VeloViewer of Mystery

I've stumbled onto VeloViewer.com. I don't know exactly what it is, but is seems cool. I created the image above from my Strava data and apparently it keeps it up to date (edit: Actually, I don't think it does.) There's all sorts of ways it can display my Strava data, and I even almost understand some of them, but not this one. But I still like it, because it's geeky cycling stuff.

Strava heat maps

How cool is this? Strava has a new feature where you can make a "heat map" of your rides. The more you ride a route, the redder the line gets. I've only been using Strava for a bit over a year. I wish I could do a heat map from all my GPS-tracked rides, which started in late 2007.

You can look at the actual readable, zoomable version of my map here, and make your own as well. If you do, post the link in the comments, or at least share it with me.

100 commutes

Friday was my 100th bike commute to work this year. I didn't count days I rode in to play tennis in the summer, or double-count days where I rode in, rode home, rode back then rode home again. It's all legit. That's almost every work day, rain or heat. I skipped when I had to carry something I couldn't get on the bike, and a couple of times I only rode in and was picked up after school.

I will, of course, keep commuting every day. I'm looking forward to finding out how many commuting days I'll have at the end of the year.

Just because, here's my commuter bike. It's a Motobecane Fantom Outlaw with disc brakes, fenders, a rack and panniers, a planet bike superflash rear light and a Magicshine headlight. And the essential REI coffee thermos.

Clouds, with mink and heron with Stephen King

Some days you ride, and some days you ride and see things. We left home on Labor Day under beautiful cloud cover, and actually were rained on just a little, and we saw a bunch of cool stuff.

Wikipedia photo

We couldn't resist stopping to make photos. Not only were the clouds great, but the air was clear and Mt. Diablo looked grand in the distance. And as if that weren't enough, as we rode along the Marsh Creek Trail we saw an American Mink. It was too far away to shoot with the iPhone, but this is the second time we've seen it, more clearly this time; clearly enough East Bay Parks naturalists to identify it for us. It was pretty exciting to see something in the creek that wasn't plastic, or, as Tricia said, planted there just for us to see.

Then we saw the slow-motion appearing flight of a great blue heron. What magnificent birds. They really look like dinosaurs when they float across the sky.

We also stopped along the trail for  what Tricia says looks like a scene from a Stephen King story: A dead tree, and lurking in the background across a brown-dead field, boarded up houses. And not just regular houses, three-story houses, where we are sure bad things happened.



Of course, no day is perfect, so we topped it off with a flat. But we are looking on the bright side. The rear tire is pretty much worn out, the front tire is close behind, so we get to go tire shopping! That passes for big fun in the Corlew-Campbell household.

Diablo Challenge 1986 and 2013

When I signed up for the 6th annual Diablo Challenge in 1986 I thought the challenge was just to get to the top. But it was my birthday weekend and it seemed like a cool thing to do. I had no clue it was sort-of kind-of a-bit-of a race. I was pretty sure I could make it as I'd ridden to the summit from the Northgate a couple of times, each time being an epic life changing lung-busting leg-crushing effort, with numerous stops along the way, but I was a bit surprised when I found out some people rode the challenge in less than an hour. I know I rode to the start from Pleasant Hill, made it to the top, got a tee shirt, but I don't remember much else.

I rode it again in 1992 on my Cannondale Black Lightning with gears more suited for a criterium than a climb. I remember that someone caught me as I hit the summit and fell over.

I'm having a birthday this year too, and not just a normal birthday, but one that ends in zero, so again it seemed like signing up for the challenge is the thing to do. I'm not sure why, but it is. At least it's given me a reason to drop a few pounds in anticipation, as if it will matter.

When I rode it back in the day I don't remember official waves, or even that many people. Now I guess it will be a zoo. My only worry, now as it was then, is some low-skill big-ego rider who thinks he is a pro but lack any real descending skills will take me out on the way down. That, and having quantified in cold hard numbers just how slow I really am.

I will have a contest to guess my actual time. Post your guess in comments and win ... something. Make sure I have a way to contact you.

Or you could join me, wait at the top, and laugh when I roll in a long long long time after the start.

Really ripped

I really enjoy my bike commute home after a long day at at work. I usually get a tail wind, and it's only 8 miles; just enough to work out the days stress and think a bit. Usually....

I was getting too many flats on the trail with all its glass and stickers, so I bought a set of Schwalbe Marathon Racer tires, Schwalbe claims they are the fastest and lightest in their Marathon line, with HD-Speed-Guard for the highest level of puncture protection, RoadStar Triple Compound for the best handling characteristics, and a greater tread depth increases lifespan. They are well known and well loved by flat-hating bike tourists. They did hold up well against the sorry roads and paths of East Contra Costa County.

But now, about 3500 miles in, I have a huge unrepairable rip in my rear tire. I was riding home it it just went "boom." I'm not sure if I wore it out, or hit something that ripped it. Whatever the cause, it put an end to my commute home. I did the walk of sadness back to the college, pushing my bike (which is no where near as much fun as riding it) and waited for my sweet Tricia to come collect me with the car.

Old unloved tire installed, new tire on order, commute ready for the morning. Case closed.

Number one, with a bullet

Didn't I just post about my finding bullets on my bike rides? Here's another one. Maybe there are so many littering the streets of Antioch it isn't even noteworthy any longer. I know I'm running out of ways to photograph them.

More actual bike stuff again, soon. Really.

Post ride fueling

Photo by Tricia

You know you're in the right place when, after you park your bicycle on the patio and sit down, your waitress comes out and says "Your margarita is on the way, what else would you like?"

Along with her food, Tricia liked the shadow of her chair, and the way the light came through the cutout name of the iron back and played on the ground.

Cocina Medina, our just-down-the-street restaurant, is one of our favorite places to stop after a long ride when we're almost home. The have a patio we can ride our bikes on to without going inside, then we can sit outside so as not to frighten the other patrons with our lycra. They have great service and delightful food, and it's a joy to patronize a business run by real people and not some faceless distant corporation.

Highly recommended:  Fajitas, and of course, the margaritas.

Babyless baskets and a bullet

Photo by Tricia

On recent rides around Antioch Tricia has noticed a trend in roadside detritus: babyless baby holding objects. It caused such a degree of wonderment and perplexafacation that she stopped to photograph them. She wonders "Where have all the babies gone?" I have no answer.

I usually find bullets. And I found another one. This one, however, wasn't found in Antioch, but on a ride in Port Orchard, Washington. Unlike the live rounds I find locally, this one was used. I am unable to draw any conclusions from such a small sample size. But overall, I still wonder why I find bullets, and is this normal? I sure didn't find any growing up in Walnut Creek. Just sayin'.

Short summer bike trip in Oregon

Over the past few years we've taken week-long bike tours. This year we didn't take a long organized ride. Instead we did a few smaller things. I don't have any great stories, but I like the photos.

We started with a ride and a night in Jacksonville, Oregon where we went to the Britt Fest for a Kenny Loggins and the Blue Sky Riders concert. What a nice theater and concert.

We met our cycling friends Bob and Catherine for Cycle Oregon's Weekend Bike Camp. Two days with 85 and 65 miles rides where the organizers supply ice cream at the finish as well as music and a beer garden.





We stayed with Bob and Catherine in Oregon where we rode a bit and also got to see Cyclepedia at the Portland Art Museum. It's was a great show with many amazing and beautiful bicycles. There's even a book!



They also took us out for a ride along the Gorge, and it was beautiful and fun. It's impossible to not constantly be saying "wow!" and stopping for photos. We didn't even try, we just smiled a lot.








But wait, there's more! Bob and Catherine took us to their cabin in the shadow of Mt. Hood for some more riding. What's up with Oregon? How could it have so many beautiful places?



We even managed to get to Washington to see Tricia's son Jason, daughter-in-law Lea and grandson (really, she has a grandson,) Bishop. Of course, we rode bikes when we got there. Tricia liked riding with Bishop so much she came home and started shopping for a folding bike so she could fly up and ride with him more often. Do you have an opinion on Brompton folders?



We stopped off at Grants Pass, Oregon on the way home where Tricia made me — you guessed it — ride my bike some 18 miles before driving back to the beautiful Gateway to the Delta, Antioch.

The "Stuff" of cycling

Cycling is about freedom, fun, being a kid, challenge, mobility and a zillion other cool things. It's also about stuff. Admit it. You like stuff. So do I. Unless bad things happen to my stuff.

Stuff 1

This is, or was, my new, or newish, tire. Alas, at the end of a hard set of intervals I was breathing too hard and hurting too much to notice the large chunk of glass in my path. The tire popped. I had a boot, but with a tear like this do I really want to be going down Diablo and have it fail? No, I do not. So, I threw my trie away. Money wasted. Oh well.

Stuff 2

White walls. Yep, I got white-wall tires to go with my white bike.  They're pretty nice, but I feel a touch of guilt for caring. Still: Stuff. There you are.

Stuff 3

Due to, I think,  a broken leg at a young age, my right foot points out just a bit. That makes my knee want to swing out on the upstroke, and also make my heel want to strike the crank arm. Bummer for me. But fortunately for me, my friend Lance Oldstrong has a funky left knee from some youthful fun. He discovered a product called Knee-Savers that is in essence a pedal extender. He only needs the left side, and has been generous enough (Thanks, Dan!) to give me the right side parts. It sure has made my pedal stroke less ugly, my cranks less scuffed and my leg not hurt. Stuff, is there anything you can't do?

Stuff 4

Not all cycling stuff is my stuff. Tricia has been hunting for the perfect saddle for a while now. After going through the stock models, she's tried a Terry Falcon, which she still uses on her trainer-bound bike. She tried a Selle Italia SLK and didn't hate it, but didn't love it either. So, after 16,000 miles she's giving a Specialized Oura a shot.

Stuff 5

Sometimes stuff is just stuff you see on the road. In this case, we're still working through bad puns, but just don't have the head for it.  Feel free to post your own.

Clouds

We don't usually get clouds like this in June in California, but we sure did on Tuesday. We caught just a sprinkle of rain, but nothing serious, though the black clouds were sure worrisome. The ride? Just thirty-something, no big deal, but the clouds and light made it all wonderful.

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.