tibikefor2

java:

I first had my sons help me build a volcano in the garage. Next we had an artificial earthquake (started up the snowblower) and the lava started to flow. At the end of the crescendo of drums, I threw a a virgin inner tube into the volcano

We will be doing the same tonight

-=(8)=-

Hey fellow Gutter Ninjas !

My VSC commute has taken a very different but much better
route than a week ago.....not much to report except that the weather
was perfect at 5:00AM this morning....I saw another commuter who was
just as excited as I was to see a fellow wacko and petting a very friendly cat
before the ride was augmented by picking up a huge toad off the parking lot
and moving him to a catch basin at the end of the ride.
A great day !

tibikefor2

Lem should your name now be "Lem in Vt" ?

Mars

No thorns or screws, that I know of. I don't always know what caused the flats because I didn't see it and there was nothing embedded in the tire. This last month or so, the known culprits are:

a pointy rock
shard of glass
a barbed piece of steel wire
a nail (went through the tire, both sides of the tube, and embedded in the rim)
another shard of glass

I am now riding on Armadillos on both the front and back tires. Hopefully, that will solve the problem. No flats so far today!

tulip

a bit cool this morning, but I quickly warmed up. It's nice to ride my bike. It relieves alot of the stress of the craziness in the world. I'd much rather burn 500 calories per hour than 20 miles per gallon.

rainedon

Yep, that's me. I know what you mean about loving the saddlebag. I was commuting with my carradice barley for a while, but it is just a bit too small to fit all of my gear and my lunch, so I'm back to the panniers until I decide to get one of the larger saddlebags for cummuting. I got my barley for longer unsupported rides and brevets. I've done the longer unsupported rides and I've got my first official brevet next weekend. A 200K out in the Gorge and around Mt. Hood here in Oregon. Lot's of climbing. We'll see how it goes.

Nate

jur

Took it easy this morning, and surprise, I was only 1 minute over 60. No sweat, no heavy breathing nothing. I was practicing single speed most of the way in preparation for my SS conversion. I suppose the heavy rides are already beginning to have effect. Also I need to rest for tomorrows training ride for Melbourne's around the bay in a day.

Longhorn

It was only the low 90s when I went in this morning (11:30 am. to about 1 p.m.) so no thermal cut-outs! My legs were feeling the fact that I rode 14.5 miles home last night so, for the first time, I actually rode with the motor doing all the work a couple of times :hangs head in shame: Actually, this was the very reason for getting the electric bike. I'm not going to get stronger if I don't ride and if I wear myself out riding, I won't ride. So those 30 seconds or so of pedal-free riding helped keep me in the saddle.

Speaking of which, I really like my Brooks so far. I'm a little sore in the sit-bone area but I expected that. But it's more comfortable in the other places where I shouldn't be sore. Sometimes it still feels like it's too narrow, though. I gave birth to some whopping big babies (9 lb. 13 oz, twins that weighed 8.5 lbs and 7 lbs, and the last one, 10.5 pounds!) using natural childbirth so I just might have some widely-placed sit bones. I got the Champion Flyer "S". I'm going to give it more time. I tipped the nose down a tad and that helped but now I feel like I have too much pressure on my hands. I don't know if I should raise the bars more (this bike has a rotating stem, if that's the right term) or push the saddle forward or what. I occasionally push myself back further onto the saddle, especially when I'm climbing a hill, but it doesn't really feel like I'm slipping forward. I guess I need to keep adjusting until I find the right combination.

dave ford

Thought so, i have a mental picture of everyone on here, but there could be no way anyone looks like the people in my head, except we know what DanO looks like i guess from his avatar.

Longhorn: If your feeling the need to lower the nose of your Brooks and are getting hand/wrist pressure then your bars are probably too low. I have found that the Brooks likes a bar/stem that is inline or maybe an inch lower. Try tweaking the saddle so its slightly nose up (this will relieve your sit bones a little), but really it may be wise to get yourself a higher rise stem and raise the bars 2-3 inches.

Cold start today, so the 'gilet' came out to play, but beautiful and sunny.

Good to see that everyone is having a good time, have a great weekend all.

tibikefor2

Well no commute for me today, as I am working from home. However, I will be going up to the velodrome in Trexlertown, Pa to watch some track racing with my wife. My wife surpised with an early 45th birthday present and I will heading up to Tom Kellog at Spectrum Cycles www.spectrum-cycles.com to get fit for a new Custom Ti bike. For all you single guys, no she does not have a sister and keep your hands off I am lucky as my wife used to a Cat 2 racer, so she understands the need.

I will have to postpone my Vanilla Bike pruchases for a while. I will post pictures once I get the new frame, which should be late October or Early November.

Hope everyone has a nice weeknd and commute today.

Marylandnewbie

Tibike -- its good to have a legal addiction, its so much easier to satisfy! Happy birthday by the way and enjoy the races. Watching guys riding while making one big left hand turn may not appeal to me, but at least its not as wasteful as watching guys drive cars around in a big left hand turn!!

Today was an absolutely fabulous ride in. The weather was perfect, my legs were strong and I weighed in 31 lbs lighter than when I started to commute in February. As if that weren't enough I had one of my fastest rides ever -- an astonishing 15.7 mph average. I was just humming along without killing myself. I was amazed at the speed I could maintain, so maybe things are improving.

And to top it all off the MUP rewarded me with the sort of odd human behavior I have been missing the past several weeks. I saw a guy running in downhill ski boots outfitted with leaf springs on the bottom so he could bounce along. He seemed good at it, so he must train that way often. It was still just the oddity I needed to complete my week.

I'm looking forward to one or two family rides this weekend since we should continue to have great weather. My wife and son are eager to ride more after our vacation successes so I'm just going with the harmonic convergence of factors. Have a good ride home and a great weekend everyone.

tibikefor2

Newbie:

Congrats on the 31 lbs.

Actually watching sprints and a points race on a track is actually quire exciting. The points races are quite good as the packs are usually between 5 & 10 people in a small area.

Take care and have some good family rides.

FatguyRacer

Good job and congrats MD! I finally broke that 220lb barrier last week. So im down close to 35lbs since late May when i started training again. Feels good dont it! I was noticing last night that i was big ringing the Naval Academy bridge with out much trouble and not putting myself in the red. I was doing intervals last night on my 30 mile training loop around the Severn River (no commutes this week thanks to work related travel) and really had to push hard to get to the right zone. Even with recovery spins after the the sets, my average was still around 17.5 for the whole ride.

TiBike - Congrats on the new ride. My wife and i got new rides this week too, but they're of the motorized 2 wheel kind. Were picking up hers (Yamaha V-Star Custom) this afternoon and my commuter bike (A Moto Guzzi Breva 750ie, for days when im not cycling) is being delivered next week after they get and install the hard side cases. I may end up getting rid of my pickup truck soon, since the part i need to fix my A/C is no longer available.


Hopefully next week will see me on the commute at least 2x.

If anyone is doing the Bay Country Century tommorrow, i'll be working the Marley Run rest stop. Im passing myself off as a mechanic.

Have a good weekend everybody

tibikefor2

Fatguy: Nice bikes, I am envious.......

-=(8)=-

tibike.....
Have you ever been to Trexlertown ?
There are rides that leave from there too if you want to do more than watch.
That is a nice area to ride too.......

tibikefor2

Lem:

I have been to Trexlertown before, but not to the velodrome. I printed off a couple of cue sheets from lehigh valley bike club. My wife unit and I will be going for a ride after the fitting.

Marylandnewbie

Thanks for all the support and encouragement. I'm glad the weight loss has restarted -- it seemed like I hung around at the same weight for 2-3 weeks. Except of course for the couple of pounds I put on during vacation. I shed those quickly enough with the commute, but then got hung up again. It's just the normal course of weight loss, but its nice to see the scale slide down again.

Fatguyracer -- you're right about the weight loss feeling good. What a great area you have to ride around. Very scenic and you can always stop for the emergency crabcake -- an amenity not found everywhere.

DanO220

I HATE YOU. Just kidding of course. Congratulations on the new ride/rides. We realize it's impossible to give all your friends here on the VLC test rides, but the least you can do is post pictures of your fine new bikes when you can. I had a similar experience - though not quite on the same level as your custom Ti surprise - a couple years ago. I had been back into cycling for about a year, when my wife woke up one morning, rolled over in bed and suggested I take our tax return and buy myself a proper bike. And she wasn't even into bikes at the time! I had a ball building up a Crosscheck over the phone with the fine folks at WebCyclery. I'd like to do it again sometime.

I abbreviated the ride this morning by taking the train half way in. My legs are still recovering from Wed night's record run, but are definitley on the mend. No permanent damage done. I'll be taking the train half way home... tonight and for the foreseeable future.

Take it easy everyone. And get ready for some company as the gas prices continue to go up.

DanO

truman

Just how long a commute qualifies as "Very Long"? I'm not entirely sure I should be reading this at all...

DanO220

Mars can we get a ruling on this one? I mean, I ride 30 miles to work and take the train halfway home, unless I leave the bike at work and ride it home the next day, or haul it home and ride in again, maybe I do this a couple or three times a week. Even so, the guy riding 10 miles to and fro every day is miles ahead of me. So what's a long commute anyway? Specific mileage in one direction? What about total mileage for the week? Some people need to know.

DanO

super-douper

The original spec was "If it's long to you, you're in!". I like that spec because it includes a lot of people. And here in the VLC the comradery we feel has more to do with the mental and physical challenges and triumphs than the number displayed on the cycle computer. That said, i think that many of us are 8+ miles one way.

I've had a small triumph with respect to my VLC in the past month. See my wife and I were a 1 car family. She drives and I ride my bike. I never bought a second car because I always figured it would be a waste. Either I'd never drive it because I'd bike, or worse, I'd drive it when I should be biking. Well, we bought a new car and havn't sold the old one yet. I was always worried that the second car would make me lazy (I call the 2nd car the belly-maker). Well for the first couple weeks I drove way too much, but the past couple weeks I'm back on the bike with the same vigor and frequency as before I had the option. That is a triumph of will for me, and a sign to others that I PREFER riding my bike to driving.

on a side note, I pass numerous gas stations on my way to work, gas prices ranged from $2.99 to $3.19. Not that it makes me happy...I still need gas for some things, just not getting to and from work

DanO220

Thanks Super. I knew it was something like that. After all, even with my sometimes sporadic commuting, I always feel welcome 'round here. Can't say that for all corners of the forum... not that you should necessarily be able to.

I was just talking to a coworker downstairs who's bike is locked up outside every single day. I asked him how far he rides. He sheepiishly said it's only 3 or 4 miles to work. But I congratulated him on riding it every day - as well as his other errands, as it turns out. To tell you the truth I envy him. I wish I lived close enough to work that I could go truly car-less.

DanO

-=(8)=-

Mars provided the best answer awhile ago and has just been reitterated by Super-Duper.....
My original commute was 14 miles each way. It had a loooooooooooong hill but it was
a nice ride. 28 miles per day was just enuff to keep me tired but wanting more.
I temporarily suffered an undesirable commute that was only 4 miles each way but it
seemed like it would N - E - V - E - R , E - V - E - R end !!! horrifying !
That was the longest 4 miles on the face of the eastern US !! Way longer than my 14
previously.

Mars

As DanO and Poundem already wrote, if you feel that your commute is very long for you, then you are in. And welcome! I would like to say that this is the most supportive, helpful, and positive group on these forums. It is always a source of positive energy to come the the VLC.

This afternoon, I was late leaving work and the ferry that i take leaves every hour and a half. So, I thought, I will just ride extra hard and should make it (19 miles from work to the ferry). However, there was a strong headwind that i hadn't counted on. i had to totally bust my butt to make it on time. I did make it, but bonked whiel carrying groceries for dinner up the stairs. I don't know how many of you have experienced a bonk, but it is not pleasant. Actually had sweat streaing off me as I sat head down in the kitchen....

I hve to go to work tomorrow for a welcome BBQ for the new students. That will make my mileage for the week 190 miles. Not my best, but that is still a lot of turns of the crank.

Longhorn: I was thinking about your situation with the steep hill at the beginning of your commute todya. I have a very steep hill as well. The traffic is pretty light there, so I zig zag up the hill, riding from one side of the pavement to the other. It makes the incline a lot less, maybe you could try that on your hill?

Longhorn

That's exactly what I do, Mars! The climb is actually at the end of my commute to work and it consists of a cul-de-sac that connects to a road that leads to my campus but the road has a barrier to keep cars out. I guess the neighborhood didn't want the school traffic. Even on the electric bike, I have to zigzag up the hill but there is rarely any traffic. Then I have to get off my bike to go around the barrier and I can do the second part of the hill without zigzagging, which is good because now that cars are parked on both sides, I wouldn't have much room for switchbacks and there's more traffic as students hunt for parking places.

I just ordered custom sprockets for my motor that will lower the gearing. I'll lose speed but I don't use the motor for speed anyway. What I'll gain is increased torque and hopefully less strain on the motor, which should mean fewer thermal cutouts.

You're right about the friendly and supportive atmosphere in this thread! It's my favorite thread of the entire board! Thanks!