Rained Out

I wasn't going to ride to work today, anyway, as I had to ferry someone to an appointment, but I had THOUGHT about a half hour ride before going to work. Getting up around 5:30 a.m., getting a fiver in.

I DID wake up early. To the sound of the falling rain.

And thunder.

So I put off the ride, and the flowers are happy.

Silly Fellow Of The Day was:



Made a left from the go-straight lane, mostly on a red light. I KNOW it was red, because it was green for my lane.


But what do I care, I had Janis Joplin singing "Ball and Chain", with the air conditioning on MAX COOL.

Whoopsie!

Got up even earlier this morning, a little, and rode in a little darker.

In the afternoon, as I was leaving, I noticed Mr. M's door was open, so I nosed Jamis in to say hi. He wasn't there. I got the clever idea I could roll backwards, turn left, and start pedaling forwards, all with no feet touching the ground.

Not so much...

Well, that didn't work out so well. My feet DID come out of the clips, though, and I only got the one little scrape, and maybe another even smaller one on an elbow. My rolling fall backwards on the ground was impressive, however there wasn't anyone to see it.

But more importantly, check out the hair on that leg! A case could be made that some serious shaving should be done. Too bad some of that growth can't be transferred to the face. And speaking of, how about that smile! I thought I would go for a "cheerful" look this time, instead of stolid.

So far this week:

Distance: 44.18 mph
Elapsed Time: 3 hours, 29 minutes, 49 seconds
Avg. Speed: 12.63
Max. Speed: 30.08

My, It's Hot!

Yes indeedy, it's mighty warm today!

Put the BIG LIGHT on the Jamis and took off a little earlier this morning. Also put on the PINK Fat Cyclist Jersey. I looked stunning!

Might have had an altercation with an SUV at one of those four-way residential intersections with no stop signs, but we were both on our toes. I politely waved him through, as I had my foot down already. I had turned off my headlight by then, but I still had the BIG STROBE going.

In the shower yesterday, I noticed a dark smudge on the back of my hand. What ho, says I! I tried to rub it, didn't come off or hurt. When I got out into a better light, I realized it was the glove tan line over one of the GIANT VEINS. Do you need a picture?

So far this week:

Distance: 31.92 miles
Time: 2 hours, 33 minutes, 57 seconds
Average: 12.44 mph
Max: 30.08 (and that was PEDALING down hill!)

Of Panniers and Toestraps

The view inside my left pannier...



I adjusted the toe straps, the buckles were pulled all the way to the pedal, it just seemed wrong. I should put the extra twist in the strap to prevent it from sliding, but I'm too lazy. When these break...

Yes, yes, I know, but I'm a clip-n-strap kinda guy, old school, but no cleats!

So far this week--

Distance: 19.73 miles
Avg. Speed: 12.28
Riding Time: 1 hour 36 minutes 24 seconds
Max. Spped: 29.17 mph

Mondays

Rode the Jamis to work. And back.

Distance 8.52 miles
Elapsed Time: 41 minutes 54 seconds
Average Speed: 12:20 mph (w00t!)
Max. Speed: 25.87 mph (That would be downhill!)

So there you go.

He Ain't Heavy

I was cleaning (not really, I was hooking up the telephone, don't ask!) around under the computer desk and found a map of UCSD with the weights of our three bikes written on it. Before I throw the map away, I thought I better make note of the information here.

What better place?

RESULTS:

Schwinn Voyager 27 pounds
Jamis Coda Sport 29 pounds
Magna Blackwind 31 pounds

METHODOLOGY:

How I did the weighing was, I used a bathroom scale to weigh each wheel, using a block to keep the bike level (Something I remember from Dirt Bike Magazine...) and prevent weight transfer, add the two results together for a total.

INTERPETATION OF RESULTS:

The plumbing pipe Magna is of course the heaviest, but by only two pounds. I thought it would be much heavier. I wish I could remember if I took the tool bags off of the other two bikes! The Jamis and Schwinn certainly had their rear racks on, too. While the absolute weight of the bikes may not be accurate, the relative weight of each to each other is gotta be right on. So I am (was) certainly surprised at the results!

Lighten Up!

I haven't been riding all week. It's too hot, I'm too tired, blah blah.

Anyway, I'm still reading about bicycles.

Over on the Treadly And Me bicycle blog they wuz discussing bicycle lights. I thought I would take the opportunity to recycle a couple photos, and add a new one.

On the front of the Jamis I have the 15 watt 12 volt sealed beam.



It puts out a pretty good beam, but I wish it was less "flood" and more "spotlight". I could run up to a 55 watt lamp if I could figure out the mounting and increase the size of the wires. Of course!

I also have a green "white" LED blinkie for the front, but I don't have a mount yet.

On the stern is the Radio Shack strobe, a big reflector, and the LED blinkie. The blinkie is a 3 LED VistaLite.



The VistaLite is in fact not working in this picture, it is reflecting the flash. I discovered the unit was apparently left on and the batteries are dead. I replaced them. As you can see the strobe is quite bright. I have had bicyclists come up behind me in the dark and say they could see it a half-mile away. I have had pedestrians step out in front of me in the dark, even though it was on. What can you do?

This whole getup is based on the Starlight 78 Bicycle Light System by Steven M. Scharf. I purchased the instruction manual from him a zillion years ago. He has since updated and expanded the design, and put it on the web.

The whole thing weighs probably ten pounds, with the big 12v battery. I could use a smaller battery, but I have a dream of mounting that 55 watt headlamp someday...

I rode down to the South Bay today. I greased up pretty good as I figured the sun would be out.

It was.

I got up around six-thirty, ate the flakes, headed out around seven. It was cool for a while, but gradually got warmer and warmer. But never super warm.

I decided to NOT go through Spring Valley, and so avoid the hill on Paradise Valley Road. I climbed up to Skyline. On the bridge over the 125 at Troy St. I found two shrink-wrapped DVD movies with no price tags on them! Frida and What Dreams May Come. What do you think of that?

Going down Skyline was kinda scary, it's got a bad rep on the news. I used to lived there back in the 70s, but it's changed a lot. No Kenny's Shoes! LATER: In fact, I saw on the news that I passed the spot where someone was murdered on the street the night before.

Cruising down the big hill at Briarwood was fun, but I'm glad there wasn't much traffic.

I passed three guys in full kit on Bonita Road who had stopped for a minute. They caught me near the end of the Sweetwater River Bike Path. They came up behind me and sat on my rear wheel for a while. I'd like to flatter myself and think we had a pace line going, and I was pulling these guys (at 18mph?), but let us face it, they were probably just waiting for a good opportunity to pass. Which they did, leaving me behind....

Ended up at the salt works, and took some pics:



The pink Fat Cyclist jersey in front of a big pile o'salt at the Western Salt Works in south bay of San Diego, California.



I love salt. I believe the only other salt (sea water) works in California is near San Francisco.



This little railroad crossing in front of the salt works caught my eye. I didn't think about it, but doesn't the cross track seem to have a narrower gauge? What I was thinking at the time was , how would the tracks have crossed. A big loop would have been needed. But if they were two separate sets of tracks, huh. I should have measure them!

I headed north and east, looking for Euclid so I could get on Imperial and go east. I wanted to avoid the BIG BRIARWOOD HILL that made my leg hurt last time. Although I was sort of lost, and couldn't read the map too well (Note: bring small magnifying glass!), I was actually on the correct roads, and ended up in Lemon Grove, no problemo!



This is/was the first Taco Bell I ever went too, way back in the 60s. My mother (I think) drove us to a night game, possibly at Lincoln. I believe our neighbors were with us, as one of them (Debbie) was a flag girl. I might have been in Pep Band. I KNOW I had a green burrito! Everything else is kind of hazy...

It took 3 hours (plus 35 seconds) to to 39.07 miles, so my average speed today was 13.02 mph.

Week Stats so far:

	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun
Miles	23.36	22.95	25.15	30.01	0	22.89	39.07
Od. Start	3,179	3,203	3,226	3,251	3,281	3,281	6,719

Geez, sunny and warm this morning! This is awful! And it brings out the dog walkers and the baby walkers and the old people and the people who are riding too fast for the conditions on the bike path.

Oh, that's ME!

Greased up, rode the Dam Ride on the Jamis. Didn't pick up any cans, but I DID see one Pepsi and THREE Red Bull cans.

Only picked up one rock, but it weighed TEN POUNDS!

I left at seven this morning, so that coupled with Saturday, brought out the pedestrians in droves. And I possibly was riding a little too fast for conditions at the lake. Although I WAS pacing an older fellow a goodly portion of the way, not caring to pass him. So it's probably all his fault...

Interestingly, he didn't shift much, and stayed in the higher gears, so he wasn't spinning. Made my knees hurt to watch him.


Week Stats so far:

	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun
Miles	23.36	22.95	25.15	30.01	0	22.89
Od. Start	3,179	3,203	3,226	3,251	3,281	3,281
OD. End	3,203	3,226	3,251	3,281	3,281	3,304

Cans Friday

Did not ride today, as I went to work for a change. It is hot. It is muggy. I had to pick up smokes at the smokes store. I had to go windows shopping at two automotive supply stores, as I've developed an obsession with tire pressure gauges. I had to buy a birthday card. Did I mention it was muggy?

I've got a million excuses!

So, in lieu of exciting riding stories, I present:

The final tally of cans retrieved is:

4 Pepsi
2 Squirt
1 Budweiser 24 oz.
1 Steel Reserve 24 oz.
1 Coors Light
1 Hawaiian Punch
1 Sparks
1 Grape (generic)
1 A&W Root Beer
1 Olde English 800
1 Red Bull
1 Dr. Pepper

So, we see in this admittedly informal "survey", that apparently Pepsi people are the most likely to be litterbugs, followed closely by Squirt drinkers.

Dropped off a book at the library, then rode over to the Padre Dam via Santee. In other words, another Dam Ride!

Picked up quite a few rocks, and three cans. I MIGHT make a list of the cans I've retrieved so far.

I might not.

But for today, what I got was:

• 1 Olde English 800
• 1 Squirt
• 1 caffeine drink

Spent a few minutes resting at the waterfall I mentioned yesterday, at the Visitor's Center in Mission Trails Park. Speaking of, it's not really a waterfall, it's more of a model or replica of the dam (and acquaduct), for to demonstrate how the system worked, back in the day.

It was a slow ride, but I seemed to get a little stronger as I went along. Must have been the bran flakes kicking in!

It was pretty sunny, and warming up as I went along. I was pretty well greased up with sunscreen, except I tend to not do my legs. I figure the hair blocks the sun. I hope!

Saw the blond chick at the lake AGAIN, although not at the SAME PLACE, but withing a couple hundred yards, so does that count?

Rode over to work to see if the books are in. They are. So, will go back to work tomorrow. This will seriously impact my Bike-20-Miles-Each-Day-This-Week plan.

I was looking over the log books last night (yes, I have log books, don't you?). I figured, based on the last entry in the log books, that I've ridden over 42,000 miles, career-wise. I'll figured it out more accurately when I feel more obsessive about it.

Did I mention I found a nickel today?

Week Stats so far:

	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun
Miles	23.36	22.95	25.15	30.01
Od. Start	3,179	3,203	3,226	3,251
OD. End	3,203	3,226	3,251	3,281

Warm and Muggy

Rode the Dam Ride again, no surprise. And that's one reason I like it, it's familiar. No surprises.

I left around 6:30. Mr. Sun was out, not a cloud in the sky. It was probably between 70 and 75 when I went through Glorious Santee, with the humidity around 57%. It felt muggy and warmish.

When I entered the shady Father Junipero Serra Trail I actually felt a little chill! The weather station says it was 68 degrees with 91% humidity!

I only passes one person (Well, they were a couple) on the trail. I rang the bell TWICE, and he sorta waved with his left hand to let me know he had heard me. I think that's a good idea. I've seen him before, he does that each time I ring da bell, and asks how I'm doing in response to my good morning. A splendid fellow!

Near the end of the trail I brushed against a, well, a brush! I looked at my shoulder and saw a little black speck, which somehow I thought might be a tick, so I tried to brush it off. I promptly ran into BIG bush. I don't think anyone saw me, and I laughed and laughed.

I stopped at the Visitor Center to eat my Albertsons Peanut Butter And Chocolate Snack Bar and refill the water bottle. It's very pleasant there. I especially like the little waterfall at the amphitheater.

By the way, did I mention I did feel especially strong today? I envy those fellas that do the 20-30 miles commutes every day, AND work! I saw on Sunday Morning a guy who hikes the Pacific Crest Trail, doing 34-40 miles a day! I'm doubting I could BIKE that!!

So, I slowly went up the the Jackson Drive hill, in granny-not-granny, and so to the lake.

Saw a white egret, as close as from you to me. Or maybe even closer! Saw the lady with the dog on the bike basket, only he was on a leash today, and not yipping. Saw the blond chick again, IN EXACTLY THE SAME PLACE AS THE LAST TWO DAYS!!!

Saw the Big Yellow San Diego Bike Shop truck, said "Hi!" to the guy inside.

Did not get a flat. Picked up one can, and no rocks.

LATER: I forgotted to mention it, but I noticed today that the nickel-glued-to-the-handlebar trick didn't work, it has come loose. Epoxy?

Week Stats so far:

	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun
Miles	23.36	22.95	25.15
Od. Start	3,179	3,203	3,226
OD. End	3,203	3,226	3,251

Not so Sunny

It's now nine in the morning and the sun is just peeking out. I just got back from a ride to the Dam, so this has worked out perfectly!

Didn't take the camera, but then, there wasn't anything to take a picture of.

Saw the lady with the dog-in-a-bike-basket again, the dog was making a lot of noise. Crossed paths with the blond chick, in exactly the same spot as yesterday!

As I left the lake I noticed the rear tire going soft. I managed to make it home, slowly, only stopping once to pump the tire, using the fabulous Topeak Road Morph w/gauge. It looks kinda weird, and the mount is kinda floppy, but it sure pumps the air!






I collected about ten aluminum cans along the way. They made a lot of noise, rattling around in the wire basket. Oh, and I also had my garden shears (Yesterday, too.) in the basket (I've had to trim some trees in the bike paths lately...) rattling around, so there was a whole lot of rattling going on!

I also collected one small rock.

Week Stats so far (Scroll, it's down there!):

	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun
Miles	23.36	22.95
Od. Start	3,179	3,203
OD. End	3,203	3,226

Warm and Sunny

I took off this morning at six thirty. The sun was just peeking over the hills, so it was prime getting-hit-by-a-blinded-driver time. But I made it safely through the danger zone, as it were.

No story there.

Did a very slow classic Dam Ride. Only did ten miles in the first hour!

The Forester Creek project is pretty far along, but I wonder what the deal is with here?

Reminds me of Kipling, "Ne'er the twain shall meet".



Those purple sprinklers, doesn't that mean poo-poo water? Yuck!

I rode the bike path as far as Tucker's place (Justa Lane), where it stops in a pile of dirt. The path turns into asphalt about half way along, that's kind of cheaped, don't cha think? Or don't cha?

Lots of cans, well, six or seven, along the way, I REALLY must pick them up. Some hippie chick told me I should carry a plastic bag to put them in.

Didn't seem to have a lot of energy today, neither did I on Saturday, so did the Jackson Drive hill in granny gear. Which on the Jamis (Did I mention I took the Jamis again?) is not quite as low as the Schwinn.

Saw a full-kited blonde chick on a bike, zooming around the lake. She looked fabulous, probably some racer. Saw the lady with her dog in the basket, she seems to have fixed that awful noise she had last time... Saw the blonde runner chick.

Week Stats so far:

	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
Miles	23.36
Od. Start	3,179
OD. End	3,203

So, the PLAN is to ride each day this week, and plug the results into the table.

And speaking of, where is the right side of the table? I don't know. And what's with the white space? I know, but it's too much trouble to fix.

Saturday

Rode down to the dam and back, very nearly 20 miles, on the Jamis. Did NOT pick up any rocks, or take any pictures. TRIED to take a picture, the batteries were flat. Occurred to me that I should be picking up aluminum cans. There were four or five along the way. But, I didn't.

I rang the bell at a couple or three people on the bike path. I discovered that one ring is not optimum, it takes at least TWO rings for them to recognize the sound and react. One fellow said, "You must be in stealth mode today," and his co-runner said, "I THOUGHT I heard a bell."

Further along, a little girl and her parental figure were walking hand in hand. Little girl heard the bell, pulled dad out of the way. Dad gave no sign of hearing the bell.

So, next times, TWO rings. Ding Ding!

At a stoplight on the wrong end of Fletcher Parkway a woman motorcyclist (in a group of three bikes) ask me if I knew where Dennys was. I didn't, but then she said, "On Fletcher Parkway and Navajo." Oh, THAT Dennys. "Way the other way," sez I. One of bikes was a Triumph, one of those new ones, I think.

The sun was just peeping out when I got home.

Not Another Friday!

Well, this whole week has been pretty much wasted, bicycle-wise. I haven't ridden since Sunday!

Yesterday I put the Magna Black Wind on the bike repair stand and popped off the wheel for to replace the spoke. Took off the tire, took off the freewheel (with the freewheel tool I found the other day on a shelf about 10 feet from the Official Bicycle Tool Drawer where I keep all the the other freewheel tools in my collection. But I digress...), then removed the old spoke. And the broken-off nipple.

I also started to remove the ashtabula-style crank, then realized I didn't need to remove it, just ADJUST it. Which was kinda of wierd, you have to UNSCREW it to make it tighter, like the bearings are on the INSIDE of the race, instead of the outside. I don't know, I lamed out. I should have taken the whole thing apart and greased it and probably replaced the bearings. But I didn't.

So I went to Performance to get a spoke. They gave it to me for free. Huh. It's not like they know me, I haven't spent THAT much money there! Nice, anyway.

I was so happy I went over to the model railroad store and blew ten bucks on an HO scale motorcycle kit. And another model knife to replace the one someone stole at work.

I went home and did a poor job of installing the spoke, as I can't true for beans, but the "ping" of the spoke is pretty much the same as the ones around it. The wheel is out of true anyway!

I tightened up the headset, and took apart the pedals to adjust the bearings. No go, no bearings to adjust!

I squirted some oil, here and there. That was about it. Sell it quick! Lower the price to fifty bucks! That reminds me, only one call from the ad so far, and they didn't come look at it.

I looked up "Black Wind" on the Google, came across several references to the Motobecane Vent Noir. At MSRP $1,399 I don't think it's in quite the same league as our dear Magna!!

I also found out, along the way, that Magna is a brand of Dynacraft Inc.

Sketchy

Ran across this website, Instant Sketch, while I wuz perusing The Generator Blog.

So I thought I would give it a try.

I uploaded this:



And it came out with this:



Pretty cool, eh?

Sunday

In a hissy fit, I rode off this morning. The plan was to head to the South Bay via Spring Valley. Turned the wrong way, that is, west, instead of southeast. Since I am incapable of admitting a misteak, even when no one is looking, I continued to the west. Ended up going down Home Ave. for some strange reason. I guess I figured I would follow a canyon to the sea, and avoid the bumpy and busy University Ave.

Turns out, Home Ave. dead ends, after a short, yet steep, hill, just after crossing 94. Who knew? In looking at Google Maps I see I COULD HAVE cyclocrossed the bike up a steep little hill, but instead I wandered, losted, back to University Blvd. and continued towards Balboa Park.

I REALLY need to carry a map. And a magnifying glass!.

Oh, well, it all counts for miles!

Arrived at Balboa Park. Not too many people there on Sunday morning at 7:30 or so! Good time for a photo op. To wit:



I headed across Cabrillo Bridge, which is where Bob and I DID NOT drop pennies onto cars below, on our Day Off oh so many years ago. I headed over to the Quince Street bridge, which turned out to NOT be the bridge I was looking for. A perfectly nice bridge, but I was looking for a SUSPENSION bridge, and it's the Spruce Street bridge.

I turned on the camera timer, and attempted to get a pic.

Attempt 1:


Attempt 2:


Attempt 3:


After FINALLY getting a blurry-but-decent picture, I started to ride across the bridge, thinking since I just watched a guy jog across, what's the big deal?

After going about six inches, that is, not even getting my other foot strapped in, I decided that WALKING the bike was a MUCH BETTER idea.

Mind you, I've been across this bridge before, once with my son when he was like, six or seven. On our bikes, but walking them across.

I got about a quarter of the way across, and FROZE. I was scared. I put my hand on the hand cable. I KEPT one hand on the hand cable. I looked back. "No," I told myself, "You've done this before, what's the problem?".

The problem was, I was SCARED! Terrified!

I forced myself to continue, taking tiny little steps and sliding my hand along the hand cable. After I got a little more than half way, the fear went away, and I wasn't scared any more.

But I kept my hand on the cable!!!

After the bridge I headed south, passing the Convention Center and its non-existent bike lanes, and eventually meeting up with the Sweetwater River Bike Path and turning to the east. There are a lot of people using the bike path, and not just cyclists, but walkers and runners and joggers and strollers and fisherpeople. It's not crowded, but it's getting used. Very nice.

The bike path end nears Plaza Bonita shopping center and one must take surface streets. Since they STILL haven't finished the Quarry Road bike path (closed for two years or more!), one has to hump it up Briarwood. My left leg/knee starting hurting a bit, so that I started saying curse words. Also, there is no bike lane and it's kinda close in places. I used granny getting to the top of the two-stage hill, then coasted all the way down Paradise Valley Road to Spring Valley behind a cyclist couple who seemed to know what they were doing. Then I turned north on Sweetwater Road.

My knee/leg stopped hurting.

In La Mesa I decided to take the train the rest of the home.


Ha ha!

Memo to self: Carry sunscreen on bike, and get some lip sunscreen gunk, too.

Ride Stats

Trip Mileage  42.93 miles
Trip Time     3:18:55
Avg. Speed    12.94 mph

Week Stats

Schwinn:     42.93 miles
Jamis:        1.18 miles

Week Total:  44.11 miles

Odometers

Schwinn:   6,720 miles    YTD    674 miles  (YStart 6,046)
Jamis:     3,160 miles    YTD    887 miles  (YStart 2,273)
                        YTD  Total  1,561 miles

The End

No, I'm not going any where. You're not THAT lucky!

I lost one of the bar end plugs on the Jamis a few months ago. I decided that I want to avoid this kind of incident, so I CyA glued a nickel in there. Voila!



Rode over to the library yesterday, that's about it for cycling this week.

Just not real motivated, I guess.

Black Wind

Sounds like a fart joke...

Here's the Magna "Black Wind" we've had laying around for fifteen years or so. SOMEONE got the idea we could sell it for a hundred bucks.



I think not. Sheldon Brown says they "are virtually worthless".

I rode it to the library the other day. Broke a spoke, I thought. Turned out I broke a NIPPLE! Never had that happen!



Between various photos "takes" the nipple disappeared. I didn't even notice till I was editing the photos! I blame it on the gnomes.



And I caught him at it!!




Rusty bottom bracket.


Steel hub.


Wh00t, it's a ten speed!

I don't think we're getting a hundred bucks for this.

--------------------------------------------

The Fat Cyclist posted some "topless" pictures of himself the other, showing before-n-after of his weight loss regimen.

I thought I might do the same.

WARNING, POSSIBLY NOT SAFE FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION!!!
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The goggles, they do nothing!!!

Link to larger version, suitable for framing.