Oh what a night, late October back in twenty-ten...

I was just out for a bike ride the night of Friday October 29th, 2010. I wasn't racing.  Nobody else was racing either.

I was just out for a ride with a bunch of other people dressed in costume riding bikes with lights in the night. I was also in costume:

 

Me on the left. Chris on the right. Photo stolen from Shane Harders's Facebook page.

I felt strange explaining my 1980s reference. I don't feel like explaining it again, so here's a video:



The ride started at Robber's Cave, then on to Wilderness Park.

At Wilderness, we were greeted by a guy in costume dragging a hammer (or axe?) across a chain which "blocked" access to the park after hours. He said nothing. Good thing he was there, I would have endo'd entering the park.

Riding a road bike on super rough gravel walking trails is not my idea of fun. I took it at 5mph with my left leg out, just in case. I had to find a piece of candy in a covered bridge before I could get my stamp that gave me a clue to my next stop: the tunnel at 4th and F.

Then I followed a group of folks north to the F street tunnel at 4th street. We took a pea gravel bike trail. I thought about my skinny tires, 30lbs excess weight and pea gravel: 15mph is my limit here.

Hindsight being 20/20, I should have taken 8th street, I could have made up some time: no pea gravel for my front wheel to slip on, no "traffic" to get stuck behind, meth-tweeker zombies with rabid, underfed pit bulls to sprint away from, etc.

When we got to 4th and F, we were informed we had to enter from the other side. That means we had to cross four train tracks. At the other end of the tunnel we were digging among spaghetti for squishy eyeballs in a kiddie pool set up by Girl Bike Night. Mmmm. When you found the eyeball, you were given a stamp with your next location and given another piece of candy.

One dude in the tunnel reached in and grabbed a handful of spaghetti and ATE IT. While I can't speak for the 20 or so folks that came before us, I know how gross my handlebars are and I'm pretty sure my gloves aren't exactly sanitary.

The next location was State Fair Park horse stables. You found the No Coast Derby Girls dressed as zombies and had to answer three state capitol questions before getting your card stamped with a new location (27th and Capitol Parkway Underpass) and another piece of candy.

There are two street crossings from State Fair Park to the 27th and Capitol Parkway underpass. That means almost no interference from cars (yay!). That didn't matter because the wind was horrible (boo!).

I was greeted by a cycling ninja at the north entrance to the underpass. At the south end of the underpass, I had to toss a "severed head" to a ring on the other side of the "River of Blood". I needed six (twelve? twenty-four?) tries, twice the head fell into the river and got all slippery.

My next stop was the YWCA, which I got lost trying to locate. I had it in my head that it was on 13th street, when in reality it was on 15th.

My challenge there involved getting blindfolded and following spoken instructions to find my way through an obstacle course.

After that I high tailed it to the finish line at Buzzard Billy's. Whoops. It was not a race (remember, I was just out for a ride), which means there is no finish line. I made it to the end of the ride. We left at 8:00 and I arrived at the finish at about 9:40. I was the 36th overall arrival.

This ride was a fund/awareness-raiser for Sheclismo, Lincoln's first all-women's cycling team. (One of these days I'm going to ask how one pronounces "Sheclismo".)

There were raffles and prizes at the finish, including a Globe Daily 1 commuter bike. I came home with a new water bottle from Joyride Bicycles and five pieces of candy. (You can never have too many water bottles this time of year: they come in handy during the winter to hold soapy water for washing grit off your bike after a romp through the snow. Keep a thermos of near-boiling water nearby to thaw/rinse it off.)

The "not-race" was fun. I want to "hustle" again sometime soon.

Six Straight Days In the Saddle So Far.

This week is an example of Nebraska weather. I got up to ride with Shane, Scott, Alfred, Chris and Chris on Sunday morning. It was 35 degrees, I wore fingerless gloves. Whoops.

Compare and contrast that temp with today's commute: 91 degrees. Someone forgot to tell the sun it's October.

I commuted every day this week for 94 miles, plus 59 for Sunday's group ride.

I also got some bike toys. I've never liked having a flat bar on my snow and gravel machine, so I started researching my options for an off-road drop bar. I settled on a Salsa Woodchipper based on Guitar Ted's observations at TwentyNineInches.

Especially this:

The Woodchipper leaves your levers in a more of a traditional position, so if you are seeking a more road bike-like set up for your levers, the Woodchipper will come closest of any of the available off road drops. From STI levers to levers like the Tektro RL 550, you can set up the Woodchipper to have a usable hood position, if you desire it, quite easily. Other off road drop bars will compromise this a bit.

I love me some brake hoods. Given the height of the existing flat bar in relation to the saddle, the Woodchipper drops should put my shoulders at the same height as my road bike hoods. I should be able to ride it all day long now.

I also copped some Tektro RL550s and Ultegra 8-speed bar end shifters to replace the MTB levers and trigger shifters.

Hopefully I'll get a chance to hook it up tomorrow.

Intervals Timer (and disclaimer)

I participated in Joyride Bicycles' "sweatfest" sessions last winter. You could call those eight Saturdays "spinning classes" much the same way one would call a Kenworth a "truck". It was intense, to say the least.

Sydney Brown, our leader for those sessions, would yell at us to keep our heads up, even during intense sessions, and offered this advice: "Any bad habits you pick up on the trainer will translate to bad habits on the road."

When I would repeat the workouts on my own, I found myself mesmerized by my cyclecomputer, waiting for the time to tick away during intense workouts until it was time to recover. I'd have my headphones turned up in an effort to drown out "HEADS UP, PEOPLE" as my legs burned more and more.

I'm not going to let that happen this winter. I'm putting my laptop up on a stand, I'm firing up RhythmBox for some tunes, and I'm using my homebrewed intervals timer to keep my head up.


Before I go further, let me say that I am NOT a coach, nor am I a medical professional. Talk to your doctor before beginning any exercise program, then seek the advice of a coach who can point you to a good workout and help you determine if this is right for you.

I did this because I thought it was cool,  and thought others might want something like it.

Now that that's out of the way...

Above you will find a link for an intervals timer. The timer has four pre-set workouts. Each workout has a 10 minute warm up and a 10 minute cool down. Each is close to an hour in length so you don't burn out.


The first workout is a 2x20 minute "baseline" interval, with a 5 minute recovery in between. The 20 minute intervals are intended to be a light aerobic effort. You should be breathing deeply during the interval. If talking is difficult or labored, you're pushing too hard: you should be able to keep a conversation going. This workout is 1 hour and five minutes long.

The second workout is a 3x10 minute "tempo" interval, with 3 minute recoveries in between. You should be breathing hard, but consistently during these intervals. Talking should be difficult, but possible. This workout is 59 minutes long.

The third workout is a 4x6 minute "threshold" interval, with 2 minute recoveries in between. Breathing should begin to get difficult during the intervals and you might feel some burn in your legs. Talking. Should. Be. Tough. This workout is 50 minutes long.

The fourth workout should be done only if your heart is healthy. It is a 5x3 "anaerobic effort" interval with 3 minute recoveries in between. Breathing is going to be difficult, your legs should hate you more and more as the workout progresses. Talking will be impossible if you're pushing hard enough. This workout is 47 minutes long.

Did you guys send me the wrong part?

I'm feeling a bit lazy, the camera is put away and the shifters are on the dining room table up the stairs and halfway across the house, So no pics. I'll line up all the parts when I get them in. I'll document the transformation from flat-bar comfort bike to somewhat nimble (but still heavy) gravel and snow monster when the time is right.

I ordered some Shimano Ultegra SL-BS64 8 speed Bar-End shifters from Amazon last week. $64 and some change shipped to my door in six days.

I was worried: the box they came in says Dura-Ace. The additions from the seller provide some re-assurance that I received what I ordered: The packing slip says Ultegra. A bar code sticker on the back of the box says Ultegra.

The box had been opened and re-taped.

I was worried because the top-shelf Dura Ace 8 speed shifter offerings from Shimano from the early 90s only worked with the top-shelf Dura-Ace derailleur, while the lower end Ultegra works with just about all 8-speed SIS derailleurs made since.

I breathed a sigh of relief when I opened the box: a sticker affixed to the right-hand shifter says "Not for use with Dura-Ace" and the instructions say "Shimano 600 Ultegra SL-BS64". These should index properly (read: "click with each shift") with my lower-end Acera derailleurs. If not, then I'll learn to use friction shifters (read: "hunt for the right gear and no noise").

I'm a bit amused: the instructions are copyrighted 1991.

I might have to start harrassing the other sellers about my other parts, I got a bike to build here!

Don't stop playing!

There's an old proverb which says something like "we do not stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing."

Local racer Nancy Brown hasn't stopped playing. Here's an article at the Journal Star detailing her cycling at world championship events at age 68.

My favorite quote:


"So many people, they hit their 60s, they move to where there's a bunch of old people. Pretty soon they're walking like them."


Don't stop playing. You'll become ONE OF THEM.

Cycling Map of Lincoln

At one point I had an idea for a smartphone app that would allow me to update a map with one click and a pic for bike-friendly facilities. Others could add pics and places with a single click while out on a bike ride. It would be epic as it moved worldwide.

Two problems with this dream: I lack the time to develop such an app and I lack the smartphone needed to utilize the app.

But I'm not a complete spoil-sport: I'll provide a "go for it" and moral support for anyone else who thinks this is a cool idea and has the time to form it into something great.

I however, have found that I have time to click a Google map and add a few sentences. Cycling Map of Lincoln was born. I'll update the map as I find more bike racks (and theoretically more cycling-friendly businesses in the vicinity of said racks).

If you want a location (or locations!) pinned to the map, add it in a comment below!

Fall is here!

45 degrees this morning. 62 at lunchtime. High at about 75. Fall is finally here. In Nebraska that means we probably won't see the other side of 80 until mid-April 2011, and then the probability of freezing after we see our first 80 degree day is still really high.

I decided to bust out the wool socks for this morning's ride to work. My toes were a bit chilly, but I'll take that over "my toes feel like they're going to fall off".

(Both my bikes have the same S on the head tube. The things I own, own me.)

I'm going to savor this weather. There's only a few weeks left before the white stuff covers the ground...