I went on a new route this evening and I took along my new toy: a GPS receiver. It is very cool and actually keeps track of almost every little turn I make as I ride along. It also keeps track of my heart rate and will soon follow my cadence. I was quickly putting the mount for it on the bicycle before we left and got it on backwards! So, the whole time I was riding, it probably thought I was riding backwards. It was a great ride, even though for about 1.5 miles we had to get off our bikes and walk, due to the fact we had ridden onto a road that was being repaved.
It is getting late as I write this. Need to get to bed so I can go to work tomorrow!!
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Whale Sharking To Goodhue Thurston & Savona
A beautiful night: clear, dry, and cool (62 or 63 F) when I left from work about 5:50 PM. I wore a tee-shirt, jersey, jacket, and vest over my bib shorts. I opened up all the tops during the climbs. Curiously, they filled up with little gnat-like bugs. As I was riding, I thought "This is what it must be like for the whale shark cruising through the ocean with its mouth open filtering the plankton and krill into its mouth." Initially, I only opened my tops to my waist, so they bellowed a little and the tiny bugs collected on my tee shirt and inside the bellowing jacket, jersey, and vest. I took to unzipping the vest completely and narrowing the bellows of the jacket and jersey to keep from collecting so many bugs. Fortunately, they didn't seem to bite.
By the time I got back to my car, the temperature had dropped to 56 F, but zipping the tops all the way up was enough to keep me warm. My legs were producing enough heat to keep themselves warm, even my kneecaps. A beautiful Spring evening, perfect for riding.
After a little dinner, I am enjoying the endorphins and still feeling warm all over...
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Another Blood Donation At The Tracks
The Weather Underground (the collective weather station group, not the political anarchists) said there was a 20% chance of rain at 8 PM tonight. That seemed like pretty good odds to me, so I left from work tonight on a cloudy cool (63 F) evening at about 6 PM again. I wanted to try and get three hill climbs in this time (Monday I only managed two). I probably left too late; I have a habit of doing that when I ride alone. There is no immediate time constraint, so as I walk to the locker room to change, I am likely to stop and talk to people I run into, which tonight added about 45 minutes to the time it took me to get from my office to the locker room. With tonight's finish, I will see if I cannot be a little more diligent about starting earlier.
I took my rain jacket with me, so as not to tempt fate, secretly hoping that by bringing it that would somehow keep it from raining. However, at the top of the third climb, it started to sprinkle. I put the jacket on at that point, but it continued to rain, though not so hard as to make it uncomfortable, but hard enough that the road started getting a layer of water on it. By the time I was nearly back to work, the tires were throwing a steady rooster tail up my back. It did not get too cold. My thermometer said 57 F when I pulled into the parking lot. It worked out to be about 36 miles and 2200 feet of vertical.
Pretty uneventful, except for those damn railroad tracks. As I was coming up to the ones I had fallen on earlier this year, I slowed considerably and adjusted my angle of attack to be perpendicular to the rails. I popped over the first rail, and was just about to do the same on the second and the tire slid down the rail laying the bike down and me along with it onto my right side. I skinned my knee and have a nice big raspberry on my hip, but it looks much worse than it feels. Riding the rest of the way home (in the rain no less) actually helped to keep it from getting stiff. We'll see how I feel in the morning... I managed not to crack my helmet this time, though I remember it hitting the ground with a nice bang.
I took my rain jacket with me, so as not to tempt fate, secretly hoping that by bringing it that would somehow keep it from raining. However, at the top of the third climb, it started to sprinkle. I put the jacket on at that point, but it continued to rain, though not so hard as to make it uncomfortable, but hard enough that the road started getting a layer of water on it. By the time I was nearly back to work, the tires were throwing a steady rooster tail up my back. It did not get too cold. My thermometer said 57 F when I pulled into the parking lot. It worked out to be about 36 miles and 2200 feet of vertical.
Pretty uneventful, except for those damn railroad tracks. As I was coming up to the ones I had fallen on earlier this year, I slowed considerably and adjusted my angle of attack to be perpendicular to the rails. I popped over the first rail, and was just about to do the same on the second and the tire slid down the rail laying the bike down and me along with it onto my right side. I skinned my knee and have a nice big raspberry on my hip, but it looks much worse than it feels. Riding the rest of the way home (in the rain no less) actually helped to keep it from getting stiff. We'll see how I feel in the morning... I managed not to crack my helmet this time, though I remember it hitting the ground with a nice bang.
Monday, May 4, 2009
Cool-Evening After-Work Climbing Loop
Couldn't find anyone interested in riding this evening, so I headed out by myself. Ran into a number of people on the way out, so didn't get started until 6 PM. It was overcast and cool (mid 60's when I started, 61 when I finished 1:43 later). The route was just over 28 miles with a vertical of about 1690 feet.
I started out going up the bucolic canyon I rode previously, but decided to turn down the hill and headed into Addison. There was a short stretch after Addison where I rode on a busy road, but then heading up Beeman Hollow I saw one car the whole way. I was hoping to get one more climb in, but the light was starting to fade, so I ended it pushing hard to make it worthwhile. Now I am tired, but a good kind of tired. Tomorrow is supposed to rain, so I am glad I got out tonight.
I started out going up the bucolic canyon I rode previously, but decided to turn down the hill and headed into Addison. There was a short stretch after Addison where I rode on a busy road, but then heading up Beeman Hollow I saw one car the whole way. I was hoping to get one more climb in, but the light was starting to fade, so I ended it pushing hard to make it worthwhile. Now I am tired, but a good kind of tired. Tomorrow is supposed to rain, so I am glad I got out tonight.
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