On the trails again!

Yessiree, this morning was my first ride back on the trails and I am pumped! What a great ride this morning, oh how I’ve missed you dirt, rocks and sticks!!!
Last week was a pretty good week of riding all told. As I mentioned on my last post, I removed my studded tires and in doing so I think I was to blame for the two days of SNOW we ended up getting last week… Oops! The good news was that it was so warm, the snow was gone very shortly after it arrived.
With the regular tires back on, I quickly hit a good stride with consistently good times and average speeds all week. I felt good, and I really believed I was getting back into shape again… And then I rode my trails this morning, and boy was I wrong!!!
Yes, as surprising as it was to me, riding all the way downtown and climbing all the way up to work is actually easier than the couple of nasty climbs I have on the trails. The first climb up between the upper and lower roads on Frolek’s land about killed me. I stopped at the top, not only to remove my outer layer of gloves, but also just to catch my breath and to try not to puke… Yes, I was that beat! I couldn’t believe it, this hill had always been tough (usually where my heart rate tended to spike), but I had never been this rough afterwards… Yikes! I guess I still have some work to do to get into shape yet…
But, seriously, the trails were sweet, I just can’t say that enough! Very little mud, a bit soft and sandy in spots, and no snow whatsoever. A few trees, but someone did a bit of work in trying to clean them off the trail somewhat, so only one tree still requires me to ride quite a ways around it, but, hey, whatever! I’m on the dirt again, so I couldn’t care less…
This weekend, however, I was not in such good spirits. As I cleaned the bike and got to the back wheel, once again I found yet another broken spoke! After only 2-1/2 weeks of riding this season, and all streets at this point, once again I found myself back in this predicament. Last year, Taboo eventually replaced all the spokes on the drive side of my rear wheel with thicker gauge spokes (and the forth visit they finally did for free after I spent about $80 on my previous 3 visits). This spoke was now on the other side of the wheel.Again, still the stock spokes. I am NOT going through another season of this frustration. So, yesterday morning I left work at 11am and drove down to Spoke ‘N Motion. I’ve been very impressed with the salesman there, Greg, every time and rather unimpressed with Taboo so I figured I’d check there first. Thankfully, I did, and they suited me up with a new rear wheel! Sun Rims Single Track mated with a Shimano Deore freehub for only $86 after discount! Not only that, but they swapped over my freewheel and disc brake while I was there, sweet! With that price, I also picked up a new Maxxis Aspen front tire. I wanted something as fast rolling and grippy as the Rocket Ron I had on the back, but didn’t want to spend the $90 for another one of those! So far, so good with this set up of the Rocket Ron on the rear and Aspen on the front, very happy! I also picked up a new pair of liners to wear under my baggies. My ones from last year are still decent, but I wanted two so I could actually wash them a few times a week and they'd have time to dry between rides! Pretty nice Sugoi RC Pro liners, again, bought from Greg at Spoke 'N Motion!

The new front tire, a low tread, low rolling resistance, fast but grippy tire.

The new Sun Rims rear wheel. Not much better than the stock rim, but a great price and a strong wheel that should last me a riding season I would hope!

Riding is Fun… Streets are rather boring though…

Well, another week has passed and I’m still riding on the streets with no immediate end to this torture yet in sight… Ok, it’s not that bad, but I didn’t have that great of a week last week. Partly because I’m still not quite back into shape, partly because I’m working too much, and partly because there’s just not that much challenge about them, other than trying to go faster or harder than the last time… But did I not just mention I’m not quite back into shape yet? I have managed to be very consistent with my riding so far, though, so that will come very soon I’m hoping!

Last week went pretty well over all. I felt good, had some good rides, but then Friday I tanked. The ride in the morning I felt half dead and just wanted to stop and lay down and sleep… zzzzzzzzzz… Thankfully I didn’t, as that would’ve been rather awkward not to mention quite uncomfortable.

So, with my Friday rides turning out to be rather lackluster as they were, I drove to work on Saturday instead and took a full two days off this weekend from riding. I think that was a good move, as I felt really good this morning (Monday). I also cleaned and tuned up the drivetrain, put my regular tires back on (albeit I put the front one on backwards… Oops!), and pumped them up pretty high. All of that, combined with a decent rest, made for my best time and average speed this morning than I’ve done yet, so that was cool! Hillside drive felt good, actually, like I was spinning up easily. 10km/h on average, better than my usual 7-8 there, so I was happy about that for sure.

I put my regular tires back on this weekend, no more studs! Boy, am I ever liking these fat boys again! They look soooo much better, and they’re not even that fat, really, 2.35 inchers…

 

I picked up a new saddle this weekend, too. The stock Cannondale one sucked! This one is fairly stiff, a bit wider/longer with a deeper groove down the middle.

As you can see by the picture above, I also bought a new Specialized Riva MTN saddle this weekend. First of all, am I ever glad it turned out to be called “Riva”. When I was looking at the saddle this morning to look it up on line, I thought it was called “Diva”… It had me worried… Also, I paid $40, NOT $25 as it says on Specialized’s website… Dang, I hate website pricing! Anyways, the saddle was OK for it’s first ride. Stay tuned to next week’s post to see what I think of it after a full week (oh the suspense!). I think it’s better than the sucky stock Cannondale one, but still a bit on the painful side as it is pretty stiff really. However, the reviews online are pretty high, with many saying it takes a day or two to get used to it. If I don’t like it by the end of the week, though, Bicycle Cafe can have it back!

The weather was pretty nice last week, with the mornings hitting around 4° usually and with 11° highs for the most part. A lot of wind, which made for some tough rides, but in the end that means the trails are drying out and the snow is quickly receding! Granted, of course on the day I take off the studded tires, Pineview and Aberdeen are getting DUMPED on this morning… But, it’s supposed to be 10° today, so that will quickly disappear I’m sure. Hopefully I’ll be hitting the trails again within a week or so. The clerk at Bicycle Cafe said she tried riding up above Juniper on Saturday morning and said it was brutal, hardly even walkable. So, I will try to be patient!

Street Commuting 101

Well, even though I haven’t updated this blog, I have been commuting regularly again since my last post here back last Wednesday. Since then, I’ve missed one and a half days of riding, but also had a Saturday ride thrown in due to the overtime I’ve been having to put in at work lately. I’ve been surprised at how quickly I’ve been able to get back into the swing of things. So far to date, I haven’t stopped once on my ride to or from work. Both are tough rides, with lots of climbing, but I’ve been able to stay on the bike and I feel like I’m getting back into shape quite quickly. That being said, over the winter I only put on about 4 pounds in total. Well, since I’ve started riding, I’ve added 2 more pounds!?! I’ve been told that’s mostly muscle gain (which would mean I then lost 2 pounds of muscle over the winter?), and maybe that’s true. I will choose to believe that, and not that I’ve gone into binge eating as my hunger has suddenly drastically increased due to the exercise!
Anyways, riding on the streets is pretty boring. Not much to tell here, so I haven’t bothered with the daily blog (actually, it used to be twice daily, yikes!). But, I figure that I’ve compiled a list of tips and facts that I’ve learned, observed, or always known about street commuting by bike. Some of these are obvious, but I thought I’d throw them all in here together.

• The Juniper hill is SWEET. Going 70+ km/h down a hill is a BLAST. There’s no better way to wake up in the morning than going down the Juniper hill tucked as tight as possible and letting it rip. Coffee Schmoffee!
• The Juniper hill SUCKS. Averaging 7 km/h going up is killer. Not to mention there is no bike lane, which means I have to ride on the dirt at the side as cars scream past me. What doesn’t kill us… You know…
• Out of the 30-40 cars that are usually parked on the side of Dagleish road (a bit of a steep hill), maybe 10 of them at the most tend to have their wheels turned as we all learned to do in Driver’s Ed. Of those 10, 2 will typically be turned correctly meaning the other 8 have actually created a worse scenario than if they had just left the wheels straight. And that, my friends, is the fundamental reason why most driver’s today are so bad at driving. We all usually remember that there was a rule for a given situation, but most can’t remember what that rule actually was or what it required us to do. As such, we tend rely on our smarts, which, as we all have witnessed, is often very, very dumb.
• Assuming a motorist sees you (as a cyclist) is is a quick way to be dead.
• Seeing a jogger catching up to you on a hill is great motivation to suddenly find some extra energy to go a bit faster...
• Diesels are an abomination, and Dodge diesels are of the devil. Why they are legal I’ll never know. And it’s a given that on the steepest part of the hill, where you will be gasping for breath the most, is when you will be passed by a diesel belching it’s sinful contamination straight down into your lungs.
• I used to think the term “granny gear” was a humiliating term meaning that gear was only to be used by old ladies. I now realize the term is instead endearing. When the chips are down, when the pain is higher than you think you can bear and you have no where else to turn, who else would you expect to be there for you but good old Granny? Loving that granny gear lately…
• Daylight Savings Time has bitten me once again, and I still say it sucks. Now I get to ride to AND from work in the dark! Thanks, DST… Granted, working ‘till 7:30 doesn’t help either, so I’ll share some of that blame I suppose.
• If there are two lanes and traffic is light, ALWAYS take a full lane. It is a given that motorists will always try to share your lane with you, but if you ride down the middle of the lane they will move over. If traffic is steady, find another route. On that note, given the choice between hitting a cyclist or hitting a car, most motorists will choose the cyclist…
• On that note, don’t plan your route thinking like a car. The route taken by a car is rarely the right route for a bike. Think like bike!
• Also on another note, if your only choice is to ride a busy street and it is illegal to ride on the sidewalks (as it is here in Kamloops), but you are unable to keep a speed of at least 30 km/h, get on the sidewalk! I believe that if given the choice between a possible ticket (that would be unreasonable and most likely thrown out if challenged) and potential death, the choice is rather obvious!

I think that’s about it for now. Until next time, keep the rubber side down!

Now I’m REALLY back… I’m pretty sure…

I guess riding on Saturday gave me the bug, and I couldn’t stop thinking about riding all week. So, on Tuesday, I went but Sport Chek on my way home and picked up a couple of fenders. No, I didn’t write that wrong, I bought fenders… Those very uncool accessories that most kids would loathe if anyone dared brought them even close to their rides. But, these fenders aren’t “uncool”. No, not so! These fenders are cool! In fact, if you go to Toys R Us you can find many a bike with these types of fenders on them. Granted, those bikes are made and sold to 10 year olds who think it’s cool to ride a simulated motorbike… Anyways, enough words, here’s some pictures of these rather hideous things:

Yeah, they’re not the best looking but very functional!

 

As mentioned in the caption above, these fenders work. Obviously, as per my last post, riding the trails is out of the question. Riding the streets is something I have avoided to this point. I’ve never ridden all the way from home to work on the streets. This means going all the way downtown (to the river level), only to have to climb all the way back up… and up… and UP! So, I haven’t done it. But, I figured I really wanted to get riding again and as far as I could tell, the weather wasn’t cooperating with me at all. So, I decided I’d finally just suck it up and ride the streets.

This morning, I was dreading the ride up Columbia street. It is a four lane road connecting Sahali with downtown. If you want to go from South Kamloops to downtown, without going on the highway, you take Columbia. It is a VERY busy street, and a very steep hill! I would have to take to the sidewalk, regardless of the fact that it is illegal, or basically get run over. But, as I was contemplating my route I remembered that Battle street also went up into Sahali, only through back streets. So, I cruised along Battle street and it was great! The climb was tough of course, but quiet. Maybe one or two cars passed me along the entire way. I then cut through some Apartment building parking lots, the Superstore parking lot and even a strip mall parking lot. At 7:20am, there is no traffic there, so it was perfect!

Oh, but did I mention it was snowing again? Crazy!!! But, the ride was good overall. Tough, and basically an hour of straight climbing. But it was so good to ride again. The ride home was good as well, other than the BRUTAL head wind! Going up the Juniper hill was very painful, especially with the head wind trying as hard as it could to throw me back down the hill!

Anyways, before I sign off tonight, I thought I’d put one more picture here…

When it’s too cold to wash your bike outside, you have to make do with what you have!!! I had it pictured as fitting much better than it did, but it worked!!!

I’m Back!!! I’m not back… :(

With the amount of overtime we’ve had to put in at work lately, I’ve been working every Saturday as well. As such, it was a warm 0° this morning so I figured I’d ride to work this morning. After all, it was Saturday. If I was late for work, big deal! And, being Saturday, I knew I would be leaving in decent time while it was still light out and warm.
Well, the ride in was tough, but rideable. For the most part, it was fun. I had the new studded tires on and they gripped the ice amazingly! I was quite impressed. The higher I got, though, the deeper the snow on the trails and the less packed they were. So, I figured I would stay lower and take the Billy Minor trail North through Peterson’s Creek. This turned out to be a rather poor choice, as I headed down the side, the trail quickly turned quite icey. With the steep nature of this trail, even the studs had a hard time grabbing the ice and I started having a tough time controlling my speed. As such, I tried walking some of the icier portions, which took forever, and I ended up slipping a falling a few times. I was wearing my biking shoes, which have little in the way of traction on shear ice, and it was pretty nerve wracking for a while. finally, after a full hour since I’d left the house, I made it up and out of the other side of the creek and headed the rest of the way to work without issue.
Coming home was another storey. At +7°, the ice was breaking up and the mud was deep. It was extremely difficult to ride. In fact, there were times I was pushing hard just to go downhill!!! I will let the pictures speak for themselves…

There were more trees across the trail then I could count. I may have to buy a chainsaw this year, as it doesn’t look like hikers actually seem to care!

This is what the trail was commonly like this afternoon. Snow to ice to soft-break-through-ice to mud… Calling this “tough” is like calling the ocean a lake… Sure made me work on my balance and riding lightly, not to mention letting the bike jump where ever it wanted to...

And then suddenly ice! But, these tires work wonders on this stuff, pretty cool really!

So… If the mud is deep enough to stand the bike up on its own, is it too deep???

 This downhill section was one of the toughest. Obviously, not only is this hard on me, but very hard on the trails too. Granted, I'm not adding much more than all the 3" deep footprints all over, but if I did this twice a day for a week, I'd tear up these trails and make for some poor dry conditions if that ever comes!

Throw in the odd lake, too, just to make it interesting…

So as the pictures show, the trails are just not passable yet. In fact, the mud was so deep that the trails are not even passable by walking yet! It was quite brutal, really. I will try again next Saturday, hopefully!