With the temp gauge touching 60 degrees today, I decided it was about time to pump up the tires and hit the road. With my chores for the day completed and my daughter asleep taking her nap, I was free to take as long of a ride as I wanted! The problem was, after a winter of sitting on the couch, 30 minutes was about all I felt like riding!
I saw several bikes on the road but for the most part it was people out walking dogs. The irritating part is that they walk their dog, or sometimes 2 dogs, on the bike path and let one dog go to the left and the other to the right -- effectively creating a leash-line across the whole bike path that you can't get past. Dog walkers are oblivious to anyone else and a winter of owning the bike path to themselves has gotten them into some nasty habits. Lets hope they shape up before someone gets clothes-lined riding down the path!
Total Distance: 6.07 miles, Ride time: 29:48, Avg Speed: 12.22 mph
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Saturday, January 17, 2009
A Casualty of the Economy
The economy has tanked and it has taken my Shenandoah bike trip with it as a casualty of war. The trip is scrapped and the foot of snow outside leaves me unable to do any bike riding. At least the temp is up to 20 degrees now after being sub-zero for so many days this past week.
Alternate plans are still in the works. I might be able to do a smaller scale trip in NC near my folk's place. Lots of bike-friendly places there, or so I'm told. We'll see.
Alternate plans are still in the works. I might be able to do a smaller scale trip in NC near my folk's place. Lots of bike-friendly places there, or so I'm told. We'll see.
Thursday, January 1, 2009
New Bike Gear Bling
Happy New Year! After an unintentional hiatus from blog posting, I'm back! I received a couple of pieces of gear for my Trek this Christmas, as well as a road bike maintenance book, which will come in handy in preparation for my Skyline Drive outing this coming summer.
Because of tunnels through the mountains, its required to have lighting on your bike on the Skyline Drive and the Blue Ridge Parkway. I don't even have reflectors on the Trek, so this is something I needed to fix. The answer? A couple new Cateye components. The first is the Cateye HL-EL530 (shown below) which is a 1500+ candle power LED headlight.
For the rear of the bike, I got a Cateye TL-LD1100 tail light. This is a 10-LED tail light with various flashing patterns for maximum visibility and long run time.
Its just too cold outside (for me) to go out and try mounting the lights on the bike -- that will come later in the spring or a warmer day later in the winter. The reviews on these items are pretty good, and although its not the same as riding in daylight, it should be good enough for my limited needs.
Because of tunnels through the mountains, its required to have lighting on your bike on the Skyline Drive and the Blue Ridge Parkway. I don't even have reflectors on the Trek, so this is something I needed to fix. The answer? A couple new Cateye components. The first is the Cateye HL-EL530 (shown below) which is a 1500+ candle power LED headlight.
For the rear of the bike, I got a Cateye TL-LD1100 tail light. This is a 10-LED tail light with various flashing patterns for maximum visibility and long run time.
Its just too cold outside (for me) to go out and try mounting the lights on the bike -- that will come later in the spring or a warmer day later in the winter. The reviews on these items are pretty good, and although its not the same as riding in daylight, it should be good enough for my limited needs.
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Rakow Rd Bike Path?
McHenry County plans to widen Rakow Rd to 5 lanes by 2010. Currently, there is a 4-foot wide shoulder that bicyclists use today on this busy road. Once the road is widened, there will be no shoulder and no bike path! At least they're leaving a 10 foot shelf for future MUP creation, but it is needed now. I see bikes riding on the shoulder in the mornings all the time where cars are going by at 55 mph (in a 45 zone). Aside from the 5-lane US-14 going through Crystal Lake, Rakow Rd is the only other east/west route that many people use to get across town or to the McHenry County Prairie Trail, which connects to the Illinois Prairie Path.
The McHenry County Bicycle Advocates have submitted a petition signed by 227 people urging the county board to include the bike path in the construction plans for 2009/10. The county actually asked Crystal Lake and Lake in the Hills to help with the cost of including the bike path but both declined, presumably due to a lack of available budget.
The article appears in the Nov. 23 edition of the Northwest Herald, here.
The McHenry County Bicycle Advocates have submitted a petition signed by 227 people urging the county board to include the bike path in the construction plans for 2009/10. The county actually asked Crystal Lake and Lake in the Hills to help with the cost of including the bike path but both declined, presumably due to a lack of available budget.
The article appears in the Nov. 23 edition of the Northwest Herald, here.
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Climb Data for Skyline Drive
Using some mapping tools from mapmyride.com, I'm able to generate elevation and climb data for my planned trip on the Skyline Drive in VA next summer.
Keep in mind that I'll be traveling from South to North -- or right to left on the above diagram. If I were heading south, there would be almost 20 miles of 5% grades (or higher) of climbing right out of the gate. Since I'm going South to North, there is only one section where I'll be climbing 5% grades. This is what I had expected based on various reading. Its easier (relative) to bike north towards Front Royal.
Keep in mind that I'll be traveling from South to North -- or right to left on the above diagram. If I were heading south, there would be almost 20 miles of 5% grades (or higher) of climbing right out of the gate. Since I'm going South to North, there is only one section where I'll be climbing 5% grades. This is what I had expected based on various reading. Its easier (relative) to bike north towards Front Royal.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Prairie Trail North - Nov 2, 2008
This afternoon I took a short ride north on the McHenry County Prarie Trail towards McHenry. I started at home, rode 3 miles to the trail, and then rode north through Crystal Lake. I continued through Sterne's Woods which has a series of extremely steep climbs and descents through the woods. Even in the granny gear this will get your heart beating and your moving at a snail's pace. Past Sterne's woods, I continued north until reaching the Nunda Township garage north of Prairie Grove. This is the same place the the McHenry County Wireless Association has its monthly meetings... and its about 7.75 miles from home via bicycle. I continued just north to the next road where I turned around and headed back home. A few raindrops fell when I first started back, but it never got to the "sprinkling" stage and subsided without much fuss.
No pictures this time -- but I wish I had my camera handy because just south of Sterne's Woods I saw a guy riding on a unicycle! Not only was it a unicycle but it was a BIG wheeled unicycle. The wheel might have been 3 feet in diameter... and I was staring at the guy thinking "woah" and he just said "hi" and kept going. I wonder if he actually rode that thing through Sterne's Woods... it would have been crazy considering the extreme grades of the trail through that stretch.
I wish I knew the actual grade % of those hills. Then I would know if that is comparable to what I would experience riding on the Skyline Drive in Virginia. If this is comparable, then I have a lot of preparation to do to get into shape. On some of those hills, every pedal with my right foot resulted in the front wheel coming off of the ground slightly.
Max speed today was 31.22 mph!! That was going down one of those crazy hills in Sterne's Woods. This thrill didn't last long as i quickly starting going uphill again and around a corner so I had to slow down.
Total distance: 16.54 miles, Ride time: 01:25:59, Avg speed: 11.41 mph
No pictures this time -- but I wish I had my camera handy because just south of Sterne's Woods I saw a guy riding on a unicycle! Not only was it a unicycle but it was a BIG wheeled unicycle. The wheel might have been 3 feet in diameter... and I was staring at the guy thinking "woah" and he just said "hi" and kept going. I wonder if he actually rode that thing through Sterne's Woods... it would have been crazy considering the extreme grades of the trail through that stretch.
I wish I knew the actual grade % of those hills. Then I would know if that is comparable to what I would experience riding on the Skyline Drive in Virginia. If this is comparable, then I have a lot of preparation to do to get into shape. On some of those hills, every pedal with my right foot resulted in the front wheel coming off of the ground slightly.
Max speed today was 31.22 mph!! That was going down one of those crazy hills in Sterne's Woods. This thrill didn't last long as i quickly starting going uphill again and around a corner so I had to slow down.
Total distance: 16.54 miles, Ride time: 01:25:59, Avg speed: 11.41 mph
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Cold Weather Training
Its not winter yet, but its been below freezing a couple of nights in a row now. Tomorrow should be warm for trick-or-treating, but in a few days it will return to some very cool weather which is not conducive to cycling. Sure, you can get cold-weather riding gear, but what about sweating while wearing layers? Gore-tex and other fancy fabrics are supposed to wick it away from you, but then you need to spend $150 on a cold-weather riding outfit... just to ride a few times when its not snowing or icy out. Nope... not for me. So what's the solution to get my biking fix? I need to get an indoor trainer.
Two options for trainers: a traditional magnetic (or fluid) resistance trainer or a set of rollers. The one type looks like this:
The way it works is you basically connect the rear wheel to the frame of the trainer and the tire is up against the resistance unit. They're usually adjustable (resistance) and some of them are magnetic based and others are fluid based.
The other type of trainer is the roller trainer -- here you have no fixed connection to the trainer and you must balance yourself on it at all times. This is said to help you improve balance in general, but others say its just crazy. I'd like to give it a go, but most people suggest wearing a helmet even while indoors as the risk of falling off is greater than normal riding! Here's what one looks like:
You can probably tell, but the rear wheel balances between the two closer rollers and the front wheel rests against the front roller. You can find bunch of info on roller trainers at the wikipedia site here. Wikipedia describes it this way: "Bicycle rollers are a type of bicycle trainer which makes it possible to ride a bicycle indoors without moving forward. However, unlike other types of bicycle trainers, rollers do not attach to the bicycle frame, and the rider must balance him or herself on the rollers while training. Bicycle rollers normally consist of three cylinders, drums, or "rollers" (two for the rear wheel and one for the front), on top of which the bicycle rides."
I'm hoping that on Black Friday (day after Thanksgiving when the big Christmas sales begin) I will be able to get a great deal on a trainer for my indoor winter biking/training. I will need to keep active in the winter in preparation for my planned tour of the Skyline Drive in 2009. You can read about those plans here.
Two options for trainers: a traditional magnetic (or fluid) resistance trainer or a set of rollers. The one type looks like this:
The way it works is you basically connect the rear wheel to the frame of the trainer and the tire is up against the resistance unit. They're usually adjustable (resistance) and some of them are magnetic based and others are fluid based.
The other type of trainer is the roller trainer -- here you have no fixed connection to the trainer and you must balance yourself on it at all times. This is said to help you improve balance in general, but others say its just crazy. I'd like to give it a go, but most people suggest wearing a helmet even while indoors as the risk of falling off is greater than normal riding! Here's what one looks like:
You can probably tell, but the rear wheel balances between the two closer rollers and the front wheel rests against the front roller. You can find bunch of info on roller trainers at the wikipedia site here. Wikipedia describes it this way: "Bicycle rollers are a type of bicycle trainer which makes it possible to ride a bicycle indoors without moving forward. However, unlike other types of bicycle trainers, rollers do not attach to the bicycle frame, and the rider must balance him or herself on the rollers while training. Bicycle rollers normally consist of three cylinders, drums, or "rollers" (two for the rear wheel and one for the front), on top of which the bicycle rides."
I'm hoping that on Black Friday (day after Thanksgiving when the big Christmas sales begin) I will be able to get a great deal on a trainer for my indoor winter biking/training. I will need to keep active in the winter in preparation for my planned tour of the Skyline Drive in 2009. You can read about those plans here.
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