The Storm That Won't End

Not doing much other than watching this storm all week.
The rain has kept the company busy cleaning up after everyone's leaks and floods.
We definitely don't mind the work - though I'm glad I finally invested in a good rain jacket.

Maybe a ride or run on Saturday - if it dries out today.

My folks are in town and I talked dad into a hike up to Briones Peak late this afternoon. I was game for a hike even in the rain, but he showed some hesitancy. It began clearing toward 2:00 and even revealed significant portions of the heavens as the day wore on. Unbeknown to me, he was hoping for rain.

He now claims to have enjoyed the foray after all. We'll see in the morning.

Diablo had been dusted with more snow from this storm, so I was obligated to take some pictures. I should have gone home for my good camera - but the phone works.

MYOG Successes

Make Your Own Gear is a rite of passage for some, and impossible to imagine for others.
I have had many failures in making my own gear. Pure embarrassment prevents me from listing many of them though the leg warmers that wouldn't stay up are worth note.

The first in my recollection, which was among my greatest failures, is actually the very same concept that has recently brought my greatest success. Many years ago - high school I think - I attempted a bike repair stand. Constructed of a sheet of plywood as a base and a branch from the tree in the back yard, I rigged up a rickety structure unknowingly giving a nod to Modern Art. If careful, I could actually clean my chain without the bike tumbling over on top of me. It took as much time to get the bike perched upon it, as it did to remove the front wheel (which was never really suspended above the ground) and grease the bearings. Interestingly, I realized several thousand miles and 10 years later that I had actually dropped a couple of those bearings.

I disliked my work of art and have always wanted a real stand of my own. I recently verbalized my longing to my wife as I was installing the computer on my new ride. Her comment nearly collided with my thought - "Why don't you build your own?" With a chuckle I reminisced of auld lang sine, leaned my bike back against the piano bench, and lost no time mentally laying out the project.

Here is where I differ from most DIY'ers. I can do it myself. I'm a general contractor by trade, and have at least dabbled in most every form of construction imaginable. I've even tried my hand at sewing. The downside to that is threefold: Unreasonable personal expectations abound, I'm only willing to DIY because I'm too poor to save myself the effort, and the end product is always heavier, uglier, less mobile, and often dangerous.

I googled "build your own bike repair stand" and found quite a few ideas. All of them were much less than what I was hoping for, and most met one or all of the heavy, ugly, and dangerous criteria. The PVC ones bothered me just out of principle, the wood ones looked like a gallows, and the metal pipe stands, along with each of the others, looked a little too -i bilt dis here thang wid my own tules-ish. So, I decided to put my years of construction work, and a shop full of spoils from a thousand jobs to good use. In all - I spent under $20 on this bike stand, and for once I'm rather proud of the result. I must say that I did glean some good ideas from the concepts that I found in my search, and implemented a few of them here.

Though most of the typical hazards are still present (heavy, ugly and a little dangerous), I have found some measure of satisfaction. I must say also, that as a DIY'er I don't play fair. I own a welder, 5 different cordless drills and every other cordless tool concievable, 2 angle grinders, and every other tool I could imagine needing to finish this project. And, I used nearly all of them. To the person who made the PVC pipe stand "If I couldn't use a welder, I would've used your design."

I'm not going to give you the play by play, but if you're at all perceptive, you'll get the idea.

The basic raw materials: Angle iron, 2 sizes of tube steel, a 3/4" bolt and nuts, and a bar clamp.

The Bar clamp got new jaws out of redwood, reinforced with a 1.5" ABS pipe. Later I will line the pipe with strips cut out of some scrap vinyl base as padding. All of this glued together with a half empty tube of Sikoflex Construction sealant.

I've left the top of the jaws open a little hoping this will make it easier to hang the bike.

After cutting all of the pieces in my back yard, I took them to my shop and welded them together. Then I took the bones back home for fine tuning.

This shows the locking nut, with a 3/8" anchor bolt welded to it as a handle.

This is my rough welding job. More than adequate though not textbook.

Two 3/4" nuts welded together and onto the end of the pipe clamp.


And, a "finished" product. The locking nut releases the jaws, and allows them to pivot for attaching at the seat post or down tube as needed.


Still needs a tool tray, and various other accessories, but the basics are in place and operable.

I've also had another recent success in MYOG, which was actually Alter My Own Gear. The Pearl Izumi gloves which I have worn and loved for over 10 years have finally begun to show wear. Not just wear, but the tips of all my fingers too. I couldn't throw them away, and when I saw REI selling fingerless gloves for $20 I rejoiced. Why as a cyclist wearing fingerless gloves for 15 years now, I didn't think of it sooner, I don't know. I cut the fingers off, and "cauterized" the wounds with a BIC lighter, and have worn them regularly to work ever since.

Maillot Juane - The Review

If you know anything about bikes, you will soon know just how long I have waited to purchase a new bike.
Even those who know nothing of cycling will recognize that when a guy is excited about 5-10 year old technology on his "new" bike, he must have been waiting too long. But hey, when it's not the right time to buy - it's not the right time to buy.



I finally rode the bike for the first time after nearly 2 weeks of anxiously nursing my wounds.

It was just a quick spin out toward the old brick yard on the Carquinez Scenic Highway. I was still wearing my wrist brace, and trying to get used to STI shifting. (Yeah, this is where - if you know anything about road bikes - you will know I had an old bike.) The down tube shifters of 2 decades ago worked great, but forced you to take your hands off the handlebars to shift. The Lemond's Shimano Ultegra system - though a few years old - is incomparably superior. Unfortunately the modern technology shifts gears with a twist that my wrist still begrudges.

I was nervous as a cat on the wet roads, my wrist hurt and thus I could hardly shift gears, and I got mud on the new bike. I actually had buyer's remorse when I got home.

"Fickle as a feather in the wind" was the way Giuseppe Verdi's Duke described the Lady of Rigoletto. I maintain my own rights to fickleness.

I recovered psychologically by Saturday and rode with a group of 7 on a foggy 35 mile ride. I relegated the wrist brace to my jersey pocket and rode free for the whole ride. The descents were pretty tough with all the jarring, and riding in the drops or on top of the bar took a little bit of grit. I spent the majority of the time up on the hoods, and even then relying heavily on my left arm. It didn't matter though, as I was falling in love. Having doffed the brace, I could now grasp the hoods correctly and shifting fell in line as if it had been there all along. Buyer's remorse has given way to a joyous honeymoon. We will really begin to build the relationship this spring as I begin training for the summer rides. No real training till this wrist gets better though. I'm paying for those 35 miles today.

If you don't care about cycling in general, then you are done reading.
Following is my wandering comparison and comments regarding graduation from a nearly 20 year old bike to a nearly 10 year old bike.


First the raw facts.
(Note: I'm not sure of the vintage of most of these items, but have been researching as best I can.)

55cm Lemond Maillot Juane (Yellow Jersey) frame.
Spinergy wheels
Shimano Ultegra drive train - Triple chain ring, 9 speed cassette.
Shimano clipless pedals - With a Discovery Channel Team logo on the side. Hmm? Probably not as special as I could imagine them to be.
Truvative carbon cranks - I checked the reviews on these and they are unfortunately not news makers.
Look carbon fiber stem - The seller let me swap this one for the old (Performance) Forte stem that was on there. I gained in style but lost in weight (The Look is heavier). Not sure what the difference will be in performance though, as carbon fiber is far superior at dampening vibration. Of course - I may never know since I never compared.
And then a myriad of other components far superior to those on the Bridgestone RB2 I was riding.

The basic differences are as follows...
New - STI shifting
Old - Down tube index shifting
Yeah, like I said, my old bike was a relic. (I can say that, you can't. You must treat it with respect and show it the dignity it deserves.)

New - Triple Chainring
Old - Double Chainring
This is neither good nor bad. No one races with a triple - so style suffers if I'm emulating Lance or Levi. But, then again I'm gonna love the low gear ratio provided by that third ring on the hills around here. I'm used to the triple on my mountain bike, so no learning curve to speak of.

Old - Steel frame with Chro-moly forks.
New - Reynolds 853 Steel frame with Carbon forks.
Though not seemingly that much of a change - all said and done the Lemond weighs 4 pounds less than the RB-2. The frame is a big part of that.


Basic Similarities...


The frame geometry might as well be identical. It was a cinch getting the new bike set up to fit me.
They are both Purple.
Both brands have managed to attract a small clickish following, and were discontinued just before I purchased them. Both will be worth more in 10 years than they are today - assuming I keep the shiny side up.
Both are a pleasure to ride.

A New...

I've been holding out on everyone, and I'm beginning to feel a little guilty.

I've had in my possession for over 24 hours now...

My New Bike

I was going to wait and post this till after I installed the new black bar tape and made a few other tweaks, but that is taking far longer than I wanted with my sprained wrist. Yeah, that means I can't ride it either. Boo.

I will come back later with all of the comparisons, specs, and purchase details. For now, suffice to say, that it was a deal I couldn't pass up at a time that I had the money to buy it. I've been praying for this opportunity for several years now, and thanks to Dick, one of the fellas I ride with, (and the guy who gave me the side work) the opportunity came this week.

I'll report later on why this is THE perfect bike for me. It's the exact same frame size as what I'm riding right now - but 4 pounds lighter.

I now own 2 purple road bikes.

Update to the CRASH

I got up last night and bandaged my knee - as the sheets were sticking to it. Ouch.
I pulled out Bec's wrist brace, which just happens to be for the right hand. 2 out of 3 of the velcro straps are long enough to reach. The brace helps, but makes work of typing. I'm icing the wrist periodically with a kitchen towel and a bag of frozen veggies.

I already had a run scheduled this morning with a friend, so sent him a text message last night to push our start time out 2 hours. The run went well - about 4 miles in the hills behind Alhambra High School - but I had my right shorts leg rolled up pretty high to keep it from rubbing on the road rash. (I'll spare you the picture)

Changing a diaper on a wriggling 7 week old is trying with one club hand. She managed to give my wrist a swift kick this morning evoking a quick yelp. Twerp. Burping her is also interesting.

I forgot to mention on the list of damaged gear, that my phone was among the casualties. This is among the greatest losses, as my beloved Treo Pro is not cheap - even on Ebay. I pulled it from my jersey pocket yesterday to find the top right corner of the screen blank. I either rolled over on it, or the cliff face tagged it on the way by. It has slowly begun to recover and may escape the e-waste bin yet, but my initial chagrin was great.



I still haven't gone out to check on my bike. I can't work on it anyway with my wrist as is. Not to mention, I'm not yet prepared to learn that I broke something expensive. Like Ben said in his text - this is no way to justify the STI upgrade I've been saving for.

1/1/2010 First Ride - First Crash

The title pretty much says it all.

It rained overnight and into the morning, raising the question "would we ride?"
The rain let up around 9:00 am - Start time - and I hurried to catch the group after arriving about 15 min late. The roads up Mt. Diablo were slick but the clouds were breaking up, and I was quickly sweating as I rode to catch up. I caught them a few miles before the ranger station, and from there I slowed to take in the view. Near the top I picked up the pace again while chatting with some new acquaintances, and climbed the final 18% grade in the best form ever.








At the top I donned long gloves, arm warmers, jacket, etc. after meeting up with the rest of our group.



Then we descended.

Did I mention that the roads were slick?

I've descended this mountain fifty times if once. Over time I've noted all the areas where I would be likely to biff if given the chance. I got the chance on this ride. I came around a corner below the ranger station at a reasonable speed, but touched the brakes a little too much. I really think I could have made the corner if I had just stayed off the brakes and trusted my Michelins. Too late. My back wheel locked and I skidded on the wet pavement. I backed off the brakes then, but the physics were fatally altered. I chose a line through the rough gravel on the shoulder shifting briefly into Mountain Bike mode, but the rock face had my number. Everything sped up and slowed down simultaneously, and next thing I knew I was spitting pink gravel.



My comrades arrived on the scene one by one and made temporary repairs to my bike and Milt offered to ride down and return with his truck. The wheels were fine, and nothing critical was broke. Unfortunately my front brake was tweaked pretty good, and the guys had to flip it over to keep it from rubbing. My rear brakes were fine but my right hand was slowly loosing feeling, having taken the brunt of the impact. I could operate the brake by pulling back on the lever, while avoiding squeezing with my thumb. I decided to ride it down. Slow.




The group was great and someone tailed me for the whole rest of the descent. Milt graciously documented the event with most of these pictures.

I will look over the bike tomorrow when - hopefully - I can use my right hand a little better. Yes, I'm using it right now to type, but it's pretty slow going.

In all - Not a bad way to start off the year. If I have to crash this year - may as well get it over with.







Following are the stats...

Road rash right shoulder, right forearm, right knee, and cheek (face cheek :))
Cut all 4 fingers right hand, knee, face, lips.
Blood blisters on 2 fingers right hand.
Hyper extended right thumb.
Sore and stiffening rapidly - everything from my knees up.

Bike - Not sure. Will look at it again tomorrow. But, the brakes should be fine.

Gear - Small tear in 2 glove fingers (not bad at all considering the damage to my hands), Small tear in 1 sleeve of rain jacket, Helmet scratched but no real damage, 1 lens of sunglasses scratched beyond repair, everything else covered with mud.

Pride - Damaged, but not beyond repair.

The Guys and Gals I ride with - The best in the world.

Morning Run

Saturday Dec. 19 dawned cold and wet. The temperature downtown Martinez was a balmy 48 degrees with a dew point of 45. At around 600' in the hills west of Alhambra Ave. the temperature was at or below the dew point. I know, because we got lost - trail running in the fog.

We know those trails reasonably well, though never covering all of them. Last time we were there - a few weeks ago - Vince and I explored a new route and managed to find our way out at approximately where we expected. This time we decided to attempt to run that route in reverse. That was only one in a series of decisions which guaranteed a little excitement.



Another of those decisions was to diverge from the somewhat familiar path and take an alternate trail at the first of many trail splits. Several minutes of rather difficult climbing later, we encountered the next split in the trail. Visibility was well under 100', nothing looked familiar, and the typical landmarks on distant peaks or in surrounding valleys were useless. We could have retraced our steps at that point, since we were already 2 miles into our run, but true to form, we basically flipped a coin and pressed on.

Once we made that turn we committed to being truly lost. At each intersection we would compare opinions, and consistently agree that we had no idea where we were. We'd sometimes stop to listen for the fog horns out on the river, or the traffic from Highway 4 nearby, but even then couldn't be sure which way was out. At one point we compared perceptions regarding the compass headings, and found we were working with realities approximately 90 degrees divergent from one another. His North was my East.

Those who know me AT ALL will understand why at that point I gladly gave up my perception of reality for his, knowing that I'm capable of getting lost in a mall parking lot with no cars and one exit.



After alternating between left turns and right turns for a while, Vince recognized a trail that we had taken earlier (good thing 'cause I didn't) - but we were headed back down it in the same direction as before. Yeah - great big circle. At least then we knew which way not to go.

I used the GPS tracking on my phone to track this route - so we at least know where we were
Even if we didn't know where we "are."

After about 45 minutes of wandering at high speed, we did begin to recognize the trails and set out with more certainty.

We made it out.

Obviously.

I sit here this morning, another foggy morning, the day after Christmas itching to get back out there and run. Christmas Eve I rode the mountain bike from home, to Radio Shack looking for a new power cord for our newly inoperable DSL modem, then continued up to Briones Peak and back. (Don't get your AC Adapters from Radio Shack - I went to Fry's later and found it for a third of the price)

The modem now works.

Obviously - if you're reading this.



Merry Christmas.

Death Ride 2010

I think I can wait till after Christmas to start training.
This year - under 10 hours.

Snow Cycling

It snowed here in the San Francisco Bay Area and gave the news outlets a diversion from the typical political, economic, and global warming banter. Wait - global what?

It DOESN'T snow here, except a couple of times a year we are able to see a dusting at the higher elevations. Sunday night and Monday morning we got plastered - down to just a few hundred feet, making quite a spectacle of the foothills surrounding the Diablo Valley.
Mt. Diablo is still spectacular 2 days later.



Providence led me on Monday to an unexpected - though not unlikely - afternoon adventure.

The first act of Providence, was that a midnight feeding (The baby, not me) rolled my waking time back an hour, placing me on highway 680 South between Martinez and Concord at day break, unlike the darkness that I prefer. As I merged onto Hwy 4 I glanced to the east and saw the eastern hills and what was visible of Mt. Diablo below the lingering clouds glowing in the dim light. It DID snow - a LOT! I was instantly mentally rearranging my day.

The second act of Providence was that I received a text message from a fellow adventurer, Chris, who was interested in skiing our local ski slopes. I affirmed my desire to play in the snow - not sure how skiing was going to happen without lifts, and with the road up Diablo closed. His second text hinted at a willingness to ride his mountain bike up - and my preoccupation converted into pure distraction. Office work was quickly becoming impossible. Processing payroll seemed stunningly dull. The morning dragged by, as I imagined the sun melting all the snow.

I had an afternoon appointment which set the scene for Providence's final act. My afternoon appointment canceled. I called Chris, we set up a rendezvous, and I started the process of organizing the thermal layers. Ella was wanting to see the snow also, which after warning her of the risks involved ("You will get very cold"), guaranteed this adventure would be worthy of bringing the camera along.












The ride was thrilling, and though difficult, was not as hard pulling the trailer bike as I thought it would be. In doing so, I unwittingly nearly completed another of this year's goals - pulling Ella to the top of Mt. Diablo. The road was closed to even cyclists at the ranger station, and between the steep grade of the trails and the setting sun, we wisely turned back shy of the top.

When it started spitting snow on the climb at around 1000' we were excited. When it started collecting on our helmets we were like kids at a carnival. We had no expectation of it actually starting to snow again, and couldn't have been more pleased. Ella got her time in the snow, and we got our adventure, nearly making it worth the frigid descent.

Yeah, it was cold on the way down. The climb kept us warm - even to the point of sweating. But playing in the snow chilled us, and the wind chill finished us off. My finger tips hurt for hours. We figure the wind chill was in the teens if not single digits up around 2000'.

As always - Well worth it.

Chris posted a compilation of video he took on the ride - available here. It's a long download, so be patient.

Also, Channel 7 caught us on video as we neared the Ranger Station at around 2,000'.
Fast forward to about 2 minutes into the video.
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=weather&id=7156828