All Apologies

I need to apologize for some breaches of etiquette I've slipped into recently.

To start, I have passed several cyclists without acknowledging them. Now, I was not trying to snub anyone, but my attention was elsewhere while they passed. I noticed them as they cleared my 9-o'clock, but it was then too late to wave. I know that it's good karma to wave at other cyclists, and I try to do it; but sometimes you just don't notice them. Sorry.

Next, my postings as of late have been more sporadic that I would have liked. I had the thought for this post on Monday, but it's taken until now to put it up. Strangely, more time biking tends to correlate to less time blogging. And, lots of family time tends to interrupt a consistent (or in my case optimistic) blogging schedule. Sorry.

And finally, we had our boat out on the slalom course last weekend, and it may have looked like we were hogging the course, or trying to keep other people off of it. In reality, our boat was having a hard time. We'd start it up, back out into the lake, then it would kill. We'd have to wait a few minutes for it to start up again. I think some people thought we were being rude out there, but in reality we were just trying to get started to either run the course or get out of the way. Again, sorry.

Well, that's my apologies for now. I hope to not have to make many more soon.

Waiting for the Sun

Wow! It seems like I have been waiting for the sun all season long. I skipped St. George in February, 5-mile Pass in May, the Cycle Salt Lake Century in May, and generally any and all riding before the month of June. Now, I've been hampered by the rain during June as well.

Now, please understand, I appreciate the rain. I know that I live in a semi-arid desert that relies on early season rains and snows to get through a dry, hot summer. I also know that every day it rains is another day I don't have to turn on my sprinklers. However, every day of rain is one more day that it's easy for me to wimp out on what could often be a great ride. Such was the case Wednesday evening when I skipped the ride on account of rain, ran a couple of errands on the way home, and found the sun beating on me for half of my drive. I was tempted to turn around and ride my bike anyway, but took the wimp out route.

I am looking forward to the sunny weather today for both my bike ride to work and some waterskiing this evening. I also have friends who are looking forward to it as they run the Wasatch Back today and tomorrow.

Maybe I'll start getting in shape for the season now. I mean, it's still a good ten days until the Boy Scout bike ride around Bear Lake. Plenty of time to train for that. Maybe once that's knocked out I'll try riding my bike to the waterski lake. There's only a net elevation gain of 300 - 400 meters on that metric century ride. And nothing like working out before working out.

Now, having waited for the sun for so long, I should go greet it with a glorious ride.

And, good luck, Malisa.

Drive this Road

Yes, please drive this road. As long as that road is 3200 West. I'll bike the road while you drive it. That's when it gets fun. You see, last night traffic got jammed up right around 4700 South, and for the next 5 km I passed car after car after car.

I really don't remember the last time I so enjoyed a traffic jam. It was great. These cars whose drivers thought they were all that were being passed by a lowly bicycle, whose rider was struggling up the 2-3% grades on the road. (Yes, I know that's a sad commentary on my fitness level.) I even passed traffic when the road briefly turned up to a 5% gradient. I kept passing them all the way to 6200 South. Then, I rocketed down the hill and kept the -- now smoothly flowing -- traffic at bay until 7000 South. Between there and 7800 South a few cars got the better of me, but I caught them all at the light before turning east to finish my ride home. For nearly 9 km in total I passed or kept pace with the traffic on that road!

There's something really fun about going from the slow vehicle on the road to being the only vehicle moving on the road. Maybe somewhere in that 5 km line of traffic there was someone who had considered riding his or her bike, but thought it would take too long to get where they were going. Maybe they'll think a little differently next time.

Maybe I'll realize that I can maintain a high heart rate for a longer period than I thought, given the right motivation.

Maybe this morning all will return to normal and I'll be passed by nearly as many cars as I passed last night. But, that will not take away the joy of being the passer, even going up the hill.

Breathe (2 AM)

Whether it's 2 AM or any other time, I've suddenly discovered that even breathing can be a little painful. While not entirely biking related, I think this will have a biking consequence.

Last Saturday I did some waterskiing. (I know, poor me.) On my first attempt through the course, I took a nasty fall crossing the wake after clearing the first buoy. Now, before continuing this story, let me explain that I waterski about as well as I bike: I've been doing both for years, but I'm far from proficient in either. I once watched a professional skier run through the slalom course and wondered if that was actually the same sport that I dabble in. I've wondered the same thing watching the expert (oops, now Cat 1) racers at Intermountain Cup races.

So, back to the story. I had just made the first turn and was crossing the wake when I, inexplicably, had my ski slide out from underneath me. I fell backward and slapped my chest on the water. HARD. I felt it through my life vest and wetsuit. That's a lot of layers of padding meant to warm me, float me, and protect me from impact. As the boat headed back to get me up again, I felt a little pain on my ribs where I had slapped the water. Just the water. I figured it was a bruise, or something. So, I got up and kept skiing. I made a few more passes through the (mini) course, then took a short breather.

When I started another set, maybe 45 minutes later, I found that I had a hard time holding the rope while I turned. Nothing wrong with my hands, but that spot where I had slapped the water was still hurting. So, I made just one pass, then called it a day. I figured the bruise would quickly pass, and that I'd be back to normal by the end of the weekend.

Well, the weekend's been over for five hours, and it's (definitely) not better. In fact, I now feel it every time I breathe deeply. So, I've now figured it's cracked ribs or something similar. Nothing to go to the doctor over, since I'd be told to just let it heal anyway. But, as I contemplate a ride home from work tonight, and think about having to breathe deeply for 30 - 45 minutes, I wonder how it will feel.

I hope it won't hurt too badly. But, since I can't even sit up from a prone position, I fear I'm in for some pain. Maybe this will give me more empathy for pro cyclists who are forced to retire from Grand Tours (a la the Giro d'Italia or Le Tour de France) for injuries. A rib seems to have more involvement with cycling that I had given credit in the past.

I'll try to get an update on how I feel after my next ride.

UPDATE:

I can ride with bruised ribs. It turns out that the cycling position does not place too much stress on the muscles supporting the ribs or upper body. The only thing to watch out for is bumps in the road that abruptly jostle you. Aside from those, the cycling isn't bad, even with needing to breath deeply during exertion.

I was able to ride home Tuesday night, then back into work on Wednesday morning without undue pain.

Road to Nowhere (Updated)

"We're on the road to nowhere / Come on inside. / Takin' that road to nowhere / Come take that ride." I guess that I'm feeling like I'm on the road to nowhere with my cycling this year.

I've taken the past two weeks off. Now, one week was for a vacation, but I have no excuse by laziness for the second week. I'm starting to feel sluggish and heavy.

Then, last night I had to tell Nicole's uncle that I couldn't ride the ULCER with him this year. I have a very good reason that I'm excited about, but it does mean no training rides in July. Bummer.

Now, I'm about to get back on that road to nowhere as I take a commute ride home. I kind of committed, half-way, to take a more challenging route home, taking on some hills and additional distance; I guess I'd better live up to that. As Lance Armstrong said a few years back in preparation for Le Tour de France, "We know the bike's fast, now we just have to see if the man is." (If the quote's slightly off, please forgive me. I'm going by memory.)

It looks like it's time to tackle the short pitch on 3200 West between 5400 and 6200 South for tonight's fun. I don't think I'm quite up to adding in the 3600 West clime in addition. Maybe later in the week?

I could pull out an analogy between my inactivity in cycling and church service as of late, but I really don't feel that motivated to think. I just need to get out and ride. Then, I need to call a few people about church service opportunities before family night begins in earnest.

Time to get my tender toushie on  the saddle.

Update: (Okay, more of an admission) I did not take the 3200 West route home since my tires had lost a fair amount of inflation and I was worried about flatting if I took a longer route. This turned out to be a wise choice, since I discovered upon arriving home that my tires were both at only 2/3 my regular pressure, or 4 bar instead of 6 bar. If I had only checked the schraeder to presta adapter in my air compressor before leaving home this morning I could have made the ride. Oh, woulda, coulda shoulda.

Workin' Them Angels

"All my life I've been workin' them angels overtime; riding and driving and living so close to the edge." Those lyrics kept running through my head last night while I rode with the Boy Scouts along the Jordan River Parkway Trail. I'm not sure why. It could have been that the river was high and close to the edge 9but the nwhy not select "Close to the Edge" as the song?) or that the Scouts were just randomly wandering down the trail, or maybe just that I like the song by Rush. Whatever the reason, it was the soundtrack for the ride.

These Scouts are working on their Bicycling merit badge, and I'm the de facto counsellor for that badge, given my history of biking. So that means I get to take some rides with them, including the 50 miler they're preparing for this Summer. Last night was only a 28 km event. 

There were some good lessons from that ride, however. One was to make sure that the tires are properly inflated. We fixed that quickly before getting into the ride for one person. Another is to make sure that your brakes aren't rubbing before heading out. You may remember a post about upgrading the brakes on my mountain bike. Well, it turns out that I still need some adjustments to get those working correctly. The front wheel is definitely rubbing, and I've not checked the back. I know the adjustments should be simple, but I didn't have the owner's manual with me and I'm not familiar with those brakes yet. So, I rode with a rub. Another lesson was that it is always better to use a road bike for a paved ride. I worked far too hard on that ride, but my road bike was at the office so I grabbed what was available.

I also learned that I need to come up with a good way to teach the concepts of shifting and using the gears to your advantage when working with new riders. I can sit there and tell them when to shift, but that only goes so far when there are six boys learning how to use their gears. I need to come up with a way to help them all to understand that the gears exist to make life easier; to make it so that at any given point they can pedal at an easy cadence without exerting too much effort to push the bike forward. However, I remember when I was their age, the goal on my Schwinn Varsity 10 Speed bike was to start in the hardest gear possible and crank it. Oh, the foibles of youth. How do I help these new riders to see what I've since figured out: that at no time should they feel like they have to stand up and mash the pedals, but that they can use gearing to make life far easier, especially over the course of 80 km, like they'll be doing this summer?

I guess they'll all be workin' them angels this year while they try to figure out efficient cycling techniques, and how to stay out of the way of traffic.

You're the Best

At times we all tell ourselves that we are good at something. Sometimes we even go so far as tell ourselves that we're the best at something. Then we have experiences that cause us to doubt ourselves for thinking such an outlandish thing. I have a friend who recently went through this with her running. I went through this on my ride home tonight.

I was making pretty good time, getting through the lights, and keeping my legs moving. I was feeling like a great biker. Then I thought about the pace and endurance of even the lanterne rouge of the Tour de France and realized that I could not hold his wheel for even 1 km. I would know I was passed by Dave Zabiskie once. He just flew by making me feel like I wasn't moving on my bike. Well, the feeling of being good lasted for a few minutes before reality took over.

Then there was this dude who ran out of gas. He just pulled around the corner, against the light, cutting me off and severely ticking off several drivers behind me. As I yelled to help ensure that he wouldn't do anything more dangerous that he already had, he yelled back telling me that he was out of gas. Well, I still don't think he handled the situation optimally, but I decided that I could go back and offer my help if he needed it. At first I think he was pretty defensive, but I hope that by the time I had offered to lend a hand the third or fourth time, that he realized that I did want to help. He had a buddy nearby that he was going to call, so I wasn't needed. However, I hope that this little act helped put him a little more at ease in a difficult situation. Maybe it was a good thing.

As I said, at times we all tell ourselves that we are good at something. And, maybe in the end, that is what really counts.