Riding Again

Bike to work day, and this morning I headed out on my bike to ride to work. ~17 miles each way, I wasn't sure how my knee would do but I felt good heading down the road. I was several miles from home when all of a sudden I heard a pop and a loud hissing noise.

Flat.

I stopped and by the time I did the rear tire was completely flat. I looked for a cause, didn't see anything and walked the bike down to a place I could get off the road to work on it. Luckily I had my tools and a spare tube. Swapping tubes actually went pretty easily and then I was on my way!

Fixin' Flat

The rest of the ride went fine. I took the new Yelm Highway route that they've been working on for a long time. They just finished paving and were doing some finishing work, so a couple sections were blocked off with cones, but it's mostly done. Nice bike lanes the whole way.

I felt pretty tired on the ride home, but my knee seems to be holding up so far. Hopefully it continues to hold up!

Day 12: 30 Days of Biking | Bears!

Earlier in the week I'd considered riding to work today, but I've got too much on my plate right now to spend three hours today riding. I still wanted to get out, so I went out a bit before sunrise this morning as it was getting light outside.

My first stop out was the post office, then out of town via the hill up past the bears.

Watch out, bears!

There was a fantastic view of Mt. Rainier from the hilltop, with the clouds and the sunrise, but too many trees obscuring the mountain to really even try to get a picture of it. Plus the phone doesn't do all that great at a distance like that.

Riding around via 133rd, though, coming back down there's another great view of the mountain so I couldn't resist giving it a shot. The picture doesn't come anywhere close to capturing the feeling of that massive mountain  rising up into the pink clouds.

Mt. Rainier

It looks small in the photo, but in person it is the most eye-catching feature around. I think I'd have to paint it to try and capture the detail necessary. Or get a better camera!

Nice ride, nice loop this morning!

Day 6: 30 Days of Biking | Need More Layers!

Partly cloudy sunrise mornings are the best as the sun paints rich colors across the sky. I've missed riding the past few days, so I didn't want to miss today too. I got ready and headed out. Brrr! I needed more layers! I felt pretty good on the ride but my hands and feet were cold, I hadn't bundled up enough against the freezing temperatures.

Post Office Stop

I headed up to the Post Office to mail a bill (to the one place that still doesn't do e-bills) and check the P.O. box. I'd considered a longer loop but the cold drove me back down the trail to home. It looks like it'll be a great day later, but I'll be off at work.

Maybe tomorrow afternoon I can get out for a longer ride!

Day 2: 30 Days of Biking

On Monday I looked out at a partly cloudy sky, some wind, and a forecast that the high would hit 60°F! How could I resist?

I got everything together and headed out. A bit chilly, but I was thinking about that forecast.

Sun Rising

The ride to work went well, I felt pretty good even though I haven't been riding these kind of distances often. I was tired when I arrived, but not too bad.

After a long day of work I headed out into a much warmer day. Instead of layers I just wore my cycling shorts and short-sleeved jersey. I felt pretty good heading out, but I could feel I was tired. Even so, a great day to ride.

Grayish Day

My energy reserves sapped away the last few miles. I was hungry and feeling like I might totally bonk, but what was the point in stopping? It wouldn't get me home any faster so I kept moving at a slower pace. The last steep little hill at our road was tough, but I made it up. Made it home.

Not doing that again tomorrow. I'll try to get out and ride, but a shorter distance.

Day 1: 30 Days of Biking

About to Set Out

I'd made the decision to try the #30DaysofBiking, but when it came down to the actual first day I didn't think it was going to happen. This morning I drove back from Lincoln City, Oregon to home after an exhausting and fantastic writing workshop. It rained the whole way home.

I was thrilled to get home, but there were things to get done. Shopping, for one. Back into the car and off doing that, then back and dinner and time with the family. It just didn't seem like I was going to get on the bike.

But then the clouds pulled back. The sun came out. I saw Kent Peterson's Biking Around the Lake on an Allant and I thought why not? How long would it take to ride a quick loop up into town, check the PO box, and then ride down the trail back home? Not much time at all.

Snatching the chance I changed, grabbed the Marlin, stopping just long enough for my wife to snap a picture and then I was off. A chilly wind blew across my hands, the only part other than my ears that was cold, but I figured I'd warm up and I wasn't going back for my gloves.

It  felt great to get on the bike. Well, except  for the toe I bruised a few weeks back. That bugged me a bit, but not enough to put too much of a damper on the ride. I took the roads around to the post office, nothing but junk in the box, and then I was back on the bike heading down the trail.

The clouds in the sky came alive with the rich colors of the sunset. My cell doesn't take the best pictures but I did stop to take a couple snaps.

The pictures really don't do the clouds justice but it was a nice ride. Now the question is, will I ride tomorrow?

Test Ride

Partly Cloudy Skies

Next month starts #30DaysofBiking and today was pretty much the last chance I'd have before my trip to get out and see how the bike worked. Yesterday I spent time cleaning it, oiled the chain and loosened the stiff pulley that had been a problem. As it turns out, one easily solved, but I didn't know it at the time. I'm gradually learning more about maintaining the bike but there's still tons of stuff that I don't have the first clue about. I sort of muddle through most of the time, looking things up when I need to but I think I'm going to be more proactive and actually start reading more about how to take care of these things.

Earlier in the day there weren't any clouds at all but this afternoon they've started moving in. With the sun out it felt almost warm, but when the clouds got in the way it started feeling chilly. But then I was out in shorts and a short-sleeved jersey too, not exactly cool-weather clothing. I passed a couple other cyclists who were all bundled up. You'd think that we'd just had snow on the ground two days ago!

The bike handled fine. It did make a ticking sound I couldn't identify, but I'll need to figure that out. I'll get back from the trip on the 1st, so my current plan is to grab the bike and go for a short ride the first day to kick things off. I'm going to make an effort to participate this year and rise to the challenge. Last year I didn't really make any progress, having stopped by day three, so I plan to do better this year.

Short ride, I could really tell that I haven't been riding or anything. Cleared out the lungs a bit!

Timber Land

On Monday I couldn't take it any longer — I needed to get out on my bike and ride! One big question: could I actually get to work on my bike or not?

See back in the middle of January we got a big snow storm.

Snow!

It looked real pretty at first. By the time it was done we had around 14" of snow on the ground. Then the storm turned into an ice storm that coated everything with a quarter of an inch of ice. Trees bent, bent and snapped! The sound of branches and trees breaking was constant. Some of those trees in that picture are now broken in half, most have tons of branches stripped off. Lots of damage.

So back to the biking, the roads are mostly clear by now although the branches and tree trunks still clog many of the shoulders. And I didn't know if the Parks folks had been out to clear the trail system yet. Even if they were working on it, I figured they might not have gotten finished yet.

I decided to go for it anyway and ride to work!

I left early, around 6:30 AM to give myself plenty of time in case I encountered any obstacles. It felt great to get back on the bike, riding off into the dark morning before the sun rise. My helmet headlight illuminated the road ahead. Debris from the storm littered the side of the road but since there wasn't a shoulder it was mostly off the road and didn't interfere. That lasted until I reached the Yelm-Tenino trail. As soon as I got there I encountered my first tree across my path, necessitating a stop to make my way around it.

It wasn't the first. That first stretch of trail had me questioning the wisdom of continuing. It wasn't only trees, but branches ranging from twigs to big branches several inches thick. We're talking piles and piles of branches under any tree overhanging the path. And then, of course, whole trees across the path. Some I could ride around going off the trail but others meant stopping to find a path around, over, or under!

I went down the Chehalis-Western trail and finally stopped counting trees down at two dozen. I didn't count all the rest of the debris. I could see signs that conditions had been even worse, but other trail users had dragged some material off the trail. The 29er tires helped rolling through piles of branches, or going off the trail at times.

Trees down

In some cases my only option was to carry the bike up and over trees in the path because of growth on each side of the trail.

All of this made for an interesting commute but despite the obstacle course I made fairly good time. The storm caused so much destruction, it's really too bad.

Tree Split

Whole trees that are just split apart. Some look like they got stomped on by a giant. You can look at groups of trees and see where they all got their tops broken off. It's going to be a massive effort to clean all of this up. There's already been a lot of work to get the roads somewhat clear, but it's not done yet.

Riding down Old Hwy 99 I was pleased that the shoulder was pretty much clear, giving me a good path for the last stretch to work. I felt tired after ~18 miles, but also energized by the ride.

That evening, when I headed home I just felt tired. I also discovered that the other side of Old Hwy 99 wasn't nearly as clear on my way back. Several times I encountered stretches were I had to dismount and navigate trees and massive debris piles that extended across the shoulder almost into traffic. I don't feel safe riding out in traffic at dusk and night fall when I'm dealing with lots of commuters doing 50+ MPH. The shoulder is usually fine, but in this case it made it very difficult.

Eventually I made it up to Waldrick which lacks shoulders but the speed limit is lower and the lack of shoulders meant that the road at least was clear of debris. I did get chased by dogs at one house which has been a problem before, but otherwise the cars gave me plenty of room. Unfortunately a few other things made the ride home less enjoyable.

For one thing, my batteries were getting lower and the headlight automatically switched to a lower setting that made it a harder to see. Add to that it was getting darker, it was cloudy and raining. Not the best of conditions. Plus by that point I felt pretty worn out. I haven't been riding to work enough. The stationary bike helps, but in the past couple weeks I hadn't done that much either, and even when I have ridden it I've only been doing a half-hour to forty-five minutes. It took me an hour and twenty-seven minutes to get to work. Given conditions, the trees, my fatigue and the fact that the ride home is more uphill (a little) I had figured that the ride home might take two hours.

That was pretty accurate.

So not a fast ride at all. Even as I slogged home, however, I couldn't help but enjoy parts of the ride. Riding along the trail at night is fun. I stopped at one point and listened to coyotes howling, crying, and yipping off in the darkness, a whole chorus of canine celebration. What the fallen trees added in slowing my pace, they also broke up my pace and added interest to the ride. Especially riding home when I had to stay very alert to potential obstacles.

The big question in my mind remains, how do people get in shape to do things like the Tour Divide where they're riding 150 miles each day? I was tired after my commute and it was only ~35 miles. I guess you just need to ride longer and longer, but it's hard. Hard to fit that into everything else. Riding today took over three hours. That's hard to fit in with everything else.

Hilly Route

View Hilly Route in a larger map

Today I pulled out my bike and went riding under a gray flat sky. No wind, except the wind created by rolling down the road on two 29" tires. 49°F degrees. It rained yesterday, on Christmas, so the road still had a few small puddles, but the road was almost dry. I had the day off because of the holiday so it gave me the rare opportunity this time of year to ride during daylight hours!

After a short distance I got on the Yelm-Tenino trail to ride into town. My only destination on the ride was the post office, to check my box there. After recycling the ad circular I got back on the bike and headed out down the street. I took the steep road out of town. It's not a big hill, but it's a hill. There aren't a lot of options around here to find hills.

From there I pedaled down Rainier road to Military, then followed a series of roads to loop around Rainier. While I rode along I saw cows, dogs, alpacas, horses and even pigs. The back roads were sparsely traveled today so I mostly had the road to myself. One benefit with taking this route were more hills, a couple good ones but ultimately hardly more than bumps in the road compared with climbing passes for the continental divide. As my training progresses I'm going to have to ride farther afield to find some significant mountains to ride!

But for today it was fine. A nice short loop as I start getting in better shape. Bike and rider both functioned fine. I'm planning to start riding more at the gym before work, so I can get in some morning time. Hopefully by the time the days get longer and I start riding to work again I'll be in good shape for the rides. I have some new routes mapped out that I'd like to try.

Tenino Old Oregon Trail Marker

Old Oregon Trail Marker

On Friday I decided to take the long way to work, which brought me into town via the main highway / Sussex where I stopped to take a picture of this marker. I've known about it and I've even ridden by it but hadn't stopped to take a picture until now.

I found an article about this marker in an article about the Seattle to Portland ride, which points out that this was the first marker laid by Ezra Meeker. That's the cool thing about taking a minute to look at markers like this, they remind us of history. Most of the time when I've gone past this marker I didn't stop, didn't really think about it much. It becomes an invisible piece of the landscape. But on the bike you have more of an opportunity to just stop and think about what is around you. In this case, a chance to stop and look at the marker, and then think about it and read a little about the history of it, coming away feeling a bit more connected to the history of this place.

It prompted me to download The Ox Team by Ezra Meeker, which looks very interesting to read, from Google Books.

I didn't set out on the ride with the goal of riding past the marker, but I did think about it before I left. My main objective for taking the long way was to get in more mileage and hills. My route took me down the Chehalis-Western trail to Waldrick, on over to old highway 99 and then up over "Chain Hill".

Coming up on Chain Hill

Chain Hill isn't a big hill. It's about 300' of climbing over a fairly short distance, but it isn't too bad. It's just one of the bigger hills around this fairly flat area. There are bigger hills, but I'll have to go off the paved roads to find them. This route is pretty much my new commute, except with the new route I'll turn right off Waldrick instead of left. Either way ends up being about 17 miles, a little farther for the new commute. And of course with the new commute I've  got ~17.5 miles to ride to get home. On this ride I took the Yelm-Tenino trail home, so my final distance was about 7 or 8 miles less. Still, it was good practice and fun!

Highway Commute

Highway 507

This morning I decided to take the highway instead of the bike trail. There's a few reasons for that:

• More hills! I'm working on my mileage but the Yelm-Tenino trail is a converted railway trail so the grade and hills are mild. There aren't any huge hills on the stretch of the highway either, but it's a bit more hilly than the trail. That's a good thing.
• More traffic! I'd rather not ride with cars around, honestly, but since cars aren't going to vanish and my new commute (switching to a new position and a ~17.3 mi commute) will involve more riding on roads, I need to feel more comfortable with the traffic.
• More visible! I think it's important for drivers to see more cyclists on the roads. The trail is nice, but we shouldn't make the mistake of thinking that cyclists must ride the trail. By being out on the highway it reminds drivers that there are other folks on the roads. Maybe that helps.

Right after I took the blurry picture above (sorry, my phone takes terrible pictures), the rain started. A few drops became many drops and then before long I was soaked. I was wearing bike shorts and a jersey, messenger bag over my shoulder. Helmet, of course. My work clothes were in a handlebar bag. I'd actually put on my fenders this morning in anticipation of the chance of rain. The forecast only said 30%, but clearly we hit that! 

The wind blew, the temperature was cool to cold and felt colder with the rain. I'm sure this might sound odd to some, but I had fun! It was a great ride speeding along the highway with cars zipping past and the rain pouring down. The Marlin took the hills pretty easily. The wide shoulder gave me plenty of room but I also kept an eye on approaching cars with my helmet mirror. The dim conditions emphasized what a difference headlights make! Cars with their lights off were much harder to see. I had my rear blinker on but I hadn't taken batteries for my headlights. I need to start doing that because it wasn't nearly as light as I would have liked and even with my screaming yellow jersey I would have felt better with a headlight.

After work I decided to take the trail back home instead of recreating the morning's ride along the highway. I felt tired and wanted to take it easier without the added stress of cars passing. But I do plan to do much more street riding in the days ahead. I'm already making plans for my next library rides!

29er Change

Trek Marlin

I have a new mountain bike! First real mountain bike I've owned and a huge change from riding the TerraTrike Path. I've been thinking about it, and then an email came from BikeTech about their summer sale. It seemed like a perfect time. I called over and Jim was nice enough to bring one down from the other store. He also called yesterday to make sure I knew they had the bike and it was ready to go. I was really looking forward checking the bike out. I got off work at 4:00 p.m. and headed out on a hot day to Olympia to take a look.

I had two thoughts when I saw it. One, it was green! I'd wanted that color, but hadn't asked. Not that it really matters, but I like green and black. My second thought, That's huge! I've been riding a trike that sits a couple inches off the ground. This thing stands tall and once I'm on it I felt like I was on stilts or something, way up in the air. Cool, but quite the change than what I'm used to. That's what I wanted. When I got there I walked around the outside where they had tons of bikes set up, saw one of these but it was the 19" size, too big, went to the next and it was 17.5" with my name literally on the tag. I talked to the guy, got on the saddle, and then grabbed my helmet and took it for a spin out down the neighborhood streets. I've been using a twist shift with an internal hub so it took me a bit to figure out how to shift. By the time I got back to the store I was sold. I also picked up a lock for work (I'll leave it there), a spare tube and a water bottle cage.

I've started making a few changes already. After removing the front tire to get the bike in to the back of my VW New Beetle (yes, I did manage to get it in with the back seat folded down), I noticed some brake rub on the front and back. It was a good opportunity to get the quick releases figured out and then I adjusted the calipers so that there was no rub on the brakes. That was good. I'm taking a few components from my trike, this like my bell and bike computer. I think I'll swap the pedals as well, and go clipless. I've gone back and forth thinking about it, but I'm used to clipping in on the trike. The difference will be doing it on two wheels.

timbuk2 freestyle

Carrying things is the challenge. What to carry? How to do it? I can stash some things at work, like a pair of shoes. I've got a timbuk2 freestyle bag on order, plus a seat bag and a small top bar bag. Enough to carry my iPad, keyboard, a few flat-fixing tools and some food. After I get some time to spend on the bike I'll figure out more details on what works. I'll get a photo up soon.

Since getting bit by the whole Tour Divide bug I've been itching to get on a 29er and start putting on miles. I think this is a good bike to get started with, it looks like fun!