Riding When I Want To

Not a great riding weekend. I look forward to the weekends, because lately I have not been able to squeeze in a ride during the week. Late Friday afternoon, then, is something I wait for all week long.

I got out for a 20-miler Friday, and anticipated a longer ride Saturday. But Saturday morning dawned overcast and misty. The roads were wet. I decided to wait until conditions got better.

They never did. In fact, they got worse. It never really rained, but the mist got heavier. I decided to forget about riding, and wait for Sunday.

The Sunday forecast called for rain in the morning, but according to the weather radar, that had passed through the area about an hour before I woke up. Again, the streets gleamed with light reflected from standing water. I decided I wouldn’t be doing the club ride at 8.

It amused me to see how panicked some of my fellow club members got over the weather. The 8 a.m. ride was delayed until 9:30. The Yahoo board lit up with posts from people debating whether to go on the planned ride (about 55 miles into a very hilly suburb to the west) or do something flatter and potentially safer. Then some folks decided to go at 10 instead of 9:30. I leaned back in my easy chair to drink some coffee and read the paper.

I guess everyone got out all right. I rode with my wife at about 2:30 p.m., when the temperature had risen to 67 degrees (19C) and the roads had dried off. Ever notice that 67 in February is much cooler than 67 in June? It’s true. I was underdressed on our ride, and downright chilly pedaling into a light wind from the north. When my wife turned into our neighborhood, instead of peeling off to put in some more miles, I went with her.

So my mileage for the month is way down, what with one-and-a-half rides this weekend. You know what? I don’t care. We enjoy good biking weather here year around, and if this weekend wasn’t so great, I know great ones are just around the corner. From here on out, I’ll take advantage of that, and ride when I feel like riding. That means I’ll skip some days because they’re too cold for me (on that day, anyway), and other times, I’ll be first to show up for a ride in even colder weather. I’ve decided to skip riding during rain, and even in wet conditions after the rain. Call me a wuss, if you like. I enjoy my bike too much to ever feel like I’m forced to ride.

Re-Learning How to Ride in the Rain

The club ride was heading south to Kyle this morning. It’s a ride I enjoy, and I was looking forward to riding it on the Airborne. We had a brush with rain the previous evening, but it petered out before it got to our neighborhood. Still, things have cooled off quite a bit, and we headed out into an overcast morning with threatening clouds and temperatures in the 70s. The hour-by-hour forecast indicated we might get rain this afternoon, but our ride would be long over by then.

Our regular ride leader is out of town, and the volunteer who took over led us down Slaughter Lane. It’s a main east-west corridor through South Austin, and the heavy traffic we usually find on that road keeps me away from it. Today, though, we kept going — past the high school where we usually turn off, past a couple of north-south arterials where we could have turned. At least Slaughter has a bike lane for much of its length. But it’s only wide enough for one bike. Finally, we reached a cross street and turned south.

Riding this stretch, I chatted with Rick about the Airborne. It’s his bike, and he’s letting me use it for a few days while mine gets some TLC from the club bike mechanic. It turns out the bike size is 62 cm. No wonder I had trouble fitting it to my body. My own bike is 56 cm. But as we talked, I felt small raindrops hit my face. We pulled into the parking lot at the Walgreens in Buda in a light drizzle. Some riders debated whether to keep going or turn back now.

They were uncertain about riding in the rain, and I don’t blame them. After last summer’s drought, we’re all out of practice with our wet weather riding. We had some rain earlier this spring, but lately, it’s been dry as  a bone once again. The upside is, we get to ride all the time. The downside is, we don’t get much chance to hone our rain riding skills. But most of us gamely got back on the road — and then the skies really opened up. A few more riders turned back. “I don’t like riding in the rain,”one said, as she passed me going the other way. Our peloton split into two groups, and the leaders quickly left us behind.

As I slogged on, I mentally recalled some of the rain techniques I once knew. Ride slower — not a problem for me; remember that your brakes won’t stop you as quickly as when dry — that was very much the case with me today; and when turning, lean your body, but keep the bike upright.

Just past downtown Buda, it was hard to even see in the downpour. A rider at the head of our small group turned into an elementary school, and parked his bike under a covered walkway. We all joined him, making a compact pack of six in the narrow space.

Laura was on her brand new bike for only the second time — and the first time on a ride of any length. “I can’t believe it,” she wailed. “Riding my brand new bike and this happens.” It’s a custom carbon fiber Seven, white with teal trim. It even had her name on the top tube.

I realized that five of our six bikes were carbon fiber. I was on titanium. “It wouldn’t be good to wipe out on a plastic bike,” noted Rick.

“The last bad crash I had was during the rain,” said Pippa. Mine, too.

“It could be worse,” said Brian, the club Canadian. “It could be snow.”

But the rain subsided within ten minutes, and although it was still coming down lightly, we decided we’d risk it. We would ride west on FM 967 until it met FM 1626, and then head north back to our starting point. We would have an abbreviated ride today, but that was okay.

The problem is, both those roads are two-lane with no shoulder. Traffic was heavy in both directions, so cars coming up behind us had to wait for oncoming traffic to pass before they could swing out and pass us. To complicate matters, the edge of 967 was pock marked with cracks, patches of gravel, and small potholes. “As far to the right as practicable” turned out to be in the center of the lane sometimes.

The worst part came when we had to make a left turn off 1626 onto Brodie. It has a left-turn lane, but we had to “take the lane” to get to it, slowing down a line of cars behind us even more. I must say, most drivers were patient with us. I heard one honk, and Rick said someone shouted at him, but that was it. We rode several miles up Brodie, made a dangerous left across oncoming traffic into a residential neighborhood, and took a shortcut through Bowie High School’s parking lot. It emptied us out onto Slaughter again.

“What do we think about Slaughter?” asked Steve T., an A rider who wound up with us today.

“After getting through 1626, we can handle Slaughter,” I remarked.

We turned onto Slaughter, and the first thing to catch our eyes was a warning sign: “Loose Gravel.” Laura let out a yelp. Pippa laughed. The road on this side had been resurfaced, so loose gravel covered both lanes for another mile. Not only were we all soaked to the bone, but now a layer of grit covered us from head to foot. The neighborhood Starbuck’s couldn’t come fast enough.

“I think I broke about five of my riding rules,” observed Rick. “Don’t ride in the rain. I did. Don’t ride on wet roads. I did. Don’t ride carbon in the rain. I did. Don’t ride on Slaughter Lane. We did that both going out and coming back.”

But we were back. No one was the worse for wear. The barista at Starbuck’s even gave Laura a free coffee, because she looked so miserable.

“I don’t want to ride in those conditions again anytime soon,” I told Rick. “But when you do, it makes you a better biker.”

Can’t Outguess Mother Nature

We’d been expecting all week that Sunday’s club ride would be affected by rain. We were on the tail end of the big weathermaker that brought killer tornadoes to Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa Saturday. While we weren’t going to get anything that severe, the forecast called for a good chance of strong storms at about the time we’d be in the middle of our ride.

So we gathered under a sky dark with low clouds, high winds, and the threat of a line of storms off to our northwest. Consensus was that we would head northwest, but double back to avoid the worst of the rain and have maybe a shorter than usual ride.

A good turnout of 17 showed that not everyone was scared off by the threat of rain. There were even some new people in the mix. Our ride to the turnaround was uneventful, and the clouds actually started to break up. We regrouped and headed toward the west again, this time on a different road. But when the ride leader wanted to head north on Barton Creek Blvd. (the road that would take us to the infamous “Hail Mary Hill”) a few of us rebelled. Both John and Kenny had ridden long and hard on Saturday, and weren’t up for killer hills. The three of us decided to head east and work our way back to the starting point.

We battled the still-strong crosswinds on the way, but had a nice three-person paceline along Southwest Parkway. I suggested we go over to Convict Hill, where I would show them my usual Saturday morning hill workout. For Kenny, it wouldn’t be much of a challenge, but it would give him something new to look at.

Kenny is a strong rider — the kind of guy who does a 100-mile ride in a little over four hours on a Saturday, then comes back for a 45-mile club ride the next day as a “recovery ride.” When he saw Convict Hill, he extolled its advantages as an excellent venue for hill training. His idea of hill training is 30-second repeats, going all out, then standing and pushing hard on the steeper section of the hill. We got to the top, looped around for some other, less difficult hills, and roared down the smooth asphalt to head back to Starbucks.

The sky, which had lightened but was still overcast, was now darkening again. The wind was as strong as ever.  We chatted at Starbucks for a good half hour before the rest of the crew started to trickle in. It seems they had broken up on the ride over the desire of some to go farther, and others to head back. Around 11 a.m. I pulled the plug and said my goodbyes.

At home, I ran into my wife who was still in her biking clothes after doing some Veloway laps. We showered and grabbed a light lunch and were starting our house cleaning chores when the pitter-patter of raindrops sounded on the back patio. The rain came in two waves, first light, then heavier, but when it was all over we didn’t get much more than a couple of tenths of an inch. It was good for my scraggly lawn, but not the kind of soaker we really need around here.

So it turned out to be a good ride, but at 25 miles, a lot shorter than I expect to do on a Sunday outing with the club. Coupled with a ride of only 19 miles the day before, and I appear to have some ground to make up this month. But that’s okay. If Mother Nature cooperates the way she did today,  I should have my share of good weather weekends for riding.

By the way, that 19 miles on Saturday was the result of one of those flukes of biking: A bee flew into my big helmet vent, got stuck inside, panicked, and stung me. Since I tend to blow up like a balloon when stung by bees, I rushed home to attend to the problem, but since it stung me in the forehead and got only skin and bone, there wasn’t a lot to swell. Tylenol is great. Until it wears off.

Glasses in the Rain

I was really looking forward to the end-of-semester break. My riding has fallen off in recent weeks, and the coming down time would give me the opportunity to rack up some miles on the bike.

My wife and I rode a whopping nine miles yesterday, amid spatters of rain.

Today, I am confined to the house, as waves of showers move north across Central Texas. After our rainless spring and summer, we need the moisture. But it sure interferes with my ride plans.

I’ve indicated before that if I’m out on a ride and get caught in a shower, it’s no big deal — I’ll soldier on home and not make much of it. But if it’s raining and I’m still in the house, I won’t be heading out to do a ride.

And my reason for not wanting to ride in the rain might not be what you expect. It’s not because I’m concerned about falling on wet pavement. I’ve done that before, so I’m extra cautious when I ride out there. It’s because of my glasses.

It doesn’t matter if they’re clear eyeglasses or dark sunglasses, they’re going to get spotted with raindrops. And that makes visibility an issue. I don’t like to be in a situation where I run the risk of hitting something that I couldn’t clearly see, because my glasses are covered with water.

These glasses have enough spotting after a couple of minutes in the rain to limit one's ability to see.

Maybe that’s a stupid reason not to ride. I know plenty of cyclists do go out and brave the rain. So here’s a question for them: How do you keep your glasses clear of water?

I use a method that kind of works: I use my index finger like a windshield wiper, and rub it across the lens a time or two. Sure, it’ll smear the lens a bit, but it also clears off the droplets, and I can see again. The glasses will need attention once the ride is over, but that’s no dig deal — they’d probably get cleaned anyway.

One old trick I’ve heard of is to smear some spit over your lenses. It sounds disgusting, but there apparently is some merit to it. However, I’ve also heard that the spit trick is really to be used when the lenses fog over. Up to now, I’ve only used my finger in those cases, too.

So how about it, veteran riders? What do you do to keep your glasses clear on a rainy day ride?

Time to Ride

I graded my last final projects, turned in the grades to the Registrar,and am now officially done with school this semester. With time on my hands, what do you suppose I’m going to do? I’m going to ride.

That is, I’m planning to ride. I picked up my bike from my neighborhood mechanic today after leaving it in his hands overnight. He says the shifting problems I’ve been having are the result of some corrosion on the derailleur. In other words (unspoken) I do a lousy job of keeping the grime off my bike. He’s right, of course. I did a thorough cleaning job Sunday before running it over to him, but he can always manage to find a Ray-induced problem area.

Anyhow, the bike is back and shifts like a champ. But I didn’t ride today, because the late afternoon was a heavy overcast, it could rain any minute, and my wife had some honey-dos for me to take care of. Unfortunately, the rest of the week looks just as yucky, with rain predicted right to to the weekend. But temperatures will be mild.

So I’ll probably be getting in some wet weather riding. But I’ve gotta do it. I want to maintain my level of fitness (or should I say, recover my level of fitness) to start putting in some decent rides come spring.

The Lost Weekend

It started raining Thursday night, then continued on and off on Friday. By the time I headed home late Friday afternoon, the rain was heavier. I wouldn’t get a chance to take my Friday after-work ride this time around.

On Saturday, the rain fell harder. My wife and I were delighted. This is just the kind of rain we’ve been hoping for here for over a year. The extraordinary drought Texas finds itself dealing with has led to water use restrictions throughout the state. Some small municipalities are in danger of losing their local water supplies. So the rain is really a good thing.

It kept falling Saturday afternoon, and seemed to gain intensity.

“Can we sneak in a short ride?” asked my wife. She’d been working at her home-based business all morning, and needed a break.

“No, it’s still coming down,” I replied. Any riding was out of the question.

Neither of us like riding in the rain. Pat simply won’t do it. I will start a ride in iffy weather and hope the rain holds off, but if it falls while I’m out there, so be it. I’ll deal with it. However, I always bear in mind that the last serious crash I had was during a rainfall. So if it looks like I could get caught in the rain during a ride, I’ll just stay inside.

Saturday night, we were at a party hosted by some members of my bike club. Although it was a holiday party, much of the chatter was about bikes and biking. No one was enthusiastic about riding Sunday morning, except, of course, our club president.

“You’re coming out, aren’t you?” he asked me.

“No, I’ll give it a pass,” I said.

“You must have a beater bike you wouldn’t mind getting wet,” he said. “I’ll be out there on my rain bike.”

“Have fun,” I told him. It looked like he would be the only one riding Sunday morning — if he decided to follow through on his pledge.

If anything, the rain fell harder on Sunday morning. It was 48 degrees when I woke up (about 9C) and the forecast said the temperature would fall along with the rain all day. I visited my bike in the garage and changed the batteries in the headlight.

So here I am Sunday evening, and the rain is spottier than it’s been all weekend, but there’s still a chance we’ll get some more before midnight. And a good chance for more rain Monday. As far as putting any miles on my bike are concerned, I’ve lost the chance to do that this weekend. Too bad. I managed to sneak in over 300 miles in November, and wanted to get a good start on December to do at least that many.

But there’s a silver lining. We’re at the end of the fall semester, and I’ll have some time on my hands during the week in just a few more days. So I guess I’ll accept the lack of riding this weekend, knowing that our grass might green up again and that I’ll be getting in some miles later this week. When you’re as used as I am to riding in decent conditions pretty much year around, a weekend off is tough to take.

I’m Just a Fair Weather Rider

Finally, the weather moderated yesterday and I got out to ride, for the first time in eight days.  It felt good, although I could tell I had spent too much time off the bike.  The ride seemed to require more effort from me.

This isn't me.

There was no way I was going to miss another day, though.  Last week was a total washout for me, with cold temperatures during the day, and several days of non-stop rain.  Some of my friends reported via Facebook and Twitter that they had gotten out on the roads and put in some (or many) miles.  But I couldn’t motivate myself to do so until the sun came out and the roads dried off.

Okay, I guess I’ve known all along that I’m just not enthusiastic about riding in lousy conditions.  I’ve also decided that’s not a problem.  We have decent enough weather most of the year that I can ride much more than many of my biking acquaintances farther north, so all I really have to do is sit tight for a few days (or in last week’s case, eight) and I’ll be able to get out there again.

So I’ve taken stock of my biking likes and dislikes.  I’ll ride in temperatures as low as 40ºF (4ºC), although I don’t like it.  I make it a point to avoid riding when it’s raining, or threatening rain, or if the roads are still wet from rain.  I have faced the truth:  I’m just a fair weather rider.

It looks like my mileage in January will be my lowest in months.  On the bright side, this may also be nature’s way of telling me that I’ve been too wrapped up in biking, and it’s time to back off a bit.  We’ll see.

 

Musings on a Rainy Day

The email and message boards lit up Saturday evening with ride cancellations.  We’ve had several wet days in Central Texas, with a fine mist falling all day Friday, and heavier, steady rain Saturday.  Rain again Sunday.  We certainly need it, but it sure throws a monkey wrench into things.  As the organizer of our club’s Sunday ride put it, “I have no problem riding in the wet myself, but it might send the wrong message if we as a club go ahead with our ride in these conditions.”  A local bike shop announced that its Sunday shop ride was cancelled for the first time in their history.  So not only will I not ride, but some long-delayed yard work is going to be delayed even further.

My attention isn’t focused on riding right now anyway.  Thursday afternoon, while driving home from the car dealer’s where I paid a lot more than I expected for some service on my car, I was rear-ended.  A woman pulling out of a parking lot assumed I was moving forward (I was stopped at a light), and looked left for oncoming traffic.  There was none, so she turned out of the lot – right into my rear bumper.  I had just celebrated making the final payment on the car a week ago, and I was already in a foul mood about the cost of the service.  Now this.  But when I looked at the damage to her car, the great German word – schadenfreude – came to mind (taking joy in the suffering of others).  Her crumpled fender, hood, and headlight were in far worse shape than mine.

Auto insurance has gotten easier to deal with in recent years.  State Farm called me Friday, asked what body shop I had in mind, gave me the shop’s phone number as well as the extension of the person who handles State Farm claims, and said a rental car would be ready at the shop whenever I took my car in.  I guess the fact that the woman was also insured by State Farm helped.

The trip to the body shop Monday will have to fit in around a trip to the dentist.  I’m getting a new crown put in to replace a bad tooth, and the temporary one they put in last week is causing me a lot of discomfort.  They’ll fix it, but it makes finding time to ride a little more challenging.

The good thing is that the forecast for Monday calls for improvement.  The rain will be gone, the temperatures will be milder, and it’s a holiday for some of us – myself included.  Somehow, I’m going to find time to ride.

Driving Near Bikes

I don’t know what it is about cars when they’re around bikes, but drivers seem to behave irrationally.  And it’s even worse when the weather is bad.  My wife and I had that experience on yesterday morning’s ride.

It looked like it might rain, so we opted to just head over to the Veloway and do a few laps.  I was planning to meet up with a friend, John T, so Pat started her lap before me. John T and I got caught in the rain on our third lap, and we took cover under a shelter at the Veloway entrance.  I figured Pat would have finished her one lap and headed home, so should be safe and dry by that time.

When the rain eased up, I said my goodbyes to John T and headed home myself.  On the way, the road leads up to a large supermarket.  I was in the marked bike lane, following another biker.  Two cars pulled even with us.  It was obvious they were going to turn into the supermarket parking lot.  When the first one turned his wheels, the biker ahead of me pulled into the lot — doing a slick emergency right turn.

Instead of waiting for me to pass him so he could turn into the lot also, the second car turned right in front of me.  Now I had to do the emergency right turn.

On a dry day, cars always wait for cyclists to pass before turning into the lot.  They might be impatient about it, but they’re good about waiting the three or four seconds it takes us to pass them.  In the rain, you’d think they would be more careful, knowing that the wet conditions could cause trouble for bikes, and even cars, if they don’t watch out.

When I got home, I told Pat about being cut off.  ”That’s funny,” she said.  ”That happened to me, too.”

She was getting into a left-turn lane behind two cars at a stoplight.  She heard a third car, but instead of settling in behind Pat, the third car squeezed around her, then cut in front of her in the turn lane.

Geez Louise, wait a cotton-pickin’ second, will ya?  For it’s just a matter of a few seconds we’re talking about here — how long it would take me to pass a car before it turns into the parking lot.  How long it would take Pat to complete her left turn from the turn lane, and then allow the driver behind her to pass.  Three seconds?  Maybe five?  Not a major chunk of your day, pal.

The League of Illinois Bicyclists decided to tackle the problem head-on.  They made a video aimed at drivers — telling them what to watch for when driving near bikes.  Good stuff.

I only hope it gets some distribution so more than bicycle league members will see it.

Sizing up wet roads

This post may be coming a few days late — at least in Central Texas. We’ve had nearly a week of heavy rain, courtesy Tropical Storm/Hurricane Alex. For those of us who have to get out on the bike, it means we had to ride in wet conditions.

My wife approaching our neighborhood on a recent wet ride.

My last major crash came because of wet roads. Ever since, I prefer not to ride if it’s raining. But often, I get out out on the road when the rains come. So we might as well learn to deal with them.

It’s a good idea to test the road surface first. We all know (I hope) that roads are slipperiest when the rain has just started, because it brings oil to the surface. After the rain has been around awhile, it washes that oil away.

So, you might want to start your ride in the wet by standing on the pedals to accelerate quickly. If your rear wheel slips, you know the road surface offers less traction. Be careful.  Greg LeMond used to test the surface by taking one foot out of the pedal, and sliding the rear wheel out while stopping to see how much traction the roads would give.

Do your braking well before you enter a turn. Remember that it will take longer to slow down because your brake pads are skimming water from the rims. But don’t brake while turning.

If the road is clear, try to take the turn on a wide arc. That has the effect of straightening the curve. Be smooth about it.

Lots of riders (myself included) try to keep the bike upright, but lean their bodies into the turn. Pro cyclist Davis Phinney says that’s not necessary. Lean both bike and body, he says — just do it gently, and not as far as you usually would.

In fact, slick road tires probably offer more traction than knobby MTB tires, because more tire is in contact with the pavement. However, it is commonly recommended to lower the air pressure in your tires on wet days. I bring mine down about 10 pounds in each tire, and have had good results.

It’s also been my experience that I’m more likely to have punctures in wet conditions, because the road gunk you pick up tends to stick to the tire. So a piece of glass or metal that you might throw off after one revolution in dry conditions might stay on the tire for several rotations — and that increases the likelihood that they will punch through the tread.

Road surface makes a difference. Concrete is better than asphalt. Chip seal is pretty good, because the rough surface gives the tires something to grab. Old asphalt is better than new asphalt. When I crashed, I was turning from an older chip sealed road onto a recently-asphalted residential street. Water collected on the surface of the new asphalt. When my tire hit the new stuff, it slid out from under me.

Be wary of metal surfaces like manhole covers, or flat metal sheets in road repair areas. They’re as slick as ice. So too, for the raised paint that marks traffic lanes. Two riders in the Tour de France prologue were knocked out of the Tour because they hit those raised traffic lines.

Riding in the wet may not be the pleasantest way to spend time on the bike, but it doesn’t have to be a ride-stopper, either. For me, the biggest problem riding in the rain isn’t the road surface, but keeping my glasses clear. Any ideas to help with that?