Redneck in Spandex

Author: Chad

  • Saturday Morning Ride: I conquered Cable Lane

    I was fortunate to get a really nice ride in on Saturday morning. 26 miles with 1882 feet of climbing in about 2 hours of ride time.   Here’s the details.

    I left my house around 6:45 A.M. with a decent amount of light.   I started the ride with my LED light on the front flashing, as well as a blinkie flashing in the rear.     With little traffic on State Route 50 at that time of the morning, I road the shoulder all the way up to Radford Road.   There was a decent amount of fog on Rt. 50, so I was thankful to have the lights going.   I took a right at Radford and rode it all the way to State Route 56 and then made may way into Uptown Athens.   As I got closer to Cable Lane, I began to question whether on not I should ride it today.   I had ridden my trainer three times during the week, as well as getting some good cardio workouts at the gym.   My legs felt a bit fatigured, but I pressed on.   As fate would have it, Carpenter Street was closed (construction), so the only way that I could get to my turnaround point (Strouds Run boat ramp) was to take either Madison or Cable up to Strouds Run Road.   So I took Cable Lane.     The webpage for Cycle Path does a great job at describing this hill:

    As you roll along the flat section of brick road through the quiet residential neighborhood, Cable Lane doesn’t seem as if it is going to be very difficult to conquer.   Guess again.   As the road turns to macadam it gradually gets steeper into a 10% grade at about the .5 mile mark. You think to your self, “This isn’t that hard.”   You get a slight rest into the “S” turn and then the fun starts.

    The last .25 miles has almost 200 ft. of elevation gain.   The grade shoots up to 13% and every 100 ft. is a slightly different steepness with one ugly section at a grade of 21%.   Momentum is the key to a good assault on Cable.   If you loose your rhythm, think of a heavy metal tune and sing it.   It could help you to get up the hill faster and it never hurts to be prepared for the day when you get the chance to audition for the new lead singer of AC/DC.

    I was   just getting into singing “Stairway to Heaven” (my favorite in my head song for hard hills) when I met a runner coming down the hill.   He looked at me, and his smirk told me that he must have thought I was crazy.   His look didn’t exactly inspired confidence, but I pressed on.   In the steepest grade of the hill, I felt that I had to keep pedaling, as I knew I would fall over if I stopped.     I pushed on, and made it to the top of the hill.   I wish I had taken my Flip video camera with me, as I would have loved to record myself at the top, heaving to force oxygen back in my lungs.   I had beaten the hill the first time I had attempted to ride it, and I was proud.   I spend a few minutes catching my breath, texted my wife my location and status, and pushed on to Strouds Run.

    The ride out of Strouds has a long hill with a gradual grade.   In the past I have used my 32 for this one, and this morning was no exception.   After riding Cable, I was a bit tired, but confident. The ride up North Blackburn and Wonder Hills Drive ( both of which are shown well on the elevation profile below) were both very tough, but I knew that it would be pretty wimpy to let these hills beat me, particularly after conquering Cable Lane.   I made it up every hill in the ride, despite this being the hardest ride I have ridden this year.   I’m already looking forward to the next time I can get out on the road and meet the next hill that comes my way.

  • Pedal click, drive side

    I’ve had a nagging click in the right drive-side pedal for quite some time now.   Using advice from Bicycle Tutor, I looked at the more obvious places for the click.   I took the pedal off and regreased the threads.   I fixed two stuck links in my chain.   I also tightened the crank arm bolt just a bit.   Unfortunately, none of these fixed the issue causing the noise.   The noise occurred on the down stroke, when my right foot was at about the 2 o’clock location in the pedal revolution.   The noise was more obvious when riding my trainer indoors, as there was no wind or road resisitance to muffle sound.   I thought I was looking at a bottom bracket overhaul.   However, with the recent acquisition and installation of a Brooks B17 saddle, the noise seems to have disappeared.   I should have paid more careful attention and noted that the noise did not occur when I was out of the saddle.   For now, my drivetrain noises have disappeared, and the mystery noise has been attributed to the old worn-out seat.   Now all I have to be worried about is trying to break the Brooks in a bit.   Only another 490 miles or so until it feels just right.

  • Pawpaw Double Nickle Bicycle Ride

    Another ride to put on the calendar for the Southeast Ohio Region.

    Pawpaws and pedals make a great combination, so this year’s festival features the Pawpaw Double Nickel, a 55-mile road bike ride through the hills at a really nice time of the year. Starting and ending at the festival, this ride will take you from Lake Snowden on a circle tour around Zaleski State Forest. Enjoy challenging climbs, ridgetop views and sweet downhills, all along the Raccoon Creek Watershed. A fully stocked aid station awaits you just past the halfway point.

    Does 55 miles sound like too much riding and not enough pawpaw partying? Opt to do a shorter loop of approximately 20 miles that still features plenty of climbing but can be conquered in less time. No aid station will be available for this loop, but we can guarantee a downhill for every climb.

    The ride will take place on Saturday, Sept. 19. Rider registration will be at the festival from 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. – get started on the ride any time during those hours. The aid station will be set up until 2 p.m. The self-guided, self-paced ride is included in the price of the festival admission fee ($5 for one day, $8 for the weekend), and includes a map of the ride, marked turns on the roads, and the aid station. Please note that there is also a vehicle-parking fee of $2.00 per day or a weekend pass for $3.00.

    Helmets are required for all participants. There will be no rolling support so be self-sufficient (carry appropriate tools and water). For additional information about the ride, contact Peter Kotses at pete@athensbicycle.com.

    via 2009 Ohio Pawpaw Festival.

    Other rides that I might do are in this post.

  • Ride home from work

    Yesterday I had the pleasure of riding my bike to work. I took the long way home yesterday, making the 6.77 miles home in about 33.5 minutes. I had a real hard time with some of the hills on the Yukon. It felt at times like I was dragging an anchor. On the road bike I can get up the hills a lot easier, despite not having the low gears of the mountain bike. Chalk it up to skinny tires I guess. I did switch to the Serfas Drifters, which are 1.5 inch tires, so we’ll see how that works out next time.

    Yesterday’s totals were about an hour of riding and 12.8 miles, according to my bike computer.

  • Today’s ride to work with slow tires

    I rode my Giant Yukon mountain bike to work this morning.   I had originally thought that I would ride the road bike in, but I’m pretty anal about it getting scratched up on the steel bike racks in front of the library.   Not to bash our students any, but they tend to throw their bikes around like somebody else bought them, and in doing so their wrecklessness can often rub your ride the wrong way.

    Giant Yukon in front of the Park Place Fountain
    Giant Yukon in front of the Park Place Fountain

    In preparation for riding the Yukon this moring, I swapped the Serfas Gator tires for the Forte VersTracs.   The Fortes have a ridge down the center of the tire, thereby making the rolling resistance a little less.   I’ve left the Gators on for a while, figuring that as a mountain bike, it would need the knobbies for the singletrack. I’ve been on the singletrack once this year, and I probably road off-road a total of five times last year.   The VersTracs do roll a lot faster than the Gators, but I’m very much used to rolling fast with my road bike.   I felt very sluggish on the mountain bike, even though it only took me 27.5 minutes to make the 6 mile trip.   I was also a little disappointed that I had to dip into the granny gear on the bike to get me up a few of the hills, as the smallest chainring on my road bike is a 39.   I do have a 32 in the rear on my road bike, but I usually can tackle these particular hills with a 39×28 gear.   Dipping into the granny on the mountain bike was kind of puzzling, but I guess the rolling resistance is significant enough to make pedaling harder.

    As soon as I can, I’m going to swap out the VersTracs for the set of Serfas Drifters (26×1.5) that are hanging on the garage wall.   While not quite as fast as my road tires (I run 27×1 1/4 on my road bike), they should be a bit faster than the VersaTracs.   I imagine the VersaTracs are fast for some folks, particularly when compared to full knobbies, but for someone who rides a road bike more often than a mountain bike, the resistance can be pretty frustrating.   I wanted to hammer on the way to work, but the tires just left me flat.

    Here’s the route to work: