your daily bicycle log

i havent done a proper ride i.e non commute, in weeks. once marathon is done, i plan to ride a few times for real if the weather holds.

since we got passes for eldora lols this year, i'll have unlimited xc skiing, so im looking forward to that this year. i suppose this is where people in mpls remark 'who would _pay_ to xc ski?'

I ran into the back of a minicab last night, thankfully at walking pace, though I still endo-d and ended up very gracefully collapsing against the car and onto the ground. Luckily there was no more than a rubber mark on the bumper - was all my fault, I'd been distracted by a motorbike while moving slowly through traffic. Bit shaken up afterwards, though - I sometimes wonder if these minor scares are a good thing that keep you honest rather than cocky on the road?

u are so lucky. this just recently happened to a friend of mine with a brand new, super expensive bike)

quoted from here http://www.allhailtheblackmarket.com/2010/09/when_the_wheels_come_off_the_w.html

http://www.allhailtheblackmarket.com/fpssmashedvanilla.jpg

http://www.allhailtheblackmarket.com/fpssmashedcab.jpg

Here's some images from my accident yesterday. I'm so fortunate that I'm able to type this note to you today. You often advocate wearing a helmet when you ride each and every time you get on your bike. If I had not worn my Giro helmet the outcome could have been much worse.

In short as I was finishing a road ride out to Point Reyes Station with Skinny Bee, Fashion Dave and Scott who was flying AHTBM colors when taxi cab preformed a 3 point turn into a blind driveway ahead of me and reversed right out into the middle of the road leaving me with the following images. I was launched from my road bike through the rear window of the taxicab head first.

I am a very lucky man to come away from this accident with only an index finger that looks like it was visited with repeated blows of a hammer. In addition to wearing my helmet I had cycling glassed on and one of Sacha's unicorn hats. Perhaps the unspoken magic of the unicorn saw me through this event.

Ouch. That must have been terrifying.

ouchie.

So Mark and I set out for a ride round town today, about a mile from home and we're freewheeling down a pretty steep hill. Mark is in front and has a car in front of him, speed around 10 mph, maybe 14 or so at most. I tell Mark to watch out as the hill can be a bit dodgy, do a shoulder check and then look round to see Mark piling in to the back of the car he was following who had stopped suddenly. I tried to go down the gap between car and pavement while slamming on the anchors, unfortunately Mark is in the way.......

I hit him and next thing I know I'm bouncing along the road on my front and smacking my chin into the ground.

Sum total of damages we've found so far:

Mark
swollen knee
road rash on arm and an abrasion on hip
dodgy muscle on right leg
rip in jersey
not sure of any damage to bike as yet.

Me
really sore knee and hamstring (right)
very sore jaw (no chipped teeth fortunately)
picked some gravel out of my elbow's road rash
sprained thumb
both wheels out of true - chunk out of rear rim
rear gear cable is bollocksed
couple of chunks out of the saddle

and finally and most importantly
DIRTY GREAT CRACK IN HELMET - WEAR A HELMET PEOPLE!

oh, and a couple of whopping great holes in my lovely rapha merino long sleeved jersey, bollocks

Ouch again. You want to be careful riding with Mark, it seems he habitually rides into cars.

I did 34 miles today. It poured with rain, but only for about 15 minutes, and the next hour was like being in a big cold hair dryer so I dried off.

It must be going around (crashing, that is). It was damp this morning (no real rain, but wet roads) and a guy in front and to the left of me rode onto the painted center line on a downhill left turn and lost all traction and slid out. The dude + bike made it all the way across the lane and off the shoulder of the road (no curbs, dirt/leaves), the guy sliding face down on the left side of his helmet the whole time. Amazingly, he got no scrapes on his face at all, I guess he rode out the slide on his helmet the whole way. I had to lock up and ride in the dirt on the side of the road to avoid him. Pretty exciting.

BTW, Mark/'Porkpie', I don't know if you ever look at ILM nowadays, but you might want to vote in this poll:
VOTING THREAD for ILM's Alltime Best Shoegaze / Dream Pop / Post-rock TRACKS poll

looking at different kind of pedals now

Thank you Jamie, I have voted (Sundays "Skin & Bones" came top).

Am sore today, pretty much all over. Ribs are most annoying, not broken this time though. And having a shitty cold really helps.

Lovely ride yesterday, perfect autumn sunshine. Good route, too, 50km with 700m of climbing mainly in short sharp 100m shocks. Not sure if it did my ribs any favours, kept waking myself up last night, rolling onto the bad side.

tried decathlon btwin 2 over the weekend. need to read up more, but it seemed good value. made the mistake of going on a saturday afternoon though, and the guy advising me was clearly a rock climber or a skateboarder or something.

will likely by something second hand at about this price after thesis submission/post-submission party/travels/christmas. excited about this.

Did the Evan Ride-it sportive thing from Gatwick today. They had a 'fun' route of 13 miles, a short route of 33 miles, a medium route of 62 miles, and a long route of 85 miles. My plan was to do the medium route, but I fucked that up almost instantly. We were set off in groups of about 15 at a few minutes' intervals. The group lasted for about ten seconds then just disintegrated - I just kind of glided off the front, but at a fairly gentle pace, to be honest. Another guy came up to me and then came past to share the work. We'd only been going for 3 miles when we came to a big crossroads with no signage whatsover - this was a bit worrying, as they'd said that absolutely every junction was signed. Shortly after that we turned onto another road and found the signs again, so that was reassuring. Except then we turned right, which I was pretty sure meant we were heading south, despite the fact we were supposed to be heading on a 20-mile loop to the north. I was almost certain something had gone wrong, and had it confirmed when I found myself going up the first major climb of the day to Turner's Hill after just 7 miles (when it should have been at about the 25-mile mark). Somehow we'd missed a left turn after just 2.5 miles and then taken a short-cut through to the southbound leg of the first loop, missing out about 18 miles.

By the time I realised what had happened it was too late. I didn't want to ride back 5 miles to the missed turning. But there was no one around - I'd left the other 3 or 4 rider who'd gone the wrong way far behind, but the earliest riders to set off on the proper route had been about 35 minutes ahead of me and there was no way on earth they could have covered 18 miles in 35 minutes so if I'd waited for them to catch me up I'd have got very cold and bored.

I rode on for a bit on my own, feeling it was a bit futile: I'd paid £13.50 for the pleasure of riding around on my own. I wouldn't get an official time, because I'd gone some strange route of my own, so there was no reason to push the pace. When I got to the first feed station (long before they were expecting to see anyone) I hung around to see if anyone turned up, and after maybe 5 or 10 minutes another rider who'd missed the turning came along. I rode with him for the next 25 miles - I dropped him on all the climbs, but waited for him because it would have been pretty boring on my own.

After the second feed station he headed back to the finish, but that would have meant we only rode about 43 miles, so I headed off on the long route. There was still no sign of anyone else and this loop passed about half a mile from my parents' house, so I took another diversion to go and see them briefly. Then I set off again and rejoined the route. Still there was nobody around. I stopped to get a gel out and suddenly two riders whooshed past me, so without opening the gel I quickly got back on and spent a mile chasing my way back up to them. We went up a never-ending hill and I tried to rip open the gel while riding, only to rip the whole thing lengthways and get gel over everything. There was still about 15 miles to go and I had to ride the rest of the way with my fingers superglued together.

I left them behind on another climb, then stopped later on to try to lick my fingers clean and had them whoosh past me again. I was feeling pretty empty but again tried to chase them down. They were about 100m ahead, then suddenly they had disappeared completely. Yes, I'd missed yet another turning. I found myself lost in Crawley and once again all alone and without signs. I had to retrieve a map from my pocket which was stuck together with gel in order to find my way to the finish. I ended up doing 68 miles in 4 hours 16 mins of riding time (plus about 45 minutes of stoppages) and had to explain to the organisers that they should ignore my time because I hadn't followed any of the designated routes.

Oh dude, that is a tragicomedy and a half! You sounds SO frustrated, but it's still kind of funny, sorry!

awesome report! hahahaha. gels can double for high-strength epoxy resin in a pitch, right?

Think I've had my first (in recent memory) alcohol related cycling mishap (non-serious). Had a couple of pints, was heading towards the madness that is Bishopsgate, slightly wet conditions, and there was a guy walking between two parked cars, and down the road. He wasn't looking behind him at all and somewhat veering out, but I was completely cogniscant of him, and slowing down and giving him room and ringing my bell, and maybe too much of all that at once, especially the steering and braking, as suddenly I was on the ground. People on the pavement gasped 'my god are you ok?', and yeah I was fine, and I got right back up and on the bike, and the guy who had turned around by this point asked if I was ok and I said yes I was and just to make sure he watched where he was going in the future, and went on my way. No harm done (although will check for bruises tomorrow).

Got a rear wheel puncture about a mile from home (towards the end of a ride, not the start) and discovered that the rims on the wheels on my winter bike are slightly too deep for the valves on the spare inner tubes I had. So it was impossible to pump up the tube. A bit frustrating, but it could have been a lot worse - I'm glad I didn't discover that 30 miles from home.

We did 8-man Italian pursuit races at the track last night. After each lap the front rider pulls off until there is only one rider left. First team back to their line wins. It's really really fun because we had the teams really well balanced, and even people who aren't close to fastest overall can contribute to the team by just giving everything they have on their turn to lead. I rode 7th man and our team won 2 out of 4 races. Fun as heck.

<3 it! my goal for next year is to get in a few days at the track for pursuit and kilo.

Racing on the track is awesome. It simultaneously incredibly competitive and supportive. A really great vibe and great way to improve your cycling. If you have a velodrome near you I can't recommend taking the chance to ride on it. Also, nice track bikes are cheap as hell, relative to nice road or mountain bikes.

err can't recommend enough

otm i haven't done it in a couple years (and it was only twice), but the track is so, so fun.

thinking a bit baout joining local club to get road racing licence, whose specialty is track. they have spare bikes to use too, because another bike, i mean really!

yesterday: sedate spin round the trail with two friends who i'm riding along the great ocean road with on the weekend. they're kinda freaking out about the 130 km length of the loop we're doing! got rained on a bit in between sunny patches. springtime in belgium, perhaps.

SLP: do you have a dedicated gear inch on your track bike or do you mix it up for different events?

I ride a loaner bike (bianchi pistas) from the track right now, which runs about 86 inches (I think it's a 48 x 15). The guys in my class who have their own bikes and race (well, raced. the season is over now) all bring a few different chainrings. They'll switch them out per-race. I'll buy something over the off-season to be ready to race at the beginning of next season (march)

Yesterday: 67 minutes, 4.5 miles, average speed 3.9mph, thanks to my down tube breaking, presumably as a result of the little prang described in my post of 15th October, which meant that my journey home was on foot (well, I managed 3 miles before getting off and wondering what that increasingly loud metallic ticking noise was). Was quite a nice walk though I have blisters on my blisters today, and need a new frame - this one is fuxored.

Pics?

four weeks of no biking = getting fat

Here you go, Ed:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v222/biondino/bobcrack.jpg

ouch

rode two short 1 hour rides on my new bike. first time riding a road bike and my body hurts like no other. ass muscles hurt from new riding position and shins muscles hurt from using clipless for first time and pedaling all the way around. i feel like i'm walking like a penguin

four weeks of no biking = getting fat
― BIG MUFFIN (gbx), Thursday, November 4, 2010 1:36 PM (6 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
otmfm. ~feelin~ this, quite literally

ditto! cant wait for this rotation to be done. I'd bike here but its twelve miles and I gotta be in by 615. no dice.

Went for an ill-advised 105 miler today that despite me telling myself pre-ride to keep the HR under 150, I decided to counter some attacks with 1:35 of 450W (avg) around mile 40 which pretty much rendered the remainder of the ride horribly painful. I am now limping around the house trying to choose between chocolate milk, pepsi (w or w/o vodka) or beer.

There is a 5-6 hour hammerfest for tomorrow on my calendar right now which is about to get removed and forgotten about real soon.

ha i rode 60 miles moderately hard, 4000 ft of climbing. what a terrible year for riding-- that's my 2nd longest ride of the year, and longest since century mid july.

well but how is your fitness from running?

i hate climbing. period. hate it. i am thinking of running a compact with a 11-27 in the back on my next set of training wheels. spinnnnnnnnnnnnn.

meh, fitness from running is ok, i guess. i really cant figure out what i wanna do wrt physical activity for the rest of my life. there are no realistic objectives that im interested in attempting wrt cycling, and i don't enjoy running, and i have no discretionary time to indulge myself in something new.

iow, i have no _real_ problems right now and should stfu.

i think you should splurge on a state of the art recumbent, don the optic yellow, and call it a day~~~

(iow: my plan fairly soon)

spoke to dude on recumbent today after long descent who complimented me for dropping him. i complimented him on his taste in chaise recliners, but noted that chaises are even faster when adequately faired.

here is my day out on the coast and in the otways. wish our trio hadn't missed the start by ten minutes - i'm sure i could've shredded a colnago man or six up the big climb. felt good all day! got rained on for a bit around angelsea, but what you gonna do eh.

p wicked powerclimb section before bells beach, steep down - steep up - rinse repeat

waitress at coffee shop stop 2/3rds along had the most slammin bod too, daaaaamn girl

a compact with a 11-27 in the back

this is what I'm running ~spins~

bells beach! slammin bod waitresses! totes jealous!

Winter Training Cycle coach at club ride started on the Strength training part of the course. First half of the (50 mile) ride he made us ride up all the inclines on the big ring and in a small gear in the back. Alternating sitting and pedalling at 60 rp and standing at 45 rpm. The second half of the ride he had us do the same thing but clip out of one side and do it with one leg for 50 strokes, and then switch legs. It's wierd because I thought I'd really feel it in the quads, but what is most sore today is my calves. Probably a form thing... Owie.

wish id had a bike when i visited that neck of the woods haitch, really nice.

Saturday took Skyline to Los Altos to see my girl. Moving to the Bay Area feeling like a good decision. Got a job offer Friday, start Dec 1 if I take it, so I'm gonna splash out, trade the Centurion and Converse All-Stars for carbon and SPDs, see how many rainy miles I can put on before December.

how long ago were you out here hunt3r? it's great, lots of quiet and twisty roads. (great ocean rd can get busy tho.) considering doing another ride next month through the rainforest bit futher down the otways now.

gotta admit i like the challenge of the hills. i'm pretty one-speed tho - just grind grind grind. 39x25 as lowest ratio will do that! maybe i should try a compact one of these days to see if there's an appreciable difference.