I Am Now Supporting Another Cyclist

Well here we go; I’m now supporting another roadie (a road cyclist). Yes the short son now has a road bike. Thanks to “Craig’s List”, where we were looking for a 44cm Specialized Dolce. After all, the women I have talked to, with the Dolce, wouldn’t get rid of the one they had for anything. We did see a couple for sale, but they were only a couple of hundred less than a new one. So the little guy understood and wasn’t expecting a road bike till the spring. Then comes an email, we just put our Dolce up for sale and saw your wanted add. So on the evening of the 28th the short son became the owner of a four year old Dolce Elite which was in excellent condition, to the point of the guys at Bike Source, who went through it for flaws, could not believe it was four years old. What flaws were found on super find you ask? Even if you did not ask, there was a slight screw adjustment on the front derailleur and the end of the cables need caps on them.


Short son and I managed to go out and get in his first longish rode ride today. It was fun and a Father or Mothers great joy of celebrating this first experience.


Short Sons first Rode Bike Ride (Photo by Connor Livingston)

With all of the work he has put in on his Mountain bike and year around Basketball, he rode 26.35 miles in two hours. He took a break while I extended my ride another six miles. He had a good time, the only thing that was slightly sore, on him, was his neck and he did not think it was that hard. So by late spring, I imagine, I will have two sons that I start rides with and they will wait for me to catch up every ten miles or so.

That tells me I will need to have quite a few back to back months like September. I rode 408 miles in September which includes the last three weeks of over a hundred miles a week. My rides have been getting longer a mile or two at a time. This, in turn, gives me more endurance which makes it easier to go further. Such a wonderful circle to cycle. I really see a century in our future next year, or at least the MS 150. I wanted to attempt to do the “Ride the Rockies” when I turn 65.   I’m much closer to both.

Till Next Time

Ride Fast, Ride Far, Ride Safe, But Ride

“G”

Do Shinny New Bells and Whistles Make You Pedal Faster?

Well I went to Performance Cycle and spent some money. Actually I went to their web site since the actual store did not have the sale Items on hand, big surprise. I went on line and they had a few items but not what they showed in the size I wanted, or the color they showed. A little disappointing but the tall son now has possession of a new jersey and we both did get some new carbon fiber substance, pedals. I still would like to have/need a new helmet.

We replaced our Shimano “SPD” type clip in pedal with a, heavier (they are much bigger), carbon fiber, Forte “Keo” type clip in pedal. The sale prices were well worth it, the pedals have fixed a couple of problems. Since I have an updated, designed in this century, new pair of bike shoes I could never get the cleats adjusted to the pedals quite right. With the new type pedals and cleats, I was actually forced to learned how to adjust them to work together correctly. I’m not a professional but I am in a really small ball park of being right on. The results, I have no more ankle, knee or hip pain. Another plus, the pedals are large and give you a larger platform to actually pedal in comfort and more important, efficiency. Lance Armstrong, the cycling legend, has been quoted as saying “Cycling is measured in millimeters”. This was during a discussion of advantages between competitive cycling teams as well as the members within those teams. Bottom line, for the recreational rider, adjust, adjust, adjust.

So am I any faster? Did the simple change really make a difference or did the shiny new bobbles, that we are all so attracted to, just make me feel faster. 10 rides with the new shoes, the last 3 with the new pedals. Prior to the new found comfort I was pretty consistent with 13 -18 mile rides and an occasional 25 -30 miler. The last 10, 6 were over 30, my cadence is up, and the last 3 rides, 2 were with an average cadence of over 70 for over 30 miles. That is coming up to the lower end of being respectable. Even though I am only faster by fractions, I feel much faster. Feeling faster combined with no pain, equals longer rides, which will equal faster and lighter.

As for the tall kid, he’s taller and now about an average of 1.5 mph than his previous rides, Ahhh to be young again.

Till Next Time

Ride Fast, Ride Safe, But Ride.

“G”

Ever Notice How One New Bike Item Leads To Another

I got back on the bike after three weeks of swimming and vacationing with the boys. Like I had mentioned at the beginning of the year getting back into the swing of things can be scary. Also I treated myself to a new pair of shoes, after 18 years on the old ones, who knew that grown feet changed so much.

Was going with the tall son as he shopped for a new pair of shoes and figured hey, I deserve a new pair of shoes too. The good thing my size was in stock. Our friends at Bike Source fitted tall son perfectly, with growing room, and then had him order a half size bigger. They have watched him grow the last couple of years. Anyway I picked up a pretty spiffy pair of Specialized Body Geometry shoes in white, I like a little flash. It is amazing the technology that has occurred over the last 18 years in bike shoes. The new ones are like slippers that seem to self cool as you ride, amazing, simply amazing. After the down time and armed, or should say footed, with my new shoes I took off on my first ride. My time came up, my cadence came up and I did not hurt. No pain in the ankle, knee or hip joints could this be from shoes? I waited a day took another, same outcome, the next day a 30 miler and wow. Till I attempted to move the cleats from a neutral position on the shoe no pain. The last 12.5 of that 30, after my SWAG adjustment, my ankles, knees and hips burned. So much for SWAG. The cleats went back to neutral. The tall kid’s shoes came in; I set his cleats very neutral, with a plum line and a ruler neutral. He took a ride and we slightly dialed the feel in till he could not feel any discomfort and we were good. Good enough to jump into a 55 mile ride with a couple of friends, fast friends. We were a group of 5 and though I have stayed away from group riding just because of my slowness. It didn’t make much of a difference, we all rode with each other at one time or another, I pushed a little harder, and we all had some really good conversation, good laughs and an excellent ride. I really need to reevaluate the whole group ride thing, especially if it is a small group. If you have been worried about your abilities take that step and give it a try, you may have the same happy surprise. Even the female in the group made me feel good by riding with me about 14 miles even though she was, tall son fast, and showed it down the stretch. The new shoes, never thought about them or my joints the whole ride. Bottom line if your going to bike, fit is everything.

Speaking of those shoes, what’s a new shoe without putting feet with new socks into them? Throw in thoughts of having new shoes and getting accustom to getting in and out of the pedals, tall son gets me thinking, this would be the time to switch to a larger platform carbon fiber pedal. This gets me thinking more, not a good thing in my case. Tall son has a new high end Giro helmet, mine is a good 10 years old, not acceptable for safety. New shoes, new socks, possibly new pedals and skid lid, hey my bib shorts are looking a little saggy. So the question here is; bicycling a money pit or the more you bicycle things just wear vs. ever notice how one new part leads to another. Oh by the way I just received a new Performance Cycle’s warehouse clearance catalogue and it looks like I might be able to save a little over $200 on my recent thoughts. Timing is everything.



As for the actual riding in August, 151,8 miles in 5 rides, I deserve some new gear.



Till Next Time

Ride Fast, Ride Safe, But Ride

“G”

OK, I Didn’t Make A Post The First of The Week

I know how important it is to have a good group of followers and to keep them a blogger must be consistent. I also have had times I haven’t been that consistent and the amount I have been read shows the drop. Life does really get in the way of all of us, especially if you have a real life. I have thought of what I was going to write in this post, being first after vacation, and as I had said I came across some things on the vacation that was of interest.

On our first day of the trip we were heading west on I-70, going through some of the canyon lands of Utah and observed an odd thing. Out of nowhere, in the middle of nowhere, at the crest of a long climb, there was a cyclist. On a road bike, the full roadie outfit, no luggage or bags, and just hammering away. I thought, WOW, this guy is nuts to be out here alone. It was about 1:00 pm and touching just under 90 degrees. Then I thought this could be cool if you had a couple of friends to do it with. I was now a couple of miles down the road and there were two more, same shorts and jersey as the first guy, no bags and a pretty good pace. Looking ahead, tall son saw another single rider. As we passed same thing and we figured this must be a local club ride only there was nothing that resembled local. Up a head we saw a van with a major load of bikes on the roof and a rear rack and I said “I bet this was all part of a tour company”. I was partially correct; it was a tour company with mountain bikes from a company that did tours back in Moab. All in all we passed about 10 of the roadies. Watching them ride a good pace, especially at the front, I thought this really would be cool. Traveling down the interstate going to exciting places, cool. I did see a couple of good swerves with all the crap in the emergency stopping lane they were riding in. Bottles, trash and nasty chunks of blown out semi tires. Then an actual crossed my mind again, no bags, how many flats have they had or what are they using for tires. All and all it was pretty darn cool even though they were spread out over about 7 miles.

Since this was a boy’s road trip and Mom doesn’t like Vegas the boys wanted to spend a few nights there. One of the impressive things in Vegas, to me anyway, is the Metro Police Department bike unit. Now the casinos have their security, also dressed in Yellow shirts and black shorts and some, a lot, are also on bikes. But Metro is impressive. It caught my interest since I started a PD bike unit in the early 90’s and I attempt to talk to a couple of the guys every trip I make to Sin City. They travel in a minimum of pairs, spread a lot of good PR by taking endless silly photos for the tourists and are very, very visible. For those of you that may not have taken the drive to the 24 hr never sleep city, you would be amazed at the amount of people and wonder, recession? I’m not talking at rush hour; I’m talking about 3:00 am. The strip is so backed up it is easier to attempt to walk it rather than drive or take the monorail, bus or cab. On occasion you can see a swarm, 4-6 members of the bike unit, crossing 8 lanes of traffic going against the traffic at 2 -3 times the speed of the “moving” traffic. The grace and precision is that of the water show at the Bellagio and should be seen by all. They jump the center medians, the curbs; avoid the crowds all without a hesitation or mishap. They are as cool as the roadies in the middle of nowhere.

We did take a kind of a ride one morning on the beach in Ventura California. The Tall Son wanted to ride in a two person surrey and we attempted to stay up with the little guy on a recumbent trike. It was fun but made us wish we would have brought our bikes.

The Ventura Performance Cycle was closed down and the space was empty. We did not see any other shops during the trip. I was really expecting them to be more visible.

Did you hear about the LA Mayor? Typical politician, bike friendly roads didn’t mean squat until, while riding downtown last month, he was hit by a cab that pulled out in front of him. He fractured his shoulder. Local cyclists did not even know he rode, but now sharing the road is a priority, funny how that works eh?

Till Next Post

Ride Fast, Ride Safe, But Ride

“G”

On Vacation Miss The Bike

Sorry about the gap in posts, I realize that is a blogger’s #1 no no but, life really does get into the way.


Son’s and I have been out of state for a little over a week and should be home and back on the bike the this weekend. We have missed the bikes and need to reconsider taking them on the next adventure. We did get to ride on the beach with a bicycle type contraption, but not the same.

I will have some observations to share, from group riding on the interstates to the remarkable bike units of the Las Vegas Metro PD.

Look for me again early next week.

Till Then

Ride Fast, Ride Safe But Ride

“G”

Bikes and Energy Drinks for the Recreational Rider

Well we are through July and I have racked up a mile over 200, the tall son will hit 400 on our ride tomorrow, the energy is up and I thank some drinks.

It appears I have dropped another 5 lbs., I love eating the “South Beach” way and my energy level is way up. I would say a lot of it is from the 15 lb., loss since My Dr. decided my body and metabolism needed a shock. Even with the loss my rides have improved as in longer and faster without hurting. I believe this is all attributed to experimenting with drinks. As much as I would like to credit the consumption of Margaritas, I have been playing with two types of powdered, costly energy drink mixes. Though I have always rode with “Gatorade” when I started the South Beach it was actually worthless. By favorite bike shop, Bike Source, yes I’ll plug them, gave me some suggestions. The first was Accelerade Hydro. Their claim to fame is a 4 to 1 ratio of Carbohydrate to Protein and 30% less calories as well as 55% less sugar. I believe that because it says so right on the container. We, son and I, picked the lemonade flavor in the 1.76 lb container, 50 servings, and $40. A serving before the ride and a water bottle full during the ride and in two rides a noticeable difference. I really felt better that first two weeks of the South Beach. I had the energy to ride and actually felt good doing it. My average speed came up, 1 mph and I started riding farther. Son, he went wild, his averages came up almost 5 mph and did not hurt a bit. But then you need to know that this is a kid that is wired on Benadryl, tried that once. We finished the container and were very happy with the results. We were also recommended, same shop, Heed by Hammer Nutrition. This was recommended because a salesman was aware of my type II diabetes. Hammers claims, made from all natural food products and the sugar content is only 2g of sugar a serving compared to Accelerade’s 8g. We bought the 2.04 lb container “Subtle Strawberry” flavor, 32 servings and $25. There are no artificial colors and looks like a bottle or glass of water and a very light flavor. This has worked very well for me I can tell the difference it brought me up about 2 mph which is no big deal but remember I’m an old fat guy. The young kid does not feel the energy spike even though he is even faster he does take a separate bottle of low callorie Gatorade. Neither of us finishes our ride with soreness, pain or feel totally wiped out. This is a good thing. The first time with the HEED I had a burning in my stomach, the second time only very slight and none since. I don’t think the complete verdict is in but we will see.

Till Next Time

Ride Fast, Ride Safe, But Ride

G

Bicycling and Life is Better Than Good

Well here we go again. I became involved in a riding group, I’m attempting different riding mechanics to pick up my average speed, my son became very fast, and I will soon have some input into a transportation master plan plus a five day trip to Vegas with four cops and no significant others. Above all, life is better than good.

I attempted to become involved in a group ride with some really good people from my local municipality’s administration. Great people, good attempt, a wonderful bubbly organizer but really fast. The majority has left the fold due to being too fast, my son thinks they are a tad bit slow as well as a racer in the group. Has this discouraged our bubbly organizer, not a bit. She will break us up into a fast group and a slow person group. I volunteered to lead some of the slow guys so we will all get what we want, social and healthy as we all strive to improve. So please keep in mind, if at first a group ride doesn’t work out for you, don’t give up, adjust.

Attempting to improve is a big goal of mine. I have improved amazingly, in my mind anyway, but looking for more. I am now working on completing shorter rides, 15-18 miles of rolling terrain, in high gears only. With the weight loss and keeping in that big front sprocket my average speeds are coming up and more weight is coming off. The main theme though is ride. Ride as much and for as long as you can. I am, right now, behind my mileage schedule. I wanted to break 2000 miles this year and I’m only at 658. Will I? I still plan to, we will see.

My son is getting cocky; he is averaging right at 17+ mph on 15-17 mile rides. He is still riding his “Flat Bar” road bike and enjoys to annoy the really fast guys. Yesterday we were doing a loop and a “super star” goes by us like we were standing still, (I was doing 18 mph) all tucked in with his aero bars and seat up in a race position. Son pulls up next to me with a sheepish smile on his face and says I’ll be back. He was off in a sprint. He caught up with the rider who was still tucked in and moving at the speed I envied. Son pulls up to him in an upright position and gives him a wave and rode with him for a bit. Ahhh, to be a teenager again.

My local municipality was accepting applicants to serve on the Transportation Master Plan (TMP) Community Advisory Committee. The City’s first Transportation Master Plan will provide a vision for the future transportation network in Centennial. The plan outlines improved vehicular, bicycle, pedestrian and transit facilities that will ensure citizens and businesses have access to high-quality transportation systems for all of their travel needs. I applied and was accepted to sit on this committee. If anyone has good information and proven ideas from your own community, especially about combining bicycle and motor vehicle traffic together, please let me know. If I get some good input I will put together an electronic means to collect this information.

Did I mention something about Vegas? Yes five nights in Vegas in 100 degree plus heat and even without the adult beverages, of which there were too numerous to mention, I wondered a recession? I saw thousands of people that obviously were not worried about or even knew they were supposed to be worried about their finances. If any of you admitting to partake in “what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas”, can you remember standing in line to check into your hotel for an hour on a Wednesday afternoon? Then find out you were at the wrong hotel, not to mention the cabana reservations were not kept. I won’t even mention the accusation of getting lost at the airport, I wasn’t lost the baggage and the other cops were.

Till Next Time

Ride Hard, Ride Safe But Ride

”G”