Well I have been riding inside this week and in the first two days hit about 20 miles. I took yesterday off since my backside was a little sore from not being in the saddle that often the past month. I plan on riding daily and hopefully get in good shape prior to next season. Not much of a post because the flat lands in my basement are not that exciting, but hey I can watch movies and have my kids talk to me while I ride.
So my free road bike was too big for me. I think I rode it 81 miles total. 75 miles on the Apple Cider and then 6 miles tuning it up. The previous owner might have taken it around the block. I took the tags out of the spokes.
Riding it was fine...but standing over it was a bit tricky. I ordered myself a similar but better frame off ebay and it showed up with a dent in the seat down tube! So I got upset and started talking to the guy who I bought it from. Turns out I'm a moron and its there on purpose for braze-on derailleur mounts. The old frame had the exact same thing upon inspection!
This free bike is getting expensive, though! The fork from the old bike didn't match well so I had to buy a new fork and well it had to be a pretty carbon one. Then I start looking at the components on the old bike and well gee....I can find used upgrades on ebay.
I ordered some more tools (headset press and fork vise) that I really need before I can do much more and of course I get an email back that the tools won't be delivered until 11/20!! Glad I have more bikes. I could have just had a bike shop press the headset, but I decided I'm going to do the whole build...or at least make the attempt!
And I forgot to take a picture of the old bike before I disassembled it! Woops...
About 20 minutes to disassemble everything I wanted off the old bike and now I just hope to build the new bike by spring! :P
The weekend before, there was 20-foot swell for my annual Mendocino trip, which didn't bode well for prospects of getting into the famous (to kayakers at least) sea caves in the area. This weekend, however, was a different story. When I saw the forecast for 4-6ft swell, I knew I had to get out and paddle along the coast. So today, 3 of us did a one-way trip from Davenport to Santa Cruz, approximately 15 miles by water. This stretch of coast has a bunch of (less famous) sea caves, plus a few rock gardens, arches, pourovers, and other interesting features. The problem is that it's fairly exposed, so you have to choose your day. Today was that day. About half our paddling time was spent in the first 4 miles poking into a bunch of caverns. Some were maybe 6 feet wide and 6 feet high, while others were the size of a football field. After lunch, we decided to pick up the pace a bit. A 10-knot breeze at our backs and accompanying wind waves gave us a boost. The GPS clocked us doing about 5 knots, where a typical paddling speed is closer to 3 knots. We made it back to the harbor as the sun was getting low, shuttled the cars back to Davenport at sunset, and enjoyed a nice meal and beer afterward.
And in this corner riding the Banana Bike we have Component Killer! Today he'll be taking on the undefeated Laws of Physics!! Let's get ready to TUMBLE!
So CK and I went to a ride with the meetup people I ride with. This was the Sycamore Pumpkin Festival ride. Its a 20 mile out and 20 mile back ride from St Charles to Sycamore on the Great Western Trail. If you like flat and straight this is the perfect trail. Its ok to close your eyes for a mile. As long as you don't twitch and turn you'll still be on the trail. Think Kansas.
On the way out we didn't leave any scorch marks on the trail or anything like that. It was a good social ride out there. We mostly rode with just the two of us, but ended up with 5 of us together by the end of the trail. After crossing the parade a couple times (it weaved up and down the streets), we grabbed some lunch. CK's trike was referred to as the Banana Bike by a kid along the parade route. Yes, CK rode in the parade waving at people!
The 20 miles back would prove to be a bit more treacherous. Not a mile out one of the riders ran into the back of CK's trike. I think she hit his tire? Doink...down she goes. Luckily no injuries there on the pavement.
On the way back, we dodged the streets and cut through a park. Not just any park. A park with a 100 degree turn to the right if you followed the pavement. Most people have cut that corner and killed the grass. Not a true roadie though. Respect the grass. Feel that pavement under your tires. And when you're a roadie riding a limestone trail (heavy on the sand, low on the rock), you're going to accellerate as much as possible on those rare occasions that pavement presents itself. And so CK arrived at this 100 degree junction and scorched the earth. With his tires pointing right and his momentum going straight ahead, a disagreement began between CK's desire to turn and Physics. And while an object at rest tends to stay at rest. An object in motion at high speeds with its wheels suddenly pointing sharply to the right will Tumble. And thus CK proved that cows aren't the only thing tippable in the farmland west of Chicago. The trike hopped and skipped over itself before the automatic emergency braking system engaged...otherwise known as CK's face meets the dirt. When the trike was purchased, they hadn't advertised that you could climb under it upside down when you just need a little rest and shelter. I'm pretty sure its not good for 4-season camping though.
No CK's were significantly injured in this demonstration of just how well the trike corners. I'm sure he has some bruises though where he used his forearm to bend the left handle out of alignment. Nothing that was a big deal to fix on the bike either...realign handle, chain off, and a fender adjustment or 2. The trike and rider made it back the last 20 miles from that point. I was right on his tail so I'll have to see if I can pull his speed out of the bike GPS.
And when CK starts twitching when he see dogs, I understand. Every dog was in love with him. "Hey! You're my height! Let's hang out!" I would ride by and they wouldn't look at me...their eyes were locked on CK.
The remainder of the ride back was uneventful...everyone managed to keep their rides moving along nice and straight on the path. I certainly wouldn't call the Great Western Trail exciting, but its a nice trail as far as minimal road crossings. Its also very flat, so its a good place to bring new riders. Although one person turned around 3.5 miles in because it was just too "intense."
With the weather starting to turn and my time to ride in the evenings almost gone it is time to set up the trainer. I cleaned up my bike the other day and broke out the towels for under the bike. Starting tomorrow I plan on riding daily on the trainer. During the week I can easily find 30 minutes to and hour and once the yard work is done I can probably get some 1 to 2 hour rides in on the weekend. The past couple months with 7yo having football 3 to 4 days a week it made it difficult to find the time to ride. Now with the bike in the basement there is no excuse to not spend some time spinning.
Ride On...
So here I am finally blogging again after a long dry spell. Monkey Light, Dirt Jr. and I really enjoyed your posts. We hope your available to ride when next we can make it to IL.
So what have we been up to?
Dirt Jr. had a nice spill on our last road ride about 5 weeks ago. We were tooling along with the wind behind us at about 18 miles per hour when I hear the unmistakable sound of metal scraping the pavement. I turned just in time to see my son sliding like a penguin on his belly with the bike trailing out behind him still caught up in his feet. A recap of the damage to the bike: The face of the computer was scraped but still readable and still working, a whole was ripped in the side of his seat, one of his grips was nearly torn off, and there were other cosmetic scraps and scratches. Now the really important damage report, Dirt Jr. had a scraped elbow (pretty deep) scraps on his knees, ribs,and shoulder, and he bruised his hip or pelvic bone, but in true CK and HandyRider fasion he got back up and road the rest of the way home. he healed quickly and though he will have a scar on his elbow his love of biking hasn't dimmed in the least.
We have been working on defining the trails we have made around the house. How do you define trails? Well you ride them of course, around and around and like magic the familiar serpentine single track begins to develop. We had been riding almost everyday and one afternoon about 3 weeks ago or so I decided that the corners needed to be a bit wider so that we could really hit the turns hard. The weed wacker had fried so I, still wearing my bike gear helmet glasses and all, fired up the big Cub Cadet walk-behind lawn mower and started to attack the 2-3 foot tall weeds, big mistake! I rounded out the first corner then propmtly hit the second corner, the foolishness of my ways was not apparent until the third corner. I had just pushed into the weeds when the mower bucked and threw a rock about 1 and 1/2 times the size of a golf ball out the back of the mower and directly into my right foot. It stung but I wasn't sure how bad it was. I thought I'd try and ride through it. I put the mower away and hopped on the Stumpjumper. First time around the loop I felt a little numb, on the second time around it was glaringly obvious that the pain in my foot was more then just a nuisance. I hung the bike, took off my shoe and pealed off my sock, it wasn't pretty, already my pinky toe and the toe next to it were a deep shade of purple. As the next few days progressed my whole foot swelled and all of my toes, save the biggest, turned black and puffy. Needless to say I wasn't going to be riding for awhile.
As if broken toes weren't enough during the recovery period I had a gout attack in the same foot. So now my ankle and big toe were swollen read and hurt worse then my toes. More time with my foot elevated. When I saw the kidney doc he informed that since I have a high uric acid content in my system that an injury to a joint can cause a gout attack. Oh the joy :)
Well after three weeks of recovery I started riding again. My toe was still tender and at first all I could handle was one or two miles on our little track around the house before my foot would begin to swell again. By Saturday last I was starting to feel pretty good and hammering the trails pretty hard. Monday after work I was on my thirty second or thirty third lap (6 laps is a mile)when I heard a weird popping sound comming from the front of my bike. Back at the garage my fears where realized I had blown out my Fox fork for the second time. After a shower I threw the bike in the car and took it down to the shop hoping they could fix it, unfortunately the fork is in a box on a UPS truck heading back to its makers to once again be rebuilt. To add to my woes the beans were taken off the back 4 acres Monday evening so now is the time to finish the last two thirds of our trail, but I have no mountain bike. Yes I still have the Moab but I gave it to Dirt Jr. and he'll be riding it. The Tricross can handle the abuse but this evening I will find out if my body can handle the abuse of the stiff frame off road. wish me luck.
Some other good news my wife, who doesn't like road riding, has been riding the small loop around our house. She does about a mile or so (6-8 laps) before the relentless bone jarring trail has the best of her. I'm just happy that she is riding and the trail will smooth out over time.
By the way yesterday we transplanted 4 white swamp oaks (they do well in clay soil) to our property. Next we will be planting Blueberry bushes and Raspberries. We are also laying out a two-hole, par three, disc golf course on our property. We haven't decded if were going to buy the portable baskets or the permanent ones yet. Well that's the happenings in NE Indiana keep riding, padling, hiking, and living in the great outdoors.
A couple weeks ago I took off on vacation for more than a day for the first time in 3.5 years. Crazy, I know. I suddenly found myself going to tulsa, OK for an ultimate frisbee tournament (Masters Regionals) and thought hmmmm....why not keep going? So I started booking hotel rooms.
The tournament was on a Saturday and Sunday. I was picking up with a team that had some people I knew from Minneapolis. They had split the master's team into 2 with an influx of players old enough, and they still needed some more for the B squad. Beats sitting at home and I'd never been to Tulsa! This was a good time. We held seed in the tournament... *cough* dead last *cough*, but we played people hard.
I took off Monday morning before light from Tulsa on my way to the Grand Canyon. The GPS told me it was going to be 1055 miles. It was right. This took a bit over 15 hours to do, which wasn't bad at all I thought. I had taken my Uncle's work truck which had A) cruise control and B) XM radio. The Ranger lacks both. The comedy channel on XM made this a bearable drive. I was pretty tired by the time I rolled in. It was dark when I got there, so not much to see. I was glad I made reservations though as there was nothing left for rooms. A lot of people were being turned away and the "No Vacancy" signs were flickering away everywhere.
So Tuesday morning I wandered into the park itself and found a good spot to watch the sunrise. I took WAAAAAY too many pictures of this event. I've started to go through them and delete the obvious duplicates, but sometimes I swear digital SLRs are a curse. Anywho, it was awesome to watch the sunrise and reveal the Grand Canyon which is really amazing. I wandered around on the Rim Trail the remainder of the day. I turned a corner at one point and found myself staring at a Big Horn Sheep perhaps 30 feet away. I decided to let him have the right of way. He headed down into the canyon and I took pictures for awhile.
Wednesday at the Grand Canyon I hiked down in on the Bright Angel Trail to Plateau Point. This is 6.1 miles one way. The mules go on this same trail. They aren't as fast as me walking, so that was a good way to save a bunch of money. They stop regularly and the cowboy leading the group talks about things. I got stuck behind them on the way up so got to listen as you cannot pass them on the trail. The Point is about 1500 feet above the Colorado River. Distances are so deceptive there. Something that looks a mile away can be 5 miles. The hike in (and especially OUT!) really makes you appreciate the vastness of the canyon even more. The last 2 miles up were pretty tough going. My hips were sore for a couple days after as well as a calf muscle I had tweaked at ultimate and again on the way down.
Day 3 at the Grand Canyon was spent driving around the rim to the East with plans of watching the sunset and getting some pictures. I made it to the Desert View rather early, so just spent the afternoon reading a book and waiting for sunset (which was like 6:25 pm ). As the sun began its descent I had myself set up at a nice spot and took a picture. At this point, I could no longer take any more pictures. My battery was dead. And that was the 2nd one. I forgot my charger! I couldn't believe it. Luckily, I had put my old DSLR in the truck before I went to the east rim so I was able to take some pictures with that, but I may have missed the best colors I think.
Friday was a driving day, but I had no reservations. I was headed to Moab, UT on Saturday night. Moab is famous for its mountain biking. So on the drive I decided to hit Three Bridges National Monument. It was only maybe 90 miles out of the way. When I got there I upgraded my national park pass to an annual, forgot to get my park passport stamped (DOH!) and headed in. At the first bridge (Sipapu I think), I hiked down beneath it. So cool! I decided to hike the river bed to the next bridge. I didn't figure that I'd have time to hike to all 3. Well, they mention that the trail is unmaintained. They weren't kidding. Fortunately, the only direction to go is down river, so you really can't get lost. After about 45 minutes the weather was starting to look like rain and I had no idea how close I was. So I turned back and drove to the other bridges. They're no Grand Canyon, but I still found it to be pretty amazing standing beneath these rock bridges.
I left there and continued on towards Moab. In the last town away, I stopped and called my hotel that magically had a room available for me although they hadn't when I was booking. So off I went the rest of the way. The town was FILLED with people. Now it had been 8 years since I'd been there, and times they are a changin'. But this was crazy. And then I noticed the logos on the sides of the cars with things like Trek Racing... Lo and behold I stumbled into the weekend of the 24 Hours of Moab race. Yes, people ride for 24 hours straight to see who can do the most laps on a 15 mile course in 24 hours. Crazy. I didn't go out to where the race was ever, but I'm sure it was a madhouse. I figured I get plenty of crowds at home.
Saturday morning I found a camera shop willing to charge my batteries up for $10. Then I pulled out the mountain bike and rode a 16 mile trail. That was a pretty fun trail. It was 8 miles basically all uphill with a hike at the end for a view over Arches National Park. And then an 8 mile downhill. Ahhhhh heaven. Like a moron I forgot my bike gps for this ride. I'd love to see how fast I got going on the way down. I'm sure it was in the 30-35 mph range. Thats plenty for me offroad....the pro racers on the 24 hour course clear 40 MPH on some downhills on their course. So I headed back to town, picked up my batteries and gps, and headed back out to another bike ride after lunch. This time I was just doing a 7.4 mile loop. Wrong! I got lost. There are dirt bike trails and jeep trails that run all over the place. I took the wrong one at some point. I wandered a bit, but eventually followed the breadcrumbs on the GPS back in the right direction. I love that thing. I only ended up adding 2 miles. Without it, I probably would have come out nowhere near where I was parked.
Sunday was a hiking day in Arches National Park. I did the Devil's Garden primitive loop which has I think 8 arches, then headed for Delicate Arch. I've been there before (with Sean C actually), and noticed an alternate viewing area. So I headed there instead. When I climbed to the top of that overlook, there was a rainbow shooting down to the right of the delicate arch! It was probably a good 1000 feet away, but still! I snapped a few pictures, which I still haven't looked at because I completely spaced it until now. I think I got some really good pictures of the arch at sunset. I spent 90 minutes at the overlook waiting for people to get out of my picture. The other trail leads right to the arch and you can stand beneath it. I managed to get a few shots without people or where they were walking behind a leg.
I took 2 days to do the 1300ish mile drive home. There wasn't much interesting on the way other than the snow in Colorado. And after the amount of driving I had already done, it was a very boring monotonous trip home. But it was worth it to get out to a few new places. I visited 3 places in the national park passport book. I think I only have around 364 to go!
Oh, and as a side: Phil, I just bought another road bike frame. ;) Basically the same as the one I have but A) better colors and B) the right size.
Next Sunday I'm doing a ride to the Sycamore Pumpkin Festival if you locals are interested. Its 20 miles there, hang out for awhile, then 20 miles back on rails to trails. And November 11 is the www.rollthetollway.org ride.
Saturday I headed out to Michigan and registered for the ride. I camped at Warren Dunes State Park Saturday night. I hiked around the dunes...man is sand awful to hike in! I got to Lake Michigan before sunset so I got to watch a gorgeous sunset before hiking back to my campsite in the dark. I tested out my mobile broadband from my tent. That was fantastic.
I tuned up the Trek road bike Saturday night at the campground and had everything shifting very nicely. When I started on it, the big front gear wasn't accessible. That would have been a nightmare. The bike worked flawlessly. I do need to get something the right size though...its just a bit too tall for me. Can't complain about free bikes though.
So Sunday morning rolled around and I got to the ride before light. I was waaay early for the group I was riding with. We got going and no one was planning on doing the full century. We had 4 people looking to do 75 miles and a few doing 62 or 50. It was a VERY windy afternoon. The 62+ courses are identical with cutoffs late in the ride, so we kept together at rest areas. I went ahead and waited at the first couple rest areas. Two of the 62 mile people dropped to 50. At the 62 mile turnoff, 2 of our 75ers dropped to the 62. So only 2 of us were left for the 75. The wind got really bad then and it was the hilliest section of the ride. My partner was having a hard time climbing the hills, so I waited at the tops so we could kinda stay together. I was still considering the full 100, but the last rest area was closing at 6 and I'd probably barely make it there since we'd started late and spent a lot of time at rest areas waiting for the group to catch up. So with 5 miles to go we hit a nice smooth flat section and I took off. I was able to go about 20 mph on that section still so I'm sure I could have finished the 100 still.
Labor day weekend I hit 39.8 mph on the mt bike, so I had the challenge of getting the road bike faster. I never managed to get as fast though. I hit 37.7 for a top speed. Disappointing! Kinda tells the story of how steep and long the road was in the Ozarks I suppose.
I feel pretty good today. A little soreness in the right knee and tightness in upper back is about all. I really enjoyed the road ride out there with minimal traffic. I could see doing more of those.
