Dave’s Good Stuff

Tank is the GF’s dog. Not long after she moved in with me, we started looking into local BSL, and as it turns out, Pit Bull’s are banned in our neck of the woods. I won’t go into how ridiculous I think such bans are, aside from saying I think banning a breed (or, as in the case of Pits, a group of dogs with similar characteristics) is ridiculous. The point of this is to mark the day we found out that Tank is not, in fact, a bully breed, but a Rott/Boxer mix.

They can’t take him away for being a Pit, we have the papers to prove he’s not! Happy day!

I just dropped my car off for repair. Between the various bits and pieces that need fixing and/or replacing, it’s going to run me over $1,100. How’s that for irony? I ride my bike far more than I drive my car now, at least in terms of daily use, and yet I still plunk down thousands to keep it around. I’m thinking the day isn’t too far away that we become a one car household… All the same, it’ll be nice to have it in fully working order, without fear of being unable to stop, and without having to air up the slowly leaking tire every couple of days. I’m down to the last few payments, so after that, I’m going to ride this one to the ground.

After dropping off the car, I rode the slightly extra distance to work. It ended up being about a mile extra, which isn’t hardly worth noting, except that it was in the rain. It was coming down, if not overly hard, at least steady with a nice southeasterly cross and headwind. I do like riding in the rain, but being pelted in the face by hard little droplets thrown by an angry wind isn’t my idea of fun. Still, I made it just fine with nary an incident. I was wet, but my clothes in my panniers were dry. With coffee in hand, and wearing warm dry clothes, I’m ready to continue a very hectic and long week.

I have to mention a few things about last night’s commute. It was the most vocal of my relatively few commutes, by far.

• At about 99th and Walmer, I heard the following behind me: “BLEEAACCH!! BLEEACCAH!!” with another voice saying “… why they have sidewalks!” I looked around and it was a couple of high school kids in daddy’s big blue truck. It was awesome! I’m finally a Real Commuter!! I’ve had my first real heckler!
• At 95th and Lowell, as I was pulling up to the intersection and slowing to a stop, a lady in an SUV coming from my left had started into the intersection going straight. She saw me and stopped… dead in the middle of the intersection. “Oh nos! A bicyclers! Whatever am I to dos?” I was slowing to a stop with a foot out of the pedal and an arm signaling a left turn, and she stops in the middle of the intersection. I stop and stare in befuddlement. She stares back at me. The car opposite her gets tired of waiting and cuts in front of her to turn left. She apparently realizes that I’m not moving while she’s there, scowls at me (at ME!) and then moves on. What a hilarious idiot.
  It was uneventful until I got to 67th and Midland/Greenwood. Everyone did the Right Thing™, and obeyed right-of-way like a bunch of rock stars. I got to the intersection first, before the car to my left, and the car coming in the opposite direction. All of us were going straight. I went, followed by the car to my left. As I passed the car heading the opposite direction, I heard her yelling “WTF, B?!?!?” Another high school student. Oh, to have the blood pressure of youth…
• That covers it for the angry and stupid. Somewhere between Pflumm and Quivira on 67th, a man in a red pickup truck gave me a couple of short “beep beeps” with his horn, threw his arm out the window and gave me a thumbs up. He had that “attaboy!” look on his face. I waved back, smiled from the heart, and soaked it in as thoroughly as I let the angry idiots wash off me.
• Not far after that, I had the opportunity to return the favor. A small boy of maybe 10-12 years of age was riding on the sidewalk on my side of the road, heading towards me. At that age, I have no problem with riding on the sidewalk. He couldn’t keep up a decent speed, and might not be able to hold a line well either. I smiled real big, said “Hi!” and gave him a thumbs up as well. He just gazed at me in wide eyed wonder. I can only hope I helped keep him on that bike of his.

Story.

Witnesses to the crash have told smh.com.au the group of about up to 60 professional cyclists were riding south on Southern Cross Drive, just south of Dacey Avenue, Mascot about 6.30am when a driver, agitated with being held up, accelerated in front of the pack and then slammed on his brakes, giving the riders no time to stop.

Anyone know where I can take my Alienware Aurora m9700 to have the keyboard repaired in the Kansas City area? The control key on the left side is dead. I’d fix it myself, but I can’t figure out how to get the thing apart, and don’t want to start wrenching at things.

I’m not interested in negative comments about [pick your vendor/brand]. I’m really just looking for positive comments regarding trusted shops where you’ve had good experiences. It’s out of warranty, so I expect to have to pay.

Thank you!

Here’s what we’re looking at this time. Mu bud wants to expand the route a bit and push harder. I so enjoy starting from home, and ending at home, rather than driving somewhere, that we’re going to stick with that again.

So… map behind the cut.

Read the rest of this entry »

Following Saturday’s 44 miler, I got up on Sunday for a longer ride with other friends…

Meeting Reed

I was supposed to meet Reed at Pflumm and 127th at 10:00, but I always underestimate the time it takes to run through the final checklist before clicking in, so I was running a little late. I pulled up to the rendezvous point at about 10:15, to find him relaxing on some landscaping stones. 5 more minutes, he joked, and he’d take the next offer from the next pretty lady to get a ride home. He’d already had one, and was almost wishing he’d taken it. First impressions on meeting Reed: Awesome! It’s going to be a great day!

Meeting Randy

Reed and I took off down Pflumm, and met Randy at 181st about half an hour later. Calm and collected with his recumbent, we stopped a bit to take a breather (we’d been fighting a cross wind the whole way south), and then followed our fearless leader out into the country.

The Route

You can see the route we took on MapMyRide.com here. At just under 88 miles, it was one hell of a ride through some fantastic country side. The recent rains made for some very green foliage. I wouldn’t say it was Oregon green, but for Kansas, it was very green. I was struck more than once by the view as we crested a hill, here and there. The area out there south of KC in the Cleveland, MO area makes for some fantastic riding. Great scenery, low traffic, and nice roads all combine to make the miles fly by, even against the wind. Hat’s off to Randy for finding great routes.

Weather

The weather when I left the driveway was a cool 60°F with a slight to mild westerly wind. It warmed up over the course of the day to the mid 70’s, while the wind stayed pretty steady from the west. Fantastic weather, all told. Neither too hot, nor too cold, and the wind wasn’t bad enough to sap our energy.

Pace and Rests

The pace was easy and relaxed. Randy and I were a little faster than Reed, but his slower pace kept us grounded and reduced my temptation to haul and hammer. He was very good natured about it, joking about it every time he caught up with us. We had a few rest stops that were longer than I’m used to, but I think they paid off. The first was in Cleveland, the on 223rd just south of Spring Hill, and the third on Central in Gardner. Between the slow pace and the longer rest stops, I was feeling pretty good at the end. Reed and I dropped Randy off on Kansas Ave. in Olathe, and then I dropped Reed off at Kansas Ave. and Harper. After that, my pace picked up a bit, and I hit it a little harder for the remaining few miles. I tend to do that when I’m not riding with others.

Highlights
Views… I don’t remember exactly where they were, but there were a few times I crested a hill to be greeted by a fantastic view. The fields stretched out, patchwork green and brown, for miles and miles into the distance. There is nothing like riding a bike out in the country like that to make you feel a part of it all. That feeling just can’t come from behind a windshield.

Dog Attack… I’m not sure if he was attacking me, or just running along side, but not long before turning north on S Gardner Rd from 223rd, a big black dog ran out into the road along side me. He was all barking and legs and actually ran sidelong into my front tire. He then became all barking and yelping and legs and feet as my spokes started hammering him and his feet got caught under the front tire. It was all I could do to stay up. In fact, I had to steer into him to avoid going down. It didn’t take long for him to have enough of my spokes, and he veered off back into his yard to lick his wounds. I don’t think he was hurt, really. Startled and surprised that this oddly large rabbit, or oddly small car actually bit back, I’m sure, but not hurt. I hope not, anyway. Like I said, I’m not convinced he was attacking. I think he was just giving chase and didn’t gauge the distance between us well.

Muscling Up Twisted Sister #1… There are two hills on 135th/Santa Fe right around the Lake of Olathe that have earned the moniker “The Twisted Sisters.” They’re pretty brutal. I met one of them a few weeks back while riding the Spring Classic ‘08 route on my own. I met the other on Sunday. I achieved good momentum leading up towards the first sister, and was making great progress. I got to the point where shifting down became necessary, and the front dérailleur wouldn’t déraille. It simply refused to move the chain. Each revolution meant more and more torque, so it quickly got to the point where I wasn’t going to shift no matter what. My focus on the front rings, the rear cogs were left alone until, again, too much force was being applied just moving forward for me to shift to a lower gear in the back. I ended up climbing the first sister in 53/13. I don’t recommend it.

Oddly enough, the same thing happened to Reed. He turned around and attacked the hill again after he was able to downshift, but the blue streak he let loose when he caught up with us was hilarious.

I really did enjoy this ride. It was a pleasure both meeting Reed and riding with Randy again.

• Average Speed: 15.4
• Elevation Gain: 5,069
• Mileage: 87.72
• Total Time: 05:41:37

Got a lot of riding in this weekend. ~44 miles on Saturday, and ~88 miles on Sunday.

Saturday, Chris and I took inspiration from the Spring Classic ‘08 route, and sent our tires along this route here. We actually took a couple of small detours, so the mileage was *slightly* longer than what’s reported, but it’s close enough.

Before setting out, Chris aired up is rear tire, only to have it go flat immediately. A puncture wound in the tube rendered it useless. Rather than simply replace the tube, we opted to see if we could set up him on the GF’s bike. It took us about 10 minutes to swap out the pedals and seat, only to realize the the bike was just too small. Another 10 minutes moving the pedals and seat back, plus the 5 minutes it took to replace the tube… and we were not only running a little bit late, but feeling a bit the foolish for the wasted time. Still, clouds and silver linings being what they are, a later start meant a warmer start.

Chris had his problems with his bike, and the GF had problems getting the mower running, so I was just waiting for my turn to be mechanically crippled. It came within a mile of leaving the house. The Torelli felt fine for the most part, but when I slowed for whatever reason, and especially when I got going from a stop, the rear wheel felt wobbly and definitively unstable. “Something is very wrong!” I yelled at Chris over the breeze. I stopped, took hold of the rear wheel and felt a sinking feeling as it wobbled freely in my hand.

Then I realized it was a simple as the quick release not being set. How it came unset, I have no idea, but it did give me quite the scare.

The wind was treacherous heading north and west. That worked out, b/c we were heading into it at the beginning of the ride, and it was pushing us along at the end. A good tip whenever you set up a longer ride… try to make the bulk of the return journey with the wind. The temperature at departure was in the high 50’s, and in the high 60’s when we arrived back in my driveway. We were, perhaps, a little chilly at the outset, but we warmed up nicely in no time.

Both Chris and I really enjoyed this route. An easy route without much in the way of hills. Saturday morning traffic wasn’t too bad heading out from my house, but it got a bit heavier and less forgiving on the last leg home. K7 is, remarkably, a very nice ride. Though the cars and trucks pass at an unnerving 65-70mph, the shoulders are wide enough that it’s hardly noticeable. I love riding this stretch, in fact. The only downer this time out was the head wind. We could never really enjoy the slight decline due to fighting for every pedal stroke forward.

Riding through Bonner Springs isn’t my favorite part of the ride, but it’s short, and the reward is open roads and light traffic waiting just beyond the town. That lasts through De Soto, and then again along 83rd up until Clare Rd. After that, it’s back into the suburbs. Instead of tackling the 83rd-87th St. transition hills, we opted to head north on Monticello, and head home via Shawnee Mission Pkwy and Midland Dr/75th St.

All told, a really nice ride. We’ll adjust and expand it for about 60 miles this coming weekend, perhaps hitting the Twisted Sisters on Sante Fe if Chris thinks he’s up to it.

• Average Speed: 15.1
• Elevation Gain: 2,345
• Mileage: 43.54
• Total Time: 02:43:12

Eldon and Susan just got some very bad news. Drop a comment over there and share some much needed positive energy and love please…

KMBC-TV is reporting that a cyclist was hit at the 87th and I35 SPUI. The cyclist is reported as suffering minor injuries. Lucky for him or her if that’s true.

That is one intersection I will go many miles out of the way to avoid. You will not catch me up there. No way.

Commuting to Work

Great month for commuting to work. I took three VPN days and two drive days, but other than that, I was steady. I rode my Kona even on the day I had to wear a suit and give an InfoSec presentation to the Board. To date, I’ve saved $165 by riding to work instead of driving. It’s not monumental, but it’s not bad, either.

Training

April was a much better month than either March or February, and slightly better than January, but I absolutely have no choice but to make May and June stellar. The highlight of April was tracing the Spring Classic ‘08 route from my house. A good ride, that one, especially considering I did it the day after helping the GF’s parents move. I was tired, but I was determined.

Errands

None to speak of. Still sans chain, so we’ll see how May works out. Thing is, I don’t get out much for errand type things, and when I do, they’re typically pretty far away. Anymore, the GF has taken it upon herself to get a lot of errandy things done, and while she does like to ride, she’s not the dedicated masochist that I am.

Mileage Goals

Here’s where April really stands out. I had 499.83 miles (*just* shy of 500!), which was 121% of my goal for the month. I brought my overall deficit down from 225 at the end of March to 135 at the end of April. I still have some ground to make up from February, but with the increase in training, I expect to see that disappear in a few of weeks. My daily average of 25 miles was also much better than previous months.

Fitness

One thing I haven’t really looked at is the health benefits of all this riding. I know I feel better, am generally more awake and alert, as well as more assertive and steadfast in all things, but where’s the hard evidence that all this stuff is paying off? How do I know I’m actually doing myself any good?

Here’s one way… When I started, my average HR was sitting at around 164bpm, while my average speed was somewhere in the neighborhood of 15. At the end of April, my average HR has decreased to about 154bpm, while my average speed has increased to 17(ish). In the middle of that, my average cadence increased from 79 to 81. I’m faster at a higher RPM with less real effort. That’s solid.

I don’t know what my resting HR was at the beginning of the year, but right now it’s at around 58. Again… solid.

Memorable Moments

• Tortuous hills on 135th right after leaving Olathe Lake on my Spring Classic Absentee ride.
• Getting a flat on the way home from work. My first.
• The first time I turned a simple commute into a leg busting hill fest, while at the same time going from 9 miles to 16.
• Realizing that I wasn’t as tired after 16 hilly miles in April as I was after 7 flat miles in December.
• New tires.