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Our Tuesday morning ride

06.16.2009 by Ray Niekamp // 5 Comments

During the school year, I’m off early enough on Tuesdays that I can get home, jump into my bike clothes, and take off for three laps around the Veloway. It’s a nice 15-mile ride, and I use it to work on technique.

But during the Texas summers, temperatures in late afternoon are unbearable for biking. Luckily, my summer class doesn’t start until 5:30, so I can ride in the morning.

Pat and I often head to the Veloway on Tuesday mornings. We wait until at least 8:30 or so, when the morning rush hour traffic has passed. I find these rides to be pleasant, low pressure affairs, and Pat gets some cardio work in by trying to keep up with me.

Our route to the Veloway takes us along Escarpment Blvd. The crepe myrtles that line the street are in full bloom now.
Our route to the Veloway takes us along Escarpment Blvd. The crepe myrtles that line the street are in full bloom now.
Our Veloway trips are the perfect ride for Pat.
Our Veloway trips are the perfect ride for Pat.

The Veloway is just under three miles from our house. Each lap is 3.1 miles, so a rider can make a Veloway excursion as long or as short as desired. If I’m riding with Pat, I usually go three laps. She goes two.

The Veloway is open to bikers and inline skaters. A sign at the entrance says walkers and joggers are prohibited, and not too many of them flout the rule. On weekday mornings, even bike traffic is minimal.

Pat powers up a slight rise.
Pat powers up a slight rise.

At about this point, I take off for my three laps. On our Tuesday ride, I’ll keep my chain in the small ring, and work on cadence. My goal is to stay above 90 rpm throughout the lap.

It's a good thing I pedal fast, so I can outrun the snakes. Actually, they never cross at the marked crossing. They're jaywalkers. Or jayslitherers.
It's a good thing I pedal fast, so I can outrun the snakes. Actually, they never cross at the marked crossing. They're jaywalkers. Or jayslitherers.
Pat's always waiting when I finish. She struck up a conversation with this man, about his mouth-watering Trek FX 7.9 flat bar road bike.  All carbon, Ultegra equipped, and twice what I paid for my road bike.
Pat has a knack for meeting nice folks.

While I’m finishing my last lap, Pat finds a shady spot near the water fountain. She struck up a conversation with this man, about his mouth-watering Trek FX 7.9 flat bar road bike. All carbon, Ultegra equipped, and twice what I paid for my road bike. She found a kindred soul in him, since he also thinks it’s no sin to keep the kickstand on the bike.

This ride takes us about an hour to finish. Some people complain that the Veloway bores them, because you just go around the same track. But I love it. It mimics the kind of conditions you find on a country road, so you have to respond to a variety of situations. It’s fun to look at the other bikes, and wave at people we see regularly. I’ve seen deer, tarantulas, different kinds of snakes, roadrunners, and other critters. In the spring, wildflowers carpet the sides of the trail. I always look forward to Tuesday mornings.

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Categories // Rides Tags // Rides, Veloway

Switching to 25s

02.08.2009 by Ray Niekamp // 3 Comments

Challenging day for a ride. Temp 73F (nice!), but wind from the south at 16 mph, gusting to 36. It was even blowier than last week, when I cut the ride short because the gusty winds made the bike seem unstable.

But I rode today anyway, because I have new toys. Actually, they’re a lot more important than toys. I bought new tires. The ones on the bike were showing signs of wear. The Specialized Mondo Pro on the front was the original tire, so it’s been on almost a full year. I felt it was losing grip, and the surface was cut up. The Vittoria Rubino Pro on the rear was a nice tire, but had flattened in the center of the tread, and was due for a replacement.

So I put on a pair of new tires. They had to have puncture resistance, and I decided that they had to be 700C x 25mm, rather than 23s. Nashbar had a nice price on just the tire I was looking for, so the bike now has a pair of Hutchinson Top Speed Kevlar Protech tires.

Why 25s? I mentioned a couple of months ago that one of our club members had switched to them, and liked them. That planted the idea. After reading more about the difference between 25s and 23s, I concluded that they were worth trying.

I figured my best bet on a windy day like today was the Veloway. It’s a three-mile circuit, so it would be into the wind half the time, but thickets of cedar and live oak that line the track block the wind somewhat, part of the time.

The ride over there was a taste of things to come. A gentle downhill a mile into the trip often gives me my highest speed of the ride, but today going into the wind, I topped out at 16 mph.

One benefit of the 25s was immediately apparent. They were more stable in the wind. I was also putting the good advice I got last week about riding in the wind to good use, and that helped — but the tires were the biggest change I’d made, and I was pleased to see the difference.

Once I got on the Veloway, another difference was evident. Better grip. I could attack the turns on the course with more confidence than I’d had with the old tires. I did five laps and then headed home, for a total ride of 21 miles. The 25 mm tires do seem to offer a softer ride than the 23s.

One of the arguments people use against 25s is that they have greater rolling resistance than 23s. According to Al Ardizone in the Feb. 5, 2009 edition of Road Bike Rider, that’s not true. He says 25s actually have less rolling resistance, and suggests riders use their weight to determine which size tire to ride. I’m still over 200 lbs., so according to his formula, 25s are right for me.

He’s also a proponent of lower tire pressures, for greater comfort with no loss of speed. Al suggests 85-100 pounds pressure. I had been running 105 lbs. in my old tires, and have the new ones at 100 now — recommended pressure is 87-101 lbs. I’ll decrease the pressure a bit on upcoming rides to figure out what’s right for me.

Interestingly, these might be last year’s model, because Hutchinson’s web site doesn’t list a Top Speed model. Their current Equinox seems to have the same specs as my tire. A check of Road Bike Review shows mixed reaction to the Top Speeds — some say they performed well, other say they’d never buy another pair. Anecdotal evidence is interesting, but a sample of only five reviews is not enough to generalize from.

So I’m looking forward to riding with the new tires. I’ll be watching closely to see if they’re as puncture-resistant as billed, and if they deliver increased comfort with no loss of speed. But after only one ride, I think I can safely say that I won’t be going back to 23s.

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Categories // Equipment Tags // Equipment, tires, Veloway, wind

Skittish

12.21.2008 by Ray Niekamp // 5 Comments

Maybe it’s my experience with two crashes in the last three months, but on the road lately, I seem to be a less aggressive rider than I used to be.

The other day, I was doing my weekly ride on the Veloway. It’s got some nice sections with tight curves — curves that invite you to stomp on the pedals and lean hard into the turn. I always look forward to those, especially a right-left-right combo near the end of the loop. I get down in the drops, and always check my cyclocomputer to see if I’ve hit my goal of 22 mph through the esses.

This time, I didn’t even come close. I did 18 mph on the first lap. Wow. I chalked it up to a warmup lap, and figured it would get better. The second time through, I hit 20 mph. That’s still off my goal.

I noticed that the line I took through the curves both times was wider than the one I follow when I’m really “on.” Why would that be?

Well, it’s been foggy the last few mornings, and that left the road surface damp. But it’s only really iffy at the approach to the hill I’ve mentioned in the past — the one where I lost control and crashed last month. A puddle collects right at the base of the hill, right on my line. So I’m going to go slower through there in any case, until it’s acceptably dry.

The esses don’t have that problem. They were damp, but not wet. I made a point of concentrating on the line the third time through. But by now, the light mist that accompanied the fog had turned to drizzle. I picked up a little speed — 21 mph — but cut my ride short and headed for home.

I guess I’m just out of practice. The amount of riding I’m doing has suffered lately because of cooler weather and demands at work. I know that more frequent riding will get me back into the feel of the bike. Now that we’re into the year-end break, I’ll get out there more often — I hope.

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Categories // crash, Technique, training Tags // improvement, training, Veloway

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