Today I did a ride with Dave. Dave lives two houses away, and I always see him out on the bike. We've talked about riding a bunch of times, so I decided it was time to finally stop talking and start riding. He was open for a ride tonight, so we met up when he got home, and went for a ride.
Dave's a strong rider... really strong, so I was forced to work pretty hard. Not to keep up, he's very considerate and doesn't drop me, but it really did force me to work a BUNCH harder than I would have otherwise, and that's NOT a bad thing. We did 38 miles in the time it would have normally taken me to do 30-32, and included some fairly significant hills. Dave's 45 lbs lighter than me, and about the same height, so when we hit those hills, without even trying, he just kinda faded away into the distance up the hill as I struggled along in my lowest gear. Doesn't help that I'm coming back off a two week layoff, but it's gonna be a long time before I challenge Dave up a hill.
However, I got a measure of revenge going down Tohickon Hill road, the same hill I use for my top speed runs. I was sloppy through the S turns, and didn't get on the gas until I was fully out of the last corner, but still managed 52mph with cramping calves. (and a squirrel in the road) Dave, on the other hand, cut across the opposite lane and started pedaling earlier and still only did 48mph. HA! Gravity is my friend, if only while going downhill...
Heading back home, we were heading up Carversville Road, which is a shallow climb all the way, but no, I suggested take a side trip up Stover's Mill Road, which hits you with a short climb of approximately 15% grade. So, we're going up the hill, past a guy playing catch with his son, and a cute little girl standing by the side of the road, and right at the top, where it gets just a little steeper before it levels off, I stood to push through the end, and both of my quads cramped up - SOLID. I sorta fell down onto my saddle, and yelled out (it kinda hurt) but thankfully caught my tongue when I remembered the little girl -- didn't want her to hear what I was about to say!
I tried to ride through it, but it just wasn't working... I had to pull off to the side. Dave stood there holding my bike while sat in a ditch on the side of the road, pinched my upper lip (accupressure thing I've heard of to relieve muscle cramps) and tried to move my legs. Eventually, after a minute or two, I was able to remount the bike and start riding again.
Despite suffering like a dog, it was an AWESOME ride. I'm looking forward to riding with Dave again, as there's no way to get better than with riding with faster folks. He told me about a hill interval ride he does that he calls the "Six Sisters", and said nobody's done it with him twice. I need work on my hills, so maybe I'll be the first to do it twice? It's about an hour long, right in our backyard, and it sounds PAINFUL.
Oh, an amusing side note. While comparing the output from our bike computers at the end of the ride, our climbing was almost identical - 1716 feet to 1760 feet, but we did notice a significant discrepancy between our caloric outputs. While I, at 210lbs, burned 3200 calories, Dave burned only 1700! Damn skinny guys. :)
Monday, July 28, 2008
More speed...
As I had mentioned in a previous post, I've taken to making top speed runs down Tohickon Hill road, a local road which is ideally suited for the task. It has a couple of S turns at the top, but then straightens out and holds a steady 8% grade. Last time I tried, I spun up to 150rpm, and hit about 52mph. Since then, I've replaced my top two cogs, a 12 and 13, with an 11 and 12 taken from a mountain bike cassette. That raises my top gear from 116" to 126" (gear inches; the virtual diameter of a wheel that turns once for every pedal revolution) which means I go 33" farther with each turn of the cranks.
Having been off the bike for about two weeks, my Saturday and Sunday morning rides were not great, but on Sunday morning, I did take a run down Tohickon. Coming through the S turns, on the second to last corner, I saw a big dump truck coming up the hill, rounding the last corner. Since the truck was big, his tire was over the centerline, so I had to get on the brakes pretty hard and move to the right. This obviously lost me a bunch of speed, but I hadn't planned on making a full top speed run anyway.
I came out of the last corner going maybe 30mph, brought the speed up, got a good spin, but nothing crazy... saw about 47 or 48mph when I glanced down, figured that was good enough, and backed off.
However... when I got home, I was downloading the ride from the GPS, and noticed that it marked my top speed as 51.8mph -- the same reading the GPS had given for my last top speed run! So, without even trying, I've managed to tie my previous best mark.
Man, I can't wait to try that hill again while I'm fresh. 55mph? 56? more? We'll just have to see. I also noticed that since I wasn't pedalling as fast, the bike was far more stable, so I should be able to go far faster and still feel safe.
I wonder if I'll be able to beat 60mph at some point...
Having been off the bike for about two weeks, my Saturday and Sunday morning rides were not great, but on Sunday morning, I did take a run down Tohickon. Coming through the S turns, on the second to last corner, I saw a big dump truck coming up the hill, rounding the last corner. Since the truck was big, his tire was over the centerline, so I had to get on the brakes pretty hard and move to the right. This obviously lost me a bunch of speed, but I hadn't planned on making a full top speed run anyway.
I came out of the last corner going maybe 30mph, brought the speed up, got a good spin, but nothing crazy... saw about 47 or 48mph when I glanced down, figured that was good enough, and backed off.
However... when I got home, I was downloading the ride from the GPS, and noticed that it marked my top speed as 51.8mph -- the same reading the GPS had given for my last top speed run! So, without even trying, I've managed to tie my previous best mark.
Man, I can't wait to try that hill again while I'm fresh. 55mph? 56? more? We'll just have to see. I also noticed that since I wasn't pedalling as fast, the bike was far more stable, so I should be able to go far faster and still feel safe.
I wonder if I'll be able to beat 60mph at some point...
Friday, July 25, 2008
My comedy of errors...
This year hasn't been much of a mountain biking year for me, what with it causing me back pain and such. On the flipside, it's been a great year for Grace on the MTB, since she's found some new friends to ride with and she's been getting stronger and stronger. I've been riding the road bike and doing pretty well with it, but we both miss riding together, and since she doesn't really road ride anymore, it would have to be on the mountain.
I finally finished rebuilding her rear wheel (she broke a spoke which was previously damaged from an overshift) so she wasn't using my wheel anymore, and since I was working from home, we could get an early start and get a ride in together. So, we pack up everything, along with some bike parts I've been hanging on to for BVL, and head out. It even looks like we're running ahead of schedule, until we realize that with all the stuff we brought, we forgot both of our helmets. So, we turn around and head back home, adding 25 or so minutes to our trip. Thankfully, Brian got stuck in traffic and we wound up at the parking lot at about the same time.
We get our stuff together, and get ready to ride, and as we go to pull away, I realize the bike sagged WAY too much in the back when I sat on it. I look down, and realize that the rear shock had blown through more than half of its travel when I sat on the bike. Well, okay, it had sat unused for a while, and although I've left it for longer and didn't lose any pressure, whatever, I'd just air it up and we'd be on our way.
So, I pumped it up to 175psi, and we were off. Not even 1/8 mile on the trail, I realize that the bike is feeling soft in the rear again, and look down to see that the shock is sagging way too much again. I hop off, and pop on the pump, and the guage reads only 50psi... a minute or two after I inflated it to 175psi. Not a good sign! So I inflate it back up, and as I'm nearing pressure, I can hear the shock leaking. At this point, I tell Grace and Brian to go on without me, and I'll just head back to the car and wait.
So, I head back to the car, and grab my phone. Dmitri's aware of my MTB issues, and being a rider of a bike with no rear suspension, I thought he'd get a laugh out of the problems I had. But... my phone's battery had died! Well, I was on call, so I had my pager, so I started sending him an email... and the pager reset on me for no apparent reason. At this point, it's starting to seem that everything I touch breaks... and I'm a little worried because I sent Grace out on the trails with a new set of tires that were insanely light. Thankfully, BVL was with her, but I expected to hear stories of woe (and anger) when she got back.
Anyhow, while Grace and BVL rode, I hiked in the Andorra Natural Area -- bikes aren't allowed, and I had always wanted to check it out, so that much was good. It's a beautiful area, and I only saw one other person, which was nice as the shared main trails can be pretty busy.
When I finally got home, I took the shock off the bike, inflated it yet again, and put it in the sink, filled with water. Sure enough, it's leaking at the rebound adjuster dial, which is exactly where it was leaking before I sent it back to Push this last time. I specifically asked them to pay attention to that! Wound up sending them an email, we'll see what happens with that.
Oh, and Grace got back from the ride and LOVED the tires. *phew*... if there was one thing to touch that didn't break, her tires would definitely be it!
I finally finished rebuilding her rear wheel (she broke a spoke which was previously damaged from an overshift) so she wasn't using my wheel anymore, and since I was working from home, we could get an early start and get a ride in together. So, we pack up everything, along with some bike parts I've been hanging on to for BVL, and head out. It even looks like we're running ahead of schedule, until we realize that with all the stuff we brought, we forgot both of our helmets. So, we turn around and head back home, adding 25 or so minutes to our trip. Thankfully, Brian got stuck in traffic and we wound up at the parking lot at about the same time.
We get our stuff together, and get ready to ride, and as we go to pull away, I realize the bike sagged WAY too much in the back when I sat on it. I look down, and realize that the rear shock had blown through more than half of its travel when I sat on the bike. Well, okay, it had sat unused for a while, and although I've left it for longer and didn't lose any pressure, whatever, I'd just air it up and we'd be on our way.
So, I pumped it up to 175psi, and we were off. Not even 1/8 mile on the trail, I realize that the bike is feeling soft in the rear again, and look down to see that the shock is sagging way too much again. I hop off, and pop on the pump, and the guage reads only 50psi... a minute or two after I inflated it to 175psi. Not a good sign! So I inflate it back up, and as I'm nearing pressure, I can hear the shock leaking. At this point, I tell Grace and Brian to go on without me, and I'll just head back to the car and wait.
So, I head back to the car, and grab my phone. Dmitri's aware of my MTB issues, and being a rider of a bike with no rear suspension, I thought he'd get a laugh out of the problems I had. But... my phone's battery had died! Well, I was on call, so I had my pager, so I started sending him an email... and the pager reset on me for no apparent reason. At this point, it's starting to seem that everything I touch breaks... and I'm a little worried because I sent Grace out on the trails with a new set of tires that were insanely light. Thankfully, BVL was with her, but I expected to hear stories of woe (and anger) when she got back.
Anyhow, while Grace and BVL rode, I hiked in the Andorra Natural Area -- bikes aren't allowed, and I had always wanted to check it out, so that much was good. It's a beautiful area, and I only saw one other person, which was nice as the shared main trails can be pretty busy.
When I finally got home, I took the shock off the bike, inflated it yet again, and put it in the sink, filled with water. Sure enough, it's leaking at the rebound adjuster dial, which is exactly where it was leaking before I sent it back to Push this last time. I specifically asked them to pay attention to that! Wound up sending them an email, we'll see what happens with that.
Oh, and Grace got back from the ride and LOVED the tires. *phew*... if there was one thing to touch that didn't break, her tires would definitely be it!
Project... 17?
Just for grins, I got a pair of Kenda Klimax Lite tires for Grace's bike. While the Karmas are light at 450g, the Klimaxes are deep into ludicrous territory -- 345g each!! They're listed as a 2.0, and although I haven't measured, they look more like a 1.8, maybe a 1.7. They're SLIM. There's also a bare minimum of tread... they look more like cyclocross tires than MTB tires... and I think most cyclocross tires are even heavier.
So, with all this in mind, I tell Grace that I'm putting them on so she can try them, and we both more or less expect she won't like them. One time we tried Racing Ralphs, which are another light race tire, and she hated them, and wound up crashing. So, with that in mind, she set off on a ride today. (I actually tried to join her, but that's a story for another post... soon to come.)
I nervously awaited her return from the ride, to find out what she thought of the tires, fully expecting something along the line of "get these $%&#ing things off my bike"... but when I see her, she's SMILING. Ask her how the ride was -- it was REALLY GOOD! The tires? She loves them. Had some problems on steep, loose climbs with insufficient traction (not surprising!) but beyond that, they were FAST and they accelerated like nobody's business.
So, it's all good, surprisingly. We won't leave them on for daily riding, but they'll be great for hardpack events like Fair Hill.
Oh, and with those tires on ... 18.06lb!
So, with all this in mind, I tell Grace that I'm putting them on so she can try them, and we both more or less expect she won't like them. One time we tried Racing Ralphs, which are another light race tire, and she hated them, and wound up crashing. So, with that in mind, she set off on a ride today. (I actually tried to join her, but that's a story for another post... soon to come.)
I nervously awaited her return from the ride, to find out what she thought of the tires, fully expecting something along the line of "get these $%&#ing things off my bike"... but when I see her, she's SMILING. Ask her how the ride was -- it was REALLY GOOD! The tires? She loves them. Had some problems on steep, loose climbs with insufficient traction (not surprising!) but beyond that, they were FAST and they accelerated like nobody's business.
So, it's all good, surprisingly. We won't leave them on for daily riding, but they'll be great for hardpack events like Fair Hill.
Oh, and with those tires on ... 18.06lb!
Friday, July 11, 2008
The Humbler Ride
Rode into work yesterday. Looking at the time when I arrived, I thought I had come within a couple minutes of setting a personal best time... and I was suitably tired. Uploaded the ride only to discover it was almost the same exact time as my last commute, nearly 9 minutes off my personal best. Worse yet, I was fatigued all throughout the day, and when I decided to skip the ride home and take an off-peak train, the train was PACKED solid and I didn't get to sit down with a place to put my bike until more than halfway through the trip.
Oh well, they can't all be good rides...
Oh well, they can't all be good rides...
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Speed!!
Today I had the day off, so I went out for a ride. I started out later than normal, and by the time I was on the road, the temperature and humidity had already come up, and thanks to a workout yesterday, my legs were feeling heavy. So, I figured it was going to be a simple out and back ride, but it turned into my longest single ride of the year, at 43 miles. (commuting is good for two 33 mile rides, so I've had longer days)
I got out and hit the old faithful roads of upper bucks to the northeast of home, and made a point to hit several good, serious climbs. I made it all the way up to the area we call the "Lost World" (where we used to go driving with the Miata to get lost) and found a new tough hill -- Cafferty Rd just past the Frankenfield covered bridge. According to my GPS, several hundred feet of this climb were at or beyond 20% grade. That is a serious climb, and it doesn't flatten out after that, it settles in to around 7-10% grade all the way until the top. Cafferty splits off of Hollow Horn Road, which stays flat, and as you climb Cafferty, you can see Hollow Horn off to your right, dropping far, far below. It's pretty cool.
On the flipside of the big elevation changes, I set a new personal speed mark descending Tohikon Hill Road. Friday I had tried, and due to damp roads and a heathly amount of fear, I could only manage 49.7mph. Today, however, the roads were dry and clear, and I went at it with gusto, spinning all the way up to 150rpm and hitting a speed of 52mph. I've spun faster, but at those speeds, the front end of the bike starts to get a little shaky, which doesn't inspire confidence.
Couldn't help but think... with the 12-25 cassette... if I swap out the 12t cog for an 11t cog... the same 150rpm would be good for just shy of 57mph. ;-)
I got out and hit the old faithful roads of upper bucks to the northeast of home, and made a point to hit several good, serious climbs. I made it all the way up to the area we call the "Lost World" (where we used to go driving with the Miata to get lost) and found a new tough hill -- Cafferty Rd just past the Frankenfield covered bridge. According to my GPS, several hundred feet of this climb were at or beyond 20% grade. That is a serious climb, and it doesn't flatten out after that, it settles in to around 7-10% grade all the way until the top. Cafferty splits off of Hollow Horn Road, which stays flat, and as you climb Cafferty, you can see Hollow Horn off to your right, dropping far, far below. It's pretty cool.On the flipside of the big elevation changes, I set a new personal speed mark descending Tohikon Hill Road. Friday I had tried, and due to damp roads and a heathly amount of fear, I could only manage 49.7mph. Today, however, the roads were dry and clear, and I went at it with gusto, spinning all the way up to 150rpm and hitting a speed of 52mph. I've spun faster, but at those speeds, the front end of the bike starts to get a little shaky, which doesn't inspire confidence.
Couldn't help but think... with the 12-25 cassette... if I swap out the 12t cog for an 11t cog... the same 150rpm would be good for just shy of 57mph. ;-)
Thursday, July 3, 2008
MTB miles vs. road miles
One thing I've heard, and heck -- I've done it -- is comparing miles ridden on a mountain bike to miles ridden on the road. Just this morning, talking with a friend, he mentioned someone who did 14 miles in Wissahickon, and said "the guys say that's like 40 miles on the road". So, this got me wondering. Obviously, there are far too many variables, such as terrain and exertion to come up with a hard and fast number, but we could come up with an estimate, right?
Thankfully, I didn't have to wonder too much. With the Garmin bike computer, I've got detailed information on most of my rides this year. So, I decided to compare a road ride to a mountain bike ride in Wissahickon. I had to keep something consistent, so I looked for two rides which were approximately the same time duration. I wound up with a 11 mile ride in Wissahickon, and a 21 mile road ride from home. For the mountain ride, I covered 11.94 miles in 1:12:23, and burned 1660 calories. For the road ride, I covered 21.32 miles in 1:13:48, and burned 1751 calories. That works out to 139 cal/mile on the MTB, and 82 cal/mile road... but this is exactly what we expect. Riding the MTB is tougher, so you burn more calories per mile than on the road. However, the really interesting math is the calories per minute. The mountain bike burns up 22.93 calories/min, but the road bike burns 22.73 calories per minute. Almost the same!
So, based on these two rides, the conversion from MTB miles to road miles is 1.78x... so a 14 mile MTB ride in Wissahickon is about 25 miles on the road.
However, while I was writing this up, I noticed a couple problems. My Wissahickon ride isn't a round trip -- I forgot to start the computer, so if you look at the map, you can see I started it well into the ride. This way, I was "starting" the Wissahickon ride already warmed up. And, although I had 1000 feet of climbing in the road ride, it's probably the flattest ride in our area. So, I took a look for other comparable length rides and found the PMBA Rally in the Valley and my commute from work to home last week.
So again we have a calorie per minute number averaging around 23! This would give us a conversion factor of 2.1.
So, based on two far from scientific comparisons, you can ballpark MTB miles as 2x road miles. Funny, too, since I have used 2x in the past.
Thankfully, I didn't have to wonder too much. With the Garmin bike computer, I've got detailed information on most of my rides this year. So, I decided to compare a road ride to a mountain bike ride in Wissahickon. I had to keep something consistent, so I looked for two rides which were approximately the same time duration. I wound up with a 11 mile ride in Wissahickon, and a 21 mile road ride from home. For the mountain ride, I covered 11.94 miles in 1:12:23, and burned 1660 calories. For the road ride, I covered 21.32 miles in 1:13:48, and burned 1751 calories. That works out to 139 cal/mile on the MTB, and 82 cal/mile road... but this is exactly what we expect. Riding the MTB is tougher, so you burn more calories per mile than on the road. However, the really interesting math is the calories per minute. The mountain bike burns up 22.93 calories/min, but the road bike burns 22.73 calories per minute. Almost the same!
So, based on these two rides, the conversion from MTB miles to road miles is 1.78x... so a 14 mile MTB ride in Wissahickon is about 25 miles on the road.
However, while I was writing this up, I noticed a couple problems. My Wissahickon ride isn't a round trip -- I forgot to start the computer, so if you look at the map, you can see I started it well into the ride. This way, I was "starting" the Wissahickon ride already warmed up. And, although I had 1000 feet of climbing in the road ride, it's probably the flattest ride in our area. So, I took a look for other comparable length rides and found the PMBA Rally in the Valley and my commute from work to home last week.
| MTB | Road | |
|---|---|---|
| Time | 2:05:40 | 2:04:25 |
| Distance | 15.65 | 33.44 |
| Calories | 2764 | 3082 |
| Cal/mi | 176 | 92 |
| Cal/min | 22.0 | 24.78 |
So again we have a calorie per minute number averaging around 23! This would give us a conversion factor of 2.1.
So, based on two far from scientific comparisons, you can ballpark MTB miles as 2x road miles. Funny, too, since I have used 2x in the past.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
101 things I hate about Fedora
My server died last night... well, the OS drive died. Data drives are okay, and I've been way overdue for an OS upgrade for a while (Fedora Core 5 isn't current?? what?) so I wasn't too upset. Good opportunity to get migrated up to the current version, Fedora Core 9. Before anyone says "why didn't you use distro xyz"... I work with RedHat systems, and I've got my RHCE, so I'm really familiar with the RedHat-ish OS's. That's why I use Fedora.
However, it ain't perfect, and it has more than its fair share of annoying shit. While I'm sitting here trying to get it back up and running, let me go through some of them. Ok, so it won't be a literal 101 things, but it's some.
However, it ain't perfect, and it has more than its fair share of annoying shit. While I'm sitting here trying to get it back up and running, let me go through some of them. Ok, so it won't be a literal 101 things, but it's some.
- The default install is retarded. Even going through and deselecting a bunch of stuff (including all of gnome) I still wind up with 857 packages. Better yet, I deselected "printing support" but LOOK! Cups is still loaded! WTF?
- I hate gpm, the console mouse thingy. Some folks probably love it. If I'm on a command line, I want just a command line. It's a little thing, and an "rpm -e gpm" fixes all, but I still hate it.
- They've added this new NetworkManager thing which tries to windows-ify your system by making changes to your network settings. But gee, thanks, I set those a different way. Sure, there are ways you can work with it, and I'm sure for a laptop or something it's a nice feature, but this is a server, and I don't need it. Disabled!
- SELinux. Oh, WOW this thing is fucking infuriating. Sure, it's probably essential to making your system very secure, but usually it seems to just be there to make working on the system unbearable. As I'm going through and configuring services to get the system back up and running like yesterday, EACH AND EVERY ONE runs into some wonderful new SELinux block. Maybe if I took the time to set it all up the right way it would be a good thing, but at this point it's just KILLING me. So, I disabled it altogether. A security tool that's this much of a pain in the ass to work with -- so that it leads folks to just plain disable it -- is no security tool at all.
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