new training method

started a new training regime - i've constructed an oxygen deprivation system, using WWII surplus materials, which i use when i am on the trainer while the weather continues to be crappy. i'm hoping that this will boost my red blood cell count thereby delivering more oxygen to my aging muscles and allowing me to keep up to the younger set in expert.

training

time to start training in earnest - real time on the bike outdoors. gianni and i headed out to BHP for some laps and it was fine despite the predicted forecast. as we were doing laps we discussed a more concerted, possibly group effort to the training. the idea we came up with was a tuesday, thursday, sunday schedule for now: tuesday, meet at assinaboine park for intervals and sprints; thursday leave from the shop for a more casual spin; sundays at BHP or other location for longer distance rides. this could be the spring schedule until more formal things begin out the club.

theory and reality

with yesterday's temps rising to the happy side of zero, tim kevin, and i thought it would be a good idea to do a little spring classics training and hit the gravel roads for a ride. the theory was that the roads would still be frozen and we'd get a little gravel road ride in. the reality is we got muddy, kevin spun his deraillieur and we learned something about the sun, thawing and dirt/gravel roads. all in all tim and i got 25-30 kms in.

road trip report

the spring training road trip started on friday, february 27th. after a morning meeting at work i was on the road by 1:30 - 11 1/2 hours later i was in madison wisconsin.

what it looked like when i left

after a short 5 hours of sleep i was back on the road, making my way to indianapolis to take in the 2009 north american handmade bike show.

(more here)

the show was very cool with a ton of amazing bikes. it was pretty crowded, but if you were patient you could talk to the various frame builders who were more than happy to chat. in addition to the bike builders there were also reps from components such as: paul, velo orange, chris king, white industries, etc.

following a quick lunch i was back on the road. durham was still 10 hours away, which meant it was going to be a long day of driving.

finally, no snow

the end of snow - well did not really end. somewhere in west virginia the snow started to fall as i gained altitude in the mountains. at times it got pretty heavy but since the ground was still warm it did not freeze.

driving through a tunnel in west virginia

arrived in durham sometime around 1:00 in the morning. the next morning it was raining pretty steady and temperature was hovering around zero. chris and i went for a quick ride in the morning and soon found ourselves inside continuing our spring training

interval training

the next morning we woke up to this. snow in north carolina is not that unusual, but in march it is not that common. schools were closed (as soon as there is any snow on ground they usually close the schools - even if the streets are drivable).

jonah was more than happy to go for a ride in the snow

on monday chris and i headed out for a little 'spring classics' style riding, durham has plenty of paths to cycle on and we tooled around on these for a few hours. the other thing durham has is hills and i quickly discovered that riding around winnipeg in winter does not prepare one well for riding hills

day two of riding - cool, but not as wet as day one

the next day we headed out to pisgah national forest for three days of riding. along the way we stopped at first flight bike shop in statesville. this a very cool shop that collects vintage bikes as well as being a great all round shop.

almost as cool as the handmade bike show

we arrived in pisgah shortly after lunch and started on the first ride. the way it works here is you climb for 40 - 60 minutes and then spend the next 20 bombing down single track.

our first climb was all on pavement

although you can't really see it in the picture this shows where we started

our next ride for the day started with a climb on fire road. it was 9 miles of climbing (higher altitude and steeper roads than our first ride). by mile 3 i was gassed, chris and i on our singlespeeds soon found it to steep to pedal and we began our death march to the top. because of the altitude, and the way the slope faced we soon found our selves pushing our bikes through the snow. as this took quite a bit of time, more than we expected, all we could do when we reached the top was to turn around and bomb down the same road it had taken us 2 hours to climb. taken the trail was not going to be an option as the snow would have been too deep and we would have lost light by the time we were half way down.

pedaling uphill while we still could

we pushed through the white stuff for about 5km

the next day alex had selected a longer ride along a ridge run called turkey pen(???). again, the ride started with a big climb with the trails starting off dry and gradually filling with snow as we climbed higher. during this climb i tweaked my hamstring as i was pedaling through some snow. rather than risk a full pulling of the hamstring we decided to cut this ride short and try another ride which would not be as epic in length (this gave us time to get into town so i could get a tensor bandage and heat balm for the hammy). during the downhill i put a small gash in sidewall of the racing ralph and had slap an tube in the tire (the racing ralph is perhaps a little to thin for riding on the rocks).

chris climbing

starting the downhill

one of many stream crossings on this trail

day three we picked a couple of new trails and continued the modus operandi of riding fire roads up and bombing down technical single track for the descents. the arms were getting quite the workout as i rode rigid for the entire 3 days

checking routes

riding through a rhododendron tunnel

a rare photo of us going downhill

it was a great trip and many thanks to chris and alex for taking time off so they could show this flatlander around the great trails of the pisgah national forest.

bike porn

on my way to visit chris and spend some time cycling in north carolina i stopped for about an hour and a half at the north american handmade bike show in indianapolis. the show was somewhat overwhelming, so much to see and too little time to see it (was still trying to make durham that day - 10 hours away). here are some photos...

naked bikes 29er

a lot of wood on this bike: rims, seat post, grips, inserts (pedals and pivot covers)

great lug work and paint job. liam at the shoppe is getting a trials frame made by this guy

very cool dropouts for chain tension

the most phallic award winner - great imagination on the design of this handlebar

detail of how the handle bar pivots

street bike?

interesting brake detail

okay, your dad is a frame builder and he builds this bike for you, do you take this to school?

once you get this up to speed...

nice downtube detail

i thought the aesthetics of this brake mount was very interesting

36 inch wheels - the builder said it is not practical for off-road

29er by the same builder of the 36er

steel/carbon 29er

an internal two speed crank system

road trip

19 days and counting till i drive down to visit the good doctor in north carolina for a little bike vacation. hopefully he has fully recovered from the most horrible thing ever and is in a good frame of mind to show me the trails he rode for that event


View Larger Map

the plan is to leave on friday at noon, and weather permitting, make it as far as madison WI before i stop for the night. the next morning i plan to get to indianapolis in time to take in the north american handmade bike show. after a couple of hours there i will try and make the push to mr. dr's place. the next 5 days will be spent biking on the road in the mountains before i make the long journey back.

i ain't no engineer

so, i had two goals for the new brake mount that i was getting mike to mill and and put on my 29er frame: one, allow me to use the full range of the paul dropouts on my bike; and two, allow me to remove the rear wheel without taking any bolts out of the rear brake bracket. based on a photo i saw of the fisher superfly singlespeed, i tried to find a brake mount similar to what i saw in that photo. since i could not find one i asked mike if he knew of anything, he told me he could make something as long as i provided him with a drawing. cool - all i had to do was come up with an sketch and i would get my brake, one that would allow the brake to pivot on an arc which would allow me to do the things i wanted with my rear wheel.

after some time fooling around in the with the brake on the frame i came up with a design and sent it off to mike. on monday mike sent me the photos of what he did based on the drawing i sent.



















the first photo looked pretty good, showing the mount that he had milled for me.



















the next photo - oops. seems like i forgot to take into consideration the cylinder for the brake and as you can see in the next photo i don't quite get all the use of the slot i designed for the brake mount. this is why professionals get the big bucks for what they do, they take into consideration things like this and design and build systems that have taken these things into account.



















the good thing though, i had put in a longer arc than i needed. mike saw that, and positioned the brake mount in such a way a that it works - thank god for people who help me solve problems that i create for my self.

weekend update, january version

one of things i wanted to do in the new year was post more often to the blog. little did i know that the mca gig was going to be so time consuming, its great, but it takes a lot of the spare time i have in a day to do things. here is a little catch-up from this past weekend.

i've decided to go with the changes to the 29er frame, that is, adding a new rear brake mount and a dropout for gears. of course making the bike gear friendly, means more bike parts and new rear wheel - my addiction is so hard to cure.

stripped the rear triangle with a little Permatex Gasket Remover, which actually worked quite well for removing powder coat.

mike truelove is going to mill a new brake dropout based on this drawing i provided. the new brake mount will allow me to use the full travel of the dropout (fewer chains to change out), as well as allowing me to remove the rear wheel by simply loosening two bolts (previously i had to loosen one bolt and take the other one out completely - not a lot of fun when you need to fix a flat in a race).

diagram of the dropout

saturday tinker tim, kevinb and i snowshoed the bur oak trail. we saw a couple of potential lines that will be helpful for next year's wednesday night series and found ourselves really wishing that spring would get here soon.

sunday night was reserved for the schubertiad. it was a really cool performance that combined excellent singing and playing, poetry reading, cool pictures projected on a screen to the left (out of picture), and really interesting sound scapes mixed into the more traditional schubert lieder.

i had a hell of time trying to take an inconspicuous picture of the performance (no flash etc.)

post concert tenacious v and mrs. dr. reflect on the choices of wine sitting on a table just out of the picture

i have had an ongoing battle with electronic devices this past year. so far i am down one camera, one ipod (suffering the same fate as the cell phone), and now my cell phone. at the moment i am trying to revive my cell phone which i sent through a wash cycle. as you can see it is sitting in a bag of rice which i am using to draw the moisture out, and it seems to be working. at first nothing happened when i turned on my phone after i pulled it out of the washing machine, but after a few days i am finally able to call and receive calls. the ring tone is pretty quiet and the there is no image on the screen to speak of, well there is, but it is both backwards and really weird colours. i am going to let it sit in the rice for a few more days.