your daily bicycle log

Called off the Richmond ride due to prediction of heavy rain. Dunno what actually transpired there, but in central london it's drizabone and fucking roasting (although 'fucking roasting' for me apparently begins at about 22 celsius).

I don't know what's going on with the weather / the forecasts either. Going into the Bank Holiday weekend they were saying 'make the most of Saturday and Sunday because it's going to piss down on Monday' (or words to that effect). By last night the forecast had changed to 'London will bake in the sun - scorchio! - p.s. thunderstorms coming in the evening'. So I did 27 miles this morning and sure enough it pissed down for the last ten minutes (with a kind of stinging rain that felt like hail). I went to the park an hour ago and it was scorching sunshine.

The rain is coming up from the south by the looks of it - it's looking v v v stormy back towards Croydon, and it's starting to get really muggy.

I am borrowing Mark's bike, I live at the te top ofthe biggest hill in London, I may die - only need to lose what? 5 stone.....

Hope you get all the adjustments made okay, Chris - let me know if there are any problems. Hope you enjoy your first ride...

ta, that should be tomorrow, today has been taken up entirely with interview.

really unpleasant altercation with beardy old guy in classic car downtown. the new law says he has to give me 3 feet of space when he passes me in moving traffic. he reeeaaally resented that if his car is stopped in traffic at a red light, im gonna pass him back and proceed to the intersection before stopping, even if there's less than 3 feet between us. its unfair and we people are obnoxious and dangerous. he bitched at me, i did mocking things, and he called me v. bad names. :(

Is this Canada? I see what you mean about the overtaking/filtering inequality, but then you're not traveling at speeds or in a vehicle that is likely to do serious damage if stuff goes wrong. Or maybe you are. And I suppose sometimes speed isn't the issue. I once sustained rather nasty looking injury by falling off while stationary.

Still, it's so hard not to do the mocking things that make the bad words when they're stuck in their big clumsy jam-mobiles. I'm about to cycle into work tho, so maybe I should pipe down until I get there safe and sound.

There was a dude recently who was prosecuted for *getting* doored - the law said he had to ride at least 3 feet from cars parked on the kerb, which meant by definition he couldn't get doored, so as he did get doored he must have been riding less than 3 feet from the car. QED.

yeah, i saw that story and have been meaning to determine whether that dooring rule holds in colorado.

im not gonna pass between two cars in moving traffic, but if they're sitting, i dont think stopping alongside the cars wherever you are makes sense. never seen it done in fact.

absolutely. go through if you can, stop behind if you can't. any 3-foot rule should be there to protect cyclists not car drivers.

fwiw, if you're going to go between stationary cars at an intersection, i strongly recommend going between two lanes of traffic (if it's a four-laner) and not between the parked cars and traffic. seems counter-intuitive, maybe, but you're chances of getting doored or right-hooked are virtually zero. then, right before the intersection, zip over into the right-most position and carry on.

if traffic starts moving before you get to the front, then just pull right, behind a car that hasn't started moving yet, and wait for things to get going

Seconded iltfaiac. Well, left in this country anyway. In fact, I can't remember the last time I voluntarily filtered down the pavement side of traffic, parked cars or no. Undertaking is a death trap.

I entirely disagree. I've also never been doored, so I haven't learnt from that (as it were), but my reasoning is that if I DO have an accident, or get trapped, or a driver does something unexpected, then I have an out which is either a pavement or, at worst, a row of stationary cars. I've had too many near misses overtaking traffic, and while undertaking has its issues too, I am very aware of them and, I hope, I avoid getting into any stupid or life-threatening situations. Which is something I can't guarantee on the outside.

Have we had this convo before? I'm feeling deja vu ish!

i think so!

Not with me, but of course what you say makes complete sense. I suppose it's just part of being as aware as possible about road position, spaces and safety. I still really really don't like undertaking. That said, quite a lot of the time, especially if it's not going to involve an awful lot of hanging around, I just sit behind the car in front and wait for it to move. Mainly because my spatial awareness is a bit crap and I know I'll come a cropper if I attempt some of the things I see other cyclists doing.

a real eye-opener was riding in a large (15 tonner) delivery vehicle and watch cyclists undertake at junctions, not realising that vehicles like that have to swing out to turn left - it was heart in mouth stuff, but lorry drivers are pros (moody, arrogant bastards too) and do look out for it, but won't see folk every time, leading to inevitable clashes.

~finally~ sorted out the stuck-cleat issue, and put on my Time ATAC XS pedals. really nice, imo, it's been months since i've been able to pull during my stroke.

got ice cream and a sixer :D

I'm loving this weather*. I got up at the crack of dawn on Friday and did 22 miles before going to work. Then I did a 60-mile ride on Saturday (3 hrs 30 mins of riding), with a couple of nasty climbs around the 50-mile mark. Then no riding on Sunday (family stuff) or Monday (too much work). Then this evening I did a 10-mile time trial on the hilly Hog Hill circuit and rode 34 miles in total. I'm feeling fitter now than at any time in my adult life.

*for the benefit of non-Britishes: we've been having a mini-heatwave in England for the last week or two

awesome!

Did about 30-40k on the fixie last weekend, round the Lea Valley and to and from North London. MTBing this sunday, for the first time in donkey's years.

I'll hopefully have a proper ride on Saturday - not done anything long for a few weeks and I have my 110-miler in 3 and a half weeks gulp! I've done 1,409 miles in 2009 so far - hope to break 3,000, which should be easy enough as long as I don't injure myself again...

Which reminds me - if anyone can spare any change, sponsorship would be hugely appreciated. It's a 4-man, 24-hour relay race for Action Medical Research: http://www.action.org.uk/sponsor/mark_casarotto

Thanks in advance, you guys.

mid sole cleat placement: for real or f'ing ridic?

whut?

haha. some people believe in the power transfer benefits of mid-sole placement. i think it's absurdity.

Wouldn't you have to ride in a completely different position for this to even be remotely true?

I've often wondered, why not position the pedal right directly beneath the thing that is transmitting the force, i.e. your leg? With the pedal under the ball of the foot, won't ankle flexing cause you to lose some power? Maybe kids with their foot centred on the pedal have it right? As someone on a forum I've only just read says, "if you are using a shovel to dig, you don't use the ball of your foot, you use the arch instinctly."

Otoh someone else says "if you were going to squash a bug, or climb up some stairs quickly, you'd primarily use the ball of your foot". Calf muscles do provide leverage power to the foot. And it find it hard to believe that kids really do know better than like almost every professional cyclist ever.

Otoh someone is correct. Think of it as the difference between playing a tennis stroke with a dead straight wrist or using the wrist to add power.

pedaling from the midsole makes zero sense, and is retarded

trained medical professional, btw

just got one of these dudes in the mail this morning

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hCWpfr04SG8/R_GutstZFVI/AAAAAAAAAC0/avmaGyHbu4A/s320/IMG_0526.JPG

(not mine)

rode it for about five minutes around the block (it's pissing rain, atm) and it is like sitting on a blow-job. i've had terrible luck with saddles in the past (including a Brooks that went from awful--->comfy--->perfect--->ass-hatchet), so i'm cautiously optimistic.

btw, hunt3r, cuddy, should i pay $75 for a local shop to do a fit on one of those serotta(?) fit machines? a new bike is not really in the cards, but it'd be nice to get my cross-check dialed in, as it's pretty much the only thing i ride these days

i also never ride with shorts/cham, so that might be part of the problem (lol commuter)

if shop really knows its shit, $75 seems worth it to me. i mean, going to a sports-med physio dude and having yr issues addressed by pros would be lots more. cant doctors network their way to free services from someone? ;)

i bet shit only gets frustrating when they tell u that u need new stem new bars shims wedges massage therapy voodoo charms u know...

im waiting for my position to start givin me pains. ive had the same position since 1990whenever and im no spring chicken any more.

btw today was hot fitness and racer chix day on high grade rd climb, never seen it like that before.

love them

What is that saddle it looks interesting?

selle anatomica

they started off modding brooks saddles, now manufacture their own in WI. Super comfy, but it's still early in the game (have put ~maybe~ 20 miles on it). They're mucho dinero, but I figure that riding several thousand miles a year warrants the expense.

selle composit SMP

23 mtb miles yesterday round Thetford. Not too rainy except for the drive up. It's an interesting place - very flat, being in Norfolk 'n' all, so not a lot in the way of crushing climbs or exhilerating downhills. But being flat you do have to pedal all the time, which makes it pretty tiring. It's also quite... wavy, you're always getting out of the saddle to cruise over some bumps or power through larger dips and hummocks. Most stupidest moment was probably choosing (not my idea) to cycle down a trail almost overgrown with bracken and nettles. My legs are still tingling even now.

did this ride yesterday on long island, some of my favorite roads on the north shore:

http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-states/ny/plainview/860124442673193035

i forgot how big li is, that ride does not "look" like 50 miles as plotted.

60 miles!

about to head out on long ride w/roadie pal (former cat 2, used to race in belgium, i was v v intimidated), and as i'm rolling my bike out of the shed i have in the backyard, the rear wheel locks up. investigation reveals that the chain broke ~right then~

this wasn't totally shocking, however, as this is the stock chain that came with the bike and that had been ridden all winter. it was also, incidentally, the same chain i broke mid-winter (just took out a link). so, go inside and grab a new, SRAM 9 speed chain that i had purchased in the spring for just such an eventuality, and go to put it on. i've never used powerlinks before, but i think mine was defective? i was under the impression that the powerlink was actually two identical plate/pin combos that mated together. but in my case, one of these things was not like the other, and sean and i tried forever to figure out what the fuck was going on. we would've just broken out another link, but sean estimated that the chain was just short enough as it was

anyway, i know that i like to fart and that i am crazy, but this seemed double crazy. i am going to the shop now to sort it out. walking :(

the ones i've used were more like a normal link with a single loose plate that snaps over a special lugged pin.

http://i41.tinypic.com/zitwck.gif

anyway, i know that i like to fart and that i am crazy, but this seemed double crazy.

lol

vindicated: one of the pin/plate deals was defective. new chain installed in basically 30sec.

what of your ride

gonna go on a night ride in a few hours

kudos

i like powerlinks a lot, they make it all so easy.

speaking of easy, here's my 6500 mi report on nexus 8 spd: great product for commuting, but would be super great with some kind of quick release mech for flat repair. it still works like new, and it is as close to 0 maintenance as i can imagine a geared chain drive could be.