Mtb-ing on Brown again - fun fun

Humble Horse at Tri-way-intersection on Brown

Normally Sunday mornings are especially reserved for the Brunch Ride (road ride). However, last week I got an invitation to ride mountain bikes on Brown from an old HS friend. I hadn't ridden up there for like half a year. And I had to jump at the invitation. Thanks CW! It was great to be up there on a bike again - even though I'd just been at that exact spot in the photo 24 hours before on foot. Coming down was a huge challenge. I don't think I've ridden El Prieto (semi technical single track) since before the fires - circa 2009 - and it's changed a lot - it's more technical - and in those few short years my technical riding skills have gone from low-to-moderate to absolute-zero - serves me right for spending so much time on the dark side - with the roadies! I liked the look of this lay-out of our bikes as we rested at the apex of our ride… something about the early morning sunlight… 

peace on the down-tube

I had a great long ride this past weekend through wine country. It was an organized century sorta thing but the real greatness was just riding all day with some friends and spinning spinning sinning those cranks even over those rough roads - no matter - just ride - just spin. 

I rode "Totally 80's!" which was interesting. Most of the people on this ride were on new-ish carbon fiber dealios. One guy I talked to at a rest stop/aid station commented on how "pretty vintage" my bike was - but not like "Vintage!, that's bitchin'!," but like Vintage, "I poopoo at you." 

But whatever, maybe it was the wrong crowd to impress with an older bike. However, I came across one gentleman late in the ride who was riding a very similar bike - a Centurion, even - a Dave Scott model - and as we passed I called out, "Hey, nice bike," and he glanced over at mine and got it and said, "it's an '85" and I said, "I'm an "88!" 

I'm an '88. I caught on to that a few moments after I said it but realized how accurate the statement was because at that moment T80's and I were not separate entities but one - rolling, performing together.

There were a few other older steeds out there of course. And the first one I came across around a quarter of the way through the ride I realized that we, the older steeded riders, needed a gang sign/hand signal and all of a sudden without forethought I flashed this rider a peace sign - and simultaneously understood what that sign represented - peace, sure, but also a perfect visual of the shifters on the down tube. 

So for the rest of the day I flashed the secret sign to vintage down tube riders and hoped that some of them caught on. 

Down-tube shifters, baby! - what's good enough for Miguel Indurain is good enough for me… 

Packed and ready...
It's all downhill from here...

can't wait to ride, dude

Yesterday I heard myself mumble these words, "I can't wait to ride, Dude." Interestingly enough, I was in the act, so to speak, of riding a bike (Mindful Mule) at the time these words came out from somewhere within. But there are rides and there are rides. And somehow riding The Mule loaded with supplies to Tujunga doesn't have the same feel as, say, riding Purple People Eater, unencumbered, to Tujunga. But I think what I was trying to tell myself was that, even in that moment, it felt great to be riding, and I was ready, peaked, you might say, and just in time for Solvang (that wino ride). I haven't been on a program or schedule or anything - I think you all must know that by now - The Mule does what feels right. But I just feel ready for anything right now - in running, too - but especially cycling - Will Cycle for the Opportunity to Cycle. I saw a gal running on this same ride mentioned above. She was wearing a t-shirt that said: Run2BeGreat - and I loved it - I love that - that's it - that's all I need - running makes you great - riding makes you great… and if there's a bit of the dude in my vernacular then take it for what you will, man. 

afraid of water, steel

Over the last year or so I've become very focused on taking in electrolytes during a run. It's even overflown into my biking. (And my gardening!) Always there must be salts in the water bottle. And it does help. Or, I should say, they do - the salts. I'm just sick of bonking. And there's a lot of activity going on in my life. I just don't have the time anymore for sacrifice zones. So there are always salts.

But what happens when there aren't? When you head out for an unplanned run with no electrolyte mix and, heaven forbid, no snacks! I was lured into a situation like this just a few days ago. It was one of those "3 hour tour" scenarios. "Don't worry, Darling, we'll just go out for a quick jaunt." But, Honey, wouldn't you like me to put some EmergenC in the water?" "Um, no thanks." My heart and stomach and soul drop. But I carry on - convincing myself to believe this story of "we'll be fine." 

And we were. We were fine. We went out for a playful 90 minutes. No big deal. No speed. Even a long break at the playground. Probably a good practice - to break away from our attachments once in a while - but oh, my concern - what do you mean no salts! What, are we supposed to drink just pure water - Neat - like monkeys?!

On are related bit of anxious fixation… I've got that once a year all day group ride through wine country coming up in two weeks and I'm really temped, in fact leaning toward riding Totally 80's - the 1988 Steel Road Bike - Centurion Prestige. She's a real nice bike, and smooth - oooh, so smooth. So why is it that it's such a big deal - that people will comment on the fact that I need to upgrade - that I'm concerned about the possible increase in effort it may take to complete the route - the extra 5% added to my finish time - that I might not be the first one to arrive back at the house/bar… when a) it's not a race; and b) the idea is to have the Opportunity to ride All Day; and c) it's only 161kms…

But one thing is damn sure: I'll be loading up with snacks and salts for the ride… 

Note the "pink water" - Totally 80's

the bicycle shall inherit the roadway...

Ride to the Pacific

Pedal Wrench in My Pocket

Last weekend's ride: It started out cool and crisp. But I wasn't thinking much about the temperature - for once! My mind was focused on the ride, the task. One of the riders I was meeting needed to swap out his pedals before the ride. And I have a pedal wrench! Suddenly I wasn't just riding to another regular Sunday morning Brunch Ride but I had a deeper purpose - I was a team member - a mechanic. I could feel that thin flat wrench in the back third of my jersey pockets as I rode to our meeting point - the pub!, of course. And somehow that knowledge, that sensation set a wonderful, magical chain of events in progress. I couldn't feel no cold. I wasn't thinking about the ride to which I was riding to. I was riding. I was cycling. I was cycling with a pedal wrench in my left rear jersey pocket. And what is more an indicator of arrival? - I can't possibly imagine. To add to all this, I was on the steel road bike, Totally 80's, and for some reason that morning everything was coming together, so to speak, just right. There were no thoughts of comfort or geometry - just ride-pedal-smooth-cruise-glide… These are the moments that we, that I ride for… these are the moments…  

almost went running today

Trail Runner magazine sends out emails with links to their available online articles pretty frequently - seems like a least twice a week. I'm not sure why they send them to me as I haven't subscribed to the magazine for some time now. But I'm not complaining. It's nice to read an article once in a while. Sometimes they can even be inspiring. Like today. I read an article that made me want to go running even though there was some light rain passing through. I got all dressed up in running clothes and was ready to hit the street. But it had started raining just a little heavier now. So I though well I'll just wait it out a bit and maybe it will clear up - I'm just waiting for my set, I thought - any moment now. I left my running clothes on but I got a little side tracked by another task. And it kept raining. My window of available time was closing too. And it was getting dark. And it was raining. I put my house clothes back on. Maybe tomorrow… 

Saddle Up for Winter

I raised the saddle height on The Mule by 5mm the other day. Maybe it doesn't sound like a lot but it is - it's really noticeable. There used to be those stories about Lance Armstrong's mechanics messing around with him by moving one part or another by like a millimeter or two and he, according to the story, was able to tell straight away what was off and or adjusted improperly. And I believe it. If 5mm is huge. Then the "best" cyclist in the world should, at the very least, notice half that (2.5mm) and likely half of that again. (1.25mm). But this isn't about that or him - of course!, this is about The Mule! And me. And I really noticed a 5mm adjustment. But the real point of this post is that I've realized that there needs to be different seat/saddle height settings throughout the year. In the summer I end up riding The Mule in sandals a lot. It's hot out and the cool breeze on my toes feels nice. But my sandals don't have a very think sole. What's the difference in thickness, you ask - oh, about 5mms probably. Aha! So there we have it - in the winter one must raise their saddle height by 5mm to accommodate the thicker soled riding shoes. 

pulling teeth

I've invited several people out tomorrow morning, Saturday at 9:30am, to have their teeth pulled. I've made this same offer to more or less the same group of people over the last year or more. For a while it seemed like there was some interest. Now, for several months, it's just been the one taker - he must have a pain threshold issue. But really, why is it so hard to get your friends from the pub to come out on a Saturday morning to get their teeth pulled? I mean, there's a time to drink and a time not to. Or maybe I'm off. Maybe I just don't get it. It's hard enough to get many of them to even respond to such an invitation. It's as if I'm trying to get them out to do something as terrible as going for a run in the hills!…

3 Mules

I saw 3 Mules walking down the road the other day!

1000 Mile Club

1000X3!

The One Thousand Mile Shoe Club welcomes Mizuno Wave Precision! Those last 100 miles or so sure did take a long while but we finally crossed the milestone over this last weekend on a solo run up Brown Mountain. Amazingly, I think I'll keep running in these for a while. Will we make 1200?

Before: 0 miles.

After: 1000 miles.

bicycling tough on pants

I've just worn though another pair of shorts. Pants, shorts, whatever - they're all doomed to a short life on the seat of a bicycle. I'd patch them but somehow walking around with patches on my ass doesn't seem like something that would help me fit in to this world any more than I already don't. So I'm off to get a new pair of pants (winter is coming!) and shorts tomorrow at the hardware store. Isn't that where you buy your pants? Where else is there? Well, maybe Sears but that's too far to ride. At least "hardware store" has Carhart. Hecho en Mexico!

sexy tires

I've been reading and believing Jan Heine's (Editor of Bicycle Quarterly) opinions about tires and tire pressure and rolling resistance and such for some time now. And I've been experimenting with lower and lower air pressure in all my tires - as in, on all my bikes. It takes a lot of time to peel yourself away from what seems to be standard thinking on the topic - essentially, higher air pressure is better and/or faster. I used to always pump up my road bike tires (23 - 25mm wide) to 120psi - the max listed on many tires of this size. And that worked fine and great for me even giving me the sense that I was riding really fast. But part of what Heine has argued is that things are not always as they seem and that just because it feels like you and your bike are hammering along and your bones are chattering over every slight disturbance in the road doesn't actually imply that you're going faster - you really have to time it to know. So he's done a lot of timing and testing. And based on his tests, it turns out that it's only less comfortable to ride high pressure tires and not faster. 

He's even got a chart, a rule of thumb to shoot for based on your tire size and weight to help you determine a more appropriate psi for your own needs. I started with that chart and dropped my road bike tire pressure by about 25psi. Then over a few months gradually dropped even further - an additional 15psi - for the current personal preference for road bike tire psi (get ready to gasp) of 80psi! 

I ride with a regular group of people that I'm calling my control in this experiment. While I cut my psi by 33% they changed nothing as this was all done in secret - until now. And there was no obvious change in our speeds or finishing order at the top of hills or end of rides. Not much of a scientific method employed here I know but it's good enough for me and mostly, more comfortable. 

As for The Mule, well, she runs on fatter tires (50mm wide), but we also enjoyed a similar percentage drop in air pressure and similar "performance" benefits. She's running around 40psi now compared to 65 before. 

Again, back to Heine, it's not just the lower pressure that promotes a better ride but the quality of the tire - it's suppleness. Hard, solid tires, even with little air in them are going to bang all over the place and transmit a lot of that up to the rider. Supple, sexy tires will slip smoothly over the road surface - allowing you to feel the road but not FEEL the road. 

So I took Heine's advice and even bought some tires from him for "Totally 80's" - he sells them in 26mm width (other widths, too) which is just a hair wider than what's generally available out there and adding just that much more cushion of air - they don't call them pneumatic tires for nothing… 

The worst street in LA

I've been riding the sidewalk a lot more over the past few weeks. I rarely do because I like to keep up the proper bicycle presence in everyones' minds but there are a few roads out there that are "unsafe at any speed." One of these is Los Feliz Blvd in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles that follows the southern boundary of Griffith Park (that big park of the west). 

Actually, there are two quite different faces to Los Feliz Blvd. One during rush hour, the other not - parking restrictions in the third lane being the key to the difference. When cars are allowed to park on the side of the road they block the third lane but leave a nice make-shift bike lane which can really be great to ride and especially fun when passing auto congestion. But during rush hours there are no parked cars to block that lane from use and that's when it gets really sketchy. 

The road surface along the shoulder in either direction is terrible - bumps and holes and wobbles. Actually, there really is no shoulder to speak of. There's space for a car and then there's the gutter. And the cars drive like bats-out-of-hell-fast through there.

My sidewalk time started on Friday the 13th of last month. I've been riding out that direction several times since then. But that day was particularly bad. And I didn't want to push the buttons of superstition so I steered far clear of that gauntlet and rode the sidewalk.

Unfortunately, that sidewalk is no great ride, either - 2 miles of blind driveways exiting from apartment complexes, cracked pavers, and only about half of the street crossings have ramps to roll smoothly across the transitions. 

The nice thing about sidewalk riding, though, and what I've been reminded of because of my recent experiences with it, is that it slows you down again to really see how the bicycle is different from the car - or more importantly, how bicycle-life is different from car-life. It can be nice to go pedestrianly slow and not be concerned with any rush, to take one's time and still enjoy the ride, the travel, the life that we are living here and now, even as we commute…

the new shoes

Well, here they are. They're not quite as blue as they seem in the picture. But they're light and low (heel) and make your feet do a little extra work in the practice of natural human running form. My ankles and calves were sore after our first run - a few miles. I've still not gone beyond that distance in them although I've taken them out on several of those. I think my feet/legs are probably ready for something a little longer in them. 

The quest for 1000 miles in the old shoes has slowed considerably as all my short runs have been in the new ones and I've been sick/resting/tired/etc. But there'll be a great before-and-after photo and celebratory post when we reach that milestone… 

six little goatheads

…one little, two little, three little goatheads, four little, five little, six little goatheads…

Watch out! It's that season again! Those damn pesky little spiky seed pods are ready and waiting to pop your tires. Today was a run day so I had no such troubles but I did notice when I got home that I had six goatheads embedded in my shoes' soles. (I guess this could be a good argument against barefoot running.) 

So don't over psi your tires and bring an extra patch/tube… and ride like the wind!

Sunday Single Speed Solo Spin

1972 Schwinn Super Sport (Fixed)

Finally a photo! from last Sunday's ride up the Arroyo. And finally a ride on the fixie! We got a few nice comments from other riders - she's not exactly the most common sight out on the trails. The trail eventually got a little too rough and bumpy for us and we turned around. With a little more time and patience I think we could make it all the way up to the waterfall. Fun ride.

craving

There's these new shoes that I want! Want, want, want! I've never even tried them on - I saw them on ZombieRunner and I've been craving them ever since. For probably a few months now. But I don't have enough miles on my old shoes to justify getting new ones. So I try to make deals with myself. You can order those new shoes as soon as your old shoes get to a certain mileage. Not necessarily your end miles because you'll want some time to break in the new ones. Not that running shoes require a lot of break in time. However these new shoes are slightly flatter - allowing more heel drop than a standard running shoe so it is probably a good idea to start them in on slow, short runs. 

I've tried low heeled shoes before and I like them a lot. I didn't do the slow break in because they felt so good. I think I went out on a 17 mile run within like a week of running in them. And it totally [ja]cked up my ankles. But that was years ago. And these shoes are so cool! 

My old shoes are dirty and ripping apart. But I really want them to join the 1000-mile Club. They've got about 125 miles to go. I think they're going to make it. But this craving! What is this? Why must I buy these shoes?!

Why must we all buy this stuff? Just because it's new or shiny or a different color scheme or On Sale! 

And so I try to convince myself: Well, I Really need new socks, too. And if I order new socks from the same place then I can get free shipping and since I'm eventually going to get those shoes I might as well just get them all at once. Heck, throw in some shorts and a hat and some electrolyte tablets while you're at it… Now can I get them? Is that a good enough argument? 

But it's the same thing with bike parts, too. I mean, I really should get new tires - if only for safety's sake. And fresh handlebar tape always looks and feel great, too! 

And sunglasses! Mine are scratched!

... 

Patience, grasshopper… Proceed as the way opens… Your shoes are fine. Your tires are fine. You are fine. This is not a race.

ho hum runs

Two mornings in a row. Two very slow runs. Like the slowest ever for their respective distances and routes. I'm not exactly sure why this happened. I felt relatively good through each of them. And they were not slogs. Just slow. I didn't bonk or even have significant stride breakdown. Yesterday was a short run. Today was a long run. It's even been remarkably cool for August. Today, after my long run, I feel fine. I'm not really even tired like I sometimes am after a long run. I guess because I just wasn't trying/pushing very hard. That may be all it is: I just didn't want to run today or yesterday. Or, my body didn't want to run. Can the body get bored? That's what it felt like. I could tell I was going slow right from the start but thought I'd allow myself to warm up a bit before speeding up. And I did try to speed up a few times but it didn't last. I would soon just loose the oomph. In a way it was kind of nice. It was just a stroll through the Arroyo with no place else to be. Totally unhurried. Maybe I am finally turning into a mindful mule...