One Bike Ride

King's Tour of the Quabbin

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 17:39:00 +0000

I rode the king tour of the quabbin this past weekend, I went with the intention of riding the 100 mile loop. I left a 7:00 am with the 125 group for the first 15 miles stayed with the lead group we had a pretty good average going then we hit some hills and the group split up. We all came back togther at the first rest stop then split up again I end up with a slowe group of about 15 guys. We kept up a pretty good pace at the split for the 100 they where all doing the 125 so I decided to stay with them them because I was feeling pretty good. I was on fumes at the 100 mile rest stop and my left knee was starting to have a little pain, this point I wished I did the 100 I rode the final 25 very slow and the climb to Oakham and the start was painfull. All in all the weather was great and the ride was good, next year I will be back for the 100. Here are the final stats from the Garmin

Distance: 121.22
Elevation Gain: 7395
Time: 8:02
Avg Speed: 15.1 MPH
Max Speed: 41.6 MPH

King Of Burlingame Time Trial

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 16:03:00 +0000

Sunday I did my first mountain bike time trial at Burlingame State Park in Rhode Island. I almost did not go because I had not been feeling well for most of the week with congestion, despite this I decided to give it a try. I have never done a mountain bike event before this is the first one. The beginner group I was riding in was scheduled to start a 10:00 am. I was able to watch the other riders start you could only see a few hundred feet in to the woods before they disappeared. I did notice that everyone was bunny hoping over something.

I went off about 10:20, with my adrenaline pumping I saw what the bunny hop was a fairly good size log across the trail, I decided why not my front wheel cleared but the something hit either the back wheel or the front chain ring, before I knew it I was flying over the handlebars “not good”. After I got up feeling embarrassed hoping know one saw what happened, the person who started behind me passed me.

After that the course went downhill with rocks and a stream at one point I almost crashed again. I decided now just to ride at my own pace and get through the rest of the course without getting hurt. The course the rest of the was not as technical as at the beginning, a couple more riders passed me so I knew my time was not going to be that good. I finished at 56 minutes but had a good time despite the falling off the bike. I plan on doing this again next year and I would recommend riding a course prior to the race.

3 Mile Aerobic Time Trial

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 19:09:00 +0000

The weekend ride calls for a three mile aerobic time trial on Saturday, Sunday looks to be a wash out with rain forecast all day. An aerobic time trial is staying in your upper aerobic heart rate zone, for me that is about 160 beats per minute, this is done on a flat course. Once my heart rate goes above 161 I stop pedaling until it falls back to 160. I did this test back on 3/7 at the end of my first week of training I completed it in 10:34 with an average speed to 17.1 Mph. This time I completed the same course in 9:40 with an average speed of 18.6 mph. I am pleased with the results for only beginning on the training plan.

2009 Training Plan Training Peaks

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 17:08:00 +0000

The 2009 training plan is well under way, for most of the winter I have been in the Gym taking spin classes or runnng on the eliptical machines. I have also worked in quite a bit of weight training and core work this winter which I intend to keep up with throughout the training season.

In February I signed up to training peaks to compile my yearly plan, I put in 460 hours which is the number of hours for a cat 4 racer according to the Cylist Training Bible. My overall goals for the year are Finish with the main group in a cat 5 road race by July, Complete one of the Dover Ma time trials with and average of over 20 mph and try the six gaps ride in Vermont.

Training Plan 2008

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 21:40:00 +0000

I have decided to start up my blog entries again after a year end hiatus. Since the beginning of the year I have been busy training. I have been using the periodic training program from the Cyclist Training Bible, I have just started the Base 3 period, which has started to add more intensity to my workouts. During the past two to three weeks I have really been watching what I eat as well as training this has resulted in a six pound weight loss. My goal is to get down to 210 pounds by mid May I am planning on trying several time trials this year one of them is crank the Kanc which is scheduled for mid May. I order to get more out of my workouts I purchased a new heart rate monitor my old Timex was giving me inaccurate readings I think it was picking up other electronic signals. I purchased a Suunto t3 it gives a very accurate heart rate reading and also tracks each work outs te (training effect). This is basically the amount of effort you put out for each workout based on a scale from 1 to 5 from data that you input into the computer. The other interesting thing about this watch is that you can by pods to add on to it GPS, Cycling and Computer.

Cross Country Skiing

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 22:18:00 +0000

Received over a foot of snow in the last week so riding outside is out of the question. I went cross country skiing Saturday in New Ipswich New Hampshire at the Windblown ski area. It is a family run ski area that is a working tree farm in the Mount Monadnock area of New Hampshire. The conditions were great for so early in the year, there are over 21 miles of trails from easy to expert. If the winter is going to be as snowy as the last week this is going to be a big part of my off-season training routine.

Shimano Dura Ace 9 Speed Shifters for sale

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 01:03:00 +0000

I am selling a used pair of Shimano Dura Ace 9 ST-7703 Triple Speed Shifters.
They are in used condition I want $60 for them they work fine. I changed the set up of my bike to a compact. Drop me an email and we can arrange payment through Pay Pal.

Sub Freezing Bike Rides

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 01:42:00 +0000

I thought riding in New England in the Winter was cold till I ran across this blog from Alaska. Here is one of the quotes from the blog "When I can plunge into the 30-below wind chill with a smile on my face, I feel like I can do anything". This make me feel guilty about not riding outside this week because of what I thought was the cold weather. Here is the link to her site. I am now motivated to ride this weekend.

In Portland, Cultivating a Culture of Two Wheels

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 19:34:00 +0000

Here is an article from the New York Times on Bike Culture in Portland,

PORTLAND, Ore. — Susan Peithman did not have a job lined up when she moved here in September to pursue a career in “nonmotorized transportation.” No worries, she figured; the market here is strong.

“In so many ways, it’s the center,” Ms. Peithman, 26, explained. “Bike City, U.S.A.”

Cyclists have long revered Portland for its bicycle-friendly culture and infrastructure, including the network of bike lanes that the city began planning in the early 1970s. Now, riders are helping the city build a cycling economy.

There are, of course, huge national companies like Nike and Columbia Sportswear that have headquarters here and sell some cycling-related products, and there are well-known brands like Team Estrogen, which sells cycling clothing for women online from a Portland suburb.

Yet in a city often uncomfortable with corporate gloss, what is most distinctive about the emerging cycling industry here is the growing number of smaller businesses, whether bike frame builders or clothing makers, that often extol recycling as much as cycling, sustainability as much as success.

Like the local indie rock bands that insist they are apathetic about fame, many of the smaller local companies say craft, not money, is what drives them.

“All the frame builders I know got into this because they love bikes,” said Tony Pereira, a bike builder whose one-man operation has a 10-month waiting list, “not because they wanted to start a business.”

Mia Birk, a former city employee who helped lead Portland’s efforts to expand cycling in the 1990s, said the original goals were rooted in environmental and public health, not the economy.

“That wasn’t our driving force,” Ms. Birk said. “But it has been a result, and we’re comfortable saying it is a positive result.”

Ms. Birk now helps run a consulting firm, Alta Planning and Design, which advises other cities on how to become more bicycle-friendly. In a report for the City of Portland last year, the firm estimated that 600 to 800 people worked in the cycling industry in some form. A decade earlier, Ms. Birk said in an interview, the number would have been more like 200 and made up almost entirely of employees at retail bike stores.

Now, Ms. Birk said, the city is nurturing the cycling industry, and there are about 125 bike-related businesses in Portland, including companies that make bike racks, high-end components for racing bikes and aluminum for bikes mass-produced elsewhere. There are small operations that make cycling hats out of recycled fabric. Track, road and cyclo-cross races are held year-round, and state tourism groups promote cycling packages. There is Ms. Birk’s firm, which had two employees in Portland in 1999 and now has 14. There are nonprofit advocacy groups and Web sites, including www.bikeportland.org, that are devoted to cycling issues and events in Portland.

And then there is the growing, high-end handmade bike industry, which was made up of just one or two businesses a decade ago but now has more than 10. The Portland Development Commission is working with a handful of the bike builders to improve their business and accounting skills and help them network with one another.

This month, the city will be the host of a trade show featuring bike builders from Oregon, which locals say has more makers than any other state. And early next year, the North American Handmade Bicycle Show will bring its fourth annual event to Portland for the first time. It is expected to be the largest national show so far.

Sam Adams, a city commissioner in charge of transportation, joined development officials to help lure the show to Portland. It seemed a natural fit. The city regularly ranks at the top of Bicycling Magazine’s list of the best cycling cities and has the nation’s highest percentage of workers who commute by bike, about 3.5 percent, according to the Census Bureau. Drivers here are largely respectful of riders, and some businesses give up parking spaces to make way for bike racks.

“Our intentions are to be as sustainable a city as possible,” Mr. Adams said. “That means socially, that means environmentally and that means economically. The bike is great on all three of those factors. You just can’t get a better transportation return on your investment than you get with promoting bicycling.”

Although the city has worked to help drivers and riders share roadways, two cyclists were killed in October when they were hit by trucks, and questions persist over whether enough is being done to protect cyclists.

Mr. Adams said he was preparing a budget proposal that would spend $24 million to add 110 miles to the city’s existing 20-mile network of bike boulevards, which are meant to get cyclists away from streets busy with cars. Doing so could “double or triple ridership,” he said.

The streets were not always so crowded with cyclists. Andy Newlands, by most accounts the first person in Portland to start making bikes by hand, got into the business in the 1970s. Back then, he said, young men would come to him for help piecing together racing bikes. Now, he said, “More and more it’s some guy with a wife and kids and a BMW and all that, and he wants a handmade bike.”

Thirty years ago Mr. Newlands sold frames for under $300. Now a new bike might cost the buyer well over $5,000.

“There’s so much mass-produced stuff out there that there’s just kind of a little bit of a backlash,” he said. “People like a handmade product.”

Sacha White, who was a bike messenger before he started Vanilla Bicycles, one of the most prominent bike makers in Portland, said city officials embraced not only cycling but also the niche industry that has grown out of it, something he considered striking given the size of most operations. His company, among the largest of its kind, has six employees including himself.

“I think the biggest thing that’s come from the effort the city has put into this is the vote of confidence,” Mr. White said, speaking of bike riders and bike makers. “They want us here.”

Ms. Peithman, the recent Portland arrival, had lived in Chicago until September, where she worked for the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation, a nonprofit advocacy group. She decided to move here on her own without any job prospects based “90 percent on the bike thing,” she said.

“I’m a long-term-thinking, spreadsheet kind of girl,” Ms. Peithman said. “This is the most rash thing I’ve ever done.”

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 02:32:00 +0000

From the MetroWest Daily News (Massachusetts), 11.26.07:

Gas prices got you down? Try a new spin on the daily commute
Henrietta, N.Y.--While most of us are seated behind the wheel, our foot alternating between the gas pedal and brakes as we contend with traffic on our way to work each morning and evening, Corey Brandes is pushing some different pedals. The physical education teacher at Roth Middle School in Henrietta and Rush resident takes in breath-taking views of the sunset and wildlife from the seat of his bike on the Lehigh Valley Trail.

By road, Brandes’ commute is 12 miles round trip. By trail, it's more like 26. He estimates he has ridden more than 1,000 miles since Sept. 1. Brandes began commuting to work on a bike almost a year ago. "This summer we dropped from two cars to one, so there's no backing out now," he said. "Not that I would ever want to. It's a way for me to get exercise and work at the same time. It kills two birds with one stone."

Cars can be scary, he said. "When you are in your car, you are not as connected to the outside world, so you are kind of going through subconsciously and driving," he said. "I always assume people are driving that way or are distracted. Some people say that it's kind of insane to be out on the road when it's that cold out, but I really like the natural aspect of it. I see things most people don't see in their car." (Read more.)

Inspiring story, featuring comments from Jason Crane of Rochester, NY, creator of the popular commuting site RocBike.com.

Weight Loss Spreadsheet

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 01:38:00 +0000

I decided to track my meals and weight over the next several months. I am using the Google Doc's spreadsheet so I can update online and keep track of the progress I am making. Here is a link to the spreadsheet it will also be on the side so you can follow my progress. Please no comment's about the diet.

Spining

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 23:31:00 +0000

It's getting to cold to be riding outside every day. I have started to go to spin class at least twice a week a the Boston Sports Club in Copley. I recommend the Wednesday spin class run by Bob Sullivan he plays good music and keeps the class interesting. Here is a link to his website.

MT Tamamlpias Ride Elevation

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 22:12:00 +0000

Here is the elevation detail from my Garmin computer from the ride up Mt Tamalpias. Total Elevation gain of about 6500 ft, no wonder I was so tired.

Golden Gate to Mt Tamamlpias

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 02:38:00 +0000

I rented a Giant OCR 2 carbon road bike and rode over the Golden Gate Bridge to Mt Tamamlpias. It was a hard ride with lots of climbing and some pretty steep grades, the views were great. I had my backpack and my Garmin Edge in one of the side pockets so I can look at the data when I get home. The western peak of Mt Tam the elevation on the Garmin was 2570. Here are the pictures enjoy.

Arrival/Vineyard Tour

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 01:40:00 +0000

Well I am here in San Francisco I arrived yesterday and wanted to rent a bike and go for a ride but the weather was not cooperating, it was raining so I just hung out at the hotel.

Today I am going on a vineyard tour taking the ferry from Fisherman’s Wharf to Vallejo I did not see any oil from the oil spill on the ferry over. Once we got to Vallejo we had a sedan take us on a tour through Sonoma and Napa Valley. We stopped at the Rubicon Estate for a wine tasting, this winery is owned by Francis Coppola. The wine was very good so I bought a couple of bottles to take home. I took lots of pictures but I have no cable to get them off my camera. I’ll be checking at the front desk maybe someone can help me out. Here is a link to the vineyard I would highly recommend this vist if you are going to to the San Francisco area.

More updates to come hopefully I will get that bike ride in.

Hill Reservoir Ride

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 00:09:00 +0000

I have the day off from work today and am flying out to San Francisco tomorrow to attend the Oracle Open World Conference next week. I want to get in a ride of about twenty miles with some good hills today. I am riding my Seven Axiom Titanium that I have had since 2001, the setup is a 10 speed double with a shimano compact crank with a 12 -27 rear cassette. Prior to this year I had been riding a triple crank with a 12- 25, the compact crank with the 27 on the back gives me all of the same gears except for the lowest gear. The best thing about the compact is the shifting is so much smother than the triple setup. The triple always seemed to have problems in the lowest or the highest gear.

I just got back from my ride it was 20.4 miles with 1890 feet of climbing, I went into Cumberland Rhode Island over diamond hill and around the reservoir. The reservoir looks like it was down about twelve feet from the lack of rain over the summer. I have been using a Garmin Edge 205 as my cycling computer the best thing about it is being able to track the vertical. I am going to take it out to San Francisco and use it out there next week all also try to get some pictures on the blog.

In addition to starting the 1bikeride blog this week I also started a daily spreadsheet to track my daily calories and chart my weight, I will post it in the future for download. I am trying to avoid putting on the winter 15 t his year, if possible lose some lbs. I would like to start next season without having to drop so much weight. It seems to be working this week I dropped 2.5 lbs, I am targeting my daily caloric intake to be between 2000 and 2500 calories.

Daily Commute

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 08:41:00 +0000

I am going to bike commute to the train station today, I just looked at the temperature outside and it is a little chilly 30F. The ride to the station is 11 miles round trip. Riding my commuting bike it takes about 20 to 25 minutes which is not to bad unless the temperature drops into the 20's or below. The bike I use for my short commute is a Novara Transfer 2006 model that I bought from REI. One of the main reasons I purchased this bike is it has a Shimano Nexus internally geared 7-speed rear hub. I don't like to do lot's of maintenance on a commuting bike so I thought this would be the way to go. I have to say after a year of riding not every day but through last winter I have not had to do much maintenance at all and the shifting works fine. Here is a picture of what the bike looks like.

First Post

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 16:28:00 +0000

Welcome to 1BIKERIDE this blog is about bicycle riding, bicycle gear and general fitness and outdoor activity here in the northeast.

I am going to post my the eventful and sometime uneventfull events of my daily bicycle and fitness adventures.