Tempus Fugit

Latin (tem-pu̇s-ˈfü-git): Time Flies

Category: Cycling

  • Tires & Mechanicals

    A while back the original tires on my road bike were starting to look a little worn, so I replaced them with a nice looking set of Michelin Pro 3 with a red sidewall that matched the bike paint job nicely. Then I started to notice I was getting more flats, a lot more flats. For a while I chalked it up to just the luck of the ride. Then one ride at the lake I flatted 3 time in under 70km and had to call for a pickup as I’d gone through all my spare tubes! Time to try something different. 

    After some research I settled on trying a Continental 4000S as the new rear tire. Amazingly enough, 6 long rides later, including 4 in the Kenora area where there is lots of sharp granite piece on the road shoulders, not to mention numerous other road debris hazards, and 14km on some serious gravel, all without a single flat!

    So I’m convinced that the Continental is the tire for me an I’ll be ordering another for the front right away.

  • Darn you Strava

    Once upon a time going for a ride was a simple thing, relaxing, no stress. You could ride easy, go hard, or anything in between.

    And then there was Strava.

    Strava has an iPhone app that allows you to track your ride and then upload it to their web site. It also has the concept of “segments” which allows you to compare yourself to anyone who rides the same route as you did. Each segment has a Leaderboard which shows your stats in comparison to other riders who have ridding the same strech of road. You can even get notified when your friends do a ride and when somebody beats your time and steals you KOM (King of the Mountain) status! If you’re at all competitive, like most guys, this is quite annoying, at least it is to me and the first thing that comes to mind is how can I get that 1st place back and beat the other riders time.

    So much for relaxing rides. Now when I ride I’m thinking about “Is this a segment?”, “Who is the leader?”, “How much harder do I need to ride to get a (PR) Personal Record, move up the Leader Board, or reclaim the KOM?”

    On vacation this year I’ve been doing most of my riding in the Kenora area. There is another rider in the area using Strava, and he is killing me! Stole all my KOMs, beats all my times by MINUTES! I find my self trying to close the gap or get some records back, but so far I just can’t do it. I’ve subsequently learned that he is a Cat 3 racer, and of course much younger that me, so I’m trying to console my self with these overriding factors. Even so, I’m still trying to close the gap.

    Yesterday, I intentionally turned of Strava for a good portion of my ride. I actually took the time to look around and enjoy the scenery, which is quite fantastic in the Lake of the Woods area, instead of focusing on the power meter, time, and speed. That part of the ride was much more relaxing and a mix of solid efforts with perhaps somewhat long recovery periods.

    All in all I’m hooked on Strava and I’m sure that most rides I’ll use it. It can keep you motivated and turn an average ride into more of a killer workout. Besides, it’s always fun to steak somebody else’s KOM!

  • Rode with Hincapie

    On the weekend club ride, we had a couple of “special” guests.

    The other special guests were the Woodcock Race team that joined up with us at Lockport. The FOG fast group went off with them to Selkirk, and then from Selkirk to “The Big Bridge” Tim & Don pulled the train at 46-48km/h and most of us just hung on for the ride, it was a good time. Then, after the sprint to the top of the bridge, the Woodcock team went on a head as we stopped to re-group. The ride boss was pushing for some extra mileage and the group was willing, so it was off to Cooks Creek and then a stop at the beach in Birds Hill Park for water. With riding from home to the Legion and all the way back to the house it racked up 145 km for the day.

    Good preparation for the Muddy Waters 100  (160km) coming up on August 12, 2012. This year the route is a little different with the start from Kildonan Park. The 1st loop is out to Lockport and back via Henderson and Highway 202, and then ti’s the standard FOG route, including Cooks Creek and 1 1/2 laps of Birds Hill Park to round out the 100 mile course.

    Habitat for Humanity is sponsoring the ride and it’s a fund raising event. If you’d like to support them, and me, a tax-deductible donation can be made here, or by using the form in the sidebar.

    If I reach or exceed my goal, I’ll get a cool cycling jersey to add to my collection as a small perk for me, so thanks for your generosity towards this worthy cause.

    Actually, I didn’t ride with “The” George Hincapie, but it made for a catchy title.

  • With a little help from my friends

    I thought I knew how to change a flat, and I do, but last Saturday I learned a lot more. I learned how to do it with the help of friends.

    It was the first official FOG ride of the year and we were about 45 minutes in and just about to turn off Main St back onto River Road and the bike was feeling a little funny. Just after the turn it was for sure the dreaded flat on a group ride. Protocol has everyone stop and wait for the flat to get fixed, so there is a little pressure to get it done quickly.

    Flying through the change the tube is out, wheel and tire checked quickly and new tube installed an re-inflated. Just as I’m putting the wheel back on the bike I notice it’s flat again!

    Lesson #1: Be quick and careful.

    One of my friends has a very close look at the tire by turning it inside out and flexing it back. This process discovers a small piece of glass which is pried out. Now we’re ready for another tube.

    Lesson #2: Have lots of the right tubes.

    I have a 2nd tube with a short stem and the new rear wheel with the Powertap has a deep rim. Friends to the rescue as I’m given a tube. A quick but careful tube and tire assembly followed by a CO2 inflation and we’re good to go.

    Another 30-40 minutes go by and it happens again! Another flat! Frustrated I call for a pickup but the friends insist that they will help get me on the road again. A close look at the wheel shows that the rim tap has moved leaving 3 exposed spoke holes that most likely caused the tube to puncture. Another friend supplies the solution with self adhesive tube patches to cover over the spoke holes. Another friend supplies another tube and while inflating with a borrowed frame pump because i left mine at home, I hear the dreaded psssssss sound. The metal valve stem has snapped! Unbelievable!
    I’m given another tube and this time all goes well and were back on the road.

    Lesson #3: Know your equipment.

    The rest of the ride was uneventful. I’m the only one who flatted, the only one to delay the ride, twice, both for an extraordinarily long time.

    Lesson #4: Always ride with friends.

    Thanks to everyone who helped me get through the ride, gave me tubes, patches, pumps and offered encouragement. Thanks to all who waited patiently.

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  • Commuting

    This is the first week without the truck and a full 5 days of bicycle commuting. So far I’m not missing the truck too much and with the unusually warm weather it’s not been much of a hardship. In fact, last night I biked home in shorts! Not all the days were easy. On Tuesday, the melt from Monday coated the streets with ice and it was quite tense trying to stay upright while listening to car spin their tires and sliding all around me.

    The Sasquatch got another commuter upgrade last night as well with a set of new Specialized tires. They are much quieter and probably a fair bit faster with less rolling resistance.

    The new cycle commuting routine is getting down to a science and snow, ice and cold are no problem. We’ll see how it goes in the rain, that will be the next challenge.

  • Steel Beast Rides Again

    Well, pretty soon the truck is going back, and I’ll be making the daily work commute using different forms of transportation. It will either be the bus, or by bike. I’ve made a few test runs on the bus and it seems like it will be quite acceptable. The only thing is I’m not all that crazy about keeping to a strict schedule that is required by the bus, I like to be a little more free flowing. Fortunately, the bus schedule at both ends of my route has buses arriving quite frequently so last minute departure changes should not be too bad to deal with.

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    My other option is to up by cycle commuting game to more of a year round endeavour. Several folks at work are hard core, right through the winter, every day cycle commuters, that put my casual “if it’s not raining” three season cycling to shame. So, here is the new strategy, as yet unproven, but I’m now ready to go.

    I’ve brought back the “Steel Beast” now tricked out with a new seat, fenders and panniers. Who know that the 30+ year old Norco Sasquach would get this kind of use? Cromoly steel at it’s finest, nearly indestructible, a little on the heavy side, but that just makes for a better workout.

    The Sasquach was my 1st mountain bike from way back in the day and it’s hard to believe that I traded in a Honda 550F for a bicycle. Ah, the sacrifices you make for children, but that’s another story.

    My new work location is not quite as convenient as my prior location as I don’t yet have access to a full time locker. With the panniers I think I’ll be able to transport and store the extra gear during the day until a locker becomes available.

    So that’s it. The old bike has been given a new life was as hard core year round commuter ride. Now lets see if I can become the hard core year round rider!

  • Outdoor is better

    A couple of days ago I setup the bike on the trainer in the basement. As much as I like to ride and know this is a necessary evil to try and maintain some sort of conditioning over the winter, it sure is painful to ride indoors, going nowhere. Even with the tv or the iPod as a distraction, it is majorly boring. Spin classes are better with the company of others and a structured training program, but still outdoor is better.

    I hit some trails through Wittier Park today for a nice 28km ride in a balmy +2°

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  • Ride on

    Winter RiverAfter the FOG Annual General Meeting this morning and talking with some of the guys about winter riding and how several guys cycle commute all year round, I was inspired to get back on the bike for a spin this after noon. I tried to get a riding buddy, but something about “it’s too cold” and “I’ve got some stuff to do”, left me riding solo. 

    The hard pack snow and ice on some of the road sections were a little tricky, but the trails on the river banks were good for riding with packed and semi-packed snow covered trails. The section through Whittier Park was just as much fun as it is in the summer, but I did slow down quite a bit for some of the tighter corners. I didn’t go down, but the bike did on an icy section in The Forks. As I felt the bike start to go, instincts took over and I clipped out and stepped off the bike landing on my feet. Not bad reaction time for a first ride on ice.

    The sun came out for a while and it was quite warm even for -5°C. From The Forks it was down Lyndale Drive and Des Meurons to the bike path that parallels Fermor and back to the house for a 24km, 1:17 ride.

  • Bicycle Lanes – Blessing or a Curse?

    Bicycle LaneBike lanes have been showing up around Winnipeg, especially the downtown area over the last couple of year. Until recently, even though a couple of these lanes have been on my normal commuting route, I’ve not given them too much thought. Nice to have, but I was a little indifferent.

    Then the city created a dedicates lane on Assiniboine Ave. which caused a lot of controversy and in my opinion was a waste of money. Assiniboine was a low traffic street in the first place and bicycling on it was no problem.

    Then one day a few weeks ago a bike lane shows up on St. Mary Ave.! Initially, this seems like a great thing, in fact just the day before I rode up the middle of two lanes of traffic and thought to my self “that was a little crazy”. And then there it was, my own dedicated lane, and for a day or two things were good.

    Then things changed. St Mary has parking in the curb lane before 9am and lots of drivers cruise up the curb lane, encounter a parked car, and lane change with no regard to the bike lane or the bicyclist in the lane, that would be me! To top it off they frequently rounded the parked cars and then crossed over the bike lane again with no regard for the cyclist, to make a right hand turn onto a one way street.

    I don’t think that bike lanes really help the cyclist all that much and I’d just as soon not have the false sense of security. Cycling on the road with cars, it’s always be ready for the unexpected.

  • FOG ride

    Yesterday’s ride with the FOG crew was the 1st  in a number of weeks as I’ve been at the lake on most weekends, and did the Muddy Waters Grand Forno on one of the weekends that I was in town. The weather looked very nice early in the morning, with a little coolness in the air that comes at this time of year, hinting at the waning of summer.

    By ride time at 9 a.m. however it was a little blustery with some very dark clouds on the western horizon. Sure enough, 20 minutes or so into the ride, we encountered light showers for a short time, and then it cleared off for a very pleasant morning.

    The ride was quick with a +35km/h to Lockport, a no stop roll through, and the usual sprint to the Selkirk town line. After a brief stop in Selkirk it was on to the “Big Bridge” and again a brief slowdown and re-group after the bridge and then back on pace to rejoining Hwy 44. Here there is some discussion about going to Cooks Creek vs the usual Birds Hill Park via Hwy 206. No clear decision, so we move on. At the 206 junction 4 of the 22 rides opt for Cooks Creak and for some crazy reason I’m one of them. The distance is not that much further as it adds about 8-10km to the ride but with just 4 riders, you’re on the front a lot and have to work a lot harder. We quickly settle into a nice pace line taking short pulls at the front and keeping a 36-38km/h speed. Shortly before we re-join 206, I’m “cooked” and need to slow down. Thankfully, the guys wait for me and once back on 206 I’m feeling better and able to keep with the group.

    Once in Birds Hill we learn that the main group is about 10 minutes ahead of us and come to the conclusion that we won’t be catching them. I think prior to this we’d thought we might be able to do the extra distance and a pace that would allow us to catch them, but it’s clear now that it’s not happening. We follow the usual route back to town and my ride is 106km with an average speed of just over 33km/hr. Another good ride is in the log book.