The weather having been nice on Saturday, I sat down with John Crouch's cycling book and planned a Sunday ride. I wasn't sure I was up to a century ride, so I did not plan a pure out and back. I joined some loops that might add up about 80-90 k with the option of cutting the loop and coming back straight down the Lochside or the Interurban Road, and the option of a loop around James Bay or along Dallas towards Ross Bay to top it up. I made the century. Use it or lose it.
After several initial rides after I arrived in Victoria in March my cycling dropped off. I got involved in outfitting the house the weekend that I got it, (April 1 and 2) and then to unpacking and fixing things around the house. I think it has been only two rides in the last three or four weeks.
In my first three weeks in Victoria - it will be three weeks on Friday - I have been out riding about 8 times including one leisurely Sunday when I rode down to James Bay to see some houses for rent, and a couple of mail runs. I have had a couple of 30 k+ rides and a 51 k ride too.
Yesterday Colleen called. She was about the only person I knew in Victoria before I moved and she had agreed to take my forwarded mail. Canada Post wouldn't let me rent a Victoria box from Winnipeg. She lives near Oak Bay, she had to leave for a squash game by 6:15. She gave me directions involving riding downtown on Douglas or Blanshard, then riding on Fort and turning on Oak Bay Road.
I road on Blanshard - a major arterial road, in a diamond lane for cyclists. On Fort, another major artery, the diamond lane is actually between the curb lane - which is for parking - and the 2 middle lanes. I was able to ride major routes without getting pinched by traffic.
The hills in the east end of Victoria are murder though. I am spending a lot of time on the middle ring, and shifting a lot. I think the rear shift cable was pinched on the trip because the shifts at 3-4-5 on the back cassette sometimes just hang. But I got another 15 k and my third ride in 4 days.
The next few days are forecast for rain and I should start looking at houses for rent.
It's Sunday night. I arrived in Victoria Friday night and I have managed to clean up my bike and to ride Saturday and today. The weather was good - sunny and 10 degrees. I didn't find my odometer/computer yesterday, and I didn't get a precise record of my distance. I found it today and to my relief it worked after the sending unit and wires had been exposed to wind and spray for 2,500 kilometers.
Really, I still have better things to do. Yesterday I accomplished quite a bit toward packing and cleaning up. Today I put fenders on my bike - my Giant Yukon- , to anticipate riding in the rain and on wet roads.
I'll still get wet, but I won't be spraying my crotch and my face with my front tire and my neck and back with my rear tire. It was originally a hard frame mountain bike and over the last three years has been transformed, by tires, gears and other adaptations into a hardy urban cruiser. One of the benefits of my new job in Victoria is that the employer has a bike lockup, showers and change rooms to accommodate people who want to cycle to work. Victoria has dedicated trails including the Galloping Goose, and I should be able to cycle to work without having to travel on major roads. The Yukon is going to become my commuter bike.
Sports fans - the 2006 Tour de France route is set. News at BBC Sports, Bicycling and the Tour site.
Mike and I rode Tuesday and Thursday evenings, and Friday afternoon last week. We noticed that the sun sets around 8:00 and that it is pretty well dark by 8:30. The weather was good though, still shirt-sleeve warm. I used my urban bike - a Giant Yukon, hardframe with wide, treaded tires. I put some miles on the new saddle, hoping to retrain my right hip after riding on a canted saddle most of the summer.
On Sunday, Mike Steve and I rode to St. Adolphe, about a 70 k ride. It was a warm day, with the forecast for 30 degrees. We rode into a south wind, and back with the wind at our back. We were able to ride at about 25 into the wind except for some open spots where we got hit hard, and slowed down to 20, 15 on gravel. I used the Giant and was getting a bit tired by the end. I had been leary of switching back to my road bike after last Sunday, and I hadn't wanted to ride it on gravel. I still managed to wipe out in soft gravel on the inside of curve near the bridge to St. Adolphe (minor rash, right elbow). We had a strong thunderstorm last night - broken branches, power lines down, some old elm trees knocked down. It had cleared by morning, and Mike and I rode to St. Francois Xavier. It was a pretty nice morning, light winds, which started to pick up near noon. We could really notice the variations in the storm's impact as we rode, from the number and size of the broken branches on the road. The storm seems to have struck hard across parts of River Heights, Wolseley and the West End, with less impact further west, past Omand's Creek. I rode my road bike today, and I didn't have any more of that unpleasant tingling in my leg and side. I had raised the seat before the ride and raised it a touch more a few k into the ride, for a smoother feeling on the downstroke. I am pleased to say that I have managed to ride 70 k on each of two consecutive days. Mike was trying out aero bars on his bike. He rides in an upright position and has been pounded by winds. It seemed to let him tuck and ride much more efficiently into the wind.
We have a plan, involving a visit to my sister Joyce, in Portage la Prairie, in a couple of weeks. Portage la Prairie is 90 k from my house, riding straight out of Winnipeg on Portage Avenue to Headingley, and then switching to Highway 26 at the White Horse near St. Francois. We ride, there, have dinner, visit, sleep over, and ride back. We haven't been sure how centuries on consecutive days will work. I am getting more confident.
So far this year I have made a 100 k + ride 4 times - as have Mike and Steve. St. Francois Xavier and Highway 26 on Canada Day, Niverville on July 31, the Muddy Waters Ride through East Selkirk and Bird's Hill Park on August 14, and East Selkirk last Sunday August 28. In spite of rain, I have kept up with the distances I rode last year.
There have been some complications. I had an odd feeling in my right hip and a little pain in my right knee most of the year. I tinkered with my seat height and seat alignment on both bikes, and with cleat position before finally noticing that the seat on my heavier urban bike had actually worn out and canted down on the right. I realized that I had not been having those problems when I rode my road bike. I replaced the seat on the urban bike last week. I suspect I had mild bursitis in my right hip, from the uneven position of my hips on the saddle. Having fixed that - but not recoverd or healed yet - I ran into a new problem. I changed the stem on my road bike from a 70 mm extension to 90 mm. The next time I rode that bike - last Sunday, I had intermittent tingling in my right leg, radiating into my right arm. That seems to be a stretching issue, getting loose before getting on the bike, watching my posture, getting accustomed to the changes in my body position. I did a hard sprint up the Arlington Bridge, twisting my neck to look for overtaking traffic, early in the ride. That may have aggravated my sore hip enough to set off the tingling.
Live and learn.
It hasn't been a good summer for bike rides. Through most of June and early July, it has rained on Sunday. Some weekends we have managed to ride on Saturday afternoon or managed a shorter ride in the 35 k range on Sunday, but we have missed our longer rides. We did a metric century past St. Francis on Canada Day. Mike and I rode to St. Adolphe with Clint on a muggy hot Sunday morning July 10. We finally had a dry day and Mike, Steve and I rode to Lockport yesterday (Sunday July 24).
We have managed to get 2 or 3 evening rides during the week, and we are pushing those into the 35-40 k range, so we are actually getting decent distances and maintaining our fitness, slowly improving our peak and average speeds, riding longer and faster into adverse winds.
I have been concentrating on small adjustments. I change the cleat position in my shoe, raise or lower the seat by half a centimeter. Yesterday I changed the alignment of the seat and the seat angle on my road bike during the ride, and when I was finished I changed the position of the brake levers for a better riding position when I ride with my hands over the levers - a good position for harder riding without going down on the drops. I have been learning what feels right, checking against stress and joint pain, changing things when knees or hips hurt. So far, so good.
Mike and I have each managed to ride 1000 k since we started riding in March, up to Monday night, May 30. We added 34 more on May 31. We thought we were riding less this year than last year. I thought we had a lot more rain this year, especially on the weekends when we would ordinarily take half a day for a long ride. We have had several rainy spells, and have lost some weekend rides. when it has been dry we have been riding almost every evening, for 30-35 or even 40 kilometers, for 3 or 4 consecutive nights.
The weather in the last week (from Sunday April 24 to Sunday May 1) has been cold, with sudden showers and snow flurries, which killed my interest in cycling. This week promises to be moderately warmer, with sunshine.
The preceding week was a bit warmer and that week I had a Sunday morning ride to St. Adolphe with Mike and Steve into a stiff breeze - and back with a howling gale at our backs. I also have evening rides Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday with Steve or Mike or both, and a Saturday afternoon ride with Mike. Last Sunday, Claire and I drove to Portage and then on to Spruce Woods with my sister Joyce for a 10 k hike in the Carbery desert. It was warmer there than in Winnipeg - Carberry is closer to Brandon than Winnipeg. Then winter came back.
A week of temperatures near the 10 degree mark melted much of the snow cover last week. This week we have had daytime temperatures of 13.5 on Tuesday (April 5) and 16 on Wednesday, and the snow and the melt puddles are disappearing. The street are gritty with the winter's sand but some main streets have been swept.
Last weekend, there was packed snow and ice on most roads. The ice between the ruts in my back lane was about 10 inches deep. In the past week, that kind of ice has melted on all the streets. There is still a lot of snow in yards and on boulevards, and most City streets have puddles and wet sections. The cross-country ski season did in fact end with my last ski trip to Bird's Hill two weeks ago.
Steve, Mike and I rode on Sunday at Bird's Hill, as we did on the last Sunday in March last year. Steve has notes and pictures in his cycling log entry for March 27. Mike has a picture in his blog entry. He has to add a table and some code (with Steve's tech support) to fire up his cycling log for 2005.
March 25, snow on the ground, temperature below freezing - the first ride of the season.
I saw the Winnipeg premiere of "Pro, A Feature Documentary" last night at the Imax theater in Portage Place. Woodcock Cycle, had promoted it at their store, on their web site, and through the Manitoba Cycling Association. The theater was nearly full, and I think most of the audience were fairly dedicated cyclists.
The BBC Web site has a sports page with a cycling section, which has links to a cyber-area that they call the BBC Academy, which has more pages about cycling (and pages about other sports).
The lead news today is that the French judicial system has started to look at a doping allegations against Lance Armstrong. This should keep the sporting world's eye on cycling and it may ensure that the 2005 Tour gets televised in North America. It's a great event and TV has learned how to cover it well, but without a strong American presence like Armstrong (or Lemond before him) in the race, it doesn't seem to be a marketable event in America.
Meanwhile Steve has come to the attention of Mike Magnuson, professor of literature, cyclist, author and redneck as he writes in the Glort blog. Magnuson, like other people we know, began to cycle a lot, almost obsessively, with positive results for his physical health and mental health. He lost weight and invested his energy in cycling and writing about it. Steve liked the book about cycling, but none of us have read any of his other books.
Yesterday Mike and I rode through Assiniboine Park and St. Charles. The ground was dry, except for a few places where condensation had formed ice on the road. The temperature was around zero (C) and the wind was about 20, gusting to 30 kph. Not too cold. We had numb toes by the end, but otherwise our gear held up to the conditions.
The leaves are down, there are frequent frosty nights, sunset is about 5:00 PM and it's dark by 5:30 PM as we have rolled the clocks back from Daylight Savings time. The weather turned cool, with many rainy days after Thanksgiving, which restricted our evening rides. We have managed to keep up one good ride on the weekends, until today. Mike, Steve and I rode to Bird's Hill last Sunday morning (Halloween), and returned into a stiff cold breeze. Mike and I rode through Woodhaven and St. Charles on Friday afternoon (Nov. 5), so we have managed to ride in every month from March through November this year. Mike had not posted the most recent rides on Bike with Mike when I composed this post due to technical problems with his server but I think he will fix that.
We had planned a ride yesterday afternoon (Nov. 6), but cancelled under the threat of showers and flurries. It's a cold sunny day today. I would ride, but I am packing for a hunting trip. If it doesn't snow too much and the temperatures don't fall too far below the freezing mark, we should manage a few more rides this fall.
For about 10 days before Thankgiving, the weather was warm and generally dry. We were still wearing shorts, T-shirts and light shells on most of our rides. During the week before Thanksgiving we rode Tuesday and Wednesday evening, and Friday afternoon.
The Friday afternoon ride (October 8) was interesting. We rode to Bird's Hill, into the wind. Crossing the Perimeter Highway at Gateway was a little scary because the traffic is heavy and fast. We stopped at Sobey's in Bird's Hill and bought a snack. (There is something obscenely hilarious about me eating a banana in a croissant). On the return trip Mike's handlebar broke as we were crossing the Perimeter. He was using his old bike because his bike was in the shop for repairs and a tune-up.
We have had a few days of sunshine and moderately warm temperatures, with deep blue skies, streaked with a few high wispy cirrus clouds. The geese are flying between waterlogged fields, rivers and creeks, retention ponds and assorted bodies of water. The leaves on many trees have turned colour and started to fall. It's generally warm enough to ride in shorts and short-sleeved shirts or light shells although it gets cool as the sun goes down. It gets dark by 7:30 PM, and my friends and I have taken measures to get an early start for our rides during the work week.
Mike and I had good rides on Friday afternoon, Sunday morning, and yesterday (Tuesday) evening. On Friday we rode the familiar route to the Grace Hospital via Assiniboine Park and the Moray bridge. Yesterday we took the Harte trail to the Perimeter, dodging a few mud puddles on the trail, and driving through clouds of tiny midges and flies that appeared in the evening light. Sunday morning was a glorious ride across East Kildonan to Bird's Hill, a cross Highway 59 and out into country east of Birds Hill, by gravel roads along the Floodway. He came back into the City in Transcona and across the City back to the Forks.
I am hoping for a several more weeks of clear warm weather, followed by a quick transition to winter with real snow for skiing. I can hope.
At this time of the year, the light becomes dim by 8:00 and it's dark by 8:15 PM. The leaves have started to turn colour and fall. It has been a rainy and cold summer. So far, we have managed to keep up our rides in the evening and we have not have to resort to our cycling tights and cold weather headgear, but the MEC shells have been useful. We started our rides at 6:30 PM during the summer, and we have rolled that back to 6:15 as the days have become shorter.
Mike and Steve both passed 2000 kilometers this past week or weekend, counting back to March. As I write this, Mike has logged 2057 after July 17, and he rode 80 kilometers on our trip to St. Francis on Sunday July 18.
I haven't been tracking my mileage. I am probably 150 to 200 less than Mike at this point. He put in a century ride with Steve last weekend (July 11) when I was at the folk festival, and a series if short rides to work and with his neighbour. That still means I am approaching 2000 K if I haven't also reached it.
The weather has been cool this spring, and we have cancelled planned rides due to rain. We began to get hot summer mornings a few weeks ago. It was hot and humid on Sunday July 18 and we turned around at St. Francis. We had found a favourable wind after we reached the White Horse at the intersection of Highway 26 and the Transcanada and were tempted to push on but we knew we would then have to deal with the wind all the way back to the Transcanada, and then with a cross wind most of the way home.
We weren't sure how we might feel if we did the extra mileage for a century in the heat.
We seem to be in better shape this year. We aren't necessarily riding greater distances although we have started getting 100 K days when we used to regard 60 to 75 K as a long ride. Mainly we are riding harder and faster. We find that a wind or 15 to 25 K is normal for prairie riding and we try to ride into the wind on the outbound leg of the journey. We are finding that our average speeds as calculated by our cycling computers are in the twenties instead of the teens. Those averages include low speeds at intersections. On the open road we seem to sustain speeds of 24-27 kph with crosswinds and moderate adverse winds, and 30 K with light favourable winds.
It isn't the speed that the riders on the Tour de France are getting but we don't see too many guys our age passing us any more.
Yesterday, Sunday June 27, Mike and I tried a new route. We rode to St. Francis Xavier and along Highway 26. I have pictures but I haven't taken the time to take them off the camera and post them. Later. Not today. It's election day and I am working for a campaign. Check again in a couple days for blue sky and green fields shimmering in the summer sun.
As we reach the end of May, we have only been able to wear shorts 4 times. The temperatures have generally stayed under 10 degrees (Celsius). However, we have been riding steadily. We didn't ride in the evenings during the week of May 10-14 due to a spring blizzard. I passed on one ride this week to make soup and pudding for Claire, who had just had her wisdom teeth out. But otherwise I have been out nearly as much as Mike whose odometer for the year is at 872 kilometers since March 28. Steve, who rides to work and rides at lunch (but can't ride most evenings in May and June since he is a responsible dad with three kids playing soccer) is at 921 kilometers.
We rode to the gravel quarry in Bird's Hill on Sunday May 23, and we had the rare excitement of a steady, strong tailwind on the way home. I was riding my Giant Yukon, and the ride exposed a shortcoming of this bike. I found that I did not have the top end gear combinations to keep up with Mike and Steve. I suspect that Mike and Steve have smaller top rear rings - 11 or 12 teeth. Mike clearly has a bigger front ring.
Several times last year, I told my friends that I was going to get my road bike back on the road. On Saturday morning, looking at a long ride on pavement to Lockport on Sunday, I decided to go forward with the project.
The bike is a Kuwahara Apollo. I bought it around 1979 or 1980. I rode it actively for a few years, but my cycling dropped off after 1982. It has a high quality Chrome-moly frame, and good wheels and components. The basics to get it roadworthy were new tires and tubes. 20 years of sitting in the basement had dried out the rubber and made the old ones pretty unreliable. The tires had seen some wear too. In view of the prevalence of sharp stones and other road hazards on Winnipeg roads, I went into the mid-market for tires and bought Armadillos. I bought new tubes, and a spare to carry on trips.
The next item was a seat post. The bike came with a short post and I had extended it past the safety mark to get proper leg extension. I'm not sure why I didn't take care of this when I bought the bike. New alloy seat posts are cheap - but they tend to be pretty long to match the geometry of modern frames which call for long seat posts. A quick cut with a hacksaw and I had a post that was properly seated in the frame. I got a rear rack. I carry a rack pack or panniers with spare tubes, a few tools, lights, snacks, headband for cold weather, rain cover for helmet etc. I will not be racing this bike - I will be using it for long rides on pavement and I want to be safe. I looked at the brakes. Shimano calipers. Nothing wrong with them but the brakes pads were worn and the rubber was probably dry. However fiddling with brakes can get time consuming so I decided to leave that task for another day.
The drive train seemed fine. The gear teeth were in good shape. Twelve speeds doesn't sound like enough in the modern era, but it is. I had wondered about changing the shifters to modern indexed shifters. The front shifter had been tricky all along - it didn't hold in the outer position over my big front ring. As I read about it, I learned that there is a simple adjustment to a tension screw to fix this.
The pedals were built for clips and old fashioned bike shoes with a grooved cleat. They had little posts on the inner and outer edges to hold a narrow racing shoe. That made them hard to use with the bike shoes I have now, and hopeless with any kind of general purpose shoe. So new pedals were required. And while I was at it, I might as well get clipless pedals. Gooch's bike shop has a sale so I saved a little there. I got Shimano pedals with a platform on one side and cleat locks on the other. I spent a few hours replacing the tires and tubes, repacking the wheel bearings, cleaning and lubing the chain, installing the rack and installing the new pedals.
The bike felt good on the Sunday morning ride our Sunday morning ride to Lockport. I had to shift in the saddle a bit to get comfortable and I thought of making some adjustments but by the end of the ride I was comfortable again. I realized quickly that I need to replace the brake pads. The brakes worked but wailed like pan pipes played by a goose with a sinus condition. The cloth tape on the handlebars is frayed and uncomfortable and needs to be replaced. The water bottle cage was pretty shaky. I can add a second cage to the seat tube if I carry my tire pump strapped to the top tube with velco straps. These are all small and simple repairs. I may want to get a longer front stem. The cost of parts adds up, but it is a good bike and I don't want to buy a new one when I already own a good bike.
There is no doubt that a road bike is more efficient for a long ride. As Steve has posted, it was a windy day. The road bike allows or forces a rider into a dropped position, and the thin tires (23 mm) offer far less rolling resistance that touring (35 mm) and mountain bike cleated fatties.
Complaining about the wind, and the narrow shoulders and the ignorant drivers on Henderson Highway is part of life. I complain during the rides and I will probably complain about it in the future because I will take that ride again. Lockport is a nice ride on a sunny Sunday.
Yesterday, Steve, Mike, Rob and I rode from Mike's house to Waverley Street past Wilkes, where we met Clint. Rob and Clint are younger than Mike, Steve and I. They are both students at the University of Manitoba. Clint is in the Armed forces, currently in University. He has obviously done some serious riding in the past. He hasn't had much time on the bike since coming to Winnipeg two years ago - unfamiliarity with the City, and maintaining his studies, and a home life with a young son and a new baby.
We went to Headingley by way of the Harte Trail, which is an abandoned rail line that has been turned into a cycling and walking trail. It runs basically east and west, parallel to the CN Main line and Wilkes Avenue and extends from Charleswood to Beaudry Park past Headingley. Inside the City, the trail is fairly well used, and gravelled. Outside the Perimeter Highway, it is dirt track, and crosses ditches and farmer's fields.
The trail inside the City had a few damp spots, and even a couple of icy patches. We hit a huge mudhole at the point the trail meets the perimeter. Steve rode through, and had to spend half an hour wiping mud off his wheels, chain and drive components.
After crossing the perimeter, we pushed ahead on the Hart Trail but our speed dropped to about 12 k as we bumped along. The track was damp by appearance but firm. I didn't think we were sucking up new mud, but we were exerting ourselves on this stretch. The first major road crossing brought us to a ditch full of water. We detoured across a farmer's field, sucking up more mud, to reach a culvert and cross onto the road. For the next several kilometers of gravel and payement, my cleated tires hurled mud clods.
We stopped at the edge of Headingley and turned back. We had planned to go further, but we had taken some time on the mud and the trails and still had to ride back into a southeast wind that was in our face, off our right shoulders, most of the way.
This time last year, I weighed over 170 lbs. I'm not sure how much more because I wasn't checking. I suppose it was not over 175 or I would not have fit my clothes. For the last few weeks my weight has been showing as 142 to 144. Most of the weight came off cycling last year and a little extra came off this spring with stress and not eating around my wife's snapping back into her demand for divorce. I have been eating a bit more now, and rebuilding muscle and fitness. I expect to lose a few more pounds - I think 130 to 135 would be a safe healthy weight.
This time last year, I did not ride until April 20. This year, I have cycled on four consecutive weekends already, and several evenings, and I have logged about 225 k.
The temperature most days has been a little above freezing, but with suitable gear, the conditions are quite tolerable. The company is good.
Steve has started to post 2004 cycling notes and photos on the Bike with Mike page. I have edited my recent posts in this blog to link to his site. Last year Steve posted his own log as Bike with Mike. This year he is giving Mike that log, published in a subdomain of Steve's domain. I think he will continue to keep his own log and publish it on the web. He tinkers with his site. I will have to check my links to the cycling page on his site and to Mike's cycling log periodically.
After supper, Mike, Steve and I took a bike ride of about 26 kilometers through Assiniboine Park, over the bridge on Moray, through Woodhaven, to Grant's Mill in front of the Grace Hospital. The Assiniboine River and the creeks flowing into it are high with spring run-off. Mike took pictures. Steve has reactivated the Bike with Mike site, and he is trying to get Mike to take it over. The pictures are there. Go to the 2004 log, and click on April 6 in the date column. I have a beard and I'm wearing a a red helmet and blue fleece in these pics. In other pictures this spring I may be seen in a brown camoflage pattern fleece or an orange windbreaker. Steve tends to wear a yellow shell on colder days.
With the change to daylight savings time last weekend we can ride for more than 2 hours after dinner which gives us time for riding and some rest and photography stops.
Last year my friends Mike and Steve started to ask me to ride with them. We started to ride, almost every Sunday and one or two evenings a week through the spring, summer and fall. Steve began to log and journal his trips, alone and with Mike, Robbie and me on a web page called Bike with Mike. Steve's log says that I rode with him on April 20 last year. I don't clearly remember that trip. I remember joining them for evening rides in early May and then for Sunday rides.
