Saturday, June 25, 2011

Trip to Ramona

I've cycled to Ramona before, and it's quite the challenge for me with all of the hills involved.  Some of the climbs are 9-10% grades.  Easy enough for a vehicle, but tough for a cyclist.  Especially a fat guy on an old steel bike.  But coming back down is fun but nerve-racking.  Zooming down a 9% grade with a small shoulder on the side of the road (no bike lane) with vehicles trying to pass you.

Now that I've done this route more than once, I was better prepared to tackle the hills.  It's a dumb idea to shift your front derailleur while climbing.  For me, when I shift down to the smallest chainring under pressure usually it shifts the chain too far over and comes off the cranks to the bottom bracket shell.  Which means I have to stop quickly and move the chain back on.  Which means I lose any momentum I had.  I just shifted to the granny gear much earlier and just spun my legs at the base until the grade became appropriate.  I only had to stop once at the side of the road.  That was because my heart was beating too fast and I know what it's like to push the limit of my heart rate.  This is a good improvement from the first time I ran this route, where I believe I had to stop 3-4 times.

Everything was going good until my Garmin warned me of the low battery it had.  Odd, because I recharged it just one week ago, and usually it lasts at least two weeks between charges.  What I should have done is gracefully shut it down then.  But I let it run out completely.  Which made it lose all of the current ride's data.  I was not happy about that, as I wanted to compare this ride to previous times. 

Here is a previous time that I ran this route.  I went East on Scripts Poway Parkway instead of Poway road because it's not as steep.  A bit out of the way, but it helped. 


Monday, June 20, 2011

New bike build part 1

After several years of using an old frame, I've finally been able to get a brand new one.  I'm really stoked about this project. 

First, my current bike.  It's a mid 80's Bianchi Volpe.  I bought it from a guy on Craigslist for a very reasonable price.  I repainted and replaced a few items, and here is what it now looks like -


It's been a great bike for three years.  But I wanted a new project, and getting a lighter frame for cheap was the perfect opportunity.  Many of the items for this new bike I can use off of my current ride, but I did buy some new items as well.  A new headset was out of necessity, since the current bike is using a 1" fork,  and the current standard is 1 1/8". 

I went with the Nashbar touring frame.  Made from aluminum, and for only $100, I couldn't pass it up.


Shipment 1
Not much padding used to ship this with, but it arrived alright.

 Paint job is darker than I thought, but a nice quality job.  Look like it'll sparkle in bright sunlight.

 Not to worry, Mame - this frame has passed

The rear derailleur on my current bike has just about had it.  Nashbar's branded derailleurs were at a very nice price, so I decided to replace both.  I was quite surprised to see how nice the quality was when I inspected it.  Also bought some cable hangers since I'm running cantilever brakes.  I considered running dual pivot brakes instead, but decided not to for now.

A few other odds and ends that I needed.  The headset is a FSA Pig, which is meant to be used on a BMX bike.  From the reviews I read, this headset is a very good performer for the price that it is.  I'm all about value.  Had no idea how many headset spacers I would need, so I went with the safe bet and bought a pack of 10.  The items on the far right are "downtube housing stops", needed for running STI shifters on a frame with downtube shifter bosses.  I never knew such an item existed until now.

Now I've got to wait for the fork.  It's unfortunately on backorder for a while.  So for now the frame sits in the shipping box in my garage.  More about this build when the fork arrives.

Saturday, June 18, 2011

Not cool, man

So I'm riding to work early Friday morning (like I do every morning) and all of a sudden I hear this POW! immediately behind me.  I know exactly what that is - a blown tire.  I'm able to pull over safely and check out the damage.  It's about a 1/4 inch hole in the back tire.  I knew that tire was getting worn out, but not that much.  I was only about 100 yards away from my work (thankfully), so I just walked it. 

Not having any decent boot material to make sure I can get home, I found some gafting tape.  Which I put some on the inside and outside of the tire.  I figured that would at least get me home once work was done.  Well, I was wrong.  When I was going home, I got about 1 mile into it and then POW! again.  So I had to call my wife to pick me up. 

The damage


I'm running Continental Gatorskins, which have been and excellent tire and have lasted me a long time.  The front one is still in decent shape, so for now I replaced the back tire with an old Specialized Armadillo that I had as a previous set.  I reminded myself why I don't ride with the Armadillos anymore.  My Saturday morning ride was a lot worse than normal.  I could feel and tell quite a difference in the way the tire handled.  The Armadillos are a good long lasting tire, but the handling is not favorable in my opinion. 

I had heard that Nashbar makes a really good tire for a very reasonable price.  After looking at all of the favorable reviews, I decided to go with their 'Prima 2 Plus' tires. Link to tires At $13 a tire and free shipping, the cost of two tires was less than one of the Gatorskins.  Other Nashbar branded stuff I've bought before have been a great value.  I don't expect these to be as tough as the Gatorskins, but I might be pleasantly surprised.  Or totally disappointed.  I'll give a review when they come in.  For now I've got to ride on the old Armadillo. 

Saturday, June 11, 2011

Nice early Saturday morning ride

I look forward to my Saturday morning rides. It breaks up the monotony of the same commute to work and back. I also like to get out when the sun is barely starting to rise. With my Saturdays typically being heavily scheduled, I find that early morning for my riding is the best time.

I've been on the 56 bike path before, as an alternate route to work. I had heard that it goes West all the way to the ocean. Well, I found out that isn't exactly truthful. It takes you down pretty far, but then just ends abruptly just before the I-5. I had planned on seeing the beach, but didn't know that area of town well enough to finish it on the streets.
Not too bad stats for this ride.  It was a slow downhill there, and a gradual uphill back.  I can see why this trail is so popular. 

Friday, June 10, 2011

Don't neglect your helmet pads!

I let the sweat pads in my helmet go for WAY too long.  All of the foam had given out, and it was more like a consistently damp paper towel.






 Not to mention that even after washing it it still smelled like wet dog.  It probably had it's own ecosystem.







 Not being able to find the exact model of my helmet (thanks Bell!), I decided to get some generic replacement pads instead.  Link to pads on Amazon  So $10 given to Amazon and a week later, they come in the mail.  There are plenty to keep me satisfied for a long time.
 
















MAN I should have replaced that pad long time ago.  I had to loosed the cinch band to make the helmet fit my head again.   Much better!

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Jogging sucks

I've been jogging fairly consistently for over a year now.  Jogging as in shuffling my feet on the ground at a faster than normal pace for a while.  Considering that my knees have had several surgeries on them well over 15 years ago and they never quite healed right, it's no wonder that I can only jog one morning out of the week. 

But still I persist.  I'll typically jog around my workplace, which is really nice early morning.  I can get about 4-5 miles in on a typical session.  I'll go for one hour, unless I'm feeling lazy or otherwise hurting.

I started jogging as training for a triathlon, but it hasn't happened yet.  I haven't found one that fits into my schedule or isn't on a Sunday yet.  I'm sure I'll find one this season.

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Hello World

The main purpose of this blog is to log my exercise and cycling regiment. About two years ago I had lost around 90 pounds of weight. Since these past two years, I've been getting progressively lazier with my exercising, and overall I've gained 30 pounds back. Now I've got a 80 pound weight loss goal.

My main form of exercising is cycling. I'll be logging some of my more interesting rides and exercise routines. Since I live in San Diego, there are many routes that are very beautiful and also challenging to ride.

I'll also be logging my mechanical dealings with my bike. Having to maintain my own bikes has taught me a lot, some of which I'll share to the public in general. . More to come.....