your daily bicycle log

First time on the bike, I mean. I have a hangover too so it's not going to be big laughs I guess.

Btw, thanks porkpie for lending me this book - it's great and very funny.

http://www.bookreporter.com/art/covers/140w/0312316127.jpg http://www.lovereading.co.uk/gardimg/00/0097b956.jpg

Last night rode with username sleep to noise show in Bushwick. First night time + snow riding on a road bike! On the way home stopped short to avoid running a light in front of a cop and vaulted the handlebars. Got laughed at by a bodega full of fat asses, but got home fine. Wrists sore but feeling ok.

20 miles today around the North Downs and M25. We never get the route quite right, this time we saw a sign saying "Steep hill, cyclists are recommended to dismount" and thought wahey! 100 vertical metres of fun and indeed steep descent later, and a couple of miles of cycling along the road in denial, we realised that yup that was actually the wrong way, and we would have to go all the way back up it.

oh lord jon. be careful.

rode 3 hours today in prospect park. majority of the ride was with a group of 20 or so riders--by the end our tempo was fast and only 4 of us were left.

race season starts next week. i am going to kill!

I should have just run the red instead of trying to stop on a wet road.

Had a short ride around the neighbourhood - lost my back wheel big time on a hill (rear braking? on a corner? In the rain? Well done Mark) but managed not to fall off. The arm was aching after 20 mins but the action of riding is pushing the joint the right way, if you see what I mean). Did a bit of vague interval work on the little local hills. Was fun.

i spent 4 hours putting a new rim on my rear wheel (1.25 hours) and fucking endlessly with a diabolical chain and messed up chain tool that put me on the edge of insanity.

dint even get to ride on the nicest day since october so sad

dawdled around for about an hour in the new neighbourhood, looking for decent takeaway places; came back empty-handed. DISAPPOINTING.

so i was heading down market street behind this other guy this morning into this intersection:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2203/2110710455_0c2cd83ce1_b.jpg

and this dipshit in a brand new black bmw makes... a sudden right hand turn! cyclist in front of me (later found out his name was Zach) smashes into front door of the car and goes over the hood. i hit the back of the car and superman over the trunk.

Zach was cohherent, legs looked bloody and gnarly though. paramedics and cops called and show up, take Zach away to SFGH. i give my report to cops/traffic investigator. apparently the driver claimed that we were riding on the sidewalk and ran a red light while traffic was congested and he had no other choice but to make an illegal right turn. LOLZ0RZ. Traffic investigator actually laughing when recalling his account of the story which was nice touch.

i'm pretty banged up (cheek bump/abrasions), wrenched back, and sore/bloody left knee.

zach's front end is totalled. i have pics. i got zach's bike at my place, took pics. i have never seen handlebars in this position.

my damage: fork got super bent back. hopefully my front tube is not out of round so that i can salvage the frame. front brake was pretty ugly and twisted up. amazingly the deep v's and phil hubs are still true...

be careful out there folx.

sorry to hear it steve. good luck w yr bike.

race season starts this sunday. also just got my powertap wheelset this week. WATCH OUUUUUUT.

Riding on the sidewalk? When there's a delightfully clear bike lane RIGHT THERE?

Sorry, Shasta. RIP your perfect complexion. ;_;

Steve, fuck the BMW driver. I hope he gets what's coming to him. Can you and Zach get compensation?

ILX bikers hella accident prone.

either that or you live in BFE.

my guess is the latter.

Get a lawyer!!!

btw me upthread not being sympathetic to shasta = we already spoke about it on IM

let's all wish cutty best of luck on his first race. godspeed.

i was in the front of the field killing it until my chain jumped! pulled off and put it back on but could never catch back up to the pack. next time that won't happen cause i'm not going to shift out of my 53.

That is sucky. What were your opponents like?

I did 24 miles earlier, including my fastest 2-laps of Richmond Park. It felt great, though according to my heart rate monitor (on its debut outing), I spent most of the time at about 90-95% of my max. Is this bad? I never felt like I was at absolute full stretch.

This afternoon, I cleaned my bike.

cutty was that yr first first race? tough luck. you probly know but unless the chain gets seriously f'd up you can often downshift yr front and slow pedal it back on. its nice if, when you put your hand up and start to drift back, you have a teammate to push you along while you sort it out. oh yes, you WILL scatch up those beautiful cranks. same technique with dropping the chain to the inside, but sometimes that problem is more resistant to getting back up on the rings. course, sometimes yr just fucked.

75 degrees yesterday, i did my first leisure ride in yonks, 45 miles, about 3000 feet of climbing straight shot. i was so ill afterwards i had to lie down for half an hour ;_;

today-snowing 3"-6", back to the couch/desk.

I'm about to go riding in the snow for the first time ever (meeting some folks at the park for brosnowdown). Wish me luck!

Had a great time riding back in the neighborhood but I got on the road and hit one slippery patch and got scared and rode straight home (then went right back outside on foot).

Love the give of fresh snow under tire though.

New chainring (now running 44x15, was running 48x15 which was a bit much). I had to take the bike by the shop, because the chain became too long and the bolts were way back on the track ends. They took out a link and charged me $10. Also put on some Powergrips on my MKS Touring pedals, which are great so far. I've heard some bad things about the hardware, but it seems pretty sturdy. Finally, I removed the ugly looking metal collar thing on the TT. See picture for ugly metal collar reference:

http://www.raleighusa.com/images/items/Road/main/2008/RAL08-RushHour_Blue.jpg

I now consider my bike officially awesome.

What is the ugly metal collar for, in theory?

I believe it's to prevent the handlebars from dinging the tube. The bike has no decals, which is great, so the metal collar thing also included a Raleigh 'r' and the model name "Rush Hour." It wasn't all that ugly really, but I'm glad it's gone.

Here's a nice looking top tube protector:

http://us.st11.yimg.com/us.st.yimg.com/I/yhst-84224226242177_1990_5689786

Swinley Forest, 16k in 1.5 hours actual riding time, muddy and slidy, rode like old granny all the way round terrified of slipping on tree roots or in the mud, and we were all exhausted, which doesn't bode well for a whole weekend in wales at easter.

Oh. God. I lost the tiny locking clip from the master link on my 3-spd's chain. Now it's overhauled, clean and re-tensioned and GRATE but I cannot ride it until I get a) a used, salvaged replacement clip (miraculously) or b) a new chain (dammit).

I think it went down the drain when I poured out the cleaning sl'n. I are an idiot.

My fucking cog is slipping. Not happy.

it was a coldish morning (24 deg), but supposed to be beautiful and 65 this afternoon for the ride home hurrah. plus i wont need my lights.

64 here and bright cloudless skies today. This morning I took my bike out to this lake/park and halfway around the bike trail I bumped into a buddy...we got high and rode around the lake singing damn it feels good to be a gangsta. And giggling. I hadn't ridden high for a long time. It was fun!

Next time I'm there though I'm renting a paddleboat.

wow, I miss that kind of thing. I go to work - work hard - go home and play with my baby boy and talk with the wife. No going to the park on a workday. No getting high.

It is 75-90 degress year round and almost always sunny though.

So today I discovered that being on a bike doesn't really make canvassing a town with flyers go that much quicker than on foot.

90 minutes this morning in the wind and rain - but at least a circular course means the wind's only a problem half the time. That said my extremities still haven't warmed up and I've been inside for 20 minutes.

MY LEGS ARE PAINFUL WET NOODLES.

MY BIKE THAT WAS STOLEN...I FOUND IT AND STOLE IT THE FUCK BACK. SHE IS MINE AGAIN. I WILL NOW GO RIDE HER SOME MOAR!!!

MY LEGS ARE PAINFUL WET NOODLES.

^^^ 4 hour ride with this guy on saturday. he gets the spirit award. i almost had to carry him across the 59th st bridge though.

NOTE TO SELF: EASE UP ON THE BIG RING...U R GASSING YRSELF BRO!

RPMs, EVER HEARD OF THEM?

what you pushing ddb?

i downgraded to 46x17 this summer and it was the opposite of rong

but my knee hurt today because i went RUNNING last night

I WAS ON THE ROAD BIKE, AND SPENT THE FIRST HALF OF THE DAY ON THE BIG RING AND WAS WONDERING WHY I WAS SO TIRED...WENT TO THE SMALLER RING AND STARTED FEELING MUCH BETTER....MODERATE ON THE BIG RING.

THE FIX IS RUNNING 48 x 15...WHICH WAS RUFF ON THE HILLS SO I SWITCHED TO 48 x 16 AND FELT LIKE I WAS SPINNING TO FAST...SO BACK TO 48 x 15.

i'm going to change out my 49x16 to 49x15 when i hop on the track this summer

i've also vowed never to ride a track bike on the street for as long as i live

btw this morning i did 20x20secs uphill sprints at 90-100rpms, then rode z2 for 90 mins

Nicka nicka, I want to know how you stole your bike back!

I was walking home, waiting at a light, and there it was just sitting there across the street. It was chained up...with MY chain! Chained to a BUSH haha. I guess maybe they picked the lock or something? I unlocked it with the KEY and rode it home!

Odd turn of events: last night my bag got stolen. It had hat/gloves/jacket and snacks and cds and weed and CHECKS from my mtg co.

:-/

decent mileage today. drizzly rain was a bummer, but the temp was nice. then i went to the climbing gym (FABULOUS MUSCLES) and now i am debating going to a BAR to meet a GIRL

'debating', pfft., you are not the Don juan I thought you were.

Really frustrated by not biking to work. But have finally found a local place I can shower pre-work. I think I will try to see how much can be shaved off the TFL time of 67 minutes.

commutes are just getting better and better with more light and nicer weather.

dont go to the hangs or climbing gym anymore, since i go so infrequently that, when i do go, im in agony the next day-forearms so ravaged that i cant keyboard

this is my first post on this board, so hi everyone!

i rode my bike 5 miles to/from work, like i do every day. 20MPH headwind on the way home wasn't fun.

that's a great story about getting the bike back- i love hearing stuff like that. bummer about the bag, though.