It's AUGUST already!

Seven months of 2011 have elapsed. I broke the 5000 bicycle miles mark a few days ago. Two of the four New Rider Clinics have wrapped up. Jenn is acting as primary teacher for the third and will for the fourth as part of her certification as a League Cycling Instructor. Life is pretty good, despite the heat of summer being oppressive as always (and it is getting to me more this year than in past years for some reason).

Despite the actions of the miscreants in our nation's capitol, we seem to still have a country left. Hopefully this will be the case in a few weeks, when the illegitimate holders of power decide to manufacture another hypocritical "crisis" to justify their paychecks (and overblown self of entitlement...). I've long referred to our nation's capitol as Washington, District of Concubines, and the whoring out of the GOP to the baser levels of society continues to justify the name.

And, since I have time to say so, I've now had my Ergon pedals for two weeks. I've ridden the Raleigh a few times with these pedals, and like them quite well for short rides (like less than eight or ten miles one way).

Given that I tend to wear Vibram Five-Fingers shoes when I'm not pedaling a bike, I had to try the combination right away. My first ride on this pair of pedals was to the New Rider Clinic on Bowling Boulevard, a short ride with the new riders, and the ride home--about nine miles altogether. I was probably even been pulling a trailer at the time, but my log doesn't indicate either way. I am liking these pedals with the soft shoes (Image borrowed from the Ergon web site).

New Rider Classes

The third New Rider Class series for this summer has begun, and the first two have ended. Jenn held court for the third installment of the July/August series last night, and did a good job of showing the students some of the technical clothing they could consider to help extend their riding season from "fair weather" to downright ugly stuff.

After her presentation, we all went for a little bike ride. It's a familiar route to the volunteers, of course, that encompasses a bit of Cannons Lane, a bit of Dutchmans Lane by Bowman Field, some neighborhoods near Seneca Park, and so on. During the ride, I noticed a regular "thump, thump, thump" from my front wheel, and, sure enough, there was a spot on the tire where the carcass plies had apparently suffered cuts. Hoping the tire would get me home before dark, I went on with the student who was riding beside me. I noted too that Jenn was about a block behind me, also with a student.

However, after making a turn, I was eying my mirror to be sure Jenn saw the turn and didn't see her. My student and I stopped for a moment, and since I still didn't see Jenn and her student, I opted to turn around and see what was what. I backtracked about two blocks, to find Jenn trying to get her chain unstuck from between the cassette and the spokes. I pulled out the tool box I was carrying for the class (trailers are wonderful things), hoping beyond hope that I had cassette tools with me, only to find that I did not. After toying with her bike for a moment, I told her to take my bike and the two students back to the parking lot, then deal with me as appropriate. I had water, I had a fairly safe place to hang out, I was good.

Long story short, Jenn had to go home and get the truck and come fetch me, her bike and the trailer she had been pulling. Once we got home, I was able to remove the cassette from the wheel, untangle the chain, inspect things, and reassemble the bike correctly. Two spokes will probably have to be replaced soon, but nothing else shows any real damage.

Of course, once I fixed her bike, I got to "re-tire" the front end of mine. I'm a little bummed that this tire got cut this way--it had over eight thousand miles on it, perhaps more than ten thousand, and there was still tread life left. The new tire has a bit taller profile, so I have to recalibrate the cyclometer by what appears to be four percent based on observations during my commute today.

I'm nearing to five thousand miles for 2011 YTD. This is a personal record for this early in the season. I'm likely to continue to set personal records on a daily basis for the remainder of the year.

Fried-day

Now that my legs are mostly recovered from RAIN and the cramps I suffered that day...

I've put 188 miles on bicycles since RAIN, despite heat, humidity, and some headwinds. Indeed, my ride home from work yesterday was marked by being a 4H ride: Hazy, Hot, Humid Headwind. The whole time.

Wednesday, I rode over seventy miles on the Globe (Yay! for Ergon grips that were good even without the gloves, even with sweaty hands the whole time!), including to and from work, to and from Iroquois Park for test night of the June/July New Rider Clinics and two laps of the road test course for that clinic. I was not setting any speed records coming home, especially since I took the trailer to Iroquois with me so that I could do some grocery shopping en route home. I rode the Vanguard to work three times this week, mostly because it's more comfortable in general, and partially because it's more comfortable in the heat.

Apparently there is some miscalculation in my system. The Globe's odometer now shows over two thousand miles, but I've only logged nineteen hundred and something. I suppose there are miles I've forgotten to log somewhere. All the riding it on teaching days is keeping it far ahead of the Vanguard in the YTD miles, which seems odd to me given that I prefer the ride of the Vanguard. I admit to liking the brakes on the Globe best of all my bikes, though. Something about disc brakes and increased stopping power...

And I still hold over 18% of the Louisville Bicycle Club's CO2 miles, with 62 members reporting. I just have not done enough longer rides, or performance riding in hot weather, to be able to complete RAIN this year.

MY PEDALS ARRIVED!!

For several months, now, I've been talking about my membership on the Ergon Commuter Team, and the cool stuff I get as part of that membership. I've been using my grips for a couple months, now, and my gloves for a month or more. I'm very happy with the grips, and would be happier with the gloves if they were a bit larger so that I could remove them more readily (I got the largest size offered, and my hands are still a bit big for them--not a big *ahem* surprise for me, as I often buy XXL gloves, and would buy XXXL in some models if offered).

The backpack thing was a disappointment. Ergon's corporate offices in Germany opted to not sell the pack I was expecting in this country, so I don't get one to test. That's the way of things sometimes, so I won't hold it against the fine folks at Ergon's US headquarters in Colorado. They have been great folks--responsive to emails, excited about their products, knowledgeable and all that.

Apparently, the pedals had some manufacturing hurdles to overcome as well. The original hope was that I'd see them in March or so, but Ergon finally got them to sell a week or so ago. Mine arrived today.

All along, I had figured on putting this set of pedals on the Raleigh in warmer weather, and on the Globe in really cold months (so I could wear warmer boots and pedal to work). The Raleigh hasn't seen much use of late, as the trailer hitches I installed on the Vanguards, the tandem and my Globe work well with the Burley trailer, and most of my use of the Globe has been in times when the Raleigh would just be a bit slower than I'd like (the Globe and Vanguard are about as fast as one-another, but the Raleigh is slower than either of the others by a noticeable margin). Now that the Burley trailer is configured for the quick hitches, it won't connect to the Raleigh (the hitches use the rear axle for connection, and the Raleigh's axle is too short for this). I can use the Raleigh with the Safety 1st trailer, though, so it will get some use as a grocery-getter in coming months.

Today was the second meeting of the July/August New Rider Clinic series. When I got home from the store, the pedals were in a box on my front porch, left there by the UPS driver. I mounted them on the Raleigh, and swapped out my Shimano bike sandals for my Vibram Five Finger shoes. I wanted to really feel these pedals, you see...

I'm pleased. Quite. Pleased. A couple of friends noted the new pedals, and wondered why I would use them instead of my habitual SPD/flat dual use pedals on that bike--until I wiggled my toes in my Vibram shoes!

Ergon makes a deal out of their choice of moving the cyclist's foot closer to the centerline with these pedals. There is NO room for a pedal wrench between the pedal and the crank arm--one installs these pedals with an 8mm Allen key. The platform is large. I mean, LARGE. It's contoured, which will work quite well for their intended use, which is largely "citizen cyclists," those who ride instead of driving while wearing normal clothing most of the time rather than cycling-specific clothing (including shoes). For such folks, these pedals ROCK.

Let me rephrase that. If you really prefer pedals that involve wearing cycling-specific shoes with cleats that interlock with the pedal, you might not like these. For my almost thirteen-miles-each-way commute, I'll probably stick with SPD pedals most of the time. However, for going to the grocery store a couple miles away, where being able to wear my Five Fingers shoes has some value to me (i.e. not having to change shoes to go to the grocery), the Raleigh is going to see a fair bit more use now. I LIKE these pedals.

RAIN

Another RAIN is in the record books. I'm not happy about it, though, as I set a new-for-me record. It's the first time in eight trips that I did not finish the ride. I'm not totally sure what went wrong, and my tendency to over-analyze stuff like this is kicking in. Some of the results of my cogitation on the matter only serve to anger me more.

I had hopes for this ride. Jenn has been riding more than last year and I have been riding a lot more than last year. We rode fairly well on our trip a couple weeks ago. The bike was in fine form (although a bit heavier than I remember it being...). We knew what we needed to do to better last year's time. It just didn't happen.

The first forty miles of RAIN are often rough on me--I've nearly quit at the first rest stop on two other occasions out of frustration with my performance. I've also learned that sometimes one's supposed riding partners will simply ride off into the distance, caught up in their own excitement and adrenaline rush. I had no illusions that Jenn and I would have any riding buddies except for each other this time, although we picked up a fellow out of the Indianapolis area early in the day who kept with us until midway between the first and second stops.

I felt very good after the first stop, but could not keep that momentum going all day. I just don't have enough long-mileage days this year, nor does Jenn.

Lunch was probably the worst I've had on this ride--I preferred the prior "cold cuts sandwiches" format, as the lines--all four of them--moved the riders through the system far faster than the single-line catering job they had. Also, the food was tepid at best, and of poor quality. The catering firm had cards out on a table in the steam tray line, as if they expected folks would take cards home and do more business with them--NOT. The "macaroni and cheese" Jenn had was cold. The meat I had had been cooked, but was not very warm and certainly was not bar-b-que in the sense that it had not been prepared by basting it in sauce--one added sauce to taste AFTER the meat was on the plate.

By the time Jenn and I reached the new drink stop, I had experienced one of my signature horrible leg cramps. Both thighs and one calf had cramped at once, forcing me to hard-stop the bike and stand--in a sunny place, of course--for about ten minutes before I could move my legs again. Once we reached the drink stop, I got off the bike for a good half-hour trying to cool down. I wanted to press on, though, so we saddled up and got going again. I had a good hour or so, but by the time I reached Dunreith Fire House, the site of the last official rest stop, my pace was falling off again, and quickly. I realized that finishing the ride in the allotted time would be unlikely, and the attempt would be harder on me physically than dealing with the anger (and to admit it, shame) of calling it quits right then and there. Of course, as I stretched out on my trailer for a bit of rest before packing things up, my leg cramped again, and it was a painful one.

We got to the finish area in Richmond, where the other three riders were waiting for us. They had long since finished and showered, and I got to then be chagrined that I had kept them waiting so long. Several among our party were quite hungry, but some were not, leading to discussion of whether there would be a group meal before hitting the road for home. I was not in on this discussion, which was probably a good thing, because I would have gotten pretty surly about my need for food.

Even though the food was decent, and the quantity was reasonable for the money spent, I was still unsatisfied, and some of the table discussion hit me the wrong way. Then, of course, came the navigation for getting home from Richmond, which involved some more ego battles among others. I did my best to stay out of it, as all I wanted was to get home and be done with the day. I was in a bad mood all the way home, and am still a bit put off by the whole experience as I type this.

I may or may not ride RAIN next year. If I do, it will be under a different arrangement than this. I had wondered the other day whether I really want to do long events any more. I rarely ride the Strada that I prefer for such rides these days, since the vast majority of my bike miles are utilitarian in nature. I enjoy being on the tandem with Jenn, but we are not fast enough as a team to ride long group rides and stay with people. I don't have to decide today, though, so I'm probably better to delay that decision until I cool off a bit.

By the numbers, 1, 2, 3, 4!

Four thousand two-point-something miles. That's how far I've ridden my bicycles in lieu of driving so far this year.



I've put 4469 miles on bikes this year, according to the records on mycyclinglog,com. I sometimes wonder about that number, as the odometer on my Globe shows a few more miles than the log shows--about a hundred miles, in fact. Since I don't know whether that mileage is due to errant calibrations or forgotten postings, or something else entirely, I don't know what to do with that information. I finally figured out why the tandem odometer wasn't agreeing with others, and got that fixed (I think). I may take it out for a short spin Friday morning to verify calibration before riding RAIN this weekend.



Yes, Jenn and I are riding RAIN this Saturday. It will be our second as a tandem team, and my third on a tandem. It will be my first on this tandem, but this tandem's second RAIN (our friends Nita and Larry used it last year, before Jenn and I bought it from Nita). It's the second tandem I've ridden on RAIN. Since a tandem bike has two riders, I thought it would be fun to recognize all the twos in this--let me know if any more twos come to mind...

Anyway, we figure on setting another team best. Last year's average speed was a touch over sixteen miles an hour while rolling, with an overall elapsed time a touch over twelve hours. We took a couple of very long breaks--especially at lunch, when I was fighting hot spots in my feet. This year, both of us have been riding more on a daily (or at least weekly) basis, and we haven't had to fight the stressors of moving two weeks before the event or being on the road for two weeks for Race Across America shortly before that or the whole closing on the house thing fourteen hours before leaving for RAAM before that.



To mention another "two," this weekend will also be my second wedding anniversary. I haven't mentioned it lately, but I am still going on an unbroken string of days being happily married. Every day sets another record for me. Life is, indeed, good.

People pass out of our lives

This post contains some sad stuff. You have been warned.

David Whitney died Monday morning. He was 24. David was an up-and-coming bike racer, coffee-maker, drummer, pharmacy student, budding bike mechanic, and much much more. He died driving his car, although his bike was on the rack at the back of the car. The article in the Oldham Era web site pays scant tribute to who David was (although I must admit, such articles rarely satisfy the friends and family of the subject person).

I knew David as a nice guy who loved to ride, and who was riding well. He was exploding into his bicycle racing career--he had four podium finishes in three weekends earlier this year. He was, as I often say I am, "loving life."

On Tuesday evening, I was talking to my mother, and learned that a cousin had not been heard from since Saturday. She was not one to ignore phone messages, but she had not returned any calls since talking to her mother (my mom's sister) Saturday afternoon. Anne's husband was out of town, visiting his own family in Canada (their home is in Maryland), and also was not getting calls returned.

He had the local police break into their house Tuesday evening, and they found Anne dead on the living room sofa. I don't know when she died, other than between Saturday afternoon and Tuesday. I learned of this Wednesday morning.

Anne had been my favorite cousin. She had fought an assortment of inner demons for many years, some perhaps spawned by the sudden and untimely passing of her father due to a massive heart attack in 1973 or so. As a result, some of her life choices were perhaps harder on her body than they might have been. I don't have reason to suspect suicide at this point, but I really don't know. The autopsy may give the family some answers, or it may not.

On top of all that, my sister reminded me in a phone message last night that yesterday would have been my paternal grandfather's hundredth birthday. He had the temerity to pass on five years ago, again before the rest of us were ready to miss him. I received some pictures of him and of my grandmother (including one of her with her parents) from my father via email today, and seeing them was a bittersweet experience for me.

All of this has made my brain fuzzy for the last few days. I've not been able to focus on tasks as well as I need to do. I suppose I have a legitimate excuse, but it's still hard to not get stuff done that I really need to do. I still have been riding instead of driving, including riding the Globe with the Ergon grips for all of my transportation on Wednesday, and I even managed to get to the press conference about the Big Four Bridge yesterday. I just couldn't DO much about being there.

I need to get out of this brain fog. Maybe sleep will help. Good night.

Random thoughts on my ride home

As I worked through Crestwood on my way home this evening, a train passed by me, heading in roughly the same direction. For half a mile or so, I was matching its pace. However, it started going faster soon enough, and pulled farther and farther ahead as I pedaled toward Pewee Valley. I never could be sure, but it seemed to have an affect on traffic: For over a mile, there were no cars trying to overtake me on KY146, and rare cars between Pewee Valley and Westport Road, where I could cross the tracks, the train having pulled far enough ahead by then. It was nice to not have any cars behind me for a while, especially on that segment of 146.

I diverted from my normal route to get some beer at a liquor store I used to frequent when I lived in Douglass Hills. That store seems to have seen less profits of late--the selections are fewer than they once were. Still, they have some varieties of beer that are harder to find closer to home, so I selected some Belhaven Scottish Ale and some Fuller's London Porter to stow in my panniers for the trip home. I recently found some Thirsty Dog Twisted Kilt somewhere, and thought it was at that store, but they didn't have any.

Thirsty Dog Brewery makes a fairly decent porter called Old Leghumper, too. It's almost as good at Dark Star Porter from BBC, and about as tasty (but not quite as potent) as Arcadia's London Porter. Yeah, I'm a dark beer guy.

Once home, I went back out to get something that was already chilled, as there was little of interest in the 'fridge aside from a Woodchuck 802 Cider that I was leaving for Jenn. If you like a dry cider, the 802 is quite yummy.

I rode the Globe today, just because I could. Big number for the day is 4306 YTD, with 3840 CO2 miles YTD.