Bike shit. What else?
Gemelk takes a bronze in Chicago’s Gay Games VII
Eric added a bronze in the road race to the silver in critirium he took earlier in the week. Read about here.
Cooler, drier, and faster
It rained for most of the day yesterday, shich was fine. I needed to get some inside things done. Today, dawned clear, cool and gorgeous—a welcome change from a couple of weeks of steamy mugginess.
Among the indoor things I did yesterday, were two naps. Thus, I didn’t get to sleep until late last night and slept until just after 8:00, which is late for me, especially on weekends. I didn’t hit the road until nearly 10:00, but it was still only 65°. The past couple of weeks, it’s been well past 80 by that time of the morning.
Learning from last week, I stuck to pavement today. I have two 15-mile training loops that share a section of the Riverway from the canal to downtown and home from there. I combined them and added a section of the Greenway south of the canal. I hoped it would come up to 20 or 25 miles and decided to be happy with that. The ride added up to 30.67 miles. This pleased me to no end.
The wind was from the southwest when I started out, and I’ve found I do better by getting the headwinds out of the way early, so I ran the loops clockwise by heading south first. I rode out the Canalway at Winton Rd where, at just over six miles, I stopped for a granola bar, bottle of water and a pee. I don’t usually stop there, and I’ll remember not to do that again. The mosquitoes were fierce!
I felt strong the whole way out there and after warming up, my cadence was several RPM higher than usual. I found I was over 95 most of the time and getting comfortable over 100. Considering that just over two months ago, I thought my legs were going to fly out my hip sockets at 70 RPM, that’s amazing.
Next, I pointed the wheel towards the west and cruised straight through, past the park and the river, to where the pavement ends at Long Pond Rd in Greece, stopping only once adjust my seatpost a smidge higher.
I worked on the pannier rack earlier in the week and loosened the seatpost clamp, which it attaches to. The bike was upside-down resting on the seat, which promptly retracted into the seat tube, tearing off my marker tape. I’ve been fussing with trying to find the right height again all week. I think I got it.
Anyway, on this leg, I worked on riding a gear higher than was comfortable, and pushing a bit to get my cadence over 90 at least, and settling for over 85. This was tough because of the wind, which was shifting northward and was now coming straight out of the west. And, as usual, I hammered the hills west of the river.
I stopped at the little info kiosk at Long Pond Rd, (forgetting to note the miles at that point) had a smoke and another bottle of water. Several riders stopped to look at the trail map and I enjoyed chatting with them all. One couple was quite ambitious. They were only six or seven miles into a ride that, if it went according to plan, would be about 75 miles.
Heading back toward the river was the only time today I had the wind to my back, because it was still shifting. Here I could really drop the hammer and maintained cadence over 90 and speed over 20 for several miles, even with the hills. I even spun out in the middle ring and had to shift to the big one. Whoo wee!
I made one unplanned stop at the top the bridge over the railroad mainline. Track maintenacne crews were working. There were little machines on one set of rails for as far as I could see in each direction. A few other cyclists had stopped as well. We watched and chatted for a while.
I swung through the park and took a right, (at 21.00 miles) heading south out the Greenway Trail to its detour, past the airport. It’s straight and flat, so I used this part of the ride to rest a bit, letting my speed and cadence drift down to something sustainable. I made a quick stop to pee and feed the mosquitoes on the return, just before reaching the park again.
Ordinarily, I like to stop at least once where the river and canal meet, just because it’s such a nice view, and watching the water from one flow into the other is kinda peaceful and relaxing. I blew through it a second time today, then crossed the river over an armada of geese, grateful that they were in the water and not clogging the trail as they seem to do in the mornings.
The wind had shifted and was coming right out of the north, something I’d noticed when I turned around south of the airport. Coming north on the Riverway through the park and the University, it’s buffered a bit by the trees along the river. Coming out from under the Ford St bridge (so named because before there was a bridge, that’s where horses and wagons could ford the river) the wind rips right down the river and into your face.
The resting part of the ride miles behind me, I just cranked into the wind. I spied a couple of “rabbits” ahead—two roadies in full lycra—and decided I’d drop them before the bridge at I-490. Boy were they surprised when when, in a headwind, an old guy on a heavy, very upright hybrid called out, “On yer left!” and blew by them. The one who had been on the left accellerated to pull to the right and tried to stay with me as I called out a cheery, “Good morning!” went by. Even my draft couldn’t help. I was burning like a house afire and he soon gave up the chase.
I made a mistake at Court St, choosing to cross South Ave on the yellow rather than wait. That threw off all the timing for the next three lights, forcing me to stop and wait (and rest a bit). The next block is slightly downhill and I know that if I don’t hammer to at least 25, I won’t make the light on green. And it’s a very short green with a very long red.
Nearly to the light, I had to jump on the brakes and ring my bell like a madwoman when some pedestrian decided to jaywalk in front of me, not expecting a bike to be going that fast. I barely made my left on the yellow, and coasted up to East Ave.
One of the things I like about riding in the city is that I can hear the drivetrain as I ride past parked cars. The chain was just singing a beautiful song as I sprinted up East Ave. The bike was having as much fun as I was. It likes cruising slow and easy, but it loves being ridden fast and hard. And these new tires corner so much nicer too. I never geared-down or slowed my cadence as I made the left onto Strathallan Park. That sort of turn just feels so good, all leaned over and the power effortlessly flowing from me, to the cranks, to the chain and to the wheel.
It had broken 70 a while before, and the north wind had a bit of a bit to it, but I’d been riding so hard for so long, that I was gleaming with sweat. After the corner, I coasted down Strathallan and made a right on to University. There was no traffic behind me and I lined-up early for bearing left at the Y intersection with Atlantic Ave and my victory lap.
I intended it as a cool-down lap and had wound down to what felt slow and easy. I looked down at the shifters and the cyclometer, shocked to find I was still over 20 mph and in the big ring. Yow! I had to force myself to downshift and ease way back to my usual commuting pace, which felt like I was pedaling through glue.
I arrived back at the apartment feeling just fantastic. I’m super pleased with the way my body has responded to all this riding in less than four months. At two of the three meetings I went to this week, people have come up to me and said, “Man, you’ve got cyclist’s legs!” I guess I have.
It wasn’t that long ago that five miles at under 10 mph left me gasping and called for a two-hour nap to recover. Today, after lunch and a shower, I was back on on my bike just two hours later, headed out to meet a friend for coffee, then off to the grocery store.
This evening, you’d think I’d be all sore after such a workout this morning. I thought I’d take it slow and easy to the meeting tonight—one I never attended regularly because it doesn’t align with the bus schedule at all. But, when I hopped on the bike after supper, pedaling down East Ave, my cadence was up to 95 with seemingly no effort. I found myself upshifting just to get some resistance.
Cruising along Broad St, I drafted a Trailways bus heading west into the sunset, arriving at the meeting cool and dry and not the least bit winded. (Although, no doubt, smelling slightly of diesel exhaust.) The ride home up East Main St, well, it was like I just wasn’t there, as if the bike carried me along all by itself. And it kept up with traffic all the way.
Tomorrow is a light commuting day, now that I’m not going out the hospital first. Five miles round trip to the library. If I’m sore in the morning, it really won’t matter on such a short trip later in the afternoon.
Wednesday night’s ride
Wednesday night I took the long way home from a meeting that’s on one of my training loops (half road, half MUP), about 15 miles around from there to home. A quarter after eight, nice sunset shaping up, 75, not terribly humid, and not a puff of wind.
As I rode into the sunset, it turned into one of those rides where everything just clicks in and works, that oneness of bike, rider and ride. The bike was diggin’ it, I was diggin’ it, and I think the loop was diggin’ it too. I exit the MUP downtown, switch on my blinkies (which I’d mounted before the ride) and headed out of downtown on a wide, one-way. Cleared two lights on green, and one on yellow before hitting a red where I have to make a left.
I’m smack in the middle of the left turn lane waiting, when guy on a Harley pulls up on the right next to me in the lane, left signal flashing. Okay, I think to myself, nobody likes getting stuck behind a pokey old bicycle, and he’s got almost enough room. I’ll just shade to the left a bit until he goes by.
I’m trying to ascertain whether the guy or the exhaust from the Harley smells worse when the light changes (left arrow, no traffic), and I’m through the intersection, two lengths in front the stinky guy on the stinky Harley. He’s hanging to my right and I’m beginning to feel uncomfortable in the left side of the lane (now on a two-way).
So I slow down, turn around and yell, “Are you going to pass me or make me drop the hammer on you hard?” Guy does a double-clutch downshift (to impress me with how rough his Massey-Ferguson is running), and passes me on the right as I wave him by.
After we both turn right-on-red at the next light, (me choking on on the BO and unburned hydrocarbons) he cruises a café on the left at under 15 mph, maybe slower, while I pass him on the right, cranking up past 20, still in the middle ring.
Apparently with no prospects at the café, he turns and sees me, now 100 feet ahead, and charges by, only to slow down again to cruise the bars in the East End. And I passed him again, going up hill, in the big ring and not even trying.
This absolutely pissed him off.
He gunned it, went by and immediately cut in front of me to slow for a right, down Restaurant Row. I just eased left in the lane a bit and passed him again. He gave up and turned.
