The Biking Thread

He seemed pretty cool about it so I'm wondering if it wasn't his first trip to the rodeo?

I would be cautious with moose around. I was pretty concerned when I had a couple of coyotes follow me up hill for a while. And no roadrunner in sight!
 
Took my new racing bike for an inaugural spin on Sunday. Cycled out to the North Sea dykes with no problem. Cycled back with rather more problems: I cramped up everywhere on account of as how I am in no kind of shape or condition. A highlight was being unseated (by mud) into a nettle patch, whereupon my legs locked solid with cramp and I couldn't get up.

But I slept well last night.
 
vonbladet said:
Took my new racing bike for an inaugural spin on Sunday. Cycled out to the North Sea dykes with no problem. Cycled back with rather more problems: I cramped up everywhere on account of as how I am in no kind of shape or condition. A highlight was being unseated (by mud) into a nettle patch, whereupon my legs locked solid with cramp and I couldn't get up.

But I slept well last night.
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Valiant initial effort. It will get better.
 
vonbladet said:
Took my new racing bike for an inaugural spin on Sunday. Cycled out to the North Sea dykes with no problem. Cycled back with rather more problems: I cramped up everywhere on account of as how I am in no kind of shape or condition. A highlight was being unseated (by mud) into a nettle patch, whereupon my legs locked solid with cramp and I couldn't get up.

But I slept well last night.
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Either those were some really polite nettles or it was a really bad cramp. I'd have nothing but nettles on my mind if they're anything like the ones here.


Pretty sure I didn't sterilize myself two Tuesdays ago at this point so I might do 120 give or take on Thursday. I could hit three new counties. Not excited about this bridge but would try to hit it before "rush hour" or whatever passes for it.

https://goo.gl/maps/Y8gTL

Got one of these but haven't tried it out yet. http://www.amazon.com/Planet-Bike-S...sr=1-1&keywords=planet+bike+anatomical+relief

Better be good or no more long rides for me. Priorities.
 
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It's time for the 100+ Report, everybody's favorite series of cornfield pictures.

Did 120 on Friday to two more counties I haven't round-tripped (rode through five altogether), pretty much due south and back. Rode through one on my one-way to St. Louis a couple years ago. Another 66-centric trip. Could have probably made it back in less than 10-11 hours instead of 13 had I not gone down a ton of shitty roads. Had a 10 +/- mph headwind on the way back and was flying on the smooth stuff, but was crawling otherwise. Almost quit 6-10 miles in because I just wasn't feeling it; that's often the case but the urge was stronger than usual.

Left at 3 again and at some point accidentally turned my headlight on the brightest setting, which only lasts for 1:15. Didn't notice, and it was drained by about 24 miles; that was around 4-something and maybe 45+ minutes until I wouldn't need it to see anything but the white line at the edge of the road. I probably would have been able to see okay even in the dark if it weren't for the fact that I was going south right next to the northbound lane of I-55 and consequently had headlights shining at me most of the time.

Bought a cheapo Schwinn combo of two 5-LED lights a while back just for the rear blinker and intended to carry the "headlight" for emergencies, but of course I forgot it and only had the three batteries I would have put in it. :facepalm: Fortunately, I bought a portable charger a while back for just this scenario and had a functioning light after maybe 40 minutes of slow-going and stopping under the lights at the rear of a rest stop so I could see what I was doing with the charger.... at which point I didn't really need it. :embarrassed: Par for the course.

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Black kitty blob.
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More German than you.
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I had a small hole to begin with in the shorts I wear over my bike shorts so I have pockets. Got bigger when it got caught on the nose of the saddle, and then got really big later on after I did it a couple more times. :embarrassed: Wasn't anything to see but I stopped at a Walgreens and got some gorilla tape. RIP shorts. They probably had a good 3,000 miles on em at least. I keep looking for a worthy replacement but all I see is a bunch of knee-length bro shorts.
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hehe
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Mother Jones grave in Mount Olive. Pretty sure some women driving by sexually harassed me just after this, but nobody takes the doppler effect into account so I'm not 100% sure. I got whistled at on the last trip. Still got it *snaps suspenders*.
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Scrapyard outside same.
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Chain fell off trying to get on the bike with a paper bag full of Taco Bell. Came off again when I was cleaning it in the driveway after the ride. Not sure if I got problems or just got lucky.
 
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Our Lady of the Highways. This is on 66 on the west side of 55; my light went off when I stopped on the east frontage road to take a picture of it in the dark on the way out. IMG_8640.JPG
She hate me.

Familiar with this one, and I saw another one down south. Lonely bastards.
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Round barn = a few miles to go. Used to be a pig barn here that had a farm mural on it with "Start your day with pork."
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Didn't take too many pictures *spits* There's eight more counties I want to hit in 4 rides. Hope my taint holds out.
 
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Trek is doing clearance sales, so I just bought a new Trek X-Caliber 8 mountain bike for hitting the local trails—I live a five minute ride from 200+ miles of off-road trails. Unfortunately the store got busy just as the cashier botched the transaction and it took over an hour to get out of the store with the bike, so I won’t have time to ride until tomorrow.

edit: Got pissed at my computer and took a ride on the trails. New bike is great.
 
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Iam, Sun, and other bike folks, my new-ish bike keeps trying to change gears when I'm riding. It's a Schwinn Rocket 4 24-speed and when I'm riding in 2.4 my rear-derailer tries to change gear at least every other time I ride. Initially 2.4 was my main riding gear, but now it's basically unreliable. In 3.4 it does it every time I ride, and often in 3.5. 3.4 might get into cross-gearing, 2.4 definitely shouldn't.

What's the likely issue here? Is just about adjustment and fine tuning or might there be a bigger problem with the bike itself? Thanks in advance for any input.
 
Looked like there was still some smoke in the air (but I thought the wind direction was wrong and the fires were more or less under control) today on my ride.

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This is looking North from the west side of the coastal mountains here in the Bay Area (Old La Honda Road). I was hoping to average over 15mph but I was getting a bit gassed towards the end and I didn't want to hurt my knees so I took it easy
The ride details
  • 57.3mi
    Distance
  • 3:53:34
    Moving Time
  • 3,937ft
    Elevation
  • 162W
    Estimated Avg Power
  • 2,266kJ
    Energy Output
Avg Max
Speed 14.7mi/h 31.1mi/h

Calories 2,527
Elapsed Time 4:embarrassed:4:40
 
Dogsinotpalc said:
Iam, Sun, and other bike folks, my new-ish bike keeps trying to change gears when I'm riding. It's a Schwinn Rocket 4 24-speed and when I'm riding in 2.4 my rear-derailer tries to change gear at least every other time I ride. Initially 2.4 was my main riding gear, but now it's basically unreliable. In 3.4 it does it every time I ride, and often in 3.5. 3.4 might get into cross-gearing, 2.4 definitely shouldn't.

What's the likely issue here? Is just about adjustment and fine tuning or might there be a bigger problem with the bike itself? Thanks in advance for any input.
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Likely an adjustment. I am not the big expert here, and try to do some stuff at home, but I am still learning. But that is what it sounds like. AND, it is common with newer bikes for the cables to stretch a little bit and need some adjustment one they get ridden in a little. Most shops give you a courtesy tune up when you buy a bike for that very thing. But someone who is really a tech, like @IamSeaDevil , would know better than I.
 
Good mountain bike ride tonight. Climbed well, then held my own on a fun, fast descent with a lot of vertical drop very quickly near the end. East Fork Baker road to Curly's. Try it if you are in town. Better yet, call me and I 'll show you. :grin:
 
I imagine if I MTB I might be a better descender. The idea of missing a turn and flying off into a tree keeps me "grounded". Though I don't care about how I do in Strava against other riders I have noticed that uphill I tend to be in the upper 1/3 (which is good for my age I think) but in the lower 1/4 going downhill. But I've been on road bikes since I was 10 and I doubt I will added MTB to my hobbies...I'm not sure my wife would approve :P
 
nuke_diver said:
I imagine if I MTB I might be a better descender. The idea of missing a turn and flying off into a tree keeps me "grounded". Though I don't care about how I do in Strava against other riders I have noticed that uphill I tend to be in the upper 1/3 (which is good for my age I think) but in the lower 1/4 going downhill. But I've been on road bikes since I was 10 and I doubt I will added MTB to my hobbies...I'm not sure my wife would approve :tongue:
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There are downhills and there are downhills. I would not take you on the one we did last night if you were here. There are quite a few that are gentle and more open to enjoy.
 
sunvalleylaw said:
There are downhills and there are downhills. I would not take you on the one we did last night if you were here. There are quite a few that are gentle and more open to enjoy.
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Even around here on the roads there are downhills that I don't think I will do again. And downhills that I would rather do uphill even though they are very painful because going down is more frightening than going up. Knowing some of the trails around here I'm sure there are much worse off road
 
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