Two Weeks

It looks like I'll be without my main road bike - the Scott S20 Speedster for two weeks. Actually, I could be riding it now, but then I'd have to remember to bring it in to the shop two weeks from now. And I don't necessarily think I can do that. Besides, this is why I own two road bikes. If one goes down, another takes its place.

Remember my post last week when I mentioned that I needed to adjust my rear derailleur? Well, I did. And I made it worse.

I was having some issues with the second- and third- largest cogs slipping into lower gears and I noticed when riding at high speeds, my chain didn't like to stay on the smallest cog and would shift up off it for no reason.

So I set up my repair stand and did some adjustments to the high- and low-gear limit stops and the adjusting barrel. Then I took it for a ride. My favorite ride over Waggoners and Sterrets Gaps. Which it turns out is pretty tough to do when you can't use the granny (largest) cog and the chain falls of the smallest cog when you're speeding down the hill at 40+ mph.

I made it home, both myself and my bike in one piece (two pieces actually, one for me and one for the bike - we weren't fused together in some kind of 20-speed transformer/cyborg) then I began working on the deraileur again. This time I tried something I never dared try before. I removed the anchor bolt on the rear deraileur cable.

And now my bike is in the shop. Because if I try to fix it now, I'm pretty sure it will never be the same again.

24 Hours of Keuka Lake

...Actually it was more like 27 hours.

Pretty much every year at this time Beth and I go to Keuka Lake in New York's Finger Lakes region to see my family. And I have a pretty big family - and I pretty much saw all of them this weekend. Okay, most of them.

Beth has exactly three cousins, so when she visits my family (26 cousins ages 3-40) it can be a little overwhelming for her. My mom threw a baby shower/graduation party for Beth, me and Tim. It seemed like everybody showed up. Which was cool, a lot of them are cousins I haven't seen in years.

We of course got a lot of nice baby gifts and the next day Beth got to go to her favorite place in the Finger Lakes Region (maybe all of New York) - the Windmill. And I went golfing with my dad, and was once again reminded that I could be a pretty decent golfer if I put the time into it to practice. Personally, I prefer sports that at times makes me think my heart might explode (riding a bike up a mountain) or that my legs might fall off (ultra running).

The last two years on this weekend I had run the Finger Lakes Fifties 25K trail run, but alas, it was not to be this year. Maybe if I'm healthy next year (and not badly detrained) I'll make another go at it.

We saw a few more people Saturday afternoon, then headed home. We stopped at Wendy's for lunch and I had the hottest boneless buffalo wings I've had in my life. When I pulled the lid off, I'm pretty sure I singed all my nose hairs from the vapors. They were powerful, and by the end of my meal I was sucking on ice cubes. Funny, I wouldn't expect that from Wendy's.

Shifting Gears

That title reminds me, I need to make a derailleur adjustment on my bike...

Yesterday I ran for the first time in over a month (since May 29.)

I did two miles around the office park where I work on my lunch break. Normally I do four, but I've been hurt and all...

But anyhow, I was a little nervous that my foot might not be healed all the way yet. I think it's a stress fracture or some kind of slow-healing tendon issue on the side of my foot. I was almost certain that this was going to be a setback.

So I was surprised to finish the run totally pain free. You'll notice I didn't end that sentence with an exclamation point. This is for two reasons: first off, extraneous exclamation points are a bit of a pet peeve of mine. If you always use exclamation points, what do you use when you're really excited? And more importantly, I could still tell there was something wrong despite the lack of pain.

I did notice some achiness in the foot last night, but nothing serious. So I'm certain that the time off did help, I'm just not there yet. The problem is that I have the Harrisburg Mile in two weeks, and I'm on our company's Corporate Challenge team. But it's just one mile - what could possibly go wrong?

That being said, I'll probably be shifting my focus this fall to baby stuff and if my body isn't going to let me train for a marathon, I'm not going to push it. I think over the next six months or so I'll be shifting gears in how I work out and focus less on big running events and more on 5K's and other shorter races.

I'm hoping that I might shift back next year a run the 2010 Harrisburg Marathon, or maybe even a spring marathon or 50K. But you know what they say: "A baby changes everything."

Being a Jerk

Over the last several weeks I've been feeling a new impulse while riding my bike. Sometimes I'll see someone doing something near the road - like, within earshot and I'd want to yell something idiotic.

For example, I was in Carlisle and I was passing a yellow Mustang with a for sale sign on it in someone's yard. There was a young guy checking it out and I had to stifle the urge to yell "don't buy it! It's a lemon!"

Then one day I was passing a slow pitch softball game and the phrase, "strike him out!" popped into my head. (This is a pretty rare occurance in slow pitch softball.)

I'm not sure what this urge is coming from - maybe it's from my new Twin Six l'Alpe d'Huez Brewpub jersey (which appears to be no longer available). Or maybe not.

Regardless of where it came from, I know it is now gone. This is what happens when you see people doing the idiot thing you had considered doing. On my ride Saturday while I was on the main drag in Mount Holly Springs I had someone say to me out their car window, "pedal, pedal, pedal, pedal, pedal, pedal, pedal, pedal, pedal, pedal..." and so on. I'd be upset, but juding by the looks (and sounds) of the minivan they were in, they were probably doing so in envy, wishing they could be on such a nice bike instead of a junky old minivan.

Then last night while riding through Camp Hill a teenager yelled out a car window, "don't fall!" At first I didn't realize he was yelling at me - I mean, why would you yell "don't fall" at a cyclist. I wasn't on a tightrope. I wasn't on a unicycle. I suppose the appropriate response would have been "why? Is that a problem you have when you try to ride a bike? Is that because you get scared and panic when you realize your mom let go of the seat?" But that would be mean and probably not end well, besides, I was too busy riding to get into a battle of wits with the unarmed.

So I've decided not to yell at people when I ride by. Because people who do that are idiots and cyclists get a bad enough rap as it is.

A Little Further than I Planned

First off, let me say, I've decided to forgo posting my weekly log. I'm reaching a crossroads in how I keep fit and how I spend my time, where posting my weekly log isn't likely to help anyone else. With frequent injuries from running and a baby on the way, I'm not likely to have time to train for events in the way I have over the past year.

I will, however try to use my Sunday night post to highlight my big training "event" for the week. In the future it might be a hike with my son or daughter in a carrier on my back, but for now it's still long solo bike rides. (I might mix in some long trail runs once I'm feeling healthy.)

Yesterday Beth was doing some stamping with her friend Anita, so I decided to use that "girl time" to get a little "bike time" in.

Beth made the mistake of not giving me a time frame for when she thought she'd be home. "Oh, so I guess I have until dusk to ride," I said. This was at about 12:15. I had in mind to do a long-ish ride (nowadays, I'm considering "long" to be over 50 miles), but was considering going even longer if I was feeling good.

I left home a little before 1:00 planning to head out to Mount Holly Springs and basically do a 62-mile ride that I had done about a month ago. So I got to Mount Holly Springs after an 18-miles spin and stopped at the Sheetz. Heeding, Mike on His Bike's advice, I carried my water bottle in and asked the clerk if I could refill it at the fountain. I felt bad just taking their water, so I bought a Take Five bar while I was there.

After Mount Holly Springs there's a lot of fairly flat miles out in the middle of nowhere on Pine Road. But the scenery is great, and you pass lots of livestock.

(Sorry, didn't get a picture of any livestock.)

I got out to where I could turn right on Route 74 and head back, but I was still feeling really good. And the sign said it was only seven miles to Shippensburg, and I've never ridden to Shippensburg before, so I turned left.

I think it might have been a little more than seven miles to Shippensburg, because when I stopped at the CVS there, I had tallied 37.5 miles. I went inside, bought a big bottle of water and some Vitamin Water (CVS doesn't have soda fountains - I should have stopped at the Sunoco station about a mile back and saved $1.50)...and a Snickers Ice Cream Bar. King Size. I love Snickers Ice Cream Bars!

I refilled my water bottles with the water and Vitamin Water and scarfed down the Snickers Ice Cream Bar. I also dumped a considerable amount of water on my face, back and legs. One of the tricks I've learned to stave of dehydration is to lower your body temperature in any way possible. So when I buy a bottle of water, I always get a bit more than will fit in my bottles, then I take the ice cold leftovers and pour it on me. It's very refreshing. Like Junior Mints.

I was about to head back out (soaking wet) but when I went to throw away my wrappers and empty bottles, I couldn't find a can. I was shocked. The CVS in Shippensburg doesn't have any trash cans! So I used their dumpster. It was labeled "Private Property Stay Out," but hey, it's their trash - they should have garbage cans outside their door. Isn't there a law or something?

So I started back out, headed north on Route 11. After a mile or so I saw a sign indicating Newville was nine miles away on Route 533 to the left. Since it looked like 533 was a lot quieter than 11 I turned left. I rode to Newville, took 233 back to Pine Road and headed home the way I came. I even stopped at that Sheetz again, refilling my water bottle, getting more Vitamin Water and a Red Bull for that extra boost on the final leg of my journey.

I got home around 6:15, with 4:51 total bike time over 81 miles. It was my second longest bike ride ever, behind the Three Creek Century that Beth and I both rode in 2006. (Yesterday's ride just edged out last year's 80-miler - which, coincidentally also included a stop at the Sheetz in Mount Holly Springs.)

Fortunately, I was smart enough to call Beth when I was about an hour from home, so she wouldn't worry about me - but she didn't answer her cell phone and I had to leave a message. I did get a hold of her when I got home to tell her I made it okay. She asked me what I thought about dinner. I said, "I'd like a lot of it."

Gear Review: Continental Ultra Gatorskin Tires

Wow, two gear reviews in two weeks! Don't worry, this will not become a trend (unless manufacturers start sending me free stuff to review...which probably will not be happening).

I've actually been using Continental Ultra Gatorskin tires for several months on my Scott S20 Speedster, and will be putting them on my Schwinn once the tires on it have been sufficiently worn down.

The reason I'm writing about them today, is that Wednesday night, before my ride, I noticed a bit of gouge in the rear tire. I worked the debris that was in it out, then rode on it anyway (it was only 15 miles). Then last night I replaced the back tire with another Continental Ultra Gatorskin tire that I bought on my lunch break.

The fact that I rode on a damaged tire for 15 miles isn't what impressed me. What impressed me was what I found when I pulled the old tire off my wheel. I checked it out, and while there were a few cracks and dings on the outside, the inside of the tire was still perfectly intact. Even where I thought there had been some of the inner tube bulging out it was still perfectly smooth.

This, of course gave me second thoughts about replacing this tire, but all it would take was another good shot by a sharp stone, piece of glass or pointy tooth from a piece of roadkill I never saw coming for me to have a blowout and losing untold minutes on the side of the road booting the tire and replacing the tube.

At first I resisted the idea of puncture-resistant tires because when you gain in durability you lose in something else, whether it is weight, rolling resistance or traction. But as I thought about it, I realized I don't race, don't try to keep up with any fast riders and waste too much time and money replacing lightweight bike tires.

To my surprise, it seemed I hardly lost anything when I switched to the durable Gatorskins. I'm as fast as I ever was (okay, this is probably due to fitness) have had no issues with loss of traction and at 230 grams (for 700x23), the Continental Ultra Gatorskin is anything but bulky.

So unless you weigh your food, ride on a full-carbon bike with all Dura-Ace (or SRAM red) components, and analyze your power output after every ride, you'll find value in the Continental Ultra Gatorskin tire.