Dog day afternoon

I think I may hate dogs. Not your dog, with an actual name and a responsible owner, just dogs in general. Especially the ones that are pitbulls and loose on the streets. Especially the ones that chase Tricia and I when we are out on an otherwise delightful ride. I think anyone who has a dog that bites someone should go to jail, just as if they'd stabbed them with a knife. Maybe a permit and insurance should be required of all dog owners.

UPDATE: What's with this page? It has 1000's of more visits than any of my other pages.

Davis Double

I've read PrincessZippy's ride and training stories at tandemhearts.com. I've read the info at the Davis Double site and Bob's tips for surviving the ride. I'm thinking that I need a goal for 2008. I'd like to do something big before I get so old I can't (and that's getting closer all the time.)
The question is: Can I do it? Can I possibly get ready to ride 200 miles in one day? How much commitment would it take to train? Heck, how much pain would it take? Could I even finish before they drag the stragglers off the course? What is the true meaning of fear? I hear my Mom whispering "If Jimmy jumped off a roof would you jump off ?" How long can I think about it before i actually have to decide? Why am I asking all these questions and who do I think will answer them? I guess sometime before January 1 I'll need to make the call. Devote half of 08 to riding, or get a clue and figure out something a lot easier to aim for.
Take my poll on the right and help me out!

Garmin 305 and Ascent GPS extravaganza

I went nuts and bought a Garmin 305 GPS unit with speed, heart rate, cadence and auto flat tire fixing. Then I got Ascent, a cool Mac program that makes it all useful. But what's even better is that I can send the GPS data from Ascent to Google Earth and watch my ride like I'm flying over it.
I don't know if I really need this stuff. I have notions of training and becoming stronger, faster thinner and younger. Maybe that'll happen. Maybe I'll just have fun. At least it came with rebate coupon.

Bike forum Diablo Ride

bike forum diablo 1.jpg
Originally uploaded by ccorlew

I met a few riders I know from the cyberspace land of Bikeforums.net for a ride. We went From Danville up the South gate to the junction, down the North gate, out to Clayton and around the "back side" of Diablo via Morgan Territory Road and back to Danville. We did 60-some miles and a ton of climbing. It took most of the day as everyone was very kind and we didn't drop anyone. I had a blast.
Here a slide show of photos via flickr.
Below is a live Google map of the ride


View Larger Map

Fog land

It looked rather gloomy this morning, but Tricia and I told Joyce we'd ride, so when she called we went out at 8:30, into the fog, headed toward Antioch's Empire Mine Road and then out toward Los Vaqueros Reservoir.
It wasn't that cold, and I dressed right, so it was actually nice. Then we started dropping in and out of the soup. It was delightful. The light was beautiful as we rode along the edges of gloomy and bright.
I was happy as I felt pretty good after being "off" for the last week.
We talked about doing Seattle to Portland again next Summer. Hummmmm.

New frame time?

I haven't been feeling well. I'm still bike commuting, but I'm not doing riding much more. Instead I'm looking at bike porn and imagining a new frame. Is that so wrong? I can make up ton of reasons why I need one. But perhaps the best one is that I can get this extra cool Kestrel RT700 for under $800 through a group buy on Bikeforums.net. Check out these photos, or this Kestrel page. This frame is sold online all over for more than twice that, and lists for over 2K. I'm not nuts about the bronze, but what a great frame. If it happens it looks like I'd pay in December and get a frame in Feb. I'm thinking about it. Spending money on a new frame is even better than training or losing weight, right? And it supports he economy. I'd be acting as a good citizen by getting it.
Of course, if I do get this, I'd better plan on a new something for Tricia too. She likes her Trek 1500, but I'm sure she'd like something new even more.

UPDATE: I broke down and put a deposit down. Delivery is sometime in February.

Day of yech

I don't mind commuting in the cold, but riding for fun in the cold just isn't much fun. It's been a gorgeous week, but Saturday was overcast, dark, and cold. I wore a base layer under my jersey and regular bibs. Mistake. I was cold and slow and felt crappy the whole shortened ride.
I told Tricia we should just have taken the commuter bikes and gone grocery shopping instead of trying to enjoy the day.
Maybe I'm just getting older. Maybe I just had a bad day. Maybe Monday will be nicer.
UPDATE: Darn it. Monday was a tad overcast, but still, the sun did come out late in the day. But I couldn't gt myself outside. I feel so blah. Is it a virus, old age, or just that I'm lazy? Usually playing on the bike is fun. Today I don't want to do anything. I hope this feeling crappy ends soon....

Seasons change

Even though the time changed and it's lighter in the morning, the days are getting shorter and colder. The fog that sits on the canal during my morning commute has reappeared, but the bugs seem to be gone for now.

Last year vs this year

It was a year ago the Tricia and I went on our first organized ride -- a 30 miler through Lodi. It was a big deal. This Sunday we knocked out 35 around Antioch as a no-big-deal afternoon jaunt. Kinda cool for us! Such a small thing I didn't even photograph it.
In other news, it's getting darker sooner. Tricia has her light charged up and is mentally preparing for her commute through some... interesting... after dark areas.

Tour of Vacaville

Tricia and I went to Vacaville to ride with a bunch of folks I talk to on the NorCal forums of Bikeforums.net. The weather was grand, the 40 mile route up toward Winters had few cars or stop lights but did have smooth roads. But best of all was meeting a bunch of really nice people. I haven't ridden in a pace line in ages, and it was a ball to be flying at over 20 a lot of the time. My average was 17. Not bad considering for a lot of the ride I was just... riding.
We stopped at Precision Bikes on the way home and didn't buy the Orbea Orca and Diva on sale, even though we were assured there would be a price break if we bought both. Maybe in the next lifetime, or after we win the lotto.

New cables

After I broke a spoke on the rear wheel on my commuter bike I figured when I had that fixed I'd get new shifter cables as well. I had some Jagwire cables and was just too worried to install them myself. I had the The Wheel Peddler do it. After watching I'm glad I did. It seems they're a bit different than the 1975 version I'd last installed. They're Teflon and have some sort of magic sleeve and weird ferrels.
The upside is my bike shifts better than it has in years.

Riverbank Cheese and Wine Ride

Tricia and I did the Riverbank Cheese and Wine ride on Oct 14. Sixty miles of Northern California fun. Cows, goats, horses, fields, small towns and Boy Scouts feeding us white bread, Velveta and sliced processed ham. The homemade cookies were great, though.
The ride folks, despite the name of the ride, had no wine, so we dropped by the downtown Cheese and Wine Festival where I met the Dairy Princesses. They reminded me about the importance of great California milk and milk products. We could have paid $35 to go to the wine tasting tent, but we passed. We didn't buy any meat-on-a-stick or lawn sculpture either. I did, however, have a fine Sierra Nevada beer that really hit the spot.

50 plus jersey

On the day that everyone else road the Diablo Challenge I didn't. I had a great ride through East Contra Costa with Tricia. You can, however, see Diablo in the background. She shot this photo so I could show off the 50 plus jersey I designed for the over 50 forum on bikeforums.net.

Curtis the commuter

I arrive at Los Medanos College long before the students and sometime before the sun is up. My commute is only 8 miles, but I wear my full-tilt road kit just becaue it's comfortable. This semester I'm added the baskets, which allow me to carry lots and lots of junk. In this photo I'm hauling a large photo in the tube, a heavy camera bag, my laptop, clothes and lunch.

Waves to Wine

We made it! Waves to Wine was harder than Seattle to Portland, but the scenery was worth every bit of uphill and suffering. It was a blast. I made digital recordings along the way and hope to have a small segment on the Fredcast podcast I'll post a link when (and if) it happens. There are more photos than will fit on this blog, but here's one more. Please be kind enough to note that I'm modeling the new 50 plus bikeforums.net jersey I designed!
Need more? Try this link to the mp3 audio report of the ride

Commuter babe

Tricia moved from Dallas Ranch to Antioch Middle School, but she's still bike commuting. New this school year is her rack and trunk. It's a Topeak. The sides fold down to make room for more eighth-grade English papers than you'd ever want to haul home, much less read. Tricia rocks!

Me vs Motobecane, ISIS, FSA and stupidity

I was getting a clicking sound from the Motobecane Le Champion SL. It was annoying, and getting worse. It sounded like it was coming from my FSA SL-K crankset/bottom bracket.

I did some research on Bikeforums.net and discover an "FSA click" thread. I also discovered ISIS style bottom brackets have a bad rep.

I took the bike to my local bike store and they said "Yep, it's the bottom bracket".

Rather than replace suspect bottom bracket with another ISIS, I ordered a Shimano R700 compact crank and Ultegra bottom bracket. I had the local store install both.

SIDENOTE. Bikesdirect speced "TruVativ or FSA" bottom bracket. This is what was found inside. It's marked "Chin Haur," whatever that means. The bike store says it wasn't installed very well.

ARRRGGGGG. It's was still clicking! But bikeforums.net "Substructure" said in a thread he tightened his QR and solved his problem

I really tightened my rear QR and zoom. All better. I am an idiot. But then my LBS didn't exactly save the day either. On the other hand, LBS had no problem with me finding a great deal on the cranks and BB elsewhere and having them install it all.

Did I waste money? Maybe, but the Ultegra shifts a bit better, and I'm pleased to not have that other BB any longer.

Such is life.

Tour of East Contra Costa

Tricia and I did a 50 mile loop through East Contra Costa, notable mainly because it wasn't windy and no one tried to run over us. That and it gives me the chance to try and jam a Google map into this blog, which may or may not work. A good time was had by all.
If you know how to keep one line going in Google Maps when you need to scroll over, let me know!
View Larger Map

Three feet

The Cascade Bicycle Club in Seattle (the swell folks who put on theSeattle-to-Portland ride) are sponsoring a campaign to encourage drivers to leave cyclists three fett of space. I really like their ads.

Waves to Wine

I signed us up. Not only me, but Tricia too. If we can ride 200 miles in two days, we can ride 150 in two days for a good cause, and that cause is the fight to cure MS. On September 29 we take off from Pac Bell Park in SF, ride across the Golden Gate Bridge and end up somewhere in Rohnert Park. Day two takes us to Healdsburg. That's pretty much all I know, except we need to raise a bunch of cash for them.
I'm hoping if you stumbled across this blog you 'll be willing to help out. Please oh please visit my donation page on the MS site and donate.