your daily bicycle log

The snow and ice melted yesterday, so I went out for a gentle 25 miles this morning. I tried out that app again (this time managing to record the whole ride) and uploaded the gpx file to http://www.ridewithgps.com. I've compared the data from the app with the data on my cycle computer and it's in the same ballpark, but not identical: my computer says I went 24.41 miles with a maximum speed of 30.5mph, the app says 24.35 miles with a max of 29.8mph. It records a significantly slower average speed (15.9mph instead of 16.7mph), presumably because it has a ride time more than six minutes longer (the cycle computer only records data when you're moving - I guess the app keeps going when I'm stuck at traffic lights and also after I've finished until I press the 'stop' button).

Every time I try to post an image from my flickr account it fails, so I don't expect anything to show here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/captainzep/5234491530/

Nope, didn't think so. Anyway, here are a couple of screenshots from that 'ridewithgps' website for this morning's ride:
http://flic.kr/p/8Yy8XY - this one shows an analysis of time spent at each speed and looks pretty accurate to me
http://flic.kr/p/8Yy96f - this one shows the route, with the elevation profile and a speed graph plonked on top. The elevation is a bit suspect - there should be a bigger climb early on, followed by a bigger descent - this has been mysteriously flattened. The return leg covers the same roads for the last couple of miles or so and has a much hillier profile on that graph. Also the speed on this graph contains some spikes of >40mph which simply didn't happen in reality.

rode by a cemetery near the beginning of my ride today and then had 'cemetery gates' stuck in my head for the next 2 and a half hours. damn.

did my longest ride yesterday: 68.2 miles. today my left knee was in pain.

You should look at your saddle height, saddle position and cleat position.

This article and comments may be of use too: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/bike-blog/2010/dec/03/cycling-fitness

lying fucking computer says i'm not faster than thursday

-8C to -14C here today (depending on who you talk to). roads are sorta clear, but i'm glad i've got cross tires on.

wish i had cross tires on today. had my first spill today. a really tiny one. wet roads everywhere, about to cross the GG bridge, tourists everywhere. going super slow on some cobblestones while i was turning and braking and the bike just slipped out from under me. raspberries on my hip and knee, but mostly hurt my pride.

Cloudless and hot today. Rode with the team I'm going to race with next year for the first time out in the hills east of town. Was afraid I wouldn't be able to keep up but everybody was really friendly and the pace suited me well. So stoked.

Did 38 miles yesterday in a rare group ride.

Ed & Mark C.: thanks for the advice. I think I can rule out cleat position, as I've ridden ~50 mi. a few times before w/ no pain. I've had to replace the cleats once, but traced around the old ones w/ marker before positioning the new ones.

I think a lot of it could have been due to mashing hard after being off the bike for a while (lol surgery), but if the knee pain persists, I'll prob. schedule a fitting. The shop I bought my bike from has a sports MD come in by appt. to do fit sessions.

This is what makes me question riding a fixie. But as I'm only on it once or twice a week (more like once or twice a month at the mo), I probably shouldn't worry.

If you're mashing too hard on a fixie then you just need a bigger sprocket. For things like starting off, just stand up on the pedals - way less pressure on your knees.

naus, a pleasure, and sorry it didn't help!

Just had to admit defeat and take my wheel in to the LBS to have them fit the tyre. The guy had a quick go while I was there and said 'it is really tight' so it's not just me...

I've had to do this before. That final 10-15cm of new tyre often seems impossible to get over the rim without permanently destroying your thumbs.

They say you shouldn't use a lever for that last bit, but you can, you know.

http://californiabikegear.com/quikstik/public/bodyqs4.jpg

some ultra ultra ultra tight tires make these ineffective, but i swear by these.

i think i need remedial classes in how to use levers to mount a tyre

Anybody have good experiences with "fit kits" - particularly in the Bay Area? I'm experiencing knee pain with my new setup, and cleat adjustment hasn't helped so far.

i am shopping around too lukas, i know of a couple (3 in marin, one in palo alto) but hope to pull the trigger asap. i will let you know which one i recommend probably in a week.

last 8 days = 376 miles, 22k feet of climbing.
taking a rest day today, feeling stronger, much more relaxed pushing tempo efforts up hills.

xpost sweet thanks

been slacking off due to weird sickness - exhausted by 5 if i get up at 6am to ride. gonna try again tomorrow.

took my bike in to get a mid-winter overhaul (half price!) and oh man what a treat.

still getting soft and fat tho

took the titus out for the first ride, and last ride before the weather gets ride-shitty, ugh:

http://i486.photobucket.com/albums/rr222/Chass3ur/New/forecast.jpg

riding a full suspension with discs is veeeery different, technology has really moved on. mostly. *old man yelling at clouds warning* i know they are totally uncool, but barends were really good for climbing. also, sram's push-push shifters are terrible. also, 12 years after my last mtn bike had a low-normal r. der., why does high-normal still exist? it is totally inferior.

i had a grand time, though.

barends? i still got 'em. fuck the haters.

first time out on the mtb in like 2-3 months on saturday. man i felt like a noob.

Quite lucky I didn't come, then! OTOH I'd have made you feel 1337.

http://i486.photobucket.com/albums/rr222/Chass3ur/New/suckyweather.jpg

since i'm the weather complainer-- COME ON HERE. im spoiled by the weather here but really.

A tough 50-mile training ride this morning with a guy who's stronger than me. We sprinted for most village signs and pushed it hard up the climbs - I managed to win a couple of sprints, but lost about ten and couldn't stay with him on the longer climbs, but I like having to work hard.

100km down the (flat) coast to frankston and back, with ex-workmate and a friend of his from geelong - very strong rider on c'dale synapse with sram red copped rain on the return leg, then had to contend w/ some brutal crosswinds that knocked my mate around a bit (lol italian climbers). i got BRAGGIN rights on the sharp little climb thru the city by putting it in the BIG RING and thrashing up to the top, heh!

Another tough training ride this morning. I went out with some hardened racers who were going on a deliberately hilly route (i.e. it kept doubling back pn itself to take in all the tough climbs, in as much as climbs in Essex can be tough). I'd been warned it was every man for himself: if you got dropped you were on your own, but I wasn't worried - I could easily find my way home if necessary and I wanted a good workout. I made a point of leading over every climb in the first 30 miles - I was the only one with a compact so I was able to just spin away from people when the road ramped up. By this stage our group had been whittled down from 8 to 6 and then to 4. Then a couple of guys put the hammer down and broke away and I ended up doing bit-and-bit with another guy as we tried to chase them down but they just disappeared. By now my legs were feeling destroyed. Through sheer luck I came across one of the guys who had been dropped earlier and we rode the last stretch together - when we went up the final climb (13%) we were both wobbling all over the road, barely able to keep pedalling. 53 miles and (according to my phone, which isn't the most reliable source) 2,666 feet of climbing (809m).

http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r299/crunchydog_2006/IMG_00502.jpg
As you can see, many of the other riders didn't have mudguards, so I got a face/body/legs/mouth full of mud. As you can also see, my daughter ran in front of the camera at the crucial moment.

just the 30-odd miles for me today, but it was the first decent run-out in ages, dere lord have I lost *all* of my base fitness - hit max HR on more than a couple of (pretty small apart from CryPal hill) climbs, ouch.

daaamn yesterday was pretty. really cranked through the rollers on paradise loop. so good.

really cranked through the rollers on paradise loop

I have no idea what this means.

it means i rode this squiggly section on the north side, which is gentle ups and downs, at a pace that's fast for me

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=233+Dorland+St,+San+Francisco,+California+94114&ll=37.900865,-122.465286&spn=0.045648,0.090895&t=h&z=14

Thanks.

--got new carbon fork installed last night along with new headset for stupid cheap
--biked 2 sxhool
--came out over lunch to find a note that said, basically, that someone saw a delivery van back into my bike. they pulled the plates and company name and even looked up the phone number for me
--called cops, who filed a hit and run report, and even called the company to "scare them" for me
--going to get an estimate. if the frame isn't bent (no dents) then it should just be a new wheel/fender. worried about the fork though
--phasers set to "str8 murder a motherfucker"

don't even know what my bike looks like anymore ;_;

this made me really sad, man.

can you just fucking sledgehammer it and demand a moots?

^not "legal" advice in any way shape or form.
xpost

i think it'll work out in my favor

guys at my neighborhood shop (right off my bus route) gave an estimate that jived with what i had figured myself, but there was some debate about whether or not the frame was misaligned. one guy thought it was (10mm), the other guy said it wasn't (4mm). going to my friend's shop tomorrow (better mechanics, more likely to be "generous") for the final appraisal. plus they'll give me a loaner, which is nice.

plus my pretty "new" mtb frame is just sitting there on the couch, waiting to be built.

still needs pretty much everything :-/

Had a fantastic day yesterday with http://www.ukbikeskills.co.uk/, doing a kinda back to basics course, simple techniques for drops and cornering. Bloke was an amazing teacher, a genius for not only figuring out what needs fixing, but how to get that information across - he has this theory that people are either kinetic, visual, or audio learners, they need to either actually do something, or see it, or be told. And it works! I'm audio and kinetic apparently, so he was just telling me things and occasionally getting me to try things out on the flat, other people he was taking photos on the phone and showing them what they were doing wrong (or right). The techniques are all fairly simple but he has them spot on, and it seems like half the mtb world is ignorant of them - it was years before I discovered that if you want to lift the front wheel, pulling up on it is just about the worst thing you can do.

They also have the most incredible amount of insane northshire you'll probably ever see packed into a 40 metres square area.

ppl that damaged my bike now want a complete replacement estimate along with the repair estimate. my friends tell me that this is likely a liability thing (can't blame them for fork failure a month from now, say).

apparently my cranks, new, are worth more than the frame fork and wheelset combined o_o

post-eye surgery i'm to wear goggles while cycling, so as not to dry out the corneas too much. i'm gonna look awesome.

forever?

just for the next month.

you could go for the Andy Hampsten look circa the 88 Giro:

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=hampsten+gavia

I'm doing The Puncheur sportive on Sunday (the hilly 70-miler finishing on Ditchling Beacon in Sussex which I've done for the last two years as well) and then doing my first race the weekend after that. My brother, who is an ex-triathlete and in the army, is briefly in Britain at the moment and I convinced him to take part in it too (when one too many Christmas champagnes probably made it seem like a good idea). What with his job he doesn't get much opportunity to cycle and he'd hardly ridden at all for months until this week: not a recipe for success. I had the day off work today and drove down to Biggin Hill to meet up with him and do a 30-mile ride. It's extremely hilly round there - you're constantly going up or down - but even so, I was expecting it to take less than two hours. It ended up taking more like three and included a lengthy stop while he bought lots of food after blowing up. He's not optimistic about being able to last the distance on Sunday. I've told him I won't be trying to set a time, that I'll just stay with him, but I our parents' house is virtually on the route and I think he's already made his plans to bail out.