On my last ride, I drank sugarless (no sugar, no sugar substitute) sports drink. My teeth will thank me. They were starting to hurt from all the kid-stuff @#$@#@% sugar water I've been drinking.
I wonder how much more weight I would have lost without all the fructose in the
HFCS in gatorade. ....lessee: if I drink 1000 calories of the
stuff on my long rides and half of it comes from fructose,
and I did that for 26 weeks, that's 13000 calories or 4 pounds.
...plausible, barely. I wonder how much my liver will thank me....
I'm not sure what I'll do on the triple. I could use the sugarless stuff and
spike it with Hammer Gel for the big ride...teeth be damned, at least there will
be less of a load on my liver and more of the calories will be immediately available.
The big gain will be from continuing to avoid the HFCS for the rest of the summer.
Maybe I can make a bigger dent in my gut by September.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Single Lollipop: 24.3 miles, 1:28 @ 16.5
...still can't match the boss's 16.7.
He says he rides 2mph faster after a new bike!
The old one must have been one POS!
I'm getting used to the bike. Having my pedals and seat from
the Raleigh on it help...even if the creak followed the pedals.
He says he rides 2mph faster after a new bike!
The old one must have been one POS!
I'm getting used to the bike. Having my pedals and seat from
the Raleigh on it help...even if the creak followed the pedals.
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Heat Training (70 miles)
70 miles, 6 hours 20, 143 average bpm
my new computer says 13.3 average, but I don't thing that's average over the time the wheels are moving, that's average from start/finish. Anyway, it was a long miserable ride. It got up to 90 and the perfectly clear sky that was so amazing early in the day made for tortuous heat as they day wore on. No street credit today: I called for SAG at REI. I drank 4 bike bottles of gatorade, 3 16 oz bottles of water one 16 oz bottle of lemonage and 1 16 oz bottle of OJ. 144 ounces?
The route was from home South on the Highline Canal, North on Cherry Creek, North on the Platte, West on Clear Creek, South on Rooney Road, East on Bear Creek and North on the Platte again.
The load the heat puts on a ride is not to be underestimated. The need for more clear water as well. I was sick of gatorade by the time I was done with it.
I need to exchange seats and get my old one on this bike.
I notice the different crank length: Many times on this ride, I thought I was slogging into the wind at only 14mph and saw 17.1. It doesn't seem as effortless. It's harder, but faster.
my new computer says 13.3 average, but I don't thing that's average over the time the wheels are moving, that's average from start/finish. Anyway, it was a long miserable ride. It got up to 90 and the perfectly clear sky that was so amazing early in the day made for tortuous heat as they day wore on. No street credit today: I called for SAG at REI. I drank 4 bike bottles of gatorade, 3 16 oz bottles of water one 16 oz bottle of lemonage and 1 16 oz bottle of OJ. 144 ounces?
The route was from home South on the Highline Canal, North on Cherry Creek, North on the Platte, West on Clear Creek, South on Rooney Road, East on Bear Creek and North on the Platte again.
The load the heat puts on a ride is not to be underestimated. The need for more clear water as well. I was sick of gatorade by the time I was done with it.
I need to exchange seats and get my old one on this bike.
I notice the different crank length: Many times on this ride, I thought I was slogging into the wind at only 14mph and saw 17.1. It doesn't seem as effortless. It's harder, but faster.
Saturday, June 25, 2011
First Ride (long cranks)
I road the Roubaix this morning in full gear and on familiar turf. I had bought the bike after only three or so parking-lot rides at various stores. When I was at Wheat Ridge Cyclery (WRC), I was fitted on and rode both the 54cm and 56cm sizes. The junior fitter was a little happer with my knee at 90 degrees on the 54, so I came back the next day with proper shorts and shoes to have the fit examined by someone with more experience. I fit right between the two and the 56 puts my knee a little further back than dead vertical over the pedal pivot. I may move the seat forward. The 56 also comes with longer cranks:
My first ride was a single loop around Cherry Creek Res. I must have eaten something questionable because my stomach wasn't happy and I was a little low on energy. I got 25.6 miles at 15.7 mph. The bike seems light, solid and a bit....cheap. But it *is* a plastic bike that doesn't weigh much. The larger frame holds me in a more stretched out position which is nice. I had to lower the seat a few times in 1/8 inch increments to get my knees and hips to be a little happier. The bike felt fast and easy to ride hard. My muscles ached. I wonder how much of this is getting used to the longer cranks. ...the rest of the frame too. So for now, it is a new and different frame. I hope I get used to it over the next two weeks.
My first ride was a single loop around Cherry Creek Res. I must have eaten something questionable because my stomach wasn't happy and I was a little low on energy. I got 25.6 miles at 15.7 mph. The bike seems light, solid and a bit....cheap. But it *is* a plastic bike that doesn't weigh much. The larger frame holds me in a more stretched out position which is nice. I had to lower the seat a few times in 1/8 inch increments to get my knees and hips to be a little happier. The bike felt fast and easy to ride hard. My muscles ached. I wonder how much of this is getting used to the longer cranks. ...the rest of the frame too. So for now, it is a new and different frame. I hope I get used to it over the next two weeks.
(expensive) Bottom Bracket Repair
Having screwed up a BB in part to impatience, I applied my impatience at Wheat Ridge Cyclery to "fix" the BB. This is a 2011 Specialized Roubaix Elite. It's a larger frame than I had been riding, built in carbon fiber. The components are SRAM Apex, with a revolutionary compact double inspired by Alberto Contador.
Alberto Contador switched the derailleur in the 2011 Giro from the top-of-the-line SRAM Red to get the lower gearing. In fact, it was Contador and his mechanic Faustino, in the 2008 Giro, looking for lower gearing for a 24% grade, who inspired the Apex's gearing:
Bottom Bracket Bummer
I was hearing creaks and bumps from down BB way while riding. I'd also heard enough comments about how much faster people were on new bikes. After removing my cranks and trying to spin the BB by hand, I thought it needed replacing. It was as little stiff. I ended up rounding the "bolts"
I feel the need for a hacksaw, but I'm in no great hurry. Good thing the replacement cartridges are only $40.
Monday, June 20, 2011
Packet pickup at Wheat Ridge Cyclery
Driving back from the ride near Boulder, I stopped at Wheat Ridge Cyclery to pick up my Triple Bypass information packet. No longer sweaty, but ragged, I made my way past neophytes refreshed by their decision to buy a new bike to the counter and got my packet. On the way out I wondered if I could get the right tool to pull my cranks and have a look at the bottom bracket myself. My bike has a Shimano Ocatlink bottom bracket.
I wandered over to the service counter and waited for the guy in front of me to finish. When it was my turn I asked about tools to pull cranks. With a few questions and a visit to my bike, the tech realized I needed a large crank puller, not a small one. The hole in the octalink is larger and the small crank puller pushes against air. He even pulled a bottom bracket (BB) and gave me a better idea how they are used.
I wandered over to the service counter and waited for the guy in front of me to finish. When it was my turn I asked about tools to pull cranks. With a few questions and a visit to my bike, the tech realized I needed a large crank puller, not a small one. The hole in the octalink is larger and the small crank puller pushes against air. He even pulled a bottom bracket (BB) and gave me a better idea how they are used.
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Wishbone: Ward and Super Jamestown (almost)
38.5 miles, 5000+ vertical feet, 3:32, 10.8 average mph, 43.6 max mph
We started a little late after some pleasant father's day distractions
(and crepes), so we drove to the Greenbriar (bottom of lefthand canyon).
It wasn't so amazing that I felt strong on the ride up, but Ken, who had
only had Saturday as a break from 350+ miles on Ride the Rockies, felt
strong as well. My first ride up, in April, was at a pace of about 45 minutes per
thousand vertical feet. Today, we road 2600 feet in just over an hour and a half.
The old pace would have consumed another 20 minutes: a good 20% improvement.
We made it up to 8100 feet on the way to Ward and turned around avoiding
a thunderstorm. We might have ridden further, but have gotten soaked,
and cold often enough. We've both been in the mountains enough around
storms and lightening that no one was going to get "manly" about having
turned around possibly prematurely. When we got closer to the Y, we
saw better weather and decided to do Jamestown. This evolved into
attempting Super Jamestown again. We made it. ....past Overland Dr. where
it starts going downhill again...but not to the dirt. The steepness of
Super Jamestown was quite rewarding, and the experience, especially the
strength and speed up to Ward made it conceivable that we will survive
the Triple Bypass.
We started a little late after some pleasant father's day distractions
(and crepes), so we drove to the Greenbriar (bottom of lefthand canyon).
It wasn't so amazing that I felt strong on the ride up, but Ken, who had
only had Saturday as a break from 350+ miles on Ride the Rockies, felt
strong as well. My first ride up, in April, was at a pace of about 45 minutes per
thousand vertical feet. Today, we road 2600 feet in just over an hour and a half.
The old pace would have consumed another 20 minutes: a good 20% improvement.
We made it up to 8100 feet on the way to Ward and turned around avoiding
a thunderstorm. We might have ridden further, but have gotten soaked,
and cold often enough. We've both been in the mountains enough around
storms and lightening that no one was going to get "manly" about having
turned around possibly prematurely. When we got closer to the Y, we
saw better weather and decided to do Jamestown. This evolved into
attempting Super Jamestown again. We made it. ....past Overland Dr. where
it starts going downhill again...but not to the dirt. The steepness of
Super Jamestown was quite rewarding, and the experience, especially the
strength and speed up to Ward made it conceivable that we will survive
the Triple Bypass.
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
18 miles to Bicycle Village for a tuneup: 15.4mph
My chain is getting old, my cassette only goes to 26, and I wonder about my bottom bracket. Time for a tuneup. I took my bike to Bicycle Village by way of a ride.
Haunted by my boss's phenomenal speed on similar rides (16.9mph), I started out hard and fast. Sucking air, I let off the gas when I crossed Havana after 20 minutes or so with only a 15.4 average speed. Not having given completely up, I started to make excuses:
Haunted by my boss's phenomenal speed on similar rides (16.9mph), I started out hard and fast. Sucking air, I let off the gas when I crossed Havana after 20 minutes or so with only a 15.4 average speed. Not having given completely up, I started to make excuses:
- Larry is shorter than I am so he has less wind resistance.
- The height comes with reduced weight, so his energy makes speed, not weight move.
- My bike's old drivetrain (11 years) has such resistance it holds me back 1mph.
- Larry must be riding with longer cranks. Mine are 170mm.
- His bike as phenominal gearing: 34x32 to my bike's 30x26 (though soon to be 30x27)...and it makes him faster.
- His GPS has the wrong wheel size and erroneously calculates his speed.
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Epic Tour: 81.5 miles, 5:26 over 6:20 at 14.9mph
Either I just finished the longest ride I've done in 6 ;years, or the longest ever.
Today's ride was 81.5 miles in the front range. The contender is one of the days on the last MS-150 I rode in 2005. It was at least 80 and maybe just a few more.
Today's ride started in East Denver bound for the center of the world: the confluence of Cherry Creek and the South Platte River. Curious about a trail my boss mentioned, one that I had never ridden, I headed north on the Platte along I-25 headed for the Clear Creek trail and Golden. Along the way I met some guys riding about the same pace as me. We rode together navigating some wrong turns and detours through Wheat Ridge. I lost them where the Clear Creek trail crosses Kipling. Then I lost the trail in a residential neighborhood. I knew I needed to turn around when I could see the trail across a small valley from a high spot on the wrong side. I turned back to where I though I lost it and stopped when I saw a rider headed my way. Turns out I needed to cross a dirt parking lot and pick up the pabed trail again. The rider was headed the same direction so I followed him. A bit of chit-chat revealed revealed common goals of heading down to Bear Creek and that I didn't know hot to get there. The rider said he was going that way and offered to show me the way. It was true most of the ride up to this point and more so through Golden. You see parts of the cities from the bike trails that you don't seen on the major roads and freeways. The trail past the Coors brewery and down through Golden is very nice. We stopped at a place he knew to use the bathroom and introduced ourselves. I got some water from a convenient spigot. Pat and I headed up to the elaborate Jefferson County government building known as the Taj Mahal for its extravagance to Rooney road, one ridge East of Red Rocks. Now we were back in territory familiar to me and headed for Bear Creek. Pat stopped at the top of a hill (the dam) and we chatted a bit about bikes. Pat was riding a 1965 Falcon. A ten-speed at one time, rigged up with a single 42 tooth chainring and 15 and 23 tooth cogs in the back. No computer, GPS or power meter. This guy had a steady pace: 15mph, but he can do it up anything. We continued down the dam and parted ways. Meeting this guy, with his very nice neighborly attitude and willingness to show me the way reminded me of the help you see travellers get on TV shows. I was always amazed at how easy it is for folks to get help like this and really enjoyed such an experience at home. Thinking of what a nice day it had been, I noticed the growing clouds and got busy on Bear Creek. I stopped at the confluence of Bear Creek and the South Platte to call Mandy. I enjoyed the stop and talking to Mandy for a bit, but the clouds were getting darker, so I got off the phone. A few miles later the rain started. It wasn't thunderstorm rain. I was hot, so I left the rain jacket balled up on the back of my hydration pack. I stopped at the center of the world again to notice the much bigger storm passing over East Denver, my destination. I had no urge to ride in a thunderstorm, so I took my time on Cherry Creek headed for home. Of course, my legs hurt bad enough after 65 miles that I couldn't go much faster. I stopped at 4 mile house to refill my water pack and lumbered on thinking of the cred I would get with the 7 miles I would gain by not taking the short way home.
Today's ride was 81.5 miles in the front range. The contender is one of the days on the last MS-150 I rode in 2005. It was at least 80 and maybe just a few more.
Today's ride started in East Denver bound for the center of the world: the confluence of Cherry Creek and the South Platte River. Curious about a trail my boss mentioned, one that I had never ridden, I headed north on the Platte along I-25 headed for the Clear Creek trail and Golden. Along the way I met some guys riding about the same pace as me. We rode together navigating some wrong turns and detours through Wheat Ridge. I lost them where the Clear Creek trail crosses Kipling. Then I lost the trail in a residential neighborhood. I knew I needed to turn around when I could see the trail across a small valley from a high spot on the wrong side. I turned back to where I though I lost it and stopped when I saw a rider headed my way. Turns out I needed to cross a dirt parking lot and pick up the pabed trail again. The rider was headed the same direction so I followed him. A bit of chit-chat revealed revealed common goals of heading down to Bear Creek and that I didn't know hot to get there. The rider said he was going that way and offered to show me the way. It was true most of the ride up to this point and more so through Golden. You see parts of the cities from the bike trails that you don't seen on the major roads and freeways. The trail past the Coors brewery and down through Golden is very nice. We stopped at a place he knew to use the bathroom and introduced ourselves. I got some water from a convenient spigot. Pat and I headed up to the elaborate Jefferson County government building known as the Taj Mahal for its extravagance to Rooney road, one ridge East of Red Rocks. Now we were back in territory familiar to me and headed for Bear Creek. Pat stopped at the top of a hill (the dam) and we chatted a bit about bikes. Pat was riding a 1965 Falcon. A ten-speed at one time, rigged up with a single 42 tooth chainring and 15 and 23 tooth cogs in the back. No computer, GPS or power meter. This guy had a steady pace: 15mph, but he can do it up anything. We continued down the dam and parted ways. Meeting this guy, with his very nice neighborly attitude and willingness to show me the way reminded me of the help you see travellers get on TV shows. I was always amazed at how easy it is for folks to get help like this and really enjoyed such an experience at home. Thinking of what a nice day it had been, I noticed the growing clouds and got busy on Bear Creek. I stopped at the confluence of Bear Creek and the South Platte to call Mandy. I enjoyed the stop and talking to Mandy for a bit, but the clouds were getting darker, so I got off the phone. A few miles later the rain started. It wasn't thunderstorm rain. I was hot, so I left the rain jacket balled up on the back of my hydration pack. I stopped at the center of the world again to notice the much bigger storm passing over East Denver, my destination. I had no urge to ride in a thunderstorm, so I took my time on Cherry Creek headed for home. Of course, my legs hurt bad enough after 65 miles that I couldn't go much faster. I stopped at 4 mile house to refill my water pack and lumbered on thinking of the cred I would get with the 7 miles I would gain by not taking the short way home.
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
No recovery feast can slow you down
I passed on riding 35 miles again today for two reasons: the clouds, and some lethargy due ( I think ) to not eating like I burned 1200 calories yesterday. Maybe it was the $15 off coupon at Mezcal we had to spend (good tampequena steak).
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
double lollipop: 33 miles, 2:02 @16.1mph
nice hard ride, still getting passed by girls, spitting up yuck after some cheese last weekend.
Lungs feel like I had a long day at the pool in the chlorine filled air! It's pollution from the Arizona forest fires!! You can't see the haze, but Mandy was complaining about a sore throat after we had the windows open. Only after congratulating myself on a hard aerobic workout that strained my lungs did I think of the smoke.
Lungs feel like I had a long day at the pool in the chlorine filled air! It's pollution from the Arizona forest fires!! You can't see the haze, but Mandy was complaining about a sore throat after we had the windows open. Only after congratulating myself on a hard aerobic workout that strained my lungs did I think of the smoke.
Careful what you eat: aborted ride: 14.5 miles, 58min, 15.1 mph
I was hungry before the ride and ate a large bowl of granola which led to a stitch and some cramping, so we turned around.
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Diversion: Miata drive over Squaw Pass
We took the new (to us) Miata to Idaho Springs via I-70 and had lunch at Beau Jo's Pizza. On the way back we went over Squaw Pass into Evergreen hoping to drive some twisty roads. We saw lots of cyclists (a dozen) and noticed quite a temperature difference up at 11,000 feet!
Need to ride this one soon!
Need to ride this one soon!
double Ch. Ck. Lollipop: 35.3 miles, 2:15, 15.7mph
nice early morning ride in the cool air.
...I lost a part to my stem after bouncing along the bumps on the road in the state park.
$8 to have fixed at Bicycle Village.
...I lost a part to my stem after bouncing along the bumps on the road in the state park.
$8 to have fixed at Bicycle Village.
Excuses, Holidays and a new car
(16 miles on the mtn bike to/from work Wed and Thus)
Training in Boulder is a little easier when you don't have to worry about having hijacked the only car at home on a Saturday. Partly to that end, we bought a Miata Thursday.No rides Friday, but I took the day off of work to get emissions and a temp tag for the thing. Now I have the car and need to go ride Ward when I'm fresh from no rides during the week.
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