Bicycle Repairman

Yesterday was the 40th Anniversary of Monty Python's Flying Circus. These guys are great, so for your viewing pleasure, here is a bicycle repair clinic!

Ride with Chris Carmichael on Sep 17

Lance Armstrong’s Coach Makes Exclusive
New England Stop at Belmont Wheelworks

for Group Ride & Book Signing

“The Time-Crunched Cyclist”

What:

Love staying in shape? No time for exercise? Enjoy cycling? Two words for you: Chris Carmichael, who’ll be in town to sign his new book, The Time Crunched Cyclist, and to answer your questions in person about how to fit some reasonable riding into your unreasonable schedule. Carmichael, who coached Lance to seven consecutive Tour de France victories and this year's comeback third place, makes his only New England stop at the Belmont WHEELWORKS on September 17th with a group ride and a Q & A. Says Carmichael, "We’re not 20 anymore. Many of us have families and jobs and can’t commit to 10 or more hours per week on our bikes. For most of us, “your training program is the only thing stopping you from enjoying cycling the way you used to. Why? Because predominant theories in training are still stuck in the 1980s.”

The event will begin with a 2-hour group ride for up to 40 local cyclists led by Carmichael. All riders should be intermediate level or more advanced and be able to maintain a 17 to 19 mph pace. After the ride, the public is invited to a clinic and book signing reception sponsored by GU Energy Labs at the Belmont WHEELWORKS. You have to register for the ride by emailing events@wheelworks.com and all are welcome to the book signing reception later in the evening.

When:

Thursday, September 17th

3:30pm Ride Meeting Time at Belmont Wheelworks
4:00pm Ride Departure
6:30pm-8pm Clinic & refreshments at Belmont Wheelworks following the ride

Where:

Belmont WHEELWORKS
480 Trapelo Road
Belmont, MA
(617) 489-3577

COST: The ride and in-store appearance are free and open to the public.

The Time-Crunched Cyclist...sounds like he wrote the book for me!!

Grounded!

It has certainly been a while since my last post. Until recently, I had been riding and chronicling my rides using the Daily Mile/Facebook applications as well as posting some basic weekly stats here (both can be viewed over to the right). This was suppose to a riding season of PRs and reaching set goals. Unfortunately, it hasn't exactly evolved in that manner, although last week I did have a "first" worth posting on. I wish this was a good "first" but it's not.

Two Sundays ago I did a 51 mile ride followed by a 20 miler the next day, and then I was off to NJ to work at a project site for a few days. Well by the end of my first day away I was experiencing some discomfort which I immediately attributed to being dehydrated...wrong! Despite efforts to rehydrate, the symptoms grew worse, and last Friday I was diagnosed with prostatitis, otherwise known as a male urinary tract infection! As a result, the doctor suggested that I curtail riding until the symptoms had subsided, which they did a few days ago. But I've been playing it safe and have been grounded for a total of 10 days! I plan on riding today...wish me luck!

It's not entirely clear to the doctor or me what caused this...it could have been the 50 mile ride or the cumulative affects of the riding season...or not related to the riding at all. One thing is for sure, the saddle I've been riding is comfortable and has not caused any numbness in the nether regions nor malfunctioning parts! So go figure! Obviously I'll have to monitor the situation closely.

July 4th Ride

I wanted to do something different over the long holiday weekend so July 4th featured a one-way ride to the family cottage on Buzzard's Bay in Fairhaven. Of course, the ride would have to wait until after the Arnold Mills July 4th Parade (also known as the Horribles Parade). We started bringing the kids to this parade last year with several other families...it's not the Bristol Parade but it's still a pretty good time for a parade with easy to obtain seating! Anyway, I was thinking the parade started at 10 but it didn't start until 11 and we didn't get home until just before 1:00, so I got a real late start on this ride which essentially took a chunk out of the middle of the day. But it was fun anyway. The plan was for the rest of the family to get there before me with my change of clothes.

I figured on 3 hours of riding and ended up at 3 hrs- 3 min despite a wrong turn in Berkley that added about 3 miles to the ride. The ride was actually quite easy given that I essentially had at least a partial tail wind from the west to northwest over most of the distance.

Ride stats: 53.7 miles at 17.6 mph.

The cookout and fireworks afterward seemed more enjoyable this year!

Unexpected Tempo Ride

This was the week I planned to turn it up a few notches with some serious riding, but glitches in the plan hit early. With Friday off from work extending the holiday weekend and my Tues/Thur kid-carting obligations absent for a week, I figured I'd ride every day except Wednesday...including joining the PHAT ride on Tuesday night and the Bikeworks TT on Thursday. Of course Tuesday was a terrific night for riding given the horrible weather we've been experiencing, but as luck would have it, I couldn't leave work early (just on time!)...so no PHAT ride. Plus when I got home, although there was time for a short ride, I just felt tired and hungry and non motivated...so no ride at all. And the night before I found out there would be no TT in Rehoboth this week. It's an 8 miler.

Then the rain came and came and came and....well you all know about the lousy weather that never seems to end.

So tonight's ride was unexpected for two reasons:

1. First, it pretty much rained here all day and hard...and it was raining when I left Boston...and my wife reported very wet roads and huge puddles. So I figured another ride missed due to the crappy weather system that has parked itself in various locations in the Northeast for just about the entire month of June. But after I got home and had a good meal, the roads were clearly drying and I just needed to get out on the bike for a short ride. Damp conditions were not going to stop me.
2. Secondly, I hate wet rides of any type so I simply resigned myself to a "going through the motions" type of ride. But after the first 5 miles of spinning I unexpectedly picked up the tempo without really trying. That's when I realized how strong my legs were feeling so I picked it up some more to a level I thought I MIGHT be able to sustain for the rest of the ride (by now an 18 mile ride had been decided!).

Lo and behold...I ended up doing 18.25 mostly dry miles in 58 minutes...an 18.9 mph pace! And that's with one decent size hill and a somewhat slow first 5 miles. Now I don't feel bad about there not being a TT on Thursday. Sometimes the best rides are totally unexpected.

Next up: a one-way approx. 50 mile ride to the family cottage in Fairhaven on the 4th...well, that is after Friday's ride.

Longest Day Ride

This blog may start to be known as the blog which features bike ride events that "I never manage to ride"...lol! Earlier in the year I posted about the Harpoon B2B ride that was held last Saturday. That has to be one of the coolest and toughest organized rides offered in the New England area. A couple of testimonials posted on the Sharon Road Club message board (see posts dated 6/21 and 6/22) seem to indicate that it was a great day of riding last Saturday and an all around very successful event. Oh well, there's always next year.

Here's another ride I had my sights set on but won't be able to participate in due to family commitments (the kid's have their karate class graduation this day). It's the Longest Day Ride being held this Thursday night (6/25) and sponsored by Ten Speed Spokes in Newport, RI. The ride covers 46 miles on Aquidneck Island (Newport, Middletown, Portsmouth) and starts promptly at 6:00 pm. A moderately long organized ride at night...and during the weekday too! I've never ridden it nor do I know anyone who has, but it just seems like it would be a unique and fun ride to participate in...to celebrate the time of year that offers us the most sunlight!

So not this year... perhaps next. But I would like to hear from anyone who's participated in the ride. Is it a cycling event worthy of clearing the calendar? And just so my few readers don't think I just talk about organized cycling events, I am registered for and will participate in the NBW's TFCE this September. This will be about my 10th time riding in this fun event.

My First Time Trial

And a disaster it was!

I think time trials (TT) are great. In addition to being my favorite type of cycling competition, I think they are great to participate in as a way to measure your fitness and help attain riding goals like speed. Turns out, there are several TT races held in the local area by clubs and bike shops...and they're open to anyone. I'd been thinking of trying one but my schedule makes it difficult. But there is one that fits my schedule perfectly and also happens to be reasonably close by as well, so earlier in the week I committed to participate in the once per month Saturday morning 12-mile TT held by the Sharon Road Club.

Okay, so now about the disaster. I'll start by giving some advice. Know the TT course before you ride it for the first time. I know the roads in the area reasonably well and had both a map I had downloaded and studied plus written directions handed to me at the race. Despite all that, I missed a turn that resulted in an estimated extra 1.6 miles being added to the 12 mile TT loop. But that's just the BIG mistake I made. Here is a complete list of all the things, that IMO, went wrong...rookie mistakes if you will :

• Not knowing the course well enough and missing a turn
• Riding 28 miles the night before
• Starting out way too fast for the 12 mile distance and at too high a cadence
• Forgetting to reset my cyclometer
• Not being able to ride on the drops for long enough distances
• Forgetting to wear my skin suit and teardrop shape aero helmet (ok...just kidding on those two!)

My official time was 44:19, which for a 13.6 mile distance equates to an average speed of 18.5 mph. My goal for this TT was an average speed with a 19 handle...so to me I didn't come close. My goal for this season is to break into the 20s. Despite the disaster, I still had fun and plan on doing this TT routinely as a measure of progress.

The Sharon Road Club TT is held once a month during the riding season at 8:30 on a Saturday morning. More information can be found at the link.

There are a few other regularly held TT events in the area of varying distances. Here are the ones a know about with links for more information.

• Dover TT - Dover, MA - Wed nights - 7.7 miles
• Bikeworks TT - Rehoboth, MA - Thur nights - 8 miles
• Tri-Town Cycling TT - Rochester, MA - Tues nights - 14 miles (the Small Town Cyclist wrote about it here)

I'd like to try the Bikeworks TT next if I can manage to free-up a Thursday night.

Anyone know of any other TTs in the area?

Edited to add another local TT:

• Pat Bell TT - Southboro, MA - Tues nights at 6:30 - 11.7 miles

Just Beat The Rain!

Now that I've got momentum going, I hate to miss a riding opportunity on a potential ride day. At this point in the season, all days are potential ride days except Tuesdays and Thursdays when my children and wife have back to back to back karate and/or kickboxing lessons (once school is over next week I hope to sneak in a Tues/Thur ride here and there). Yesterday was no exception, especially when Wendy reported patches of blue sky and "no threat of rain whatsoever". But she was driving down the highway and I was staring at a radar screen at work. No rain now I told her, but there's a solid line of yellows and reds headed our way...at which point she reminded me how often our hopes are dashed for a good old-fashioned thunderstorm as they fall apart and die crossing Rhode Island. Good point I told her...I'll be on the 5 and plan to squeeze in a short ride.

Of course, by the time I get home the threat of rain is imminent. Not liking to have my hopes dashed yet again, I decide to stay local so I can cut the ride short if need be. There's a 5 mile loop from my house...I call it the basic loop...which I can ride one or more times with add-on loops to get anywhere from 10 to 20 total miles. Figured I'd do 14 miles. That was one cold ride for June...even with a LS jersey and vest on. At mile 12 I decided to stay out longer and predictably at mile 13 rode into a few sprinkles. But basically the rain held off until 10 minutes after I got home at which time a good steady rain developed. Wendy told me that the whole time I was riding the main area of rain was getting closer but that the light green leading edge on the radar didn't move beyond the MA/RI line just to our west. Now that's called just beating the rain!

Ended up cranking out a total of 18.3 cold miles at an average pace of 17.5 mph. Funny how the threat of cold rain makes you go faster.

Summary for W/E 14Jun09 - Near Perfect Riding Week

Two weeks ago was yet another low point in my 2009 training schedule (yes, there have been others). It was the 1st week of June and I was only capable of logging a measly 46 miles as result of 2 rides over the weekend. And my average speed for those two rides was a pathetic 15.9 mph. This is NOT what I planned when I decided to blog last year and wrote about my cycling plans for 2009.

What a Difference a Week Makes!!

This past week ended up being a nearly perfect riding week, despite a weather forecast that suggested few opportunities for riding. It would have been a perfect week had it not been for the untimely rain on Sunday morning. I had planned to do my long ride for the week 1st thing Sunday morning, 30-35 miles or more depending on how I was feeling after 2 days of riding. As a result of the rain, I had to settle for a much shorter ride later in the day. I was able to get in after work rides on Monday, Wednesday and Friday...an early morning ride on Saturday (on the road shortly after 7:30 AM, which is as good as it gets for me!)...and an off-plan late afternoon ride on Sunday. A total of 101 miles for the week at an average speed of 16.8 mph. If I can string a few weeks like this one together I'll be mighty pleased.

The jump in my average speed is noteworthy. I'm pretty sure it's real but I must admit I'm still fleshing this out a bit to make sure. Let me explain further.

Different Bike/Different Cyclometer

All my rides this week were on the Trek 2100. These were my first "real" rides on this bike other than tooling around the neighborhood shortly after I bought it. I bought the bike off of eBay last October from a seller in Hopkinton as I felt the need to have a "back-up" bike once I decided to raise my training up a few notches for 2009. To me the bike was a steal for what I needed. But when I started the longer rides earlier in the Spring I naturally took out the Specialized Roubaix, the only road bike I rode for the last two years. However, two Sundays ago I sent myself into a mild panic when I was preparing to ride and noticed that the outer layer of rubber was peeling off the rear wheel tire on the Roubaix. I had known it was getting near that point but I'm not too good with standard pre-ride checkouts of my bike...usually just hop on and go. I certainly got good use from that tire...it was the original that came with the bike and had just under 3,000 miles on it! Anyway,it was time to get the 2100 out of the basement and get it set-up for riding, which is what I did. It came with a Cateye cyclometer and after verifying the correct settings and riding on loops of known mileage, it seems to match very closely the data from the Trek Incite 8i on the Roubaix. I have no reason to believe it's not properly calibrated, but I probably ought to get new batteries for its two main units in case its flaking out on batteries about to go kaput.

2100 vs. Roubaix

I like the Roubaix and test rode several other comparable bikes before I decided to buy it in early 2007. After years of riding an old Trek 1200, the Roubaix had the plushest ride I had ever experienced. The 2100 has a noticeably harsher ride but much better responsiveness to my pedaling. Yes, in just a few rides this past week I've noticed vastly improved accelerations and more power going up hills. At first I thought it was just in my head but I really do believe it's the bike. I know I certainly feel faster on the 2100!

The Dreaded Big Chainring

There's no reason the big chainring should be dreaded except in situations like mine. I've had a chronic problem with my right knee that in the past has kept me off the bike and getting PT. What I've learned over the years is that I need a good base of miles riding exclusively on the small chainring and building up the muscles around the knees each year before I can start to even entertain the thought of using the big gears. If I don't train this way, I end up on the sidelines with a painful knee. So my training has always been based on a high cadence riding style with a focus of building leg speed early in the season. I use 500 miles as a basic rule of thumb for building the base but it also depends on how my knee feels. Having passed the 500 mile mark a week ago and with my knee feeling pretty good, I started using the large chainring sparingly on 2 rides this week...and both those rides resulted in average speeds easily exceeding 17 mph.

So to me, this all adds up to my first "breakthrough" event for 2009. I wish it was all in my legs but I'll take improvement anyway it comes...both stronger legs and a faster bike work fine for me. But I also know my history and I typically don't have such large increases in weekly average speeds so I'll need to keep an eye on the Cateye cyclometer. I'm pretty sure this all adds up to real improvement, but...

Walking at Lunch - Boston HarborWalk

Working in Boston has it's pros and cons. The biggest con for me is all the time that gets consumed commuting by train. This time of year the commuting time takes away from cycling time. But I'll take it if it means I stay employed.

One of the pros is there is plenty to see and do during free time if you have any. :-)

One thing I haven't done much lately is take a full hour plus lunch to walk around and explore. My office is only a few blocks from the Fort Point Channel water front and I have certainly walked down there many times in the past but not recently (recently being... say, a couple of years). With the weather turning summer-like this week, I had heard some folks talk about walking down by the water. So today I decided to take a long walk to the water and check out some portions of the Boston HarborWalk. I headed over the channel to Fan Pier and walked to the end of the developed walkway. Fan Pier is home to the Moakley Federal Courthouse, which wraps around the western portion of the pier. The rest of the pier is currently under development, but was the site and support zone for the recent Volvo Ocean Race that visited the city for about a month starting back in April.

I had promised some original pictures, obviously bicycling-themed, when I stared this blog last year. That has been too slooooooow in developing for sure, but there's nothing like a walk along the Boston waterfront to get me in a picture taking mood with the new LG enV2 cell phone I got a few months ago.

Here are a few a took today.

View of downtown Boston skyline from Fan Pier.

Sailboats docked at Fan Pier. The red boat in foreground is the type participating in the Volvo Ocean Race.

At the end of the walkway. A view of the famous Anthony's Pier 4 restaurant.

I'm a little concerned about my inability to stick with the general cycling training schedule I thought I'd be able to follow this summer...which means I'm concerned about attaining my weight goal. I'm going to add walking at lunch to my schedule to help burn calories. Stay tuned for more pictures!