Got up this morning to meet some people for a 40 - 50 mile ride starting at 8 AM. Loaded up and left the house about 6:30 so I could get unloaded, snag some coffee at Amici and wait for everyone to show up. Went to check the time, and noticed my phone was dead. &^#!@. Powered it back on and notice two text pages, the first asking if anyone else was still going, and a second one at 6:38 saying that the ride was cancelled. Guess the 30 degree temp and the 17 MPH NW wind scared everyone else off. Since it was 7:45, and I had gotten up early just to go for a ride, I decide to go ahead an go, even though I really didn't want to. I had been wanting to get a longer ride on the Paramount and see how well it was going to fit.
I Left the west side Bike World, rolled out west and south to Booneville, turned around and rode north into the headwind, back into Waukee, and then cruised down University to 60th and back to Bike World. Short ride of only 20 miles, but the first 2/3 was definitely hillier than what I have been riding lately. My lungs were on fire for the first 30 minutes due to the cold air the the climbing. I really wanted to just turn around and go home, but I'm going to need to ride harder and stress my body if I want to begin to keep up with Pete, Lou and the rest of the fast guys around here. Climbing is definitely a weak spot of mine, so I need to get more into my workouts.
The ride down University was nice. Cruised along at 25 mph, with a couple of sprints to 32 to make a couple of yellow lights. The tail wind helped me out a lot on the sprints. Seat angle felt better after my adjustment last night. However, I forgot to raise the seatpost to compensate for raising the saddle nose, so I felt cramped for most of the ride. I still think that the frame is a bit smaller than I should be riding, especially in light of the fit that I had done for the Long Haul Trucker. I guess I'll need to put some more miles on over the next few weeks and then figure out what to do.
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Friday, March 21, 2008
Friday and all is well
Commute steed was the single speed again today. 40-ish all day. Head wind coming in, bigger headwind coming home. Glad I checked the weather and took the thicker windbreaker this morning. Sterling called from Rassy's today. 58cm Surly Long Haul Trucker is on it's way, along with a honey Brooks B17 saddle, matching Brooks bar tape and the rest of my parts. Should be in on Monday, and ready for me on Tuesday. I can't wait for it to get here, move my fenders over and start riding to work on it.
My friends Bill and Karen, and their son Stirling, are coming down tomorrow. We are headed to Connecticut Yankee Pedaler in Chariton so Bill can look over and try out their selection of recumbent trikes. They carry and stock a number of major brands. Should be a good time.
My friends Bill and Karen, and their son Stirling, are coming down tomorrow. We are headed to Connecticut Yankee Pedaler in Chariton so Bill can look over and try out their selection of recumbent trikes. They carry and stock a number of major brands. Should be a good time.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
The smallest things
Got up this morning and looked out at the roads. Wet looking, like it had maybe rained some last night. That, or the warmer temperatures are driving the last of the winter moisture out of the pavement. Was ready to just drive in this morning when I happened upon this. Great photo with a great write up below it. After reading it, I closed my laptop, got dressed, and rode the the trusty single speed to work.
Left the office a bit early and rode the pavetrail over to Rassy's to chat with Sterling about my LHT. The custom build came in a bit higher than I wanted, so I decided to go with a complete bike, along with racks and pedals. They happened to have a 60cm frame in Olive that came in for someone else, so I had a chance to tool around the parking lot on it a bit. After some measurements, I'm can fit either a 58 or a 60cm frame. Sterling will talk it over with Donny Quixote tomorrow and give me a call with the decision.
Weather is going to be a crap shoot tomorrow. Hopefully I can ride. But with weather issues in the forecast, I'll likely be on the lead sled for the commute. Once the LHT gets here, the lead sled will get it's original parts back, and be donated to the Des Moines Bicycle Kollective and from there, it will go to a new owner.
Left the office a bit early and rode the pavetrail over to Rassy's to chat with Sterling about my LHT. The custom build came in a bit higher than I wanted, so I decided to go with a complete bike, along with racks and pedals. They happened to have a 60cm frame in Olive that came in for someone else, so I had a chance to tool around the parking lot on it a bit. After some measurements, I'm can fit either a 58 or a 60cm frame. Sterling will talk it over with Donny Quixote tomorrow and give me a call with the decision.
Weather is going to be a crap shoot tomorrow. Hopefully I can ride. But with weather issues in the forecast, I'll likely be on the lead sled for the commute. Once the LHT gets here, the lead sled will get it's original parts back, and be donated to the Des Moines Bicycle Kollective and from there, it will go to a new owner.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Para-mute
Rode the Paramount into work and back today to see how it felt. In one word: NICE. I swear that this bike has next to no drag at all in the chain line. Either Dura-Ace is some sort of black magic, or I need to spend more time on maintenance of my other machines. I definitely need to adjust the saddle nose up a bit more, and then expose a bit more seat post. I kept feeling like i was falling off the front for the short commute. Acceleration was snappy and it was all too happy to cruise along at 20 while on the small ring. I hate to even think about this, but I'm beginning to wonder if the frame is a bit too small for me. Tapped the back of the front wheel into the front of my foot pulling up to the office this morning. Part of it might be not being used to riding a bike with any sort of race geometry. That or my feet are too big. If the roads are dry, I'll take it into the office again tomorrow. New bikes are good for the soul. :)
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Snuck one in
Met up with Lou, Pete, and about 8 other people for a couple of hours out at the Center Trails this morning. Lou sent me a text message at 6:00 AM. I didn't wake up to look at it until 6:45 and the ride started at 7:30. Threw some clothes on after looking at the temp, grabbed a water bottle, choked down a clif bar and left about 7:05. No coffee and not meeting for pre-ride breakfast banter sucked. Rick Blackford mistimed a curb hop and took a hard endo into the concrete with his head and shoulder before we even hit any dirt. Cracked the top of his helmet pretty good. He decided to keep riding with us rather than head home. He's pretty stiff and sore as of this evening. Hopefully nothing too serious comes up when he sees the doc tomorrow. Interesting trail conditions today for sure. They were either covered in ice, or they were in a semi-frozen sponge state. You could feel the dirt sucking at your rear wheel, but when you looked back, you were hardly leaving any marks in the trail. We made a pass through Denmans, Rhythm, Squirrels Nest, Hilliside and about 1/2 of J11. I'm going to have to go back and hit up hillside consistantly over the next few weeks before the IORCA series starts. The first climb up the hill and I was gasping for breath. I'm sure the 32 degree temps had something to do with it, but I also know my cardio needs a better workout than I've been giving it lately on these metric and standard centuries. Need to get in better shape for sure.
My USAC license showed up in the mail this weekend too. I guess I'm all official now. Time to go out, race and have some fun.
Speaking of fun, The GRAID is still on for the end of the month. Not sure where we're leaving from, but there's at least five of us taking this on. I still need to figure out if I'm going to try and go light, or if I'm going to throw a rack and some panniers on the back so I have spare clothes and stuff in case we run into issues. I don't want to be carrying too much weight with me, but I also don't want to be stuck without something in time of need. A lot can change over a couple of days, especially in spring, and especially in Iowa. Better safe than sorry when it comes to the weather. I can't wait to meet the other guys in person. I also can't wait to take on the challenge. This would be potentially easier later in the year, but some people are using this as a Trans-Iowa warm up, and others are doing this instead of Trans-Iowa. Some of us are doing it just for the challenge and to say we did it.
My USAC license showed up in the mail this weekend too. I guess I'm all official now. Time to go out, race and have some fun.
Speaking of fun, The GRAID is still on for the end of the month. Not sure where we're leaving from, but there's at least five of us taking this on. I still need to figure out if I'm going to try and go light, or if I'm going to throw a rack and some panniers on the back so I have spare clothes and stuff in case we run into issues. I don't want to be carrying too much weight with me, but I also don't want to be stuck without something in time of need. A lot can change over a couple of days, especially in spring, and especially in Iowa. Better safe than sorry when it comes to the weather. I can't wait to meet the other guys in person. I also can't wait to take on the challenge. This would be potentially easier later in the year, but some people are using this as a Trans-Iowa warm up, and others are doing this instead of Trans-Iowa. Some of us are doing it just for the challenge and to say we did it.
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Lazy day
No ride today. Just wasn't in the mood and had plenty of bike related stuff to do. List for today included:
Things I didn't get done:
We did take some time to go to the Bike World expo today. I know that this event takes some time and preparation to put on, but I wasn't really happy about paying an entry fee to wander around and look. It just didn't quite seem like that was a good way to try and promote cycling to people. I did notice a number of bikes with fenders in some of the rows of bikes for sale. It's becoming apparent that there's a market for basic commuter/utility bicycles that has been untapped. However, the biggest problem that I see is that the places best suited to educating and promoting utility biking, like any local LBS, don't seem to have bikes in a price range that the average person will be willing to spend. What's needed is a solid bike, with fenders, and a rear rack in maybe the $200 - $250 range. I realize that this probably won't happen anytime soon, but I think that's the price point where people would give more thought to getting a bike that could be used for more than a weekend rider. Evidently, there's a good portion of the bike shops out there that just don't get it yet either.
- replace big ring on Karate Monkey, install and lube chain
- fix flat and replace tire on the single speed
- put new tires/tubes on new wheelset
- take bike and wheel boxes and put them in the attic
Things I didn't get done:
- track down all of my bike stuff and get it organized in containers
- new cassette for new wheelset
- finish crankset install on Bacchetta
- put additional rails up in garage to hold more bikes
We did take some time to go to the Bike World expo today. I know that this event takes some time and preparation to put on, but I wasn't really happy about paying an entry fee to wander around and look. It just didn't quite seem like that was a good way to try and promote cycling to people. I did notice a number of bikes with fenders in some of the rows of bikes for sale. It's becoming apparent that there's a market for basic commuter/utility bicycles that has been untapped. However, the biggest problem that I see is that the places best suited to educating and promoting utility biking, like any local LBS, don't seem to have bikes in a price range that the average person will be willing to spend. What's needed is a solid bike, with fenders, and a rear rack in maybe the $200 - $250 range. I realize that this probably won't happen anytime soon, but I think that's the price point where people would give more thought to getting a bike that could be used for more than a weekend rider. Evidently, there's a good portion of the bike shops out there that just don't get it yet either.
Saw Scott and Julie in the Bike Iowa booth, an old coworker, Don, in the LAF booth, the Mostly Reverend representing the Des Moines Bike Collective, and Lou Waugaman manning the Guru Bikes booth. Saw a bunch of other fellow riders in the crowds as well, including Dave Mable from AllNineYards realty, Rick Blackford and his familiy, and the crazy tandem riders from Team Cow. Kathy picked up some stuff on bike camping and trails in the southern Minnesota and Wisconsin areas. Sounds like she might want to try and get out on her bike more this year, which I am all for. I'll have to work to get her a rack and some way to bring stuff home from the store like she's been asking for. Now that the weather is getting a bit nicer, I hope that I can get Conor out on the bike again as well.
Rumor has it that the center trails are rideable right now. I'm not sure how that's possible, unless we're talking about just Hillside and Rollercoaster. There might be a ride early tomorrow. Guess I'll see what text messages show up at 6 am and make a decision from there. If not, I might just bundle up and go for a road ride instead.
Rumor has it that the center trails are rideable right now. I'm not sure how that's possible, unless we're talking about just Hillside and Rollercoaster. There might be a ride early tomorrow. Guess I'll see what text messages show up at 6 am and make a decision from there. If not, I might just bundle up and go for a road ride instead.
Friday, March 14, 2008
Two busy days.
Thursday was a nice day. Took the lead sled to work. Had a little rubbing problem with the rear wheel that I'll need to take a look at. Made it over to Irwin's after work to pick up some chainrings that I ordered. Rode home along 70th street, which was good until I looked up and noticed that the bike path ended and I rode right off into the fresh mud. Kept pedaling for a while, but I hit a soft spot, lost my momentum, and couldn't get unclipped.
Busy day today. Picked up tires and tubes from Rassy's today. Tubes for the road bikes, and tires and tubes for the 320 Tri's that showed up the other day. Will get them mounted tomorrow, along with all of the other bike work going on, like tube changing, chainring installing on two bikes, and getting an additional bike rail mounted in the garage. The Paramount arrived today. Mark did an excellent job packing it up. I'm going to save the box and all of the packing materials in case I need it some other time. Took about 45 minutes to get it unpacked, get the bars, pedals, rear deraileur and seat installed. Shake down ride was good, if a bit cold in shorts and a t-shirt. The Campy brifters are going to take some getting used to, but other than that, it's pretty much everything I had heard and expected it to be. The paint job looks a lot better in person than in pictures. I'll have to try and get some photos up in the next few days anyway.
Busy day today. Picked up tires and tubes from Rassy's today. Tubes for the road bikes, and tires and tubes for the 320 Tri's that showed up the other day. Will get them mounted tomorrow, along with all of the other bike work going on, like tube changing, chainring installing on two bikes, and getting an additional bike rail mounted in the garage. The Paramount arrived today. Mark did an excellent job packing it up. I'm going to save the box and all of the packing materials in case I need it some other time. Took about 45 minutes to get it unpacked, get the bars, pedals, rear deraileur and seat installed. Shake down ride was good, if a bit cold in shorts and a t-shirt. The Campy brifters are going to take some getting used to, but other than that, it's pretty much everything I had heard and expected it to be. The paint job looks a lot better in person than in pictures. I'll have to try and get some photos up in the next few days anyway.
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