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Random musings about biking

05.14.2008 by Ray Niekamp // 6 Comments

Ever notice how stoplights are always at the base of a hill, so you’re hard pressed to build up any speed once you hit the slope?

And on the subject of stoplights, ever notice that when you grab your water bottle for a drink at a red light, the light invariably turns green?

I continue to be passed on hills by other cyclists. It seems that most of them have thighs the size of my spare tire. Not the tire in my seat bag — the spare tire around my waist. I bet if I lose 15 pounds, I’d start passing some of them.

Biking is a great way to see a variety of wildlife that you would miss in a car because you’re driving too fast, or miss while walking, because you don’t cover enough ground. On this afternoon’s 18-mile ride, I saw a Roadrunner, a Blotched Water Snake (non-venomous, but about four feet long, crossing the bike path–I almost ran it over), a blue jay (not all that common in this part of Texas), and a tarantula as it crossed the bike path. Cool.

Practiced upshifting before downshifting to the small chainring — making progress.

Also working on clicking into the pedals without looking. Dana is right — it’s more effective that way.

Got passed by four cyclists during my ride this afternoon — and not one of them was an old guy!

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Categories // Uncategorized

Shifting problem

05.12.2008 by Ray Niekamp // 8 Comments

Here’s a problem I’ve been running into lately — perhaps someone can suggest how to fix it. Shifting on a hill — I can’t seem to do it smoothly. Actually, I’m not even talking about hills here — more like an incline that scrubs off your speed. If I’m in the large chainring, I’m always guessing at what point to shift down to the small ring. And when I do shift down, I’m in too large a rear cog, so my pedals spin freely, and I lose forward momentum. I frantically shift up several times in rapid succession to get to the gear I need to be in. Lately, I’ve tried shifting up a cog before shifting down to the small chainring, but even that doesn’t seem to solve my problem.

This never happens when shifting up to the large chainring, because then, I’m either going downhill or am at least on a flat.

Most of the articles I’ve read on the topic of shifting seem to stop just short of the situation I describe. They tell you to shift down so that you’re pedaling at the same cadence uphill as you would on a flat. Fine, but how to do it smoothly?

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Categories // Technique

Doing the ‘Dillo (Ride report)

05.10.2008 by Ray Niekamp // 10 Comments

One thing I learned for certain after today’s ride — I’m getting better at this.

Today, I did my first organized ride since November. The Armadillo Hill Country Classic, the premier event of the Austin Cycling Association (ACA), follows some nice country roads northwest of Austin. Routes on the ride varied from a 14-mile family ride to 105 miles. I picked the 51-mile route.

Many riders, myself included, were concerned about the weather conditions we could run into. The forecast called for a high in the mid-90s. When I got up at 5:30 a.m., it was already 75. It was not looking to be a good day for biking. But luck was with us. A low cloud deck kept things overcast through most of the morning. At the start, a cool breeze kicked up. As it turned out, weather was not an issue on the ride.

It was a treat for me to make contact with a couple of Austin-area bike bloggers. Mike and Jared both turned out for the ride, and I was able to at least put faces with names. They’re both stronger riders than I am, and we never did get to rendezvous after the ride. I hope we can in the future.

Mike of “Mike’s Bike Blog” and Jared of “Just Another Nerd…”

ACA organizers were pleased that about 930 people preregistered for the ride. Add to that the riders who registered on site this morning, and the total number topped one thousand. That made for a dicey start. The 105- and 80-milers set off first, but the rest of us followed on their heels right away. Bikers took up most of the road that led from the high school to the heart of Liberty Hill (pop. 1400), and then strung out as the route hit lightly trafficked country roads.

The pack tackles another gentle, but long, uphill grade.

The route followed almost the same route as the Rip Roarin’ Ride last fall. It gave me a chance to compare my performance then and now. I was pleased to find that this time, the ride was relatively easy. The new bike made a huge difference. Roads I struggled on last year posed relatively little trouble this time around.

One of my favorite rest stops is Number 2, which we actually get to stop at both out and back. Besides friendly folks from the Liberty Hill Lions Club staffing the stop, it’s on the grounds of the Stock Tank General Store, which adds some Texas color to the ride.

Yours truly at the Stock Tank General Store. “Ah think ah’ll mosey in an’ git me a sarsparilla.”

Actually, there’s lots of Texas color on the ride. A couple of examples:

It’s a real place. But if you blink, you’ll miss it.

A donkey and a buffalo shared some pasture with a herd of longhorn cattle.

At the last rest stop of the ride, I ran into Gilbert Martinez, a co-worker of mine who is the Vice President of the ACA. He was riding with his wife Raeanne.

Gilbert’s on the right.(!)

From here, it was a quick seven miles back to the start. How did I do? As I said, I’m improving. Fifty-one miles in 3:22:47 (time in the saddle), for an average speed of 15.21 mph. I also hit a new maximum speed of 39.2 mph, which was a lot of fun while I was doing it, but a bit unsettling at the end of the ride, when I saw the number on the cyclocomputer.

Today’s ride whetted my appetite for more. I’ll have to go back to the ride sites, and figure out when and where to do the next one. Stay tuned.

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Categories // Rides

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