Bike Route Planning and The Goose Chase;

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

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

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

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

Till Next Time

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

“G”

The Elephant Rock a Reason to Have a Training Partner

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

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

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

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

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

Till Next Time

Ride Safe, Ride Far, Ride Short, But Ride

“G”

Bicycle Racing, Secret Society or Open

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

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

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

Till Next Time

Get out and Ride, But Be Safe

“G”

Wind Friend or Cyclist Foe and What is a Grand Fondo

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

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

A Fondo will cost approximately $100 a person.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


Till Next Time

Ride Safe, Ride fast as You Can, But Ride



“G”

The Wind and Bike Shop Customer Service

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


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

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

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





Till Next Time

Ride Fast As You Can, Ride Safe, But Ride

“G”

Poor Blog, Cycling Fitness Improvement and My Kids on Bikes

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


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

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

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

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

Till Next Time

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

“G”

The Weather Has Been Frustrating For Cyclists

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

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

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

Till Next Time

Ride Warm, Ride Safe, Ride Fast, but Ride

G