Initial Hammerhead One review

Warning! This review is long. You've been warned.

I finally received my Hammerhead One a week or two ago. This thing's been a long time in the making, starting as a kickstarter (or one of those crowdfunding sites, I'm too lazy to go back and look it up) that I was really excited about. If you're not familiar with a Hammerhead One, it's a bicycle navigation device - here's the manufacturer's own video:

Hammerhead One demo video

It's a really, really cool concept, so I was more than happy to back them.

The process took a while. I knew this from the start, but it certainly seemed to go on quite some time. They were good with updates to the process, but I quickly learned that "we think we'll be shipping it by {insert some point in the near future}" statements were not terribly likely. Eventually, I decided "okay, it'll happen at some point, and it'll be a pleasant surprise when it does". Finally, about a month ago I received an update message that said they'd be shipping out soon. It showed up on my porch one day, and I was pretty stoked!

Initial thoughts

• It's a clean design
  The final shipped design is awfully close to the initial designs, and is really clean. Non-cycling friends can (and have) made jokes about the new sex toy, but aside from that it's a pretty cool looking gadget.
  
  
• No documentation at all in the box?
  The box looks pretty good, but one thing I noticed right away is there's no documentation either in the box or on it. If you're going to ship a device with no form of instructions included, you'd better make damn sure it's super intuitive to use and has no gotchas. Turns out, this isn't the case.
  
  There was, however, a nice thank-you card which lists the names of all the initial supporters. Yep, I'm on there, along with two friends that I know supported it. Cool.
  
  The only instructions that I received with the unit came in the shipping email:
  
  "Once you have unboxed your Hammerhead we suggest you connect it to the app and update the Firmware immediately: This video will show you how to update the firmware, and here is an initial turn instruction guide."
  
  As this was the shipping email, I initially missed it, and as we'll see, that turns out to be not quite enough.
  
  
• Reusing the Garmin mount is a clever approach
  The mount on the Hammerhead uses a standard Garmin bike computer half-turn mount. It's simple, it works, and opens up the ability to use a bunch of other mounts.
  
  
• Sparse documentation online
  After some initial setup issues, I hit the "Help" link in the app which leads to their online FAQ. They've bolstered it quite a bit since I got mine, but at the time, it was really sparse. The only other thing I managed to find were the videos which we've already discussed.
  
  
• Setup video says iOS, no separate video for Android
  Although the app looks almost exactly the same between the two platforms, the setup video that they linked to in the shipping email clearly says "iOS" in the title. So I look for the Android version, and I don't find it. Good thing I know Android and iOS well enough to be able to translate what they're trying to do in the video. It's not hugely different (beyond it actually working in iOS - but more on that in the next section) but it's still different.
  
  
• No GPX import?
  Playing around with the app, it looks like a fairly basic navigation app. I find I get the best results planning rides using a computer and web-based tools instead of an app on the phone - and then being able to import that route into an app on the phone when it comes time to follow it. This doesn't appear to be an option, and it doesn't even look like I can use another tool and then import that path. I understand that this could lead to issues - if I give it a route that's not on its map, how will it know where to turn, and if I go off-route, how will it figure out how to re-route me? It's probably not a trivial solution, but I sure hope that they figure it out.
  
  

Android problems

I have two phones - my own Android (first gen Moto X) and an iPhone 6 from work. This turns out to be a good thing, because about two weeks into having my Hammerhead, I've still yet to get it working with the Android phone. I've discovered a bunch of fun things, and have been seriously frustrated up to this point, but so far their customer support has been pretty good. Here's a rundown of the problems I've discovered and not yet surmounted:

• You don't pair it with your phone like a normal Bluetooth device.
  If there were instructions, I might have known that before I started using it. Having missed the one paragraph of instructions in the shipping email, I figured "Okay, it's bluetooth. Let's get it paired up and see what this thing can do." So, I went to the phone's Bluetooth setup menu, just like I've done for all the other Bluetooth things that I have, and tried to set it up. This failed with an "invalid PIN" error. I checked the instructions I received for what to do in that situation and oh wait - I didn't get any. Hah.
  
  Turns out you have to do the pairing in the app. Why? Fucked if I know. I've got theories.
  
  
• If you manage to lock it up, the only way to reset it is leave it alone and let the battery run out.
  In the process of trying to figure out how to get it to talk to the phone (remembering that I missed the one paragraph of instructions with links to videos for a mobile OS that I was not using) I managed to lock it up. The device has one button which is ringed by light when it's on, and at some point this went solid greenish-blue and the device stopped responding at all. The phone wasn't able to see it anymore - it was locked up. With no troubleshooting instructions and nothing of use I could find on the FAQ (which was much less populated than it is now and had almost nothing about connectivity issues) I was left to my own troubleshooting steps. I'm a computer guy, I've got decent troubleshooting skills. The first thing I tried was to press and hold the button, as many electronic devices honor that as a "turn off regardless" indicator. Holding the button down for well over a minute made me think that wasn't the case. Tapping the button did nothing. There are screws on the back of the unit and I considered opening it up - they're just T-6 Torx, which I have - but at this point the thing is brand new and I decided I didn't really want to do that.
  
  Ultimately, I left it alone and let the battery die off. Once that happened, I could start trying to use it again, until I locked it up again and had to let it die all over again. Speaking with support, I was told that I could reset the unit by "Plug in the USB cable and hold the main button for 6 seconds. Then remove the USB cable and hold the main button for 3 seconds." This procedure kinda sucks since I need to have a USB cable on hand and leaves a bunch of questions unanswered:
• Do I keep holding the button when I unplug the USB or do I let it go?
• Does the USB cable have to be plugged into the wall, or would a cable by itself do the trick?
• Most importantly, why didn't it work with any variation of the procedure that I could think of?
  
  
• Removing the charging port cover isn't intuitive or documented
  The charging port cover is easy to find, at the bottom of the unit on the back. Getting it off is another matter. It looks like it should just slide off away from the bottom of the unit, but trying to do that by hand without forcing it wasn't resulting in anything. There's a tab on the back of the device that looked like maybe it needed to be depressed in order to let the cover slide off, and I tried that. Turns out that's exactly what you don't want to do as it keeps the cover in place and pressing on it increases the lock, not decreases it. I see the FAQ entry has been updated to state this now - but that wasn't there the other day when I tried it. Also, the FAQ entry had one single photo with an arrow on it pointing to the charging port. The problem here is that the photo looks like a quick shot with a cell phone camera in crappy lighting so the arrow points to an area on the phone you could have found on your own (I did) and the relevant point on the unit is a featureless blob of black, so you really don't get any information from the photo which isn't already obvious. See what I mean?

  

  Crappy white balance and exposure make this photo useless.

  
  
  With a T-shirt providing a dark background so it doesn't throw off the auto exposure and sunlight from the window by my desk, I managed to get this photo:

  

  Less than a minute of work and a much more useful photo.

  I didn't include the cover because I took that off and just left it off.
  
  I eventually managed to get the cover off by sticking the point of a screwdriver in the space around the tab that holds it in place and pushing it away in the direction I guessed was right.
  
  
• The charging light is hard to see
  When I first let it die off because it was locked up, and then plugged it in, no lights came on. Considering the thing is covered with LEDs, I was kinda surprised about that. No form of indication if it's charging or done? Fail.
  
  Well, turns out I was wrong. There's a small green LED on the side of the unit which shows when it's plugged in. I had initially missed it. Let's see why:

  

  The charging light is on. Can you see it?

  

  See it now? The viewing angle is quite shallow.

  I also don't think the light changes based on the charge level. It's just an indication that it's plugged in. So, is it fully charged? Well, the app can tell you that, but a simple flashing during charge, solid when fully charged would remove the need for the app.
  
  
• The firmware process isn't well documented or intuitive
  The only instructions for upgrading the firmware are on the iOS video. It just shows the procedure happening once and leaves out pretty important details. I managed to assemble the proper procedure from the video, the light sequence demo video, and other information I managed to find online.
  
  
• Lack of information on firmware versions
  Since the only place you can update the firmware is through the phone app, you never have to manually download it, and that's nice. However, there's no way to see what the current released version of firmware might be - or changelogs, or anything like that. As a computer guy, I'm used to things like this. For the general user, not a huge problem, but since they recently uploaded a video mentioning firmware 1.5, and I'm at 1.3.x, I have to assume that it hasn't been released because "Update firmware" is greyed out in the app. Or maybe something's broken. I can't tell.
  
  
• The Android app won't actually talk to my phone
  After finally managing to update the firmware on my device, I tried to use it with my Android phone. I can create route instructions, but when I try to ride it, I get the following error:

  

  "wait for some time." ?? Dafug?

  Despite "waiting for some time" - it never sees my Hammerhead.
  
  
• The Android app crashes repeatedly
  Related to the above point, when I click "Skip" on the "Connecting to Hammerhead" prompt above, the app closes and I get this:

  

  Yay, crashed!

  
  
  
• All of this works on my iPhone
  I guess we know where they spent all their development effort and QA testing.

Test drive on my commute to work

So yes, I know that my first test with this thing should be on a bike, not driving in a car, but time constraints combined with curiosity/impatience led my first test to be my driving commute to work. It's actually not awful because I know the roads between home and work pretty well so should be able to follow pretty close to the route the app suggests, and it'd be interesting to see how it handles things. The key, however, with anything that gives you directions is you should get familiar with it on roads and paths that you _know_ so you learn its quirks - you don't want to find these out blindly following it where you have no idea where you _should_ be going.

For this test,  I had the hammerhead propped up in front of my speedometer so I could see the lights out of my peripheral vision, and the iPhone was in my phone holder so I could see the route it had planned out for me.

• It really prefers bike paths to streets
  This isn't too surprising, since it's designed first and foremost for giving directions to road bikers. Still, the roads around my house are quite nice and cyclist friendly. Here's the way it suggested I start my ride:

  

  It's pretty, but a circuitous 2.8 miles.

  
  

  

  Perfectly valid route that's a full mile shorter.

  While the route it suggested is pretty and almost completely avoids any roads, the way I usually go is perfectly fine for cyclists and takes 1 mile off the ride before I've even gotten to Route 202.
  
  
• It prefers a shared-use path to a marked bike lane.
  Similar to above, Route 202 has a shared-use path that runs along side the road, separated by a fence. It's a nice way to go - but 202 also has marked bike paths on the road. If you chose to do that (admittedly, few cyclists do, but I have) it will confuse the app, frequently telling you to turn around and head back when the shared use path goes away from the road too far.

  

  Route 202 has bike lanes and a separate shared-use path. gmaps

  
  If you don't already know where you're going, the indication for a U-turn while you're heading the right way on a marked bike lane could be confusing as hell.
  
  If you do already know where you're going, then you don't really need a blinky thing on your handlebars telling you where to go, do you?
  
  
• The routing was pretty good for a cyclist in the area
  Ignoring wanting to use bike paths over roads and insisting on a U-turn when you don't follow it exactly, the routing was pretty good. There are some tricky areas for bikes on my commute, and it managed to avoid those pretty effectively.
  
  
• It tried to direct me over a bridge that has been closed for a month or two
  I use the Waze app for driving. It's a community-supported app that allows you to report problems on the road, including road closures. One of the routes I take to work has a bridge which is currently closed for repairs. I was able to tag the bridge as unavailable in the Waze app so that other folks knew to not go that way.
  
  Unfortunately, Hammerhead's map doesn't know this, and tried to direct me over the same bridge. When I took my usual detour around the closed bridge, the Hammerhead was diligently instructing me to make a U-turn for well over a half mile before it finally figured out the way I was actually going.
  
  
• The amount of pre-turn warning that you get seems to be based on distance from the turn
  Okay, this is kinda a bullshit observation since I was in a car, going far faster than the app was designed for, but the turn notifications I was getting happened *very* close to the turn. At bike speed, that'd be just fine, but adjusting the amount of warning based on the speed doesn't seem like it'd be terribly difficult. More of an observation than a real issue.
  
  
• Several indicated turns that weren't actual turns.
  Driving down a section of road where I had well over a mile to the next turn, it kept indicating left turns. Sometimes those turns seemed to be nothing more than a bend in the road. Sometimes it indicated a left turn on a straight stretch of road where there was nothing beyond a driveway on the left. If I didn't know where I was going and didn't have the map up, that would have been confusing as HELL. Problem is, not knowing where I'm going and not having a map up is exactly the targeted use case for this device.
  
  I should note that these were indicated left turns - not the slight turns shown in the video. I did see one slight right on my route, which was accurate.
  
  

Conclusion - so far

I still think the Hammerhead is a great idea and a slick design. It shows real promise. However, I can't help but wonder what the hell they did with 20 months of development time. I can't imagine they offered these to too many folks for beta testing... or is that us, the initial backers? I can't imagine how they managed to go 20 months of development without writing any type of useful doc, or taking more than a single crappy cell phone camera when a simple lightbox setup with a good SLR would have been so much more effective. It's just been a really frustrating first experience with the device.

Given some time, I think that it still shows huge promise, and I'm not giving up on it yet, but I certainly don't think it's ready for the big time, and I sure won't be using it alone to figure out how to get somewhere. It needs a bunch of work before I'll be ready to trust it that far.

Bay to Bay ride

Yesterday I did the Bay-to-Bay century ride down in Maryland.  We started off at Betterton, MD, a beautiful little town on the Chesapeake bay where one of my friends has a really, really nice condo on the water.  Another perk of his condo is the location, only about 1/2 mile from the start of the ride.  It used to be even closer, but folks complained about the little bitty hill (a nose-bleedingly, ear-poppingly massive 0.3 mile climb that averages 2% grade and gains 38') heading away from the start, so they moved the start to the top of the hill.

I thought that with the area being predominantly flat, and us bringing six strong guys, the century would be easy, but that turned out to not be the case, but not for the reasons I expected.  My fit on the bike isn't quite perfect, and I quickly discovered that being in a paceline means holding more or less the same position for quite some time, and that gets uncomfortable quick.  Plus, there are only two interesting places in a paceline -- at the front and pulling, or at the back where you can relax, stand, whatever, and you don't have to worry about the guy behind you -- because there isn't any.  (second wheel isn't bad if the guy pulling is solid) In the middle, you have to be diligent and focused and although you're using less muscular energy, you're using more mental energy.  I guess that gets better with a bunch of paceline experience, which I don't have.  Worse yet, because this is a big organized ride, a paceline passes many single riders and smaller groups, many of whom gladly attach themselves to the paceline, despite a lack of experience themselves.  We had one guy early on who was really quite squirrely, and kept doing dumb things like overlapping wheels, and getting into an aero tuck on downhills.  I was really glad when him and his buddy opted to keep going through the first rest stop.  Many of the other guys who rode with us were pretty good, but ultimately, a bigger paceline just means more time in the middle, where it's frankly quite boring.

So, by the second rest stop at mile 38, I was mentally exhausted, wishing passionately for a real climb, and frankly quite done with the ride, but Rule #5 (and being 38 miles from the start) prevented me from giving up.  (the interesting discovery that horseflies know how to draft and as such can't be ridden away from didn't help, either)  I spent the next 15 miles slowly rotating through the paceline and watching the miles tick off.  One of our guys started having trouble with the pace, so he and another guy dropped off, so I dropped off as well to ride with them for a while.  Riding in the smaller group was far better, and I started to enjoy the ride.  We regrouped at the next rest stop, and I wound up with the big group again, and got into the rotation again.  I began wondering how you could do an organized ride with a good group of guys, but also manage to keep the "unknowns" out of the line.  Personally, the "unknowns" just wound up annoying me and made the line bigger, and more boring, even if they took their pulls and were good in the line.  I guess it's a mindset thing.

After the last rest stop, I pulled out first and took the lead for 2.9 miles -- 9 minutes.  (it was a looong, easy start, and I wasn't fully up to speed until the first mile was done) Rolling off at the end of my pull, I saw the group going by.  Four of our guys, two "unknowns" who we'd been riding with for a while, who were solid riders, but at this point, I was just tired of riding in a paceline, and made no effort to catch the last wheel.  I started to recover from my pull, and brought my pace up, and stayed within a couple hundred yards of the group for quite some time.  This was at mile 87, and I knew this wouldn't last, but was curious how long I could keep them in sight riding solo.  Soon, however, I saw a guy walking on the side of the road with his bike, so as they rode by, I stopped next to him to find out if he needed help.  Turns out his issues weren't mechanical, but severe cramps, and unfortunately there's not much you can do at that point, so I verified that he was okay, and rode on now completely alone.

Here's where it started to get interesting.  No longer was my effort dictated by the group, so I could ride as hard or easy as I wanted, and I was soon up to some pretty high efforts. I rode hard but controlled, and caught one or two other riders, then came across one of our own guys who had been shed from the paceline.  I swung around him, sat up and cruised for a little while, but he made no effort to grab my wheel, so I rolled back onto the power and kept on up the road.  I soon found myself at the bottom of a long climb, and recognized it as a climb which we had done the previous morning.  Since there was no previous Strava segment there, we created one, and I had been tied for the KOM at 2:56 until Dave uploaded his ride and got 2:55.  I had joked with him that I was going to take the KOM back by riding a 2:54, and coming to the bottom of this climb at mile 94, having been riding by myself for 7 miles, that is exactly what I did.  (What really sucks for Dave is that his phone locked up and stopped recording early in the ride, so even though he probably went faster up the hill with the group than I did solo - he doesn't get any credit, or the KOM.)  Halfway up the climb, I saw another rider up the road, so used that rider as my rabbit, and managed to chase down Brian, another one of our guys, right at the top of the climb.

Brian misread the arrows on the road, as did I, and we made a right turn where we should have gone straight.  This wouldn't have been a big problem, but I recognized the road as one that we rode the previous day, and had created another segment on... so I turned on the gas yet again trying to better my time from the previous day.  Despite a near maximum effort, being at mile 95 and on my own (Brian hung onto my wheel for a couple minutes but decided to let me go) doesn't stand a chance against three pretty fresh guys sharing the load from the previous day, and my time came in at 9:34, a damn shade slower than the previous morning's 8:26.  Worse yet, this was when I realized that there were no blue arrows on the road at the next intersection -- we had taken a wrong turn!  I broke out my phone and checked the map, and we had gone exactly the wrong direction to get to the finish.  I later discovered we nearly reconnected with the course at mile 73!  So, we had no recourse but to turn around and ride the 3.5 mile segment back to where we'd made the wrong turn.

At this point, I was more interested in finding the short way back instead of finding the course, so I used my phone to map out the shortest return.  I soon realized that I knew the roads we were taking, and these roads went over the few "hills" in the area.  The biggest of these isn't even 100 feet of elevation, but we're now at 105 miles and oddly enough, getting a little tired.  Had I followed the course instead of the "short way" back, I think there would have been a whole bunch less climbing.  We finally made it back to Betterton, and the rest of the guys had finished, but while they only had 103 miles of riding, Brian and I had 111 miles (Strava says 110.8 -- I didn't start the Garmin until after the 0.6 mile ride to the start, so I legitimately claim 111) and had finished with climbs, which we agreed made us the big winners and hard men of the group.

So, the ride was enjoyable, despite my issues with the big pacelines.  I would love to do the ride again, but this time with no more than four folks in a core paceline and some way to keep the "unknowns" from spoiling the party.  Doing it solo would be interesting, but probably also very, very difficult.

One of the reasons I stayed with the pacelines as much as I did was because I was convinced if I went solo, it would take me longer to get finished, but that's not necessarily the case.  Here's the segment between the second to last and last rest stops where I rode with a paceline of about 7 guys:

http://app.strava.com/activities/11635620#z17009|18874

10.2 miles at an average speed of 19.6mph, sitting behind an unknown who would pedalpedalpedal-cooooaaaast-repeat for the entire time.  (granted, his buddy with the tri bars did have a wonderfully long and consistent 20mph pull) Very mentally draining as I was trying to leave enough gap that I didn't have to coast when he slowed, but could soft pedal and not screw up the guys behind me.

In contrast, here's the segment where I went solo after the last rest stop:

http://app.strava.com/activities/11635620#z20951|22843

10.5 miles, including the biggest "climb" on the course (and 3.5 miles in the wrong direction) at an average speed of 20.0mph, while enjoying myself immensely more.  This is even after my 2.9 mile pull out of the rest stop.  Could I have kept that up for the entire ride, hell no.  But still, it's interesting.  I caught two folks who had been shelled from the paceline, and had I not made the wrong turn, I think I may have caught the others who got dropped -- Dave Heller finished with only one other guy.  Maybe... maybe not, but ultimately, it doesn't matter, because that last 26 miles was the best of the ride, because I was riding either solo or with one other person.

Keep your shirt on...

Tonight we went to Nockamixon.  We had talked about going to Wiss, but Grace's concern about my ongoing issues with my left achilles' tendon had her decide Nox was better.  Sure... the place that I know so well that I almost always wind up hammering... the same place that I re-annoyed it on Monday.  Well, we figured we'd start out easy and figure how we felt.

Well, anyhow, we get there and are putting our bikes together and I hear a familiar voice.  I look over and see the EWR jersey and knew his majesty, the King of Nockamixon, Sir Bob of Eichlin, was just about ready to start a ride.  Grace sees him there and simply mutters "oh shit."

Ya see, Bob is fast.  Take a look at any of the Strava segments in Nockamixon, and you'll see Bob's name right up at the top, usually with a pervertedly large buffer over second place.  Bob's also a really cool guy and fun to ride with, when you can keep up.  So, our "let's start out easy and see how we feel" plan suddenly got scrapped for "let's hammer like crazy".  So, we meet Bob's buddy Jason, and the four of us head out.

Almost immediately I'm reminded of my lack of bike handling skills.  Don't get me wrong, I can do okay, but I immediately find myself in a cycle of braking for a corner that they didn't, then having to accelerate to catch up.  They're just zipping along and I'm already spending more than I should in the first mile or two of a ride.  I manage to settle in and catch back up to them, but am starting to realize that they are on a fast pace, and if I stick with it, my achilles will not be happy, so I make the decision to "do the smart thing" (aka preserve my sense of dignity with an excuse) and let them go.  I'm screwed when the tendon is all better, though.

With the evil rabbits out of sight, we settle into a good, enthusiastic pace.  I meter my efforts, keeping the stress off my heel, and manage to move up to third on two segments.  As usual, looking at it after the fact, I'm absolutely convinced that I can do better.  We did the south loop in both directions, with Grace in the lead.  I am firmly convinced that I ride better when chasing her through the twisty sections.  Hell, it was chasing her in Mercer all those years ago where I learned to do the tighter corners out of necessity.  Most importantly, I made it past the "stripper tree" twice and manage to avoid having my jersey torn from my back.  The 2009 EWR jersey lives to see another day.

We finish up with a reverse of the Cold Spot/Hammer loops, and I come to the conclusion that I much prefer the Hammer loop ridden that way.  It just seems to flow so much nicer.  I think it's the first time I've ridden it "backwards" since before it was actually open and we followed Kenny around it.

Running out of light -- and temperature -- we get back to the parking lot just after Bob and Jason, talk to them for a while, then head home for steaks and beer.  All in all, not a bad way to end the week. 

Ah, the pure, simple joy of singlespeeding.

A while back, while riding in Pennypack park, the gears on my Superlight were acting up. I wound up having to stay in one gear, and did the rest of the ride as a singlespeed. Despite having tried -- and intensely disliked -- singlespeeding in the past, I found myself enjoying it and for the first time, starting to "get" the appeal. I decided to ressurect my Karate Monkey as a singlespeed.

A little while later, I had it back together, and took it out for its inaugural ride, again in Pennypack. (it's one of the best parks in the area for singlespeeding) On that first ride, the bike worked well, but I lost my front brake -- apparently the Marta needed bleeding -- bad. Initially I had some front brake if I pumped the lever, but that went away and I was left with nothing. Managed to finish the ride with only the rear.

So, I pulled off the Martas, and set up my Avid mechanical brakes. No bleeding to be done there, plus they're good brakes. Set them up, and while I was at it, converted the Panaracer Rampages to tubeless using some spare Stan's strips I had on hand. On the next ride, the brakes were great, but I burped the rear tire and lost all the pressure. (turns out the 26er Stan's strips are just a little too narrow for the Salsa Delgado Cross rims) Thankfully Amy had some CO2 so I was able to re-seat the bead and finish the ride.

Bought some proper Stan's 29er strips, which are just that little bit wider, and fixed my rear wheel. Yesterday, I got out to try that, and had no problems with the brakes or tires. But, it was cold - wicked cold - in the single digits. A little ways into the ride, the freehub started to slip, eventually giving out altogether. The grease in the freehub had frozen up, keeping the pawls from moving freely, and they were either damaged, or just plain froze in place. Thankfully there was a paved path so I could head straight back to the car, but without the ability to pedal on my own, I had to rely on getting a tow from Lance and Aaron.

I've been enjoying singlespeeding, and been having good rides, but yeesh! I thought singlespeeds were supposed to be simple, and maintenance free! :D

I just don't understand.

Went riding with Grace, Amy, and Ed today, and rode Pennypack -- my first time, finally!

Had shifting issues in Wissahickon last week, spent some time on the bike yesterday but apparently not enough -- had shifting issues again today. So, I wound up singlespeeding on the santa cruz- I found one gear in which I could leave it where it wouldn't skip shift on me, or anything.

Well, I spent most of the ride doing the singlespeed thing, and really wondering just WHY some folks do this on PURPOSE. It's not enough gear on the downhills, it's too much gear on the uphills, it's just too much work and so forth and so on.

However, what I REALLY didn't understand was how, after going through a tough ride like that (and having to work so much harder for the same ride than I would have if my gears were working) I came to the conclusion that no, I was not going to sell my Karate Monkey as I planned, but rather build it up again... as a rigid singlespeed.

It makes no bloody sense whatsoever... but I'm still gonna do it. Hey, I might build it up and realize I still don't like it. But, for some reason that I still don't fully understand, I'm gonna go back and try it again.

Cheap bike parts and more MTBing

Saturday morning, Dmitri, Lance, and I went up to the bike swap meet at the Lehigh Valley velodrome. (now called the "Valley Preferred Cycling Center") I brought a bunch of cash, not looking for anything particular past a set of cranks for the road bike. The Dura Ace cranks on the Giant are starting to look pretty rough, with the clear coat starting to crack, and the aluminum oxidizing. They're good cranks, but need to be refinished, and I know a guy who restores bikes who is interested in seeing what he can do with them. (or, I might try my hand at it)

So, early on, I found a pair of Ultegra external bearing cranks for only $75. Was pretty happy with that and bought them, but later realized I didn't bother to consider they didn't have a bottom bracket, and I also discovered they were missing the plastic tensioning cap as well as one of the clamping bolts. So, the price wasn't quite as good as I thought. Oh well, my bad.

Just two booths later, I found a pair of FSA SL-K carbon fiber road cranks which looked to be take-offs - they showed some scratches but no wear on the rings, and no evidence of pedals ever having been installed - for $90! Right now those same cranks are $450 - on sale - at Colorado Cyclist! That lessened the pain of my hasty purchase on the Ultegras!

After the swap meet, the three of us rode in Ralph Stover/High Rocks park. It's a small park, but very technical, so it's a challenging ride. I didn't ride nearly as well as Friday night's ride, but did decently. Both Lance and Dmitri rode strong, and Dmitri rode some really tough sections -- including one section that Lance tried multiple times without success! (I walked the whole thing)

We then went home, picked up four cases of beer, threw a couple beers in the freezer and worked on Lance's bike.

All in all, I'd call that a Very Good Day. :)

Great ride in Wissahickon

Tonight I got out of work and joined Grace, Amy, Ed, and Dmitri for a ride in Wissahickon. This will have to go down as the best MTB ride I've been on in over a year. We were all riding strong, and riding fast. Had we not lost light, we probably would have kept going, but since only Dmitri had a light, we bailed as it got harder and harder to see the trail.

My back started hurting a little bit at one point, but cleared up. This was also the first time that I felt the power I have on the road available to me on the mountain. Even at that, though, trying to keep up with Dmitri and Grace towards the end had me working, and working HARD. They've both gone and gotten seriously fast! (thank you, Amy!!) Towards the end of the ride, Ed was having problems with his back (oh how I can relate) but somehow still managed to be crazy fast.

Afterwards, Grace and I joined Ed and Amy at a bar in Glenside for beer and wings. Between the four of us, we ordered 100 wings and untold numbers of beers. Much fun was had, and although there were wings left over when we were all full, it wasn't as much as you might think! We all toasted to Amy and Grace... they've become good friends and have made each other far stronger than they had been before.

I just hope that ride is an indication of what's to come for me. Despite what Grace will make you think, I don't hate mountain biking -- when it's that good, I really, really love it!

Gentlemen's Rides

Back on September 27th and 28th, I did the MS150 City-to-Shore fundraising bike event. I haven't written about it here because I wanted to do it when I had time to really do it justice... to tell all the stories that there were, the fun had with friends, the new friends met, the great riding that we did... but really you don't care about those stories nearly as much as I do.

I just came across this article about "Gentlemen's Rides" which so perfectly sums up not only the MS150, but all of my most favorite rides. Gentlemen's Rides are like racing, except it's far more social. There's still the urge to put your closest friends into the most hurtin' possible, but then you regroup, laugh, and do it again.

I always knew I wasn't a racer... but now I realize I'm a "Gentleman rider".

Good riding in CT

Monica and Rich, Grace's sister and her husband, moved to CT a few months ago. I was concerned when I heard they were moving, because there was some *good* mountain biking in Greensboro, NC... but after visiting this weekend, I found my concerns were unfounded. They live just off of the Shenipsit trail, which despite the name which begs for variations, (sheep s**t, snippy s**t, conniption, etc) is pretty awesome. It's very technical, littered with rocks, and you really have to work for it, but it's amazingly fun.

I have to also say that the back issue seems to be completely resolved. I rode yesterday and today, and rode hard enough that I was totally wiped out at the end, but my back was fine. My back hurt a little when I was off the bike Saturday night, but was fine by Sunday and didn't bug me at all on Sunday's ride. I'm VERY happy to be done with that chapter.

We came across several other cyclists, and while thinking about it later, I realized nobody was riding a twenty-niner. Considering the rocky terrain, I was pretty surprised about this. In Wissahickon, niners are just about everywhere and taking over... and the rockiest sections of Wissahickon aren't anywhere near as tough as the average rock gardens on Shenipsit. Mind you, we only saw about 10-12 other cyclists while we were out, but the same selection of riders in our area would have netted at three or more niners.

Speaking of riders we met, we met up with a couple on the trails who were out riding with their dog. We asked about the trails, and they offered for us to ride with them since it was easier to show the trails than describe them. We gladly accepted and rode with them for a while. At one point when we stopped to regroup (and recover) and they mentioned that they are the president and webmaster for a local club, Eastern Bloc. Stuart and Laura were really cool and told us next time we come back to get in touch and we'll meet up to ride again! Gotta love the awesome people you meet while mountain biking!

I also had another first on this ride... I failed to clear a technical climb for a reason I had never thought I would use -- my arms gave out! As strange as it sounds, I realized several times while muscling through the rough stuff, I was REALLY cranking on the bars. On this one climb, I was slightly out of the saddle to give the bike more room to move over the ground, and to keep my position as well as push on the pedals harder, I was pulling back on the bars good and hard. My legs were fine, my lungs were fine, everything seemed good, but I realized that my arms were fatiguing from the effort, and had to stop before I lost my grip! Not having my gloves contributed, no doubt... my hands had gotten sweaty and the ESI grips had started to get a little slick after we started riding with Stuart and Laura.

I also should mention that all the riding Grace has been doing with Amy has been paying off bigtime. Grace has been riding VERY strong, and even having a hardtail with a road cassette didn't slow her down through the gnarly rock gardens. Returning to the house on a road climb, she dropped me like a bad habit. Yes, she's strong, and yes, I'm psyched!

Funny story about that... while we were riding with the Jensens, we were doing a prolonged technical climb, and the day's riding was starting to catch up with me. Stuart was starting to gap me up ahead, and I heard one of the ladies catching up to me. I took a quick glance back, and saw a green jersey, and thought it was Laura. She sat on my wheel for a while as I climbed, and at one point I offered to let her by. She declined, but was stuck to my wheel. I was fading, and figured if I couldn't clear a technical section, I'd get in her way. I considered telling her that it was okay to pass me, I didn't mind being passed by a woman -- since I wouldn't be able to ride with Grace if I did! Didn't actually say it (was gasping for breath anyway) and a little while later realized it wasn't Laura after all, but Grace sitting back there and apparently not even breathing hard!

Beaten with my own stick...

I got out for a ride yesterday with Dmitri, a buddy of mine who is a dedicated singlespeeding mountain biker. He's decided to ride the MS-150 with us at the end of the month, but he doesn't have a road bike, so I put my old Airborne Zeppelin together for him to use. Yesterday was his first ride on the bike in several years. Back in 2004 or 2005, both of us entered a local time trial, and he rode the Zep back then... but hasn't touched a road bike since.

Well, I have to say, it's pretty interesting to see my old bike fading away on up the road. Apparently the preparation for a 100 mile MTB endurance race translates well to the road, even if he wasn't familiar with this whole concept of shifting, and having to pedal all the time. On one stretch of road, I was holding about 20mph, and he comes around and starts pulling at a steady 24mph. Yikes! Thankfully I kept the climbing to a minimum, as otherwise the ass-whuppin' would have probably been worse.

The good part was that since we're about the same size, we were able to swap bikes so I could ride the old Zeppelin. Still a nice bike, but definitely different ride. Softer, yet more chattery than my carbon fiber Giant TCR. One thing I really liked, though, was the 46cm c-to-c bars. I've had the bars for a while, but hadn't gotten around to testing them. They're only 2cm wider than the Eastons on the Giant, but that little bit wider is noticable, especially when cranking out of the saddle. The extra leverage is really nice, and the flat tops of the bar is even wider. Of course, having the 31.8mm stem clamp area and being made of aluminum, they are also far stiffer than the carbon Eastons with the smaller 26.0mm clamp. Most bars only come to 44cm c-to-c, but if you're a big person, you might seriously consider looking for the wider 46cm bars. I'm considering getting rid of the two pairs of 44cm bars I have now and finding a carbon 46cm for the Giant.

Knock, knock, knocking on bonkin's door...

Went out for the same ride as yesterday this morning. Felt pretty good, was happy with how I rode, but forgot one key item. I didn't have any solid food before I left. Wasn't a problem until about mile 34 or so, when it started becoming a major problem. At first I just started feeling very hungry, but by the time I was riding into Doylestown, I was starting to feel weak and by the time I got home, about all I could do was collapse in the driveway while Buddy ran around my head.

I didn't get to a full-fledged bonk, and after downing a pack of Clif Shot Bloks, then a big breakfast, I now feel almost human again. My time on the bike was marginally faster than yesterday's time... which is good considering I was in survival mode for the last three miles!

I've also discovered that on the prolonged flats, my cardio isn't the limiting factor. My legs, which have almost always been strong enough to deliver more power than my heart could keep up with, have been getting a slow burn, and that's turned out to be the limiting factor.

First ride, new road wheels

I spent a couple days this past week building up a new set of road wheels for myself. This morning, I finally got out to give them a test ride. I haven't installed the tubeless Hutchinson Fusion 2 tires yet. To give the wheels a test with tires I know, I just installed the Michelin Pro 2 Race tires I've been riding.

Well, considering this was the first road ride I've really done in like... three weeks... (ouch) I wasn't feeling tremendous. Still, I headed out on roads I knew, eager to see if I noticed a difference with the wheels. On one section of Point Pleasant Pike, where I've been able to hit 26mph on a good day, I managed to get the speed up to just a smidge under 29 miles per hour! Now, remember, I haven't been on the bike for three weeks, and wasn't feeling all that strong... and wasn't pushing extra hard. Are those three extra miles per hour due to the new wheels alone? I really doubt it, but I have to say, it was really sweet to be able to crank out that type of speed when I wasn't feeling strong.

The wheels are also stiffer than I expected, due in no small part to the much taller 30mm rim profile. The old Mavic Open Pros were maybe 20mm tall, so despite running fewer spokes and lighter spokes, the rim keeps the wheel nice and strong and rigid.

I was hoping to install the tubeless tires tonight, but just plain ran out of time. Maybe tomorrow night, and I can give them a test ride on Monday morning. If the things I've heard about the tubeless road tires are true, it should be pretty special!

Push couldn't find this leak...

A couple posts ago, I mentioned the problems I've been having with the shock on my mountain bike. To quickly summarize, it started leaking, so I sent it to Push for service and to fix the leak. I got it back, and four rides later, it was leaking again, and I missed out on a ride with Grace and BVL. Well, I shipped it out to them, and a couple days later, they shipped it back. Didn't say anything in the email, just sent an invoice marked as $0. I didn't read the invoice in detail, but assumed that they fixed the problem and I was good to go.

So, Thursday I was planning on riding with Grace and BVL again (cue the foreshadowing) and when I went to double check the pressure in the shock, I was a little surprised to find out that there wasn't any. Oh... yay. So I pump it up to 175psi, and before I pull the pump off, I watch the gauge for a couple seconds... and can clearly see the needle dropping. Well, I've already missed a ride with Grace and BVL because of this, and it's now been months since I rode the MTB, so I decide, I'm gonna try to ride this. Thanks to a flexible hose on the pump, I can leave the pump attached to the shock, and ziptie the pump body to the frame, so all I have to do is stop, get off, and pump the shock back up. I even wrapped some electrical tape around the frame where the pump body touched so it wouldn't rub through the finish.

So, we headed off, and did most of a normal ride, but I have to say, it kinda sucked. The bike rode nicely for, oh, say, 30 seconds... at which point the rear end started getting too soft. Soon after that, the rear was noticably sagging, and if I let it go for long enough, I could start to feel the shock bottoming out. When the shock sags, it screws up every single frame dimension... the saddle drops, the pedals move forward compared to the saddle, the nose of the saddle points up (ouch) and the head tube angle slacks out, making the bike handle even more oddly. Still, I managed to get through the ride, and all in all, it was good to be back on the bike. I'd been having problems with my back on the MTB, and have to say that although I felt it was there, it was never a problem -- at least, not compared to the problems with the shock!

Luckily for Push, I did not have their phone number in my phone, nor did I have a signal. Grace was pretty much ready to give them a piece of her mind, since it was the second time we'd seen the same problem!

So, I get home, pull the shock back off, and bring it to the sink. My plan was to take a video of the leaking shock and send it to Push. I had done this before, but didn't bother to send it because I figured they'd be able to find it. I pressurized it, then put it in the full sink, and sure enough, a nice stream of big bubbles came out of it. I opened up the paid invoice from when I sent it back, and discovered that the tech said he couldn't find a leak. Well, I don't know, I managed to, check out this video and tell me if you can find it:

Can you see it? You have to look REALLY closely, or you might miss it. :|

The funniest part is after looking at it more closely, I discovered the leak wasn't from the rebound adjuster knob, as I thought, but from the pressure valve. I pulled it out, cleaned everything up and inspected the parts for problems, and found none. I applied a little bit of pipe dope to the threads and the O-ring, reinstalled it, and repressurized it. Guess what? NO LEAKS. This was all on Thursday. It's now Saturday evening and I checked the pressure an hour ago and it was still where it was supposed to be.

Yikes. This doesn't say good things for Push! I don't know how they didn't find the leak, but all I know is I did, and should be able to have a proper mountain bike ride for the first time in ... jeez, MONTHS.

Rode with Lance

I finally got to ride with Lance on the road, for the first time since last year's MS-150.

Not Lance Armstrong, but in my world, close enough. Seems somehow Lance (Honer) and I have developed a rivalry that hinges around our Tour de France, the City-to-Shore MS-150. No, it's not a race, and there really isn't any point to the rivalry, but what's that matter amongst friends? Last year Lance trained hard... and I ... not so much. So, not surprisingly, he rode stronger than me and was the first one into Ocean City, and the first one over both of the tall bridges leading into town. So he got the polka dots and the maillot jaune! Granted, I was close behind, and having some tough muscle cramps, but he still got there first. This made me realize the gravity of the MS-150 (which, understand, there really is none) and decide to actually train for it this year. Everyone wants to be the alpha dog. :)

So, with that background, and hearing stories of Lance riding massive hills in Central VA and riding the 62 mile, >6000' climbing Livestrong route in sub-4 hours, I was curious to see how yesterday's ride together on my training roads would go. As I told Grace before the ride, I could see three things coming from the ride:

1. Lance totally embarrasses me on the ride, and we both step up our training.
   (him to open the gap, and me to close it)
2. I totally embarrass Lance, and we both step up our training.
3. We're painfully evenly matched... and we both step up our training.
   

So, knowing the outcome would be the same no matter what, I was still interested to see how we compared. Starting out from my house, Lance started *fast*... I mean, quite a bit faster than I normally ride, fast enough to make me start thinking... "uh oh." We hit the first hill, Old Easton Rd, and just as soon as it turns up, BANG, he's gone. Once again... "uh oh." He gapped me right off the bat, and I couldn't help but notice my legs weren't feeling good. Well, okay, he's strong, but doesn't know where we're going so just keep the pace and hope the legs warm up.

We get to the top, and ride towards the river, and my legs aren't bad, but they're not great. My plan was to bring Lance up Tohickon Hill, one of the better prolonged climbs in the area, and was not looking forward to the ass beating I was sure to receive on those slopes. In preparation, I told Lance the road to look for once he got to the top.

However, he didn't drop me on the climb. Matter of fact, he was right there with me as I led the way up the hill. He came around on a false flat, then as it turned up again, I came around him and rode to the top. Mind you, he didn't know we were at the top. I had home field advantage.

The rest of the ride was very similar, with us riding pretty even, although me abusing my home field advantage to know when to push for the top. Lance did open one massive gap on me when we rode up the short but brutally steep Old Ferry Road, which is only a quarter mile but AVERAGES 14%. I knew pain on that climb, knew it very well. Lance didn't exactly storm away but did gap me to the tune of at least 100'. 100' in 1,320... that's a gap! I guess it was his MTB singlespeeding experience that got him up that beast.

So, it was a good ride... no -- I would say it was a great ride. Because of work obligations, I had to keep it short and be back home by 9am, but we got in a fun ride just short of 2 hours, then had a nice big breakfast while I did my work.

A hard ride tormenting friends (and being tormented) for no apparent reason... that's what is fun about riding. :)

Another awesome ride!

Rode again with Dave last night. Wasn't really into the ride going into it, in fact I was a little worried because I felt pretty tired (have all week since the last ride!) and figured there was no way I could have a good ride. Still, I need to ride, and riding with Dave pushes me far harder than I could on my own. So, I went for it.

The start of the ride, I didn't feel too bad, except for a nagging saddle issue about which I won't go into detail. However, I eventually warmed up and started feeling better, and next thing you know, we're actually riding. One thing I had changed was the addition of Hammer's Perpetuem to my water, consuming a bottle before the ride, and a bottle during. I think it made a significant difference to my riding, as the only cramping I had was some light threats from my calves toward the end of the ride.

On Monday, we rode Route 29 in NJ, and I wound up sitting on Dave's wheel most of the time. Yesterday, I pulled for a couple miles out of Stockton, rolling around 24.5mph for most of the time. Nice to feel my flatland legs coming back. Plus, in the hills, I was still a long, long way from fast, but Dave noticed the improvement from Monday. I attacked Stover's Mill Road, the same hill that gave me that paralyzing cramp on Monday, and powered over the top on my 39/21. My heart nearly exploded, but my legs were fine. Got right back on that horse that threw me. :)

All in all, we added 5 miles to Monday's ride for a total of 43.7 miles -- 70 km even! And for all that extra riding, we only added 10 minutes to the total ride time, meaning we averaged just over 1mph faster, and that's with a couple miles of slower cool-down riding weaving through Doylestown at the end! For comparison, my longest ride so far this year was .1 mile longer and took over 20 minutes longer.

Like I said, I ride harder with Dave. I do have a pretty ripping headache this morning, but other than that I feel pretty good.

On the return home, I got another reminder why I no longer ride with CBBC. As we were heading back on Stover's Mill Road, we caught up to six riders. Two were in the back, riding in the center of the road, but we had room to get by. The remaining four, however, were spread completely across the road and oblivious to the world around them -- especially behind. As I approached, I called out "rider back!" once, then twice, and got no response. Finally they figured out someone was back there, and so began this disjointed and haphazzard response. I got past three, and was heading to the right of the lead rider who was on the left side of the road, but then, without bothering to look behind her, veered to the right directly across my path.

Sure, they were very nice once they realized we were there, but honestly, that's just why I stopped riding with CBBC. It's not uncommon, for a CBBC ride to spread out completely across the lane, even over, and make no accomodation for cars trying to pass, then getting annoyed when a car had to make a pass on a blind corner at a high speed because they got tired of waiting. I've never seen any ride leaders make any effort to change it, either. I got sick of being a part of that.

Oh, the pain...

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. :)

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!

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. ;-)

Ouch...

When I rode into work, I wasn't sure if I would ride home, just because the ride home is always really fatiguing... surprisingly so. Well, I was feeling pretty good in the afternoon, so I figured I'd give it a go. It took me 2:06 to get home, which isn't really all that bad of a time. I think the average speed was something like 15.6mph. Despite the decent average speed (which is slower on the return because there's more climbing) I was utterly wiped out when I got home. I got home, put the bike away, took off my shirt, shoes and socks (leaving them where they dropped in the kitchen), had three glasses of Gatorade (ran out of my bottle about halfway through the ride) and some leftovers, then went upstairs and just plain crashed. I even started this entry but didn't have the energy to finish it. Worse yet, I totally forgot to call my mother and wish her a Happy Birthday. OOPS!

I really don't know why the ride home always kills me so totally... it's certainly one of the biggest reasons I don't ride in more often. Is it because it's in the afternoon, when I'm tired? No, some of my best rides happen when I get home after work and want to fit in a quick ride. I did 21 miles at a 19mph average speed on Monday and felt great afterwards. Is it that the ride is predominantly uphill? I don't think so, because the climbing isn't THAT bad... there aren't any really brutal climbs, and I've done longer rides with far more climbing and felt fine.

I think the real problem might be dealing with the traffic. There are far more cars on the road on my ride home. It's still pretty quiet when I'm heading in, but on my way home, it's pretty busy. There's a light at the intersection of Route 152 and Route 463 which backs up quite a ways, and I'm able to ride right by most of it. It's an uphill, but yesterday I counted 50 cars that I passed before I got to the intersection. (that's always fun!) But dealing with the traffic might just add to the fatigue.

I just don't know why the ride home can wipe me out so completely... Maybe I just need to do it more, like it'll be easier if I'm in better shape.

It would be easier if I could take my bike home on the train... but SEPTA doesn't allow bikes on peak hour trains. If I got in early (which would mean getting up even earlier) I could take the 3:25, which is the last non-peak train in the early afternoon, or I could wait until the 6:55, the first non-peak train in the evening. Neither appeals to me much. If I could just bring my bike home on the normal train, I could ride in, then take the train home every day.

BFT

BFT... as in: 'bout freakin' time!

Finally, I've ridden from home to work, for the first time this year. I've been threatening to do it for... sheesh -- MONTHS now... but I finally got tired of making excuses and just did it.

And? It was awesome. Riding in is one of those things that when I do it, I wonder why I don't do it more often. (the answer is usually "the ride home") Of course, it helped that it was a monumentally beautiful day, and when I was cruising down Kelly Drive, with the rowers doing their thing and the sun shining, I had a strong tailwind and was cruising with very little effort at just shy of 25mph. Life. Is. Good.

I'm also really happy with my time... 33.64 miles in 1:56 -- that's an average speed of 17.4mph! Considering I wasn't pushing at all (that ride was last night) and figured I'd be over 2 hours, that's pretty good. Especially considering I had to walk the bike *through* a fallen tree on Forbidden Drive, quite a trick while walking in hard soled bike shoes! I also stopped to help a guy whose crankarm was loosening up. I haven't decided if I'll make the return trip today... we'll see how I feel when the time comes.

The building I work in is nice in that they provide indoor bike parking behind a locked door, monitored by security cameras, and in direct line of sight of the guards. Still, I don't have a very good lock here, and partly out of curiousity, partly out of "it's better to ask forgiveness than permission", I took my bike up to the office in the elevator and have it in my cubicle. Safety wise it should be about the same, but this way I get to see my bike, which I think is very close to functional art. We'll see if anyone has any problems with it. *fingers crossed* As you can see, my cube is far from clean, so maybe nobody will notice it in the mess.