your daily bicycle log

i just broke my bike chain! while sprinting through an intersection! yow!

don't get any of delusions of grandeur now mr vo2 max

u guyz race (each other) i bring booz

bring it

mostly it was just a little alarming. the plate broke? i'm guessing because of corrosion. also cutty i will race you only if i get a head start

got in a nice 35 miler on the road bike, first time in months, up the canyon. crisp temps (40 deg), but the sky was flawless blue. saw old friends. too good.

yesterday: 65 miles through the mountains (3 stages of fairly intense 7-9% grade climbing), i got dropped after the last set and I was sucking wind pretty hard. the descents were fast and intense. extremely beautiful and picturesque views of the North Bay of SF.

http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-states/ca/san-francisco/571657228

a buddy of mine used to live in san anselmo and he took me over those roads. really pretty.

another trip into the hills today for a couple of hours. roads were deserted since it was still frosty early in the morning.

climbing switchbacks alone is nice when youre not fit--you forget how slow youre going. and the views.

went running today instead of running....muddy, bloody, awesome

errr, instead of cycling

fuck running! ;)

i've started running again. it is unrelated, but mtb pals are sprogging or moving away :/

apparently its ride yr bike to work day at my building--racks are chockablock. the trees are budding out though.

yah everyone was riding today---it's gonna be sixty!

Seems like it. Racks are very full here. Had a meeting with the prof I might be doing some research for and it turns out she is a massive bike geek as well.

Comes a time in every cyclist's life when kit needs to be washed. That time has come.

Also, I have done that thing that I always think slightly contemptible in others - the sun's come out, and this means it's obviously summer, so I cycled to work in t-shirt and shorts. Now it is late evening and I've got to cycle home. It's bloody nippy.

I will be an icicle on a bicycle.

if ridin in a tshirt n shorts is wrong, i dont wanna be right. but ill wait for even warmer weather thx.

so ive done way more riding than usual this week, about 230 miles so far, and i cant stop eating. i ate 6 bagels tuesday. then i ate 5 barbeque sandwiches at my firm's catered meeting/lunch yesterday and got the O_o from people, with the usual 'how u skinny?' (i actually tried to be pretty discreet about my eating, but was starving an it got noticed).

You guys, I had my first ride on a fixed wheel velocipede!

I cycled the Bob Jackson back from London Bridge - 9 or 10 miles I guess? I have seldom if ever been so scared on a bike, and for once not because of traffic. My hands are stiff and sore, my bum feels tender in unusual places, and my mind is a whirr.

Initial thoughts, in no particular order:

- don't stop pedalling don't stop pedalling don't stop pedalling
- I did stop pedalling, of course, 4 times I think, once as I was almost home and subconsciously easing up. No-one told me that as well as the upward thrust you also get what feels like speed wobble! Thank god I was gripping the bars so hard...
- saddle needs to be slightly higher and pointing slightly further up, and if a quill stem's height can be adjusted - it can, can't it? - I'd like that slightly higher too. But no surprise as the bike wasn't set up for me
- why do people ride fixed gear bikes without the world's best front brake? The Vigorelli has a brand new Tiagra caliper and some strange, small lever with sharp edges which may be the nuts in the world of track (yes, I know they don't use brakes on the track) but is really not very user friendly. My fingers are knackered!
- man, I can go up hills quickly!
- I've never felt such smoothness in a bike
- I miss hoods!
- 48/18 is an excellent gearing combo for London, phew

and i cant stop eating

lol

you'll get used to it Mark!

and yeah, (short) hills are weirdly easier on my fix. it is a mystery

you can adjust yr quill stem. just loosen the bolt on top with an allen key, thwack it down with some kind of PADDED mallet (ie - rubber, or like use a book or something in between, you get the idea), and adjust to fit. make sure the neck is long enough, tho

Cheers gbx. Seems counter-intuitive to hit the stem DOWN when you want to pull it up, but that's what another friend told me too so I trust you guys! Not sure how long it'll take me to get used to it, and I really might have to look at the brake situation (it's a Paul brake lever, I discovered this morning - this one, to be precise (horse not included)).

The hills thing is presumably because, unlike on a geared bike where you can choose how much of a man to be when you're aproaching a hill, on a fixed you have to just go balls out all the way.

if ridin in a tshirt n shorts is wrong

Nothing wrong with ridin in t-shirts and shorts - I actually meant the sun coming out in March causing people to go round dressed like its summer. As you say - wait for the warmer weather! It actually wasn't too bad at the end - warmed up fairly quickly.

I've never felt such smoothness in a bike

This. It's really the thing I love most about riding fixed - along with the feeling of control and, er, one-ness with the road. You get used to it fairly quickly, I've found (I've only been riding fixed a couple of months now and feeling totally comfortable - there's no way I'd go back ).

Front brake is A GOOD THING though. Resisting too much to slow down isn't great for the legs, I've heard, although obviously its useful at slow speeds. Better as much as possible just to let your legs go heavy. Skid stops, once you've got the hang of them, great for taking off speed quickly but, well, the brake is a good thing to have! Also useful if you want to get the crank back up to where you want if you're going off from a junction - just apply the front brake and lean forward, pulling the crank up to the position you want (rather than lifting the saddle up, as I did).

The lower the gear the better with a fixed I think, especially for city riding. High cadences are no problem (you never get the feeling you are pedalling too fast, or are in too low a gear) and are easier on the knees and good for smooth cycling. Good also for getting away from junctions.

My 48/15 feels a little heavy truth be told, and I think I'll change it as and when.

Beautiful day today. Felt/feels like summer rather than spring.

And I luckily had a rare day off - hurrah!

I'm gradually easing myself back in after 10 days complete break following the disastrous calf-strain-at-end-of-race incident. A couple of 2-mile commutes in the week, a gentle 7-miles yesterday morning, and I've just done 17 miles. No problems yet, but I'm avoiding any major efforts for the moment. I reckon it might be shorts weather.

Damnit I'm gonna get a fixie. Any recommendations? I don't wanna break the bank.

Herne hill cycles always has a good bottom of the range fixie, £250-300 ish.

4 hours, 70 miles, 2880 kilojoules of energy

time to eat, shower, NAP, eat, eat, eat, smoke weed

2 hours 20 mins, 3300 feet of climbing, 40ish miles. time to go play miniature golf with my 5 year old, then powerwash the deck to prep for staining.

coming back down to town, all of the local club rides were going up the canyon in groups of 10, 20, 40. It was ON, with the nice weather.

also, i got passed while climbing the hairpins by the local mini club (about 25 cars), and a club of shelby cobra replicas (15 or so). i assume they were kit cars at least.

time to go play miniature golf with my 5 year old, then powerwash the deck to prep for staining.

sounds exhausting

just went on a short hike at over 10k in altitude, and was embarrassingly winded

5.5 hours, 103 miles, 3,654 kilojoules

that's about 15 hours and 284 miles this week

27 enjoyable miles in the unseasonable sun in the Essex countryside
Cutty - that's extreme

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2659814 Drove out to where I grew up and did a 1989-revival-ride

they bulldozed one of my favorite local climbs. it was a dirt road that went about 8% steady for 600m, then took a left and went 14% for the last 200m. a dirt wall, just fantastic, and it fell near at the 2/3 mark of winter rides, after which i'd mostly descend about a 1000 ft to home. now its a 2 lane highway that contours the hill at a steady 6-7%, paved obv., and drops into the luxe environs of castle pines. fuk u progress.

Damnit I'm gonna get a fixie. Any recommendations? I don't wanna break the bank.

― ledge, Saturday, March 21, 2009 10:42 AM (4 days ago)

I recently got a Fuji track, which is fine in one sense, at the cheaper end of the market anyway, but if you are going to go for something like that, you'll want to factor in pedals, obviously, but also, more importantly, make sure you get a low gear ratio - something like 48/19 I reckon. Track bikes often come with track racing ratios, which are too high for urban cycling - pressure on knees, accelerating and decelerating are more of a hassle.

If you're anything like me, at first it will feel too low after a road bike, but this is just a case of learning to spin fast, which looks ridiculous on a geared bike, but fine on a fixed wheel.

If you're in England, Condor I think do relatively cheap, fixed wheel bikes that you can customize. And local retailers who have experience of doing conversions and of building fixed wheel bikes may well be able to do you something even cheaper to your spec.

Sorry, that's all really obvious isn't it? I just wanted to stress going for the lower gear ratio, because I didn't really think about it when I bought mine, so I just ended up spending more than I would have done otherwise.

Cheers (and to Ed for the shop recommendation). I've got a reasonable idea of ratios thanks to my old singlespeed conversion which is 42/16 and pretty much ideal for London, so I guess I'll be looking at 48/18.

God, maybe I should change my name to Abbe Patronishing Tit - obviously you knew all that, ledge.

I blame the wind, which currently blows in my face all the way to work, causing me to have gear ratios on the brain a bit.

At one point around Gunnersbury I hit a wind tunnel and thought I was going to blasted into another dimension. Tomorrow I might put a basket on the front of my bike, a bike Sturmey Archer hub on the back, and wrap a floral headscarf around my head to make the speed I go at look less laughable.

Nah it's still good to hear, especially that low ratio is the way to go 'cause I was wondering whether I should switch it up a bit.

Wind while cycling is the worst. [insert bad fart gag here.]

I would recommend looking at an on-one pompino but they see to be out of stock of everything at the moment.

i would recommend sticking with gears

beat my PR on my 16 mile ride to work (Mostly rolling hills along PCH ) by 5 minutes, stoked. mostly due to the wind finally being a non-factor for once.

The wind being a considerable plus factor, you mean :)

I almost killed myself coming home, and I'm not sure how! I did blast past a bunch of roadies and hybrids at one point and only a few hundred yards later did I realise quite how much effort I was putting in. And I am recovering from illness, so bound to be weaker. Honest.

Today: 10-20 inches of snow 25mph wind from north. SNOWBIKE IN EFFECT. (not too terrible on way in)

I run 48x19 and it suits me reasonably well. Condor are quite expensive, but v. nice.

Fuji Track is solid and cheap. There's also the Charge Plug, Genesis Flyer, Bianchi Pista and many more that are all popular.

Take a look at this thread on the London Fixed-Gear & Single-Speed forums for an excellent comprehensive list of Off-The-Peg fg/ss bikes at various price levels: http://www.londonfgss.com/thread9085.html

OK, I want this:

http://www.luvbikes.com/smsimg/119/4135-10381-main-pashley_guvnor-119.jpg

Since when were you style over substance, Ed?

not biking, but whatever: five hours at Taos, NM today. The conditions were horrible in the morning (dust on crust), but it kept snowing and by the end of the day i was getting decent turns up in the chutes. the terrain there is INSANE---to my eye it might be some of the best inbounds in the country. hiked about six laps and wasn't too worse for wear, despite the elevation (12,000)

its a long walk out that ridge, eh? chute after chute, but weirdly a small-feeling mountain to me. like a bunch of terrain parks strung together, but at the top of a mountain.

ive not been there but two days, a long time ago, maybe im mis-remembering. it was right when i started doing tele stuff, before plastic boots were around. before fat skis were around. i had merrill supercomps, and they were not enough. i ditched the teles for my downhill shit. halfway through the first day.