your daily bicycle log

V jealous of all of you, heavy rains all week here in SF. Was supposed to be mostly clear today but the two cloudburst-showers in the early am have flooded almost everything again... Might go for a couple hours this afternoon but I'm not really feeling like dodging puddles, mud and horrible traffic. Tomorrow's supposed to be ugly as well. Bah.

Did 34 miles this morning. Krakow - how's your elbow? Ledge - is that on-road or off-road?

http://www.bacaro.com/pdf/January%20Bike%20ride%20&%20Lunch%20Poster.pdf

supposed to do this tomorrow, but its supposed to be below 30 degrees. italian style.

xp, offroad \m/. this route pretty much, at least 25k i reckon:

http://www.cakeriders.info/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/dorking.jpg

4 hours, 70 miles, sunny but cold

I had a change of heart and went out and did 40 miles on the driest roads I could find, 20mph headwinds on the way out, mostly flat but the sun was out and it felt good after a week off.

rode 4mi to the gym, warmed up, straight up SHAMED the geriatrics on the cybex machines, oiled up and flexed a couple of times, rode 4 mi home

^^^love this guy

cutty, did u ever tell us if weight room time counts for our training hours?

ha it does!

Ledge - it's good round there, isn't it? I stayed at a youth hostel in Holmbury St Mary on a cycling holiday about 20 years ago. As I remember it it's all narrow country lanes, twisting through forests, endlessly going up and down dangerously steep hills.

Aye, tis our regular haunt and there's plenty of good and varied riding, considering the modest size of the hills. Lots of dedicated singletrack as well as the aforementioned lanes.

The elbow is much much better thanks NBS. The time off over christmas & new year seems to have done the trick, thankfully.

did 20 miles this morning which was excellent until the skies opened up about 30 minutes in... hence 20 miles. Soaked.

50km loop around connecting bike tracks. all good except for running into a fence at the start while i was trying to clip into new pedals, haw

lol

i flatted on my last long ride, then today as i rode past the same spot, i flatted again. slow deflation, no evidence of cause, though i suspect goatheads. both times on the outbound leg, it really takes the wind out of my sails. still got 45 miles in, though it was rather cold.

finally got casette on the good back wheel, so went for a roll to test. struggled into headwind all the way down to black rock, but tailwind on the way back + bladed spokes = whooooosh!

cappuccino at 9, then 46 miles at 30 deg w/ a 56.5 mph descent of old stage, then a huge, incredible italian meal, rounds and rounds of entrees at the table. awesome.

did u go to the olive garden?

http://www.bacaro.com/pdf/February%20Bike%20ride%20&%20Lunch%20Poster.pdf

i like colorado. find me a rich wife, hunt3r.

did 3 hours on the rollers yesterday. getting on the rollers for yet another 3 hours. maybe i will order italiano afterwards.

Doesn't that get ever so slightly boring?

im on lookout 4 u. there were some white haired guys on this ride who seemed sorta $$$$$- maybe they have daughters w/ trust funds

my bike was a disgrace in this pack :(

xpost

Doesn't that get ever so slightly boring?

it's not pleasurable at all times. the mental endurance required to not just get off before three hours is up takes a lot of effort. but considering this is peak of base training i really have no choice but to do these long endurance rides indoors. it's freezing outside.

we determined that the freeze point of cytomax must be lower than the freeze point of water. my bottles were slushy, other guys were still liquid.

we determined that the freeze point of cytomax must be lower than the freeze point of water. my bottles were slushy, other guys were still liquid.

colligative properties iirc

i figgered it was just the salts what did it

right

Real nice weather over the past 5 days so I got 240 miles in over the past 5 days:

Thursday: Dad flying in to town for his bday at 3:30pm so I had day off. Club dudes do semi-weekly dawn patrol (6:20am - 8:00am) rides climbing up the Marin Headlands (2 climbs: first is 2 miles at 6% avg grade... starts steep then undulates, second is a consistent 8% grade for 1.5 miles). I ride the 20 miles with the club, then break off to add on another 92 miles of mostly flat with some rollers solo. Stopped 10 mins for coffee and brownie @ 35 miles, then another 10 mins again for bathroom/bottle refills after 70 miles. Trip summary: 112 miles w/ 5600ft of climbing, 16.1mph avg, 128bpm.

Saturday: Dad sleeping in so do another dawn endurance solo ride (mentioned on "how to really train" thread). Goal: pure endurance, non-stop, steady/consistent heartrate, eat on the bike, pee on the bike (well, more like quickly pull off the road into the bushes and do a quick foliage spraydown, how do you guys do this?), ended up doing 77 miles over rolling hills in 4:20 (4:31 chrono)... felt so fantastic on the way back I tackled the climb coming from Sausalito to the Golden Gate Bridge (1.5 miles, steep then undulating avg 3.4% grade) in ~personal record~ time (5:52, 15.3mph, 339 watts). Trip summary: 77 miles w/ 2900ft of climbing, 17.8mph, 127bpm.

Monday: Presidents Day Holiday (good luck USA). 4 person group "easy" 50 mile ride with three cat 4 racers (I'm cat 5). 3 hours with a 20 minute stop when one dude blew a tube/sidewall on a descent that sounded ~gnarly~. A super loud squelch ripping through the seam on the tube and through the sidewall of a Gatorskin which is frightening as those have reinforced sidewalls. He changed the tube and put a $1 bill inside the tire to try and contain the damage but dude ended up turning back and riding easy to a bike shop. Felt good though these dudes were obviously in much better shape than me, but I was able to do my share of the work. Trip summary: 50 miles w/ 2800ft of climbing, 16.7mph, 124bpm.

shasta=overachiever

I went skate skiing today for the second time ever. YOW. that is how to really train imo

funnest. pain. ever. even better than cx i think. get that v2 on, gbx.

once the kids are out of constant care mode, im looking forward to doing that again.

v1 is a bitch imo dang

and yeah, super fun pain. gonna hurt tomorrow but an afternoon in the sun was fuuuuun

just glad I've got two decades of alpine experience---think it really helped with technique, weirdly

i had to ski after my 5 y/o down an easy black bump run at copper on my tele stuff last week--w/o poles. its weird, but skiing tele and xc really transformed my perception of bumps compared to the first 15 years i spent on alpine gear. the cliche of feeling like youre skiing through the soles of your feet is sorta true.

oh god i hurt so much

i have a morning out of the office, so i just custom mod'ed an old racing saddle to be 24cm long for my tt bike. it was a super cheap 200g saddle with a weird shape, it seemed ready for the table saw.

i am skipping school 2day---should i install my new (used) v-brakes?

boy i really need a bike stand/tarp or something so i can do this inside

q, bikers: should i just fucking pull the trigger and get a workstand?

also: tips for working on bikes inside in winter w/o making a fucking mess? cardboard? tarp? i've got a second story apartment w/tiny kitchen and wood floors, halp

yes. dont think it matters what you put down as long as something is down, and dont go walking around the place with your shoes w/out inspection. chain/derailler black grease/gunk is tricky stuff, it falls off and gets on shoes.

so.....barefoot?

I am now wondering who I can pursude to take me xc skiing this weekend, I haven't done xc in years but there seem to be a bunch of great trails less than an hour from here.

do it!

if i had classic gear i could walk a block and get plugged into something like 15 miles of trails around the ~chain of lakes~

...but classic is trickier than skating (for me), and all my (borrowed) gear is skate, soooo

still: mpls is nordie heaven, and getting to the skate trails is still only a ten minute drive across town

gbx i wouldn't work on yr bike without shoes that seems wild
you will just have to wash yr feets when done, i think what hunt3r meant is just be careful and look over yr soles before heading off the tarp.

;-)

baby wipes with lanolin will remove bike grease/gunk from ANYTHING

i have totally fucct the commuter in an attempt to get home. it threw the rear derailleur into the back wheel!!

guys i have a v-brake question

fire away

I discovered last night that the pivot pin on my rear suicide lever had fallen out, given that I am riding high on the bars because of the weather I'm glad I found this out on the flat.