Weekend update

But you've already used that as the title of another post, some of you are thinking. Well, hush. It's descriptive, it's Monday, and honestly... what difference does it make? It's not as if anyone's actually going to go back through the archived postings and become confused if two of them have the same title.

Speaking of being confused, maybe someone can explain something to me (or at least provide a non-obvious explanation). When an Amber Alert is issued, we learn the general circumstances under which a child has gone missing. We learn the make, model, and color of the vehicle, that it has a dent in the left rear door, and that it has a bumper sticker reading "My kid beat up your honor student." With a bullet hole in one corner. We learn what the suspected abductor was wearing, down to the team logo on his ball cap, and that the child was wearing pink. Pink t-shirt, pink capris, pink tennis shoes.

Am I the only one who sees it as being rather disingenuous to omit the race of the child and/or that of the suspected abductor from their description(s)?

Yeah, yeah... I get it. The radio station doesn't want to risk being accused of perpetuating this or that racial stereotype. But if I'm supposed to be on the lookout for the child, wouldn't it be useful to have me looking for a white guy pulling on the arm of a black child, if that's the case? Sure, knowing that they're traveling in a clapped out, '90 Accord is helpful, but there are just so many of them smoking around the metroplex.

I'm just sayin'.

But I digress

With my bloodstream full of anti-inflammatories, I've officially lowered the Foo Irascibility Advisory System threat level to a more manageable yellow. I didn't go out for any significant training miles on Saturday, wanting to ease back into riding to see how the ol' C3-C6 would tolerate it. Instead, Turtle and I went out for a pleasant hour of tooling around the immediate neighborhoodplex. It was a bit windy (and what Spring day in Texas isn't?), so we agreed that I'd ride ahead, double-back, and repeat. That way we'd be sort of riding together, but I wouldn't have to ride at her pace, and she wouldn't have to push herself beyond what felt comfortable for her. 15 miles for me; 8 for her (though I'm sure she'll correct me if I've remembered it wrong). Lunch at Subway.

Sunday morning, it was time for Dawn Patrol and a metric century with St. Bob and Squirrel Bait. At 63 °F, the temperature was nearly 20 degrees warmer than when we started our ride last weekend, but the stiff southern wind and overcast skies made for a gloomy sort of day. That was good news for us, because it made for a good training day. The homeliness of the day kept a lot of the usual runners and wobblies inexperienced cyclists away from The Rock, and the wind made us work—for half the loop, at least.

Nature break (a gratuitous double entendre)

I think it was after our fourth loop (~36 miles) that we made a brief stop for potty breaks and energy bars. As I munched on a Blackberry Sawdust Clif bar*, a squirrel with a very puffy tail boldly scampered up to me. It sat up on its haunches and watched me intently, eyes bright and whiskers twitching.

"Hey, SB," I called to Squirrel Bait. "Your little friend's back."

"Ew! Make it go aw—"

She didn't finish, instead stopping to watch the squirrel. Sensing the potential for a handout, it had cranked the cuteness up to Full and would have batted its eyelashes at her (if it had any).

"Aw... he is kinda cute, isn't he?"

The squirrel puffed up its tail and shook it to signal its excitement and a desire to be our best friend. I broke off a chunk of my Clif bar and tossed it in the squirrel's direction, and it leapt into the air. Time slowed, Matrix-like, so that we could fully appreciate the back flip with full twist the squirrel executed before snatching the crumb from the air and landing in a graceful crouch on the sidewalk.

"Go, Neo!" I said, genuinely impressed.

The squirrel was busily munching its chunk of chewy energy bar, but spared me a glance and seemed to wink conspiratorially.

Meanwhile...

St. Bob had been on the phone, checking in at home. There was a smallish emergency that was going to cut his ride short—and Squirrel Bait's, as well, since they'd carpooled.

To make a long story a bit shorter, I ended up going off on my own so that I'd be sure to get in my metric before my lovely bride started looking at the clock and worrying (as she is wont to do). I considered going for some extra distance, but by the time I'd finished my seventh lap, I'd had enough of the wind and the racer wannabes and gave that a miss. I ended with 65.5 miles at an average of 16 mph.

Later in the day, I got a call from St. Bob who wanted to be sure I'd made out okay, finishing on my own.

I don't call him St. Bob for nothing.

He told me that when he and Squirrel Bait finished their last lap and returned to the parking lot, the park maintenance guy who had tried to help Bob with his mechanical problem last week was there. He asked about Bob's bike problem and whether they'd had a good ride, just making conversation.

Finally, he asked if they'd seen his squirrel, and it turns out that the bold little critter I'd fed isn't just some random rodent. Her name is "Sylvia".

Who knew?

Reporting in... Suh!

After bagging on the Colder Than Crap Century,* I turned right around on Sunday and logged my first metric century (100 kilometers or, in this case, about 65 miles) of the year. At 45 degrees, it made for a very chilly start, but the wind had blown itself out and the sun was shining. By mid-morning, we were stopping every 20 miles or so to peel off layers of clothing. I felt strong all day and had a great training ride.

Monday morning, I was well into my first major neck flare-up of the year. It had nothing to do with the previous day's ride, but with all the whipsawing of the weather I'd suspected it was coming. By that afternoon, I could no longer hold my head completely upright and could barely turn my head. The treatment options: a Turtle-imposed freeze on all evening laptop sessions, and a trip to the neurologist for some new prescriptions. The former (and my load at work) accounts for the lack of postings to this blog and the ones I visit; the latter explains why I'm once again able to turn my head without seeing stars.

Looks like I'm back in business.

* Polar opposite of the Hotter Than Hell Hundred, you might say. Get it? Polar opposite?

Bunny update

Some of you may be wondering about our nest of rodents little furry darlings. Last Friday, just as our nasty storms were rolling in, I went out to check on them. Their eyes were open by that time, and the biggest of the litter eyed me suspiciously as I approached.

A teenager already? Ah... they grow up so fast, I thought.

"Well, Señor Conejito," I said aloud. "Are you and your buddies ready? There's about to be a lot of rain, so you'll maybe want to climb off the other kids so they don't drown."

It eyed me for a couple seconds and suddenly scrabbled over the lip of the nest, scampered along the fence line, and wriggled under. I could see Turtle watching me out the kitchen window, waving her hands and mouthing something that looked like Go get him! Go get him! I shrugged at her and headed back inside as fat droplets of rain began plopping on the concrete patio.

Turtle continued to peer through my binoculars out the kitchen window as the rain pounded down. Two more... three more emerged from the nest and milled around in the downpour. We haven't seen a sign of them since, but I'm sure they're fine.

Probably digging an elaborate warren under the foundation of my house as I type this.

Best laid plans of mousey men

A few weeks ago, I was sitting at a table outside Einstein's Bagels with my buddy, rcarlino, and he asked if I was going to do the PBA's Spring Century ride. I remembered how much he and several other riding buddies enjoyed the Fall Century and, after a bit of discussion about whether or not I was in shape for it, decided I'd give it a go.

As of last weekend, the projected weather forecast for this weekend was high temperatures around 70, and sunny. By mid-week, it had changed to partly cloudy and low 60s. Last evening, a nasty band of thunderstorms and tornadoes rolled across the metromess with a cold front in its wake. By this morning, the temperatures were in the mid-40s with projected highs in the mid-50s.

But it was still supposed to be sunny, so even with the predicted 20 mph winds out of the north the ride was still doable, and the wind would be at our backs (bonus!) on the return leg. I'd just have to wear my tights, full-finger gloves, and my windbreaker. The thing is, once I was standing in the parking lot, discussing the situation with other riders, I started noticing that their tights and jackets were thicker than what I had on, and most were wearing at least two jerseys—and arm warmers besides. And still I tried to convince myself that I was being a weenie. I'd probably warm up once I got moving. 20 mph headwinds and 35 mph gusts wouldn't be that bad, right? Except I couldn't hear myself think over the chattering of my teeth.

I should have listened to Turtle when she tried to get me to buy some winter cycling gear on end-of-season closeout.

The short of it is that I hung around long enough for rcarlino to arrive, told him I was bagging it, and turned the car toward the house without ever unloading my bike. I felt kind of guilty about that. At least, I felt guilty about it until I checked Weather Underground and saw that the winds are only increasing, and the temperature's dropping.

Maybe I'll go to Hotter 'N' Hell 100 this year and try for my century. I'm betting it won't be too cold then.

New red shoes

With the MS 150 only a few weeks away, I decided it was time to go ahead and give the Ba-cheetah the set of spankin' new, red Michelin Ironman tires I bought last month. While I was at it, I cleaned and lubed the chain in preparation for this weekend's century attempt.

Here's my steed all gussied up and looking proud:

The Easter bunny cometh

Several bunnies, in fact.

Last week, I had finished mowing the lawn and was racing the predicted storms to get the trimming done, when I noticed a tuft of what looked like dryer lint lying on the grass. I looked closer and saw that it was rabbit fluff. I heard a tiny squeaking noise and followed it to a nest of tiny critters. I'd knocked open a bunny nest with the string trimmer. They were so tiny that their fur was still black and their little heads still had that sort of generic shape that could just as well have belonged to newborn puppies.

I consulted St. Turtle of Assisi. One of the babies had a cut across its belly, probably from the string trimmer, but the others looked fine so she suggested we should leave them alone so the mother would come back and take care of them.

As of this morning, they're still out there. They seem to be doing all right and are active enough that they keep knocking the fluff out of their hole. When I come out to check on them, they hear me and start climbing all over one another. Their eyes are still closed, but their heads look more like bunny heads now, and their fur has changed to a more recognizable mix of browns and whites.



In the first picture, you can see one of the bunnies' heads, facing to the left, with a little white stripe on top. The second picture shows one of the babies' bunny butt, as it attempts to burrow its way to the bottom of the pile to take its turn getting warm. To give you a sense of how little these guys are, the hole you see is only about four inches across.

I just hope that they don't decide to take up residence in my yard, tearing up the grass and burrowing under the foundation slab like their mother.

Bicycle Q & A

My previous posting triggered some interesting questions and commentary, and since I've been a bit low on interesting life events to post about...

Bret: What should I be doing after each ride (and what should I be doing it with)?

That's pretty wide open there, buddy. Particularly if I've had a hard workout, I like to make sure I get some protein in me within an hour of finishing. Chocolate milk seems to do well for me, and lots of people swear by it. Accelerade or some other recovery drink with whey protein is also good. You can also reduce some of the soreness by getting a massage or by using, say, a rolling pin to work the lactic acid out of your muscles.

Bret: Clean the bike? Lube the chain? (Clean the chain? Lube the bike?) Tighten x, y or z?

Ah. So it is about the bike.

I know a lot of people who lovingly wipe every speck of dust off their bikes immediately after finishing a ride. I'm not so fastidious. I typically try to give it a quick wipe down if I've been forced to ride on wet roads or if I've been using Gatorade (or similar) because that stuff will eat the paint. Other than that, I don't really do much in the way of post-ride maintenance.

Pre-ride, it's another matter. I don't yet have a rack for the new car, so I have to transport my bike inside the car. To do that, I have to remove both the front wheel and the seat. While reassembling the bike in preparation for a ride, I do a quick check of the various bolts (many of which aren't on a traditional bike). Every couple rides I check to make sure that the brake calipers and pads haven't worked loose. I also run the chain lightly through a rag to remove any loose dirt and gunk.

I clean and lube the bike on an as-needed basis. Frankly, I feel that oiling the chain before or after every ride is excessive—for a road bike, at least—and only serves to attract dirt that will wear the chain. Basically, if it's a) been a while, b) the chain is starting to sound a little gritty, or c) I get a link that squeaks a little, then I apply some fresh lubricant. Every once in a while, I apply a drop of lube to the... turny bits of the idler wheels and to the moving parts of my clipless pedals.

I'll return to the topic of chain lube shortly, but just a few more thoughts about cleaning. As I said, run the chain through a rag to remove dirt and excess lube. Clean your cogs by pulling a rag in and out between them. As you do so, the freewheel will ratchet a bit at a time, and you'll be able to work your way all the way around. Repeat for each cog. Also clean the gunk off the idler wheels in your rear derailleur. Just use a rag and sort of pinch the wheel with your fingers while spinning the cranks backward until there's more goop on the rag than on the idler wheel.

Occasionally, I use a chain machine and bio-degreaser to give the chain a good cleaning. I don't do this as often as I used to, partially because the lubricant I started using shortly after switching to the recumbent doesn't seem to gunk up and collect dirt like some others I've tried.

If I really want to give the chain a good cleaning, I remove the chain* and place it in a plastic jug. I like a square Planter's peanut jug because it has a wide mouth and sort of a hand grip on one side. I Pour in enough bio-degreaser to cover the chain, tightly close the lid, and shake, shake, shake. I let that soak for "a while" and then, if I'm in the mood, shake, shake, shake. When I've decided the chain is probably clean, I remove the chain, drawing it through a clean rag as I do so to remove as much of the degreaser as possible. Then I hang the chain over one of the garage door tracks (remember: my chain is twice as long as yours), dry it a bit more with the rag, and then leave it to dry. With the chain off the bike, this is a good time to clean the cogs, chain rings, and other parts that can be difficult to reach with the chain on.

Do not leave the chain to dry so long that it starts to think of rusting or you forget about it and open the garage door. Not that I've done this, but it could happen.

* Depending on what brand chain you have, this could mean using a chain break tool. It's not difficult, but if you accidentally push the pin all the way out of the link you'll probably be making a trip to the bike shop. If your chain doesn't have one special master link that can be taken apart without a chain tool, ask your local bike shop for a SRAM power link. They'll know what you're talking about, and it will make getting the chain apart and back together much easier.

"What's the best chain lube?"

The only correct answer is "Whatever works the best for you." Seriously. Ask a dozen cyclists that same question, and you'll likely get nearly a dozen different answers. My personal favorite is ProLink Gold. It's a light, penetrating lube that flushes out old gunk and bonds to the metal of the chain without making a sticky mess and collecting dirt. Before that, I used Purple Extreme, which is light and penetrating and smells like crayons—but it gets gunky fast and doesn't last for more than two or three rides on the recumbent before needing to be reapplied. I have the better part of a bottle left, if anyone wants it.

Eric: In response to Bret's question, while still deferring to your response, I highly recommend White Lightning as a chain lube. It's especially good out here in west Texas as it sheds or repels dust and dirt.

I've never used White Lightning, but if Eric says it's good stuff I figure it would be worth trying... if I weren't already such a believer in what I'm using. I've been told that it doesn't penetrate as well as lighter lubes but, as Eric suggests, what works for you will depend a lot on the climate and conditions in which you ride.

Bret: Something perhaps to add to your list -- an air hose adapter, if your tires are presta-valve equipped.

It's been so long since I've had anything but Presta, I didn't even think to mention this. But yes, if you think you might have to rely on the kindness of strangers whose pumps aren't designed to handle both Schrader and Presta, a Schrader-Presta adaptor would be a good thing to carry. Turtle keeps one screwed on to one of her valve stems. Also, as I added to my previous post, when you're shopping for an inflator or frame pump, try to make sure it will handle both styles of stems.

Eric: I take it your bike has wheels of the same size. I'm not so fortunate, so I have to pack two tubes. It's really hard to find someone to loan you a 16" presta tube on the roads around here.

It's true that I could get by with one tube, but I always carry two. And a patch kit for extreme situations. The seat bag I use has room, and that extra tube is worth its weight in not being flat. For the MS 150, I also intend to carry a spare folding tire that still has enough life left in it to get me back on the move, in a pinch.

If I need more than two tubes, a patch kit, and a spare tire it means I'm having a really lousy day and am probably ready to just bag it and have someone come and pick me up. More than two flats and a trashed tire, and I have to figure God is trying to send me a message.

Eric: I order bike stuff online only as a last resort. Such is my loyalty to our only LBS, but, then, it's probably harder to feel like you make a difference to the Richardson Bike Mart.

I agree with you, in principle. My local shop (Plano Cycling & Fitness) has been great to do business with, so if they're at all competitive on price I buy from them just because I want them to stay in business. But at the end of the day, I still have to make an accounting of my bike-related expenditures to The Boss, so for those items that are not available or are significantly more expensive at the LBS, it's the internet for me.


And that ought to just about do it for now.

Bicycle gear

I originally put together the following notes after a conversation I had with St. Bob and Squirrel Bait and am re-posting them here, in case they're useful to someone else.

Online retailers

Here are the online bike stores I use most:

Nashbar:
http://www.nashbar.com/

(Note the "Free Catalog" link toward the bottom of the lefthand navigation bar. You'll get mailings automatically if you order from them, but if you want to get on their mailing list right away, this would be the way to do it.)

Performance Bike:
http://www.performancebike.com/

Both of these are pretty comparable, price-wise, but they carry somewhat different brands. It's usually best to check both and compare prices. I'd say Performance has a larger variety of jerseys and tires, but they have an annoying habit of sitting on orders for a while, when you use standard shipping. I've heard this is to encourage people to upgrade to 2^nd day shipping. I don't know if that's true, but I do know that it's not unusual to wait an additional week for a Performance order over what it takes for Nashbar, who are usually pretty quick about shipping.

Universal Cycles:
https://www.universalcycles.com/index.php

This is a smaller outlet that I stumbled on when I was looking for the best price for my Crankin' Stein jersey. They don't have the selection that Performance or Nashbar have, but you can get some awesome deals, and they'll match the price for the same item from any other legitimate online retailer. They also don't charge sales tax to any state, have really prompt shipping, and depending on what you're ordering may even throw in a free pair of cycling socks. I was pretty darned impressed with the service I got from these folks from Oregon.

Pricepoint:
http://www.pricepoint.com

I've never bought anything from them personally, but they've got some good prices and I've heard others have had good results shopping there.

IN GENERAL:

Buying from these online places is kind of like shopping at Costco, in that just because they have better prices on a lot of items—especially if you catch them on sale or close-out—doesn't mean that they're enough cheaper than your local bike shop to offset the shipping cost and the potential wait time. If the item price less my bike club discount (10%) plus sales tax is pretty close to the online shop's price plus shipping (and, possibly, sales tax), I'll always support the local shop. Prices on a lot of items at the larger shops are often quite competitive, but you may find that the online shops have a lot better prices than the smaller local stores.

Must-have items for your seat bag:

• At least one replacement tube and a small patch kit (in case you've already used the spare tube or—like the sap I am—given it away).
• Some sort of inflation device. Frame pump or CO² inflator with a couple spare cartridges. If you get a CO² inflator, try to get a model that accepts both threaded and unthreaded 16g cartridges. You may save a few dollars buying an inflator that only takes threaded cartridges, but the threaded cartridges are more exensive so you'll end up spending more in the long run. Also, make sure the head fits both Schrader and Presta valves.
  
• Tire levers. I like the inexpensive plastic ones that fit together into a storage sleeve. The sleeve not only keeps the levers together and but also provides something to wrap a length of duct tape around. Duct tape can be used in all kinds of creative ways to keep you moving long enough to get to the next rest stop or back to your car.
• A multi-tool. At the most basic, get one that has half a dozen sizes of allen wrenches and a phillips head screwdriver. The one I have in my has two pieces that stick together with a magnet. One half has allen wrenches; the other has box wrenches with a couple sizes of spoke wrenches built in. It's a $10 Bell model that I picked up at Wally World and works as well as the more expensive ones by Crank Brothers and Park Tools.
• A small assortment of band-aids and wet wipes. You could forget to unclip, fall over, and scrape your elbow. You could skin your knuckles while changing a tire. Whatever. It's nice to clean up the wound and stick a patch on so you don't bleed all over your best jersey. Or, I guess, get an infection.

Good-to-haves

• $10 or $20 in cash... just in case
• Laminated photocopies of your driver's license and insurance card (just in case)
• Cell phone. Program an entry with the name "ICE" (In Case of Emergency) and the phone number(s) you'd want called... well... in case of emergency. This is catching on with emergency personnel who now know to look for ICE in cell phone directories.
  

Now playing: Orbital, The Altogether

Some days you're the windshield

You get the idea.

This weekend's [attempts at] training have been a bit of a mixed bag. My master plan for Saturday was to go out on one of my usual club rides, a 32-mile jaunt through the rolling hills of Collin and Dallas Counties at about a mid-16 mph pace. Then, on Sunday morning, just as the sun had come up, Dawn Patrol with my MS 150 teammates for an easy 60 miles. Neither turned out as I'd expected.

Saturday

I rolled in to the parking lot about half an hour early and immediately sensed that something different was going on. Half the parking lot was filled with mountain bikes and hybrids, and the folks excitedly milling around didn't look like the grizzled veterans who usually attended the ride. Shortly, the ride leader arrived and told me that the PBA had agreed to shepherd some folks along with our group to train for the Lone Star Ride. The time for the ride to start came and went, but we eventually got underway at what felt to me like a snail's pace.*

The good side of all this was that it was kind of fun to see how excited these folks were about finishing 32 miles, a distance that many of us view so mattter-of-factly. And it was such an easy pace that I got a nice 40% fat burn out of the deal.

An amusing anecdote from the ride: We were pulling out from the filling station where we usually stop for a break, and several pre-teen boys were playing around with their skateboards on a side street. As the group approached them, I saw one of the boys pointing my way and telling his buddies, "Whoa! Look at that bike!" One of the others called out to me, "Dude! That bike is pimp!"

That's a good thing. Isn't it?


* I ended the ride with a 13.8 mph average, but only because the group eventually split and some of us dropped the hammer for the rest of the ride.

Sunday

This week's fun level was inversely proportional to last week's. Another way of putting it would be... well, I try to keep this to language I wouldn't mind my mother reading, don't I?

First off, we hadn't made it half a mile down the trail toward the lake when we discovered that part of the trail was covered in gooey silt left in the wake of this past week's heavy rains. Now, this wasn't my first trip down this road. I should have known that mud under one overpass meant there'd be more of the same, further along. But I was pretty cold at the time, and maybe my brain wasn't quite awake. The bottom line? We made it a mile or two down the trail and came to a 20-yard stretch of 4 inch deep mud completely blocking our way.

We'll turn around and just find a way around, we thought.

That's when my chain fell off, and while I was off the bike rehanging the chain... PFSSSSSSSSS! I "had a puncture", as the British say. Fifteen or twenty minutes later, I'd fixed the flat—but by then, we'd come to the realization that we'd probably hit more mudslides all the way down the trail. So we rode back to the cars, loaded up, and drove down to the lake to salvage what we could of the time we had left.

When we got to the lake, we noticed an unusual level of activity and discovered that there was a marathon going on. Still not ready to admit defeat, we unloaded our bikes and started out on our first lap of the lake. Between the marathon runners/joggers/walkers/shufflers and the usual crowd of wobblies, stroller pushers, and cloud gazers, we were lucky to roll along at 11 or 12 mph. It wasn't long before Squirrel Bait and I had lost our happy thoughts and decided to finish one lap before conceding defeat and calling it a day.

By the time we eventually made it back to the cars, we'd narrowly missed colliding with three different runners and bystanders who just... stepped out in front of us. Squirrel Bait had some... some... wingnut in a white Caddy pull right up on her tail and lay on his horn, nearly scaring her out of her skin and into the middle of the road. But we survived.

St. Bob considered trying to talk us into doing another lap but was overruled. It was time to go to La Madeleine for some sort of self-indulgent breakfast and coffees.

There's always next week.