Wordless Wednesday

I've been riding in some pretty cold, and at times, dreary conditions, so I'm sure many are wondering why I bother. In part it's because I see people 20 yrs older than I am having to give up their mobility, and that prospect urges me on. In part, it's because to control BP I have to ride on a regular schedule. In part it's the fun of meeting the unique challenges attendant with riding in the cold, but mostly, it's because it's quiet, peaceful, and beautiful - even gorgeous - out there. Here's a sample of what I get to take in almost every day out there riding on the ARPT.

On The Mend

After a good night's sleep, and waking to a sunny day for a pleasant change, I have a little bounce in my step today, so I thought I'd check in and thank friends on Facebook for their support and encouragement. It really helps, especially on bad days where the pain and fatigue make sleep a welcome refuge.

Speaking of sleep, wow am I sleeping a LOT - 18-20 hrs a day for the first 2 weeks, and still 12-16 hrs a day. Bone must be congealed sleep! I am also trying to get lots of protein, minerals, and vitamin C to make collagen, as that is always the 1st thing the body uses to stabilize and begin to heal a serious wound. Most of the bruising is gone, except for the blunt trauma bruise under my armpit. That's taken more than 3 weeks, but likely gone in another 10 days.

After my outrage that I didn't Tazer the perp or beat him bloody, I had a few days of despair as it sunk in that the ARPT is really a completely lawless environment where anything goes and there is pretty much no recourse unless you can get a pic of the perp, have some witnesses, and can get him/her to give up a valid set of contact info.

Still thinking about the pros and cons of riding so much on the ARPT, but to the extent I do, I will have to be even more defensive, maybe having to do some TDF style shoving of peds. Hope my lawyer is making some progress. That would be welcome news.

I'm learning to do the business of daily living with essentially 1 arm. It's not easy, and can be really frustrating, but you do get better at things as you go - like putting on a turtle-neck sweater, or even a hoodie. Taking them off is actually harder. Showering is the worst, but a back scrubber makes that a lot more manageable. Long soaks in Epsom Salts are very nice, and provide needed magnesium for bone and collagen.

I really miss my own cooking, as going back to TV dinners has been awful. Hard to get the fiber I need, portions are too small (OK, I AM losing a little weight, but not much), and not enough veggies or protein. I'm going to try making a hearty tomato chicken soup tonight with a big dose of black beans. The beans really add a lot to the soup, especially welcome is the protein, fiber and potassium. I use V-8 juice instead of water, and finish by baking in the oven for 4 hours at 275 degrees.

I realized a few days ago that I have to go back to the periodontist in a week to check up on the progress of the bone growing around the titanium implant. As sore as my shoulder is today, I hope they can remember not to bump me. May have to put off anything beyond a checkup for a while. Shouldn't be a problem, as that's more healing time for the jaw bone.

The last few days I have been able to do a little work on the computer, and am working my way through an SQL Server SSIS tutorial. Just ordered a new book, as I found out I'm not dense, the example in the book just doesn't work. I downloaded some new source code from SAMS publications, and will give that a try. The usual stuff attendant with software development. Nice to have an external focus for a change.

I still have a ton of things to catch up on, like getting an estimate of the damage to my bike, and filing my taxes, but my mood is definitely improving. I am a little worried about some possible rotator cuff damage from stuffing my shoulder into the road, but worrying about isn't very useful, so I might as well get on with life. A huge pile of laundry, and dirty carpets are calling.

Keepin on Keepin on

We've been setting a lot of heat records here the last few days, so I have felt a bit of cabin fever. Life has also been in the way, but I finished retaping my handlebars after a bunch of brake block adjustments, so sucked it up and snuck in a late ride this evening.

The sun is setting so early now - before 7:00 pm - so I was only able to get 15 miles in on a short, but fun little loop (the same one that kicked my nephew's butt last year :-O) and made it a point to push without slacking off even for a minute the entire ride. That TT taught me how important it is to train your legs and cardio to push relentlessly. It's amazing how much you can get out of a short ride if you have a plan for what you want to accomplish with it.

I forgot to mention, I had a huge epiphany riding Sunday evening. I think my beloved bike trail - the ARPT - is in the process of being deforested.  The area that is squeezed between the man-made Lake Natoma and I-50, in particular, is hammered by seasonal winds that are greatly amplified, yet an asinine culture of 'let mother nature take care of it' persists in the parkway trail environs' management.

The crux of the problem is that many old, large trees are being lost, but every attempt to grow replacement trees in small nursery areas have been burned to the ground year after year by arsonists. The only solution I can see that might work is to make use of open, but secure areas, like the forever defunct downtown rail yards, to grow trees 15-18 ft tall, and then transplant them.

Failing that, in 20-30 years the ARPT will be a savanna with only the occasional old-growth oak and cottonwood to indicate it was ever otherwise. This kind of thing was done very successfully in downtown Los Angeles in the '80s, and may well continue to this day.

On the bright side, WOW are the squirrels ever BIG and healthy this year. I saw the first ever black squirrel tonight, just after a gray with a very bushy 24" tail. Spectacular! You see whole flocks of quail, turkey, and squirrels intermixed, all chowing down on the bounty of food this year. The coyotes are looking on, biding their time, waiting for the deer to join in on the smorgasbord.

Gears are working great, and I like the new handlebar setup, but the seat is a little too high, and my seatbag is TRASHED! A huge rip along the top left-hand side is threatening to spill bike-bag guts all over the road.

I have a feeling this is going to require I bite the bullet and get a longer seat too, as the current seat's short rails don't afford an adequate purchase for most bag mounts. My seat is about gone anyway, so not entirely unwelcome. More Techie Tuesday fodder!

Picking My Spots

The weather has been so weird this year. It's either cold and raining, or it's blowing like a banshee and in the 80s. I love the weather this time of year, except with my allergies I really suffer when the wind blows the great outdoors into a giant pollen soup.

Long story short, I am stuck indoors again today as I will be awash in meds tomorrow riding down to see the end of the first stage of the Amgen Tour of California. Today I am pouring over a C# book and staring out the window, giving my system a break from the meds.

I did manage a nice 35 mile ride down to Discovery Park earlier in the week, and could feel the rust the next day getting out of bed. I rarely go downstream, but wanted a change, so took the detour around WBP and had a nice ride downtown.

Unfortunately, they have turned off the water to all the drinking fountains at Discovery Pk, I assume to discourage homeless people from living in the area, but as expected, they knew where to find water. Only the cyclists and those on picnics were doing without. I was a little embarrassed about what the Pro riders practicing on the ARPT might think of California - too broke to keep the drinking fountains open. Sigh......

I ended up having to cross the Guy West Bridge to get water at CSUS campus, as the detour at WBP would have had me home before the next water. Not really a big deal, except it was 80+ degrees, and I had brought only one water bottle.

So is summer finally here? Well, almost. Another cold shower on Monday. Let's hope the riders will appreciate the cooler weather and the rain will not be the "soaked to the bone" variety from last year's Amgen tour. I think the later start date this year is going to make the race even better, and perhaps, even top the Giro in popularity. The teams are certainly impressive this year!  Anyone have a pair of wool shorts for mayor Johnson?

Fit for Life

As much as I like riding with my biking clubs, one of the things I love about being so close to the ARPT is the serendipity that can happen while out riding on a nice day.

After my back complained about the lower riding position, I moved 7.2 mm of spacers back under my stem to raise it up a bit. After waiting 2 days I decided to take an easy ride, stretch it out, and burn some calories. Heading out the front door intending to warm up on the way to WBP, the back felt good, and so did the new position, so I found myself flying along, zipping through the turns I call the "rat's maze".

I stopped for water at the rest stop at WBP when a woman and her gf rolled up, she riding a very practical pea green bike with fenders, rear rack and bright red tires - Kenda tires as a little inspection revealed. Somehow the bike fit her, and she it. That's the kind of bike REI has been selling a lot of lately, but she said she got it from City Bikes. I know the shop, as I rode my first Roubaix there, before heading up to Calistoga Bike Shop for a better deal. We had a great chat about bikes and bling before they pushed off upstream.

Rolling downstream towards CSUS, I set a comfortable, but brisk pace. The wind was in my face, but not more than 5mph, so I kept the pace up, but kept the back comfortable. Passing traffic I had to hit the gas to get past before oncoming traffic encroached. Pretty comfortable, so I kept the hammer down until I rolled up behind a group of 3 riders. Two guys up front and a woman trailing them closely. I needed a breather, so decided to hang out in back for a few.

After a few minutes I was getting anxious, the two guys were tooling along at 18-19 and ruining what had turned into a pretty good average time. I started talking to the woman, who seemed to want to go faster too. Finally it became clear she wanted to go, but didn't feel confident she could go and make it stick, so I asked her if she wanted to go faster, throwing an impish grin in her direction.

She took off and went  around, and I put the power down and went around her to take up the lead. My HR alarm started complaining after a few minutes - which I ignored and kept pushing at 95% - and was kind of incredulous she was still there behind me. She told me later she's 5'3" and 115 lbs. The girl's got some GO!

I finally pulled the power and we rolled up to Del Paso Rd. We had a nice conversation where I learned that her SO was one of the two guys. I think she found it refreshing to cut the tether and do a little free-lancing. We had been talking about bike fit, as she was sprawled out over the bike. The bike was a Specialized S-Works, so an expensive bike, but at 5'3", her 52cm frame was waaaay too large. (see chart)

She told me she'd just had a professional fitting, where they mounted a 50mm stem - about all that could be done given a frame that was 30-40mm too large. I tried to finish on a positive note, so reminded her that larger frames with short stems are great climbing bikes. I'm sure the very low body position she is forced into also makes her pretty aerodynamic, but the shoulder and neck strain make it a painful one after an hour or so.

 Dave Moulton's excellent frame sizing chart

Odd as it may seem, you are MORE likely to be sold an expensive bike in the wrong size than a cheap one. Why? Because an expensive bike costs more to keep in inventory, so they will sell it as long as you can climb on the thing. Be prepared before you go shopping, and know your size!!!

Her SO rolled up and we had a very nice conversation. He was interested in the Mt Hamilton climb, so I filled him in on the last 2 year's experience riding the Canyon Classic. We headed back riding together, talking, until I ended up in front after negotiating traffic. He took up the lead 5 minutes later and I took it back after he slowed down a couple of mph. I peeled off at WBP, and they went on to Sunrise. It was with a big smile that I hammered my way up onto Boyer and down California Ave coming home. It is such a treat to ride without restraint.

The back was fine, and not bothering me much at all today. I had a great conversation and hope to see them out on the trail again. She's a teacher and has the summer off soon, so given how fast she rides, I hope we can take up where we left off. Just another fun day of serendipity on the ARPT!