Waves to Wine 2008

It's that time again. Here's hoping all my loyal blog readers (Dad? Tricia?) will see this and help me out on this year's fund raising efforts.

Click this logo to donate to my 2008 Waves to Wine Bike ride.

Seattle to Portland 2008

This year's Seattle to Portland ride was a delight. The weather was warm, and got up to almost 90 at the end of the second day. That's not too warm for those who live in Antioch, CA. We had tail winds both days and were able to average 15.5 on day one and 15.75 on day 2. Tricia was a rock, just rolling along at 18 and 19 for long spurts. At one point she was leading a line of guys in Air Force jerseys. We were rolling!

We had no big adventures, but a couple of small amusements.
The night before the ride Tricia asked "Is your rear wheel supposed to look like that?" and indeed, it wasn't. When I wasn't looking I'd let the rear tire develop some darn near rubberless spots. I'd just oiled our chains and hadn't even noticed. I really would have been pushing things to keep riding on it. Fortunately REI is open until 9PM, and I made it just under the wire.

I did make one other screwball move. As I put cycling clothes out on Saturday night I realized I had no shoes. I'd left them on a table back at the midway point party when we got a ride to our host family's home. They were kind enough to haul me back and my shoes where right where I'd left them. I was contemplating how it would be riding in tennis shoes...but I didn't have to.

But it all worked out really well. Heck, we were hardly tired after the ride.

Now I know what went wrong

I had a tough day cycling the other day and couldn't figure out why for a while. Now I know.

I have Sole inserts, which I like a lot. A few months after I bought them I received an offer for two pair of their socks -- for free. I took them up on it, and the socks seemed very nice. I wore them and enjoyed them.

After my rough day, when I took them off, I noticed they were marked, on the inside, "left" and "right."

Now, I can't see or tell the difference, but apparently my body subliminally knew I was riding with them on the wrong feet! Clearly that was the problem. That's a mistake I'll be sure to never make again.

Case closed.

BART Bicycle Priority Area

BART in the SF Bay Area now has areas in the its cars set aside for cyclists. Except the area isn't big enough, they don't hold your bike up and if the lard ass in the seat next to them stays put instead of moving to an empty seat you can barely use them. Our bikes stuck out into the door space because we couldn't flip the seat up. It was filled with people who just couldn't see us, or the empty seats all around them.

I guess it's a good step, but really....

In Portland their transit train cars have hooks for bikes that worked really well. Not that I'm bitter or anything.

Gitane FrankenBike

Perhaps inspired by my friend Taxi777s new Fixed gear/SS he posted about on bikeForums.net, I dragged my oldie out of the garage and cleaned it up.

It was my almost-first real roadie. I got it used in 1976 and, like a kid, thought I could turn it into the bike I wish I had by changing parts one at a time as the years passed.

Here's the spec:

• Mid-70s Gitane Tour de FranceHad it painted and had braze on shifter and water bottle bosses added
• Fork had problems, so I added a new one, but Columbus instead of Reynolds steel, and a Shimano 600 headset
• New brakes (Old Weinmans were awful)
• New seatpost and seat
• New bars and stem ( I really don't know why)
• Campy high flange hub new wheels (36 spokes, dude!)
• Replaced bar end shifters with real carbon downtube shifters
• I just ordered new brake levers. What's on there now is an old Diacomp tandem lever that pulls both brakes (Don't ask why). I never liked it.

See a Flickr slideshow of all the exciting parts.

It really is a FrankenBike. It has no historic value. But It's kinda cool and I had a ton of miles on it in the olden days. Plus, I think I can't sell it for much, so I should have some fun, right?

But what to do? Whatever it is, it has to be cheap.
Commuter? But the downtube friction shifters are so....

• Tour bike? But then I'd want a lot of expensive changes....
• Single speed? I think all I need is a single speed BMX style freewheel.
• Fixie? But then don't I need a new rear wheel, or at least hub?

What should I do that's cheap and fun?

Giro di Peninsula 2008

Tricia and I decided to ride the "Giro di Peninsula" the night before the event. Despite the smoke in the air from the California fires we thought we needed to get in some big rides before doing the Seattle to Portland ride.
So we got up a four-flippin'-AM and drove to San Mateo to ride 100 miles with our Bike Forum friends.
We had a total climb of 7194 feet, including the famed Tunitas Creek which has some impressively steep sections.
The ride had no major weirdness to report. We felt lost most of the time. It was pretty, but mostly we followed the yellow arrows.
Good stuff: Well marked route, not too crowded, nicely designed T-shirt, friendly folks at rest stops, wonderfully of massive sequoias on a lot of the ride.
Not as good stuff: Some rest stops were short on portable toilets. The food and shirt areas at the end closed too early. They ran out of the good pasta before we finished.

Our buddy Pete did make a photo of us in our matching hats and jerseys.
Link to elevation profile
Link to map

Oregon Coast

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.
See the slide show in size you can actually see.

We just got back from six days on the Oregon Coast with Bicycle Adventures. I'd hoped to blog about it every day, but our days were too full.
Highlights:

• Great weather. Stunning weather.
• Fun ride.
• Best IPA I ever drank.
• Too much food.
• Hiking I actually enjoyed
• Great Pinot
• Portland Rocks
• Pedalpalooza events in Portland

Maybe more words and photos later. Maybe not.

Just in Another slide show: Portland and the Pedalpalooza Sexy Bike Ride along with a couple of other Oregon photos involving bicycles.

Climbing with the Velo Girls

On Sunday Tricia and I took the Climbing and Descending class the Velogirls offer. It's one of their few co-ed classes, so we were able take it together.

We started out in a parking lot right near where the Sequoia Century started. We works with getting comfortable on our bikes and finding balance. It was a blast to be a kid again and hang off one side then the other, drop off the back, lean over the front and generally be 10 years old again.

We also worked on cornering. For me the thing that made a big difference was the admonition to lift my chin and point it where I want to go. I'm no neophyte -- I always look where I want to go, but the "lift the chin and point it in that direction" was something I hadn't done. I really made me feel more solid in the corners.

I guess that's the advantage of a good class -- having someone who's seen of a lot be able to give you specific advice.

We then went out and climbed. I'm not sure where we were, but it was very pretty.
The advice I got was to stop climbing on the hoods and use the bar tops. Considering I've been climbing on the hoods for a zillion years it's pretty hard to stop. But I'm working on it.

The hill we descended on was a delight. I don't know how they found it. A reasonable 2 mile climb, but not a lot of sharp corners and not so steep as to be frightening, or even use brakes on. Just a nice 35 mph ride where I could work on rhythm and balance.

One interesting thing that happened: On our ride out I briefly talked with a rider not in our group . Apparently she thought I was turning right and so she, from my left, jumped and cut right, hitting my front wheel. Amazingly we just rubbed and I was able to bounce off and not smack it in. What the heck, I'll give some credit for my survival to the bump exercise we did a few weeks ago in the other Velo Girls class I took.

Anyway, once again I had a great time, and learned a bit as well.

Now all I need to do is get to work on the engine and I'll be really ready to rock.

Sequoia Century and Sheila Moon

I wasn't going to go, but when Joyce called and said she'd messed up her schedule a couldn't go, and did I want her registration I said "yes."
Tricia had too much going on, so I went on my own. I had to get up at 3:30 am to drive to Palo Alto for my 6 am start. That is so flamin' early, but I did it anyway. I reminded me of the ski trips I did when I was a lot younger.

The ride started uphill. A long uphill along Page Mill road into the fog , followed by a decent through some amazing trees. I'd have sworn I was hundreds of miles from any city.

That was followed by a delightful run along the coast on the way to Santa Cruz. A tail wind pushed me along the ocean and I was ever so happy. That was all to end on Mt. Charlie. I couldn't believe how steep and long it was. It is the land of rich people in grand houses stuck to the side of mountains. I saw it all as my lungs blew up.

The decent after lunch was so fast.It's amazing how long it takes to go up, and how fast it is coming down. i missed turn and ended up ten miles out of the way. I had to call Tricia and ask where I was. She got me headed back along a very busy road with way too many traffic lights. I ended the 100 mile ride at 122 miles.

I liked, but didn't love the ride jersey. But Shelia Moon, way hip designer, had a booth at the finish. After 120 mile someone should get a jersey, so I bought Tricia a very cool, very "Tricia" jersey with what the cool chicks call a "shrug." A two piece jersey. Who'd a thunk it?It's Tuesday night and I'm still worn out.

Hot wheels and warm arms

Tricia has cool (or maybe warm) arm warmers and a new set of Williams System 19 wheels. They're hand-built, 1430 gram, ceramic bearing, bladed spoke, jewels-- not flashy aero deep dish logo crazed wheels, but light and way cool. She seems rather pleased with them. I'm not sure if it was the arm warmers, a good nights sleep, or the new wheels, but she toasted me today. She also hit a new personal speed record on our standard loop downhill. What have I gotten myself in to?

Be safe on your bike

Film strip. Watch. Learn. Enough said? Quiz on Tuesday. Be ready.

VeloGirls Bike Skills 101

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.
The Velogirls class I took Sunday 5.25.08 in Redwood city was really fun stuff. It offered very clear instruction with theory followed by practice and critique. I'm sure that most people who take this class, even if they have experience and skills already, will come away with at least one gem that will help them be even better.

I know I can corner better now. Not every time, but I know how it's supposed to feel now. I have things to work toward. It seems funny to say that. I rode over 7000 miles last year, and have road experience back to the mid 70s.

We also practiced a bit of bumping, something I'm still not comfortable with, and ran a few cones to learn how to steer less with the bars and more with the body.

I'm encouraging Tricia to take this class, and hope they run the climbing and descending class when we can take it.

The truth about the Davis Double

It's time for the truth about the Davis Double:
It wasn't that bad.
There was no rain, and most importantly the wind wasn't a major factor.

The first 98 miles are so aren't bad at all. I'm not a climber, but even for me Cardiac Hill wasn't hard. It's just a hill.
Cobb Mountain was a killer. I hurt on that, and the heat and sun didn't help. The fact that there was more climbing after the rest stop was demoralizing.

Though it seemed to last forever, it really didn't. And the downhill that followed was long enough that I felt recovered by the end.
The ride up to Resurrection Hill was a grunt, and the no-shoulder part was worrisome, but after that things got a lot better. There was a steep downhill on a good road that was fun.

Then, coming along the creek, even though there was a hot headwind, it was a long downhill. I didn't speed, but I didn't feel like I needed to work that hard either.
The ride after the Casino was no fun, what with the minimal shoulder and so many cars, but after that we had a very slight downhill and best of all, near the end, a huge tailwind to push us home.

So many things might have been worse. Too cold, rain, a nasty headwind, or a nasty headwind and uphill.
But it was merely way too hot. The organizers provided ice socks (greatest invention since the bicycle itself) and lots of water (and a large dose of moral support) that got us through.

One more climb and I wouldn't have made it, but as it was, ending with 60 miles of at least slightly downhill made this ride survivable, even for me.

Or maybe I've just forgotten the hard parts. Tricia says that's why women have more than one baby; that humans are built to forget pain.

Bonus: Flickr slideshow with too many photos of Pete

Drive your bike to work day

Yep, that's "Drive your bike to work day." There is, as you expected, a web site. Go there now.

Davis Double: Done!

Davis Double. Yikes. I'd been hearing about this 200 mile ride since I was cycling in the 70s. I never thought I'd try to do it. It just seemed nuts. But peer pressure, the "bucket list" and a big ego can overcome almost any fear.
Executive summary
miles: 200.6
Climbing: 8080 ft (others report even more)
Average moving speed: 14.9
Hours on bike: 13:25
Total time out: 15 hours and change
Temperature: Over 100 (one report had 106)

What worked

• Hammer products. I pretty much lived on a Perpetium and HEED mix. I drank it constantly, along with endless bottles of water
• Ice socks. The Davis Club has tube socks filled with ice at the rest stops. I ended up riding with one a lot of the way. Even though they melted quickly in the 100 degree weather, they were great while they lasted.
• The bike. My Kestrel RT700 ran smoothly. I had no flats, and I was comfortable at the end of 200 miles. Gotta love the carbon fiber. Gotta love a compact crank. I spent too much time in 34-27, but was glad I had it.
• Sun screen. I'd be a toasted lobster without the gallons I sloshed on.
  

What didn't work

• I borrowed Tricia's Trek blinkie light. It fell off the bag and broke apart. I've fixed it, but I had to run without a rear light in the dark for a while. I rode with others who had one, so no harm done
• I pulled out my minty boost battery powered charger for my my Garmin GPS at mile 98 when the Garmin batteries seemed low. It worked perfectly, keeping it going all day. Sadly, it didn't play well with my wireless computer. It killed it. All my stats are from the Garmin, the Sigma wireless bike computer got confused by the interference the battery charger created.

Stories:
I roomed with my buddy Pete from BikeForums.net. We got up at 3am to beat the heat, and because I wanted to finish before dark. We let the parking lot about 4:10.
The morning was grand. I like riding in the dark, and riding in the dark on really dark country roads is a blast. When we hooked up with other riders the bike lights made very interesting shadows. We rode along what must be rice fields as the sun came up. The yellow and red of the morning sun mixed with the sky blue reflections in the water were wonderful.

Our first climb wasn't bad, except for butterfly attack.
Youtube video

Actually, everything went really well. At mile 98 or so I was feeling good. Then it got hot and we came to Cobb Mountain. A mountain where you are thrilled when the grade backs off to 8%. The temperature was starting to soar. It was not good. I kept wondering if it would ever end. I hate stopping, but at one point, no matter how easily I tried to go, I couldn't get my heart rate down under 94%. I hid in the shade until it got to 75, which took way to long, and carried on.
(click chart for readable image) I did eventually arrive at the rest stop. The boom box was playing "Tracks of My Tears" which seemed perfect. As a volunteer was tossing an ice sock on my neck "Respect" came on. It seemed like they'd planned the soundtrack just for me.

Pete had waited, so we took off together. He quickly lost me on a downhill. The downhill was amazing. It was like blasting through an oven. Even at 40 mph it didn't feel cool. I'm not a great decender, and having such a long, steep decent wasn't exactly relaxing. I'd have hit 60 if I'd let the bike have its way. Instead, I tried to stay just under 40.

From there to lunch is just a blur. After lunch we climbed up what they call "Resurrection Hill." It was a long hot grind that seemed like it would never end. I saw a lot of folks on the road side looking baked. I was afraid to stop and carried on. About the worst part of the ride was along here where road construction had removed the shoulder. We had to ride on a high speed narrow road with a cement barrier at our right and no shoulder. I was scared to pieces. If I hadn't have been so over cooked I wouldn't have done it, but my brain was going mushy.
The Davis Club, realizing how hot it was had stationed a guy with water part way up. Even though I had some left, it was getting very hot. He was a life saver.

The decent was again, too fast for me. The road was great and I stayed around 40 for ages. From about mile 145 to 160 was slightly downhill, but with a headwind and really really hot. Painfully hot. Pete and I both ran out of water and stopped at a motor home camp site for more.

Somewhere later we had to ride on a very busy road that went past Cashe Creek Casino. It was no fun. There were lots of cars and a very narrow shoulder. I noticed the drivers with horse trailers seemed to be very careful of us, giving us as much room as they could. Pick ups were more likely to flip us off.

There's a rest stop at a fire house with about 10 or 12 miles to go where they serve chili. Seems weird, but I guess it's a tradition. And darn, it's really good too.

Near the end I was feeling so good I teased Pete into playing Team Time Trial heroes. We had a small tail wind and just blasted off a few miles, then caught a too fast pace line doing 25. I did myself in. I was just so excited.

We rolled in to the finish just as the sun slipped below the mountain.

Driving home was a real pain. My eyes hurt, my body was worn out and the other cars seemed insane. I was so happy to get home.

Diablo, famous person sighting, ride

Saturday 5.10.08 we rode up the Diablo Northgate and down the South Gate, then back around to Walnut Creek. Joyce rode with us. I totally kicked her butt at the 1000 foot marker. She said she was thinking about stuff and not riding hard, but what else could she say? Sure, you can always claim "It's not a race unless both people know it's a race." But I'm not buying it. Not today.
We saw the famed Diablo Scott riding up the mountain. What's next? Madonna?
Tricia and I stopped in Danville so I could get new gloves. Somehow that turned into gloves, socks, a jersey for Tricia and a new blinkie light for her commuter bike.

Minty Boost for Garmin 305

My Garmin 305 is grand. But at the speeds and distances I ride the rechargeable battery runs out of energy before I do. I purchased a Minty Boost kit. It's a small circuit and batteries in a Altiod box that acts as a battery extender. I haven't soldered in years (maybe 35...) but got to do a lot on this project. After more futzing than was really necessary it seems that the darn thing actually works! I had a small problem, posted on the Minty Boost web site and had the solution to my mistake in a couple of hours. I still need to get Velcro and attach it to my bike and find out how it holds up, but we are looking good now. I feel like I did when I finished my Heathkit guitar amplifier in 1968.

Bike to Work Day 2008

Bike to Work Day 2008 is coming up soon. My Graphic Design students designed posters for it. Kyber Jensen created this one. Here are some more in a Flickr slideshow.

Kestrel RT700 creak, Sigma 1606 issues, Batteries

It's always something with a bike, isn't it? Something wears out, or goes out of adjustment. I love my Kestrel RT700 but I've had a couple of vexing issues that aren't the frames fault, but annoying none the less.

Hear now my tales of woe concerning a creak and a speedometer.

Part 1
Those forced to ride near me lately have commented that, though my bike is a thing of art and beauty, the very loud creaking that happens whenever I stand is not art, nor beauty, but downright annoying. Really annoying. Loudly annoying. Imagine how I feel.

I have done everything I can think of. I've put lube on the dropouts, the seat post, the seat post binding bolt, the skewers, the stem bolts for the bars, the stem bolts to the steerer tube, the steerer tube bolt.

I hired a pro who took apart the bottom bracket. He was sure the sound was drive train related. We messed with the dérailleur. I rode past him over and over. We couldn't find it.

In a flash of smartatude I thought "Cleats!" and greased and tightened them.... nope. It wasn't the pedals either.

"Maybe it's the hub!" said I, but no, not the hub or, or gears. I swapped wheels and still had that creak creak creak..

Yesterday in the Wine Country Century my BikeForums.net fried Pete (Taxi777) casually said "It's the headset. I had that. You need to grease every washer, then put it back together" and then rode rode off to flirt with someone.

He was like superman ... a "My work here is done" sorta thing.

So the next morning morning, after Tricia and I did a slow 20 mile recovery ride with lots of creaking I did as the Pete suggested -- greased the washers and spacers.

Guess what? Yep.

My map-ignoring, photo-bombing, mad descending ride leader has, with no effort, solved a problem has been vexing the finest minds in the bicycling industry and brought us all one step closer to world peace.

Part 2
I really like my Sigma 1606 Wireless computer. I like the display size, the buttons, and the fact that it doesn't lose info when you swap batteries. But it's been giving me problems. The sensor mount doesn't love my fork. It has twice vibrated askew, been caught in the spokes and ripped off the bike.
Now my computer doesn't sync with it any more. Then it stopped syncing with the cadence sensor. Then it started acting all weird. I guess dropping the head unit and snapping off the front and gluing it back together hasn't really helped it much.

The problem with wireless is that when it fails you are never sure where the problem is; the sensor/transmitter or the head unit.

I've now mounted the wheel sensor on the left fork, and faced it forward. I built up the mount so maybe it won't move, and even if it does the spokes will knock it back and not grab it and tear it off.

I've also replaced all the computer and sensor batteries. It all appears to be working now. At this small moment. Here's hoping all my voodoo pays off.

Part 3
I still need to make the Minty Boost battery booster for my Garmin 305. The battery in it is good for about 9-10 hours. If I use this on the Davis Double I'll need it to last longer than that. Here's hoping I can remember how to solder.

Does this stuff ever end? At least everything seems to be working correctly -- maybe perfectly -- right now.

Wine Country Century ride

The fun started Friday night before the ride when we met up with our internet gang from NorCal Bikeforums.net. We had about eleven of us show up. The food was grand, but the service, with a smile, was slightly screwed up. It didn't matter, they comped a lot of it and we had fun anyway.

The actual ride launched at about 7:00 the next morning from Wells Fargo Event Center. We started out through Santa Rosa farm lands, mostly pleasant small roads with not much traffic. After our first long climb we turned to do a section of the 200K ride that would take us up some stunningly steep hills (20% plus in a couple of spots) with beautiful views then dump us almost into the ocean.

The decent was so steep the ride organizers have a woman in a skeleton suit holding a warning sign and calling in a Halloween voice "Slow down." What a blast.

We had planned on a 100 miler, but our friend Pete, being, well, Pete, had other ideas that involve combining, subtracting, improvising and generally scoffing at the official map. He supplies us with "Pete-isms" as well. Starting up a steep climb he yelled "I'm in the wrong gear!" quickly followed with "No, I'm outta gears!"

After riding with Pete a few times Tricia has started to be able to decipher his comments:
Before starting a climb, when Pete says "It's not that bad" he means "You'll be in your lowest gear, standing up, and will perhaps make it, furthermore, the decent following will be the cyling equivalent skiing double-black-diamond death run.

"It's not that far" translates to "Maybe less than 20 miles."

"We'll be there in 10 minutes" leaves off the "if you were driving a car" part.

Tricia was glad she wore her "We can do it" Jersey as we ended up riding 112 miles out of 100 miles.

The actual ride the organizers put on was well run, the rest stops were stocked with goodies and the rest rooms lines were survivable. The only part I didn't like was riding right past winery after winery and not stopping at one of them. That just seems wrong.

The biggest plus: Tricia's bars didn't slip. Her chain ring didn't fall off, and there were no bee stings.

Flickr slide show of a few photos