your daily bicycle log

and, to be quite honest: i've never really done any long road rides that haven't been in the city! so my experience has been limited to a) MTBing in Montana (outrageous) and b) messing/commuting in Chicago and MPLS.

btw just bought The Rider, and am looking forward to reading it post-midterms

oxford is a relatively safe place to cycle because there are so many of us, but it's also very cramped. if it doesn't go well i get home with a very sandy vagina. i think i'm probably taking it a little too personally.

the rider looks cool (and short).

the cover is great imo

*googles the rider* i didnt know that was the guy who wrote the vanishing. i remember geeking out while watching it when the guy mangles zoetemelk into "zoltamec."

cover is great. i've been looking for a poster of it for a while.

The Rider is fantastic. Very good on race psychology - not that I've ever raced, not properly anyway, but his descriptions have the force of truth behind them. He was also a top chess player, I think.

The commute back in the traffic the other day wasn't so bad - getting used to road positioning and the like again. A black cab did come up the inside of me and slewed across me and I got buffeted by a long bendy bus not realising that once you've started to overtake a stationary bus, you've really got to complete the manouvre. Driver obviously felt I was impinging on his space and so impinged forcefully on mine. Still, all part of the something or other I suppose - and wises you up pretty quickly as well.

There is something quite exhilarating about rush hour cycling - just the sheer number of split second decisions you have to take and minor acts of folly that you have to perform. But on the whole I'd rather not.

Pittsburgh has finally defeated the old conti gp3s I inflicted on my gf's bike. 3 punctures in a week so I have humbly purchased a set of Schwalbe marathons and I'm hoping they suit the cratered streets a bit better.

However, despite the old tyres being due to my cheapness when i built her bike, the new tyres and buying her a pair of bike shoes for v-day meant she sneaked away and ordered me these:

http://www.bicyclefixation.com/images/knickers/knicks_LLE2_02.jpg

I am very pleased that I have encouraged her from not biking at all to wanting to steal my egg beaters in less than 2 years.

I run Schwalbe Marathon Plus on my bikes. A damn solid tyre thus far.

I've got those schwalbe marathon plus as well. I would be interested to know how people find them to get on and off. My last set of durable winter tyres (on my Claude Butler tourer) were dreadful - screaming at the sky, bloodied and broken thumbs dreadful.

Things that blocked my route to work this morning -

1) A Canada goose, standing implacably sideways across my path.

2) Some tit with an ipod wandering aimlessly down the cycle lane, staring at the sky, playing some kind of game of wiffleball in his head, insensible to the steadily rising levels of my imprecations.

Still, all better than a bendy bus indicating and immediately pulling out just as you've started to overtake it.

I put the marathons on, admittedly in the warm and they were fine. Let me tell you when pittsburgh eats one and its zub zero out, then I will tell you how much I swear.

Failed bunnyhop onto a kerb = somersault = cracked ribs and swollen knee. Bollocks.

Ouch. You have my sympathies - I had broken ribs last year and they're a bugger to sleep on. If it's any consolation, I currently have a bruised knee from attempting and failing the difficult and dangerous stunt of stopping and taking my foot out of the pedal.

Still, much needed hilarity for the glum misanthropes in black cabs and white vans that were around me, so not all bad.

eeek, sorry to hear that mark! i had some kind of bruised rib thing a few weeks ago (also from a bike crash...lol new year's), it'll get better

Thanks guys. I'm annoyed as I've done it twice before and I know what a pain (literally) it is for several weeks with nothing you can do about it beyond neck painkillers. And I guess it's buggered up my lovely long ride plans for the next two weekends, as well as playing on my brand new Wii and picking up my brand new fixie :)

ouch

^

it rained for like a week straight so yesterday i was itching to ride. I went for a quick* 45 mile trip out across the GGB, first group ride in a looooooong time. Originally we planned a longer trip but one of the dudes had a noon engagement so we decided to pick up the pace a little bit.

also did my first real climb. SF has a lot of bumps but I realized I hadn't had a 2-3 mile climb in years and we had a huge one on this ride. i'm riding a compact crankset which I'm not entirely sold on yet, but I appreciated it on the climb. i find i'm spinning out on the descents... maybe a byproduct of riding exclusively fixed for a few years.

Surprisingly I felt pretty good, one of the guys is pretty fit and was helpful and pressing me quite a bit. incidentally i'm taking the day off today and it's raining so no big deal.

http://www.mapmyride.com/route/us/ca/san%20francisco/350347471478

*3 hours including about 20 minutes of dead time (flat change, water refills, etc.)

I assume you weren't on the pista?

also can someone explain to me the concept of the compact crankset?

I'm not familiar with the term 'crankset', but I think it means a particularly small inner chainring with a normal-sized outer one, say 50-34 (instead of 52-42, for example), meaning you can get up steep hills by spinning away.

http://bikehugger.com/2008/05/the_rise_of_the_compact_crank.htm

Compact cranks intrigue me a lot - it looks like I'd get mostly the same gear combos as my current triple without the hassle of having a triple. It's super hilly where I live and there's no way I'd get by with a normal double.

Do they actually work well, or is it a bad compromise?

i wouldn't race on one

I'm a big fat slow dude with unshaved legs though.

It obviously worked for Steve on that ride and it sounds like it might be useful for joygoat, but I can't stand the compact crankset, and they really increasingly seem to be the only thing fitted on a bike when you buy one these days. It just doesn't make any sense because it never matches your level of fitness - they're either too low or too high.

Hilly areas are the exception and I can see why they'd be pretty useful there.

I think the opposite to ABT - I have a compact and my weak little legs hugely appreciate it on any decent hill. I can do well over 40 mph in 50/12 and since I don't race I don't think I'm losing out by not having more high gears. The one issues I do have is that without a 18t sprocket, I basically shift between 50/17 and 50/19 when cruising on relatively flat ground.

But I don't understand how it never matches your level of fitness - I stay in the middle of the cassette in the big ring, occasionally using the little ring on hills, and apart from the 18t issue the range is way wider than I need 99% of the time, while 34/27 is a godsend on proper hills.

If I were super fit and raced I wouldn't have one either, but for the vast majority of us it makes complete sense to use a compact.

Point taken, especially since I haven't used one. My brother recently bought a bike, having been used to the old style sets and we got quite worked up about the recent trend (from an email to other brother) -

He said that nearly all 08/09 bikes have had there gear ratios changed from 34/50 to 39/53.

Jack, your bike has the 39/53, my bike has 34/50. He and I were looking for around 20 minutes through bikes, trying to find new bikes, that have the bigger gear ratio. I was actually about to give up.

How ridiculous is that? He said that they have all been changed for so-called "multi terrain racing".

As for me - I'm still getting used to my fixed, which is lovely, but i've ridden it so much since I got it three weeks ago that I've given myself a gammy knee. Still can't trackstand (brother: it's easy!), still can't skid stop (brother: it's really not that much effort). Both lies as it turns out.

Whenever I ride something without a 53 I feel like I am missing out on some speed, I feel like I have long, slow, muscly legs though and 39 seems about right for the hills round here even if I am still getting used to the fact that there are some sustained climbs round here. Mind you I don't tend to haul heavy shopping up many of them, I might appreciate a compact then, but I might appreciate a granny gear even more.

i haven't counted the teeth on my crosscheck, but i think it's a std road double? either way, when i first got it i spent most of time on the inside ring, mostly because i was used to having a high cadence from my track bike.

the thing with both trackstanding and skidding is that you'll probably just have to go to a parking lot and try both for a while before you get it. unlikely to just happen while you're riding around on the street (dangerous, too). i "figured out" skidding on a very snowy day in chicago. by the time the streets were dry again, i'd gotten it down. standing took a bit longer (actually practiced), but i can do it on my road bike now w/o any trouble

I don't think I've had a bike without a 53 since I was 11.

just have to go to a parking lot

Yes, that. Rather than just half heartedly trying at some lights before going no way too dangerous. Do like the fixed wheel though - very, very smooth and relaxing to ride.

I have to say as well that I'm LOVING my early morning commute. 15 miles of London without traffic is just great. Even the evening rush hour commute isn't as bad as it was, although there's always a couple of close shaves.

Ed, if the inches are the same, then it doesn't matter how big your ring is. As it were.

^^^this

i get more gear inches out of my 50x12 then i do a 53x13, and not to be a weight weenie but for less grams.

I still can't trackstand or skid. Practicing the trackstands though, but only at lights etc. My tyres are too chunky and grippy for skidding.

went on a ride today and came across a herd of sheep grazing...had to stop a couple of times and walk my bike through the sheep

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3429/3315825684_f80749e10b.jpg?v=0

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3442/3315824732_6c70a98cee.jpg?v=0

Lovely. I used to cycle in Richmond Park first thing in the morning, with the mist still nestling in the hollows and the deer sleeping, with their heads and antlers just peeping above the mist. Only took me an hour to get into work this morning - across London at about 5.30, some people getting up, some people getting home. Not much traffic. Great.

I'm getting up at stupid o'clock tomorrow morning to do a sportive in Sussex. Just under 70 miles and it's forecast to be raining. :-(
FWIW on my new bike I have 53/39 and 10-spd 12-25 on the back. This has proved OK around London/Essex, tomorrow will see what it's like on proper hills.

Re: skidding and trackstanding
Skidding seems like a good way to waste a perfectly good tire, and a bad way to stop. But that's just my opinion. FYI, I've heard that's it good to practice on a wet surface after it rains, and the trick is to shift your body weight way forward at first (crotch touching the stem). I'm not speaking from personal experience though.

Trackstanding is a useful skill and super fun. Try practicing on a road with sloped sides (for drainage or whatnot). Turn your front wheel so it's facing up the slope and gravity will help you keep your balance until you get the feel. You can also find a crack in the asphalt to kind of wedge the tire against. You want to find a way to plant that front wheel so you can practice shifting your body weight to maintain balance. I'm hardly an expert. I still suck at it, but a successful trackstand is quite gratifying.

if i had had to learn trackstands in england, it would have never happened

4 hours today up to bear mountain from manhattan, 70 miles of endurance

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=bear+mountain,+ny&sll=41.303667,-73.991203&sspn=0.05429,0.086346&ie=UTF8&ll=41.303861,-74.004679&spn=0.05429,0.086346&t=h&z=14&iwloc=addr

Skidding seems like a good way to waste a perfectly good tire, and a bad way to stop.

Agreed Super Cub, although it's quite handy going downhill. I think I've got the knack of it in fact - you straighten one leg at the bottom of the pedal, which shoves you forward and up and pull up at the same time with the other pedal.

I think it's quite handy if you want to take a bit of speed off very quickly - useful if you're going fast sometimes. The number of wear patches on your tyre depends on the gear ratio, doesn't it?

Anyhow I like my brake - although I didn't need it this morning; another early morning ride into work, and Sunday's the best to do it. One of the good things at the moment is that its getting light earlier across my ride time, so each day, or shift, new parts of the ride have a different look. This morning it was cycling across Hyde Park, with the victorian style lamps still glowing softly on both sides of the Serpentine - an almost oriental effect - and with a silvery light, especially by the Albert Memorial, reminiscent of those early summer mornings when you've been up all night. Fantastic.

Cutty, that ride sounds magnificent.

Although what wasn't so fantastic was getting to work, having a shower and then realising I'd left my goddam towel downstairs. Obviously at home you can do the scamper of shame, but clearly this wasn't an option. I had to do a little dance to the paper towel dispenser, and a little dance back to the shower cubicle and then do my best.

74 miles today: 69 of them in the sportive. I managed to get 'Silver' standard by finishing in less than 4.5 hours. I was in soooooo much pain on the final climb (Ditchling Beacon) which seemed to go on forever. I could have done with a lower gear. I managed to grind my way up at about 7mph with my legs semi-cramping all the time, but it felt like hell.

Bear Mountain is a beautiful place, but that is one hell of a ride, I couldn't even begin to contemplate managing that.

Although what wasn't so fantastic was getting to work, having a shower and then realising I'd left my goddam towel downstairs. Obviously at home you can do the scamper of shame, but clearly this wasn't an option. I had to do a little dance to the paper towel dispenser, and a little dance back to the shower cubicle and then do my best.

haha. Had you done the scamper of shame, your schedule would suddenly open up for all kinds of lovely mid-day rides.

Rode for a few hours around north San Diego county, through escondio and rancho santa fe. Saw a cool red-tailed hawk at the Lake Hodges dam. Weather was perfect.

http://veloroutes.org/bikemaps/?route=26961#

http://www.flickr.com/photos/32298823@N04/sets/72157614645910220/

Teh Movable Object - that is brilliant!

ridin my bike today for the first time in...almost 3 weeks?!