Starting today I am on call. This means for the next week I must be near the laptop and blackberry and able to deal with issues promptly. So no riding for me.
In other news, The Tour is over, I think I predicted somewhere in this blog that Contador would win, I think I also predicted that Schleck would do well, I also believe that I predicted a certain American from Austin would not even make the podium. Well the only mistake I made, I didn't think Armstrong would fall apart so miserably. But hey, Armstrong is an old guy now, I guess he got so used to winning. For Lance I will bet it felt like, come to France, ride around for a few weeks, pickup prize, repeat every year, maybe he needed to take a few sips from the bitter draft of defeat to wise up?
I once heard a guy say he expected to finish first in a race he was going to do. Loosing is important if for no other reason than to teach a little modesty. My guy, well he came in 7'th, not bad, but a far cry, by something like eight minutes in a one hour race, from the first place my guy expected. I wonder what happened to his ego?
Toronto will have a municipal election in November, I am trying to decide do I vote for the most (only) bike friendly candidate, or the least bike unfriendly candidate who I think might actually win?
Search with Google
Custom Search
Monday, July 26, 2010
Sunday, July 25, 2010
On Being Dropped and Riding Alone
Before I forget, yesterday I rode 131km, today 163km (100 miles is 161km, so I have done a century! - for the first time in two whole weeks, recall on the trip to Rochester I ended up riding 285km in a day, and that was July 3.)
Anyway a few statistics and then some highlights from today's ride with the BCC.
As noted, I covered just over 163km, I did it at an average of just over 30km/h, burned off almost 7000 calories and I ended up stopping three times. The first stop, a Tim Hortons so some of the women who came out needed to use the washroom - I cleaned my glasses with a napkin. The next stop, at the bakery in Goodwood, I refilled my bottles with tap (probably artesian well) water, finally I stopped alone, at my office for some water cooler water on the way home.
On the way out the guys were feeling well frisky I guess, they were going fast, too fast to last the 140 or so kilometers so I came up to the front and told them to slow down and actually got a few thank yous for that which was really nice. Ultimately I ended up pulling for a while which is alright with me, I like to pull.
As we got near major turns I would try to jump way ahead of the pelaton, okay it would have looked like I was making a break away, but in fact I was simply making sure to make the turn way before everyone else so they would see me turn and join in. There was one problem, on the way from Oshawa to Goodwood there were quite a few rollers and well, I could stand to loose a few pounds. I get clobbered on hills. I would try, at the base to pickup some speed and jump ahead of everyone else, they of course, would, by in large, pass me, but at least I'd still be somewhere in the pelaton at the top of the hill. At least that is my thinking, the problem in a bike club is, one guy starts hammering and before you can say dropfeast, everyone is going full hells bells out. I tried to stay on, I really did, and exploded, a-la Fabian Cancellara on the Cor du Tourmalet, but unlike Fabian who was doing a domestique's job of pulling Andy Schleck, I was just trying to lug my own rear end up the hills and stay with the guys.
I got dropped.
Hey it could have been worse, unlike everyone who dropped me, I knew the route to the bakery and then home. I think I should insert advice for anyone going on a long ride in the country side, turn by turn directions on bars is nice, but when you are trusting that you will see the road signs and that your directions are actually... accurate - you are most likely to find yourself in some serious trouble. If someone is going to go for a ride, either bring a GPS, like mine, one that will tell you, you are off course, or perhaps drive the route before hand. But if you do not have an instinct for distance, make sure you ride with someone like me, someone who studies maps for hobby and knows almost all the major roads from Peterbrough to Hamilton, from Barry to Lake Ontario.
The guys went off course, I tried to yell at them, first that they dropped me, and a bunch of other people it turned out. Later I tried to yell that they were not turning where they were supposed to. I could have tried to snap the distance, but when a guy gets dropped there really is not much incentive to race back up to those who dropped him to say, hey guys, you are riding on a really crummy road that is high traffic and will not even get you where you want to go. In any case, I'm not sure I could have snapped the gap, it was too big and I was still recovering from my explosion.
Actually in a way the guys who dropped me were lucky, sort of, the route they took was much shorter, by about 9.5km, over what by the time they dropped me was only about 30km for me. On the other hand, they rode on some of the lousiest roads, for cyclists, north east of Toronto. Roads with very heavy auto traffic volume and very fast auto traffic volume, personally I get my fill riding home from work in rush hour so I took quiet scenic roads with more rollers and five other guys, we talked, we rode, we climbed a pretty tough hill into the wind, it was nice.
We caught up with the fast guys at the bakery in Goodwood where we discussed the journey home. I had been warned that there was construction on one of the key roads, then someone else chimed in that there were cement barriers on another key road. Alarm bells were ringing, a detour around the barriers was dreamed up, someone else suggested that the construction ought to be done by now and we should just brave it. Well we got to the first road, where the construction was and the word gravel comes to mind, so does the expression exposed road bed. Now don't get me wrong, I've rollerbladed in 100mm wheels over gravel and exposed road beds, but that doesn't mean I like it. I had a chance to bail and did just that.
As soon as I dodged the first patch of construction I pondered my revised route, and observed I was riding alone. Well at least when I ride alone it is difficult to get dropped, and its not like I have not rode alone before. I dreamed up a route that involved a little bit of Scarborough, I do not like riding in Scarborough, but if I had stuck with the guys, there would have been even more Scarborough. (Scarborough drivers... sigh.) So maybe this riding alone was not such a bad move? Then I thought, I'm sick of this Perpetuem in my water, I just want some plain water that does not taste like chalk. It occurred to me that I could just ride on to the office, if I took a route a little further west the office would be on the way home and I would get to avoid Scarborough completely.
I wondered for about five whole seconds if everyone who was with me would mind using Leslie street to get home, then I remembered, short of a sudden case of split personality disorder it was just me and my ride. In a way riding home alone was a good thing, the fact that I had a huge tail wind for the journey home helped and in general riding alone sucks, but this one time, I think fate handed me a big huge favour by making me elect to hack it on my own.
As I neared home I saw the GPS was at 158km, I dreamed up a quick detour, just to make sure to cross the 100 mile mark. I was hunting down a couple rabbits on the bike trail when I hit 161km. (I caught the rabbits too, about 161.5km). For anyone not enlightened by a bike yet, a rabbit is a term for another cyclist one is attempting to chase down.
Although speaking of rabbits, there was a guy, on Leslie, just north of my office, in a full Cervelo Test Team kit and with a Cervelo bike who caught up and passed me, but passed me so slowly that I was able to hop onto his wheel. Then he started dying on the hill, so I got in front, he moved off to the right and would not take my draft. When I yelled to him to take my wheel he did not even look at me. At a red light he zoomed up the right hand side of the lane and I stopped behind the last car, so he had a good 20 second lead on me as soon as the light changed, but rather than try to catch him I slowed down to make the turn to my office, people with attitude like that... I do not know what to say to them, but he really was not that impressive. Especially since I was snapping the gap even though I was actually trying to get away from him by riding slowly.
Anyway a few statistics and then some highlights from today's ride with the BCC.
As noted, I covered just over 163km, I did it at an average of just over 30km/h, burned off almost 7000 calories and I ended up stopping three times. The first stop, a Tim Hortons so some of the women who came out needed to use the washroom - I cleaned my glasses with a napkin. The next stop, at the bakery in Goodwood, I refilled my bottles with tap (probably artesian well) water, finally I stopped alone, at my office for some water cooler water on the way home.
On the way out the guys were feeling well frisky I guess, they were going fast, too fast to last the 140 or so kilometers so I came up to the front and told them to slow down and actually got a few thank yous for that which was really nice. Ultimately I ended up pulling for a while which is alright with me, I like to pull.
As we got near major turns I would try to jump way ahead of the pelaton, okay it would have looked like I was making a break away, but in fact I was simply making sure to make the turn way before everyone else so they would see me turn and join in. There was one problem, on the way from Oshawa to Goodwood there were quite a few rollers and well, I could stand to loose a few pounds. I get clobbered on hills. I would try, at the base to pickup some speed and jump ahead of everyone else, they of course, would, by in large, pass me, but at least I'd still be somewhere in the pelaton at the top of the hill. At least that is my thinking, the problem in a bike club is, one guy starts hammering and before you can say dropfeast, everyone is going full hells bells out. I tried to stay on, I really did, and exploded, a-la Fabian Cancellara on the Cor du Tourmalet, but unlike Fabian who was doing a domestique's job of pulling Andy Schleck, I was just trying to lug my own rear end up the hills and stay with the guys.
I got dropped.
Hey it could have been worse, unlike everyone who dropped me, I knew the route to the bakery and then home. I think I should insert advice for anyone going on a long ride in the country side, turn by turn directions on bars is nice, but when you are trusting that you will see the road signs and that your directions are actually... accurate - you are most likely to find yourself in some serious trouble. If someone is going to go for a ride, either bring a GPS, like mine, one that will tell you, you are off course, or perhaps drive the route before hand. But if you do not have an instinct for distance, make sure you ride with someone like me, someone who studies maps for hobby and knows almost all the major roads from Peterbrough to Hamilton, from Barry to Lake Ontario.
The guys went off course, I tried to yell at them, first that they dropped me, and a bunch of other people it turned out. Later I tried to yell that they were not turning where they were supposed to. I could have tried to snap the distance, but when a guy gets dropped there really is not much incentive to race back up to those who dropped him to say, hey guys, you are riding on a really crummy road that is high traffic and will not even get you where you want to go. In any case, I'm not sure I could have snapped the gap, it was too big and I was still recovering from my explosion.
Actually in a way the guys who dropped me were lucky, sort of, the route they took was much shorter, by about 9.5km, over what by the time they dropped me was only about 30km for me. On the other hand, they rode on some of the lousiest roads, for cyclists, north east of Toronto. Roads with very heavy auto traffic volume and very fast auto traffic volume, personally I get my fill riding home from work in rush hour so I took quiet scenic roads with more rollers and five other guys, we talked, we rode, we climbed a pretty tough hill into the wind, it was nice.
We caught up with the fast guys at the bakery in Goodwood where we discussed the journey home. I had been warned that there was construction on one of the key roads, then someone else chimed in that there were cement barriers on another key road. Alarm bells were ringing, a detour around the barriers was dreamed up, someone else suggested that the construction ought to be done by now and we should just brave it. Well we got to the first road, where the construction was and the word gravel comes to mind, so does the expression exposed road bed. Now don't get me wrong, I've rollerbladed in 100mm wheels over gravel and exposed road beds, but that doesn't mean I like it. I had a chance to bail and did just that.
As soon as I dodged the first patch of construction I pondered my revised route, and observed I was riding alone. Well at least when I ride alone it is difficult to get dropped, and its not like I have not rode alone before. I dreamed up a route that involved a little bit of Scarborough, I do not like riding in Scarborough, but if I had stuck with the guys, there would have been even more Scarborough. (Scarborough drivers... sigh.) So maybe this riding alone was not such a bad move? Then I thought, I'm sick of this Perpetuem in my water, I just want some plain water that does not taste like chalk. It occurred to me that I could just ride on to the office, if I took a route a little further west the office would be on the way home and I would get to avoid Scarborough completely.
I wondered for about five whole seconds if everyone who was with me would mind using Leslie street to get home, then I remembered, short of a sudden case of split personality disorder it was just me and my ride. In a way riding home alone was a good thing, the fact that I had a huge tail wind for the journey home helped and in general riding alone sucks, but this one time, I think fate handed me a big huge favour by making me elect to hack it on my own.
As I neared home I saw the GPS was at 158km, I dreamed up a quick detour, just to make sure to cross the 100 mile mark. I was hunting down a couple rabbits on the bike trail when I hit 161km. (I caught the rabbits too, about 161.5km). For anyone not enlightened by a bike yet, a rabbit is a term for another cyclist one is attempting to chase down.
Although speaking of rabbits, there was a guy, on Leslie, just north of my office, in a full Cervelo Test Team kit and with a Cervelo bike who caught up and passed me, but passed me so slowly that I was able to hop onto his wheel. Then he started dying on the hill, so I got in front, he moved off to the right and would not take my draft. When I yelled to him to take my wheel he did not even look at me. At a red light he zoomed up the right hand side of the lane and I stopped behind the last car, so he had a good 20 second lead on me as soon as the light changed, but rather than try to catch him I slowed down to make the turn to my office, people with attitude like that... I do not know what to say to them, but he really was not that impressive. Especially since I was snapping the gap even though I was actually trying to get away from him by riding slowly.
Saturday, July 24, 2010
On Riding in Humidity
Thursday as noted, I rode from work to the dentist then on to the Thursday night hill crazy ride through Scarborough. It was supposed to, and in fact did rain on Friday morning, so I drove to work. I was going to go for a nice evening hammerfeast through the city but was instead tasked with going to the Data Centre, again.
I sent a note to Thi Ng and Ian Wilcox of the Beaches Cycling Club asking if either (or both) would like to do a quick early morning 80km tour of the city. Thi was booked up with his wife and Dim Sum, Ian the man who eats NCC (Nuclear Custard Cakes) went to bed at 3am and so naturally took up my offer and met me around 10:30 on the Lake Shore trail near the Boulevard club. I had already done a loop through Mississauga but was happy to add an extra 60km to the 70km I had already logged.
I think perhaps I pushed myself a little hard on the Mississauga loop, or more likely, Ian is in fact a space alien who has some sort of bizarre metabolism that can enable him to clock in speeds that convert typical tyres into jello. Or perhaps Ian takes EPO? Is there a motor in his bottom bracket (unlikely, I've done repairs to his drive train myself, I have never found anything unusual there). I suspect that the truth is a lot more innocent than any of my innuendo. I suspect rather that while Ian was sleeping, or perhaps under some hallucinogenic induced comma someone surreptitiously slipped Ian another one of those damned NCCs.
Assuming the guilty party is reading this post can they please stop feeding Ian that stuff? Damnit I'm busting every part of my anatomy trying to keep up with this guy, 40km/h, 45, 50, 55, 60 kilometers an hour, heck I'm passing the cars, and Ian is just motoring along like he is out for a pleasant ride to the store to get some baguette and maybe have a smoke whilst wearing a striped jumper. This is an annoying position to be in. I've got sweat pouring off me in such volumes that armed with a hydro electric damn a guy could make a pretty penny selling the energy from my falling sweat to Ontario Hydro. Then Ian starts complaining about a drop of sweat in his sun glasses, I'm thinking, I should buy myself a a new pair of swimming goggles for my next ride behind that engine.
So yes, Ian did make me hurt, but it was a good pain and I am looking forward to my next ride with Ian. No not because I want to hurt, rather because I have something special in store. A bungee cable and a six pack of real beer - for me, I'll give Ian the NCC.
I sent a note to Thi Ng and Ian Wilcox of the Beaches Cycling Club asking if either (or both) would like to do a quick early morning 80km tour of the city. Thi was booked up with his wife and Dim Sum, Ian the man who eats NCC (Nuclear Custard Cakes) went to bed at 3am and so naturally took up my offer and met me around 10:30 on the Lake Shore trail near the Boulevard club. I had already done a loop through Mississauga but was happy to add an extra 60km to the 70km I had already logged.
I think perhaps I pushed myself a little hard on the Mississauga loop, or more likely, Ian is in fact a space alien who has some sort of bizarre metabolism that can enable him to clock in speeds that convert typical tyres into jello. Or perhaps Ian takes EPO? Is there a motor in his bottom bracket (unlikely, I've done repairs to his drive train myself, I have never found anything unusual there). I suspect that the truth is a lot more innocent than any of my innuendo. I suspect rather that while Ian was sleeping, or perhaps under some hallucinogenic induced comma someone surreptitiously slipped Ian another one of those damned NCCs.
Assuming the guilty party is reading this post can they please stop feeding Ian that stuff? Damnit I'm busting every part of my anatomy trying to keep up with this guy, 40km/h, 45, 50, 55, 60 kilometers an hour, heck I'm passing the cars, and Ian is just motoring along like he is out for a pleasant ride to the store to get some baguette and maybe have a smoke whilst wearing a striped jumper. This is an annoying position to be in. I've got sweat pouring off me in such volumes that armed with a hydro electric damn a guy could make a pretty penny selling the energy from my falling sweat to Ontario Hydro. Then Ian starts complaining about a drop of sweat in his sun glasses, I'm thinking, I should buy myself a a new pair of swimming goggles for my next ride behind that engine.
So yes, Ian did make me hurt, but it was a good pain and I am looking forward to my next ride with Ian. No not because I want to hurt, rather because I have something special in store. A bungee cable and a six pack of real beer - for me, I'll give Ian the NCC.
Friday, July 23, 2010
On More Pain
Remember the Cervelo ad from the 2009 Tour where one of the Cervelo Test Team time trialists was going on and on about how, "when you like zee pain, zen you know you are good"? I'm not so sure I'm there yet. Well actually last night, right after I rode, I liked the pain. This morning, no not so much.
I think though that while an occasional hill is good, I prefer a better mix, one or two good long steep hills and some flats, and maybe some rollers. With the high temperatures and humidity, the wind from going fast really helps to cool things down.
So here is my past seven days of riding:
- Saturday/Sunday (July 17/18): Stuck driving back and forth to London Ontario, 950km and not one of them on the saddle - sucks.
- Monday July 19: Rode to work and home again, 75km, a few thousand calories, back on the bike. Rode too hard to every red - so excited to be back on the saddle - wanted to puke my lungs out every time I stopped.
- Tuesday July 20: (by the way, Happy Anniversary Neil Armstrong - an Armstrong who was dignified by his silence - Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins). Thought it was going to rain, drove to work, then to the Data Centre, squeezed in a quick 85km race the cars ride in Mississauga, should do that again soon, what a ride!
- Wednesday July 21: Slept, hey come on, I did stay up until 4am from Tuesday night on account of the Data Centre - hey is anyone hiring a senior network analyst? (I want a job that doesn't kill me, I think I am averaging 60 hour work weeks.)
- Thursday July 22: Rode to work, then to the Dentist, then to the Thursday night ride. Total distance, thereabouts 115km, total calories, in the neighbourhood of 5000, top speed on a busy four lane road, over 55km/h - scary when the truck pulled out in front of me and I almost crashed into him - what is with pickup truck drivers?
Now as for the Thursday night ride, well I climbed the Scarbrough Bluffs at Brimley, three repeats, yes I suck, but in my defence I still have not fully recovered from my all nighter on Wednesday/Thursday July 14/15, forget about London and then the Tuesday/Wednesday just past. Okay enough excuses, for anyone not fully up to speed on Brimley, this is no Tourmalet - actually I feel like a bit a fool talking about Brimley the day after Schleck and Contador dueled it out on that Hors Categorie climb. But anyway here is Brimley details, it is a 72m climb, starting at 85m above sea level, the climb takes 970m, below is the hill in profile.
I think though that while an occasional hill is good, I prefer a better mix, one or two good long steep hills and some flats, and maybe some rollers. With the high temperatures and humidity, the wind from going fast really helps to cool things down.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
On Pushing too Hard
This week I have not had too many chances to ride. Monday I rode to work, I suspect because I spent pretty much all of the previous weekend driving back and forth to London Ontario and no saddle time, I pushed way too hard, every single red light I wanted to cough my lungs up because I had no chance to slow down gently.
Of course Tuesday I spent in the Data Centre so I did the ride before that but I was so drained that Wednesday I went home from work early (by car) and slept. I still have not caught up with my sleep but at least I am doing a little better than yesterday. Question, is it possible to be so fatigued that one exhibits all the signs and symptoms of alcohol consumption without drinking anything? I felt drunk with fatigue and I haven't had so much as a millilitre of the good stuff in a week - yes I know, I need a life.
That actually reminds me of a story, once years ago, I got to a police roadblock where they were doing spot checks for drunk drivers. The cop sticks his head in my window (to smell my breath of course) and asks when I last had something to drink. I reply, "a couple weeks ago" and the cop starts laughing at me. Hey at least I earn more than he does, but I bet his job is more exciting than mine (not that I would want the excitement.)
Anyway an annoying thing for me, why is it that Versus no longer shows the Tour, I found a website that does have it, actually there are several, free places to watch and I am looking forward to seeing Schleck clobber Contador, but it would be nice to hear Phil explain why riding in a pace line saves a rider up to 30% the effort of riding alone, even up the side of the Tear My Legs Off mountain. Speaking of which, the boys are climbing what looks like the Col du Soulor in the rain now, after this the Col du Tourmelet and then no more categorized (or HC) climbs until 2011.
A final thought, I've always thought Armstrong was a jerk, but seeing how well Contador behaved the other day when Andy dropped his chain, well I really hope Contador just bonks or cramps completely and Schleck beats Contador by a good three or four minutes. (Am I being mean or does Contador have it coming?)
Of course Tuesday I spent in the Data Centre so I did the ride before that but I was so drained that Wednesday I went home from work early (by car) and slept. I still have not caught up with my sleep but at least I am doing a little better than yesterday. Question, is it possible to be so fatigued that one exhibits all the signs and symptoms of alcohol consumption without drinking anything? I felt drunk with fatigue and I haven't had so much as a millilitre of the good stuff in a week - yes I know, I need a life.
That actually reminds me of a story, once years ago, I got to a police roadblock where they were doing spot checks for drunk drivers. The cop sticks his head in my window (to smell my breath of course) and asks when I last had something to drink. I reply, "a couple weeks ago" and the cop starts laughing at me. Hey at least I earn more than he does, but I bet his job is more exciting than mine (not that I would want the excitement.)
Anyway an annoying thing for me, why is it that Versus no longer shows the Tour, I found a website that does have it, actually there are several, free places to watch and I am looking forward to seeing Schleck clobber Contador, but it would be nice to hear Phil explain why riding in a pace line saves a rider up to 30% the effort of riding alone, even up the side of the Tear My Legs Off mountain. Speaking of which, the boys are climbing what looks like the Col du Soulor in the rain now, after this the Col du Tourmelet and then no more categorized (or HC) climbs until 2011.
A final thought, I've always thought Armstrong was a jerk, but seeing how well Contador behaved the other day when Andy dropped his chain, well I really hope Contador just bonks or cramps completely and Schleck beats Contador by a good three or four minutes. (Am I being mean or does Contador have it coming?)
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
On Pain
I am in the Data Centre the Carrier Hotel in downtown. There are buildings like this one in every city of any size all over North America. Your phone calls, web browsing, emails, all that good stuff pass through buildings just like the one I'm in. In fact, if you are in Canada it is highly probable that your next phone call will pass through wires not two meters away from me right now, yes even local calls in Vancouver have decent odds of being routed all the way to Toronto and then bounced back to Vancouver.
Here is a dirty little secret, the very building I am in also houses the data centre for a major Canadian mobile phone company. This is bad because if this building, even just the floor the mobile carrier operates on were to say flood, or burn - all to frequent events for major data centres - the mobile phone company would literally be unable to continue as a business, their cell phones would become paper weights.
Anyway I mention all this not to show off, there are plenty of people, most much smarter than me who work here all the time. I bring this up because it is now just after midnight on Wednesday morning. I babbled on about a data centre because I missed a Tuesday night ride, I figured I better explain why.
The good news for me, the reason this post is not my usual irritated tone, is that I did manage to squeeze in a little trip around the city prior to coming back to work. I rode, well I won't try and cheat, 84.88km in just under 3 hours. I burned, well a lot of calories and I raced the cars. (They usually beat me, but not by so much that all that many motorists would laugh.) Typically the light would turn green and I would be half way to the next light before the first cars would even catch up. In short the ride was a very intense interval session, burn hard to the next red light, recover for 15 or 30 seconds and then burn hard again to the next red. While my average speed was only a little shy of 29km/h, my sustained speed, that is the speed I was booking when I was not slowing down for the next light, was somewhere between 35 and 40 km/h.
I do not have the route, my GPS is with my ride at home; but, I can describe some of the interesting bits (I'll post the route some other time.) I took the Lakeshore trail west, and passed... well everyone from Stadium road right to Park Lawn. At one point there were two guys in kits from a very unpopular bike club, now I should insert here that most of the time when I passed someone it was a pleasant thing, just a "on your left" and "thank you" but for these guys I hammered, hard. I think, too hard, they did not even try to catch up. Oh well! (This club has a reputation, well earned, that everyone not in the club knows exactly what the bottom side of the noses of the club membership looks like... they need some tissue!)
I hammered on, I personally like to find a distinctive looking car and see how long it takes for the car to properly drop me if we both obey the traffic laws, well alright, no motorist in Toronto obeys the speed limit but that just makes the challenge harder for me. I made it from below Bloor up Royal York to The West Way (where I turned off) in range of a red minivan, total distance, about 4 or 5km.
Eglinton Avenue is a disaster, I lost a lot of time, bouncing through potholes and fighting a miserable head wind. I went south on Tomken, passing cars, at speed, as I went - which would sound a lot more impressive I admit if the cars in questions were driving at the posted limit, they were not even close.
Dundas from Tomken to the West Mall was a great place for intervals, hammer at 45~55km/h and then stop. Repeat every few hundred meters. I think I spent more time out of the saddle accelerating than I spent in the saddle maintaining speed. Oh before I forget, the West Mall is being resurfaced and is one lane in each direction, and Evens Avenue is so badly in need of resurfacing from West Mall to Islington it is rather sad.
I went back up Royal York, at The Queens Way a Taxi driver asked me if I was Andy Schleck or Alberto Contador. I told him I thought Contador was a dick. The taxi driver told me he had not heard the latest on the tour, I told him that Contador was ahead by 8 seconds. That driver was cooler than every other taxi driver in Toronto combined! I wish more cabbies followed the TDF, I'll bet they would be a lot more considerate to cyclists.
I climbed Christie street but it was nothing impressive, I was starting to hurt, on the other hand the trip down that hill, at Russell Hill Road was awesome. I was clocking over 50km/h - it's a 40 zone, and that's 40 for very good reason. Taking a turn at speed is a total adrenaline rush and a half.
In short, the ride was painful, but all in a good way. I should do it again sometime, but maybe try to go a little faster.
Here is a dirty little secret, the very building I am in also houses the data centre for a major Canadian mobile phone company. This is bad because if this building, even just the floor the mobile carrier operates on were to say flood, or burn - all to frequent events for major data centres - the mobile phone company would literally be unable to continue as a business, their cell phones would become paper weights.
Anyway I mention all this not to show off, there are plenty of people, most much smarter than me who work here all the time. I bring this up because it is now just after midnight on Wednesday morning. I babbled on about a data centre because I missed a Tuesday night ride, I figured I better explain why.
The good news for me, the reason this post is not my usual irritated tone, is that I did manage to squeeze in a little trip around the city prior to coming back to work. I rode, well I won't try and cheat, 84.88km in just under 3 hours. I burned, well a lot of calories and I raced the cars. (They usually beat me, but not by so much that all that many motorists would laugh.) Typically the light would turn green and I would be half way to the next light before the first cars would even catch up. In short the ride was a very intense interval session, burn hard to the next red light, recover for 15 or 30 seconds and then burn hard again to the next red. While my average speed was only a little shy of 29km/h, my sustained speed, that is the speed I was booking when I was not slowing down for the next light, was somewhere between 35 and 40 km/h.
I do not have the route, my GPS is with my ride at home; but, I can describe some of the interesting bits (I'll post the route some other time.) I took the Lakeshore trail west, and passed... well everyone from Stadium road right to Park Lawn. At one point there were two guys in kits from a very unpopular bike club, now I should insert here that most of the time when I passed someone it was a pleasant thing, just a "on your left" and "thank you" but for these guys I hammered, hard. I think, too hard, they did not even try to catch up. Oh well! (This club has a reputation, well earned, that everyone not in the club knows exactly what the bottom side of the noses of the club membership looks like... they need some tissue!)
I hammered on, I personally like to find a distinctive looking car and see how long it takes for the car to properly drop me if we both obey the traffic laws, well alright, no motorist in Toronto obeys the speed limit but that just makes the challenge harder for me. I made it from below Bloor up Royal York to The West Way (where I turned off) in range of a red minivan, total distance, about 4 or 5km.
Eglinton Avenue is a disaster, I lost a lot of time, bouncing through potholes and fighting a miserable head wind. I went south on Tomken, passing cars, at speed, as I went - which would sound a lot more impressive I admit if the cars in questions were driving at the posted limit, they were not even close.
Dundas from Tomken to the West Mall was a great place for intervals, hammer at 45~55km/h and then stop. Repeat every few hundred meters. I think I spent more time out of the saddle accelerating than I spent in the saddle maintaining speed. Oh before I forget, the West Mall is being resurfaced and is one lane in each direction, and Evens Avenue is so badly in need of resurfacing from West Mall to Islington it is rather sad.
I went back up Royal York, at The Queens Way a Taxi driver asked me if I was Andy Schleck or Alberto Contador. I told him I thought Contador was a dick. The taxi driver told me he had not heard the latest on the tour, I told him that Contador was ahead by 8 seconds. That driver was cooler than every other taxi driver in Toronto combined! I wish more cabbies followed the TDF, I'll bet they would be a lot more considerate to cyclists.
I climbed Christie street but it was nothing impressive, I was starting to hurt, on the other hand the trip down that hill, at Russell Hill Road was awesome. I was clocking over 50km/h - it's a 40 zone, and that's 40 for very good reason. Taking a turn at speed is a total adrenaline rush and a half.
In short, the ride was painful, but all in a good way. I should do it again sometime, but maybe try to go a little faster.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
On Driving, Final Thoughts, For Now
I filled up the car after driving to London Ontario and back (twice). The car is a small diesel (a VW Jetta to be specific). Total distance driving in two days: 954km, total fuel consumed, a little more than 7/8'th of the tank, size of tank 50L. In other words, at just under one dollar per litre of diesel, I blew $43 and about 45L driving 954km.
It probably helps that the air conditioning does not work, but still, when the fuel economy is that good, why do I have to buy either a VW or a Mercedes if I want a small diesel? By switching from a regular gasoline or petrol powered vehicle to alternatively a bicycle or small diesel look what I have done to reduce my carbon foot print, when will other people join in?
I rode to work yesterday, since July 1 I have done 1018km on Jordan, I rotated the tyres last night. I went to bed expecting it to be raining this morning and clear Wednesday. When I woke up, the prediction had been revised, clear Tuesday rain on Wednesday. Good job guys. Well I guess if the weather stays nice maybe I do a little ride tonight, but I'd rather ride to work, that way not only do I get to ride, but I get to reduce the driving I do at the same time.
Here's another thought. I saw an advert recently for a power tap. I know I should, from a training standpoint, use one. Knowing my power would be really helpful in ensuring I am training properly. But check out the price, the Cycle-ops power tap is about $1000, mind you a couple years ago, the Cycle-ops was $2000, so give it another twenty years and maybe I can afford one.
I want to know, why are power taps so expensive? Hook up a spring with known elastic properties to the drive train, measure the force applied by measuring the flex of the spring (all very easy to do applications of a high school electronics course) then gauge speed of the spring as it rotates, again trivial. Now multiple, force in Newtons times speed in meters per second equals Watts of power. Where does the $1000 price tags come from? The fancy packaging? Sorry but I just cannot bring myself to piss away that kind of money for technology that is so simple.
It probably helps that the air conditioning does not work, but still, when the fuel economy is that good, why do I have to buy either a VW or a Mercedes if I want a small diesel? By switching from a regular gasoline or petrol powered vehicle to alternatively a bicycle or small diesel look what I have done to reduce my carbon foot print, when will other people join in?
I rode to work yesterday, since July 1 I have done 1018km on Jordan, I rotated the tyres last night. I went to bed expecting it to be raining this morning and clear Wednesday. When I woke up, the prediction had been revised, clear Tuesday rain on Wednesday. Good job guys. Well I guess if the weather stays nice maybe I do a little ride tonight, but I'd rather ride to work, that way not only do I get to ride, but I get to reduce the driving I do at the same time.
Here's another thought. I saw an advert recently for a power tap. I know I should, from a training standpoint, use one. Knowing my power would be really helpful in ensuring I am training properly. But check out the price, the Cycle-ops power tap is about $1000, mind you a couple years ago, the Cycle-ops was $2000, so give it another twenty years and maybe I can afford one.
I want to know, why are power taps so expensive? Hook up a spring with known elastic properties to the drive train, measure the force applied by measuring the flex of the spring (all very easy to do applications of a high school electronics course) then gauge speed of the spring as it rotates, again trivial. Now multiple, force in Newtons times speed in meters per second equals Watts of power. Where does the $1000 price tags come from? The fancy packaging? Sorry but I just cannot bring myself to piss away that kind of money for technology that is so simple.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
