Ready to Roll

The girls in Jamestown, CO











The girls got their longest ride in ever -- 75 Miles -- as final preparation for their century ride in two weeks.
They are ready!

This route started from North Loveland, and puts the hardest climbing of their ride (Lyons to Jamestown) right in the middle, before looping back on different country roads to the start. I am in an awkward position where not doing anything all day, and even all week, would have more benefit for me than Leadville, but they wanted me to ride along as well. Though I suspect it's mostly for mechanicals and flats (none!) and routefinding, I also try to focus on nutrition, water, keeping the pace appropriate, and making sure there's no stopping on the climbs (possibly by slowing down the initial pace)...oh, and getting up early in the morning to beat the heat, rain, and traffic -- without being too overbearing (I hope)! With all the warning and mental preparation, they all handled the climb up to Jamestown easily! They'll be passing girls on the climb. And it was fun to hear them enjoy rolling past farms, ranches, and small towns, that most people never see on the highways, and enjoying the early morning start when the weather is cool and you can smell the plants in the air, yet still have the rest of your day when done. These are the things that I love about cycling!

We took a break at the top at the Jamestown Merc -- I've never been there, and it's certainly an iconic and cycling-friendly place.




They got a sense for the climb they had just done with a solid 7-mile no-pedals-needed descent back down the canyon.

So, they're ready. It's been fun watching them stay focused and help each other out, on the long rides as well as the weekday rides. They took the training seriously enough that they'll undoubtedly finish the century and be able to enjoy every bit of it.

*

Por moi, that wasn't ideal Leadville tapering on paper, but it's hard to justify not joining your wife for a bike ride when I'm used to riding solo and she's getting into it. I took it really easy and hung off the back, including the Jamestown climb, and I've found that cycling feels like a long, good stretch. The niggling pains that I had the day before and generally have during running weeks all summer went away after yesterday's ride. I have no soreness or strange pains from riding, which suggests I don't push too much, just a difference in "pep" in the legs that I would have if I hadn't run at all. But, I trust that will come back in the next couple days. I am stoked to get up high and out on the trail!

Half-Baked Triathlon

1/2 century, 1/2 mile swim, 1/2 marathon

Bike

Rode 50 in the AM with J and Nora, who are training well for their 1st century:
Today was a flat ride for the girls to get the miles in. I forgot how beautiful the country roads on the plains can be in the morning:



I couldn't help but make amusing (to me) gender comparisons. The girls chatted for miles, often remarking about big, beautiful country houses in the rural parts of Weld County. I thought about Nick and I, just yesterday, spending our time identifying all the surrounding peaks from the summit. I guess it's kind of the same thing? Anyway, I think the early miles went by quickly as the girls were talking.

We road Kechter out before dropping down to 392 to Windsor, then wound our way back, ultimately ending up on a section of the road that becomes Horsetooth in Fort Collins. Again, as I haven't ridden like I did a few years ago, things were new, and it turns out that stretch of road was newly, and gloriously, paved and uncrowded.



But I was also hoping for some training on the ride. I started it out early by showing (again) how to fix a flat -- mine. Got J to spend more time in her big ring and push more, rather than spin. After looping through Weld County, then, we hit the Frontage roads. Not great scenery, but not too crowded and easy to get a rhythm.

I didn't push a paceline too much, but suggested J ride behind Nora and try to match her speed. Sure enough, she nudged closer and they hooked up pretty well. Nora took some great pulls and I eased in front slowly to show her the difference that drafting makes, and then pointed out some etiquette about consistent pace, soft-pedaling, and using the shadows on the corner of the eye to make sure you don't drop the line behind you. The girls then held steady and kept up a solid stretch of ~17-18mph on the flats -- I was so proud! The key seems to have been finding a long enough stretch for a consistent pace, and not starting out immediately in the ride when they were in more of a rhythmic mood.

We headed up to Wellington before looping back down. Our fortune in new pavement was taken away on a soft surface with crappy regrading down from Wellington, all the way past the Waverly turnoff, but soon enough we were down to Lemay and enjoyed back into town, hitting 50 right at Rocky Mountain Bagel Works. Having started early, we had beaten the heat, and it was still breakfast time with plenty of daytime left!

Great ride with the girls, really proud of their work and attitude today, fun ride!


Swim

We decided to cool off in the pool, and J and I started some laps, then as they were chatting again, I snuck in more laps, eventually hitting a 1/2 mile. This isn't easy for my crappy swimming style, in which I have to stop every 1-3 laps to catch my breath. Still, I figure it's good for the darkest parts of an ultra: it's boring, tedious, pointless, I'm moving slower than a normal person can walk and I hate it, yet I still can't breathe and my heart's beating fast.


Run
Slow 1/2 marathon loop around the hood.

Anyway, not the normal grind-it-out ultra miles that I'd normally plan on, but something different and more fun to keep it fresh. Somewhere around mile 60-70 in Pbville, I can think to myself: "It could be worse. I could be swimming."

Bike to Work Day Thoughts

Happy to be back in the Fort...mucho to catch up on!
I skipped Bike to Work Day today -- one of
my favourite days of the year (I'll catch up on the winter one, which I like more) since I worked from home today. Hypocritically, I ended up driving today (out of town). But, I did ride to Horsetooth for a run yesterday, which was great. There must be a Tuesday night bike ride, as I saw many mt. bikers getting ready to ride around 5:30. Kudos to the two guys I saw riding up to the trailhead...maybe 25-30 that drove up. I know it's a tough spot to get up there after work, so my maxim is more of a suggestion than a rule (lest I be found guilty of numerous hypocrisies):

Minimize driving to exercise when you're in town

I think about this mostly when I ride past the 24-Hour Fitness parking lot.
Looking forward to catching up with the trailrunners soon -- a few folks ride to the Tuesday run and we end up getting to the Trailhead Tavern faster than most of the cars!

QotD from Trek CEO

Every time a motorist sees a bicycle, they should say, "Awesome. That's one less car than I have to deal with here."
-- John Burke, CEO of Trek


Good interview from Milwaukee Journal-Sentinal.

Pedaling and a Pint

...or three.

One last week of great weather in Colorado, but my abdomen was still ailing me. I decided to take a full week off of running, but hit the bike instead. Ended up with 3 decent rides in the last week, with no significant intrauterine pain (a good sign), though I still feel it when I cough, sneeze, or think about doing a situp. More on that as time goes on.

Leaving my apartment on a bike requires much monkey business to get into a groove. Yes, there are some great bike paths, such as the Highline Canal Trail which stretches over 70 miles, but many of them are not entirely practical for transport. I used to be able to get out and crank on county roads and highways immediately.

Falcon Brewing, Parker
However, I still have the pleasure of exploring new territory. I've never actually been to Parker, so that seemed like a good goal. The Cherry Creek trail roughly gets there, but has some gaps and twists. Luckily, I brought a printed map...which fell out of my jersey pocket. I kind of wandered around a bit before picking up Jordan Rd., which is a halfway decent N-S route. Finally got passed the "Welcome to Parker" signs, when I started looking for Parker proper. Had a hard time finding it, ended up on the bike paths again, when I saw a map, showing that "Main Street" was nearby. So I did find the downtown, which was very small but quaint. I recognized the Falcon Brewing Company logo, and stopped in for a quick pint. It's a decent brewpub that seemed like a fun place with great service. They only had a couple house beers on tap, in addition to some visiting beers (bonus). I tried the Hog Daddy Amber, which was incredibly thin and light. I guess that worked well for having to ride back home, but didn't have the body and flavor I'd expect. Still a nice place though, not as much a destination but worth checking out if you're in town.
This ended up being a 50-mile roundtrip with some of my detours.

Dry Dock Brewing, Aurora
Been wanting to check out Dry Dock due to great reviews online, and its only 7 miles from my house. But first, made a detour to Aurora Reservoir to soak in the last of summer in November:


Got to explore more of the bike trails in Aurora itself, which were nice, as well as some rolling hills on the roads. Man, I love hills, so that felt good, took some aggression out. The loop around the lake is longer than I would have thought due to the jagged shape, and the miles are marked: a nice place on an uncrowded weekday. Nearest I can tell from the signs, the entrance fees truly are for vehicles only. Heading back home gave me another even 50 miles. There is a dearth of bike lanes and painted shoulder lines in Aurora, but I did find a bright white one on Quincy that appeared brand new. After a few miles, I came upon some cones that blocked the lane off, and then a painting truck. I asked the guy if he painted the line, he did and smiled-- I thanked him and told him I "just used it."

But for every positive...
Quick rant...Skippable
I did decide to take Hampden, as traffic was relatively light mid-afternoon. There are three freaking lanes in each direction, but no shoulder. I was pinned to the right side, when a convoy of large construction trucks violated my 3 foot space and gave a honk, which did nothing but startle me. Now I did see them coming, and I had barely enough room on the side, but I need to set the scene up for you: these trucks were 3 abreast, at the back of a pack (meaning there was nobody behind them for a quarter mile), speeding up needlessly to a clearly visible red light ahead. No, I was not riding with my head down and headphones on -- like I said, I know who's around me in situations like that. It's incredible how little we ask or demand out of driving. And, had something happened to me, my poor wife (I've warned her about this many-a-time) will have to deal with armchair yokels telling about how bikes shouldn't be on the road, and why wasn't he on the taxpayer-funded bikepath that's only 3.8 miles north of that route, or why didn't he take the 3-times-as-long Route "X" instead, or his red bike and jersey weren't as visible as a blaze orange bike and jersey with a blinking headlight would have been, or I saw a different cyclist ride through a stop sign the other day and therefore they all suck, blah blah blah. I'm getting old for this and don't seek out crappy conflicts, I just need to get used to the area, and then I will take the longer-but-safer routes. Yes, Google-map "Bicycling" option -- Got it, but it's not perfect (see, "Huron Street", below).
/End Rant

Actually, that was the only negative encounter all week, and it was on a road that I didn't really want to be on in the first place. Not bad, considering. Looked forward to a pint at Dry Dock.

Dry Dock doesn't serve real food -- some snacks, and a free popcorn machine (bonus), but it is all about beer. The attached store sells homebrew supplies. It has a large patio, taken up at the time by cigar smokers (you decide if that's your thing or not). However, you can bring in your own food, and there's Mexican, Chinese, and sushi nearby. The beer board has a host of award listings on it, in addition to 2009 GABF Small Brewing Co. of the Year. I was debating, when a local barfly named Tim said I should try the hand-pulled Old Ale. He offered me a sip of his, so I did -- then demanded a refill from the bartender, ha! Excellent choice. I had a taste of the oat malt stout and vanilla porter as well, both very good. A great place that I look forward to visiting again. Unfortunately, nothing to drink for the missus, and the only other drawback would have to be the growler refill prices. They "start at $8" but I think that was only the IPA, other stuff was $10-$20+. So I don't know if I can make this a regular refill spot. But I would consider this place worth going out of your way, even as a destination, if you're into beer and visiting the Denver area.

Old Chicago, Fort Collins
Another great day of weather on Friday. There was some talk of going to a friend's event on Friday in Fort Collins, but I called J numerous (7) times throughout the day and she didn't answer her phone. The logical thing was to ride my bike up there unannounced, about 75 miles, and hope to catch a ride with J but figure out the details later if it turned out I couldn't. I've done Denver to Fort a few times for various reasons, but I had wanted to do a door-to-door (apartment to old condo) ride anyway, and the weather wasn't going to be any better. On the road bike, I roubaix'ed my way through the sandy, soft-surface Sand Creek trail before Platte River North -- a section around Commerce City which was surprisingly enjoyable. Then I crossed over 25, some ugliness in getting over there to Huron Street, which was green on Google maps but not all that pleasant up into Northglenn. I found a few official bike trails along the way, pursued some of them to dead ends, basically ended on Huron again. That's as much as I printed out, happy when it finally opened up to CR7.

Happy to be on County Roads -- able to crank along without stopping or navigating. Played the game where you hit a dead end, then head West again before the next Northerly road. Also played the game where roads unexpectedly turn to dirt, been there before, and you debate pressing on (always) or turning around (never), even if you get yourself into 4 miles of choppy roads. This is where Boulder tri-geeks on $5k bikes curse their GPS's or call for a ride, but the only thing I cursed was the washboards as I flew down the hills (not wanting to skid on dirt) and hoped the dirt isn't too loose at the bottom. It did lose its romanticism after awhile as I was slowed down big time going up the hills expecially. Finally got closer to Mead and got pavement back.

J finally answered the phone when I was almost in Loveland, saying we didn't have plans anymore. Then she was somewhat annoyed(!) at me -- what? I was cool with whatever, thinking it was a bonus that I could carpool with her on the ride home. But it was perfect time for happy hour at Old C's, the one on Harmony where my name is on the wall -- twice -- lots of good memories. Mother in law Debbie met us just like old times, and I saw a few coworkers as we sat out on the patio. Just before heading home, we called friends Neil and Deej and stopped there....Ended up driving home around midnight. Good times!

It took an 'injury' and lack of competitive running events to get me back on the road bike a bit more for the first time in months, but glad I did. Red bike, you've taken me lots of neat places -- thanks!

Rio Bike Night Speaker: Dom Nozzi

Enjoyed a talk at the Rio from Dom Nozzi last night.

Definitely enjoyed what he had to say, and learned some things. In urban planning, of course, due to all the tradeoffs involved, there is much opinion. There is also much data available for comparative purposes on street design. I wrote/remembered some down, I'll have to dig it up, or leave it to the user. Some highlights:

1. Narrower streets reduce traffic accidents and speeds.
2. Wider roads have partially been driven by demand for faster fire/EMS response, especially with larger fire apparati. It has been suggested, and implemented in various cities in the US and Europe, to consider the size of purchased fire trucks so as not to artificially create the spiral of needing/wanting bigger roads. Nozzi's suggestion is also to increase interconnectedness of roads -- ironically, we build big, wide roads, and then end them in dead ends and cul-de-sacs.

Ironically, he also mentioned, in the context of political will, the tough argument of EMS response: the 'burning baby in a building.' The irony is that slightly faster fire response, real or perceived, pales in comparison to the danger of increased traffic accidents.

3. "Attentive" vs. "Forgiving" streets
Nozzi argues, with quoted support and data from other studies and planners, that designing wide, straight streets promotes inattentive driving (the cause of 80% of vehicle accidents). There was a great quote from a Dutch traffic engineer about promoting 'idiotic behavior'

4. "The High Cost of Free Parking" -- it's a whole topic and book upon itself, but it touches on how cities/downtowns enter a vicious cycle of promoting driving/reducing biking and walking because of ample free parking -- which comes at an economic, enviromental, and quality-of-living-cost
















5. Biking/walking is best promoted by a "herd" and familiarity. Nozzi had a prioritized list of what he thought would best promote transportation. He had interesting arguments about putting bike lanes low on the list, because if roads were designed appropriately for safe, mixed used (lower speeds in dense areas, better lines of sight, etc.), and people are out there cycling/walking, drivers will be more attentive to them. Another aspect of familiarity is having more 'normal', everyday people out there riding: women, businessmen, etc. He even suggested that pushing helmet laws too hard results in a 'dangerization' of biking, so that the bulk of riders end up being lycra-clad speedsters rather than everyday folk.

I like this argument, and I'll take it a step further...one member of the audience asked about the problem of drivers receiving a 'slap on the wrist' for killing a vulnerable, law-abiding cyclist/pedestrian, and that inattentive driving resulting in death has nowhere near the stigma of a drunken driver killing someone else (which still is too acceptable, IMHO, but groups like MADD certainly have made a stastical dent in that problem). Nozzi understandably didn't have a solution to this legal conundrum.

My belief is that the more people that are out there cycling and walking, not only will drivers be more familiar, but they will be more likely to empathize with fellow human beings.; that is, more likely to be upset at accidents because it could be someone they know.

*************

In sum, I enjoyed this talk and learned quite a bit. Why should everyday folks listen to stuff like this? Because we're a society that actively designs and pays for these things. I couldn't help but think of much of this in basic economic terms. Rather than accept big wide roads and free parking, let's think about what we lose. We spend quite a bit of public space just on pavement. This means less land available for homes, businesses, and recreation....and, as the data are showing, increased speeds and more accidents! Economically, we externalize these resource, environmental, and safety costs on others, while actually promoting even more speeding, lazy, and inattentive driving. We're actively enabling ridiculous behavior and ridiculous vehicles by accomodating it with our tax dollars. That is, for all the whining about paying for bike paths, why not commensurate whining about paying for big roads and parking spaces?

Nozzi claimed anecdotally that planners know all the tricks for traffic calming and increased mixed-use -- they just don't always get 'permission' to use it, so they're forced to stick to outdated defaults. With more education and political will, we can build better cities.

Of course, this is just his (and mostly my) opinion. As usual, I have to keep this in mind that one opinion isn't everyone's. It's also possible people love wide roads and strip malls, hate biking and walking and public spaces and weather, and can't-find-a-darned-parking-space as we speak.

Rio Bike Nights Speaker Series

7pm, Rio Grande on Mountain Avenue
Wednesday nights


Hoping to head to this tonight, weather-permitting (stupid lightning is the only time in the city I'd always rather be in a car). Didn't hear about in time to catch previous speakers, but sounds like a good time.

Tonight, Dom Nozzi (www.walkablestreets.com), author of cool sounding books like "Road to Ruin" and "The Car is the Enemy of the City"

Great quote from last week's speaker, Dan Burden:
"Everybody out there knows that everything revolves around the automobile," Burden said. "But what if that's not true? What if we finally discovered that it revolved around the human being and that it always has?