What I've learned from the 30 Days of Biking

During the month of April I made the pledge to go out for a bike ride everyday.  I did on fact bike almost everyday, but I did fail miserably at blogging about it or checking in on social media.

Here is a list of what I learned from this endeavor:

1. I love to go riding in a bicycle.
2. I love all my bicycles.
3. Riding puts a smile on my face, no matter how tired I am before I start the ride.
4. I love riding clipless, and I regret not doing it sooner.
5. Spandex is annoyingly and disturbingly comfortable.
6. Spandex makes me more aerodynamic, and therefore, Faster.
7. Muscles being sore is not the end of the world.
8. I learned to love climbing hills.
9. There is more time to ride than I previously thought.
10. Sometimes, no matter how hard I try, I just wont have time to ride.
1. It's ok. I can always ride tomorrow.

 Be safe and Be Green.

A Weekend of Firsts

The ending weekend for this year's spring break contained all the excitement that should be carefully dosed out throughout the whole week. The two weekend days were simply filled with fun first time experiences for me.

Everything started, bright and early on Saturday morning.  Miss Adventure's friend was signed up to do the 2013 San Antonio Jailbreak along with her husband.  Unfortunately (or Fortunately, I can't figure this one out yet), her husband could not participate due to personal reasons.  Instead of forfeiting his event fee, she asked Miss Adventure if she wanted to go.  I got to attend as a result, as driver and photographer.  After Miss Adventure and her friend were off on their wave, I backtracked about a quarter of the course back from the end.  It was a ton of fun to see the participants from earlier waves go through the obstacles.  I particularly liked the awesome gigantic slide.

In Jail... Getting ready to Break Out!

I liked this guy's shirt.

Ready!

Set!

GO!

Look! Ninja Turtles!

Master Chief was there!

The Cargo Net

I want to do this...

Hay Bale Pyramid Climb

Tire Wall

These guys ran the whole thing in suits... Suits in a Mudrun!

A big part of me can't wait to do a Mudrun of my own...

After the Jailbreak, I really wanted to go this month's Frankenbike.  The local bicycle swap meet.  It tends to be the best way to get gently used parts for your old rides.  This was the first time that I had gone to one of these.  I'd always wanted to check one out, but never really put the time aside to attend one.  I thoroughly enjoyed looking around.  Talking to the vendors.  Seeing old bikes that were looking for a fresh pair of legs to ride more miles.

I also took advantage that Frankenbike was hosted at my (not-so) local bike shop (but the one all of our bikes have been purchased from, more on that later) to take a look at their selection of road bikes.  I have been lusting for a road bike ever since Miss Adventure got her second one (That is a story for another blog post).  I was looking at the huge variety, not to mention prices.  I knew more or less what I wanted in a road bike without making it too expensive.  I was looking around when Miss Adventure taps me on the shoulder and said "if getting your own road bike will keep you from drooling in public. Go ahead and get it already."  Have I mentioned I love that woman?  Her words even took a saleslady that was passing by surprise. Most wives are out to keep their husbands from buying, yet another bike. Miss A. encouraged it.  I almost want to take the memory of that moment and frame it, in order to save it for prosperity.

After a short time looking, I decided on a Trek Madone 2.1. Choosing a bike was the easy part.  The sizing was a whole other thing.  I must have tried every single Madone 2.1 they had in the building.  After the fit was dialed just right, I had to wait for the mechanics to give it the once-over to make sure everything is in tip-top shape.  After twenty minutes, I got to take it for one last test ride to make sure this bike was the one (was it ever).  Fifteen more minutes of waiting so a couple minor add-ons were put on the bike (pedals, seat bag, bottle cages, etc.). I signed over my left kidney and the tip of my right pinky finger, and just like that,  I was the very proud owner of my very first road bike.

My very own 2013 Trek Madone 2.1

That was enough excitement for Saturday.

On Sunday, Miss Adventure woke up sore and bruised.  After having a delicious breakfast and vegging in front of the TV for about an hour.  She went to the bedroom, when she came back she was dressed in her cycling best and threw me my cycling shorts. "Alright, let's see what you are made of?  Let's get this pony on the road."  The second sentence she said as she stroked the seat on the new addition the family. Not long after we were headed to our quickly accessible country road for what was to be a 14 mile ride.  Miss Adventure didn't want to go too far, specially since she had just done the Jailbreak 24hrs earlier. My very first ride on my very first road bike.

The Madone performed beautifully.  The ride was a tad bumpier than I am costumed to, but what it lacked in general comfort, it more than made up in overall performance.  My average speed on a stretch of road we are both very familiar with on our bikes was at least 3mph faster.  And, we were taking it easy because Miss A. just didn't want to push it.  On our way back home, we took a Hill in the back of our neighborhood and I gave it my all.  My average uphill speed improved by 5.7 mph.  5.7 mph!  I was excited about the things I could accomplish with this bike. Hell, I'm still excited.

With all the excitement, when we got home, I pledged to do the 30 days of biking.

The pledge is simple in theory:

1. Ride your bike everyday in April. The kind of bike, the destination, and the length of the ride are not important.  Walmart BSO around the block, cool.  Surly Long Haul Trucker out for a 145 mile ride, cool.  You are not home watching TV, or sitting in front of the computer looking at videos about cats in YouTube again.
2. Share every single ride in Social Media.  Facebook and twitter are preferred.  Me? I got this blog. I will blogging every single ride on this blog.  Everyday.  1 ride = 1 post in this blog.

I was made aware of this by Lindsay from You ain't got Jack.  She did it last year, and the way she talked about her accomplishment was infectious.  I thought I would give it a try myself.  It would be a first.


I also have to admit that I like the main spirit behind this pledge.

"30 Days of Biking is not elitist. It is not a political statement. We don’t want you to worry about whether you have the right bike, or whether your butt looks good in spandex. We just want you out there, pedaling alongside our community, whether virtually or for real."

 Last but not least, on Monday (Yes I know Monday is not part of the weekend, but it's another first. Keep reading!) we began taking adult swimming lessons.  A first for me.  Miss Adventure is a natural swimmer.  Me, not so much.  I grew up in the mountains, we used to climb the hills for fun.  Going to a pool was more of a special treat, than a regular thing for my family when I was growing up. I know how to stay afloat and move around the pool with the doggy paddle.  It worked for me for 32 years, but Miss A. decided that I should be taken out of my comfort zone by throwing my own words back at me. "If we never challenge ourselves, we will never know what we are truly capable of." To be fair, that is not a quote of my creation, I read it in some inspirational poster.  The message, however, stayed with me.

Be Safe and Be Green

A Small Rack for Bikes...

One Giant Leap for the Cycling Kind. Otherwise know as "ask, and you shall receive."  That is the lesson I learned yesterday.

Ever since the school year started, back in late August, I noticed that our new building was missing something. Something that should be in every new building, specially if said new building is designed to be a "green" building. A bike rack.  Bicycles simply promote a healthier lifestyle, but if you are reading this blog, then you don't need to be schooled on the benefits of commuting by bicycle.

I know it's not the biggest bike rack. It's technically designed to hold six bikes, but it's installed in the wrong direction, thereby cutting the amount of bikes it can hold by half. The biggest point; however, It's that is there and it is still functional.

The roads around my place of work are bike friendly. Bike through here in the mornings on the weekends and you are liable to see at least a dozen cyclists zooming up and down this humble country roads.  The roads are well kept.  They are straight -ish.  The hills are tough, but not unforgiving. And as far as my experience goes, the motorists around these parts are respectful and aware of cyclists.  These are a lot of the reasons why I asked to be moved to this new location, so I could commute by bicycle from time to time.  You never know, It could become a habit.

Early in the school year, I asked my manager what would it take to get a bike rack installed at our location. His answer "I don't know. I'll ask."  From then on, every time I bumped into him in the hallway he would give me a quick one or two sentence progress report on the bike rack.  Progress felt slow, but he had an awesome way of letting me know that the idea and the project had not stalled to a standstill.

Yesterday when I got to work after lunch I bumped into him as I was coming in the front door of the building (almost as if he was waiting for me), and with a smile in his face he told me: "That bike rack you asked for was installed a little while ago on the back entrance of the building."  Astonished. All I could reply was "Cool. Thank you, I'll go check it out."

When I saw it, I couldn't help but smile.  An overwhelming sense of hope came over me and I thought "build it, and they will come."  The presence of the bike rack should give people that have been thinking about commuting a little nudge towards the right direction. I for one... can't wait to lock my bike there while I work.

Question is... which one first?

Be Safe and Be Green

My grandfather...

... once told me.  "It's not only important that you learn from your own mistakes, but that you also learn from the mistakes of others."  With that in mind, I started this blog strong, and then I went back to reading about cycling as much as I could.  Always thinking, "This would be a great thing to share on my blog."

So without much further ado. I present to you today's link full of information. It's from the guardian, a newspaper from the UK that happens to have a section on cycling news.  Today's link features some good, and healthy, tips on how to increase the distance you can ride your bike. Enjoy.

Be Safe and be Green.

Bicycle Gears

Last night I was perusing through my favorite blogs and websites when I came across this gem.

For a while now, I've tried to come up with a common sense and simple way to explain bicycle gears to new riders (not that I'm all that experienced myself). Bicycle gears is something that I learned the hard way through trial and error long ago. It's something my leg muscles and my hands have learned to coordinate without much conscious effort in my part. For that reason when I'm asked on what the proper way to use bicycle gears, I have a tendency to utter the word "um" over and over without saying much in between. jm2, at the Bicycles Stack Exchange, put into words what I have failed to explain many many times.

Don't overthink it. Since you've got a triple, you're probably right to be in your middle ring most of the time That's normal.

• In the middle ring you should have access to the whole cassette/freewheel in the back, though you might get a little extra noise as you approach the extreme gears in either direction.
• You'll use the big chainring when you're going downhill or your on flat ground and in a hurry. Stay out of the biggest couple of cogs in the back when you're in the big ring up front. This causes extra strain and extra wear on the drivetrain which can result in premature failure.
• Your little ring up front is your climbing ring. Use this for hills, or as your bail-out ring when you're totally out of energy. Just like big-big is a no-no, so is small-small, so stay out of the smallest cogs in the back when you're in the smallest ring in the front.

Regarding your hunch that you've got a lot of overlap between gears, you're absolutely right. Think of each ring as a gear range (climbing for small, normal use for middle, ass-hauling for big). If there were no overlap between the chainrings you would either A) have far fewer gears in the back or B) have a range of gears in the big and small rings which were far too small or far too big to be usable.Think about how big the jumps between gears would be if there was no overlap at all! Trust me, it's not what you want. Typically, you'll find yourself Shifting the front in one direction and immediately afterwards shifting the back in the opposite direction so that it feels like you've only skipped about a single gear in either direction. In time, you'll come to appreciate the overlap between gears in the different chainrings.

Finally, if you really want to see how much overlap you have, you can divide the front rings by each of the back rings to get a ratio for every gear combination. There are fancier ways of doing this, but for your purposes this is the easiest and most straightforward.
EDIT: Here's a pretty good article on Wikipedia about bicycle gearing if you'd like to get more in depth.

 I know it looks a little out of context this way, to get the full conversation please go the original post. And again, I couldn't have put it better into words myself.

Be Safe and Be Green.

August Challenge

When we got serious about cycling, we began measuring our ridden distance with cycling computers. Then, we found we could map our rides with our smart phones using the "My Tracks" app.  Just recently I got turned to the "Map My Ride" app.  When I signed up for the website and explored around a bit, I quickly found that you could give yourself challenges. This is also right around the same time that I was overwhelmed by the heat we are going through in South Texas. My first thought was to be conservative.  100 miles in the month of August sounds pretty good. Doesn't sound like a lot.

The next day I decided to go through the spreadsheet that "My Tracks" keeps of all the rides I've done (or at least the ones that I've remembered to take my phone on).  I don't think I've done 100 miles in one month. Ever. On the second hottest month of the year, I chose to give myself the farthest distance I've done in a month on a bicycle (I will be conservative, my subconscious said. It will be easy, my subconscious said. It will be fun, my subconscious said).

Yesterday evening, Miss Adventure and I kicked off the challenge by riding in our neighborhood for 6.61 miles.  That means I'm 6.61% through my challenge.

Only 93.39% to go.

Be Safe and Be Green.

Yesterday's Lesson

For a long time now, I've wanted to turn bike riding into something practical. I don't like for it to just be exercise.

Shortly before Father's Day, I had a chance to get a B.O.B. Yak Trailer.  The possibility of taking it out for a ride has been burning in the back of my mind ever since.  The first place I thought of to take the new trailer for a spin was the local grocery store (of course! Where else?).

My lovely better half, Ms. Adventure, looked at me as if this was a crazy idea (She does that a lot...  usually guided towards me...  ^_^). She began to very methodically disassemble my argument.  I just got it. I don't know how it's going to react once it has weight on it. How is it going to affect the bike when going uphill/downhill in the many hills we ride around our neighborhood...  Fine. I'll start with something small.

I took the trailer by itself around the block a couple of times. If it wasn't for the semi-constant flapping of the flag, I wouldn't know the trailer was attached to my bike. OK.  A fully loaded trip to the grocery store is completely out of the question... for now.  Baby steps, I promised my better half that I would do incremental loads.  What to load next bugged me for days. Then the idea came painfully obvious when I was changing the five gallon water bottle. I could just go get water! Water is really heavy for the amount of volume it takes. That stopped me, but just for a short time.  We only have 5-gallon bottles. Fully loaded it's 40 pounds. 40 pounds! Not the incremental weight increase I was looking for.  If I was to fill a 5-gallon bottle with less water, the water would just slush around and really throw me off balance. The solution: 3-gallon bottles.

Last Friday, I took advantage that my better half was taking a nap (she can't talk me out of it if she's asleep).  The two things that threw me over the edge were reading this blog post, and watching this news piece. I attached the trailer to my mountain bike and bungee corded the 3-gallon bottle as secure as I could with the cords.

Off I went on a new adventure.

I learned that once the 3-gallon bottle was full, there was little to no difference in the way it handled.  The one wheel on the B.O.B. trailer tracked the rear wheel of my bike flawlessly.  I didn't feel the additional weight on the uphills (oddly enough!).  The one time I noticed the extra weight was on the downhills. It almost turned my mountain bike into a freight train. It went straight. Dead straight, and fast. The trailer is also a very unusual addition to a bike in this parts of civilization, that every motorist gave me a W I D E berth around. I even got a couple of thumbs up from a couple of motorists.  I made it home safe in one piece, excited, and soaked in sweat (more because I chose to go out close to noon in the south Texas relentless sun, than from being tired).

So what is yesterday's lesson?! You are rambling on about last Friday! 

I know. I know. Bare with me here. I'm getting there.

Yesterday I decided to get water once again.  But I felt it was time to kick it up a notch.  This time I carried a 5-gallon bottle. The thing I learned yesterday is that the difference in handling the trailer in tow is massively different between a full 3-gallon bottle and a 5-gallon bottle. As a first impression, the difference is almost exponential (Who'd a thought a 16 pound difference in weight would be so pronounced in the handling of the bike). The freight train effect was the most enhanced. You ever hit 27.5 MPH on a mountain bike?  It gets a little scary at that speed. And just in case you are wondering, this time I did feel the additional weight going uphill.

In conclusion, exercising by riding a bicycle while doing something practical is possible.  Ms. Adventure was right (credit needs to be given where it's due), I would have probably broken my neck if I had gone out with a fully loaded trailer my first time out with it. I need to continue with the incremental weight increases on the trailer until I can ride comfortably with a fully loaded trailer. Last but not least, I feel that carrying the 5-gallon bottle on a bike with a trailer is far more practical and efficient than if I was to carry that same bottle and cover the same distance walking. The best part, my truck stayed tucked away on my driveway, not burning fuel.

Be Safe and Be Green!