Commuting Season Begins in Earnest

Spring has truly sprung, after a trying few days of cold, rain and fog. Today was therefore the perfect day to begin my circuitous bike commute, followed by a longer after-school ride, which is what I did regularly last spring and in the fall.

The day started off on the chilly side, 38 degrees to be precise. You warm up quickly when you climb up Cascadilla Place and up through the Cornell campus to Warren Rd. The only bother with this ride is the campus traffic and poor road conditions in the Northeast.

After school was blissful, a jacket free day in the upper-50s with sunshine and a north wind. Today I took 34 to Lansing, then back via Gulf Rd., which has a very steep and short uphill connecting back to Conlon Rd., a nice little add-on ascent before the long downhill along East Shore (34B). Best avg. speed of the season thus far, 19.8 mph, so all of the cross-training and indoor cycling seems to be paying off.

Today on my morning route, I passed a fellow teacher and district colleague on her bike (with trailer in tow), heading in the other direction toward her school on the hill. I rarely get the chance to chat with her because she's always on the move! Then, on my way back up the hill for my afternoon ride, I passed her yet again on her way back down the hill. I loved the symmetry of our encounters. I so admire and respect this teacher for her great work in the classroom, and also for her incredible athleticism. She is both a very competitive nordic skier and super-strong cyclist and runner, and quite the inspiration.

Today I received the bad news that a friend and colleague was injured in a car accident yesterday in Lansing. He was driving at 55 when someone not very far ahead of him pulled out of an intersection or a driveway, giving him next to no time to react. He ended up in the ditch, beaten and battered, with a totalled car. My thoughts are with him and his family, and I'm so thankful that he wasn't hurt worse. While I have no information about what led the other driver to make their unsafe turn, I can't think about the shocking statistics about distracted driving and texting while driving. A study released by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute found that truck drivers who were texting were 23 times more at risk of a crash or near-crash event than non-distracted driving. Also, the average teen sends close to 3,000 text messages a month, and many of those messages have been sent or received while driving. These are particularly scary things to think about for us cyclists. No matter how safe we ride, we are at the mercy of drivers. I just hope that chronic cellphone users realize that no text is worth a human life.

Random photo time...it was bath night for the boys and for the bike!

Big Dairy Afternoon

No, I didn't gorge myself at Cayuga Lake Creamery, taking on their intimidating but delicious 50 flavor challenge. I left that task in the capable hands of one of my library colleagues. Instead, I headed to the land of big dairy, namely 20 miles north of Ithaca, around King Ferry, Genoa and Venice. This area reminds me so much of midwestern farming towns, with feed stores, silos, large open pastures and chip seal roads. It was a very sleepy Saturday in dairy country, with next to no traffic and nobody outside. It felt more like a Sunday than a Saturday.

Yesterday was somewhat raw, with temperatures starting out in the upper-40s, then gradually cooling down as I made my way to Terpening Corners and beyond. My heart rate was unusually high during the Remington/Sunset climb, probably due to the fact that this was my first ride in a week, and I was fighting off a virus. However, by the time I got to the hillclimb out of Lansing toward King Ferry, I was feeling pretty strong. This was an illusion, of course, as I had a massive tailwind all the way past King Ferry to Ledyard. Of course, this meant that I had to face a wicked headwind on the homestretch back toward Lansing and all the way down 34B to Ithaca, and I was certainly feeling it when I got home. This was my longest ride of the season, and I'm looking forward to ramping up the distances in the coming weeks.

Stats:

Distance: 44.83 miles

Avg. speed: 18.1 mph

Vertical ascent: 2367 ft.

Avg. heart rate: 147 bpm

Calories burned: 2525 kcal

Max. speed: 44.1 mph

Time: 2:29:02

I bought a pair of Pearl Izumi windblocker gloves yesterday at my LBS that slip over the regular summer bike gloves. This is an excellent alternative to padded full-finger cold weather bike gloves, which are twice the price. By the time I climbed the second hill out of Lansing, my hands were so toasty that I had to take them off.

While I was at the LBS, I noticed an absurd product that served as a reminder that there is no end to the development of niche market products. It's called the gel-bot from Hydrapak, and no, it's not a gelatinous robot. It's a 2-in-1 water/gel bottle that allegedly allows easy consumption of a gel without having to struggle with opening the gel pack and suffer from dreaded sticky finger syndrome. While this $16 item gets some decent reviews online, it's RIDICULOUS! I imagine the thinking of a triathlete who imagines that they might gain a five second advantage by not having to unzip a gel pack while racing. The product must be finding its market, since gel-bots have been selling for almost five years, evidently.

First Ringwood Climb of the Year

After a fun father and son ride in Varna today, I was lucky enough to get my first 2-hour ride in for the year. This is a ride that I dream about, and sometimes lull myself to sleep thinking about. It's familiar territory if you've been reading this blog since last fall when I started this blogging adventure, and it will likely remain my favorite ride for years to come. There's plenty of climbing challenges, stunning scenery, and opportunity for reverie and reflection without having to think about traffic, particularly in Lansing and nearing Groton.

Random Observations:

• The street cleaners have already made a pass or two on Triphammer and Rt. 34 in Lansing.
• There are lots of deer carcasses of various vintages littering the culverts in particular.
• People who drink Arizona brand beverages disproportionately litter the highways.
• A car filled with Cornell undergrads think that there's nothing funnier than screaming really loud at cyclists as they pass within inches. (I know where you live, boys. Funny, I saw them all load into the car and just had this intuition that they would do such a thing, and I kept waiting for them to pass.)
• I didn't see a single road biker today on my ride. Puzzling...

I'm feeling pretty strong today, even though Ringwood really presented a challenge, especially the final 250 ft. Fairly brisk North winds also presented a challenge on the homestretch on Rt. 79.

Stats:

Distance: 38.97 miles

Avg. speed: 18.4 mph

Vertical ascent: 2500 ft.

Avg. heart rate: 142 bpm

Calories burned: 2041 kcal

Max. speed: 41.2 mph

Time: 2:07:10

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Family Friendly Varna Ride

I took T, my 9-year-old, on his first ride of the year today in and around Varna, near the Ithaca Tompkins Airport. We did this loop together last year, and it's a perfect place for me to get him gradually comfortable with hill climbing. I would highly recommend this route with a few conditions:

1. The shoulders are crumbly in many places with loose asphalt and gravel, and road surfaces leave a lot to be desired.
2. There were a few loose dogs on the route, though no dogs chased us.

That said, this is a terrific place to get your kids into the cycling spirit. I took him on a little detour up Pinckney Rd. until where it meets Rt. 13 to get a little extra hill climb in, and I was most impressed when I look at the ride stats—he did around 700 ft. of climbing over 12 miles, if the Garmin is to be believed. Nothing too steep, just a lot of rolling hills with a pretty good (and very safe) descent on Pinckney Rd. He couldn't wait to come home and tell his mom that he went 26.4 mph!

That's another tip to parents considering getting their kids into cycling. Get them an inexpensive cyclocomputer. Kids tend to love gadgets, and cyclocomputers are great motivating tools for kids of all ages.

Here are directions and a parking tip as well:

• From Ithaca, head Northeast on Rt. 13 past the Airport, and turn left on Lower Creek Rd. 
• There will be a parking pull-off immediately on your right, and this is a great place to park the car and get ready for your ride.
• Head N.E. on Lower Creek Rd., which parallels upper Fall Creek. 
• If you're looking to add a little extra climbing and distance, take a right on Pinckney Rd. until it meets Rt. 13, then loop back to Lower Creek Rd.
• In Varna, go left (West) on Etna Rd.
• Turn right (North) on Wood Rd.
• Turn left (N.W.) on Sheldon Rd.
• Turn left (West) on Niemi Rd.
• Turn left (South) on Mohawk Rd.
• Turn left (S.E.) on Etna Rd.
• Turn right (South) on Pinckney Rd.
• Turn right (S.E.) on Lower Creek Rd.

Sorry I didn't give you any distances, but the maps and stats will help you out.

Stats:

Distance: 11.59 miles

Avg. speed: 9.2 mph

Vertical ascent: 604 ft.

Max. speed: 26 mph

Time: 1:15:56

I Just Can't Help It

Gentle Reader,

I'd like to preface my post today by stating clearly that I am painfully aware of my many character flaws, and am constantly reminded of them. These include, but are not limited, to being prone to hyperbole, having strong opinions about things that I don't know enough about, changing my mind frequently, obsessing about a wide variety of interests, refrigerator blindness, and spending other peoples' money. The list doesn't stop there, but I'd like to elaborate a little on that last item. 

A certain dear friend, who shall go by the name of Sunny, is in the market for a road bike. I keep encouraging her to spend just a little more than she wants to spend, and my powers of persuasion are frequently compromised by my aforementioned character flaws. I've tried all the arguments I can muster to encourage her to move up one notch on the component ladder...slightly better derailleur, bottom bracket, crank, etc., but she's not quite buying it. Today I thought I had an ironclad argument about how we don't think twice about paying an unexpected car repair bill than can run into the hundreds if not thousands, yet we don't allow a little more latitude when buying potentially transformational recreational/athletic hardware. Sunny acts as if she's not convinced, but somehow I can't help thinking that she is ever-so-slowly loosening the strings of her meticulously organized wallet. 

Truth be told, I am not an impartial consultant. A brand new road bike beyond a certain price point will just be begging to climb our endless hills, and I might soon have an occasional riding companion! Here's hoping.

Today's ride was stunning. It was my first jacket-free ride of the year, with temps in the mid-60s. Same old Lansing Conlon loop...I can't imagine a better ride with less than an hour to spare. Great tailwinds on the homestretch and feeling really strong. There were lots of other cyclists on the road today—I counted five others. Actually I saw six people, but I don't count riders without helmets. Maybe that's another character flaw, but so be it.

Stats:

Distance: 19.11 miles

Avg. speed: 19.6 mph

Vertical ascent: 949 ft.

Avg. heart rate: 148 bpm

Calories burned: 996 kcal

Max. speed: 36 mph

Time: 58:26

Healing Rays

This afternoon was beyond gorgeous. After a long winter and a series of gray, gloomy days, an afternoon ride in the sparkling sunshine is almost more than I can bear.

This was my first ride of the year on Turkey Hill Rd. and Ellis Hollow territory. A student today told me that his mom was crazy because she gets up some insane hour to ride up Quarry Rd. (the steepest section on the elevation profile). I tried to explain that folks of a certain age desperately need to do such things, but he'll just have to wait a while to really understand! Anyway, I took mom's advice and did the Quarry climb, which is the first time I've gone up that hill. It certainly won't be my last. It's not as challenging as Yellow Barn Rd. and Ringwood Rd. in Dryden, but it does get the heart pumping.

Stats:

Distance: 17.29 miles

Avg. speed: 17.6 mph

Vertical ascent: 1539 ft.

Calories burned: 1257 kcal

Max. speed: 37.1 mph

Time: 59:04

Lansing, Turkey Hill, Quarry Rd Loop

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Short and Steep

The last four days have been bookmarked by epic stomach bugs experienced by both boys, who were absolute angels throughout their ordeals. Smack dab in the middle, a brash and bratty Spaniard won Paris-Nice, so even more bad news. I don't begrudge Contador for winning, but he just lacks class. I would have been so nice to see Jens Voigt on that podium, but oh well. That ridiculous finger banging gesture is so lame, and that stupid cap is just too much.

Anyway, all that suggestive gesturing and wretching aside, it was sure nice to see some road biking on the teevee, and it really made me want to get out and ride. Fortunately, after a day of minding the most compliant and sweet little patient, I got to sneak out for a quick ride. I chose the Cornell Plantations as my destination, and was reminded just how steep that climb up Cascadilla Place, through the cemetery, and through campus really is. The Plantations still has large snow piles melting onto the pavement, but spring is really in the air, even on a gloomy low-40s day.

Stats:

Distance: 10.38 miles

Avg. speed: 15.8 mph

Vertical ascent: 1128 ft.

Calories burned: 778 kcal

Max. speed: 36.6 mph

Time: 39:20

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Last Minute Ride and Tread Issues

It was an off kilter day, with one boy in survival mode after a nasty tummy bug, and half the family awake through most of the night and stumbling through the morning. Luckily I at least got some sleep. Though I wasn't planning on riding today, two days of rest had me itching to go.

Somehow the inevitable rain was slow to arrive, so I hopped on my trusty ride for a quick Lansing climb. What lucky timing! The gusts in Lansing nearly knocked me off the bike, and halfway to Searles Rd., I started to get pelted with rain. Fortunately the heavy rain held off long enough to not make the final descent too worrisome, especially considering the state of my rear tire. It was one of those memorable rides that almost didn't happen, and turned out to be a pretty fun and intense ride, battling fierce winds and rapidly changing weather conditions. It was gratifying to see the odometer click up to 105 miles...good to be ahead of my expected pace for this time in the year.

This pattern of tire wear is partly the result of just so many miles on hill climbs and spinning my rear tire on some climbs. The trainer did equal parts damage as well, and I was waiting to replace the rear tire until indoor cycling season was clearly over.

After a thorough cleaning, I struggled mightily with the cursed new rear tire, and kept pinching my superlight butyl tubes. Three patches and two wicked thumb blood blisters later, the bike is ready to go again. Sometimes I feel like a total fool when I keep messing up a simple tire and tube change. You'd think I'd learn something after so many years of this, but these Vreds are such a tight fit.

Stats:

Distance: 20.07 miles

Avg. speed: 18.7 mph

Vertical ascent: 967 ft.

Calories burned: 1103 kcal

Max. speed: 33.5 mph

Time: 1:04:28

Odometer: 105 miles

Cool, gusty, rainy Lansing loop

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4 days, 4 rides

My lucky streak continues with yet another gorgeous early March day. Here's where I rode yesterday and today. Roads are in pretty good shape, overall, and I'm feeling fine.

Ithaca Hayts Bostwick

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Lansing Triphammer Water Wagon Loop

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Bostwick Bonus

Bonus ride today! You can't beat two days of road biking in the finger lakes region on the first weekend in March. This was an errand ride, dropping the car off at the shop and then riding home the long way through Trumansburg. Check out the elevation profile. A relatively short climb followed by 15 miles of downhill can't be beat. All in all, a sparkling weekend.

Bostwick Tburg Ithaca

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Cycling Season Opener!

Much like Jonathan Richman yearns for New England and my boys yearn for unlimited access to sugary carbonated beverages and french fries, I have been yearning for the road bike season to begin since November 21st, my last ride of the '09 season. In my last post I predicted that my first ride of the year would come on March 12th, I am delighted to report that I was off by about a week.

The off-season has been quite a trial, but if I lived in Hawaii, there wouldn't be an off-season, and you know what they say about the importance of yearning! My strategy of combining once or twice-weekly rides on the trainer with daily workouts with EA Active (for Wii) has really worked out well, and now I really understand the value of cross-training. I was really strong on the hills today, and felt in as good a form as mid-summer last year.

The roads were in surprising good shape for early March, even before the heavy rains have come to wash away all the salt and grit from the shoulders. I was reluctant to take my precious bike out, given the destructive power of the road salt, but a quick bike bath put things back in good order once again.

Without a doubt, the highlight of today's ride was seeing the brilliant sun reflecting off of vast fields of snow in Lansing. This time of the year, as the sun's angle shifts, the snow fields rapidly melt in angled patterns, resulting in almost blinding shimmery seas of snow. The Cayuga lake views are equally stunning without the foliage to obstruct roadside views. 

I'm so thankful that I'm back on the road again. There is no substitute for cycling outside, and all of the unknown variables like sun, rain, wind, unexpected roadkill, and oblivious drivers who are too busy texting to notice you. No close calls today, just some to-be-expected obliviousness from drivers who aren't expecting to see human powered transportation on the roads. 

Today was my first road test of my upgraded drivetrain and new helmet, and I'm happy to report that my new shoes and pedals exceeded my expectation. The Shimano 105 pedals and Louis Garneu road shoes were incredibly comfortable and stable. What a difference it makes to have a larger and less wiggly pedal platform. It makes standing on the pedals so much easier, though the toe box is a bit looser than I want it to be. Thicker socks might be in order.

Now I need to convince Chuck, Jean, and Karl to smash their piggy banks and buy an entry-level road bike. Come on guys, it's SO worth it, and I'd love some more riding partners! I'll be your personal bike mechanic, and that's a promise.

It's stats time...I'm really happy with my ride today, given the stiff headwind as I headed north. It will only get better!

Stats:

Distance: 22.64 miles

Avg. speed: 18.7 mph

Vertical ascent: 1017 ft.

Avg. heartrate: 157 bpm

Calories burned: 1360 kcal

Max. speed: 33.6 mph

Time: 1:12:34

Cycling Season Opener!

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