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abracapocus....... You take very cool pictures........ I always enjoy them!!
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Yep got a ride in today.... after 2 days of NOT riding. Felt really good for about the first 20 miles of the 23.43 mile ride. Then the heat got to me, that and I didn't eat properly today.
Just a couple of observations while out riding and thinking about stuff..... 1st one... Somebody driving by me at 55mph yelled something at me. Do they KNOW we cant understand a thing they are saying when they do that?? I mean wind in our ears riding and they are going 55mph ...... 2nd one.. While driving back from St. Augustine I notice that Putmam county (where I live) has put up a new sign at the county line it says.... "Welcome to bike friendly Putnam county". Hmmmm considering all of the crap in the bike lanes..... its really not that friendly. Especially on the bridges they are just full of junk in the bike lanes. I rode out of Palatka north on SR17 for a few miles today... New pavement that they just got done with about 2 months ago. And the bike lane is sooooo full of junk it really made that part of my ride un-enjoyable. Some pics from a few days ago.... that I never posted ... And one from today.. 1st pic... Is the caboose in the little town of Interlachen where I live. The RR tracks used to run though there In the 60's (I think, not sure). They made it into a little stage and picnic area. 2nd pic.. Is the trail in Interlachen leading up to the caboose. Just a little short trail maybe 3/4 of a mile long. 3rd pic... Today .... SR 17 coming back into Palatka.. This side of the bridge was pretty clear of crap in the bike lane.... But the other side going north is by far the worst one I have ridden on in the county.... as far as junk and debris in the bike lane.. Attachment 165360Attachment 165361Attachment 165362 |
55 miles total today
16 of that on the way home, took a loop around Doctors Lake, with an average temp of 99.4 F and average speed of 18.3 maximum recorded temp of 104, but I'm sure I saw 105. Passed some guy about half way out, pulled around and never looked back, even though I figured he was there the whole way. I did let up near home and tried to talk a minute... "Was that fun for you?" "What?" he says while pulling an ear phone out of his ear... I really don't like people who ride with plugs in their ears, unless they are jewelry. |
Don't feel bad, we don't even have bike lanes anywhere close to where I live. And yeah, they're full of trash too.
I got to ride this morning, but started late because I went to the shop to find a flat tire... not just flat, but the tire had actually split where it had been cut, and the tube was poking out. So I swap the tire and tube, go for a 10 mile ride, and when I get home from work today, discover it's flat again... even with a new tire, new tube... blech. Oh well. I've got some more tubes and a set of fenders on order, and I got my battery charger in, so I may be able to start commuting to work soon! I'm pretty excited about that, actually. |
Haha, in theory I have a bike lane part of my commute. It's full of gravel, glass, potholes, lawn waste, etc. Today I saw something new, a peach pit.
Commuted in this morning. Left late, but I did grab a quick pic at a light. This is in the Old Fourth Ward, over near the MLK Center. http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4093/...ea9cb2330e.jpg Just before I got there, I shared my route for a bit with a woman on a Terry road bike. We chatted at a light and she has a similar commute to mine. Kind of parallel, but I'm a little more East. Even though I left late, I made better time. Looks like I've shaved about 5 minutes off since I started. I did try standing up for one of my more difficult hills this morning. I took about half of it standing, the rest sitting. Seems like more pressure on my knees standing, but they seemed to survive just fine. And I definitely got up that hill faster. Of course, every time I do that I wonder how opaque my shorts are. I guess I've just seen too many shorts as windows to asscracks and am a little paranoid. Not enough to check it out in a mirror though. I don't want to have to buy new shorts. :-) The way home might involve rain. Looking at the radar, I might have a window of opportunity conveniently right when I'm about to leave. It'll be 18ish miles once the day is done. |
Ahhh... opaque shorts... reminds me of this girl who used to do the local club's sunday rides. She was both strong and attractive and half the guys would fight for position be hind her in the rotation because, with the right light angle you could get a glimpse of crack. Ohhh... good times... It was kinda like being in high school and waiting for the cheerleaders to do their jumping splits so as to get a glimpse of the bloomers, yet knowing full and well "nothing" would really be seen.
In other woods, don't worry about it. When I was commutting and not working at a LBS, I used to try to do all my "climbs" (its all relative) seated. I'd just put it in a lower gear and keep spinning. I now rarely ride my hybrid/commuter rig but, a friend reminded me to slide back on my saddle and "push" a slightly bigger gear uphill. Kinda like doing leg presses, push the pedal out in front of you using your quads to drive the pedals through the top of your stroke. If it works for road bikes and racing, then it should also work for commuting. today's ride 44 miles on my fixie brings this week to 159 |
Got out Tuesday but ran into the looming thunderstorms and aborted early - only 11 miles.
Today was a different story. Went out the end of Millhopper, up to 78th, down 235 and back in 46th Ave to 241, then home via 39th Ave. I kinda ran out of daylight before I ran out of miles. 98th was a bit nerve-wracking under the circumstances, and for safety's sake I stuck to the foot/bike path along the south side of 23rd. Note to self - get some lightweight little LED lights for the road bike! The tally - 28 miles at 15.1. Longest solo ride of the year so far! There was some strategy involved - the storm front was coming in from the southwest, so most of the way home the wind was more or less behind me. That helped. :-) |
Originally Posted by mrz80
(Post 11319689)
Got out Tuesday but ran into the looming thunderstorms and aborted early - only 11 miles.
Today was a different story. Went out the end of Millhopper, up to 78th, down 235 and back in 46th Ave to 241, then home via 39th Ave. I kinda ran out of daylight before I ran out of miles. 98th was a bit nerve-wracking under the circumstances, and for safety's sake I stuck to the foot/bike path along the south side of 23rd. Note to self - get some lightweight little LED lights for the road bike! The tally - 28 miles at 15.1. Longest solo ride of the year so far! There was some strategy involved - the storm front was coming in from the southwest, so most of the way home the wind was more or less behind me. That helped. :-) |
It sprinkled on Wednesday just enough to make the road (and me and the bike) a mess. :crash:
Light rain today on my way out for about 1 mile. Had a nice ride at Stone Mountain. On the way home the sky opened up when I was about 3 miles from home. I hate rain!!! |
Rain has been kicking my butt too, but I've got a set of fenders on the way... :D
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Well I thought I was going to get soaked on my ride today... Hard rain rolled through around 2pm (I usually ride around 5 to 5:30). So I figured it will either keep raining the rest of the day.. or the sun will come back out and make it SUPER MUGGY... Around 5pm it looked like another front was coming through but I took off anyway. On my 25.10 mile ride it only sprinkled on me a few times. Had nice cloud cover and hardly any wind. And I think the temp said 82 when I went by the hardware on the way out. It was pretty muggy though... Really enjoyed the ride....
droobieinop... a friend reminded me to slide back on my saddle and "push" a slightly bigger gear uphill. Kinda like doing leg presses, push the pedal out in front of you using your quads to drive the pedals through the top of your stroke. If it works for road bikes and racing, then it should also work for commuting. I gave that a shot on the 2 smallish hills on my normal ride today. And your right for sure you can feel it in the quads... If I make it out to SR21 this weekend I think i'll give it a shot on some of the rolling hills there. |
This morning I checked out the tv weather report, dude said rain was all north of me. Cool. So I get all ready, stuff some random things in my new panniers to try them out and push the bike out onto the porch. Hmm...it's spitting a little. Maybe that's just low fog. Head back in, lock up, come back out, rain. Dang. I stood there and contemplated it for a minute. It let up so I went for a ride. I just had to keep my iphone and camera in my pannier rather than my pockets.
I was getting some heal strike on the panniers so I pulled over and tightened the side rail straps as much as possible. Still a little heal strike but not as much and once I got into the regular groove of riding it wasn't happening. I might be able to slide the bags back another 1/2 cm but that's about it. I also ride in trail running shoes that are kind of chunky in the heal area. If the weather cooperates and I go to the farmers market in the morning, I'll try riding in my chucks or macbeths since they both have much less heal material. I know zzOtherlandzz, all this pannier talk is useless with out pics. Quick blurry shot on my porch. Wanted to get at least one pic in case I couldn't get the camera out again in the rain. http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4096/...cc1ef87d91.jpg Some graffiti along one of my regular routes. http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4076/...da89f5157c.jpg Top view. Yeah, I put the basket back on it too. What??? http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4095/...4b79a1b50e.jpg Back view. http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4115/...f52be7a4a3.jpg And a random piece of graffiti. http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4123/...8cb3ff272a.jpg It was going to be a longer ride this morning, but I cut the loop a little shorter for a total of 10.6 miles. Which feels like nothing now. Not much to note on the ride. Had a roadie blow by me without a glance or comment. Oh, and a homeless/schizophrenic guy wanted a kiss while I was stopped at a light in Little 5 Points. Uh, no. He settled for an air kiss from a respectable distance. I'm getting better and mixing in standing and sitting while climbing. Between that and the exercises the doctor gave me, the knees seem to be doing okay. droobieinop, part of my issues are probably related to weak muscles. That certainly seems to be changing pretty quickly though. |
Love those panniers! Really chic, very cool. Mine aren't as cool looking, I have to admit...
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Saturday 8/21/2010
13.7 miles today 299.6 miles this month 4417 miles this year 142 ride days LY vs. 141 ride days TY 3082 miles needed to hit 2010 goal (7500 miles) I am @ 58.9% of my goal. I need to be @ 66.6% (5000 miles) by the end of August 205 miles ahead of last year at this date I was released from the hospital late Thursday:thumb: and I took Friday off due to feeling very weak. They did just about everything except cut me open and could not find the cause of my illness. I cannot stand hospital food so I had pretty much been fasting for about the last 6 days. When I got up Friday morning my wife had to restrain me from ripping the refrigerator door off the hinges. I ate and slept just about all day. The weather was beautiful today high 70s when I left and high 80s when I got back and 70%+. I needed to feel the breeze in my face and hear the sound of spokes slicing through the wind so off I went. My goal was to do 10 miles and if I felt like it do some more. I finished with 13.7 miles so I am happy. I thought I would ride to Cranes Roost Park and take some pictures to share with everyone. Photo #1 My daughters note on my bike when I got home Thursday. Photo #2-3 This is the majestic Building, it is being built by the owner of The Super Channel, a religious TV station here in Altamonte. They started construction mid 2000 and still have about 2 yrs to completion. He is paying cash (donations) as he goes so when he gets some money construction starts when he runs out of money construction stops. The building sets at the south east cornrer of I-4 and Central Parkway. For years just the iron frame work was all that you saw they just put the glass on with in the last 2 years so people started calling it THE EYE SORE ON I-4. Photo# 4-5-6 Views around Cranes Roost Park. A great park for outdoor concerts and fire works shows on holidays. Photo#7 From across the lake a view of Uptown Altamonte a very nice place to live and shop Photos 8-9 When I first saw this gal she was practicing her kick boxing. She looked pretty good at it and I didn't feel up to getting kicked or punched so I waited til I got past her and took a picture from the back.:lol: Photo 10 Rain clouds starting to form over the Altamonte Springs water tower. Time to start home. I hope you enjoy today’s ride as seen through the eyes of my bike. |
abracapocus
I too, like your panniers, what are they and where did you get them? and good work on your riding, keep it up. The muscles will follow, just listen to your body and do what it says. |
Did 24 Thursday evening... one of those slow, haven't-ridden-enough-lately rides. 80 miles today... left at 6am. I knew I shouldn't do it, but I knew I could. Good test for the MS150 coming up in October I'm totally not prepared for. Felt pretty good. Bit tired near the end but didn't bonk or run out. 15.4 average. 80% of the ride was with 7 other guys from the local group. (3 guys peeled off to go directly back while we went the longer way) Overall nice ride, good roads... thank goodness for sun screen, shot bloks and cliff bars. Must have drank a gallon of Gatorade... photo 1 photo 2
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Wow lots of cool photo's today.. Glad to see your out of the hospital and back on your bike slo spoke..
Those are some really cool panniers abracapocus... I dont think you will have any trouble finding your bike even if its parked with a bunch of other bikes... :) I did get out for a ride today.... Felt pretty crappy for most of the ride, was really glad I went when the ride was done. I just felt slow (slower than normal), legs felt like lead.... I stuck it out and did 21.70 miles today. Looked like rain and I did ride on a few wet roads but never got rained on. I changed my route up a bit and just did 2 laps on the new pavement. It was kind of cool on the second lap I could see my tracks from the first lap. I was kind of impressed that I rode somewhat straight. Well straight while taking into account swerving to avoid all the crap in the bike lane... At about mile 19 almost back home a truck went by and the passenger stuck one of those PA loudspeaker things out the window and blasted a LOUD horn sound at me as they went by. It didn't really scare me or make me swerve but it actually HURT my ear for about 2 minutes. |
Yes those are some really cool panniers, abracapocus... do you have raincovers for them, I would hate to get them dirty.
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FunkyStickman, droobieinop,Haha, I agonized over these bags. Trying to find that magic combination of style, function and price that worked for me. These panniers are made by Basil, a Dutch company, of course. They have limited availability in the US. I got mine from Niagara Cycle Works. Not all of Basil's bags are girly. kjc9640, the material is waterproof, but I'd call the bags water resistant due to the design. My ride yesterday was on wet roads and they look fine. For now, I'm going to carry a plastic bag in each in case I need to 100% protect the contents from water. Now I just need to find some fenders that will work.
Also, kjc9640, that's scary. Crossing fingers there are no recurrences for you. |
So yesterday I hauled my bike up to Washington, D.C., and rode the Mt. Vernon Bike Trail (more of a path, really) from Rosslyn, which is just west of Arlington Nat'l Cemetery on the Virginia side of the Potomac, to the Mt. Vernon National Monument, about 18 miles downriver. It's a very interesting ride. The path hugs the Potomac most of the way, so you have water views. It runs directly through Reagan National Airport, and at one point, you're directly under the end of the runway, and people gather there to watch the planes coming in and taking off overhead. It also passes right through downtown Alexandria, which is a historic city in its own right, and is full of restaurants and bars and little riverside parks.
Right after Alexandria, the path goes right under the new Woodrow Wilson bridge, an enormous structure that carries I-95 and the Capitol Beltway over the Potomac River. We watched this thing being built as we traveled up and down 95 the past 10 years, and now it's all done. It's pretty impressive from any angle. Finally, the path climbs up to Mt. Vernon, where there is an inn, a restaurant, and of course, George Washington's estate. Downside: it's a bumpy surface despite being paved, and not really suited for my 700x23c road tires. Also, there are a ton of walkers and joggers that you have to work around to make any kind of headway. With all that, I didn't really get a chance to take my eyes off the path for long and enjoy the scenery. All in all, a decent ride, 40 miles total. I took a few pictures but none came out that well except for the ones under the Wilson bridge. http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4138/...69bbbbb2_b.jpg http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4115/...bbe2ebb4_b.jpg http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4140/...fcf59c66_b.jpg |
va_cyclist nice photos especially # 3. I lived in that area for about 10 years in my younger days.
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Sunday 8/22/2010
20.1 miles today 319 miles this month 4432 miles this year 142 ride days LY vs. 142 ride days TY 3062 miles needed to hit 2010 goal (7500 miles) I am @ 59% of my goal. I need to be @ 66.6% (5000 miles) by the end of August 225 miles ahead of last year at this date These short rides are killing my average miles per ride and my mileage looks as if it will be below last year for August. On the 23rd of last year I did a 60 miler and I am pretty sure I will not be doing that tomorrow so I am going to drop some more of the mileage that I had built up. |
This morning I combined something that had to be done with something I like to do: I took the bike grocery shopping. Of course, I can't stand that garbage regular grocery stores try to sell you as produce, so I go out of my way to hit Your Dekalb Farmers Market. By bike it ended up being about 14 1/2 miles round trip. It wasn't a bad ride out there. I've done most of it before just going to Decatur. I ended up using the trail for a couple of miles or so. There were few people on it so it was a much better experience.
Haha, as I was approaching the market, a small pack of roadies overtook me and sure enough each and every one said hello as he passed. I'll stop *****ing now. :-) Seriously though, the more I ride the more I understand why people don't always say something. I've just had some weird situations where someone just stared at me without returning my greeting. Anyway, lots of bikes out this morning, bent, roadie pulling a kid in a trailer, ladies on comfort bikes, mom & kid, etc. etc. After sliding the panniers back about a cm and changing my shoes to chucks the heal strikes pretty much stopped. I didn't re-cinch the bottom attachments so it will probably improve a little more when I do that. The bike rack for the market is right next to the entrance. The very best parking space! This was another first...I've never locked up before. So far everywhere I've gone I could take the bike inside. Anyway, after a little fiddling that went fine. The panniers stay on the bike. Someone would have to take the basket off to get at them. It was a fairly light shopping trip, but I still had two reusable shopping bags about 3/4 full each. So I evened out the weight, dropped them into the panniers and off I went. Here's my bike loaded up and ready to go: http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4099/...f7c4fdc45f.jpg People seemed to think I was a little nuts for taking that picture. And this is just a house being rehabbed, I think, in Decatur. It's just the brick facade and the fireplaces in the back and on the side standing. Kind of crazy looking. http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4073/...656e788c06.jpg |
Well, I think I'm ready to do my first work commute on the bike... I have everything hooked up including the light wiring, but the LED bulbs haven't come in yet... but it won't be dark enough to need them until later in the year. I also am waiting on fenders, but I should be okay for a few days without them. I also had heel strike problems with my panniers while I was riding this morning (only 12.5 miles). I decided I'd do something about it, so I made a Z-shaped bracket out of some flat aluminum stock I had laying around, and moved my rack back about 3 inches. Now the rack is level with the ground, and no more heel strikes. Why is it that every time I think of doing this, there's thunderstorm warnings? Ugh. I might just do it anyway.
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Well after yesterday's ride I think I'm NOT going to do any 40+ mile rides until it cools down to about 80deg. Yesterday was probably my longest ride in 5 years 42.99 miles. The heat was really getting to me towards the end so much so that I didn't even look at my bike odometer or I would have rode around the parking lot to make it 43 miles ... DOH!
Started out and felt great for 90% of the ride. I rode up SR21 from Keystone Heights again. I got to Golds head state park and was still feeling really good so I kept going. I made it to the intersection of SR16 & SR21 (the sign says 17 miles from keystone see pic). At that point I was still feeling pretty good, still had lots of water but it was HOT. I had not been up that way in years so I was hoping that there would be a gas station where I could get a cold drink.. There wasn't but there was a guy selling boiled peanuts (YUCK BTW... I'm a yankee no such thing as boiled peanuts in the north). But he was also selling cold drinks, this guy is my NEW best friend btw.. :D I got a diet Coke and BS'ed with him for a bit. Got done with that and bought another.... BS'ed more.... Was feeling good again... I got passed by another rider about a mile down the road. abracapocus He said hello and commented on the weather. 10 miles down the road at the state park the heat was REALLY getting to me. So I stopped and the park ranger said there is a drinking fountain around back. Filled both water bottles, drank one and poured one over my head while sitting under the tree (see pic). Had a power bar. Got teased by the rangers (all in fun). Asked if I was ok.... assured them I was... He wanted to know if he should call his wife and his truck to give me a ride... OR call me a taxi... I told him sure on the taxi as long as he was paying.... :D The rest and the snack got me almost back to the parking area before I really started feeling bad and over heated. Feel good today.... Not so good last night.. The heat got me more than the distance did I think. 1st pic... Intersection of SR21 & SR16... Where my new best friend was selling cold drinks. Was trying to get a picture of the scooter gang. Some of them had already turned the corner. There were at least 8 people on scooters. I had seen them an hour earlier down in Keystone. 2nd pic... Just a pic of the sign saying 17 miles back to Keystone, about 20 or so back to where I was parked. 3rd pic.... The most awesome drinking fountain I have ever seen... :D 4th pic... Nice place to sit at the entrance to Golds Head state park... I see getting some more use out of that particular place to sit.. Attachment 166153Attachment 166154Attachment 166155Attachment 166156 |
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