23″ frame - my Ciocc.  (I now know I need a 53cm frame)  I built the Ciocc from the frame up.  Bought the new Ultegra groupo with 7 speed cassette and put it all together myself.  I laced the wheels but let the shop true them.  When I ordered the cassette I wanted a fast one so I chose a 21-12 gearing to go with the 42/53 chain rings.  All 18yr old ego.

You  see, I was living in Los Alamos, NM at the time.  6500 ft elevation at my house.  The favorite riding loop was 27 miles with ~2K of climbing.  Other routes took me into the Jamez mountains up to 9000+ feet in elevation with a few 10+% climbs.  I got around but I struggled more than I needed to.  A 23 or 24 tooth cog would have made the hills go faster for sure.

With that experience in mind, when I bought my Trek, I got the compact drive.  No need for an ego at this point I said, I wanted to be comfortable but couldn’t bring myself to a triple so I went CD.  The Trek goes all the way down to 36×27 which is nice when climbing hills in Kirkland with Brad.  Keeps me from getting tired out.

So, what do I do the 2nd ride after I take off the 26 tooth cog, I go climb Issaquah-Fall City and 202 up past Snoqulamie Falls.  Neither is particularly steep, just kind of long but with only a 23 I wasn’t spinning like Lance, more like grinding like Jan.  I’ve not put the 26 back on yet but I’m really thinking about it.

Logbook Activity

• Type: Cycle
• Date: 04/13/2008
• Time: 16:03:00
• Total Time: 2:20:00.00
• Average Heart rate: 175
• Max Heart rate: 200
• Distance: 36 miles
• Average Speed: 15.43 mph
• Max Speed: 36 mph
• Average Cadence: 80
• Max Cadence: 103

After dropping Samantha off at preschool and running some earands for Kim I got in a practice ‘commute’ ride in today.  Looks like it’s about a 50 minute ride from Issaquah to the Mercer Island Park and Ride.  If I get a bike locker at Mercer Island, I can drive to Issaquah and ride to Mercer Island, locker the bike and ride into Seattle without worrying about bike racks on the bus. Read the rest of this entry »

Logbook Activity

• Type: Cycle
• Date: 04/02/2008
• Time: 09:10:00
• Total Time: 1:38:00.00
• Average Heart rate: 161
• Max Heart rate: 197
• Distance: 22.65 miles
• Average Speed: 13.87 mph
• Max Speed: 40.6 mph
• Average Cadence: 68
• Max Cadence: 104

Got up a little later than I planned this morning and have Veronica’s birthday and a night out with Kim tonight so I decided to cut the mileage down to 30 miles so I’d for sure make it through the day.  When I was planning on 40 miles I was going to venture into the lower valley but decided to do 30 up here in the upper valley - through Maloney’s grove Edgewick, North Fork, Maloney’s grove, and Ernie’s grove and home. Read the rest of this entry »

Logbook Activity

• Type: Cycle
• Date: 03/22/2008
• Time: 07:00:00
• Total Time: 2:10:00.00
• Average Heart rate: 150
• Max Heart rate: 200
• Distance: 33.1 miles
• Average Speed: 15.28 mph
• Max Speed: 30 mph
• Average Cadence: 87
• Max Cadence: 104

It always comes early. 5:30 am. I thought I had done a good job of getting ready for the ride. I mounted my headlight on my helmet so I could see when I left in the dark. I had pre-mixed my bottles of Perpetium. I even tracked down my Digital Hero camera and charged up the battery for the head lamp. I got out of bed, the nice warm bed, and headed down stairs. As I noticed it was raining I decided to take the Fuso. As I got it from the Garage I realized it only had one water bottle cage. And that began the unplanned phase of prep for my ride. Read the rest of this entry »

Logbook Activity

• Type: Cycle
• Date: 03/15/2008
• Time: 06:31:00
• Total Time: 3:05:59.00
• Average Heart rate: 145
• Max Heart rate: 193
• Distance: 41.44 miles
• Average Speed: 13.37 mph
• Max Speed: 31.9 mph

Oh, it was hard to get out of bed this morning. My plan was my first 50 miler. I wanted as much time as possible for it and I needed to be home by 10 AM to take the girls to swimming lessons. That meant getting up at 5:30 to be on the road at 6:00. It took all my willpower to not roll over when the alarm went off. Read the rest of this entry »