Spring has sprung, or at least beaten winter back a bit. I rode during lunch on Thursday, tackling the shorter Guys Run loop. Today, I did Guys Run again, tacking on Highland Road, my first sortie on this particular stretch of tarmac. The last rise took me by surprise a bit–coming down a quick descent, I assumed it was just a short rise. I managed to drop my chain and still somehow stay upright and get the chain back on the little ring.

It appears that the warm weather will stick around through the rest of the week, with cooler temps on the weekend. Still warm enough for riding, though. The rollers have been relegated to the corner of the basement, hopefully there to stay ’til next winter.

Posted on 7 March 2009

Saturday included some random noodling around Penn Hills, as I was simply taking the long way to the climbing gym. Nothing special, but better than nothing, and certainly far better than my basement.

Sunday was the usual Middle/Saxonburg loop, with lots of omnipresent Pittsburgh headwinds.

Racing begins in less than a month, assuming the Mingo Creek races happens as usual. The crits at the Oval begin a week or so later. I’ll be racing on Wednesdays, I think, if only because Seb has soccer on Tuesday evenings.

Posted on 1 March 2009

Wherein I am given credit for bringing fixed gear bicycles to Pittsburgh.

I’m not sure if I should be honored, or offended that I was also said to a recumbent rider.

Posted on 25 February 2009

I seem to have picked up a chest cold. Hopefully it won’t morph into something more evil. Of course, it’s actually nice outside right now, too. Why can’t it snow or something?

Posted on 21 February 2009

• Team kit has arrived. As soon as I get over my profound laziness I’ll post a picture.
• I am faithfully committed to using the Cannondale for the rest of the season. I *heart* that bike. It’s also been quite nice to run full fenders and stay (relatively) dry. I will likely get a second set of wheels at some point, or at least a front wheel to pair with the Velocity Ascent hanging in the basement.
• My relationship with the Novara commuter is on shakier ground. I replaced the shifter (and cable), but due to cable fray I could not quite get the fixiing bolt the requisite 101mm (??) from the final cable stop. My 8 speed hub is now a 3 speed hub. I’d likely be happier, too, if the front tire wasn’t rubbing against the fender, but whatever. I suppose I’ve generally mistreated this bike for most of the winter, and I’m happy enough. I would, however, appreciate at least one more snow to justify the studded tires.
• I’ve been doing lots of device communication programming at work. This is at once cool and supremely frustrating at the same time. I now know how to effectively communicate with a 56k dial-up modem. That should come in handy.
• I wonder if the big guns will return to the Tour of California next year? The weather has been horrible, and I’m fairly everyone in the field has crashed at least once. Today’s stage, run in the sun, was neat-o to watch, though, as the attacks were fast and furious until a break containing Jason McCartney, Tyler Hamilton (where are the stars ‘n’ stripes, Tyler?), Francesco Mancebo, and Serge Pauwels finally getting away. Best part was Mancebo getting the boot from the break. Too bad they were caught just before the finish.
• More ToC: does anyone else feel like Astana is playing the role of schoolyard bully? Despite a high power roster, Saxo Bank doesn’t seem to be terribly interested in the GC, nor does Garmin or High Road. Meanwhile, Astana has, what, half the spots in the top 10? All in an effort to get the win for Levi so he plays the role of good lieutenant during the Tour de France.

Posted on 18 February 2009

3 hills: Guys Run->Locust Hill->Rich Hill

I wanted to link in Cove Run and Mill Dam, but they were snow covered. Rich Hill is pretty darn steep at the bottom. It was chilly, but I think I hit the clothing matrix just right:

Bib shorts
Knee warmers
Windproof tights
2 pairs wool socks
Shoe covers
Silk long sleeve base layer
Wool short sleeve jersey
Synthetic long sleeve jersey
Windproof fleece jacket
Balaclava
Wool cap
Wool gloves
Lobster overmitts (warm, but I hate them)

Posted on 16 February 2009

Out Saxonburg, back on Dorseyville. 20-ish miles.

Yeah, not long, but what felt like a solid effort. Conditions were pretty decent, albeit windy, which wasn’t a bad thing.

Posted on 13 February 2009

So after riding most of my commute yesterday in the lower end of the Novara’s gear range, thanks to a broken shifter, I managed to futz with it enough to move it into some sort of friction shifting mode.* This was a good and bad thing. Good because, hey, it actually kinda worked, and bad because I was then be fooled into thinking I could ride the bike until my new-to-me shifter arrived later in the week. Given the rain in the forecast for today, I didn’t hesitate to ride the Novara again today, and it mostly stayed in a middling gear, and I even managed an up-shift at one point. I am slow as can be, thanks to the static gear, the studded tires (for extra resistance, the front rubs the fender), and the condition of rear hub, which seems to be gummed up with road sludge, but I don’t really mind.

To continue the discussion of goals from the last post…it struck me that it was far easier to define goals when I climbed more seriously (that is, I trained). My journal was filled with “onsight 5.x” and “boulder VBlah.” What’s more, achieving those goals fell squarely on the shoulders of my climbing ability, unlike cycling, where there are loads of other factors that could affect an outcome (flats, high winds, people who sit up on the finishing straight and move in front of you, clearly stealing your chance at actually winning a stupid race at the stupid Oval). So, that makes it harder for me, at least, to pin down goals for 2009.

I suppose the big question is whether or not I’ll race Bs at the Oval. If I race Cs, MARs would be high on goal list, with perhaps a few wins (and certainly a high placing in the team classification). But if I race Bs, well, survival would be a good start. Supporting a teammate would also be up on the list. What about on the road? Hmm. I’d love to think I could try to move up to category 3, but that might place the bar a bit too high this year. Lots of pack finishes is a good start, given my track record last season. However all this shakes out, however, my primary goal is to have fun, and keep the whole bike racing thing in perspective.

* This isn’t a “feature” of the shifter, mind you. I think I just broke the pawls inside completely.

Posted on 11 February 2009

I was chatting with a friend/team mate about Power Taps and heart rate monitors and all sorts of other doo-dads to collect cycling metrics. I have been mildly tempted by Power Taps, but thankfully their cost will serve as a serious deterrent. I still, sometimes, feel the need to quantify things and track things. It’s a hold-over from climbing, really–when I was seriously training, I would do things like enumerate the number and quality of moves I did during a given bouldering session or carefully create problems in the gym tailored to my workouts. As time progressed, I moved away from those sorts of workouts, instead focusing on simply the quality of the climbing I was doing, especially when I was climbing outdoors. While I probably wasn’t at my strongest during this period, I managed some goals that I honestly didn’t think I could attain.

So, I came across this article on using Perceived Exertion as a guide for training–essentially relying on your body for feedback rather than little gizmos. I feel like I’ve been an “athlete” for long enough that I can listen to my body and gauge my efforts. Sounds good. And simple. And cheap. In fact, I think it’s unlikely that my regular ol’ cyclocomputer will even make it back on the bike, unless I do a brevet again where it could be useful to know mileage. Whether it will be effective is another question, but at least it’ll be more fun than pouring over wattage numbers, right?

As for goals for this season? Well, umm, how about not sucking? I’m not sure what’s reasonable, besides shooting for pack finishes at early season road races, and maybe a MAR or two at the Oval (assuming I stay in the C race or move up to Bs and re-live last spring’s experiences of getting shelled week after week). Outside of that? Who knows.

Posted on 10 February 2009

Yah. Nice weather. Two days of riding over the weekend, in the great outdoors. Saturday was a trip up Guys Run with other random hill noodling, and Sunday was Rollercoaster. The last rise on McCully is really steep. I wrote off my difficulty last time to the 39×23 low gear on the Bianchi, but even with the Cannondale’s compact double, it was not at all easy. Neither ride was terribly long, but you’ll have that, and I think my efforts were fairly even. A good sign, methinks.

I’ve been commuting on the Redline, which has gone into Matt Chester mode, with skinny studded tires and flared drops, due to the Nexus shifter on the Novara falling apart last week. I miss the Novara, though, with its full fenders. I’m planning on riding it tomorrow, as I’m tried of spinning, spinning, spinning to work in 32×20 on the Redline. I’m not sure I’ll be able to shift out of the low gear (which is probably just about as spin-y as 32×20), but at least I’ll be dry if it rains.

I did purchase studded tires (Schwalbe Marathon Winters), and their installation coincided, as expected, with this warm spell. If it doesn’t snow ’til next November the tires are completely worth it. If it does, well, the tires will be worth it, though I’ve yet to really test their limits on ice, since I’m usually carrying my laptop.

The warm weather should last long enough to allow a ride on my work-from-home-and-ride-some Friday.

Posted on 9 February 2009