Road Bikes, Cycling

“I did two 20 milers this weekend. Just city rides, mostly in bike lanes and quiet streets.

I generally do longer rides on the weekend, but I took a week off and didn't quiet have my legs back. But I ride hard and try to keep my average MPH up there.

I'll run today, Thurs, Friday, get back on the bike for Saturday and Sunday. Goal is 100 miles per week in the saddle and 16 to 20 miles running. Sometimes I make it; sometimes I don't!”

“chappy, the system in Switzerland is very, very good, and a great model. They do not create bicycle paths, typically, but have very well marked routes with low traffic. All major intersections along the routes are marked, large maps at points along the way. Many are farm roads, but also take you into all of the cities by the best routes.

The problem is the difference in driver attitudes. In Texas, even Lance can get harrassed, but in Switzerland I had several cars follow me for a couple of miles through a narrow canyon desent. Try that in TX, LOL!!!

Cycling in Switzerland”

“Path, I hear ya....but here in East Texas, they think everything on the road is fair game for stew.....We are talking about the German model off on the side of the road system a few meters or more.”

“I remember going out for a run in Oklahoma back in the late 70's. A car came from behind and seriously tried to do me in. Somehow I sensed what he was about, jumped the curb and headed for the adjacent field. The drivers' tires also went over the curb. There's something in that local mentality that says you're supposed to be either in a pickup truck or on a horse.”

“time to buy one of them little mirrors for your visor......”

“I commuted to work at 11PM in Houston, had a beer bottle thrown at me one Friday night.”

“chappy, I like the separate paths better, but with the size of TX, seems much more expensive. Looks like WA is trying to go a mix. Marked routes on established, safe roads, paths along old train routes, high vehicle traffic areas.”

“the paths we are looking at will have a hardpan mix, not asphalt like in Germany. Perhaps a great deal less expensive. There are several around Austin like this and in Round Rock.”

“I ordered this book today, but was taking my son to the library so I borrowed it. Its certainly got me itching to get out. At least a dozen of them are 10-15 miles from home/work.

"The Greater Spokane and Plouse Region Back Roads Cycling Guide is the first cycling guide to focus exclusively on Northeastern Washington and the Palouse, offering 40 day trips in the eastern third of Washington. The guide's coverage extends north from Pullman to the Caanadian border and east from Wilbur to the Idaho state line. The trips cover a wide spectrum of scenery, including routes through majestic mountains, ice-age flood channels, river canyons and gorges, coulees, wetlands, rolling wheatfields, and more. Every effort is made to keep you off the highways and out of high-volume traffic."”

“40 day trips? WOW, sounds like a plan.......lol, wait, I guess that is 40 'day trips' ....silly me....”

“I'm still looking for a multi-year, multimillion dollar contract to hike, bike and XC ski as I desire.”

“2hr, 30 miles. Spokane east towards Idaho. Got within 6 miles of the border and needed to turn around so I didn't run our of light in the narrow parts of the valley. Followed the Spokane river on the Centennial trail. Nice! I'd like to ride that last six and add the North Idaho Centennial Trail tomorrow.”

“Sounds like you're having the time of your life. Great!”

“You've got it, Nimblefoot. And somebody is going to pay me to live here. Unfortunately, that means I will soon be employed with less time to play.”

“Are there any Methodist churches close by, I could transfer............?”

“I saw a big, beautiful United Methodist. ;-D”

“Any room for us heathens?”

“In church? YOU BET!”

“The wife and I rode the Mississippi River levee trail near New Orleans today. We put in 34 miles but quit early due to rain. Great ride though. Next time we'll do about 50 miles. We had some great fried shrimp at Bobby's seafood along the way. Yeah, I know real riders don't stop for seafood along the way but this is Louisiana! Really hot before the rain hit. The breeze off the Mississippi helped a lot.”

“3 hrs, 45 miles. Spokane Valley to the east edge of Coeur d'Alene. Didn't get to the lake before my turnaround, but had a good ride watching people floating the Spokane river. Hot, but not as hot as it has been. Hardly anybody on the trail once I crossed into Idaho.”

“Pathman:

You'll have to ride the country roads around Round Lake, Chewelah, 49 degrees north, and Mettaline Falls. There are some great rural areas up there.

I stumbled into a nice road bike for my wife at a thrift store, a Fuji of about mid 80s vintage I guess, with all campagnolo parts. I'm more excited about it than she it, but I can't wait to get pedals that fit her shoes, and get her on it. This bike would have been my dream bike 30 years ago. Pics at

http://patentpending.blogs.com/”

“Hey, I'm still riding my "vintage Fuji mid 80s" bike! Doesn't have Campy parts, but we can't all be so lucky.... :-)”

“I had a mid-80's Fuji, too. Unfortunately I had no choice but to store outside in CA and I gave it to Goodwill when I bought my 2000 Cannondale. Good bike, but heavy.

Well now, I'm getting in a groove. Getting in 3-4 rides a week with at least one 50 miler on the weekend.

The Centenniel Trail from Downtown to Spokane Valley makes a great workout section, 45 min one way.
27 miles, 1:40, just over 16mph average. Starting and finishing in the River Park downtown makes a great warm up/cool off. It was hot, thermometer reading 100, but some shade, views of the river and it was tolerable. Got passed by a young buck, but I paced myself on him without drafting for a couple of miles going 20+ on a flat section.
last edited: 7/27/06 7:00:17 AM”

“I bet Spokane is a great place for riding, lots of variety, enough of a rider population to get some trails built, and great rural areas nearby to visit: Chewelah, etc. I've been riding my bike to work, and being more and more at ease on the big hill on the way home. I attack it now, and try to keep my crank rpms up even on the steep sections. I climb it 95% not in my lowest gear, and my knees feel good, not stressed.

I'll test my knees this weekend on a day hike to the top of Mt. Borah, 12,000+ feet, highest peak in Idaho.”

“I weighed my $5 Fuji on the bathroom scale (admittedly inaccurate) and it appears to be 3 pounds lighter than my Motobecane, which was advertised as being 21 pounds when I bought it. I'm trying to get my wife excited about the Fuji, and she is gradually getting the point. I showed her a Campy crank on ebay for $450, that impressed her.”

“Fuji was a great value for bikes at that time, don't know anymore. My first "10 speed" was a Motobecane, 1977. I loved that bike, but it was stolen after I had it for only a few months. I didn't know anything about components. Locked with a big, big chain, in front of the dorms at noon. Bolt cutters.”

“Fuji makes some good stuff now, and light too.”

“Got out yesterday, didn't feel like it when I started but need to loosen up at least. Turned out to be another great ride. Road climbed from my house to the shoulder of Rosa Butte. Turned onto Paradise, which quickly became dirt/gravel/oiled road. 8pt white tail buck and large hawk along the way, passing through the Northern Palouse wheat fields and open timbered ranches. Very rideable except for the washboarding that kept my speed down. Made it to Fish Lake, found the trailhead for the Columbia Plateau trail that passes through Turnbull Wildlife Refuge. (Rails to trails, the rail is still active, trail parallels. Road along the edge of the Slavin Family Preserve, and verified that it is a calving area for elk. Cruised home for dinner of grilled burgers, watermelon. 26miles, 10 or so unpaved, averaging 12 mph. Temps in the low 80's, moderately breezy.
last edited: 7/30/06 8:07:11 AM”

“My 15 yo daughter was in her first triathalon last night, and did very well. She is on swim team, so she was great in the swim part, last some time in the transition, held her place in the cycling and the running. It was a 400 yard swim, 6 mile bike, 1 mile run, so for a triathalon it was very easy, but still quite a workout. Don't know if she wants to do any more.”

“That's awesome. Congratulate her for me. I've been considering doing one myself, I was on a swim team 30 yrs ago, and still bike and run. Any suggestions or lessons learned?”

“register early, so you can get the route map, and walk/ride the route. The maps can be very confusing, and you can take wrong turns.

We put on clipless pedals on the bike a week ago, and she didn't learn to use them in time to feel confident about them, so she rode the bike with her running shoes, on clipless pedals. The real racers dispense with extra clothes on the bike, like shorts and t shirt over the suit, and do the transitions very smooth. You need a towel to stand on by the bike to get your feet clean and put on the shoes. It looked like fun, so I might try one sometime also.”

“Youngun' on the Discovery Channel Team is in the lead for the overall in La Vuelta de Espana. I liked this comment from the velonews live coverage:

5:14 PM Brajkovic attacks!
115 pounds of whoop-ass!

Janez Brajkovic
”

“he's still there!

Valverde's finish yesterday was stunning.”

“hike or bike, hike or bike, hike or bike....


arghhhh....

I can't wait till it snows. ski, ski, ski, ski.....”

“I have a mountain bike hanging in my shed for years now too. Every spring I swear I'm going to ride it but never do.

I used to ride EVERYWHERE on my bike except work which was too far. We used to stash our bikes in the woods to peddle back to our car after a thru hike.”

“I still do, Cats. Both for my kayak and hiking adventures. I'm trying to rig a scabbard on my bike so I can shoot deer out of season from it.”

“I went deer hunting on a mtb once. they gave me the bike with squeeky brakes.”

“for my birthday this year my husband had a hitch put on to my 2003celica and bought me a yakima bike rack. its really a nice set up. we have two 1980's peugeotbeach cruisers that we ride on the pinellas trail. then a couple of week ago i found a marin road bike at a pawn shop. i's a 400.00 bike that i got for 99.00bucks and all it needed was a new tube. i'm really enjoying going fast on it expecially down the overpasses(florida mountains).”

“After a 12+ year layoff, I got back into cycling this summer because I found it too hot to backpack. I got a nice deal on this baby and have been loving the hell out of it.
Cannondale R5000


Ok, this isn't road biking, but I got an awesome deal on this demo mountain bike:
Cannondale Rush Team Replica



I forgot how much I missed cycling and I'm having a blast on and off road. It's gonna be tough to toss on the backpack again.

Btw - I scrolled back and saw the awesome paint job on Idaho Bob's Motobecane. Very very sweet!”

“52 hot, hilly miles cooked my butt, but I made it home.”

“Wow! Had a great ride yesterday! I had to go over and do some work on the coast, but had a big time gap in the middle of the day, so I brought my bike along. I rode down Highway 1, including the famous Devil's Slide section, then turned up one of my favorite roads that I hadn't been up in many years. It's a spectacular climb up past a few farms, then up through redwoods and oaks - about 2000 feet. Then I went over the hills, up along the Crystal Springs reservoirs, and back over to the coast. 55 miles altogether, with the major climbs amounting to 3000 feet. Wildlife watch: 4 deer, 2 snakes.

Here's my map and profile - view full size to get the detail:



”

“I found a photo of the road with the main climb that somebody has on a web site:

”

“Jesus Christ, that looks like Nowslimmers EKG.”

“sweet ride!!!!

Your a MACHINE!”

“Someone had painted mileage (distance remaining to the top) markers on the pavement on the main climb, and I still haven't decided if that was a good idea or not. The first mile is a very gentle slope, then the next mile climbs more steeply. So by the time I got to "4 miles to top," I was in the steepest part, going about 4-5 mph. I didn't think I could make it another hour! But it flattens out a fair amount the final 2 miles, so I hit the top in third gear at around 10-12 mph.

I goofed up on the food I planned to bring. I meant to bring a couple of Luna bars (I was out of Clif bars), a Clif shot, and a banana, but for some reason brought 2 Powerbar protein bars, a Clif shot, and no banana. It worked OK.

I'm definitely going back to do that ride again!”

“looks great.”

“Nice 30 mile, 2 hour ride. Fall colors, the river, mid 60's.”

“Excellent! It was close to 80 here yesterday. BowlderGal and I did a flat 22-miler over by the Bay. Very unusual to have no head wind on the return along that ride, so that was nice. I may head up into the hills for a moderate ride today; we'll see if I can work it in....”

“I worked it in - a 25-miler with a couple of hills. My dad-gum derailleur is giving me troubles again! It gradually shifts itself into a higher gear whenever I really crank - not too good going up a steep hill! Also, my left cleat doesn't seem to lock securely into the pedal - today my foot came flying out of the pedal at about 38 mph - YIKES!”