Author: lpaulriddle

March

lpaulriddle

What a difference a month makes.  Today marked my 8th ride of March, eclipsing my total for the entire month of February.  Amazing how quickly the conditions improve as Spring approaches.  Now if we could just get rid of the pesky snow on the park access road, I could finally ditch the hiking boots and go back to clipless.

I managed to get two rides in on the road bike this week before switching back to the fixed-gear today.  Later this month I’m going to pick up a set of clip-on fenders for the road bike, so I can ride it in slightly wetter conditions.  Then for the summer, I may take the fenders off the fixed-gear and use the road bike with the clip-ons for days when storms are forecast.  In these parts, there’s really no need for full fenders during the summer..  they just rattle and get in the way.  But this time of year, they’re indispensable.

Sun

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Today is our fifth nice day in a row, a truly rare occurrence this time of year.  Not to fear, though, as we’re expecting a return to our usual crappy weather later this week.  I took the road bike out, with the initial intention of doing 18 miles through Oella and Catonsville, but I was dragging this morning, so I shortened the ride to 15 miles and went through Patapsco instead.  No snow anywhere, although the access road still looks snowy.  It’s getting tempting to bring a shovel with me and clear a path.  Otherwise I’m going to be riding with hiking boots at least into April.

A week or so ago, I replaced the derailleur pulleys on the road bike, in hopes that it would stop an incessant squeak when I shift.  This was my first ride with the new pulleys, and no squeak so far, but I’m not calling it fixed until I’ve been squeak-free for a few hundred miles.  The old pulleys didn’t look terribly worn in comparison to the new ones, so I’m wondering if lubrication has something to do with this.  I made sure to grease the bushings when I put the new pulleys in.  We’ll see I guess.  The front derailleur is going to be the next challenge..  seems like no matter how I set the cable, it’s either too tight (trouble shifting onto smaller chainrings) or too loose (chain rubs derailleur cage when the rear is shifted onto a small cog).  Maybe it’s bent?

Century

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Assuming I ride home today, I’ll have my first hundred-mile week of 2010 this week.  As promised yesterday, I rode out to Ilchester Rd and into the park on the Grist Mill Trail.  The trail was very twiggy, but otherwise in good shape except for a single really small snow-covered patch.  I expect that’ll melt down over the weekend.

It’s supposed to stay dry through Monday, so my plan is to dust off the road bike for Monday’s ride.  The only question is whether I want to ride with clipless pedals, or put on the platforms with Power Grips which I’ve been riding for the past month.  It all depends on how much more I think the River Rd entrance will melt down over the weekend.  I’ll see how it is on the ride home today.

Meltdown

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A bit brisk out this morning, but we’re finally getting some dry weather and sun to help melt some more of the snow.  By next week, I may even be able to drag out the road bike.

Took my first complete loop through the park today since (checks ride log) January 28, not counting a Feb 2 ride where I rode out River Rd and turned around.  River Rd is completely clear out to the Orange Grove Swinging Bridge, and has obviously been plowed at some point, which is unusual.  Most winters, they just close the road off and let nature take its course.  The Grist Mill Trail is 90% rideable between the swinging bridge and the trail head, with a downed tree in one spot, and a couple of snowy sections which would probably be OK on a mountain bike, but were a bit too much for 700×23 road tires.  Lots of twigs and debris everywhere, but nothing too bad.  I’d say it took me an extra 5 minutes or so to get through it.  Tomorrow I’ll likely check out the section between the swinging bridge and Ilchester Rd.  Not much new with the River Rd park entrance..  much better than last week, but still not fantastic.  This stretch should improve further over the next few days.

The ride through Relay to UMBC was a grind.  All uphill into a strong headwind.  It was a good workout, but it’ll feel much better on the way home with the wind at my back.

Never trust the weather forecast

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So..  yesterday’s morning forecast: mostly cloudy all day, then rain after 7pm.  I leave work at 5, so no need to pack rain gear for later, right?  Wrong.  It started raining at 3:30, and I got to ride home in a steady drizzle with no rain gear.  No, it wasn’t all that bad.  But, I was slightly annoyed that I didn’t follow my own long standing advice: when in doubt, pack the rain gear.

I did wear the rain gear this morning.  The storm system is moving off the coast, but it’s still plenty damp out.  I checked out the park access road, and it’s improved to the point where I shouldn’t need to detour onto US 1 any more.  It’s still not bikeable, but it’s now possible to walk the bike through without having to pick it up and drag it along.  There are even a few spots of pavement peeking through.  I also checked out the Grist Mill Trail head, and the first part of the trail looked clear.  If I’m feeling adventurous tomorrow or Friday, I may try to see how much of it is passable.

I ordered a new helmet the other day.  My old one is 7 years old and starting to show its age.  I got a good deal on a 2009 Bell Sweep, which ordinarily sells for $130.  It’s marketed as sort of a do-anything helmet, and it’s one of the only “road biking” helmets I could find that comes with a visor.  The visor is important to me because I use a visor-mounted rear view mirror.  Fit is also an issue with me, as I have a large head, and I was happy to find that the helmet fits me fine (it’s a large, of course).  I haven’t ridden with it yet, but it’ll be interesting to find out if a $130 helmet is any better than my old one, which I believe cost around $50.  Stay tuned.

That hit the spot

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I celebrated the end of February with my first long morning ride in forever (well, since February 4, which might as well be forever).  I took New Cut Rd into Ellicott City, then rode along River Rd to the park entrance on Ilchester.  The trail still looked too snow-covered for road tires, so I doubled back, rode up Thistle Rd, then through Catonsville via Oella Ave, Old Frederick Rd, and Edmondson Ave, for a total distance of just over 16 miles.

It was great to get a longer ride in.  February was brutal.  I’m holding out hope that within the next two weeks or so, I’ll be able to ride through Patapsco State Park again.  It always seems to take forever for the snow to melt in the park, because it doesn’t get much sun, and the ground temperatures are lower near the water.  I could probably get through the park with a mountain or cross bike and maybe some studded tires.  I’ll see what I can do about that later this year.  In the meantime, I’ll be seeing a lot of Catonsville.

I am still riding with “Power Grips” toe straps.  I wasn’t sure about them at first, but after several rides, I’ve decided I really like them.  The “extra long” size easily fits my hiking boots.  They’re orders of magnitude easier to get strapped into than toe clips; I’d say they’re no worse in that department than my Looks.  Being that they’re straps, I don’t get quite the “clipped in” feel that I get with the Looks, and there’s some to-be-expected “give” when I pull up on the pedals.  But, they keep my feet on the pedals, and I feel comfortable with them at high cadences (read: going downhill on a fixie).  I have the straps set to the smallest setting, and in this position, the ends of the straps tend to scrape the ground when I turn.  This is not a huge deal, but if necessary, I can fix it by trimming the straps down a bit.  This problem would likely be less noticeable on a bike with a freewheel.  All in all, I’m happy with the Power Grips.

Give and Take

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So, an after-work commitment kept me from biking yesterday, on what turned out to be a pretty nice day.  I made up for it by riding in today, on a day where I thought I wouldn’t be able to ride.  We’ve got yet another storm riding up the east coast, but this one is slamming New England and barely clipping us.  Still, I expected a few inches on the ground this morning, and when I woke up to nothing, I decided to ride in.  We’ll see what the weather has in store for the ride home, but so far it’s looking pretty good.  This storm has a lot of wind with it, but it’s coming out of the west, and will be mostly at my back.

Today’s ride gives me 7 rides for the month of February, matching last year’s total.  Last year it was the flu that slowed me down, this year it was the weather.  This may be my last ride of February, as we’re once again expecting a couple inches of snow overnight, but they said that last night too, so I’m still holding out hope.

Bike First, Ask Questions Later

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Rain in the forecast for later today, but it was nice this morning, so I packed the rain gear and rode in.  You gotta ride when you can in February.  Murphy’s Law says that if I don’t ride in, the rain will hold off until after I get home.  So if it’s not raining, I’d rather ride in and deal with the weather later.  If worse comes to worse, I can always call for a ride home.

Today I detoured onto US 1 to avoid the arduous River Rd hike into the park.  This makes for a roughly 6½ mile ride in, which is about the shortest possible ride I can take.  With the park impassable, it really limits the routes I can take to get to work.  If I want a longer ride, my only alternative is to ride out to River Rd, then through Catonsville.  Before I try that route, I want to drive it to make sure the road conditions are OK.  In the meantime, short rides are better than no rides at all (or the trainer).

Today is my second ride with “Power Grips” toe straps.  I bought these to use in snowy or icy conditions where there’s a chance I’ll have to walk a lot.  I started out with toe clips, but the clips were too small for my hiking boots, and the fixed gear wasn’t kind to them either..  I broke one of the clips on my 3rd or 4th ride.  I’m still getting used to the Power Grips, but I think they’re going to work out fine.  More on the Power Grips after another ride or 2.

Perspective

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Took my first post-Snowmageddon ride in this morning, and it wasn’t too bad.  I wanted to do it yesterday (Thursday), but on Wednesday I decided to go jogging for the first time in, oh, around 6 months.  Then on Wednesday evening, I ground out another 10 miles on the trainer.  So yesterday, the executive decision was made to rest my legs, as I knew I’d be feeling the run, and I’m not 25 any more.  But anyhow..

It’s interesting how being on the bike changes one’s perspective of the road vs. driving.  For some reason, the snow-narrowed roads look a lot less daunting from the bike than they do from the car.  I felt a lot more confident biking on the roads than I thought I would based on driving them the past few days.  It’s an interesting phenomenon, and it raises an interesting point: it’s a good idea to drive your bike routes every now and then in various conditions, as it helps provide a sense of how drivers see and react to you on the bike, which in turn helps you learn how to ride defensively and safely around them.

I decided to bypass US 1 and attempt to hike into Patapsco State Park via the Howard County side access road.  It was doable, but it wasn’t fun.  There was about a foot of snow on the road and not much of it was packed down.  I ended up half-carrying, half-dragging the bike through it, which was very slow going and tiring.  Even so, it still may be preferable to battling traffic on US 1, even for a short distance.  Not sure what I’ll do on the way home.  If I’m going to hike this on any regular basis, it might make sense to lighten the bike up as much as possible, and maybe use a backpack instead of a rack trunk and panniers.

Desperate times…

lpaulriddle

Desperate times call for desperate measures.  The snow has kept me off the bike for 2 weeks, so last night I broke down and used the trainer.  I’ve never much cared for the trainer.  It’s exceptionally boring and unrelentingly grueling at the same time, which is a pretty unappealing combination.  I lasted 30 minutes and 10 sweat-drenched miles on it, which is pretty good for me. Using a trainer is a much different workout than riding a bike under real conditions.  It’s essentially a full-time grind, with no breaks that you would ordinarily get from riding down hills.  It seems like a good way to build endurance, if I could somehow force myself to use it more regularly on days that I don’t ride.

One little bit of weirdness..  when I first went to shift gears, the bike wouldn’t shift.  I looked down and realized that the rear derailleur cable was loose.  At first I thought it had broken, but it was just loose.  I have no idea how or when it happened.  The only explanation I can think of, is that the cable slipped at the spot where it’s bolted to the derailleur.  The bolt wasn’t particularly loose, but maybe the clamp wasn’t “clamping” it as well as it should have.  At any rate, I reattached the cable and readjusted the tension, and all seems well now, but I’ll need to keep an eye on it.

I may attempt to ride to work tomorrow.  Road conditions are not ideal, but they are slowly improving, and I think they’re finally at a point where I’d be comfortable riding.  That, and I saw a guy riding through Relay yesterday on the way home, and I figure if the conditions are good enough for him, they’re good enough for me.  Either that, or we’re both just nuts.  Stay tuned.