Resolved

I'm going to:

• blog at least twice a week
• stay on my training regimen
• get to know my PAA teammates better
• never say to the guy coming last at the regroup "have a flat?"
• stop obsessing
• start enjoying
• remember there's more to life than the bike.

Hiatus, Part Deux

I've been busy. One time a biker passed me on a hill saying "Can't talk, breathing", and that's how I feel in general. Since my last entry I've ridden around 2000 miles, a lot of it pretty hard. Enough about me (strange from a blogger), I'll talk training later. A few reviews:

Wippermann 9 Speed Nickel Connex Chain: Wins. I got 1900 miles from one (last time I kept track I wiped out a Shimano in under 1500). This makes it about the same cost per mile, but it wins on convenience, even over the SRAM with master link.

Polar CS600, with power: Without going into too many details (waiting for phone support for 30 minutes, returning to bike shops multiple time and so on), it does function, and the ProTrainer software is a step up from PPP version 4. I haven't investigated the resonance phenomenon, but will eventually. This wins over the 720 since it has the following:

• More readable display
• 1-sec record rate
• More info in display
• Display flexibility
• Fewer data dropouts (none so far actually)

I also suspect that the accuracy is somewhat better. Power spikes occur on occasion still.

Polar Power & Resonance

So the program my coach has me on is power based. This meant I had to get out that damn Polar power meter and install it on the bike I'd use for most of my training. It only took a couple of hours and things seemed to work great, until I noticed that in one, and only one, gear combination the power went through the roof. So my wonderful wife suggested I try using her chain (wipperman connex, rather than my cheapie SRAM). Lo and behold the problem went away!

So we took out one of her spare chains to put on my bike. In life there are these moments when something tugs at the back of your brain and asks for your attention. I had one. As we're prepping the chain my wife asks "Should we leave it the same length as mine?" The obvious answer was "Yes!", but I said "Gee, it should probably be the appropriate (shorter) length for my bike. How could the overall length possibly matter?" Bzzzzzzzzzzzt, wrong answer.

What happened was that the resonance (that's what must be going on, because clearly the pickup is reading the wrong, higher frequency) moved from one gear combo to another (less bothersome) one. Crap! By the way, Polar will absolutely disavow any knowledge of this phenomenon. I'm having trouble getting my head around it, since the source must be in the static chain tension. I don't know if a longer chain length throws the resonance onto a gear combo you'd never use (say, 50x26) or just in between two existing ones. It doesn't matter, when my new chains come in I'll set one up as long as I can and test it. If the resonance is still there, then I'll cut it down and hope it falls into limbo between two gears. I'll let you know.

Hiatus

I'm making several entries today, catching up and keeping the topics distinct. Much has transpired. First I noticed after returning from DC that, in spite of taking four days off the bike, my knees were still somewhat stiff. Following my usual habit of ignoring all possible warning signs I did the following during the next week:

• The Rose Bowl Ride
• Shakedown cruise of the cyclocross bike
• Cool Breeze Double Metric

Guess what? In spite of all this nice exercise the knees didn't improve. It would have been better had they hurt like hell, instead they were just somewhat bothersome. Then I found myself thinking about an upcoming GMR ride. I realized I'd have to strategize based on protecting my knees. Maybe something's wrong, ya think?

A solid week off the bike. Limited walking. Lot's of ibuprofen, glucosamine, MSM, icing, elevation and swimming seemed to help. Now, I think I'm just a wee tad arthritic. This is not the first time middle age has jumped on my chest and laughed at me, but maybe the worst. Everyone thinks their own passion is just the coolest, but cycling has to be special. So many aspects, so many people, so many places. The thought of giving it up was a bit much.

So things are manageable. A month of limited activity has played hob with my LT and maintainable power levels, so back to work. With a coach this time.

IT'S ALIVE!

FrankenBike lives. It's already tried to kill me. But first the inventory of parts:

• My wife's old Open Pro 3X training wheels
• Ultegra brifters (left over from an upgrade)
• Deore LX Vbrakes (new) with rollamajigs
• Scattante XRL Cross frame/fork
• Old FSA Energy compact crank
• Ultegra long throw rear deraileur (again from an upgrade on another bike)
• Crank Bros EggBeaters (new)
• Ritchey WCS Bars
  
• 12-32 SRAM Cassette
• Beat up, scratched dented Thompson SP (I believe I crashed on it sometime in the past)
• Kenda Kwick 30c tires

OK, I couldn't wait so after yesterday's shakedown ride and some adjustments I went up to the saddle below Brown Mountain. On the way up I was thinking this was the best thing ever! After adjusting to the high center of mass, cyclo tires and slow steering I got to experience the best it had to offer - charging uphill on a dirt road on a cyclocross bike. Now, it's not that I don't like hills it's that they don't like me. Seem offended at my mass. So making the process a lot more fun gives me hope I can work more on my climbing.

It's a cliche, but what goes up must come down. Off camber, sandy corners which aren't so bad on a mountain bike become quite scary to the first-time crosser. But that's not where the attempted rider-cide was committed. I got to the bottom and was flying along the paved part when I came to the bridge. One of the design parameters appears to be the placement of boards along the axis of the roadbed at a separation of around 31mm. 2.1 inch mountain bike tires roll over this just fine. Luckily, instead of washing out the front wheel I was able to lean back and yank it out of the slot designed to consume it. It seems that I've got a learning curve ahead.

Lose Weight the Hard Way

I haven't been bloggin, 'tis true. It turns out that when my wife of 21 years went on a 26 day bike trip across the USA the everyday world got more problematic. The minor foulups at work didn't help either. She made it, EFI*. Three thousand three hundred and eighty miles. PAC Tour provided big breakfasts and lunches as well as snacks along the way. Her diet included having two desserts at lunch (usually big slices of pie) and consuming a chocolate shake prior to dinner. She lost five pounds. So now I get to ride a century (actually 200K) this coming weekend with a wife who's got the aerobic capacity of a quarterhorse. That will provide some amusement.

Her experience has taught me lessons about so-called "base" training.

1. It matters.
2. It can be done in fewer days if you ride more miles each day.

My training has been 180 degrees out of phase with hers. I've been riding about ten hours a week, but spending around an hour above lactate threshold and another two within about ten bpm of it. This has produced some really freaky results which have nothing to do with cycling. Doing three slammin' hard workouts with only enough riding between to recover makes a person into the worst sort of adrenaline-junky-slash-endorphin-head. If I went more than three days without putting the needle in the red it felt like my skin would just crawl off my body. I'd wake up at four AM and clean the kitchen. Weird. The tragic part was that my knees got tweaked early on and, although I could hang in well and chase breaks (or participate in them) by using relatively low gears, when the sprint started I just couldn't wind up quick enough without doing more damage. But I showed up anyway because there's no substitute (at least for me) for racing when it comes to getting fitter.

Returning to the topic of base training, my wife's power output curve seems to have shifted by ten bpm in the right direction. It requires a big effort to actually push her heart rate into the upper ranges, but if this phase is followed up with a good building phase that can be fixed and gains maintained I think. Books on the subject recommend up to twelve weeks of base training. She did four and got huge results. It's the miles.

*Since I'm trying not to use vulgarity in this blog, "E" is for "every" and "I" stands for "inch".

Halfway There

I hadn't mentioned it, but one reason I haven't blogged lately is that my wife is riding the Pac Tour Northern Transcon. Think of it as the Pony Express for bicycles. She tells me that riding 100+ miles every day for a few weeks really changes your metabolic engine. She can now move along at a crisp pace without pushing her heartrate up much at all. Gives you a nice base to stand on.

You can watch their progress here. Anyway, now I'm cooking for a seventeen year old eating machine and trying to care for a pair of oddball cats and remember to water the flowers. While on the road the tour organizers ran out of Hammer Perpetuum which I find about as appetizing as soylent green, but my wife can pretty much live on it. None of the local shops had single servings, so I bought a can and sealed water-bottle sized (2.4 oz, for those who need to know) servings in plastic sealed with small strips of duct tape. Then a quick trip to the UPS Store.

If you've never done it, go to Fedex or UPS and overnight a dozen bags of white powder. You get interesting looks. Not wanting the feds opening this on the way I explained my situation to the guy behind the counter and showed him the transcon itinerary telling him all about my wife's great adventure. He only asked one question: "Why?" Some people just don't get it. For me it's enough that she wants to do it. Since I've looked into my own soul and found a crit monkey I don't empathize completely, but just think that sometimes we have to do difficult things because (to paraphrase JFK) they are difficult.

I'm just looking forward to next week.

Adrenaline Junky

I admit it. Can't do without it. No matter how hard I try I can barely crack the old lactate threshold riding alone. In a pack I can rev way past that on a moment's notice. The Tuesday night crits are now the mainstay of my training, I can spend 40 minutes above lactate and feel fine. Better than fine, now I'm good for days as long as I remember to ice the knees after. Here's the deal, if you're waiting to get in better shape before you start racing, don't. Just race, you'll get in shape. If you're DFL, so what? Everyone (almost) gets an ass-handing the first time, everyone improves.

For the record, the fork is in. It turns out that the extra clearance on the brake boss is intentional. It's there to push the brake pads forward so you can remove the wheel. The result is that the pin on the caliper barely reaches into the receiving hole. It just looks wrong, and every mechanic I showed it to agrees. I'm either going to get a machinist to make a shim, or switch to V-brakes, which don't rely on the pin.

Day 23, Performancebike Holding Out

I guess once they've got your money there's no sense of responsibility toward the customer. If they want to be the Walmart of bike shops it's okay by me.

The Eldorado Tuesday night 40+ race had a weird vibe. In the last two I've shown for the Elite (I,II, &III) pack passed us with less than ten minutes to go. Now people are not supposed to improve their positions when the pack is neutralized and passed by other competitors, but somehow my position seems to get worse while I just follow the guy in front of me. In addition, riders who might have been blown out get a rest and figure that somehow they've magically become more fit as they find themselves still in it at the end. Unfortunately, many mis-measure the final sprint and sit up with about 200m to go. While I'm trying to find room, nitwits are flying back toward me at a high relative rate and I have to try to dodge them.

If that wasn't enough, some dude who must weigh in at 220+ found that he could make space for himself by riding up next to people and poking his elbows outward. I saw him do this between two riders and was sure a crash would ensue, but luckily did not. At one point he did this to me, but was lagging a little and I just felt some extra weight on my hip. Look, I can see this kind of thing if there's $1000 bucks witing for the winner at the line, but it ain't.

FrankenBike held Hostage, Day 22

Ain't it fun dealing with discount bicycle outlets? On July second I recounted my experience with ordering a cyclocross frame and fork from Performance. So here's the sequence:

• After hours of work I figure out that the fork is defective*.
• (7/2) Return fork to Performance shop where I picked it up after a "red phone" order .
• (7/7) Call back to check on things, response: "we're working on it".
• (7/12) I drop in to ask, they need to know what size frame. Why? The frame and fork are a set and Performance will only send both in replacement. So I tell the nice lady with the ring in her nose the frame size (one wonders why they couldn't look up the order).
  
• (7/15) The Performance shop calls me to ask what the frame size was. I KID YOU NOT! Added to that, it appears we'll need to return the original frame.
• (7/16) I call back intending to tell them they'll be dismantling the frame and giving me a refund. Before I can do that the guy on the other end tells me they won't need the old frame back and apologizes for any misunderstanding.
• (7/23) I drop in after my ride, still nothing.

Sometimes I don't blog for a while for lack of anything to say. Now I've got something to say daily until I get my fork. Looks like this could continue for a while, perhaps throughout the cyclocross season. That would be bad luck, because last I looked I wasn't getting any younger. I'd like to hear from others out there who have similar experiences with performancebike.com to recount. Let me know.

*NOT ACTUALLY DEFECTIVE, JUST POOR DESIGN, SEE NEWER POSTS

Unexpected Consequences

The thing about bike racing is that it cuts down on my bicycling time. Huh? After a dense schedule of four races in ten days my knees hurt. Between races I find I need lots of rest. Irony's a real bitch. So I took a week off the hard stuff, actually rode more miles than usual, and now things are better. Nice to get back in the mountains, more in another blog entry since I didn't get to do the intended ride. In any case, it's back to racing this week, two Tuesday night crits followed by the CBR series finale.

Monrovia to Redbox

This took a while. The ride itself (here) is not technically difficult, but quite long. Once you get to Redbox the return route could be one of three I can think of:

1. Angeles Crest,
2. up toward the peak and then go down Chaney Trail, or
3. I always see downhillers take off on the trail which heads west from Redbox (not recommended, I've never done it).

I came back via Chaney and the loop took over seven hours. Out and back could be harder, you dip down to 3100' in the middle and its 4600' at Redbox and the junction of Redbox-Rincon.

Unchain My Heart

If you're like me, you spend way too much time with a heartrate monitor strapped around your chest. It has to impede breathing, even if only a little, and provide the potential for distraction when you might want to be focussed on something else. I did my first Sunday crit yesterday. Let's just say it was a good workout. The nature of the event ($10 to the winner of each 1.3 km lap) were such that I wanted not to have any desire to look at my Polar, but wanted to record something in my computerized workout log. So I set it on Stopwatch and left the heartrate strap at home. The experience was liberating, and I know I was at lactate thresholf for about an hour (two races, no money).

Hypsography

OK, let's suppose that based on the information at hand you buy a Garmin Etrex Vista CX to keep from having your bleached bones discovered months after an adventurous mountain biking excursion gone horribly wrong. Works fine, and you figure that you'll get some maps and plug them in, it'll be easy and cheap. Here's the deal. Garmin decided that they never want anyone else on the planet to make a nickel off their hardware, so the map format is proprietary. Jerks.

Well, all right then you figure that Garmin will have the maps you want. Bzzzzzzzzzzt, wrong answer, but thanks for playing. Topo maps come in various resolutions and the one you want (well, I want) is 24k:1 rather than the crude 100k:1. Too bad that the only 24k Garmin topo maps only include national parks, the North America version is 100k. Look, if you're not going to let anyone play in your sandbox, that sandbox ought to be pretty complete. Now since Garmin has basically told their user base to suck it, I'll just have to find another way.

The twisted path this leads down is truly a long one. I haven't gotten to the point where I have a usable map, but there seem to be two main pathways. Interestingly, the middle of both pathways involves something called a "Polish Map Format" (.mp) file. I've downloaded no fewer than six free software packages and I expect there's going to be one I'll even pay money for and it's still not there. Here are the major facts:

• seamless topo maps are free from the USGS
  
• there's even another format available
  
• Garmin's file format ain't so secret any more
• the GPS background map is on the data card in a file called gmapsupp.img
• my opinion is that ultimately it will be better to copy the file directly onto the SD card.
  

For now here are the sites I've found:

1. How to use seamless maps (plus some other stuff)
2. How to with SDTS files
3. They all use cgsmapper (get the free stuff)

As I say, this is a work in progress. This is just the surface, if you go through the websites you'll find that even more software is necessary. Also, I'd like to get this done without editing the registry on my computer. When I figure it all out I'll recommend one method or the other and please leave a comment if you figure it out.

Frankenbike

Most bicycle hobbyists accrue a lot of spare parts over time. Sometimes this amounts to an entire spare bike, or near to that. So there was this cosmic intersection between deciding I didn't much like my TT bike and wanting a cyclocross bike. The TT bike is really just a roadbike with a TT bar setup. So the seat, post and barends were scavenged. The box of old stuff contained some classic bend, shallow drop bars, an FSA Energy compact crankset and stem. My wife had recently sidelined her Mavic Open Pro 32s (click, click click...) which still have some life and of course there were three or four stems to choose from.

I came upon a bargain in the shape of Performance Bike's house brand cross frame/fork combo. Even got to buy it on a "double points" (Team Performance members understand) weekend at half the MSRP. By the way, I'd like to here about Performance ever selling any house brand item at MSRP - ever. I had the BB faced by a local bike shop (ie, the guy I've purchased three roadbikes from) who doesn't really carry cyclocross stuff unless special ordered.

So I ordered cantelevers from Nashbar, noting that there was a difference between front and rear. The diff - "R" stamped on the front is "L" on the rear. Think about it. They got it wrong, by the way, on the "rear" brake. After much effort (mostly by the wife, my favorite mechanic) we couldn't get the front brake to seat. There's a pin which must sit in a blind hole and a small collar was making keeping the brake from nestling on the cantilever post. Turns out, there is no "collar". While putting the frame together, someone neglected to screw the post all the way in. Then they painted the fork.

It seems funny in a way to be as pissed off as I was at the time. They had gotten almost everything right. The frame was straight, the facing revealed good quality workmanship (possibly by a machine), the paint and integrated headset were both nicely done. I was initially amazed at having paid less than $300 for what I was holding when I pulled it out of the box. But now it was 4:30 on Saturday afternoon and the bike which might have been rideable.

When I brought it to the Performance shop in Pasadena, I was immediately referred to the senior mechanic on site. I had time to think about things on the way, so I knew it wasn't his fault and acted accordingly. He was a real pro about it (ask for Sam if you go there) and now the shop will get a new fork, cut it and install the star nut (all things my wife and I had already done). I guess nothing more could be expected.

When this monster comes together I'll post a pic and take it on a ride involving at least one fireroad.

Back in the Saddle

Yeah, no postings for days, much to report. I raced for the first time in over two years, returning to El Dorado Park after crashing there in the spring of 2005. I seem to have gotten into shape the last two years in September (or later) which kind of messes up the road racing season. At age 51 I've finally realized that maybe if I want to do something, I'd better just get to it. So after a springtime full of fairly random riding I went out to the Rosebowl ride for four weeks running and tuned up the anaerobic system, logging more time above lactate threshold than in the past eight months or so.

The Eldo is put on by CBR, AKA Chris and Vera. The level of commitment they show for bike racing is awesome and I, for one, am grateful for it. The personal touch they add to the sport is something special. After I had been out of action for two years, Vera remembered me and noted that they'd gotten my license application and just hadn't printed it up yet. How cool is that, when the organizers recognize you on sight! This is a throwback to the 70s, when it seemed like the racers, organizers and supporters all knew each other.

Oh yeah, the racing. El Dorado is near the coast on the LA/Orange County borderline. Last week's start was at 6:30pm, but it will be moving earlier at some point. Parking is four bucks, so the cheap among us park at WalMart and ride a mile down the San Gabriel River bike trail. Not me, although I'm usually a real skinflint, I'd like a car on hand in case of anything unforeseen. The race costs seven dollars for CBR licensees. Join. There are three packs, 1/2/3, 40+ (the "+" represents Juniors and women, although anyone can ride in their USCF men's category) and 4/5 spaced on a course a little more than two miles in length. There are two points primes three deep and the finish is picked to tenth. Three series of nine races each are run from March to August. There's talk of more in September.

As for me, things went way better than I expected. I entered the 40+ race and was able to get near enough to the front to see the really good sprinters ignite their jets and take off. I have training to do yet, but felt like a top ten finish wouldn't be too outrageous in the final sprint. After the second sprint with about 30 minutes to go four strong riders jumped. I had been observing the competition and felt they had a chance so I bridged the gap (barely) and thus began a five-man TT. It worked, so I eked out fifth place.

Have You Seen This Bike?

A bicycle, especially one which the owner has spent time and money setting up just so, is a very personal possession and its theft is that much more aggravating. The word went out in my club to be on the lookout for this one-of-a-kind fixie which was swiped recently in downtown Pasadena.

What I Should have Learned as a Boy Scout

Be prepared! They aren't kidding, and neither should you. I left home the other morning with the idea of getting in a short ride before work. I always keep a couple of tubes in my big bag, along with a patch kit and frame pump (empty CO2 canisters don't help much). So I got a flat. Not your everyday, garden variety pinhole, but what looked, upon extraction, like a two inch segment of stiff (aluminum?) wire. I check and there are two holes that I can see on the inside surface of the tube, so probably at least one more on the other side.

I replace it with the brand new one from my bag, and pump. And pump. And pump.....One would think that minimally, a tube ought to hold some air, but not in this case. No worries, I have another. Only it turns out that I hadn't checked carefully when I put it in the bag and it turned out to be a 26.0x1.25 mountain bike tube!

As it turns out, one can stretch this onto a 700c rim and get it to work - at least long enough to get five or so more miles. This brings up a point about bike parts as commodities. I buy tubes in large batches for the best price I can get and manufacturers make as many as they can as cheaply as they can. But this ain't a BIC pen. If my pen doesn't work I won get stuck out in the middle of nowhere sometime walking home in cycling cleats.

SO, I say check the tubes you carry as spares. Always carry some cash, and paper money makes a decent tire boot.

Internet "Club" Rides

In case anyone is wondering whether rides organized via the net are for real, they are. I haven't been on one, but have met up with two groups about a month apart. The more recent one is much larger, consuming most of the parking at Encanto Park in Duarte. People from a variety of clubs come together on this. I'm not sure who the individuals are, but the people I asked referred to bikeforums.net as the source.

The Criterium

Right now I'm getting ready to race a criterium. This will be a return to racing for me, and I just don't want to be DFL*. This is a fun sort of event which is quite popular in SoCal, essentially a short race on a closed course on the road. Nowadays the length is defined in terms of time, which helps keep events on schedule. Typically lower category and age groups last between 40 minutes and an hour, while some Cat 1 or pro events can be 90 minutes or more. Event organizers usually signal the racers at five laps to go. A lap might only be a kilometer, so breakaways make things interesting and packs get lapped now and then.

Although most courses tend to be table flat, small uphills can add spice. Serious hills are just nasty and shatter pack dynamics. To keep things moving the organizers offer primes (pronounced "preem") where the winner of a lap is given a prize. Spectators sometimes collect cash, and those primes generally produce more interesting results than a can of Cytomax. A crit can be a points race or, better yet a "devil" where the last rider on each lap is removed from competition.

Anyway, training for something this nutty is, in itself, kinda nutty. All that really counts is time spent above lactate threshold, that's where the training begins. This makes things clear and, in its own way, easy.

*D stands for dead, L for last.

High Point

While riding in the Verdugos I met a biker who regularly rode all over the local area and he pointed out something interesting. The peak to the north across La Crescenta was Mount Lukens, which was technically in Los Angeles. That over 5,000' above sea level. This is a classically nice fire road ride which starts at Angeles Crest Forestry Station and just keeps going up. The views of the city below are impressive, on a clearer day they are said to be amazing. Here's the ride:

Mount Lukens from Angeles Crest

PS look for the teepee near "Bee Flat".

Where to Put Things

For a year or so my wife and I have used Carradice SQR saddle bags, with excellent results. Normally I'd never spend so much on on an accessory like this, but the the shear volume and convenience outweigh other considerations. The wife has the Tour, I use a Trax. They both have 16 liters internal volume (two beef/chicken combos at Yoshinoya). The Trax is waterproof, the Tour is made of fabric and has side pockets which have good quality closure mechanisms. The only downside to the Trax is that the side pockets are just nylon nets which can disgorge small dense objects on bumpy roads. They go on and off quickly and with minimal effort.

These things are great for centuries and commuting. I don't have that decision about taking the windbreaker or not. I carry lunch and a change of clothes to work every day. No worries.

Rio Hondo Detour

I hadn't been down to Seal Beach in a while, so with a nice SoCal June gloom condition on I set out. No GPS necessary, I'll just get on the Rio Hondo bike trail and head south to the San Gabriel River trail. The round trip is 78 miles with 60 of those on class one bike trails. Goes very fast. I get past the 10 freeway and find that there's a detour at Lashbrook, and a sign saying it's closed to Rush street. I take Lashbrook down to Garvey and cross the river, thinking I'd pick up a north-south street down to Rush. Turns out, that Rush doesn't go through and only the entrance to the trail on the east side is usable. Of course there was only the detour sign indicating that you need to leave the trail, no other help.

So, here's how to do it (I think). Heading south on Lashbrook, go right on Garvey and then left on Lee which is the last street before crossing over the river. Then right on Rush and back onto the trail. If you,d rather use a major thoroughfare Rosemead south also works, and if you're aiming for the SG river trail you can just stay on it to Durfee.

$40 For what?

A chain. Bicycle chain. Specifically a 10 speed Wipperman nickel-plated chain which frankly could double as jewelry. I'm incapable of spending that much, I just had my friendly LBS owner build up a two year old Interloc with Ultegra-9 for racing. I picked up an SRAM chain for $17 on sale and was quite proud of myself, but in the days of Buycycling Magazine our thinking has shifted until two cents a mile for the chain wear seems OK. The really interesting thing is that even with $5000 bikes, $50 tires and so on it's still way cheaper than operating a car.

Which is weird. Regular guys would never layout big bucks on a two-wheeler with no engine, but not blink at $2500 annually for depreciation on a pretty ordinary automobile. Then there's the small matter of gasoline.

Quick, before all the cars show up!

The rumor mill has it that GMR will reopen to automobile traffic soon. It's scheduled to happen this weekend but with any luck LA county public works will run behind. We've enjoyed a couple years on this one without automotive traffic, and that's a great ride. Even with cars, it's nice. In Glendora just west of the intersection of Sierra Madre and Valley Center you find GMR. Just head north. You climb steadily about 2500' in ten miles to a fork. This is the ride you get if you go left (north, remaining on GMR) at the fork. At the bottom you make a left onto East Fork Road and then another left on the 39 gets you down the mountain. The whole loop is around forty miles and almost all of it is in the mountains. The only gnarly part is along the 39, where traffic can be problematic.

Lose Weight Now!

My wife has pointed out something interesting and possibly useful. Diets don't work, but everyone we know who has switched to bicycle commuting has lost weight and kept it off. In some cases people can eat more and stay slim when biking even ten miles daily. So what we really need is "the Bicycle Commuter's Diet" a fad diet which has more info on finding passable routes to work than it does on specious endocrinology. In fact, given the failure rate of other dieting regimens chances are this would really catch on since it would generally succeed.

The day after the riotously successful "Bike to Work Day" an NPR reviewer told us all about her harrowing 4 mile journey (each way!) to work and dutifully recorded traffic noise and her reactions along with an interview with a very experienced, as well as tolerant, bike commuter. My reaction was, of course, "four miles! finally you figured out that's prime biking distance!" You wouldn't even need to break a sweat and it should take 20-25 minutes at the most leisurely pace. Less time than it takes to park.

Regarding commuting, I have something to recommend. My wife and I both have Carradice SQR seat bags (available at Harris and others, made in England). These critters are huge. One evening I had to bring home dinner for me and my son and found that two Yoshinoya Beef/Chicken combos fit inside. I never have that moment any more prior to a long ride when I have to decide whether to be cold or have to stuff warmers and a windbreaker into my jersey pockets. Need to carry extra water? Throw in a couple bottles. One warning, the side netting on the cordura model can disgorge its contents on bumpy roads. I still like the ruggedness of the material, but my wife prefers the classic cotton duck with side pockets which close securely.

Power to the Pedaler

Power meters are expensive things and your average Joe may not want to go through the fiddly setup procedures, especially for things like the Polar unit. But getting an idea about power output is a useful tool, so here's one way. Find a standard climb which takes about twenty minutes (about the amount of time a reasonably fit person can sustain effort at the lactate limit (well, one who's my age)) and keep track of your progress. Around here we have such a climb, from Sierra Madre up to a campground called Chantry Flat. From the gate at the north end of Santa Anita Avenue to the gore point at the parking lot is 5km and gains 366m of elevation, and it is a very consistent grade which only flattens a little at the top.

I've compiled a table for estimating average power for the course. The estimate is crude and based on the fact the most people don't go very fast up a 7.5% grade. Time in minutes is across the top, and mass (including bike) in kg down the left side. The supplied .kmz actually starts below the gate at the intersection of Sierra Madre Blvd. Have fun!

Chantry Power Table
Chantry Google Earth file

Verdugo Hills

This is mainly an experiment. I've started using Google's Webpage Creator because it's the only free webhosting I trust. If this works out I can record more rides using my GPS and publish them for download. This will be incentive to organize the ones I have. So heres the link:

http://allaroundcycler.googlepages.com/Verdugo.kmz

You'll notice my wrong turn that went to a water tower, steepest paved road I've ever seen.

Bike to Work Week Will Not Be Televised!

I work at a university (Institute of Technology, actually) and you'd think that Bike to Work Week would be a big deal. The person organizing things did a good job of conveying all the info about city, county and state level activities, but there was a surprisingly high level of apathy around the campus. The Institute did it's part this year, they started charging for parking. Unfortunately, they picked a year when the raise pool for staff workers was particularly small. This was in turn due, in part, to construction which costed more than expected. The biggest project - a parking lot!

Things do go in circles.

Not For Off Road Use

We all know people who can't imagine spending lots of cash on a bike when you can just go to the Mega-Mart and get a dual suspension 21-speed mountain bike for $200. Tell them to check the fine print. Specifically look for a tag that states "Not for off-road use". This should discourage them. All too often it doesn't.

Above Sierra Madre there's a place called Chantry Flats which is a starting point for a number of hiking and biking trails that branch out all over the San Gabriels. I was scoping out the singletrack to Hoegee Camp (nice, another story however) and on my way back I was watching the Sheriff's rescue helicopter flying low near Chantry. It ducked into a canyon and disappeared from my view and when I came around the next bend, there it was, hovering right at eye-level. This was an impressive sight. The heli was no chintzy two-person bubble job, but rather it was a Winnebago with rotors. Two stories high it was, with three crew members I could see from my vantage point.


I rode on in spite of the brisk wind this monster created up the canyon walls and came upon a young guy minding three department store mountain bikes. One of his friends was at the bottom of the gulch with a broken leg and the others were helping extricate her. The local volunteer search and rescue guys were having the time of their lives putting things right. Perhaps the crash wasn't the fault of the bike, but I'd rather have quality brakes and shocks which actually improve my control ove rwhich way the bike would be going next.

Going Bowling

In Pasadena the Rose Bowl is an institution dating back to 1922 (the game is older, we're talking about the stadium). In the heyday of six day racing there was a wooden track which could be temporarily installed and the races drew huge crowds. Off and on over the years circuit races of various lengths have been run around and near the stadium which sits in an arroyo at the western end of the city. On Tuesdays and Thursdays during daylight savings local racers and other weirdos gather at 6pm to go ten 5km laps around the golf course.

In the 70's the ride used to be downright renegade. Two stop signs were blown per lap, and there was a nasty right turn into traffic on the south end of the course. Although the ride is still not sanctioned by anyone, it is now at least quasi-legal. If you ride around the golf course clockwise there are no stop signs and, of course, only right turns. The old right turn at the bottom is now a "Y" merge that maintains the right lane, although both rights at the south end have yield signs in the cyclist's lane. A lane for joggers is clearly marked. This doesn't keep them from running outside the rather spacious area, or running opposite the indicated (counterclockwise) direction. It seems to me that if a hundred or so guys were bearing down on me on bikes at 50kph I'd like to (a) see them and (b) stay the hell out of the way, but there's no accounting for taste.

So whatever happens is your own lookout. Potential liabilities abound. Crashes, when they occur, are of epic proportions. People still do it in large numbers. To give you an idea, one of the laps Thursday (typically easier than Tuesday) went off in 6:45, so everyone's getting a pretty fierce lactate threshold workout. At various times in the past I've sworn this off, opting for Eldo (a sanctioned weeknight event, deserving its own blog entry) but I keep coming back. My policy is to ride four laps, staying near the outer edge of the pack (yeah, it's harder that way) for safety's sake. Some things:

• If you are new to this sort of thing then hang at the back.
• Don't cross the double yellow and stay well wide of the jogger's lane.
  
• Don't get stuck at the front on the uphill unless you are a very strong rider. Gaps open spontaneously and if you can't hammer a kilo or so at 45kph up a 1% grade you're toast.
• Forget about elbowing back into the group.
• Don't go alone.
• Don't take it personally if someone yells at you. You're probably just doing something wrong or dangerous.

Deeply Anaerobic

Any pro racer will tell you that the only real training is done at racing pace. For myself, when I got back into serious riding four years ago I followed the advice in a terrific book on bike training to the letter and got into very good shape. I determined what my HR zones were, did intervals based on all the research and got my ass handed to me in races until I began participating in various group rides and club races. After only a few weeks of racing and race simulation my resting HR plunged and my ability to work through pain exploded. The effort you generate to avoid getting dropped by the pack is way different than that which is prodded by a beeping heart rate monitor. My advice is that HRMs are better at diagnostics than they are at coaching.

No, but I was a mite bewildered

Someone once asked Davy Crockett if he'd ever been lost and he supposedly replied, "No, but I was a mite bewildered a few times." A few months ago I scoped out a ride which would take me from Monrovia Canyon to Red Box. This would involve many miles of fireroading far from civilization. I prepped by going to Topozone.com and also I have a good mountain bike specific map of the local area. After riding up to a gate at about 4600' and heading west for a while two things struck me. First, it was getting colder and rainier and second, I hadn't seen a soul for about two hours. That's when I turned around and went home to order a GPS unit.

Understand, this is not a plug. I ordered a Garmin ETrex Vista CX and a RAM mount and your research may lead elsewhere - I just support the concept generally. My wife reads all the newsgroups related to long-distance cycling and this combo seemed to be a good way to go if you're not too concerned about weight and/or appearing geeky. The mount is huge, made for motorcycle rallying, and sticks up about 4-5 inches from the bars. The unit is bulky compared to the bike-specific ones. I don't recall what I paid, the important thing is that now I've managed to make the ride I wanted to go on without leaving skeletal remains in the San Gabriel mountains.

I was able to scope out a route and enter it as waypoints in the unit. It then guided from waypoint to waypoint. This is common behavior for these things, but be aware I've heard that some of the bike specific units don't support this kind of navigation. Also, GPS units seem to have something in common with musical instruments, practice is necessary. In addition the Garmin add-on maps are, IMO, pricey and their installation is complicated. I now have a MyGarmin account. How did ever live without it? There ought to be a law against requiring an internet connection that must finction flawlessly during a lengthy installation. Frankly, you can live without the online maps and use resources like Google Earth and Topozone to find waypoints.

Anyway, this entry is mainly to provide context for ride descriptions which will follow. I'm still struggling a little with GPX files, and my plan is to convert ride tracks, both road and mountain, into KML (Google Earth) format. I still need a place to post them, but that shouldn't be too hard to get.

Might as well try this....

I'm taking the plunge into blogging about the hobby I've enjoyed with my wife for so many years. I admit to not knowing everything about cycling, but I can usually get the answers I need from my her. She doesn't blog on the subject because she's too busy training. Seriously. Also she's only into road riding (something about that time I came home bloody and with a giant dent in my Gary Fisher). To give you an idea I have been a Cat II racer (from 1978 to 1981), bicycle commuter, mountain biker and century rider. The wife wants me to do a double with her sometime (she's done a few dozen) but I find 7-8 hours of riding is quite satisfying, thanks very much.

Coming Soon:
- Monrovia to Redbox, the Hard Way
- Oh Garmin, My Garmin
- Stuff We Actually Use