Das Land Der Elefanten

Yesterday I rode with my long-time friend David Mickelson. We rode through Mueller Park in Bountiful to Elephant rock.

First off, I think it's really cute -- or maybe the word's flattering -- how my friends think that I can climb. We pulled out of Mick's house onto the 14% grade that is his street. Yes, that's right, 14%! By the time we got to the trail, I already felt like I'd climbed as much as a commute ride. But I guess with mountain biking, climbing is kind of the point.

I was actually quite pleased with my ability to ride at dirt trail after so long off the dirt. There were only a few places on this -- admittedly buffed out -- trail where I lost traction, and I was never left completely gasping for air. I am of the opinion that Mick was being kind and not pushing his top speed up the climb, but I did ride all 400 vertical meters over the 9+/- km climb.

The ride back was of Deer Valley downhill quality. The trail swooped through trees and across the mountainside, ever so pleasantly making its way back to the road.

Now, a few observations from the ride. One is that the only problem with a popular trail is that it's so popular. There was no end of people on this trail, hiking, biking, or taking pictures. That did mean that I had to keep the speed in check, ready to stop at any given moment, and I had to be particularly careful approaching blind corners, of which there were more than a few.

I realized that, although putting on some years, I like my mountain bike still. It worked great for a trail like Mueller Park, with a balance of climbing and descending. Dave and I talked about how a good ride can make you lust after new equipment, or cause you to realize that you're okay with what you have. I went through both thoughts, but ended up liking what I have.

Finally, it was nice to catch up with Mick after a few years of each going our own way. I was realizing last night, after the ride, that there has to be some Force in the universe that, once people have intertwined paths for a long period, tends to keep those paths connected. It's like a rope. If you wind a rope tightly together, the ends that continue on will still be close together even if they're not connected into the rope itself. I've found this with several friends. Although we're separated by space and time we still find that we hold onto similar interests and still have things to talk about.

Oh, and riding a bike is a lot like riding a bike: you never forget how.

Is There Anybody Out There?

Simple post, with a simple question: "Is There Anybody Out There?" I just want to know if I'm contributing anything useful to the blogosphere or to readers. If you've read and enjoyed any posts on this blog, will you just put a comment on this post with a name, or email, or something to let me know if anyone is reading. If you would like to see more or less of a topic, or my whining or have any other thoughts of how you would enjoy this more, let me know that as well.

Thanks for boosting my ego and giving me an idea of if I should keep clogging up the tubes of the internets with my rambling thoughts.

Take the Long Way Home

Although this sentiment by Supertramp may seem at odds with my last post, I wanted to tell the story of having to take the long way home last night. The story begins yesterday morning when I took my truck in for a scheduled service and warranty repair. I rode my bike to the office, packed the bike into the truck, drove to the appointment, then rode back to the office. The ride back from Tim Dahle Nissan is actually pretty nice. I'm on quiet roads, or a road with a nice shoulder the whole way. No complaints.

Yesterday evening, I headed out to pick up the truck, and headed straight into a closed intersection. This wouldn't be so bad, except that it was a choke point on my commute back to the dealer. Let me explain.

Heading east from my office basically involves taking 4100 S. Other options are taking the shoulder-less 3500 S, or taking the equally shoulder-less Redwood Road to 4700 S. Either of these options requires fighting through a freeway ramp intersection. Not pretty.

Getting onto 4100 S during the evening commute means that I use the light at 1300 W. There's barely a way to get across that street to head east in a car. It borders on suicide on a bike. Well, in retrospect, I could act like a bike, head west on 4100, then act like a pedestrian and use the crosswalk at Redwood Road. Too bad I didn't think of that last night. Anyway, back to our story.

As I approached the crash-closed intersection at 4100 S and 1300 W, I had to come up with an alternate route home. I ran through all the options I just mentioned (except for the crosswalk one) and realized that I wasn't going to do so well on any of those. Then I reached out and thought of the Jordan River Parkway Trail that parallels 1300 West and could put me onto 4100 S away from the problem. So, I turned north, away from my destination, and headed for the dreaded 3500 S. I figured that I'd use the sidewalk to get to the trailhead there.

Did I mention that when a street lacks a proper shoulder for placing construction signs to hinder bicycle traffic, that the construction crews use the sidewalk for their signs to, again, hinder bicycle traffic? Well, they did. Anyway, after avoiding construction signs and other cyclists on the wrong side of the trail, I finally got myself back to 4100 S and on my way to get my truck, only an extra 5km into the ride.

I was glad that West Valley has finally decided to finish paving the trail so that I didn't have to take the skinny tires across loose gravel or rutted dirt. And I was very glad that they finally built a pedestrian overpass so that I didn't have to cross the traffic there.

I was quite glad to be on a bike, though, seeing that traffic had backed up for about a mile. And I was just zipping along the opposite direction.

I did eventually get to the dealership, pick up the truck, and drive it home. But there was a little extra excitement on the way.

When the World Is Running Down

"You make the best of what's still around." I think that the cycling world is running down for this season. How can I tell? Well there are a few reasons. Let me go through them.

First: here in Utah, the weather is changing. It's supposed to get cooler  this weekend. The leaves are starting to change. I'm starting to think about skiing. I'm definitely not thinking about water sports. But I'm still finishing out the cycling season.

My blog posts, as a second indicator, are becoming less frequent, less impassioned, and less interesting. I've done everything this season that I've set out to do (except for the last 25 km of my distance goal). I'm no longer moving toward something this year; I'm just biking.

Third, I've noticed that other cycling blogs I read have reduced the frequency of their posts recently as well. I'm seeing between a week and month since their last updates as well.

Desire, or lack of desire, is a fourth indicator. My interest in finding new ways home is waning. I'm having to talk myself into getting on the bike, and the excuses are easier to buy as I think of them. I'm also starting to think about next season more than this season.

Lusting after new stuff usually seems to hit me at this point of the season. I've either been riding the same bike for months on end, or I'm blaming my lack of riding a different bike on the bike, rather than my schedule or desire. For instance, I've lusted after two different mountain bike frames on chainlove.com in the past two days. Some little part of me was saying that if I could get one of those frames, then I'd definitely ride the mountain bike more next season. Of course, that voice is in financial conflict with the other voice that's telling me to get a city / commuter bike complete with fenders, racks, lights, and everything so that I can ride further into the fall and winter without damaging my cervelo.

Yup, it must be the end of the season.

Nothing

"What am I trying to do? What am I trying to say? I'm not trying to tell you anything you didn't know when you woke up today… nothing." I listened to some Depeche Mode in high school. Anyway, I've not had any desire to post anything lately, but I figured I should put a few things up.

Following a GPS: I think I mentioned that I got the Garmin Edge 705 bike computer / GPS earlier this year. I love the thing. After some glitches with earlier software versions, it now works wonderfully. I love being able to track all of my rides on my computer. I think it's awesome. However, I have a problem. I don't like being told where to go. The other day I rode out to 3600 West, then told the GPS to find me the short way home. It did. I ended up riding through neighborhoods and in some of the strangest places I've seen in a while. I believe that it did cut off a few km from the ride, but I wonder if it was any quicker after all of the stop signs, dips, and funny corners. Somewhere in the middle of the neighborhoods, I started wondering if I wouldn't have enjoyed my usual ride as much. However, at this point my commutes are becoming very routine.

Commuting duty: Thank for the segue. It seems that recently my biking commutes are becoming more a matter of habit and duty than from the joy of biking. Don't get me wrong, I still enjoy riding. I love the incredible late-summer weather. (More on that later.) I like the fact that I'm getting in some exercise. However, I've ridden the same routes, and slight variations, so many times this year that I'm just ready for something different on the bike. Thank goodness Mick invited me on a mountain bike ride in a few weeks. I'll really be able to use the change. In the meanwhile, though, I'll continue to try to keep my commutes fresh in spite of so many routes being closed or hindered by road construction.

Weight control: I was reviewing the distances I've ridden over the past several years, and thinking about my average weights during those years. As obvious as it may seem, on the years that I rode more my weight stayed more in control. Last year I didn't ride much at all, and my weight went up significantly. The two years before that I rode over 3,000 km, and my weight stayed closer to where I would like it. This year, with almost 2,000 km so far my weight has come back down toward where I'd like to see it.

Weather: October has been very kind to cyclists in Northern Utah. Lows have been in the 50s (F) and highs in the 80s. It's really stayed summer for a long time. Next week is starting out a little cooler, but not bad. It looks like my goal to keep bike commuting through October, and maybe into November, will be smiled upon.