Antioch adds boats to bike lanes

At my home we've worked out a reasonable and equitable division of labor. I am "Eeyore." She's Ms. Positive. I am a crank and easily annoyed, she is generous and forgiving. But sometimes events conspire to push Tricia out of her peaceful zone and into my territory. The territory of the perturbed. These events are upon us now.

I think the combination of all the cyclist hate in online newspaper story comments, the claim auto drivers make that "The cyclist just swerved out in front of me for no reason, so I hit 'em" and the increasing volume of glass along Antioch streets is what did most of the physic damage. But that last straw? It's the flagrant ignoring of and lack of respect for bike lanes. Apparently it's perfectly all right to park any big ol' thing in a bike lane here without fear of legal reprisal. (See also)

She has become so agitated that she's taken to stopping her ride, yes, actually stopping and getting off the bike mid-ride, and making photos.

I have assured her that doing so, and having me blog her photos, will surely result in a correction to these unseemly, unfortunate and disturbing incidents.

So, if it's you breaking glass on the street, or parking in the bike lane, please heed my plea: Cut it out.
Thank you.

Bike Forums Slow Poke ride

My favorite biker chick.

LanceOldStrong organized a classic Bike Forums Slow Poke ride. It was just what I needed after a bit of interval work. It seems I fail to recover overnight like I did when I was twenty.

So we rode slow.

The route over the Benicia and Carquinez Bridges kept us new the water ,where it was a lot cooler than the 106 we saw on the car readout when we got back to Antioch.  This may be the last ride we get down the Carquinez Scenic Drive for a bit as it will be closed for a year or more to fix up the road.

Here's a slide show of just a few images from the ride.

FTP testing run amok

Click too see bigger, because you care.

On Thursday I tried using the The Time Crunched Cyclist by Chris Carmichael method of testing Functional Threshold Power. It's basically two eight-minute attempts at full tilt. You take the average heart rate and power from your best run and that's it. He claims that it close enough for rock and roll.

I found a flat section of road in Brentwood and, even though you're supposed to do it on a windless day and it was blowing like mad, I gave it a shot.I averaged 197 watts at 164 beats per minute, so in theory that's my FTP that I use to set training efforts.
Edit: Or maybe it's five percent  lower that the five percent lower a twenty minute test gives. But Carmichael says the difference is built into his workouts, so even if it's not my real FTP it's a working number for the Time Crunched Cyclist workouts. Clear now?

But of course there are those who differ. Some claim that you really need a 20 minute effort, and furthermore that doing it on a grade is not only just fine, but the real way to make it work.

With that in mind I packed my bike up and headed for Mt. Diablo. Unfortunately half way there I realized I forgot my Garmin. Oh well. I was going to blow the whole thing off, but my daughter who I met in Walnut Creek pointed out I had a Strava app on my phone to track the ride, and I should go do it anyway. So, with no heart rate or power capturing I went for a ride.

I was feeling pretty good and pushed just a bit. Maybe the cat 6 racer in me came out because even though several riders blew past me I was determined to not let a guy who started just after me catch me. 

I was surprised to see a bucket full of PRs on Strava when I uploaded my ride. Now I really I wish I'd have had my Garmin to see what my power and heart rate were.

Pigs, Bears, a lake and some Bacon

Under the surprisingly dark sky and spitting clouds Tricia and I clawed out 53 miles and 4000 feet of climbing with Dan on Memorial Day.

Our first climb of the day was Pig Farm. I wonder how much longer Pig Farm Hill will be called Pig Farm Hill. The pigs disappeared in the 70s, and yet the name lives on. For years there was a "Pig Auction" sign, but now that's gone too.

We went on to the "Three Bears" even though I can never really tell why they're called that, or which is which. But the hard climb of the day was Altarinda Drive with its occasional twenty percent sections. Coming out of Orinda, it's just a grunt.

We slid around Lafayette and went back though Dan's secret Walnut Creek route that includes a climb on Bacon Court, which makes sense considering our first climb was Pig Farm.

I need more rides like this, and it was great to be piloted by, and ride with, Dan again. My new power meter confirms I have no actual power. I still need to do an  FTP test, but that won't be happening today.

Power! or, I've lost my mind

Yep. That's exactly what it looks like. And it's mine. You may be asking yourself "Why does a non-racer who is getting old need a power meter?" Or simply "WTF, Curtis?" And honestly, you're right to ask.

As with most tales ending in really weird decisions, this one has a long history of nonsensical thinking.

It started last year when I decided to try using The Time Crunched Cyclist by Chris Carmichael to train for double centuries. I used a heart rate, but clearly all the cool kids were using expensive power meters.

When my friends started buying new expensive bikes that was just the prompt I needed to start the rationalization machine. (I'm looking at you, Dan, Steve and Ron Ng.) Wheels cost so much less than a new bike I could save money!  And, I have a really big birthday coming up this year. If I don't buy myself something wonderful, how could I expect anyone else to? So I started researching on BikeForums.net, and started this thread. Much to my amazement several great deals appeared. Deals that made me not want to wait until October but to act now. So I did.

I bought used G3 powertap wheels from a truly kind man on the opposite coast. Objects are fun to own, but I think what drives us is the stories that go with them. Would the Mona Lisa be so captivating without the tales that come with it? My seller provided details so carefully documented that they must actually make the wheels lighter and faster. Here's a short excerpt of his information.

The front wheel is a 20-hole Ligero front hub. It weights 65 grams and features Phil Wood Abec 10 bearings. It is laced to a Kinlin 27mm rim with CX-Ray Spokes. The front wheel weighs about 610 grams. 

The PowerTap started as an SL 2.4 wireless hub. It was the top-of-the-line PowerTap at the time and weighed about 420 grams. It was upgraded it to ANT+ after the PowerTap computer was broken. (They used to come with a proprietary yellow computer.) Then last year, it started giving bad numbers, so was sent to CycleOps, and they replaced the inside with the new G3 system. Basically, it was a completely new PowerTap other than the outside shell. 

The rear also is laced to a Kinlin 27mm rim 

Kinlin rims are affordable, lightweight and reliable rims. They are very popular among custom wheelbuilders. You can get them from White Mountain Wheels, Psimet, Zen Cyclery, Wheelbuilder.com or Bikehubstore.com. 

The wheelset was built by Troy Watson, whose company was Ligero wheels. Troy had been a wheelbuilder at American Classic and Litespeed as well as the wheelbuilder for the Garmin Slipstream team many years ago. He designed his own hubs and had them manufactured by Wheels Manufacturing. The design he came up with is basically what Alchemy is using now.

Pretty impressive, no?

I put some white-wall Michelin Pro Race tires on that I'd been saving. I like the white look,but who knows how long it will actually stay white.

Now my job is to figure out how best to use it. In addition to  The Time Crunched Cyclist I also purchased Training and Racing with a Power Meter by Hunter and The Power Meter Handbook: A User's Guide for Cyclists and Triathletes by Friel. Both are aimed more at real athletes and tri-geeks, and are filled with incomprehensible charts and graphs. I'm enjoying being overwhelmed by data and hope I can make use of it all, or even part of it. The books recommend just riding with the power meter for a week and then getting serious. I have summer vacation starting next week, so I'll try setting up a Functional Threshold Power (FTP) test then.

If you have suggestions for Mac based software, please let me know.

Tour of California on Diablo!

I think that's the eventual stage winner, Leopold Koenig, in front as the first riders passed us.

Tricia and I joined 197,675,635 cycling fans on Mt. Diablo to watch stage 7 of the world's most beautiful bike race.

I cleverly decided to ride my commuter bike, complete with fenders and racks, so I could carry my cameras, lunch, extra water and clothes and Tricia's book. Yes, book.

It turns out there is a reason cyclists like light-weight bikes. Climbing with a ton of junk on a heavy bike is a slow process. It's also hard on ones ego as riders pass by, and pass by and pass by.

Eventually we landed just past the junction where we had a great view. We could even see the riders miles away as they came up the South Gate. We also had a picnic table up a small hill where we ate lunch and goofed off while we waited for the cycling gods.

As always, they flashed by in an instant. After the leaders, the rest came, and then the slowest — slowest being faster than I could ever be even in my dreams.

I took two cameras. It turns out my newest Nikon doesn't play well with my slightly-older lens. Tricia used my Panasonic and out shot me. Not that I feel too much shame, she's a clever lass indeed. Still, I'm supposed to be the photographer dude. She even made a nice photo of me posing as photographer dude.


We'd been a bit worried about descending after the race with so many on the road, but there were no adventures.

We drove over to Sports Basement where they were serving beer at their post tour party. For free. I list this as the greatest retail innovation ever.

Expect delays

What could this possibly be? Why, it's a warning sign on Camino Diablo Road in Brentwood, where the best cyclists in the world who aren't named Fabian Cancellara will be racing the Amgen Tour of California. I'm getting positively giddy as the race date approaches.

The racers will ride a grueling course that ends at the Diablo summit. Tricia, on the other hand, is so monumentally awesome that she can straddle the entire mountain like the Colossus of Rhodes. In cleats no less.

The Spirit Rider of the Seasons

I promised to write about public art in Antioch that I ride my bike past, but like so many projects, I've gotten a bit behind. But I'll try to get back on it.

This piece — "The Spirit Rider of the Seasons" — is right down the street from me. I rode my bike down the hill to photograph it with  my funky Panasonic GF2 and a pinhole lens for Worldwide Pinhole Day on Sunday, April 28.

I remember shooting this sculpture for the local, now defunct newspaper when it was being installed back in 1993. I met the artist, David Govedare as the large-scale steel sculpture was being attached to its concrete and granite base.

Like almost all public art in Antioch, this piece is slightly cheesy, but it's still my favorite in the city. And I enjoyed playing with my pinhole camera. I don't think I'll enjoy picking all the stickers out of my socks.

30 turned to 52 and two bridges

We were going to go out for 30 miles and check out Dan's new bike (photos and story later) but somehow it turned into 52. It was a delightful day, with sun and views and that's about it.

Poppies: Open; Base layer, arm warmers left behind

We took the toe warmers off the shoes, left the base layer and arm warmers in the car and launched for a short ride on the beautiful Calavaras Rd near Sunol. We were sneaking in a ride on the way to a social call in Cupertino. What a great idea it turned out to be.

Not only were the poppies out, but the weather was perfect. And as a bonus we were able to see the eagles nest — though we spotted no eagles — off in the distance.

This cycling thing seems to be catching on. I was amazed how many other cyclists we saw, including a club of Lithuanians in cool jerseys.

It was not an epic ride, but it sure was a delightful one.

Party Pardee with Mumbo Gumbo

It's all about the band. We decided to ride the Party Pardee metric out of Ione (sponsored by the Sacramento Bike Hikers) because Mumbo Gumbo was playing at the finish. They are just so much fun, and they even played one of my favorite tunes. We bought their new CD with the wonderful cheery song "Love Makes Me Stupid."

Our day started with the overcast sky spitting just a bit, but it never really rained, though we did have cool temperatures all day. The ride itself was California foothills-green-spring beautiful. The route doesn't have a ton of climbing, and it's only 64 miles. Still, it's a good workout if you push it, which we did despite my plan to just roll and enjoy. There were just too many short climbs I enjoy knocking myself out on to take it easy. As is so often the case on rides like this the strong riders pass me, and then I pass them on the climbs. I end up being passed by the same person six or seven times.



One highlight is riding over the dam at the Pardee Reservoir. It was built in 1929 and has a '29 feel to it.
There's a short climb after the dam where, at the top, a volunteer hands you a tasty lifesaver. It's that kind of ride.



We also managed to get a little wine tasting in after the ride, and Tricia picked the spot she wants our mansion built.



After that much fun, and considering our day started at 4:30, we cleverly chose to stay at the Plymouth House Inn B&B for the evening. Breakfast was grand!

Commutes, clouds and crazies

It's been a week. Yes it has.

On the up side, I managed to bike commute while on the job. I was asked to evaluate a teacher at another campus, which I was happy to do. I rode my bike there and ended up getting 42 miles.

I also rode to my optometrist appointment. It wasn't that far, but it included a heck of a climb  over Kirker Pass Road going there and back.

Sunday was a beautiful but cool day. Tricia and I rode a short local loop and enjoyed the clouds and green hills. I even managed to crack the top three of a short local Strava segment (Thanks unusual tail wind!)

Then on our way back we encountered another of Antioch's low-skill, high-aggression drivers.

As I rolled downhill I saw a car coming. I planned to turn left, so I slowed, and tried to figure out what she had planned. Even though she was moving pretty quickly, she had her emergency flashers blinking.

As she got to me, she made a looping left behind me, screaming "Just go!! Get out of the way!!" in a ear-shattering hideous cackle of a voice. (And yes, double exclamation marks are indeed warranted here.) I think she wanted me to turn left in front of her so she could cut the corner of her left turn, but I don't really know.

Antioch, oh Antioch...

Garage to Diablo Summit

One of the things that's great about bicycling is that you can do it right from your door. Tricia and I love riding new places, but always feel a touch bad when we use a car to get there.

I've always enjoyed a ride up Mt. Diablo. Every time seems somehow epic. Usually we drive over to Arbolado Park and ride from there. Today I thought I'd try to ride Mt. Diablo from home. There are... issues.

The big one is that there is no good way to get there. One involves riding on the freeway a bit. Not impossible, but not fun. It would be possible to ride Marsh Creek Road. But the commuter raceway that otherwise delightful road has become would make it a suicide mission. The remaining route is over Kirker Pass Road, another commuter zone. Today I thought I could wait out the crazy commute and ride over, then come back before the rush. It worked. I am still alive.

Antioch, oh Antioch....

No parking? Doesn't mean much in Antioch. It's only a bike lane after all.

I might not be so bitter about this if moments before I hadn't watched Tricia almost taken out as she crossed an intersection and the cross traffic right turners didn't look, slow or stop before blasting through their turn. But I did, so I am. Bitter, that is.

On the other hand, at least Empire Mine Road is closed to traffic (though sometimes a truck slips in and startles me) and has pleasant views of Mt. Diablo.

Bicycling, B&B, art and dinner

Caution: Contains non-bicycle content



Tricia works too hard, so I thought as long as she was going to get worn out Sunday bike riding, she should have a fun Saturday. So we went to the Crocker Museum in Sacramento on Saturday. They have a whole new (to us, anyway) building that is gorgeous, connected to the classic old building, which is also gorgeous.

I dropped my iPhone just as we arrived. That's my smartPhone with all the weekend info on it — all of it. It stopped working. Fortunately I found a cell phone repair spot where the owner opened it and reconnected a loose connector or I'd still be lost in Sacramento.

I'd also not have had the name or address of the B&B we stayed at, Amber House. What a delightful place. Perhaps the best feature: coffee waiting outside the door in the morning. Mmmmmm. The breakfast was nice too.



The evening before we walked over to Tapas the World, and had an extra tasty dinner outside as the sun went down.



Having indulged our own bad selves, we met Dan and Steve and went for a 65 mile ride with lots of hills, a safari-themed sub-division in the hills and a lunch stop in Auburn at Little Belgium, complete with photos of Eddie Merckx on the wall.





There was enough climbing that I'm still hurting, so it must have been a good weekend.
After lunch my Garmin choked, so the Strava stats are from Dan's computer. I'm not nearly as quick on the descents, rollers or flats. But the route is the same!

Mostly MUPS, with wind and a dam

Our ride out to Los Vaqueros was uneventful, except for the amazing downwind run toward Oakley at the beginning. We rode out the Marsh Creek Trail most of the way, enjoying the arrival of spring, announced by the flowers, green hills and fluffy clouds. While the ride was fun, but not particularly noteworthy, I did manage a few iPhone photos I like. The sheep are near the  Los Vaqueros entrance, between the road and the normal fence, contained by a temporary electric fence. My guess is that they are there for weed control. It's funny how much they sound like people doing really bad sheep imitations.

Vintage bicycle wrench

When Harley, one of my photo students, discovered I was a cycling enthusiast he brought me a wrench. I'm not comfortable with gifts, but he assured me he had several just like it and it was no big deal, so with great pleasure I accepted.

I'd never seen a tool like this before, but apparently the Billings and Spencer company started in 1869 and by 1879 had a patent on this model. From what I can gather from looking at photos on the net, this wrench was made between 1911 to 1926. I'm sure there is an entire world of wrench collectors who could tell at just a glance.

I wonder who has touched it, who's owned it, what bicycles it had a part in adjusting. It's fun to imagine the shop it was part of, and the owners of the bikes it must have touched.

Last Minute Metric

Still worn out from 92 miles the day before and annoyed I'd lost my vest, I was going out to hunt for it when I got a text asking if I wanted to ride Morgan Territory with Dan and Steve. What the heck, I abandoned my vest hunt, called Tricia and soon we were on our way to Concord to start our 69 mile jaunt.

I didn't bring my camera, but Steve did. All the photos are his. (Thanks Steve!) Dan called our ride a "long slow distance" ride, but I was killing myself. I guess I was going pretty slow, though. Still, there was a goodly amount of "up" to explain the slow.

Part way up the Morgan Territory climb Dan suggested we stop at the small Jeremiah Morgan monument as usually we're in some all-important hurry and never have. I'm glad we did. It's always interesting to review a bit of California history. The day was slightly overcast, but not cold. Best of all, the consistant temperature meant no hauling (and losing) extra clothes. Tricia, riding with "da boys" again, was thrilled to get in such a good ride in mid February.  Just another day in paradise she said, before returning to Antioch.



The stop at Dickys BBQ in Livermore gave me strength and reason to continue, and the easy but annoying climb out of Collier Canyon was beautiful.



It was an easy ride back except for a few sprint hijinks on Danville Highway. We made it home with light to spare.

Solo near-century, with adventure

What an opportunity for a long solo ride. I had Friday off, and not many other folks did, so I carefully planned my route and figured out launch when there was enough light in the sky I wouldn't need lights.

Forty degres makes for a cool start, and I'm a wimp. Even though it would mean hauling clothes once it warmed, I left looking like I was dressed for skiing. I'd have to start peeling layers in an hour or two, but being warm for the first leg was worth it.

Some days you just start off feeling good. This was not one of those days. But maybe I'll feel better as I warm up. I just took it slowly at first and enjoyed the morning.



Eventually I'd climbed out of Antioch via Willow Pass Road, taken a brief ride on Hwy 4, and exited at Port Chicago only to hear my name being called out. Looking around I realized riding buddy Steve Monroe was yelling at me from his truck. I don't know how we ended up in the same weird place at the same time.

I took the Iron Horse trail to Pleasant Hill then headed west. I was amazed to see the new cross walks they've installed at their trail crossings. They're painted red, have walk buttons and flashing lights embedded in the road. Amazing. I sure wish Antioch would do that.



My plan was to head up Pig Farm Hill, do the Bears, then loop through Danville, ride Diablo's Southgate then head home. But things when wrong.



Climbing toward Pig Farm I realized I had a flat. When I started working on it I saw my tire looked awful. I could see cord. I didn't want to be descending at 40ish with that tire, so I put in a new tube, turned around and headed for Pleasant Hill Cyclery. They weren't open when I got there, so had to wait outside for the privilege of buying a new Continental GPS 4000S at painful retail prices. I have one at home, so having to buy one on the fly really hurt.



I realized I was now way behind schedule, so I gave up on the Bears and Diablo and headed out Reliez and eventually to Danville for a Peet's coffee break. I shared a table with cyclist Trish and her friend who were enjoying the now-warm day and their new team kits.



I only got mildly lost getting through Concord on my way to Kirker Pass. I'd wanted to get there before it got afternoon commute car crazy, and I did. At the summit I smiled at one of my favorite signs; the indicator the climb is over and something fun is coming up.

When I got home I discovered I was without my Triple Crown vest. Perhaps it blew out of my pocket on the ride. If I don't find it, that will mean, between it and the tire, this ride cost me more than a dollar a mile.

All in all, it was still a good day, even if I did come up a few miles short of 100, and came out financially damaged.