Beginning Bicycling by a Seasoned Novice

Bike Route Planning and The Goose Chase;

2011-06-23T20:38:00.000-07:00

June 23, 2011 School, or at least some schools, has been out for a couple of weeks. The organized ride season is well on the way all around the country, pick one and support it, or at least your local bike to work day. There are municipalities all around the country that are now, finally, discussing usable bike paths, bike lanes and programs attempting to get catchy slogans to remind our motoring public that this is the season of more bicyclist out on the streets. As a thought, why were these discussions not held prior to now?

My local mini metropolis, Centennial Colorado, a southern border of Denver has been working on the blending of the motoring public, with bicyclist, walkers and joggers for more than eighteen months and is putting together a fantastic master plan. Like all Municipalities should, in a poor economy, they are attempting to connect routes and paths that already exist and flow in and out of neighboring municipalities. Kudos to them for a well thought out plan rather than a knee jerk reaction. I’m not saying other cities around the nation or even Colorado are not doing this but I do see plenty of headlines to the theme of “the village council of Badonkadonk" is starting discussions on improving bicycle traffic”. The Centennial master plan is even looking at bicycle commuters to see if it is feasible to get best routes for direct travelling. That, though very difficult, is fore thought just to think that progressively. Luckily, cyclist around the world are a self surviving group that find away to accomplish their needs in a safe as possible manner with or without a towns assistance.

Another benefit of having a well laid out bicycle system is being able to hold your own event. A neighboring village, Greenwood Village, just held their 16^th annual Goose Chase. This has been a popular Run, Walk and Bike event for the recreational athlete for the past sixteen years. It has been a fun event that the city is proud of and has been a combined effort of the City, Wells Fargo Bank, and the chamber of commerce and many other supporters and volunteers. This year, of all years, it was not well attended mainly due to a late start on the organization. I said “of all years” because this was one of the best well marked courses they have had in years. The course was in and around the Cherry Creek State Reservoir operated by the United States Corps of Engineers which included a beautiful ride over the top of the dam which served up beautiful views of the mountains and down town Denver. The course then went out on city streets which had wide clean bike lanes. You then twisted down, across and up through the Denver Technology Center (DTC), Over Interstate I-25 and down around the Comfort Dental Amphitheater and through the Greenwood Plaza office park. All these interesting sites prior to going along the edge of fabulous homes, up to a State highway, also known as Belleview Avenue. This is where it was very impressive this year. The city had one lane totally coned off to major traffic giving the cyclists a long safe ride back to almost the finish. The only real downfall was, there appeared to be a confusion on the 45 mile loop as to circle the reservoir twice and then through the city or, circle the reservoir, through the city, and around the reservoir again. We had friends that did it both ways and seemed confused. All in all it was a good ride, good weather, good company and a very good lunch. The lunch was not all that healthy for that type of an event but it was good. If you missed it this year, think about it for next year. If the operation comes off the same way and gets the word out much sooner this will be a good, relaxed, low effort ride to get your kids introduced to group rides. Speaking of kids, my tall kid did the thirty mile with me; we started thirty minutes after the forty five milers and he finished about twenty minutes before the first rider on the forty five.

As far as your municipality goes if they have a pro-active engineering department that is looking out for you’re cycling safety and connivance, call or email them with a simple thank you. If they are not pro-active or just getting their talks started join in, get your thoughts and two cents in there, it beats complaining that nothing is being done.

Till Next Time

Ride Safe, Ride Fast As You Can, But Ride.

“G”

The Elephant Rock a Reason to Have a Training Partner

2011-06-08T21:06:00.000-07:00

I am old, I am plump, but on June 5, 2011, I had my butt kicked by much older and some plumper bicyclist. The scene of this embarrassment, The 2011 Elephant Rock (www.elephantrockride.com). A great ride and party to welcome in the new summer season of Colorado cycling.

I figured that since I can no longer ride with the tall kid I could turn my attention to the short kid as a riding companion. I figured what the heck, he wants to be part of our riding, has a nicer than mine bike, why not. The Elephant Rock had a 32 mile loop which was as long as kids under 14 were allowed to ride. He had rode 29 miles before so I signed us both up for that loop and the tall kid for a 62 mile loop with some friends he enjoyed riding with. The 32 mile loop started with a 4 mile climb of which I guessed to be a 12% grade but was probable more like a true 6% grade. Since the short kid, like the tall one, does not seem to understand that long inclines are difficult, I was a good Dad and said “I will see you at the top”. The last I saw of him was when he was passing the lead riders about a quarter of the way up. Next time I saw him he was clapping for me at the finish line. The tall kid had left with our friends that we rode a little bit with last summer. Connor enjoyed riding with them because he was as fast as they were. A year makes a big difference, after the nice lunch, our friend Ron said that they were looking forward to the tall kid riding with them. They saw the back of his jersey at the start and it just kept getting smaller, till he was totally gone. A year really does make a difference. The tall kid did his 62 miles with an average of 17.2 mph.

All of this brings me to me. No I have not ridden the miles I wished I had at this point but we have a 32 mile loop that gets the distance in. Throw in some of the old fat person intervals and compete against the clock and I should be good right? Re-think that brainstorm………….theory is good but in reality it is not there. I had plenty of time to think this over, believe me at an average speed of a blazing 9.8 mph you have time to think. Not only think but over think. There were thoughts that if I was alive at the end of this, I was done with cycling. I was done with the false plateaus, the sick humor of putting a 100 yard stretch of a real 12% grade, in the middle of a 5 mile climb. Then the thoughts drifted in and out of, I lost my kid…………did he miss a turn, is he lost, did the State Patrol pick him up. I’m a bad, bad parent. There was humility, an elderly lady, more elderly than me, in a tie-dyed DRESS, on what appeared to be a beach bike with gears, passed me multiple times, usually going uphill. The defining moment to top it all, being passed (on that real 12% grade) by a heavy set women, of my seniority pushing her bike up the hill. Yes, she walked by me pushing her bike up the hill. That was time for me to get off and give in to walking.

As I walked up that last 25 yards to the false plateau I was convinced that a training partner is the only way to go. Someone who you can’t cheat with, a person that dangles that carrot in front of you and forces you to push and pick up the rpm’s just a little bit more. Turn those old fat person intervals into real intervals to get an actual improvement not a presumed improvement. Yes I have greatly improved this past couple of years, but you can only do so much on your own. I have assisted the tall kid to the best of my abilities and now it is time for someone else to refine and take him to the next level. This I understand, but when it comes to ourselves, we always attempt to do it without help and that does not always pan out.

As far as the ride finished, it was a great time, beautiful scenery, great people to be around which made a beautiful day of a two day event. As far as the climbs go, my bad, this is Colorado and Denver the Mile High City. The Mile High mark is on the Capitol steps and to leave there you need to go up, in any direction. A ride in Colorado is a climb no matter where you ride. But to top the day off, I could not be a prouder parent of how the tall kid and the short kid performed, they gave me much, much pride.

Till Next Time

Ride Safe, Ride Far, Ride Short, But Ride

“G”

Bicycle Racing, Secret Society or Open

2011-05-31T07:41:00.000-07:00

Wow……The end of May, can you believe it. What a spring we have had, some extremely bad weather, wet, windy, all in all totally depressing. Unless of course you live in a Colorado ski area that has extended its ski season into June. I have been spending my lack of riding time attempting to figure out a resume, do those things ever get read by anyone? Besides that frustration, I have been spending a lot of time attempting to get the tall kid into bicycle racing. I don’t know which one has been the biggest pain in the sitting portion of the anatomy. Which is the reason there has been no blogging, so much bicycle research that I could have swore I have wrote two or three entries this month.

Now, back to the bike racing. I have come to the conclusion that a sport that is so popular, for all ages and abilities, international, with hours of television and multiple print media is, at first, hidden like a secret society. Bike shops seem to be vague on the subject and offer limited information, good but limited. After getting the same answer from three sources I pulled up the American Cycling Association (americancycling.org) web site and found a wealth of information. Since we, shyly, entered this new adventure the tall kid has been to a weekend road camp, and raced two different races, with an enormous amount of assistance. After you step through the secret door, there is a wonderful world of very friendly, helpful people that will give you more information than you could dream of. We have also learned about clubs/teams. While racing if you are not affiliated with a club/team you will have no help and be left to fend for yourself. The tall kid did pique the interest of a couple of kids from a local team and we are pending an acceptance notification. It has been a fun filled month for the tall kid and a learning experience he is enjoying. He has actually been once again motivated and is riding like a mad man. As a side benefit, the fun, the races, and the people have re-kindled the cycling bug in the little guy and he wants to ride more now. Another up side to bicycle racing is the cost. Junior’s, through their nineteenth birthday have no registration fees and the parents don’t get nickel and dimed to death. Of course I say that right now, we’ll see at the end of the season. So if racing is in the back of your mind check out the American Cycling Association (ACA) web site and get going. The races are all day but your race is only one maybe two hours so the time you spend at the race can be easily balanced with the honeydews. Did I mention the beer garden open to all the, age appropriate, racers?

As far as the riding goes mine has dropped off but, a new month is starting and I’m hoping for some big miles this summer. I will end up over a hundred miles again this month far from a hundred a week but I’m over a hundred. The tall kid is sitting at 338 this month and enjoys rubbing it in. It may be time he gets a job.

Till Next Time

Get out and Ride, But Be Safe

“G”

Wind Friend or Cyclist Foe and What is a Grand Fondo

2011-04-30T20:09:00.000-07:00

Ok……The wind is still blowing, I as well as others seemed to have given in and started riding in misery. Or is it misery, it’s hard, it is unpredictable as to which way it will be blowing after the next turn it keeps you on your toes. We have started out going north with a head wind, turn east still have a head wind, turn south still a head wind. Would you believe all in a single mile? We then crossed a major busy arterial street (also designated as a state highway) and a direct head wind, in a predominantly southern direction, for another 15 miles. Working my old fat butt harder then I have had to in a long time made me think, this is why I started riding again………………Hello, it’s exercise. Yes it’s miserable to ride in but as your fitness level picks up you need to think of the wind as helpful resistance not misery. Any good exercise is misery or you aren’t getting anything out of it. So as you swear at Mommy Nature, think of her as, like all moms, she is trying to help you. My tall kid, for example, he rode a hundred ten miles this past week, all in the wind. He did our thirty two mile loop yesterday, before going to basketball practice (Oh to be young again), and averaged 18.4 mph on the windiest day of the week. I guess that is why I signed him up for a youth road racing camp in May. When I look at the big picture and the loss and suffering in the south, I’m glad we only have twenty mile an hour winds to complain about. I will be glad to see if riding in it for the past couple of months has actually improved my speed and endurance, the sooner the better.
The latest catch word or phrase that the magazines are throwing around, as if we are all as in the know as they are, is Grand Fondo or Fondo. Remember when you picked up a magazine to learn not be made to feel you are an idiot, I digress. Anyway after a couple of months of hearing about the “Grand Fondo” without understanding what it is I went to the good old WWW. Found the answer and it appears to be an Italian tradition of a bicycle 100 mile ride (a Century) with a carnival and race atmosphere. It appears that this decade old tradition has come to the United States. I enjoy Bicycling magazine, it caters to those that don’t need the information but they have enough of those of us that are well grounded to gleam some good information that we can adjust to work with our mediocre abilities. That’s for another scribbling though. The June issue actually explained and gave good information on exactly what they are. I would like to plagiarize some of it to give you a simple idea, courtesy of Bicycle Magazine June 2011 (think of that as a footnote or bibliography);

A typical, not counting charity events, Century will cost you approximately $40.00 a person.

A Fondo will cost approximately $100 a person.

A goodie bag you receive for your Century entry fee, maybe socks and or maybe a T-shirt.

The Fondo, socks, a finisher’s medal, commemorative jersey and age group awards.

A Century atmosphere, a mellow club ride that lasts all day.

A Fondo atmosphere, Similar to a race, complete with a mass start (Pros and anyone holding a competitive license up front), timing chips, screaming fans, and cowbells

A Century post race meal offers pizza, pasta and subs with Gatorade to wash it down with.

The Fondo, a meal plus. Artisanal breads and cheeses, gourmet pizza, local wines and handcrafted beers.

If you are interested check your favorite shop to see if one is close, or make one a vacation destination.

Till Next Time

Ride Safe, Ride fast as You Can, But Ride

“G”

The Wind and Bike Shop Customer Service

2011-04-15T21:53:00.000-07:00

The weather has been great…….if you’re a sailboat. Yes I am not a big fan of the wind. It never fails you do a ride and start out with a headwind and you figure a better work out, good training and I will fly on the way back. You start back and the wind changed and you have that headwind all of the way home. That is exactly how one of my rides went in the past couple of weeks. For those of you that are in the eastern part of the United States you are having real weather, the wind the wet and the cold, my condolences to you and sorry about whining over 60 degree sunny days with 50 mph winds. Living here at the foot of the Rockies, a weather person’s nightmare, you never know what is going to hit, when or where. The old saying in many areas, if you don’t like the weather wait 5 minutes, here if you don’t like the weather go to your back yard, it will be different.

Yes it has been windy but I still have gotten in some rides, and for the most part good rides. I have met some really nice people and it is early in the season. I was talking to one gentleman who was with a younger lady and was able to give them some information and tips that their bike shop should have given them. The lady was curious about the computers on the tall son’s and my bikes. This was pretty fascinating to them and she wondered why the shop she bought her new bike and equipment from had not mentioned it. The gentleman was riding with a dress pair of cargo shorts and they were about in the middle of a 40 mile ride. He was riding a very heavy, fully suspended mountain bike that the shop told him would be easier to ride for casual riding. This guy had to be in his late 60’s or early 70’s. Why a shop would put him on something like that is beyond me. Sometimes the bike industry shoots its self in the foot. But then again it is hard to find customer service anywhere anymore. Don’t get me wrong there are a lot of really good shops out there and a lot of really good “Kid” sales persons but there are others that make you feel that you interrupted their day and just want you to leave your money and go away. Hey I can speak from experience, I have wrenched as well as sold in a shop, and a little attention, especially in this economy, will go a long way. In one of my earlier ramblings I talked about finding a shop that fits your comfort level and hopefully your personality. This, is what it is about and believe me you will know it. The merchandise is so close in quality today that little things like the shop personal can make or break the brand you decide to ride.

On a brighter not so soap boxy note, I spotted my first snake of the year crossing a trail. Next thing that comes after snakes……………….goat head stickers. If you are due for new tires seriously think about a little heavier, thorn resistant tire. Even if you aren’t break your tires down, or have your customer service oriented shop, or neighbor do it, and put in some tire liners. Either way they are a little heavier but unless you are such a speed freak you don’t carry more than 1 water bottle and no tool kit, you won’t notice it. Come to think of it I saw one of those types with his ultra light equipment, NO bottles or tool kit. He was pushing his bike with a flat tire. Being me, I stopped my wind in the face ride and asked if I could give him anything, he said “no thanks I’ll be home in 3 miles”.

That does bring up another subject that I promise not to dwell on or soap box. I have given riders tubes, CO2 bottles and an occasional use of a wrench. I know I won’t get the tube or CO2 back but to get the returned karma it’s worth it. Besides I am a big believer in Murphy’s Law so I carry all kinds of crap and I haven’t even had a flat in 2 years, at least not out on a ride.

Till Next Time

Ride Fast As You Can, Ride Safe, But Ride

“G”

Poor Blog, Cycling Fitness Improvement and My Kids on Bikes

2011-03-29T08:54:00.000-07:00

Well I understand that to have a good blog you need an abundance of posts. I guess my little words of wisdom, read as ranting from an old opinionated guy, are not up to blog standards. For those of you that have stuck by and continued to read Thank You. If your new please hang in there I try to get out a couple or three a month, sometimes life gets in the way. Or let me steer you to the “Bike Snob” good stuff, rants more than me.

Well the weather is turning consistent and warm enough for us recreation types. Still not big on the wind which holds me back on some otherwise decent days. For the recreational rider the wind is frustrating because we are attempting to improve. Though we do not, or are unable turn ninety rpm’s and climb hills like they were flats, we suffer and put in a lot of physical effort. We don’t need to face the wind for more humiliation.

As the “Super Stars” pass us buy so effortlessly we wonder in envy how they do that. I have matched pedal stokes in what appears to be about the same gear but cannot keep up, curious. Yes the curiosity overwhelms my frustration and that alone is very puzzling. Reading the periodicals, the answer to everything is intervals. Unfortunately I personally can’t get to their warm up level before I start their intervals. It’s amazing that the “Professionals” of the sport only cater to the “Professionals” that really don’t need the information. How do we lowly recreational riders get to a level of being an enthusiast when no one wants to cater to our needs? Sounds like the reason I started this babbling to begin with.

Please don’t think that I have not improved and what I preach is useless, far from it. If you have stuck with me from the beginning, I wanted to be put out of my misery when I started cycling again. When I hit that five mile mark and it dawned on me I had to ride five more miles to get back home, I just wanted to end it right there. That was a little short of three years ago and five thousand miles of pedaling. Distance does not bother me, though I cannot bring myself to attempt to do a century, it’s a mind over matter thing (weak mind and a lot of matter). Seriously though, my rides this week are a day and night differance from three years ago, I love it and it hurts when I don’t ride. The main thing here is like the commercial says “Just Do It”.

How many of you have kids to ride with? In my case I have one I start with and he is nice enough to stay with me for the first mile. After that he may stop and wait every five miles or so to see if I am still moving. He rides at about a five mile per hour average faster than me. No respect for all the miles I towed him in a Burley trailer. My other one, the little one, stays in site, but doesn’t have the endurance, as of yet. He is good for about 30 miles right now, but then he just turned 11. By the end of summer will be another story though. The worst part about it is the fact they both have better equipment, bike wise, (then I do or ever have had) and I have good stuff. I guess that is why I decided to come out of retirement and get a real income. If anyone is looking for a sarcastic, opinionated, non politically correct, old x-cop that babbles on please let me know.

Till Next Time

Ride As Fast As You Can, Ride Safe, But Ride

“G”

The Weather Has Been Frustrating For Cyclists

2011-02-27T21:03:00.000-08:00

The month for lovers has come to a very quick and abrupt ending. The weather has been absolutely ridicules throughout the whole nation. Come on snow plows in San Diego Sunday, get real and, again, where is that global warming.

The weather has been frustrating for cyclists. I have not, as of yet, invested in good cold weather riding clothing, at least clothes that are good to ride in the 30 and 40’s. Yes I am a woos, and envy you that I see riding when I know you are not that comfortable but are out there. We can all make excuses but bottom line, we just need to suck it up and get out there and pedal our chubby, but cute, behinds off.

It has been two months since I have rode a first for me in ten years. I can feel it. Though I haven’t gained weight (per Dr. visits) I am sore, don’t sleep as well and find myself to be a touch, just a touch irritable. Ok, maybe a little, all right a lot more than a touch, enough to know I need to ride. So if you are starting out or still at the beginning of your cycling journey, be advised it is hard for all of us to get moving after awhile off. The Pros and their trainers swear by big layoffs. When you are not a Pro, have a busy life with kids, get ill and in general have to personally deal with the day in and day out quirks of life, it is difficult. I will say, that when you return from your first ride this season, it all comes back. Whether it is a ride around the block, 5 miles or 60, the feeling of the freedom, the head clearing and that full body warm feeling will be there and you will be back on your road to physical health and mental wellbeing. I know my pneumonia has passed; we will be pushing the 60’s most of the week on the east side of the Rocky Mountains so I will be starting March off on my way to 2011 miles this year.

Till Next Time

Ride Warm, Ride Safe, Ride Fast, but Ride

G

The Ideal Log Book

2011-02-06T14:57:00.000-08:00

Yes, the “ideal” log book. I use a 12 column account and record book that can be found at any respectful supplier of office supplies, including drug and grocery stores. 12 columns are not necessary the books come in 2, 3, 4, 6, 8 as well as the 12 column books. One book will get you through three or four years depending how much you ride. I lay out the pre-printed columns with the following headings;

Date, Route, Time, Ave Temp, Trip, Running OD, Ave Speed, Max Speed, Ave Cadence, Max Cadence, ET, and Notes. This year I am thinking of going back to a heart rate monitor and add that.

The log book by hand has a lot of positive sides to it, especially individuality. You have the ability to be very specific in what your own goals are and how you feel is the best way to measure your progress. That alone is an enormous positive. Throw in, you can sit down during your cool down meal, mine is a can of Tuna or mix up some veggies and eggs, and that tilts to the positive side of the scale. You can do this without the cost of buying a book by simply using an excel spread sheet but that has a whole list of pros and cons in itself.

Done by hand to your individual specifications, you get a good read out of your performance and improvement, all in black and white, right in front of you. On the down side you may come to find what you thought you were doing may not have been true. A personal bummer, and apology to any one that has been keeping up with my words of debatable wisdom. I did my year end stats and had an unpleasant surprise. To start with, in my last post I said January was the first month I had not rode in, in over 2 years. Adding up my yearly averages I realized I did not ride in February 2010. I also found a mathematical error and did not ride the 1747 miles I posted I had. I rode 1684. My iffy-Jiffy log book also busted my bubble that I had improved in leaps and bounds. I did improve and if you look over what the results actually say it may be different than the bottom line. I have found through years of experience that the bottom line is only good if you know how you got there, keep that in mind Managers. My yearly bottom line told me I was below last year’s in all categories I use. There were a lot of minus 0.1 and 0.2’s so nothing really extreme. Then it hit me, which is where you must know where your bottom line came from. My totals were for 11 months comparing them to 12 months so my bottom line…………is actually in the positives not negative.

The upside of the online logs, their fun, especially if you want to let the world know your being active. It can maintain that social network mentality of this particular decade. Like anything else they have the cons. They can take up a lot of time when you start perusing the possibilities and contacts you can make. Then if you have a wireless bike computer and are using one of the previous on line logs I discussed you should hand right the results down first anyway. My tall son found that if you set your wireless computer down, next to your lap top or desk top, to record your stats to your preferred log, your bike computer goes wild, racks up the miles and some great speeds. Say What?............If you have a Wi-Fi system in your house, your favorite coffee stop and even your bike shop it will affect the wireless bike computer, it runs off an attached Wi-Fi sending unit so be careful about those free Wi-Fi areas and where you lean your bike. So if you are riding along and suddenly averaging 50 mph and a 199 rpm cadence you may look around for an establishment with a strong Wi-Fi signal. There is a bike path in Colorado Springs, Colorado, that climbs up to the Garden of The Gods, it passes behind HP, the computer company, for about a half mile and it will even freak a wired bike computer.

As a side note to training logs, I even add when I replace parts, so I know the mileage I got out of them as well as tune-ups and even when I cleaned and oiled my chain. Either way you feel like going, a training log is a wealth of information, Information that will help you meet your goals. I use both types and all 3 that I have discussed, I have way to much time on my hands.

Till Next Time

Ride Fast As You Are Able, Ride Warm, Ride Safe, But Ride

G

This Is The Time to Start A Training Log

2011-01-30T19:58:00.000-08:00

We touched the 60’s over this past Friday and Saturday. We almost broke a 100 year high record here in Denver, and would you believe over 200 inches of snow In Steamboat. Yes beautiful weather and I lay flat on my back with phenomena. Yes with every breath taken it sounds like I’m gargling, as I watched the groups of cyclists going by. Like I say timing is everything.

While I have been attempting to get around this week, I got out my log book to close out 2010 and get ready for 2011. Looking back through there was good news as well as disappointing. The most disappointing is the fact this will be the first month I haven’t rode in, in over two years. I enjoyed looking back at rides with fond memories of friends and the boys. The bright spot is to be able to see the improvements that are right there in black and white and cannot be disputed. Having a log book that documents effort and improvement is one of the best motivators there are. You may forget about the little victories but when you have the ability to lay them out in front of you, it opens the world before you as to what you can accomplish. This will be a big year on the bike.

There are a few good ways to have a log, I’m going to give you my favorite 2 online sites that are free. The tall son likes Daily Mile (www.dailymile.com) and I used it the last half of the year. It keeps a running account of your mileage with some fun things thrown in, but very basic. You have your choice of activities, i.e.; running, walking, cycling, weight lifting or other exercise. Drop down menus let you pick your sport, and then fill in where you, in my case, cycled, your distance, your time, and how you felt. It gives you a good space to write about the workout and if you click on more details you have more choices, including heart rate to add. It gives you a calorie burn rate for what you have done and you can post it publicly for all to see. At this point it becomes a minor social network without a lot of the annoyances. There are communities where you can get that have challenges. The challenges are fun and let you measure your mileage against others from around the world. I am in two, 2011 miles in 2011 and 1500 miles in a year (this one with my 10 year old). They have a very large assortment to fit all fitness levels. The down side is, people may fudge to make their selves look better than they might really be. A couple of examples are a rider in Newcastle GB who has already rode 690 miles this month. A rider from Vancouver who has put on 898 miles or the two from Indiana that have rode 415 and 370 respectfully. I am not calling them untruthful, there are some extreme riders out there and I respect the hell out of them but I did check what the weather has been in those places and I am, personally, not buying all of what I read. This translates to, there are people who will attempt to win absolutely nothing at any cost and the real efforts are lost in the shuffle. You all have just had a face come to mind.

The other good online log book is through Bicycling (www.bicycling.com) a training log link is on the home page. What I feel is a drawback, a few too many key strokes to get to your own log. Once you get there it is straight forward, no communities or challenges just your stats. It keeps an upfront visible log of your weekly, monthly and year to date mileage. A fun thing is the total Stats in time, hours, minutes, and seconds then converts it to days. You can look at your week in a graph that is set up for what you would like shown. You may also add your routes which is easy if you have a Garmin computer that downloads. If not you are given the tools to make them from scratch on the site. That is not always user friendly and the programs satellite is about a year or so behind so you may not find your route or path. I used this for about 9 months and was happy.

They both work well and are actually fun to use and keep your rides documented. The Daily Mile challenges will not accept anything prior to the time you start a challenge but both have the ability to add previous workouts in. My favorite is a hand written log and I will talk more about that later this week.

Till Then

Ride Safe, Ride Warm, Ride Fast As You Can, But Ride

G

Road Bike vs. Cycle Cross Bike

2011-01-23T20:23:00.000-08:00

I was reading a self proclaimed cycling expert, I’m not an expert just opinionated, answer to a 50 year young lady, who was asking what would be a good road bike for her to start cycling after years of running. She lived in an area that had quite a few integrated bike trails with a system that incorporated cement, asphalt and very fine hard packed grave. Her Husband was an avid cyclist but she was not looking for something as expensive or performance orientated as his. She had quite a few answers which gave her some nice choices and pros and cons of the different bikes out there. A lot of people said to look at and ride a cycle cross bike, fondly known as just a cross bike. Without going into the “Experts”, who happened to be a physiologist who is a bicycle and ski boot salesman that rides 10,000 miles a year, in Michigan, all according to his profile, he did not seem to know what a cross bike was. He advised against the cross bike because “they are light mountain bike, resembling a road bike, with narrow mountain bike tires”.

Now having a cross bike myself, his description irked me to say the least. Then I started thinking, I have had a lot of riders, at rest stops, ask if my Specialized Tri-cross was a new type of hybrid. Cycle Cross bikes are not new to the USA, but are not real common place either. Cycle Cross racing has just started catching on over the last 5 years and bringing the bikes more into view of the riding public. At first look they are nothing but a road bike with a higher handlebar stem.

In reality they have some other distinct differences also. A more relaxed riding position, simplified as a shorter top bar on the frame. This lets the rider sit up a little more upright rather than in a racer aerodynamic stretched out position. The overall frame geometry is not overly extreme in any direction to make it work efficiently on any type of road and the option of wider tires lets you choose what works the best for you where you are riding. You see the heart of a Cycle Cross bike is off road mud racing. The front forks and the rear stays are a little wider spaced than a traditional road bike to clear mud build up. This gives the owner the option of high performance 700x23mm road racing tires or up to about 700x42mm with little knobby things that grip fantastically in the snow or on loose gravel. I ride on a 700x32mm with a slight tread that works well on all surfaces other than deep sand. A closer look and you may see that the front chain rings appear a little smaller that your typical road bike. They are, the typical big chain ring is a 52 tooth job that gives you some really rip roaring speed if you can get it going. A Cycle Cross bike’s big ring is usually 48 tooth which gives me a steady, with a slight decline and long flat 20-25 mph. You need to realize that I cannot keep up with my son on his flat bar road bike, but I have been known to hit a blazing 34 mph on a nice downhill. Due to they are built to race in the mud on a closed circuit track, they are built strong and durable. Strong and durable does not translate to heavy. My middle of the line Tri-cross with 32mm Specialized Armadillo tires, two water bottle cages and a under the seat tool bag and junk, wired computer with cadence weighs in at a whopping 20 lbs. The flat bar road bike my son kicks my butt on with wired computer and two bottle cages weigh in at about 30 lbs. Now on the other end of the spectrum and not even at the other end, is my son’s new Ridley Cross Fire, a high middle range Cross bike. A Full carbon fiber, frame, fork, and seat post with two imitation carbon fiber bottle cages, and a wireless computer, a disgusting 15 lbs. Please someone rich adopt me.

Bottom line, ride what you’re comfortable on but keep an open mind. If you have made a lot of modifications to your road ride whether it be a road, hybrid or flat bar bike take a test spin on a Cross bike next time you are at your favorite dealer. I believe you will find they make an extremely comfortable ride and there are even a couple of manufactures that are putting on front and rear rack mounts for serious traveling.

One last bit of advice, watch the “self proclaimed experts”. Take what you read, hear or are told from anyone, with a grain of salt or two.

Till Next Time

Ride Fast As You Can, Ride Safe, Ride Warm but Ride

“G”

Cold Weather, Thoughts Turn to Diet

2011-01-11T10:44:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!

How about this date, 1-11-11, cool. As I lay here on the couch comfortable dressed, for being alone, and a touch cold, listening to the rhythm of the washing machine doing its thing, looking out the window at the beautiful white settings of my back yard, I think about the lack of riding I’m doing and the effect it will have.

Good news and bad news on that. It has been proven that time off of the bike can actually be an advantage. It gives the muscles a chance to get a good rest, refresh and regenerate. The bad news to that is you go longer than a month and you may be starting from square one again. The good news, here in Colorado, is that though the streets and paths are still ice packed, they will soon be open again. As far as the weather, right now I’m looking at 9 degrees, it will be in the 50’s by the end of the week. It may be only for a day or two but there will be ridable surfaces and temperatures for us Recreational riders during every week of winter.

Not exercising can cause a concern for all the weight you have lost through bicycling. I, personally, have fallen back to the South Beach diet that jump started my metabolism moving awhile back. I don’t go back to week one, I just stay a little truer to the maintenance. It consists of eggs, lean meat and other good protein high fiber as well as lots of fruit veggies and snacks of yogurt, nuts and cheese and even some carbs. It is not difficult when you have those choices. If you are comfortable with what you have lost before the cold set in, stick with the diet of your choice, for two of the three meals and snacks a day, that way you can splurge on the meal of your choice. South Beach, which by the way I have absolutely no connections with, has a meal replacement bar that is fantastic. Not only is it really good, it is very filling as well and 12grams of protein. My 16 year old loves them, and they are great to take on a long ride. They satisfy the hunger, give you energy and don’t make you feel stuffed. An added plus is they are approved by the American Diabetes Association.

Don’t get me wrong you cannot stop exercising all together. This is a good time to start strength work. A few simple dumbbells and maybe a yoga ball will do wonders. You will not get muscle bound but you will tone that weight you have lost by working with light weight and many repetitions. I have started doing some bicycle specific back exercises with the yoga ball and have thrown in some dumbbell work on it also, to help with core muscles (Fat Belly) and balance.

Put this all together and you can enjoy life maintain what you have lost, stay warm and be able to splurge a few extra calories once in awhile. If you want to partake in coffee and a bagel with some bicycle or life talk, drop me a note and we will do that.

Till Next Time

Ride Far, Ride Fast as You Can, Ride Warm, But Ride.

“G”

No I Haven’t Blogged in A Month, Give Me A Break

2010-12-20T22:01:00.000-08:00

Give me a break, it’s a crazy holiday season and a time of the year that no one should really have the time to be reading such smatterings of rambling nonsense. After all there is food to prepare, guest to entertain, shopping for that special item for that special person, not to mention a rare lunar eclipse. Throw in being the “Team Mom” for your 10 year olds basketball team can just run a house husband ragged. With the hustle and bustle of the season I foresee a nice relaxing ride on Christmas Day before I prepare my goose less hunk of meat and the typical side dishes, to make a colorful presentation, to offer up to juveniles that only want to be bothered if there is a newly found present to unwrap that may have been previously lost in the piles of wrapping paper thrown about. Yes Mothers of the world, I have true and sincere empathy for you.

Well my break is over, the eclipse will soon arrive and there are boxes Santa needs to finish wrapping while Mrs. Clause is putting finishing touches on presents Santa needs to take to the neighbors. So for you die hard followers, thank you, and may your stocking be filled with the latest cycling gadget you have dreamed of and have a,

Very Merry Christmas and a Safe Healthy New Year

Till Next Year
Ride Safe, Ride Warm, But Ride

“G”

Cyclocross in Arapahoe County Colorado

2010-11-21T10:54:00.000-08:00

On November 20, 2010, at about 7:00 AM cyclists of all sizes and ages made their way through the fog in the 20 degree weather to converge on the Arapahoe County Community Park. Why are these crazies doing this? The “Alphacross”, a Colorado Cross Cup event of the 2010-11 Cyclocross series, sponsored in part by Alpha Bicycle Company of Centennial.
What is a Cyclocross you ask? Good question but difficult to answer. A cycling sport, that starts in the late fall and into the winter, when normal everyday cyclist wrap their selves in layers of warm clothing and ride around a closed, off road course, on what appears to be expensive European road racing bicycles to have the time of their life. Now that is probably not an exact purist definition, but to the laymen recreational rider it sure sums it up.

The races, of various timed lengths, anywhere from twenty minutes for the junior class, 8 and 9 year olds, to forty-five minutes for the serious levels of the experts. Yes 8 & 9 year olds and believe me they are fast, well equipped and are having a ball, even at thirty two degrees when their race started at 8:31 AM. After observing a Cyclocross at the Centennial City Hall, my tall son wanted to try one. The “Alphacross” held a “Newbies” race which was just a handful of those present, doing thirty minutes around the approximately mile and a half course. The “Newbies” start time was scheduled for 7:50 AM the riders were whistled off, to start the day of racing, at 8:01 AM. The fog was thick and from the starting line, you could not really see where you turned out of the parking lot and on to the course, but the seven riders were guaranteed they would be able to see it when they got there. My son only made about a half a lap before he could not feel his fingers and was not sure if he was squeezing the breaks or not. Being on one of his teachers, very expensive, carbon fiber, competition Cyclocross bike he felt it might be wise not to destroy it. A friend that we sometimes ride with finished but became so cold she was unaware of hitting her shins on her pedals, causing multiple bruising, until she was home and thawed out. A note to self for next year, start collecting cold weather riding gear.

The course was very professionally laid out by the Alpha Bicycle Company and was available to pre-ride the course, the afternoon prior to the event, which, both of my boys and I did take advantage of. Alpha arranged for a free pancake breakfast, some vendors, and a jump house for the kids when they were done and Mom and Dad were riding their races. Yes this was a full out family outing of great camaraderie and just plain fun for family and friends. The event could be as short as a couple of hours or spend the whole day. The last 45 minute race went out at 3:46 PM. If this sport peaks your interest, check out the American Cycling Association’s web site (www.americancycling.com ) for a race near you. This is a very large sport in Europe and has been catching on here in the States over the last ten years.

Since I mentioned Alpha Bicycle Company as a sponsor, I should mention that they were assisted in that sponsorship, by the Groove Automotive Group, United Health Care, Raleigh Cycles and Moots Hand Built Cycles.

Till Next Time

Ride Safe, Ride Warm, But Ride

“G”

A Winter Ride

2010-11-13T20:15:00.000-08:00

In Colorado we are spoiled. The weather changes daily not to mention hourly or go a block away. We can ski in the morning drive 45 minutes and golf, bike or enjoy the fresh air at your local park. Then the cold comes just to screw with your mind.

Yes it’s cold; at least to my old body it is cold. I see some sturdy cyclist going by the house, in shorts no less, see that beautiful mile high blue sky and I’m ready. I go to get my water bottles and look at the thermometer outside the kitchen window …….28 degrees what the…….Yeh, it’s Colorado.

One of my rides last week, my 32 mile loop, it was a beautiful 58 degrees, blue sky, no wind, the ideal ride in November. On the way south I watched the black cloud come over the Rockies the temp was now 68 and I had a nice breeze. 5 miles later there was a wind, not a nice wind, but a wind that took my bike with my super sized daintiness and blew it of the path. For the first time I actually wanted to call home for a ride. The wind eased the temp went up to the high 80’s (love that temp mode on my computer), and it was bearable. On the way back the wind kept changing directions, there was moisture falling from the sky, here and there, nothing consistent or getting anything wet. I decided to skip the trail and make a direct shot home, and cut off a couple of miles to get the ride over with. Then it became calm, the sun was back with the blue sky and no wind, just beautiful. I got home and sat on the back bumper of my van, getting my shoes off, taking in some more water and protein drink as I watched the first snowflakes of the season fall. Yes this is Colorado.

Riding in these weather changes, takes some self preservation as well as good clothing. There are a lot of companies out there getting on the “base layer” band wagon. I have been wearing Under Armour© for years, year around, it really does keep you cool in the heat and warm when it is cold. The plus side, besides having a shelf full of it, is it is cheaper than the same thing with a cycling logo/company on it. Leg warmers and Arm warmers are outstanding. I think of it as a cheap way to stay warm when you don’t ride below 55 degrees. You can usually find them from $14 - $19 for a pair of either (try Performance or NASHBAR online). This is much cheaper than buying a pair of $190 Gortex© winter bibs that you can follow snow plows in and be toasty warm. I also picked up a cozy pair of grippy, light weight, but warm gloves at COSTCO for $9.

With a new year coming up, you may also want to start the year off trying one of the free on line training logs. I mentioned the one on Bicycling.com, and that the tall son was doing “Daily Mile”. We are doing both now, and I have been doing them together for about 6 months. They are both very good for the basic stuff and easy to add to, in their comments section, if you want to add more like I do. Daily Mile is also a cyclists’ social network which is pretty interesting without getting personal.

Till Next Time

Ride Warm, Ride Safe, But Ride

G

My Fitness Level Snuck Up On Me When It Became Cold

2010-10-24T15:51:00.000-07:00

Well here we are at the end of October, goblins, witches and transformers getting ready to appear and we are still riding. I’m talking about being in Colorado, where the first ski resort opened this morning, are we fortunate or what? Yes it is a little cool in the morning but it warms up nice. There was a group of about five that went by the house this morning when the thermometer read 46 degrees, right now it’s 64.

I have noticed a new wonderful problem with my fitness level. You see as your fitness level improves, it is not always in leaps and bounds that give you that instant gratification. The long term gains are quiet and sneak up on you. Till it started getting colder in the morning I did not get the full impact of my rides becoming faster and longer. As I was attempting to stretch rides out to 20 miles 25 miles, 30 and now 32+ miles I kept attempting to do the distance faster, as I got faster I stretched it further. This summer my rides were about an hour and a half, hour forty five, doing 18 miles. I am now doing 32 to 35 miles a ride in about two hours, two hours twenty and haven’t thought much about it. This is great but it’s cold in the morning and I can be a woos when it comes to the cold and bicycling. No big deal, just start later. It’s in the high 50’s low 60”s around 11:00AM till noon and my old body will tolerate that without a problem. After all if you take the first half mile at a fairly quick pace and high RPM you will be nice and cozy warm. So this is a problem? I have the tall son that has no desire to drive, I mean after all why drive when Dad and Mom take him anywhere he needs to go that he doesn’t bike. He gets out of school at 2:40 and with an intersection re-build between home and school, I need to leave 45 minutes earlier than I did a month ago. So combined longer rides and longer trip to pick up the tall kid it is just to close time wise. It is time to invest in some winter riding gear and suck it up.

There is a lot of good winter riding gear out there but if you think out of the box there are some really good alternatives that you will not need a bank loan. I love bib shorts, they don’t slip down and when I had a bigger belly regular shorts were forced down and the belly would flop out and it was annoying. Winter long bibs with cold weather thermal fronts where the cold hits, lighter in the back to dissipate the excess heat and moisture, $190.00, not going to happen. Even a good mid weight long bib will be about $75.00 this time of year. Good winter riding gloves full finger or three finger “lobster” style, 35 – 85 dollars, wow. You need to look at what you are really going to ride during the winter and how cold of a temperature will you really put up with. I came to the conclusion that, at least for this year, I will not need clothing to keep me warm riding behind a snow plow. My decision, leg warmers and arm warmers at around 14 – 18 dollars a set. I get to use my own comfy bibs, or shorts now that the belly doesn’t fall out, as well as a plethora of jerseys I have been told were unnecessary. After all this is Colorado, I can put on the leg and arm warmers start my ride and when it warms up pull them off and put them in a jersey pocket. As far as gloves go, COSTCO has “Head” (the ski company) gloves that are a lycra/neoprem type material with silicone grips on the palms for $10. There warm and cheap. I also found that my stacks of ”under armor” sleeveless, short sleeve and long sleeves make a great base under jerseys no matter what the weather.

Well I have babbled enough, I hope there was something here that you can find usable for yourself. Fly away as a free spirit and enjoy the cold and you will have a beautiful swimsuit body next summer.

As an unrelated side note; my “new” Specialized Tri Cross, went over 4000 miles last week. The results of 26 months worth of fat burning.

Till Next Time

Ride Fast, Ride Warm, Ride Safe, But Ride

“G”

I Am Now Supporting Another Cyclist

2010-10-02T22:14:00.000-07:00

Well here we go; I’m now supporting another roadie (a road cyclist). Yes the short son now has a road bike. Thanks to “Craig’s List”, where we were looking for a 44cm Specialized Dolce. After all, the women I have talked to, with the Dolce, wouldn’t get rid of the one they had for anything. We did see a couple for sale, but they were only a couple of hundred less than a new one. So the little guy understood and wasn’t expecting a road bike till the spring. Then comes an email, we just put our Dolce up for sale and saw your wanted add. So on the evening of the 28th the short son became the owner of a four year old Dolce Elite which was in excellent condition, to the point of the guys at Bike Source, who went through it for flaws, could not believe it was four years old. What flaws were found on super find you ask? Even if you did not ask, there was a slight screw adjustment on the front derailleur and the end of the cables need caps on them.

Short son and I managed to go out and get in his first longish rode ride today. It was fun and a Father or Mothers great joy of celebrating this first experience.

Short Sons first Rode Bike Ride (Photo by Connor Livingston)

With all of the work he has put in on his Mountain bike and year around Basketball, he rode 26.35 miles in two hours. He took a break while I extended my ride another six miles. He had a good time, the only thing that was slightly sore, on him, was his neck and he did not think it was that hard. So by late spring, I imagine, I will have two sons that I start rides with and they will wait for me to catch up every ten miles or so.

That tells me I will need to have quite a few back to back months like September. I rode 408 miles in September which includes the last three weeks of over a hundred miles a week. My rides have been getting longer a mile or two at a time. This, in turn, gives me more endurance which makes it easier to go further. Such a wonderful circle to cycle. I really see a century in our future next year, or at least the MS 150. I wanted to attempt to do the “Ride the Rockies” when I turn 65. I’m much closer to both.

Till Next Time

Ride Fast, Ride Far, Ride Safe, But Ride

“G”

Do Shinny New Bells and Whistles Make You Pedal Faster?

2010-09-16T08:03:00.001-07:00

Well I went to Performance Cycle and spent some money. Actually I went to their web site since the actual store did not have the sale Items on hand, big surprise. I went on line and they had a few items but not what they showed in the size I wanted, or the color they showed. A little disappointing but the tall son now has possession of a new jersey and we both did get some new carbon fiber substance, pedals. I still would like to have/need a new helmet.

We replaced our Shimano “SPD” type clip in pedal with a, heavier (they are much bigger), carbon fiber, Forte “Keo” type clip in pedal. The sale prices were well worth it, the pedals have fixed a couple of problems. Since I have an updated, designed in this century, new pair of bike shoes I could never get the cleats adjusted to the pedals quite right. With the new type pedals and cleats, I was actually forced to learned how to adjust them to work together correctly. I’m not a professional but I am in a really small ball park of being right on. The results, I have no more ankle, knee or hip pain. Another plus, the pedals are large and give you a larger platform to actually pedal in comfort and more important, efficiency. Lance Armstrong, the cycling legend, has been quoted as saying “Cycling is measured in millimeters”. This was during a discussion of advantages between competitive cycling teams as well as the members within those teams. Bottom line, for the recreational rider, adjust, adjust, adjust.

So am I any faster? Did the simple change really make a difference or did the shiny new bobbles, that we are all so attracted to, just make me feel faster. 10 rides with the new shoes, the last 3 with the new pedals. Prior to the new found comfort I was pretty consistent with 13 -18 mile rides and an occasional 25 -30 miler. The last 10, 6 were over 30, my cadence is up, and the last 3 rides, 2 were with an average cadence of over 70 for over 30 miles. That is coming up to the lower end of being respectable. Even though I am only faster by fractions, I feel much faster. Feeling faster combined with no pain, equals longer rides, which will equal faster and lighter.

As for the tall kid, he’s taller and now about an average of 1.5 mph than his previous rides, Ahhh to be young again.

Till Next Time

Ride Fast, Ride Safe, But Ride.

“G”

Ever Notice How One New Bike Item Leads To Another

2010-08-31T16:06:00.000-07:00

I got back on the bike after three weeks of swimming and vacationing with the boys. Like I had mentioned at the beginning of the year getting back into the swing of things can be scary. Also I treated myself to a new pair of shoes, after 18 years on the old ones, who knew that grown feet changed so much.

Was going with the tall son as he shopped for a new pair of shoes and figured hey, I deserve a new pair of shoes too. The good thing my size was in stock. Our friends at Bike Source fitted tall son perfectly, with growing room, and then had him order a half size bigger. They have watched him grow the last couple of years. Anyway I picked up a pretty spiffy pair of Specialized Body Geometry shoes in white, I like a little flash. It is amazing the technology that has occurred over the last 18 years in bike shoes. The new ones are like slippers that seem to self cool as you ride, amazing, simply amazing. After the down time and armed, or should say footed, with my new shoes I took off on my first ride. My time came up, my cadence came up and I did not hurt. No pain in the ankle, knee or hip joints could this be from shoes? I waited a day took another, same outcome, the next day a 30 miler and wow. Till I attempted to move the cleats from a neutral position on the shoe no pain. The last 12.5 of that 30, after my SWAG adjustment, my ankles, knees and hips burned. So much for SWAG. The cleats went back to neutral. The tall kid’s shoes came in; I set his cleats very neutral, with a plum line and a ruler neutral. He took a ride and we slightly dialed the feel in till he could not feel any discomfort and we were good. Good enough to jump into a 55 mile ride with a couple of friends, fast friends. We were a group of 5 and though I have stayed away from group riding just because of my slowness. It didn’t make much of a difference, we all rode with each other at one time or another, I pushed a little harder, and we all had some really good conversation, good laughs and an excellent ride. I really need to reevaluate the whole group ride thing, especially if it is a small group. If you have been worried about your abilities take that step and give it a try, you may have the same happy surprise. Even the female in the group made me feel good by riding with me about 14 miles even though she was, tall son fast, and showed it down the stretch. The new shoes, never thought about them or my joints the whole ride. Bottom line if your going to bike, fit is everything.

Speaking of those shoes, what’s a new shoe without putting feet with new socks into them? Throw in thoughts of having new shoes and getting accustom to getting in and out of the pedals, tall son gets me thinking, this would be the time to switch to a larger platform carbon fiber pedal. This gets me thinking more, not a good thing in my case. Tall son has a new high end Giro helmet, mine is a good 10 years old, not acceptable for safety. New shoes, new socks, possibly new pedals and skid lid, hey my bib shorts are looking a little saggy. So the question here is; bicycling a money pit or the more you bicycle things just wear vs. ever notice how one new part leads to another. Oh by the way I just received a new Performance Cycle’s warehouse clearance catalogue and it looks like I might be able to save a little over $200 on my recent thoughts. Timing is everything.

As for the actual riding in August, 151,8 miles in 5 rides, I deserve some new gear.

Till Next Time

Ride Fast, Ride Safe, But Ride

“G”

OK, I Didn’t Make A Post The First of The Week

2010-08-18T21:54:00.000-07:00

I know how important it is to have a good group of followers and to keep them a blogger must be consistent. I also have had times I haven’t been that consistent and the amount I have been read shows the drop. Life does really get in the way of all of us, especially if you have a real life. I have thought of what I was going to write in this post, being first after vacation, and as I had said I came across some things on the vacation that was of interest.

On our first day of the trip we were heading west on I-70, going through some of the canyon lands of Utah and observed an odd thing. Out of nowhere, in the middle of nowhere, at the crest of a long climb, there was a cyclist. On a road bike, the full roadie outfit, no luggage or bags, and just hammering away. I thought, WOW, this guy is nuts to be out here alone. It was about 1:00 pm and touching just under 90 degrees. Then I thought this could be cool if you had a couple of friends to do it with. I was now a couple of miles down the road and there were two more, same shorts and jersey as the first guy, no bags and a pretty good pace. Looking ahead, tall son saw another single rider. As we passed same thing and we figured this must be a local club ride only there was nothing that resembled local. Up a head we saw a van with a major load of bikes on the roof and a rear rack and I said “I bet this was all part of a tour company”. I was partially correct; it was a tour company with mountain bikes from a company that did tours back in Moab. All in all we passed about 10 of the roadies. Watching them ride a good pace, especially at the front, I thought this really would be cool. Traveling down the interstate going to exciting places, cool. I did see a couple of good swerves with all the crap in the emergency stopping lane they were riding in. Bottles, trash and nasty chunks of blown out semi tires. Then an actual crossed my mind again, no bags, how many flats have they had or what are they using for tires. All and all it was pretty darn cool even though they were spread out over about 7 miles.

Since this was a boy’s road trip and Mom doesn’t like Vegas the boys wanted to spend a few nights there. One of the impressive things in Vegas, to me anyway, is the Metro Police Department bike unit. Now the casinos have their security, also dressed in Yellow shirts and black shorts and some, a lot, are also on bikes. But Metro is impressive. It caught my interest since I started a PD bike unit in the early 90’s and I attempt to talk to a couple of the guys every trip I make to Sin City. They travel in a minimum of pairs, spread a lot of good PR by taking endless silly photos for the tourists and are very, very visible. For those of you that may not have taken the drive to the 24 hr never sleep city, you would be amazed at the amount of people and wonder, recession? I’m not talking at rush hour; I’m talking about 3:00 am. The strip is so backed up it is easier to attempt to walk it rather than drive or take the monorail, bus or cab. On occasion you can see a swarm, 4-6 members of the bike unit, crossing 8 lanes of traffic going against the traffic at 2 -3 times the speed of the “moving” traffic. The grace and precision is that of the water show at the Bellagio and should be seen by all. They jump the center medians, the curbs; avoid the crowds all without a hesitation or mishap. They are as cool as the roadies in the middle of nowhere.

We did take a kind of a ride one morning on the beach in Ventura California. The Tall Son wanted to ride in a two person surrey and we attempted to stay up with the little guy on a recumbent trike. It was fun but made us wish we would have brought our bikes.

The Ventura Performance Cycle was closed down and the space was empty. We did not see any other shops during the trip. I was really expecting them to be more visible.

Did you hear about the LA Mayor? Typical politician, bike friendly roads didn’t mean squat until, while riding downtown last month, he was hit by a cab that pulled out in front of him. He fractured his shoulder. Local cyclists did not even know he rode, but now sharing the road is a priority, funny how that works eh?

Till Next Post

Ride Fast, Ride Safe, But Ride

“G”

On Vacation Miss The Bike

2010-08-12T09:04:00.000-07:00

Sorry about the gap in posts, I realize that is a blogger’s #1 no no but, life really does get into the way.

Son’s and I have been out of state for a little over a week and should be home and back on the bike the this weekend. We have missed the bikes and need to reconsider taking them on the next adventure. We did get to ride on the beach with a bicycle type contraption, but not the same.

I will have some observations to share, from group riding on the interstates to the remarkable bike units of the Las Vegas Metro PD.

Look for me again early next week.

Till Then

Ride Fast, Ride Safe But Ride

“G”

Bikes and Energy Drinks for the Recreational Rider

2010-07-29T20:30:00.000-07:00

Well we are through July and I have racked up a mile over 200, the tall son will hit 400 on our ride tomorrow, the energy is up and I thank some drinks.

It appears I have dropped another 5 lbs., I love eating the “South Beach” way and my energy level is way up. I would say a lot of it is from the 15 lb., loss since My Dr. decided my body and metabolism needed a shock. Even with the loss my rides have improved as in longer and faster without hurting. I believe this is all attributed to experimenting with drinks. As much as I would like to credit the consumption of Margaritas, I have been playing with two types of powdered, costly energy drink mixes. Though I have always rode with “Gatorade” when I started the South Beach it was actually worthless. By favorite bike shop, Bike Source, yes I’ll plug them, gave me some suggestions. The first was Accelerade Hydro. Their claim to fame is a 4 to 1 ratio of Carbohydrate to Protein and 30% less calories as well as 55% less sugar. I believe that because it says so right on the container. We, son and I, picked the lemonade flavor in the 1.76 lb container, 50 servings, and $40. A serving before the ride and a water bottle full during the ride and in two rides a noticeable difference. I really felt better that first two weeks of the South Beach. I had the energy to ride and actually felt good doing it. My average speed came up, 1 mph and I started riding farther. Son, he went wild, his averages came up almost 5 mph and did not hurt a bit. But then you need to know that this is a kid that is wired on Benadryl, tried that once. We finished the container and were very happy with the results. We were also recommended, same shop, Heed by Hammer Nutrition. This was recommended because a salesman was aware of my type II diabetes. Hammers claims, made from all natural food products and the sugar content is only 2g of sugar a serving compared to Accelerade’s 8g. We bought the 2.04 lb container “Subtle Strawberry” flavor, 32 servings and $25. There are no artificial colors and looks like a bottle or glass of water and a very light flavor. This has worked very well for me I can tell the difference it brought me up about 2 mph which is no big deal but remember I’m an old fat guy. The young kid does not feel the energy spike even though he is even faster he does take a separate bottle of low callorie Gatorade. Neither of us finishes our ride with soreness, pain or feel totally wiped out. This is a good thing. The first time with the HEED I had a burning in my stomach, the second time only very slight and none since. I don’t think the complete verdict is in but we will see.

Till Next Time

Ride Fast, Ride Safe, But Ride

G

Bicycling and Life is Better Than Good

2010-07-21T09:50:00.000-07:00

Well here we go again. I became involved in a riding group, I’m attempting different riding mechanics to pick up my average speed, my son became very fast, and I will soon have some input into a transportation master plan plus a five day trip to Vegas with four cops and no significant others. Above all, life is better than good.

I attempted to become involved in a group ride with some really good people from my local municipality’s administration. Great people, good attempt, a wonderful bubbly organizer but really fast. The majority has left the fold due to being too fast, my son thinks they are a tad bit slow as well as a racer in the group. Has this discouraged our bubbly organizer, not a bit. She will break us up into a fast group and a slow person group. I volunteered to lead some of the slow guys so we will all get what we want, social and healthy as we all strive to improve. So please keep in mind, if at first a group ride doesn’t work out for you, don’t give up, adjust.

Attempting to improve is a big goal of mine. I have improved amazingly, in my mind anyway, but looking for more. I am now working on completing shorter rides, 15-18 miles of rolling terrain, in high gears only. With the weight loss and keeping in that big front sprocket my average speeds are coming up and more weight is coming off. The main theme though is ride. Ride as much and for as long as you can. I am, right now, behind my mileage schedule. I wanted to break 2000 miles this year and I’m only at 658. Will I? I still plan to, we will see.

My son is getting cocky; he is averaging right at 17+ mph on 15-17 mile rides. He is still riding his “Flat Bar” road bike and enjoys to annoy the really fast guys. Yesterday we were doing a loop and a “super star” goes by us like we were standing still, (I was doing 18 mph) all tucked in with his aero bars and seat up in a race position. Son pulls up next to me with a sheepish smile on his face and says I’ll be back. He was off in a sprint. He caught up with the rider who was still tucked in and moving at the speed I envied. Son pulls up to him in an upright position and gives him a wave and rode with him for a bit. Ahhh, to be a teenager again.

My local municipality was accepting applicants to serve on the Transportation Master Plan (TMP) Community Advisory Committee. The City’s first Transportation Master Plan will provide a vision for the future transportation network in Centennial. The plan outlines improved vehicular, bicycle, pedestrian and transit facilities that will ensure citizens and businesses have access to high-quality transportation systems for all of their travel needs. I applied and was accepted to sit on this committee. If anyone has good information and proven ideas from your own community, especially about combining bicycle and motor vehicle traffic together, please let me know. If I get some good input I will put together an electronic means to collect this information.

Did I mention something about Vegas? Yes five nights in Vegas in 100 degree plus heat and even without the adult beverages, of which there were too numerous to mention, I wondered a recession? I saw thousands of people that obviously were not worried about or even knew they were supposed to be worried about their finances. If any of you admitting to partake in “what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas”, can you remember standing in line to check into your hotel for an hour on a Wednesday afternoon? Then find out you were at the wrong hotel, not to mention the cabana reservations were not kept. I won’t even mention the accusation of getting lost at the airport, I wasn’t lost the baggage and the other cops were.

Till Next Time

Ride Hard, Ride Safe But Ride

”G”

The Goose Chase and Some More

2010-06-22T21:24:00.000-07:00

Well I am use to the diet, my body has came around and is working as normal or as normal as the 62 year old parts work.

Started the 30 mile loop of the Goose Chase did the first 15 with a 13.7 average, but #1 son could not go on. Actually he asked to go to the Para-Medics. He took off strong but there was a snag in the course directions and he went down hard in the first quarter mile. It was quick, he was 3rd and I was about 8th he and the bike were up-right, not bleeding yet and said he was fine as I went by. He soon caught up with me and told me what had happened. He is nursing a beautiful road rash from his right buttocks down to his right ankle. He even got a few thumbs up from the employees at Bike Source when we took his bike in to straighten the rear derailleur. That really raised his spirits. On the plus side it was really nice to actually ride with him for a change. Other than that mishap and the route mileage was off quite a bit, it was a great event. There was a new venue this year and it was laid out in a city park, with plenty of room for vendors, aid stations, and a beer garden that was quite busy. Some small problems but it will be worth coming back next year.

As far as “some more” goes, a pet peeve popped up again. Actually it was about a month ago and I still haven’t been able to let it go. I had complained before about the inconsiderate “Super Stars” and the way they sometimes pass. I have been used for passing practice before but I don’t think this incident was right in any manner. I was finishing up a twenty mile ride on a long gradual incline. It was a closed two lane road that is in very good shape. No big deal but there was an enormous head wind. I don’t mean a stiff breeze but an actual wind. Normal speed in the stretch for me, and I do get passed there a lot, is right about 12 mph. That day I was straining at 5 mph attempting to roll in a straight line. Now I’m sure, all of you have all came up on someone who you can recognize as obviously having a bad time. I know I have, and I give them room as well as let them know I am there. I do on occasion pass someone. I digress, back to the “Super Star”, on a two lane road with no other bike in site. As I stated I’m struggling and wobbling then without warning, I see a front wheel next to me which appeared very close. Close, an understatement, BOOM, his arm hits my elbow. Now as I’m stupidly expecting some verbal grunting coming from him all decked out in his green team jersey, shorts and socks, but noooo, he was a true “Super Star”. He got off the seat moved over to what would have been an oncoming lane and pedaled like he was possessed, till he was out of sight.

OK, now I can let it go, and it is time to go.

Till Next Post
Ride Hard, Ride Safe, But Ride.

“G”

South Beach and The Goose Chase

2010-06-17T21:33:00.000-07:00

Well the Greenwood Village Goose Chase is here. I hope my body will work like I want it to, but I will be happy if I just get through it. The Goose Chase is a funny sort of ride, no stress, no high mileage, just a fun time. There will be some elite athletics both running and biking as well as the people that have never attempted an organized ride, like my son and I last year. Good place to start and a good place to come back to.

My diet is still going, my energy is still missing, but improving. The old muscles hurt really badly but it is improving. “Kid Doc” told me to pick up a powered energy drink mix so I had a talk with my favorite people at Bike Source. They suggested a couple brands for riding and dieting and I picked up some with some little gummy bear energy shot chewable items. If I thought they worked well or knew they did not I would mention them by name. Right now I feel my body is getting accustom to the diet and compensating, throw in a very low sugar drink mix and candy caffeine and you have a combination that has let me throw together a couple of good rides. I’m sorer than I can remember being, have some pain I haven’t felt before but I do have some more energy. With the drink and super gummy bears, I have managed to get in a couple of 20 plus mile rides in. I also was talked into actually get up at 5:15 a.m., remember I’m retired, to take a group ride in a group that had never ridden together. Good time, really good time, I had forgotten how beautiful early mornings are. I hurt but riding in a group you push a little harder which is a good thing. I hung in there for about 3 miles then stopped for my son who was in the front with the leader but pulled over to check a noise. I just could not keep up after that but ended up not that far back. The great group stopped and waited for me a few times but that gave everyone the chance to get to know each other which was a good thing. I did get my average speed out of the sickly 11 mph range, not back to the 13 range but for now I’ll take the 12’s.

Saturday my boy and I will have a successful 30 mile Goose Chase, take in an evening Rockies Baseball game and sleep well.

As far as the diet results go, “Kid Doc” was correct, I have lost 11 lbs in 11 days and my blood sugar levels down about 15 points in the same time. Fathers Day I get to add some fruit, certain starches and cereals so I foresee a great week coming up.

Till Next Time
Ride Hard, Ride Safe, But Ride

“G”

Bicycling and the South Beach Diet

2010-06-09T22:21:00.000-07:00

My new Doctor decided that with the amount of bike riding I have done this past year I wasn’t getting the results that a reasonable person would expect. So let’s shock the body and kick the metabolism speed up. I’m about a half a point from being out of the type II diabetes as well as the rest of the mysterious numbers just being one margarita out of normal. The new kid Doctor says, the benefits are enormous to trying the “South Beach Diet”. He gave me the good old sales attempt and said it will, very quickly, use up the belly fat to produce energy, which in turn will eat away the middle age “beer belly”. Now, since I can vaguely remember my middle age I have retained the gut. He ended the sales pitch with, pick up and read the book and then decide, so I did.

I read through the book, which was a very easy read just like the Kid Doc said it was. As I read I thought I need to change my diet very little, I like this food, just not sure if I can eat that much, really they have good food, but a lot of it. So I emailed the Doc and said I will try this as soon as I get back from the conference I was involved in.

The first two weeks are the most difficult, no “bad” carbs, no sugar and no starches. Not that big of a deal, until you realize what the body does without those foods. If you’re a cyclist that means no carb loading, no energy bars no Gatorade or other sports/energy drink. No big deal I can do this.

June 6th was the start day and I was off and running. Felt good all day a little tired earlier than normal but then I just came back from a busy conference week. I got up the next morning made myself scrambled eggs with celery, broccoli, Canadian ham and decaf coffee. I told you there was good food. After some odds and ends I filled my water bottles, with water only, and took off on a well deserved bike ride. I started late and I was riding in clear 90 degree weather. I hadn’t ridden in a week so I just did a 19 mile loop that I was used to and no big deal. The ride was hard, the simple climbs hurt, my feet were killing me, I was tired and there was something that did not feel just right. I got home did my stats and noticed I had lost a full mile an hour on my average. My thought, heat no ride for a week, typical BS.

On the 8th I took a ride with my son who hadn’t ridden since March and finally had a chance to smoke him. The diet was going well, but I was tired felt a little weak and light headed but again wrote it off as BS. We started out doing well, I kept the pace at about 14 mph and was just happy my son was with me. About 8 miles out I hit a wall, a wall that I usually feel at about 20 miles. It did not ease up, but became worse. I had to stop on a hill that is usually difficult for me but I never, never, had to stop going up it. The worst had not happened yet, the first time ever I puked without having alcohol involved. I was so light headed when I caught up with my son, who was taking a nice rest, I felt like I would pass out. OK this isn’t BS anymore, it must be the diet. As I struggled to get back home I was thinking where did I miss the information about these side affects, was this the Kid Doc’s sense of humor that drew me to him up till now. I cut the ride short, 5 miles short, and suffered the rest of the way home. My usual 5 minute recovery time went well into the evening and my stats were the worst in 18 months. I wrote Kid Doc an email without my anger showing, much, and relayed to him the symptoms. He returned an answer promptly, as usual, and said “It should get better quickly”. He said if it didn’t we would add something for an energy shot.

Will see, I have 9 days till the Goose Chase, bad timing eh? I will see how I feel on my ride tomorrow.

Till Next Time

Ride Often, Ride Safe but Ride.

“G”