your daily bicycle log

I fell off my bike.

Very stupidly hit a level crossing on river avenue at the wrong angle in the twilight and ejected. Nothing damaged expect my pride really. Skinned my knees slightly bruised a hand and my left ankle is swollen. Bike fine, i ripped a glove and cracked a sole plate. I feel like a prize pillock but I'll mend.

Just after, as I was walking along, catching my breath by the side of an empty road, some arsehole in a minivan drove past me slowly, leaning on his horn, hardly moving over at all.

people are dicks! at least you got away unscathed.

went past baaaad crash this morning, someone down in middle of the road, big pack also stopped and directing traffic and stuff. didn't want to stop and gawk so not sure what happened.

more lolzy developments later: we'd hooked up woth my riding buddy's friends and made a group of six. everyone started watching each other near the foot of oliver's hill so i hit them, got 20 metres and thought the KOM was in the bag... and realised i had a puncture. SO denied.

Feeling hobbled by hamstring problems. Not sure if I need to harden TF up or the opposite.

Crazy winds, constantly at least 25mph with gusts of up to 50mph. I went out on Friday for a couple of hours - at one point (into a headwind) I was only managing 9.5mph on the flat. Then the heavens opened I got drowned in a ten-minute deluge of horizontal rain.

Did a 4th-cat race at Hog Hill yesterday in the same windy conditions, which made it 'challenging' to say the least. They had us on the 'Alpine' version of the course (which has you going gently downhill through three near-180 degree turns) which is technical enough at the best of times, but a bit mental when you keep switching between savage headwind/crosswind/tailwind. Photo. On top of that the pace was absolutely crazy for the first couple of laps and the bunch got absolutely shredded - down from 32 to just 16 in about five minutes of racing. I managed to hang on for about 45 minutes of the hour-long race - the photographer was kindly on hand to capture the precise moment I got dropped on the climb: going, going... gone. I knew there weren't many left in the bunch by this point (in fact half the field had been lapped) so I carried on on my own to the bitter end in the hope I could scrape into the top ten and score some points. I caught and passed another who got dropped later than me, but came in 12th.

i crested a 20% hill today, 2 hours into a long mtb ride, feeling bad. it's 93 deg out, and i was going for a pr for father's day. as i sat up to recover, i started getting hit by bugs, they were flying everywhere. a swarm. i looked down at me legs and...they were ladybugs. there were thousands of them flying everywhere, i must have had 20 of them on me.

my legs. and my legs were not ladybugs, though that would have been cool too.

out and back to Stillwater for the crit. great spectating, crowd was nutso for it. we were posted up on the climb, which kicks up to 22%. motherfuckers were doing wheelies in the middle of it. so baller

I was gonna say, Hunter, at the top of a steep hill your mind can start playing tricks...

noob here. have biked 15 days in a row. biked 0 days in about 10 years before that :)

― bnw, Tuesday, May 29, 2012 7:23 PM (3 weeks ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

my streak is still up minus 1 24 period out of town. today i doubled my normal ride and it was disturbingly easy!

one of us

Battered by strong winds and soaked to the skin again. I wish something resembling summer would show its face.

ay yi yi 100 deg today and tomorrow and 95+ sunday. feel terrible for the firefighters up at High Park :(

Did an extremely windy 10-mile time trial followed by an accidental 20-mile warm down (not lost, just badly misjudged the scale of the map)

It's up around 30˚C today which is actually cooler than it's been most of the week. Did a flat 80km today preparation for a century ride tomorrow. Temperature is going up again tomorrow, glad it starts at 6:30am.

Rumours that we're going to break through the 20˚C barrier next week and have a couple of days without rain

as i completed my 80 kms today my garmin claimed 43.5 deg C. fortunately, it was only 38.5. also fortunately, most of my ride was earlier, cooler, and over 2000 m.

metric is hard.

246km this weekend 2263m of climbing, i feel pretty pleased about that

feel like i am slowly losing noob shell. I have been honked at for no reason, been called an ass for shouting at girl on cell phone standing in middle on path. probably need a crash before i am legit.

100 deg in the shade again by the end of my ride today. i felt terrible terrible and heat zapped, so i just packed it in and pointed back to town, hit the pool with the kids.

my biggest day ever yesterday! 100.7 miles, 7,600 feet of climb. three people out of five dropped out. i may have kept some people waiting on some hilltops, but i finished, feeling fine. good day.

Resolved to do 70 mi and 7k of climbing, I did 5k of climbing and feeling great- rear flat in rain storm. Fix it, went .5 miles front flatted. Sitting on the side of the road, waiting for a lift. (used my spare tube, patch didn't happen 4 me, out of co2 anyway). May I should start carrying a pump again, I hear having a heavy bike will make my training better.)

Six thousand fixed-gear miles in six months!

Did reckon with the Pittsburgh regatta when out today. Not entirely sure what it is but it seems to consist of a bunch of partially clothed drunks floating in the river and lolling in parking lots that culminates with a Kenny Chesney concert.

Damned hot again today.

two flats on saturday - think something's up with the sidewall of the back tyre. was going to get some new GP4000s anyway so no biggie i guess, plus it's raining all week up to saturday so they should be here by then!

two flats on saturday - think something's up with the sidewall of the back tyre.

had this recently. took me an embarrassingly long time to work out what it was tho.

Got drenched yesterday. Didn't learn my lesson. Set off again today when the eternal rain had eased a bit. Roads flooded all over the place. At one point I was 'riding' through at least 18 inches of water. I tried to escape this by going onto a main road instead of country lanes, only to find this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXH9R0E-1v8&feature=youtu.be
It took me quite a few diversions and a bit of walking off road to get home. The heavens opened to give me a torrential downpour for the last five minutes, just to make my day. When I finally got in I discovered squashed bits of slug smeered all down the sides of my cycling shoes. What a summer.

(I can't see anything above where I posted a youtube clip, try this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXH9R0E-1v8&feature=youtu.be)

Can't even see my link now? In formatting hell, one last try: View this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXH9R0E-1v8

not cycling weather imo

72 miles and 7300 ft of vert feelin like total shit in the cold, fog, and rain. at 5:45 AM. outcome- 14mph avg! *hits mental erase button*

Went out for a brief 30k on my way back was wing mirrored by an E350 box truck. Not too bad some minor bruising but the driver who did at least stop wasn't very apologetic and initially wouldn't give his details without the police being there but then relented when I said I was happy to wait.

Asked me if I was a Christian as if it would be OK to run me over if I had another life to move onto.

Wing mirrored as in clipped by a car coming from behind you? yuck

exactly. At least it was high up and caught a fleshy part. (of which I have many)

lol

the commuter is in getting a service so i've been running errands in the rain this morning on a loaner - this sikkkk rig. 'cept it's orange! quite stately form of progress i must say.

That gearing wouldn't disgrace an SS 29er

does the suspension seatpost help smooth the bumps?

it just feels a bit bouncy really, i didn't like it. that and the squidgy seat are the main drawbacks.

having said that i didn't seek out any five-star sectors to give it a REAL test...

Went on a group ride from local coffee shop. A little shambolic. Advertised as a no drop but appears to have morphed into dual drop and no-drop rides. Given I was able to keep with the front group it wasn't too hot a pace. Made it up the only significant climb paced by a girl on a fixie, I tried to take a turn and couldn't. All went well till I punctured before the last kick up of the day.

Fun ride.

rode out to the CX race, stood at the mud pit, clanked the cowbell, got draaank

70 miles today with a hangover and minimal sleep

I did some of the dc-pittsburgh ride with friends this weekend. Wasn't meant to be back today but something cause my rear mech to get sucked into my spokes on the climb of the day (and the route really) It ripped the mech and hanger off. I made the bike a single speed and finished the day. I had to abandon and ride back down. The frame may well be trashed which sucks

Now I've got the Garmin I've signed up to Strava. Did a short (20-mile) ride today with a couple of all-out efforts on the climbs to how I'd rank on those segments. There were two versions of the first climb (depending on whether you start measuring from the start of the uphill section or the start of the steepest section) - I managed to get King of the Mountains for one version and second best time on the other version (out of 105 riders)! I also managed to get 3rd out of 71 on the final climb.
http://app.strava.com/rides/13827539#254547543
http://app.strava.com/rides/13827539#254547557
http://app.strava.com/rides/13827539#254547541
On that last climb I'm ranked between someone with a power output of 432w and someone with 375w - can I safely assume mine was somewhere in between?

After a spirited night out yesterday, I woke up too late to head to Arran walking with my mum & sister this morning, so decided that I would cycle out to Ardrossan to meet them off the ferry back, as a surprise. I got soaked on the way there and, after huddling in an abandoned cow shed in East Ayrshire for half an hour unsuccessfully waiting for the deluge to cease, I only just made it, shooting down the A-road hill to the coast as the ferry pulled in, then got lost around Irvine on the way back and ended up nudging 80 miles (solo, fixed gear) on one dextro tablet, a really dreadful cup of coffee from the cafe in Ardrossan Asda and a whole heap of water.

I loved it!

Your fixed gear exploits genuinely terrify me

Rides like that would be better with a freewheel and gears really, but hey ho!

did group ride for local fancy shop t0tal ru$h w/ my main riding pal after much badgering. weather was good and there would have been 50+ riders in the bunch. testing but manageable pace on the way down the coast, but got caught out at a stoplight and lost the main bunch, then some others in my straggler group pulled the pin a couple of kms before the main turnaround point so I turned early and rode solo back, thinking I'd catch back on when the bunch came by. ended up making it back to the regroup point as the main bunch did; the 15 'leaders' blew by about 5km before (pace was HOT).

entertaining to an extent, but a bit miffed that some guy behind me reckoned I wasn't calling out potholes - well nobody in front of me was either pal, maybe get irate at someone in shop colours rather than me when I'm sat near the back trying to stay out of trouble. also beach rd is boring. think I'll stick to lumpy rides.

bike has developed annoying creak from around BB area during out-of-saddle efforts, which is a bit annoying.

Sunshine at last (after a summer which has broken all known records for shitness). Did my club's 25-mile time trial this morning and broke my PB (1:06:09, ten seconds quicker than my previous best a couple of years ago). Now that I've got the Garmin I can actually analyze the performance and route. As I suspected, the return leg is much harder - approx 50m of climbing and 110m of descending on the way out, the opposite on the way back - which isn't helped by the fact there's almost always a strong tailwind on the way out and headwind on the way back. This was the case again today, I averaged 25mph to the turn and a whisker under 21mph on the way back. My heart rate averaged 176 - I think there's something I'm supposed to be able to calculate now I know that, but I've forgotten what.
http://app.strava.com/rides/14125177#263658077

If you have strava premium it'll estimate your power which for that effort should be your Threshold power.

Ah - so the power figures which other riders have are mostly estimates, are they? I noticed that a minority of them have an 'electricity' symbol next them, presumably these are actual measurements from power meters and the rest are just guesses?

strava power estimates are good for longer climbs. they're not so good for tts ime if you are on aero gear.

i was extreme today according to strava. not fast, just...extreeeeme.

http://app.strava.com/rides/14168117