BIKE FIZXZIT

A paper and 10 songs

2012-05-27T10:19:00.000-04:00

These were my motivations this morning. I just needed something to make me put on my running shoes and get out the door. So I thought that I'd ride until I found a place with a NYT then ride back. I could've ridden just a mile to the nearest grocery store, but made myself head toward Southpoint and Starbucks. I'd already had some Peet's, so I just got the paper and rode back. As I was riding back I planned my running motivation. Once I was back, I'd go run to 10 songs. No watch, no Garmin, no Strava, no nothing...just 10 songs. No thinking, no excuses, just 10 songs. Whichever ten came up on the new pink iPod shuffle I'd had to buy after washing my purple one last week. It worked. Here's the playlist. 

Everything in its right place - Radiohead

Tom Sawyer - Rush

Lazy Eye - Silversun pickups

Hunger Strike - Pearl Jam/Temple of the Dog

32 flavors - Alana Davis

8 easy steps - Alanis Morisette

Hell Yeah - Beck

Reverie - Bela Fleck

I've landed - Ben Folds

Crazy in Love - Beyonce

Bittersweet - Big Head Todd and the Monsters

I must've lost count.

Shut up, Mind.

2012-05-21T07:37:00.000-04:00

The boys and I are starting a new ride from the shop, a dirt ride, on the Chapel Hill Trails. We haven't really advertised it yet, so I met up with Chris P. after work and we rode a little on the school side, Occoneechee Trail (no relation to the park we went to on the Virginia tour three weeks ago), and then mostly on the airport side. CdY-Kevin was off riding/recovering from the Pisgah 111k adventure race (congrats!) and BMX-K was recovering from a crash, so it was just me and Chris.

I Strava'd it so I could go back and figure out where I was. We'd gotten about  a mile and a half in when the trail became a little too much for me to handle with a steep, rocky descent, and we decided to ride the other side where Chris knew the trail better and I'd ridden at least a couple times. I remembered some of it from the Wildcat  race. (See previously unposted pics below.) 

Since I have yet to buy a MTN bike, I took one of our rentals, a Rockhopper Comp 29er. When I put it in the stand for pedals and a checkup, the 15" size,  I thought I was in for a workout on a really heavy bike that's a little too big for me. (Still don't have my legs and lungs back after being out of commission for over two weeks.) But it turned out to ride surprisingly well. It was tough to handle the wide bars - only caught them on a tree once though. After dealing with the much-too-bouncy front end, I decided to let some air out of the front tire - something I hadn't checked before taking off. Wow. The bike rode better after I let a lot, and I mean A LOT, of air out of the tires. It would've felt even better if I'd remembered to bring gloves, wear glasses and wear some bike shorts. My hands are a little blistered and more than a few bugs ended up under my contacts for a short stay. Note to self: bike gloves, chamois and glasses.

There were some things I chose to walk even though if my mind were turned off, I could have ridden - skinnies and some new-looking log piles. Toward the end of the ride, before the skills course, we came to a descent that put you on a wooden slat ramp around a bend. Chris rode it twice while I was considering if I should attempt it in my food-deprived, shakey state. The pic perspective doesn't show the dropoff that well, but if you're standing at the edge, it looks like a challenge. Yeah, I'll do that next time. *Shut up, mind.* 

Wildcat start at the clearing.

Helpful tree.

Des and B-ri.

T and Nate at a map.

Doooood, seriously, LTFU!

2012-05-20T08:38:00.000-04:00

Haruki Murakami is one of my favorite authors. I've just finished reading, What I talk about when I talk about running, a memoir-ish account of his novelist's life as a distance runner. The NYT review was pretty harsh, but critics often need to be beaten about the head with a bâtard until they acknowledge their own pretentiousness.

Despite the reviewer's dislike, I thoroughly enjoyed the book. I've read a lot of running, triathlon and biking books written memoir-style, and this is the first where my feelings about participation in endurance sport are expressed perfectly. Mr. Murakami and I were ladled from the same personality soup in this and many other ways. I think he might be a fan of my 'no talking' and 'no puking' rules for training. These are some quotes from the book that resonated with me:

No matter how mundane some action may appear, keep at it long enough and it becomes a contemplative, even meditative act.

It doesn't matter what field you're talking about - beating somebody else just doesn't do it for me. I'm much more interested in whether I reach the goals I set for myself, so in this sense long-distance running is the perfect fit for a mindset like mine.

I'm not human. I'm a piece of machinery. I don't need to feel a thing. Just forge on ahead.

How is this any different from pouring water in an old pan with a tiny hole in the bottom?

/RANT/

Because I work "in the industry" I have to have some concern, understanding and appreciation for all varieties of athletes. The kitted-out racers, the type-A triathletes, the uber-cool MTB types and magazine-forum-reading-techy-gearheads as well as the riders that would fit in my stereotypical category. But man, sometimes I just want to scream, "LTFU and enjoy the ride!" Like yesterday when a caller was beside himself because his cycle computer was in KM instead of Miles mode and was convinced his training ride was ruined. Geeez dooooood, LTFU! (And try to remember that bike shop employees are PEOPLE too. Oh, and reading the manual for something you purchase is always recommended. Despite our awesomeness, we don't memorize manuals for every single device that goes on a bike.)

For every person like that though, there's always a gem from the day that I can go back to for a laugh after being irritated beyond normal by unreasonable 'athletes.' You may appreciate this as well. Through two separate and unrelated conversations with coworkers evolved the descriptor, basement-dwelling-mouth-breather emerging from the dark hole of bike ignorance.

/endRANT/

I feel better now. Enjoy the ride.

Peet's, LOAF and new route

2012-05-18T09:36:00.000-04:00

Finally breathing a little easier, GP and I (I know, it's a little sick that I refer to this bike as I would a human friend...but it is what it is) had a lovely, pleasant and perfectly Feisty ride along a section of the ATT to LOAF - the hip, downtown Durham bakery and Friday morning bike commuter destination. About halfway I ran into Branson and Aubry (sp?). Lil' biker dude was on his 12 inch with training wheels. I came up on them just as A. was lifting both legs straight out - "airplane" is what B called it. I thought they were riding the entire way (about 9 miles!) to LOAF and was impressed. After going on ahead and seeing B later, I found out Lil' Biker Dude was riding to school. Still a nice ride for a little guy on a bike.

Once at LOAF I saw Steve, who had to leave as I got there, and met a couple new people, David and Lisa and we sat outside on the church pews with some coffee and got to know each other a little better. We discussed some plans for bike parking that could take a car spot in front of LOAF. Shhhh. Didn't hear it from me.

It's not ice-sock time in NC yet, but it was humid and almost 70 degrees at 7 am. One of the things I can't stand about bike commuting is working all day without having a shower after a sweaty ride. But again, it is what it is. Actually, aside from the shower issue, I think I've found a new route to work in Chapel Hill. The weird thing is that the bike ride part puts me almost 10 miles further away from work than I am if I start from my apartment. But, the advantage is that LOAF is on the way if I use this as my commute route. 

If I leave around 7 am I have a 45 minute ride on the ATT away from cars and through green, green loveliness, enough time for about a half hour of pastry, coffee and conversation with real live people - bikey, commutey, real live people, a few minute ride to the Durham bus station, a half-hour bus ride where I can relax and read more Haruki (What I talk about when I talk about running), and still arrive at work 45 minutes early. That leaves plenty of time for de-sweatification using some Rocket Shower and the hose out back. (What I wouldn't give for a shower at work.) 

This particular morning I double caffeinated myself with some Peet's Italian Roast before the ride to LOAF. All in all, it was a pretty perfect bike to work day celebration. Pan au chocolat for everyone!

Excuse me, please.

2012-05-11T21:31:00.000-04:00

By now you've seen this image:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/09/russia-boy-on-bike-moscow-tiananmen-photo_n_1503295.html?ref=world. This image belongs to Ms. Ioffe listed in the HP article. I hope she doesn't mind me reposting it. It's just so amazing.

No doubt it made the rounds on the web because it is a powerful image. Most people probably did not need the press to point that out, nor did we need the association with Tiananmen to feel something beyond the ordinary at first, second and third glance. 

Today as I was helping a mom with her daughter on a similar bike I thought to myself, as I'm sure many others have, how different life can be just because of where you're born. That child, her child, will grow up in a place where, more than likely, she'll ride neighborhood streets free of protests, armies, riots and the like. It will be riding the cul-de-sac, in the driveway near manicured lawns wearing a helmet for her. I hope she appreciates it....someday. I also hope that the little boy in the picture has a long, fun bikeriding life.

The articles say that this little Russian boy was just curious. But aren't we all? 

************************************************************

On another note, it's been almost two weeks since I've ridden my bike. Good thing I decided to keep my car. The awful bug that was maybe part strep, part something else, is still hanging around and while it had its steely, lung-squeezing, throat-closing grip on me, I didn't have the strength to bike to work, work 10 hours and then bike home. But I think I'll take the Princess to Loaf tomorrow and catch up with some local bike commuters/randos (maybe Sag, JayJay, Bing, BCB, etc.) and enjoy the morning get up late and sit with my head over a pot of boiling water before work. 

Happy Friday to you.

Tour Day 3: The ride home

2012-05-07T05:25:00.002-04:00

On day 2 of the tour, when we were in Boydton at the craft fair, a lady had earnestly asked JoAnn if we were foreigners. I'm guessing she'd thought that because of our bike clothes, but maybe it was the goofy-happy-so-stoked-to-be-off-work-riding-our-bikes grins. Recounting that and the occasional Woohoo!!! made for good laughing material on day three.

My grin was starting to fade a little as I noticed something foreign taking up residence in my throat overnight. I hoped it was just another cold night in the tent that was making me sniffly, but I had a sneaking suspicion it was more. About 2am, after reading my latest Haruki Murakami novel for an hour or so, I decided to give in to some drugs and found a Tylenol PM in my stuff from my last backpacking trip in the Smokies. It was out of date, but all I had. What a lifesaver. I was able to sleep for a solid 4 or 5 hours before we were up.

Breakfast was oatmeal and fruit, but we all agreed we'd hit the Micky D's on the way out for second breakfast. It was Sue's birthday, Woohoo!!!, and the skies turned beautifully blue by the time we had camp and our bikes packed up. No sign of rain, but it was definitely cooler than day one, and warmer than yesterday. Clothes from the first two days were packed away and the clean jersey and shorts went on with the capris and O2 jacket for warmth. I'd ridden with mittens yesterday, but put those away too. Although I still put the toewarmers in my shoes. The capris came off at lunch and the O2 jacket was on-off-on-off as we'd stop and cool off, then warm up riding again.

At about the state line, JoAnn and I were talking about RAAM this year while Sue rode ahead and we missed a turn. Our friends Nancy and her husband John, a rider and her crew chief from last year, are teaming up to tackle the race and we're excited and hopeful that they'll do it. JoAnn and I were both hoping to crew for them this year, but my job change and other commitments made it unrealistic for me. We're both bummed that we can't be there for them, but sending all the good juju. During the morning another crewbie friend, Elizabeth, let us know that she would be riding Calvin's Challenge in Ohio if we wanted to join her. Of course we wanted to join her, but it was also impossible. GO ELIZABETH!!!! Woohoo!!! I was supposed to run the Flying Pig Half Marathon in Cincinnati that weekend with some friends, but a combination of being sick and a change of plans kept me here.

Anyway, Sue didn't hear our shouts once we'd realized our routing error, so I hung back while JoAnn fetched her and we were on our way. No more navigation errors after that.

One highlight of the day was lunch at the convenience store that had advertised fatback on the way out. We parked our bikes along the side of the building and headed toward a picnic table, but then the fumes from the gas pump made us find a cement spot in the other direction. We feasted on bagels and PB, apples and bananas. The potatoes were saved until Stem, but Sue had more cookies. The sun was now out in full force and it felt great, but was still a little chilly.

Later there was another stop at my "dream" house. We stopped to take some pictures of the abandoned clapboard building with porch that ran the entire length of the front. My camera had died at the end of day 1, so while JoAnn took pics, I imagined where I'd put a garden, working out in the yard, and having lemonade or iced tea on the front porch while lazily lounging southern-style with my riding buddies, family and friends on a day like today.

We rode on and only stopped a couple more times, once for ice cream, before the last Woohoo!!! and arrival at JoAnn's. More pictures, some recap, car talk, birthday plans and a cold beer, thanks Joanna!, on the front porch. I noticed after half of mine that I was getting a little buzz and decided I'd stop and get on home. Three miles til my front door and a hot bubble bath.

Can't wait to do it again. Maybe Key West to Bangor.

Tour Day 2: Little towns loop

2012-05-05T06:38:00.001-04:00

We woke up on day two to a cold morning and something like I-40 on the lake. What looked like powerboats in huge numbers were roaring across our field of view. We didn't find out til the end of the day what it was all about.

I left the wool on while Sue heated water for coffee and oatmeal. Instant coffee has never been tolerable, but I had heard good things about Starbucks Via, so I brought some along. Verdict - it's still instant coffee and undrinkable to me. Usually I pack some hot cider mix or hot chocolate mix, but had decided to take the via instead. Live and learn.

It was a little difficult getting started in the cold after a tenuous night's rest/sleep, but I put yesterday's jersey overtop a long-sleeved Patagonia lightweight base layer and my REI hiking capris (purchased for RAAM) over my shorts from yesterday. I was able to wash everything out the night before and it was mostly dry by morning. A pair of toe warmers in my shoes and my O2 jacket on top and I was ready for action. Sue and JoAnn also wore some warmer gear. Rain was predicted for the day and there was no sign of the sun. It was a grey day, but we decided to do a 40ish mile loop to hit Boydton, Chase City and Clarksville, in that order. Splorin was our goal.

We all lightened up our loads. Sue took off all panniers but kept the handlebar bag, JoAnn opted for one pannier and I kept both, but took out some unnecessary stuff. After cleaning up the dishes and the campsite a little we rode out along a fairly deserted highway 58 on our way to Boydton hoping to find something interesting. As luck would have it there was an arts and crafts fair in that little town, so we rode in, took some pictures at the newly remodeled town hall  and decided to walk the fair, set up in a smallish parking lot, after we'd had second breakfast.

We rode around and asked the locals where to eat and were directed to a convenience store that I'm certain I've used as a control on the KLL. We were really hoping for some eggs and toast, bacon for the non-vegetarians, but it was getting difficult to find. JoAnn asked the proprietor of the establishment about where we might find such a breakfast and he indicated in his best English (not his first language) that he would make whatever we wanted. So we had egg and cheese sandwiches all around. I was still looking for that first cup of real coffee, but the pot looked like it'd been sitting awhile and I passed. Still hungry, I bought some powdered sugar donuts that tasted a little like Playdough. As the day went on, I realized what a mistake it was to have eaten those. Yuck. But the egg sandwich was fantastic.

After second breakfast we rode over to the fair, looked in all the booths and toward the end happened to end up talking to the mayor's wife and a certain J.D. and town historian, Mr. Beale. While the mayor's family knitted, Mrs. Mayor told us about the town's designation as best rest stop on Bike VA a few years back. A town of 454 people baked over 1000 cupcakes for the event. That is something! Mr. Beale showed us his photos of the town and told us all about the history of some of the buildings and the connection between Duke University and Randolph-Macon College. I wasn't listening so much to what he said as how he said it. He had that distinct southern VA accent that I rarely hear in NC, but greatly admire. Warmer people you've never met. Everybody tried to get us to stay for the teaspoon lunch, but we wanted to get on our way.

On to Chase City. The ride was chilly and pleasant. I had the iPod in one ear for part of the way listening to some Gary Clark, Jr. and singing out loud, but not loud enough for the company to hear. I was feeling kinda yucky from those donuts and another sort of tired feeling was starting to settle over me. Soon enough we were in Chase City looking for some hot chocolate. With not many options, we settled on an Eye-talian joint that had hot tea. Close enough. We had our tea, came out and it started to rain. We all put on the rain gear and as I was covering my new panniers with their rain covers I noticed a rip. Ugh, but a chance to use my duct tape. No problem. Next stop Clarksville. The rain gear was on-off-on-off. Not really much rain to speak of, for which I was very thankful. 

There's a blank in my memory here because I was so excited to hit the Micky D's for a large latte that I must've blocked everything else out. Once in Clarksville and either after or before the latte (you know you're jonesin' for caffeine when you keep time according to latte, P.L or A. L.) we did a little shopping for dinner at a small farmer's market stand. We picked up a cantaloupe, sweet potato, tomato, green beans, apples, and some strawberries, then did some shopping at the Carhardt store across the parking lot. Sue and I were in luck. They had shorts that we'd both been looking for. It was so fun to go shopping and put all that stuff in the panniers. A cantaloupe! JoAnn's idea.

After the shopping was finished, we rode back into the park and made a stop to see what all the commotion was at the boat dock. There were trucks hauling boats as far as the eye could see. Turns out it was a bass fishing tournament and the reason for the number of boats out on the lake racing to their fishing spots at dark-thirty this morning. We hung around and watched them weigh in some fish. If I ever figure out how to open up Sue's pictures and the movie off my phone, you'll see some fine footage of  less-than-prizewinning fish right before they're returned to their watery home. These fishermen were not the friendliest bunch but they tolerated our presence well enough. We learned a little about the rules of bass fishing. Bass fishing rules. Huh. But that's what bass fisherman would probably say about crazy bike riding, like rando, rules.

Once back in camp we whipped up one heck of a supper. Rice and orzo with fresh green beans, tomato, and roasted sweet potato. Apples, cantaloupes and strawberries for dessert. Later I pulled out a mini serving of nutella and breadsticks that I'd picked up in a Clarksville convenience store near the entrance to the park. Even later Sue and I hung by the fire and roasted a couple marshmallows while JoAnn took a post dinner stroll.

It turned out to be another cold night in the tent and the beginnings of what is now full blown strep throat - but I'm on the upside of it. Ah, the things we do in the name of relaxation and biking.

Tour Day 1: To Occoneechee

2012-05-02T17:15:00.000-04:00

Our plan was to leave by 6, no 6:30, no 7 am. And that's how it went. Lots of flexibility and a chance to just enjoy each other's company on bikes, camping, talking, laughing, sploring, cooking for three days.

I left my house at 5:30 am with the fully loaded Tricross for the ride to JoAnn's, our chosen departure point. As I was climbing up Woodroft Pkwy in the big ring I thought I'd gotten myself in over my head. This was sure to be a small ring ride and I hoped I had enough gears to get me through it. I also found out that standing climbing on a loaded bike is a little tricky. The bike felt very connected to the ground, but also a little unstable when I stood. So I stopped standing at all and decided at the first inkling of any visible hill I'd just drop to the small ring.

Since I arrived earlier than expected and didn't see lights on, I installed some stuff on the bike and rearranged things in the panniers a little until the porch light came on. JoAnn was pumped and made me a fantastic cup of strong coffee that I enjoyed while she finished her packing. Sue showed up a little later and after some pictures, we were off with a big Woohoo!!! and fist shaking. That was about 7 am.

Our route took us from Durham through RTP to Butner, then Stem, then Culbreth and into Va. There were a few more little village or town names along the way. One was named Shoofly, my favorite. 

Woohoo, we're off!

Touring Panda.

I think our first stop was in a convenience store in Butner where I  pulled out the potatoes. I'd roasted an entire bag of small white taters to  have as snack food along the way. Usually I lay down a bed of sea salt  on a tray with the potatoes on top sprayed with some olive oil. It feels  so much better eating real food compared to energy bars, etc. At every  stop after that we had some potatoes. Sue had also made some chocolate  chip cookies, which remained untouched until a later stop for lunch by a sheep  pen.

There were tractors. Old, new, whatever.

There were the usual convenience store customers with that quizzical look. Some bothered to ask how far we'd come and where we were headed. JoAnn joked earlier that we'd tell people we'd come from Key West and were on our way to Bangor...just to see their reaction. And it was fun to think that that might be the case someday. 

Sheep dog and sheep.

We stopped a few more times briefly - once at an old, rusty tractor in Stem, later for lunch with the sheep and loudly-concerned sheep dog, then at a convenience store where we were schooled on the obvious deliciousness of fatback by a local lady and lastly before the park, in Clarksville, for a Subway sandwich and some last minute shopping at the Dollar General Market. I picked up some vitamin I, tea and a can of black beans for dinner and few bananas for the next day.

The 77-mile ride up had been in low traffic, under sunny skies with a cool, but not too strong, headwind. All in all it was a great day to ride a bike. As it turns out, I was able to stay in the big ring for most of it. A total surprise to me.

Hmmmm.

Across Kerr Lake toward the park.

Camp is all ready. Time for a hot shower.

We rode into the park around 4, but the park office was closed. After a tour of the campgrounds we located our campsite right on the lake in campground C. (JoAnn had reserved it in February!) There was water and electricity at the site, so not really primitive. I was determined to have a fire for the gigantic marshmallows I'd brough along, so after showers and snacks I went in search of firewood. It would be fun to bungee that on the Tricross. But there was no place in the park open that had firewood. So we took a walk and collected some wood lying around here and there, broke it into pieces and after dinner, used a candle to get the fire going. 

Sue was the chef on the trip. She and JoAnn had whipped up some couscous while I was on my firewood hunt and we mixed that with the beans and a can of corn. Supplemented with gorp and cheese, it made a fine dinner.

Once the fire was going we roasted a marshmallow for dessert and climbed into our tents for the night. I'd thought a sleeping pad was too bulky and hadn't really needed one on past backpacking trips, so I left it at home. Turns out that the gravel pad on which we pitched our tents was mighty pointy...so I got a sort of trigger-point therapy massage all night long thanks to that gravel. Sue and JoAnn may have slept a bit better, but it's always tough the first night of camping especially when it's cold. And it was colder than expected: in the low 40's, I think. 

Even though I had wool tights and turtleneck under other clothes, I was still kinda cold until I zipped the mummybag over my head like a mummy. After that, I warmed right up and slept for a good 5 hours before the sun came up.

Tricked-out touring Tricross

2012-04-30T17:59:00.003-04:00

From Sue's 1994 touring. It helped me sleep.

We're back. And there are stories to tell, but they'll have to wait until I have more time. There were historians, a mayor's wife, tractors, dream houses, foreigners, a bass fishing tournament, campfires, hot rocks, pointy rocks, craft fairs, egg sandwiches and all kinds of interesting characters. JoAnn and Sue may have to jog my memory, so much happened in three days' time.

We rode from Durham to Occoneechee State Park in Va., camped, did some splorin and rode back. JoAnn planned the route and it overlapped with the Kerr Lake Loop or Showdown in Black Creek and possibly another permanent route, maybe Yanceyville Ramble. There were some roads I recognized and we were lucky to have much of it car free. I was also lucky to be riding with two more experienced bike touristas, JoAnn and Sue. They've put in some miles all across this country. Most recently JoAnn rode the Big Wild Ride in Alaska (1200k) and Sue rode cross country solo in 2008 even though it rained the first eleven days! I'm a fan of these two.

The Tricross was the bike for the job, but it was never loaded down like this before: rack and panniers in the back (alas I couldn't find a rack for the front), tent in place of the trunk bag. Glad I cleaned and tuned the drivetrain before the ride. This ride used all the gears, except the 11 cog, and gears were changed a lot to accommodate the rolling terrain and my leg fatigue. I might have to put a triple on the bike when I go cross-country. (Yes, that is my plan....) The bike performed like a champ.

The bike needed some modification to get it ready. I removed the extra set of brake levers up front in anticipation of finding a front rack. That job required recabling the brakes, which I'd never done on a bike with internal cable routing. Not too hard if you do some thinking beforehand. Specialized made it a little easier by installing a removeable routing plug on the top tube near the back where the rear housing comes out. After the bike was recabled, I used the no-fail BB5 adjustment that has worked like a charm every time. The brakes sung when I took it out of the stand, just like when it was new, but that quickly disappeared once we started riding. I still don't know what causes that, but am guessing it has something to do with new cables. If you know, clue me in. (Pics of some of the process will appear with the ride report to follow.)

The bike also got some new red handlebar tape (courtesy of the brake job). Not sure if I like it, but the bike looks very red and silver now. It's also my sticker bike and most of those are black, white, silver and red. It might be time for some red pedals and red seat......hmm.....red wheels.....I'll stop this nonsense right here.

Installing the rack and reinstalling the fenders was a bit of a job because of the disc brakes. But an adapter and some stretching was used to allow the rack to attach clear of the brake caliper.

Balancing the loads in the panniers was a bit tricky. Clothes, book, other dry stuff (maps, batteries, first aid, electronics) on one side rear, food and cooking stuff on the other side. Tent and sleeping bag on top of rear rack in a waterproof bag. Baby had back, if you know what I mean.

We had a little rain and it was chilly at night. That meant raincovers for feet, hands, torso, but I don't own rainpants and was glad there was no downpour.

Sometimes life gets too intense and it's revitalizing to unplug, ride slow, roast marshmallows and enjoy the outdoors. Now if I could only shutdown my brain for that time it would be totally relaxing.

I tried very hard to be in the moment and was successful at times. Can't wait for the next chance to try it again. Wait'll you read the stories. Might make you want to go too.

A kiss by the bike rack

2012-04-26T06:21:00.000-04:00

Working on a street full of bars and restaurants in a college town means you'll never know what will show up in the rack in front of the shop: there's been some weird and gross stuff after nights of what can only be presumed the effects of heavy partying. But sometimes whatever it is makes me smile.

Oh, just nothing, and Earth Day and mountains.

2012-04-20T05:49:00.002-04:00

If you blog, you probably know about the stats feature. It will tell you about referring sites, referring URLs, the audience by country, number of hits and a bunch of other useless (for someone who doesn't monetize or allow ads) but interesting stuff. This morning's referring URLs were very interesting. I wonder how they got here. I found them worth visiting.

http://atriflerushed.blogspot.com/

http://simplicityisthenewblack.blogspot.com/

http://taniakindersley.blogspot.com/

http://sangriasmiles.blogspot.com/
http://ablognamedhero.blogspot.com/

Earth Day is coming up in a couple days. I think cyclists can tend to feel a little smug about the assumed inherent contributions to saving mother earth ( using less gas, creating less emissions.) I'm not about to pass judgement on that attitude, but always wonder if there's something else I could be doing to waste less.

While looking around on the web at what other people are doing, I came across the Earth Day t-shirt...and don't get it.

Here, in Durham, Full Frame just ended. For some reason it seems to sneak up on me then whiz past while I barely have time to read the schedule. Bummer.  Banff Mountain Film Festival didn't make it here, but a friend was able to see a few films and was taken by the story of this married couple who trekked from Seattle to the Aleutian Islands. It is incredible, but what I would have made time for is the movie 23 feet. 

(NCBC300k/2) + Pottery = Best kind of ride

2012-04-18T10:46:00.001-04:00

That right there, the title, is an equation that I got to thinkin' on once I abandoned Fearless Leader's 300k at Seagrove, NC  ("largest community of potters with the longest continual history of pottery making in the United States").

I like to ride, but I also like to stop. I am not fast, I am slow (and am abandoning all notions that I want to get faster). I like familiar company, but also meeting new people. I want to tour, not ride for time. That's pretty much what I decided during this ride (Strava: Control 1 to 2, control 2 to 3, control 3 to 2 miles shy of control 4. FYI for anyone riding this weekend, cue sheet seemed mighty accurate.) 

Anyway, after I'd made some transportation arrangements back to Morrisville, thanks Lil'D, Dr. K, B-ri, Nate and Dylan, I rode up to the control at Seagrove and delivered the bad news to Fearless and Skiff. They urged me on, but I didn't want to slow them down, and honestly, my mind was not interested in continuing. As Fearless said, sometimes you just aren't having fun anymore and have to stop. With all that experience from his many years of riding, he could sympathize. So, after some grub, I saw them off with a Bonne Route! and rode into town to explore the pottery.

Maybe Bike Chado is something like this. Maybe it's time to make a few destination 200k's. There are already a few: Capitols of the Confederacy is one. These rides would have the RUSA rules, but an endpoint for the slow tourist, like me. I've never had as much fun abandoning a ride as I did yesterday. The only thing that would've made it more perfect was a B&B stay overnight, some pottery shopping the next day and then the ride back, which could include a ride to the nearest train station that would drop you off in Durham. This kind of 200k would require more rather than less time because of the tourism part. Hmm. Imma' keep thinkin'.  Maybe this kind of ride is not really randonneuring.

Skiff will probably do a descriptive post of the ride, which I'll link here, so the rest from me (Picasa album) shows the other half of the equation above.

Apologies to Fearless and Skiff. I hope you made it in by 17:12! There are two pieces of lasagna in my fridge. Unfortunately the best laid plans....

The In-between

2012-04-16T23:23:00.000-04:00

It began in mystery, and it will end in mystery, but what a savage and beautiful country lies in between. -- Diane Ackerman, A Natural History of the Senses

That image is the RUSA record of my RUSA rides for the last two years: 2010, big miles; 2011, not so much; 2012, who knows? I really want to get back to big miles, but just haven't been able to make the time yet.

The ride I have planned tomorrow is the NCBC 300k (highlighted above) and I think I'll have company, which is a new requirement for rando riding I've added to my other two. My RAAM crewbies may be the only riders who know the other two, but they are: no talking (I'm not a talker, but am a good listener) and no puking. Now, no solo.

Mystery doesn't mean unprepared.

The weatherpeople forecast this for tomorrow. Even with the predicted rain, I'm psyched to face the endurance test. High temps and humidity mean dressing light; tri-shorts and a sleeveless jersey with my new Lezyne hydration pack with tool organizer compartment, AND water bottles. Not a fan of wearing a pack for such a long ride, I caved due to the lack of storage on the bars and under the seat of any of my bikes. I'll stash my O2 jacket in the pack and a thin wool layer for rain after the sun goes down. I tend to get chilly after exercising hard for long periods of time no matter what the temperature.

For some crazy reason I was thinking that this would be a 15 hour ride, but the data show that it will be more like 18. That means we'll finish between 1 and 2 am on Wednesday morning.

That's right, 18 hours of mystery, maybe more. Who knows?

wildcat...WILDCAT!!!!

2012-04-15T09:59:00.000-04:00

I'm a little afraid of getting lost in the woods, but it's warm, it's NC and the only wildcats out there are human. Racing is not my thing, but getting out of my comfort zone is gonna happen now and then. Let's race!!

Epilogue Edit : If you've never been part of an alleycat race, here's an explanation and you can read more at Wikipedia, the source of the quote below.

Jump to: navigation, search
An Alley Cat race is an informal bicycle race. Alley Cats almost always take place in cities, and are often organized by bicycle messengers. The informality of the organization is matched by the emphasis on taking part, rather than simple competition. Many Alleycats present prizes for the last competitor to finish (sometimes known as Dead Friggin' Last or DFL).^[1] The first race to be called "Alley Cat" was held in Toronto on October 30, 1989 and continued, in its original form, around Halloween and Valentine's Day for the following five years. In 1993, when Toronto messengers shared Alleycat stories at the first international messenger race (C.M.W.C Berlin), the name and the concept spread far and wide. Regularly organized Alleycats can be found in cities across North America, Europe and Asia. Many smaller cities with no cycle messenger population are also home to alleycats run by the burgeoning urban cyclist subculture.

This was called a wildcat race because it took place on trails in the woods at Carolina North. This is about the most fun I've had on a bike this year. Really. I'm bruised, I hurt, I may have fractured a rib, but damn. The crowd was really young and I was worried about keeping up, but it's fun to be around people of any age who're just out to have a good time doing something physically challenging. It was also great to ride as a team, Team 5x ( an inside joke at the shop), with my former coworkers from the Durham shop. There were seven of us on the team and we came in last. If B-ri's GoPro worked, maybe I'll have some video to show you later.

Two guys at the shop organized the race and really worked hard to make it challenging and fun. The "tokens" for the race were even fun - Lemonheads at the checkpoints and Skittles for time bonus points hidden along sections of the singletrack to encourage people not to ride the fire roads.

The Dead Mule was supposed to be our meeting place after, but we opted for food at Mediterranean Deli accompanied by some local brew. It was a good day.

I hope you all had as much fun as I did. Ride on.

Decisions, decisions.

2012-04-13T09:39:00.000-04:00

Can I live well without a car? I don't want to get it inspected. I'll have to fix the cracked windshield again, a manufacturing defect that Honda refused to fix after the third time.

Sitting here at the dealer after listening to the cost of an engine repair that was supposedly repaired six months ago makes me less interested in owning a car, even though the Element has been great, truth be told. But getting rid of the car isn't just getting rid of a thing, it's getting rid of a lifestyle. And that's hard. Durham isn't exactly urban. There's not a lot within walking distance. Bus service still leaves much to be desired.

It sure is nice to have dinner with friends on a Sunday night after work across town, or drive to the mountains or the beach for a day. Or go to rando rides in different parts of the state. 

If I get rid of the car, those things can't happen cuz there's no public transportation flexible enough and I'd spend social time biking to and from those places.

Getting rid of the car will localize me more than I am now. I don't know if I'm OK with that. On the upside, getting rid of the car will save me money and frustration....personal property tax, registration fees, gas and maintenance, insurance all adds up to well over $3000 per year. I am OK with that.

Renewal is due by 4/30. Decisions, decisions.

Commuter Closet Design

2012-04-12T07:28:00.000-04:00

May is all about bike commuting, which means I can use the rest of April to get ready. Last year I fell far short of my commute to work goal and don't want that to happen this year.

I was thinking of all the things that usually prevent me from using my bike to get to work and decided to remove as many of those obstacles as possible. (Waking up too late and an unhealthy attachment to the morning-coffee-while-lounging ritual will be the toughest to overcome, but I'll try.)

Obstacles in order of frequency, after the two mentioned above, are (0) worrying about being late for work due to unexpected traffic, crazy drivers, mechanicals, etc. (1) finding item X, usually Road ID, bus change, something to take for lunch and/or lights (2) indecision about what to wear - can't be too sweaty when I get there cuz there's no shower, (3) low tire pressure and can't find the pump, (4) flat kit tools are on another bike (5) weather. (1)-(4) are usually enhanced by a general lack of organization of my stuff, including bikes, so I had the idea of creating a commuter closet to help me worry less about (1)-(4) and maybe alleviate some of the hesitancy caused by (0).

Bike organization was a challenge since downsizing, but I think that problem is solved. Two bikes in the bedroom, one in the living room. I keep a spray bottle hidden near the outside of my apartment building for those days where the commute home leaves the tires caked with mud/stuff. (Oh how I long for hardwood floors.)

Bike Bunk by Saris. A friend's castoff rack.

Leonardo bike storage hook and tray.

The closet is a work in progress. My first attempt puts my helmet, pump, U-Lock, cambelback, reflective vest(s), cap, and Road ID near the door, organized using one of those broom and mop organizers attached to the inside of the hollow-core closet door. My iPod hangs nearby with my purse, and bike shoes are in the closet. The light charger is around the corner in the kitchen (no way to get it in the closet).

Now when I come in from any kind of ride (commute, rando, splorin, mtb) there's a centrally located place for things and they're right there as I leave. Visually I can easily check to see what's missing. I bought a second seat bag and set of tools so that I could leave one bag in the closet. The whole thing still needs work. Eventually I'd like it to look pretty too.

Carvins Cove and 611

2012-04-10T23:10:00.001-04:00

This Easter began what may become a new tradition. MTB-ing + putzing around = relaxation. 

Dutchboy  and I used some overlapping days off and drove up to VA near Roanoke to try out some trails that are part of Carvins Cove Trail System. We met his sister at Smith Mountain Lake and the three of us moved out, like a herd of turtles. We parked at Bennet Springs trailhead and took off on our riding adventure through the spring green woods.

Diamonds are a girl's best friend.

Not being a skilled MTBer, it was quite the challenge for me. While riding along a ridge on what seemed like a 10-12 in wide section of singletrack with roots, rocks and a precipitous drop off to one side, my mantra was, "You're fine, it'll be ok." After a couple hours out there though, the last trail, called Songbird, was a blast. I let go of the brakes and had at it. Little food had left me shakey and loopy, but still, I didn't crash, although I have new bruises in unexpected places. It was also my first time riding clipped in on a mountain bike, which was surprisingly easy. 

Pictures from the adventure are here.  The recovery day consisted of some hiking, fireplace tending, beer and wine drinking and cooking. We hiked to an old cemetery and visited downtown Roanoke on a Monday (bad idea, nothing's open).  The Taubman Museum (designed by a Frank Gehry trained architect), our planned destination, was closed, so we walked around it and then headed off to look for a bike shop. 

At Starlight Bikes on Caldwell St. we asked about Aaron Dykstra, famed NAHBS winner for this year's best cyclocross bike. The shop dude gave us the details and we were off, again like a herd of turtles, to see what we could see. 

Turns out, this was the best part of the recovery day. Once arriving at the address, we had some trouble locating the front door, which was on the side of the building (had to ask a passing local for some help.)

Dutchboy did as directed by the posted sign and called for an appointment while we were standing in front of the door. Surprisingly, Michelle and Aaron were home and ready to show us around. More warm and generous hosts don't exist. I could go on for pages with a description of the shop and the things we got to see and hear, but I won't. It was one of those serendipitous, magical things that works out amazingly well. 

Of course my interest was in Aaron's experience with rando bikes. A beauty was sitting right in front of me so I had a hard time listening and looking at the same time. He told me about his process and how far out he is. Got me to thinking that maybe, just maybe, it's time. 

Skillz and Obstacles

2012-04-05T08:25:00.000-04:00

Predicted storms didn't show up until late yesterday, which meant a perfect morning in the woods. I'd wanted to take our new Trek Lush demo bike for a ride and play around with the suspension. Yesterday provided the perfect opportunity.

I bussed it from home with my gear, walked to the shop - took a pic of the construction on Franklin St., which is progressing, but still annoying -  picked up the bike and headed over to our sister shop in Carrboro to meet Ms. T, so she could introduce me to some Chapel Hill trails.

Totally relaxed in some jean shorts and a T-shirt (no lycra in the woods...that just seems wrong) I realized that the seatpost was just too long. The bike was a 15.5" with a seatpost for someone who was all legs. Not me. Luckily Ms. T fixed me up with a size-appropriate seatpost when I got there and set up the suspension for the recommended squish factor in the front and rear. 

Of course I STRAVA'd the ride and took some pics. I didn't puke, but breathed really hard. In case you're wondering, both those things are hallmarks of a good ride.

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Some obstacles are doable with skillz....

These trails are part of what's called Carolina Forest. I had no idea where we were most of the time, but that's the great thing about the woods. Of course it's also nice to follow someone who does know where you are so that you can go get pizza after you're done. 

The link above gives great descriptions of the trail. It wasn't unrideable to me for the most part and I actually had fun on many of the twisty, narrow, downs and ups. The "wormhole," some large dirt rampy things and one other sharp turn where I was going fast enough to have the sensation of being whipped around a turn sideways, were my favorite parts. 

I've got to go back and work on some skillz. The logs in the pic were doable on the second try...but not in a pretty way. Let's just say I lacked grace, but I didn't crash. T was able to go over it without catching her large chainring...because she didn't have one. It had been replaced with a part that allowed her to slide over, called a bash guard, which does exactly what the name implies. 

After a lot of climbing and the rear end bouncing too much, we let some air out of the tires until they were squishy to the squeeze. Good move. Lots less bouncing and I felt a lot more comfortable pushing a bigger gear. Next, I'll have to try it tubeless...with even lower pressure.

There was some mud on the trail. The first time we went through a muddy pit I ate some tasty trail surprise (from the tire spew) and was spotted all over. T saw more mud than I, though, when she went into a small water crossing that unexpectedly grabbed her wheel and took her down. Laughing followed and then more riding.

...and some are not.

The wormhole.

At one spot, after I had to stop to breath so as not to puke, we rested on bikes while holding on to trees and admired the day. Ms. T thought that a hammock would be a good thing to bring out here. Next time I come out to work on skillz, a hammock will be in my pack. 

Pepper's to refuel. I recommend the Sarah.

Shout Out - Organic Transit

2012-04-04T07:31:00.003-04:00

Ding! We have a winner.

More than ever I feel like information comes at me from a high pressure fire hose. It doesn't matter what the general area of information, politics, science, bikes, etc., it becomes harder and harder to get to the important or interesting bits due to the sheer volume of material to wade through. Even though there's some fear of missing something important, I've turned down the pressure on the fire hose by limiting where and how I'm exposed to information. 

More often now I make a conscious effort to learn things from people, live people, in face-to-face conversations rather than a media filter (ironic that I'm writing this on a blog, I know.) One such interesting conversation took place at work yesterday. Two guys from organic transit came in to buy some parts and we had a short conversation. They were very smiley and obviously stoked about their project. The vibe was good. The dude abides. 

I just wanted to give them a shout out cuz they're doing some cool stuff. 

¹or·gan·ic adj \ȯr-ˈga-nik\

archaic : instrumental

excerpted from: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/organic

Palm Sunday, DH-3N80, Slick Honey, and hats

2012-04-02T07:07:00.001-04:00

At the end of this month some friends and I are going to do a 3 day mini-tour complete with tents, sleeping bags, cooking gear and campfire stories...well, I hope there'll be campfire stories. There will definately be marshmallows. Anyway, to get ready I've decided to try and ride loaded and heavy for my bike commuting.

Nasty light and cord. It was all better later.
So for the commute to work I loaded up both panniers and stuck them on Ghetto Princess. Once I got to the shop I weighed all the stuff and it totaled out at 29 (bike) + 5.5(pannier 1) +4.5 (pannier 2) = 39 lbs.  Since Strava is so great for short trips and I discovered I don't have to turn data on so it saves battery, I recorded the morning out and evening back here: Strava to shop  and here: Strava to home,  for a total of about 17 miles on the loaded single speed up some pretty good hills; they don't call it Chapel Hill  for nothin. (Side note: I was a little nervous about being able to ride up to the top of South/54 but, as I passed the spot where I went over the handlebars a couple days ago, I stuck my tongue out and told that spot to suck it.)

I rode faster than I had anticipated, so I headed over to Bread 'n butter for a coffee and muffin. The ride had left me hot and sweaty, so I took the goodies outside to keep the Princess company, she was not locked up, and watched as the churchgoers with their fancy, fancy hats walked from their cars through the doors of the church across the street. Here's one dude. He was the drummer. The picture really doesn't do that hat justice. It was schweet AND Carolina blue.(Don't worry, I asked him if it was OK to take his picture and post it. He said yes and told me of his local fame as a drummer. Let's just say that this man, Mr. Mason (inspiring youtube video), is a character. He asked if I wanted to dance. How could I say no to a hat like that? HMMMMM?) (Also, note the cyclists in the background...saw a lady with her daughter and an Xtracycle and a tandem with a Burley pass by with two kids in the back. YES!) You really have to embiggen the photo and check out that hat.

The day just got better from here on out. One of the casualties of my little meeting with pavement the other day was the DH-3N80 function on the Princess. Immediately after the crash, it started making this funny goose/screetch sounding noise and the light wouldn't turn on. So Link offered to help me figure out the problem and we took the hub apart just to see if there was anything obviously wrong. Shimano has the schematics online, so it wasn't all that difficult to see what went where. Besides some uncomfortable play in the axle, really Shimano?, nothing seemed out of whack. Although it was evident that the magnet windings had gouged the magnet at some point...and I doubt that is supposed to happen.

It took two 17 cone wrenches and a headset wrench to get the hub partially apart (we didn't try to take apart the side with the windings.) After checking out the parts, we just cleaned the bearings, applied some Slick Honey, and put them back where they belonged.

The light still wouldn't work even after I fiddled with the wiring (and turned the light in the ON position, duh - I forgot that this light is much fancier than the Schmidt.) The odd thing was, though, that when I spun the wheel, no light. When I manually spun the windings, light. Hmmm. Stupid, me. LED's are digital, unlike other types of bulbs,  and polarity makes a difference (You can't just apply that 2.58V difference in any old way.) So I switched the wires and viola! of course it lit. The order of the wires never made a difference when I had the Schmidt E3 hooked up, but I forgot that I'd switched that out for a BM LED light a while back. Link even reminded me about the polarity, but I swore that it didn't matter. That still doesn't explain why it quit after the crash, but maybe the wiring just came loose and I couldn't see that out there on the road in my addled state.

In any case, the Princess is back to her sleek self, no more wires wrapped around the top tube from a battery. Problem solved and time free for that yoga class I missed in the morning. After enjoying an hour and a half of Vinyasa/Yin Yoga at Franklin St. Yoga, the Princess lit up my roads on the way home.

Earl Grey

2012-03-30T23:19:00.000-04:00

9:59pm 

time for Earl Grey. But let's backup.

Yes.

6am ish

....sounds, light, breakfast smells, my coffeemaker and Cafe L'Orange (aka "crack")  brewing. 

7am ish

...lounging in the PJs finishing the 4th cup (half caff of Cafe L'Orange lest I be jumpin out my skin later) email, phone calls

7:30am 

 ish...should I take the 8:25 ? Yes, I should take the 8:25 and leave some time for Haruki.

8:05am

ish...I'm not going to make the 8:25, but if I shower now, maybe the 8:55. OK. Shower. Ghetto Princess!!!! Pump up tires, blinky on front.

8:47am 

ish...waiting, waiving at cars and giving them "The Look."  Smile at text message on phone.

8:57am 

ish...bus is late, two bikes already in the rack...no Haruki, just ride. Shouldn't be late.

8:59am

ish...at the light....54 or the safe route...54...I don't care. No mirror. I still don't care.

9:00am

ish...la la la, la la la, ridey, singy, crazy lady in traffic, on the left cross 4 lanes to the right shoulder merge with interstate traffic at the overpass, la la la, I don't care, run me over, I dare you. Thanks dude bro. You are righteous. 

9:10am

ish...Welcome to Chapel Hill, Meadowmont, la, la, la,  pretty flowers, cool building, green, green grass, pretty flowers....la, la, la  

9:20am

ish....la la la, up the hill to UNC on 54, merge again, up up up, up up .....WHAAAAA, CRASH, smack, elbow shoulder, wrist, neck, Seat to the head, ouch...hahahahahahahahahaha....I'm OK, nothing broken, still have my teeth, no damage to the face. Did anybody see that? Nope. Hey biker dude.

Oopsie. Owee.

9:25am

ish ....will I be late? should I call? how's my bike? oh, that's blood? These leaves are soft. This stick is not soft. Hey, what's my fender doing sticking out like that? Hey biker dude. Was that a squirrel?  Hmmm. These leaves are soft.

9:30am

ish....nothing broken on me, bike, not so lucky. Aahhh, no tools. Need to remove fender. It's all pokey and stuff. We walk. Poor Ghetto Princess. We need to buy her a new dress, I mean, fender. Click, crunch, click, crunch, Click, crunch,Click, crunch,Click, crunch, up, up ,up. Cross Raleigh onto campus.

9:34am

ish...oh, what the hell, I'll ride. She looks ride-able. Brakes rubbing? Fender rubbing? Gasp! Oh, no. It's the hub. The hub is not happy. The light does not work. Oh, no, not the hub. Screeeeeech, hum, gasp, gasp, screetch, SCREEEEEEETCH. 

9:38am

ish....on your left, on the cobblestone, past the students and the busses and the professors and the grad students and the frat houses to the corner. Walk, walk, walk. Oh, no, not the hub. Don't let it be the hub.

9:40am

ish...Click, crunch,Click,Click, crunch,Click,Click, crunch,Click,Click, crunch,Click,Click, crunch,Click,Click, crunch,Click,cross the street, blow dust in my face, Click, crunch,Click,Click, crunch,Click. 

9:45am

 ish....not late, stopped bleeding, fender toast, hope it's not the hub.

And then 9 hours pass....AND NOW WE WORK and sell bikes to a lady who gives me a hug because she's so excited about her new bike! That lady made my day. TAME IMPALA!!!!!!!

7pm ish

....Time to fix the bike. Damn. No voltmeter, but light works. La,la, la. It IS the hub. Ridey, bus-y, ridey, MLK to Third Fork Creek to 

9pm

  ....Pulcinella's, Penne, Valpolicella. Home again, home again, jiggety jog.

and we're just about back where we started. The wierdest thing about this wierd day was that I just learned that Earl Grey's distinctive flavor comes from an orange and the orange comes from Calabria, Italy (land of the ancestors)!!! 

If I were on a desert island with limited food choices I would want Cafe L'Orange and Earl Grey there and they both have orange in them.  Who knew? Yay! Ride bikes.

GP, without her front fender, waiting for the 400.

Cleaning, fixing, smiling

2012-03-29T09:19:00.000-04:00

Another gorgeous but chilly morning in Durm makes me want to bike  somewhere, but where? I have the day off, but I'm not interested in a food or coffee destination and I purposefully didn't plan a 200k today (goodbye R-12 aspirations) so that I could take care of this rain cloud that's been hanging over my head, some long-neglected cleaning and sorting that's piled up but hidden away.  I spent most of the holidays cleaning out moving boxes and haven't felt like opening the door to this special mess until now.

Experiment with line.

My honey and I parted ways almost a year ago to the day and I've just dreaded  going through stuff to make my life fit into this apartment. But my lease is renewed and it's time to get it done. 

Sunlight streaming through the blinds tells me in an imagined voice that it would be much happier in the space if I cleared out more stuff, so I dig in. Books are the first thing to go. Novels and other paperbacks in a box will go to the used bookstore for exchange or sale. Even though I'm teaching again, I won't ever use most of the textbooks I've collected over the years, so they're being donated to a local community college.  The same for my telescope. I built it in the 80's, got a lot of great use out of it, but it needs some TLC and I don't have space for it anymore. Next are the art/painting supplies. Unsold paintings to the Goodwill, dried paint and damaged brushes in the trash, art books, except for my favorites, donated. The easel takes up a lot of space, but I will use it again. While sifting through the detritus of a past life I came across some stuff that gave me the answer to my destination dilemma: Duke Gardens with a sketchbook...after I finish this.

Beginnings of bike T design.

Most of my bike parts stuff is at the shop, but there are still some things I could donate or sell. Lil' D already bought my home workstand, but there's a box of good stuff that needs to be used by somebody, probably not me. That stuff gets shoved aside for now. 

The little break taken to type this reminds me that some digital cleaning should happen too. Old photos deleted from the camera, computer, and phone. Other ones that I'll eventually use are organized into folders...I run across a few ideas I had for bike T designs that I might pursue and the photos of a BB5 brake adjustment method that worked like a charm. 

There was also a "smile file" full of images that warrant a permanent record, like the bumpersticker below.

Bikers too?

Argh. Enough break. Back to it so I can ride while it's still morning.

Gearhead Lite

2012-03-28T10:15:00.000-04:00

Not a cupcake.

On a recent ride I overheard some general comments about cycling blogs. One of the riders mentioned that she was not fond of the blogs that were all about technical aspects of biking, reports of calories, power, speed, etc. I, however, do like measuring, reading and thinking about those things. So, for those readers who could do without that kind of blog post, turn away, stop reading. There are no cupcakes here.

When I first started the blog I thought I'd actually post a lot more info about technical things....fizxzit = physics + fixes. But that hasn't happened since I've found sources that do a much better job and are far more interesting than anything I would write. Nevertheless, I'm writing this.

A few observations from riding my own bikes, coupled with a recent interest in bike fit and comfort, prompted my interest in the topic of gain ratios, a numeric representation of the gearing provided by the bicycle's chainrings and cassette/cogs. The basic physics of gear combinations is fairly simple while the engineering is not.

Observation #1: The Trek 4500 was much harder to ride on the hilly OKHT than the Cannondale.
Observation #2: The Miyata, although a much heavier bike than the Cannondale, was much easier to ride, period. [Pedaling seems much easier, even uphill.]
Observation #3: Shifting on the Miyata, especially into the small ring, has always been a problem. Adjustments have been made, cleaning has been done and it's still a problem. Not so on the Cannondale or Trek.
Observation #4: The first 400km of the Pisgah Mountains brevet in 2010 killed my legs with what I thought was my easiest gear combination, a 30/23.

Probing the bike knowledge of those more experienced than I has lead me to the question of whether or not it is mainly the gain ratio of each bike that is at the root of these differences in perceived riding effort among bikes. I always thought it was mainly bike weight with some effect coming from gearing. My reading lead me to several useful and interesting articles on the web, like this one here. Before getting into the nitty-gritty, a short chart to sum things up might help. I used Sheldon Brown's calculator to determine the gain ratios and then made this chart for easy comparison.

TriCross: 32-622 tire
[165mm crankarm][50/34][11-12-13-15-17-19-22-25-28-32 SRAM][26 lbs]

9.4	6.4
8.0	5.4
6.9	4.7
6.1	4.2
5.5	3.7
4.9	3.4
4.5	3.1
4.2	2.8
3.7	2.5
3.2	2.2

Miyata 610: 28-630 tire (before the SS conversion w/160 Cranks highlighted)

[165mm crankarm][52/44/28][14-16-19-24-28-30 Sugino 6s][29 lbs]

7.7	6.5	4.2
6.8	5.7	3.6
5.7	4.8	3.1
5.1	4.4	2.8
4.5	3.8	2.4
3.9	3.3	2.1

Cannondale CAAD5: 28-622 tire

[170mm crankarm][52(42)/40(30)/30][12-28 Campy 9s replaced 11-23][18 lbs]

8.7	6.7	5.0
8.1	6.2	4.7
7.5	5.8	4.3
7.0	5.4	4.0
6.6	5.0	3.8
6.2	4.7	3.6
5.5	4.2	3.2
5.0	3.8	2.9
4.6	3.5	2.6

Trek 4500: 47-559 tire (sold last year when I bought the TriCross)

[162.5 mm crankarm][42/32/22][11-32 Shimano 8s][32 lbs]

7.1	5.4	3.7
6.1	4.6	3.2
5.3	4.1	2.8
4.7	3.6	2.5
4.1	3.1	2.1
3.6	2.7	1.9
3.0	2.3	1.6
2.7	2.0	1.4

There seem to be numerous other factors that can affect perceived ease of pedaling: two I found most interesting were chordal action and Q-factor. I'm also wondering how much leg length is a factor.

When walking, a leg can be modeled at a very basic level as a compound pendulum. Femur and tibia lengths have a significant impact on the stride rate. Cycling isn't walking, but I wonder if there is a similar effect that causes a certain gain ratio to feel more natural than another, leading to that perceived ease of pedaling. I guess I'd have to start taking some data to find out. Real science is such tedium sometimes.

(Oh, I never mentioned anything about wheels here. Moment of inertia, "rolling mass," definately plays a role in ease of pedaling. However, my lightest wheelset is on the Cannondale and the Miyata still always felt easier to pedal. Nor have I mentioned anything about geometry. I'll save that for a later post, but interestingly, the Miyata is, according to fit numbers, the bike that is mostly not my size.)

Chado

2012-03-23T00:51:00.000-04:00

This day has been too intense, even though I tried not to make it so. A casual observer, a fly-on-the-wall observer, would have no inkling of the intensity. It would seem like a relatively normal, even boring, day in the life of someone who does what I do. 

What I wanted for today was a certain feeling that I have felt at times, but is hard to describe. It is a kind of all-consuming calm and knowledge that everything will work out, that time will pass slowly, that I will notice only what is necessary to be safe. There is no rushing, no pressure, no second-guessing. It was all working fine until about an hour ago when I realized that I was not going to be able to sleep and that the calm that I'm craving will not come.

My waiver was sent, my card and cue sheet printed, the route reviewed, the bike prepared, the tools accounted for, the lights charged, the clothes thought out, an excellent dinner consumed, a glass of wine enjoyed, a bubble bath taken, some light yoga performed, a perfectly still room in a perfectly crisp bed with no distractions was supposed to lead to six solid hours of sleep. But here I am. Awake. Again. Before another long ride.

I've made some green tea and will try to forget the brilliant rows of redbuds, the complementary color mix of wisteria and forsythia, the luminous white of ornamental pears and the pollen of the maples and cedars that remind us they're in bloom too. I hope I'll be able to notice these things tomorrow as I worry about traffic, dogs, cars, lights, missing turns, mechanicals, burning eyes, allergies and being too tired.

Drinking my tea makes me think of the "Way of Tea", chado.   What would a "Way of the Bicycle" look  like? I hope I find out  tomorrow. Oops. Not tomorrow. The spinning earth has swung my time zone  into a new day. Here goes. 

A week of bike

2012-03-18T09:48:00.000-04:00

Mix of fall and spring plants in the beds @ the Looking Glass.

This was the last week for the Wednesday shop ride, my weak attempt to get some new people out to the bike shop where I work, for some riding. At least one other person showed up, Lil'D, and we had a pretty perfect spring ride in 70ish degrees. 

Because it was just us, we could decide to skip the steep stuff and take it easy, but we went ahead and rode Borland (see Strava #1 ) anyway. 

Love the colorful fenders. @UNC

Post-ride we stopped at the Looking Glass, a more relaxed coffee shop in Carrboro, and sat outside. While we were there Lil' D's girlfriend called in need of her calculator for a stats test. So we rode over to pick up the graphing calculator and then to the UNC school of urban planning where the stats test was soon to be given. I was impressed with the machines racked out front. It's good to know that lots of students in the grad school for urban planning are traveling by bike. There was other good news this week for the triangle bikey set that you can read about here.

STRAVA VS. GARMIN

On the Wednesday shop ride I'd wanted to compare STRAVA with Garmin just to see the differences. The ride recorded in STRAVA#1 was also recorded by my Garmin (Garmin #1). I haven't thought much about it yet, but they certainly don't agree. A half mile is a pretty big difference. Hmmm. 

I tried comparing again on my commute out to the big Bicycle Chain tent sale in Raleigh (STRAVA #2 vs. Garmin #2). These are harder to compare since I failed to get the return trip on STRAVA. I'll try again today and update this post if I'm successful.

TENT SALE COMMUTE (Strava#2 : Garmin #2)

This week the commute had some variety. Every year the small local chain of bike shops for which I work has a tent sale to make room for new stuff. It's held at our Raleigh store parking lot, so Chris, another store manager, and I rode from our hood in Durm to the tent. The first day we met and rode together even though Chris could ride it in much less time than I, he kept me company on the way out and back; about 16 miles each way. 

Breakfast for the commute.

The second day, after a late night getting back, I was dead-dog tired and hungry. So I took some extra time in the morning to make a big breakfast and ended up leaving late, but still before Chris, and he caught me right as I got to the tent.

The morning was very humid and foggy. The dew-outlined spider webs were pretty amazing along the ATT and Alexander Pkwy. Bon Iver was on the iPod in one ear and the whole ride had a kind of calm, Lord-of-the-Rings-feel to it. I was mesmerized even though the traffic on this route makes me a little nervous. And for good reason.

Dewey orb spider web. They COVERED the side of the ATT.

Cornwallis in the am. Bike Lane.

Carleen FrostThe Daily TelegraphMarch 08, 2012 12:00AM

CRASH. Alexander @ Brier Club light.

On our way back last night there was a 3 car accident at a light on Alexander parkway. I tried to snap a pic while we were waiting at the light, but it turned and we took off while we could. At least there's a light there now. Last year when I did this commute a lot there was no light and a biker had to take her chances getting to the other side of Alexander across 4 lanes and people turning in and out of the development on 4 sides. I HATED that intersection. Hopefully the light will help decrease accidents. Although, after last night, I'm not encouraged. People just need to slow the hell down going through Research Triangle Park.

Off for the commute and the last day of the tent sale. Happy Riding!

8.7	6.7	5.0
8.1	6.2	4.7
7.5	5.8	4.3
7.0	5.4	4.0
6.6	5.0	3.8
6.2	4.7	3.6
5.5	4.2	3.2
5.0	3.8	2.9
4.6	3.5	2.6

7.1	5.4	3.7
6.1	4.6	3.2
5.3	4.1	2.8
4.7	3.6	2.5
4.1	3.1	2.1
3.6	2.7	1.9
3.0	2.3	1.6
2.7	2.0	1.4

8.7	6.7	5.0
8.1	6.2	4.7
7.5	5.8	4.3
7.0	5.4	4.0
6.6	5.0	3.8
6.2	4.7	3.6
5.5	4.2	3.2
5.0	3.8	2.9
4.6	3.5	2.6

7.1	5.4	3.7
6.1	4.6	3.2
5.3	4.1	2.8
4.7	3.6	2.5
4.1	3.1	2.1
3.6	2.7	1.9
3.0	2.3	1.6
2.7	2.0	1.4