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Tag Archives: bike ride

Clean your bike! I did….

4 Comments Posted by on February 21, 2012

Spring is in the air.  Finally.  If you are a cyclist there is a very large gap between the start of Winter when you quit riding and the beginning of Spring when you begin riding again.

It’s about two months early for Spring to show its colors out here….and in spite of the calendar, the grass is getting green, trees are budding, and folks are spending time outside.  Pretty soon when it warms a bit more there will be clean cars, gardening services rushing from yard to yard, and outdoor fitness buffs will grudgingly show off their lumpy acquisitions of weight gain while they trudge along to some unknown song playing on their music player.

And if you’re me, your bicycle just got a bath.  I haven’t been riding lately but noticed a layer of dust had settled on the paint, also saw I had not scrubbed the goo-cumulation from the last ride back in October, and could NOT tell by looking at the dark cluster of grease toward the back of the bike there were gears back there waiting to power the bike on down the road!  So I gave CashFlow a bath.

Up she went onto the bike stand and my attention turned to the rear wheel.  The cassette was detached and summarily reduced to the parts of its sum with spacers, gears, and the end cap were drowned inside a half coffee can full of Simple Green.  The de-greasing had begun.

The bike then received a full wipe-down with a damp cloth.  Chunks of road tar were addressed with a toothbrush dripping with more Simple Green and lot of TLC.  Another wiping with the cloth and CashFlow was looking like her old self!

Now the wheels.  I think you can clean just about anything if you take the time and apply yourself to the task at hand.  Greasy spokes and road grime had given the bike an old beat-down look to it and the goal for today’s bath was to remove that layer of ugly and replace it with the look I am accustomed to….this was a Beast-to-Beauty transition, and it would make me a happy man to do the work.  I used the toothbrush soaked in Simple Green to remove the layer of grease on each cog and spacer.  Only when they looked all bright and shiny would I move on to the next one.  And I made a promise this would not happen again!  We’ll see how that goes.

After re-assembling the cassette with those shiny new looking cogs, the rear wheel looked great.  Of course I cleaned up the front wheel and when they were both put back on the bike, CashFlow looked great.  I am so proud of her!

CashFlow is clean now, and with Spring nearly here, I better figure out how to get my newly acquired weight into some cycling shorts and start working it off so CashFlow can be proud of me too.

I still need to clean the chain, but I’ll do that before my first ride….which will happen soon!

bicycling, bike repair, exercise , , , ,

HowzitGoin’ David?

2 Comments Posted by on September 20, 2011

First, I have a couple of anniversaries to note:

September 12, 2011 – Two Month Anniversary of my first bicycle ride (7/12) after a nine month medical leave
September 20, 2011 – Four Month Anniversary of the day my prostate was removed

And then, this is how things are going on the bike:

My comfort in the saddle is finally getting manageable and the amount of energy I have post-ride is a lot better than before.  I can do longer rides without too much struggle and the 9 mile morning/evening commute is getting a little faster all the time.  I can take the pain of a hard effort better this week than last, and the recovery time seems to be a little shorter too.  All of that is really good news!

On the flip side; Man is it depressing how much fitness I still don’t have!  If a glass of water is my level of fitness, and FULL is where I was nine months previous to July 12th; I was EMPTY.  Up 16 pounds, soft jello-like muscles, and no cardio to speak of, I was just empty.  Nothing to offer but a new reality to endure.

Currently, the fitness glass is either half-full or half-empty, depending how you see things, and filling slowly.  I have lost 6 pounds and the cardio is on its way back.   The soft jello-muscles are slowly transitioning their way into the hard-working pistons they were – way back in October, 2010.  And, as an added plus, my resting heart rate is down around 58 bpm.  Good news!

“Think of what you want most, then become it”.  June is when I began thinking.

When Doc said I could begin walking, I walked.  If you read this bLog while I was recovering you know I walked several times and each time was better than the time before.  I remember the first time I couldn’t get down to the end of the street without having to turn around and practically RUNNING back home to get in to the bathroom!  A week or two later, I was down the street and around the corner for a 3 mile walk.  After that a 7 mile jaunt.  When you dedicate your life to a thing, nothing is terribly difficult!

After the first post-surgery PSA blood test I was told I could ride, so I rode.  And it hurted me….but I hung in there anyway.  And I rode every day for as long as I could handle the pain.  I think the first ride was about 12 miles.  After my neck muscles allowed it, I was back on the bike for a little longer ride of 18 miles.  After my butt stopped feeling like I had left the saddle inside it, I was out again for more.  I don’t recall the progression now, but suffice it to say I rode EVERY chance I got.  And while I was not working, it was so easy!

After one month of riding as often as I could, on August 15th, I was back to work.  After three months off (two of which were all about healing, the final about getting strong), I was back on the job.  Which is when the bike commute began anew.

To refresh your memory, the bicycle commute takes me along the top of a really flat and paved levee for 3 miles before dropping on to our local river-hugging bike trail.  Fully paved, lined, and marked for runners/walkers/bicycles there are no cars or motorized vehicles of any kind on any part of this ride, and that goes for another 4 miles.  Then, I pick up another levee on the other side of the river that winds over to the downtown area where I integrate on to an actual road for a half mile and find myself at work with 9 miles logged.  It is a nice ride of 30 minutes and it doesn’t hurt all day like it did one month ago….which is really good news because I turn around and go back the same way after work, and do this every workday!  I make the commute as difficult as I can handle by keeping constant pressure on the pedals, and about half-way thru going into Time Trial mode for a dose of true effort.  The commute is anything but mundane and it helps make me strong again.

Work is the thing I do between rides.

Health Stuff

Just yesterday I went to Vampire House where they drew blood from my arm again.  PSA test and hoping for zeroes.  Results next week….wish me luck!

And OK boys and girls, this is the serious part.  If you don’t want to know the details about what happens when a doctor removes a man’s prostate, read no further.

Seriously….if you don’t want to know, stop reading.

I’ll wait.

{insert music here.  Use the theme from “Jeapordy”}

OK, if everyone is gone who should be/wants to be gone, and the rest of you are interested in the embarrassing details, here you go:

Peeing.  This WAS a problem.  And I did not think it would ever get back to normal.  They did the surgery and left a catheter in to allow the urethra to heal.  They cut and reattach this pipe during surgery.  After ten days they removed the catheter and I was certain I would never control my pee again.  Maybe I wouldn’t be able to…wow, there’s a thought. Or maybe I would be in that awkward 10% of folks who never get that control back.  Wear diapers?  Ugh, THERE’S a lifetime of embarrassment!  What a bummer it is to even THINK like that!  Fortunately I did not need to harbor those thoughts as it became less and less of a problem to control starting/stopping and when/where for the next session in front of the porcelin.  Today I have about 99% of that control back and have little concern knowing it will completely heal the way it should.  I’ll put a check in the box marked “Success” for that problem.

Erection.  Nope.  None to report.  It is easy (and disappointing) to report this as the one malady I currently endure.  This was/is a concern they prepare you for and they also seem to think it will work itself out over the first year or so.  I guess the nerves – even though they were spared during surgery – take time to heal.  I guess.  Fantastically, my wife is very supportive and has no concern either way.  And really truly, me too.  I mean, I don’t NEED an erection, but it is still weird I don’t get them anymore.  After a lifetime of success, failure is the new reality.  So I’ll put a check in the box for “Hopeful”.  Not a complete failure yet.  They say it needs more time.  And apparently, thanks to the surgery, I’ve got that.  Thanks doc!

bicycling, exercise, prostate cancer , , , , ,

My Ride with Zach

3 Comments Posted by on August 21, 2011

Bicycle Race!

Zach is the 18 year old son of a friend of mine. And he challenged me to a race. On bicycles. This entry is about that ride.

First of all, Zach is 18 years old. And he does NOT ride a bike very often. To say he HAS a bike would be stretching the truth a bit, as the bike he has is quite old, is best suited for trail riding, and does not fit him very well. For Zach to use this bike in a race would also be an adventure in curiosity, as perhaps his ability to survive an outing of more than 20 miles would be like watching a slow motion de-evolution of an otherwise capable boy. And I was correct. More about that in a minute.

How it began

This story began as many do, with a group of people talking about a thing, that leads to another thing, and someone challenges someone and BAM! just like that a race is born.  It happened in Hawaii for the IronMan Triathlon some 33 years ago and it happened in Walnut Grove just last weekend while camping.  And, like in Hawaii, I had nothing to do with the conversation.

Really, I was just sitting there.

So Zach was talking about youthful things and alluded to his sheer ability to survive about anything.  Well, when a mouth gets to motoring, there seems to be no stopping it, and Zach was certainly getting chatty.  And it seems the conversation got revved up like a big ol’ V8 engine when Zach dropped the pedal to the floor, let gasoline fill the chamber and NO2 got mixed in from the highly pressurized tank, and something came out of his mouth that sounded like “I could beat you in a bicyle race.”

I was like, “what?  You talkin’ to me??”

A smile formed; first in my eyes, then on my lips.  The gears began turning.  We all knew how this would play out, but Zach had a learning moment coming to him….courtesy of me.

The Ride

Our “race” would begin at Bannister Park on Sunday, at 9:00 a.m.  This was changed, and we began at Zach’s Place.  And the race became a ride.  And the challenge of the race went away.  Now it would just be a brash 18 year old kid riding the bike trail with some old guy trying to get another fitness ride under his belt.  So the ride took us down a couple of residential streets for a mile and a half, a mile on Fair Oaks Blvd, and we would attain Bannister Park then continue on to the American River Bike Trail (ARBT) proper.  Following the ARBT for about 13 miles would take us up to Beals Point where we would have a breather and turn around for the ride home.

The entire ride logged in at 32.02 miles and it took 2:55.  Our speed was a sizzling average of 10.9 mph and total climb was 1492′.

Learning Moment

The big learning moment for Zach may have come early in the ride, perhaps as early as 15 minutes into the ride.  Now, these are his words……and when he was reporting them to his Dad, sister, and I…we were laughing so hard I may not have heard them correctly.  So here you go, my version of what Zach said about the ride.

“The first ten minutes go by and I’m hanging with Dave, thinking this is going to be easy.  The next ten minutes I’m thinking this is getting hard!  The first hour goes by and I can’t believe what I’ve gotten myself into.  The next hour was like an out-of-body experience and I’m up there floating along watching this guy down there, struggling to keep up and wondering how he is going to make it.  The next hour I was begging God to just take me!”

I may not have gotten this right….Zach, any help?

Anyway, Zach bit off more than he could chew and by throwing the gauntlet at my feet in front of all those people….well, there was just some part of me that wanted to really show him how difficult it can be to ride competitively and dare him to keep up!  And another part of me that wanted him to enjoy the ride so he could challenge me another day.  I think we attained both.

The lesson?  That is easy….don’t open your mouth and have it write checks your body can’t cash.

Thanks for visiting!

bicycling, bike ride , ,

New stuff

1 Comment Posted by on August 8, 2011

New ride:

I had the pleasure of taking another “ride of distance” today.  This one measured 45 miles and took 3 hours from start to finish.  I had a couple of 5 minute water/recovery stops and then cooled down with a nice spin for the final 4 miles.  To top off this nice ride, the Garmin cycle computer tells me I burned 2703 calories.  On Saturday my ride took 5 hours to cover 67 miles (had 2,600′ of climb) and the calorie burn is listed at 4041.

New Focus:

Build muscle.  What I need to do now is convince my body that is the “new normal” and it better get cookin’ up the muscle recipe to build the necessary fibers to maintain my habit!  Or ELSE!  Just cuz I was off the bike for NINE MONTHS, does NOT mean I’m going to allow my body to get soft(er).  But I am here to tell you, right now it hurts.  I have been back on the bike for a little less than a month and it hurts.  My whole body is in pain from head to toe.  All the support systems are seriously stressed, and it hurts like crazy.  All day.  Of course you know that means I’ll be ignoring the pain, putting down more miles, more often.  All to help the systems understand this is serious and you best come on-line with some expediency.  That’s just the way it is in the Land of Dave.  Comply or be crushed!

New mantra:

Ouch.  (Say it slowly and repeat often for best effect.)

New favorite saying:

Rode hard, put away wet.

New goal:

Auburn, CA.

bicycling, bike ride, exercise , ,

65 Miles

Leave a comment Posted by on July 20, 2011

what a ride!

Yesterday, I finally got a ride of significant distance.

More inna minnit….

OK, I’m back.  Posted that little bit via Windows Phone 7.  Nice feature!

The ride of “significant distance” was a 65 mile slow ride to hell and back.  By that I mean – it hurt.  And I am dead serious.  I think the ride lasted about 15 miles too long and I knew it because I was plodding along at about 16 mph instead of my “new” usual speed of 18 mph.

Oh, and my Garmin 305 is sporadically functioning, and this is most likely due to its lack of use over the last 9 months.  So there’s that.

Anyway, back to the ride.  It got started nicely with some really nice weather.  A little cool at 62 degrees and a bit breezy as well.  But hey, I was going for ride, was dressed, the chain was lubed, and off I went.  Mark the time at 9:00 am.

At 9:10 I was logging mile #5 and off the street working in his garage is a friend of mine.  Detour #1.  I pulled over and we talked for about 20 minutes.

9:30, I excused myself and took off down the road.  The American River Bike Trail was the next destination ……………….

WordPress for Windows Phone

bicycling, bike ride, exercise , , ,

Goals are made to be broken

1 Comment Posted by on July 16, 2011

Yes, goals are made to be broken and I am here to report the successful squashing of another goal.  And this is something to crow about from the top of a tall building!  Here it is:

Riding goal this week: 100 miles
Actual riding mileage: 130 miles

This is how it happened.  For each of three rides, I used the American River Bike Trail.  It is familiar and there are zero cars to worry about.  The first ride was a round trip to Beal’s Point, 40 miles covered.  The second ride was an out-and-back to downtown Sacramento for a coffee at my favorite shop, Chocolate Fish Coffee.  That was 40 miles, and I was beat like a rented mule from the effort.  The third ride was a 50 mile trip up to Beal’s Point again (the little hills “make me strong like ox”.  Say this with a russian accent and clench your fist to get the full 3D movie effect), this time with an add-on over to Douglas Blvd, and it felt great!  It felt great to be on the bike, felt great to battle the wind, and felt awesome to turn the crank with some strength.

As a disclaimer, I am a L O N G way from being strong enough to brag about my riding prowess.  But the ability to actually generate some power while riding, if only for a short distance, is a thing of beauty indeed!  And, to further keep you fully informed about my current riding strength and stamina (or lack thereof), I was passed on ride #2 by an old dude on a squeaky mountain bike, and today a gal blew by me on the way up a small rise like I was an old dude on a mountain bike.  OUCH, I have to adjust my thinking!

In spite of getting trounced by these obviously fit and healthy individuals, I still loved being out on the trail and fully enjoyed the ride.  It felt great to be back!

Now then, where is that building?  I got me some crowing to do!

bicycling, bike ride, exercise , , ,

Hello World!

2 Comments Posted by on July 14, 2011

I’m back.

Yes, my existence is all about a lot of things, but riding and getting healthy and making my legs take me places instead of sitting around thinking about stuff is what I am now focused on.  The medical emergency of my recent past, is in my recent past.  It has been locked up until it can be of use at a later time.  Maybe I’ll be able to use the memory as an incentive to do something new and/or impossible.  Or maybe I’ll help someone get their PSA blood test done so they don’t have to go through what I did.  Hmm, have you checked YOUR PSA?  If you haven’t, do it.  It could save your life!  Anyway, my rides have always helped me deal with what’s going on.  Stuff like projects, life changing news, family situations, work….all sorts of stuff gets ironed out on these rides.  And I have got to say, I have missed the rides!

Since you are here for a visit, you most likely know I am a bicycling fanatic and charting a fresh hundred miles a week is fairly average for me.  Commuting to work, riding with friends, and challenging myself can really add up.  If you didn’t know this before, now you do.

And this week, different than the past 36 weeks, I logged a couple of rides.  Tuesday, July 12th, the ride was an up-and-back to Beal’s Point at Folsom Lake.  This is a ride of 40 miles and has little tiny hills to climb when you get close to the Lake.  Today, July 14th, the journey was a round trip from my house to downtown Sacramento.  The ride is pancake-flat and winds on for just about 40 miles as well.  Saturday, the plan is to get another 20 miles making the total mileage for the week a nice round hunskie (100).

And just in case anyone is reading this and wondering how David feels after today’s ride, it is like this; OUCH.  The legs complained the entire way home.  I told them to SHUT UP (just like Jens Voigt does, but he’s a pro and his legs probably listen).  The lower back was guilty of noises too, and the neck is just about able to look up at the ceiling again.  But you know what was giving out the most nonsense?  My butt.  Man-o-man, from the time I got on the bike to the time I called it done….that thing was hurtin’ for certain!  Which is really unusual.  Back about 9 months ago, when I last rode, I could sit on a 2×4 for 100 miles without too much complaining.  But that was then…..

It amazes me how the body gets used to doing something physically demanding.  I used to build fences and decks, and a trellis every now and again.  In the heat of Summer it was nothing to begin a job at 7:30 a.m. and pound away until dinner.  Yes, I was seriously hot at the end of a day and yes, I was tired and a little sore too.  But it was never too much for my body and I was ready for more the next day.  Amazing.

And riding a bicycle is like that too.  Your arms get used to holding you up for hours on end, your neck takes care of all the bobble-headed things your skull goes through – including holding up a helmet all day.  Your legs go hard when they must, and your lungs burn and your heart beats so hard it feels as if it could come out of your chest!  And so on and so on.

Well, today’s ride today was almost too much and I could have easily quit at mile 30.  There are a couple of shortcuts a rider can take which will easily cut 10 miles off this ride.  Anytime I am riding late and need to make up time I take it, so it’s not like it’s some confusing route or something.  But quitting just ain’t my bag and I really need these miles.  And some of these so-called base miles best be a challenge if I am going to ride the way I want to!

Which is what today’s ride was all about: the challenge.  And I did it.  And I liked it!

Seriously; I’m back.  Hello out there!

PS I’m not bald anymore, I still have really short hair, but I’m not bald.  It’s not that I didn’t like the look, it just takes too much time!  To those of you who shave your head, I tip my hat to you…..you look mahvelous!

bicycling, bike ride , , , ,

Bicycling: first ride

Leave a comment Posted by on February 7, 2011

I got in a bike ride over the weekend.  Here it is Super Bowl Sunday and my day involved nothing about watching a football game.  wow, am I demented or what?!

This is the first time I have been on a bicycle since October 9th of last year when I had a kidney stone.  This was a huge ordeal where, after 2 months, I ended up having surgery to have the darn thing removed.  Ugh.  Learning moment: drink your water.  Don’t add protein.

Back to the weekend ride; preparation included installing my new saddle, cleaning the major chunks of goo from the ride last October, and pumping up the tires.  After that, it was all about getting my riding gear on and mentally preparing for the upcoming effort.  Then, I headed out the door and off to the American River Bike Trail, just 4 miles away from home.

It was a little windy with the gusts kicking up over 20mph, and I resolved to go against the wind early to enjoy the fruits of my labor and an easy return trip home.  This ride was only to see what kind of shape I had deteriorated to, not as a normal ride which would tell me how long it took to get from point A to point B and give me an idea of my level of fitness.  Good plan?  It sure turned out that way!

So off I went; wind in the face, pavement rattling under the wheels, feet spinning wildly, and that familiar feeling of freedom tweaking my emotions.  The thousands of bicycle miles I have logged in the recent past help me easily contol my expectations.  And since this is the seasons First Ride, I expect to go about 25 miles, experience much discomfort (new seat and unused squishy muscles) and hurt when finished.  And by “hurt” I mean the hurt is everywhere.  And by “everywhere” I mean deep, inside pain in every muscle group that only goes away with time.  And for the record, I was not disappointed in either catagory.

I ended up riding 34 miles and learned a few things:

  • the new seat needs to be re-positioned forward about an inch
  • my old butt needs about a month of riding before it is going to feel okay after a ride
  • I have gotten very good at changing tubes on the rear tire

The first two points were pretty well known.  I knew the seat was not perfectly set.  I could see it lined up properly and had the correct angle, but sitting on a saddle for a few minutes and actually riding on it is very different.  You learn things when you sit for a while, and you know what I learned?  Riding a bicycle is hard work and you best get yourself as comfortable as possible!  So the seat is going to be tweaked until it is just right, and that might take a few rides to until it is perfect.  The part about “my old butt” needing some time in the saddle is pretty much self-explanatory.  I’m just lucky to have not gained a bunch of weight while I was off eating and drinking for the past 4 months.  So there’s that…..

The bullet point above: “changing tubes on the rear tire” is a bit of a quandry.  Going back to the last time I rode the bike it was giving me trouble.  During Levi’s Gran Fondo, which is a difficult 103 mile ride put on by road racing superstar Levi Leipheimer, and was the last time I was at a really good fitness level able to enjoy such an event.  Anyway, I had two brand new tires on the bike and suffered two rear-wheel flats during the ride….with one of them happening while speeding down an 18% decent to the ocean!  Yep, that is a scary time to have a tire go soft and could have caused major damage to me and CashFlow (my bike).

Out on the bike trail having a flat is only “inconvenient”.  You don’t really have a problem unless you are in a pace-line with other riders or are pushing the limits of centrifugal force inside a turn.  Get a flat during this time and you will find it can really hurt!  Other than that, you have to stop, get out of the way, and change a tube.  No big deal.

On this little trip to the town of Folsom and back, I had to do this not once, not twice, but thrice (is that how you spell it?).  The first tire change came at mile 6.5.

“OK” I thought, “the bike has been sitting, waiting for four months, this is expected.”

The next one happened on the way back somewhere around mile 25.  Since I used an old tube from last season I was not surprised.  Not happy about it, but not surprised.  And I promised myself I would look at what is causing the problem when I get home.

The third malfunction happened at mile 35, and really annoyed me.  The ride began sometime around 2:30 and here it was almost 4:30, the sun was going down, and there was about 1 hour of sun remaining in the day.  And, there were mosquitoes flying about….and I HATE mosquitoes!  Especially early in the season when they can be especially ravenous.

So, flat #3.  Clock ticking.  Sun going down.  Mosquitoes.  And I am beat.  The ride has given me great pause.  Here I am riding at about 17 mph and not feeling particularly well after just 30 miles.  I have been feeling “not strong” for about 15 miles.  I mean, what kind of shape was I in to enjoy the previous ride?  Wow.  Anyway, back to this repair.  The wheel is off, I am swatting at and/or getting bit by flying adversaries I can pay little attention to, the inside tire has nothing poking inside to cause a flat, and I am only interested in finishing this thing out.  Now the new tube is seated, tire is hooked to the inside rim, air is going in, and that all familiar 90 pounds of air is holding the rubber taut once again.  The wheel is back on the bike and adjusted to the middle of its track, and off I go down the trail again.

For the record, I did not complete the ride as expected.  With the sun casting its yellow/orange hues all around, I used the cell phone to call the wife for a pickup at the park.  She complied and I was comfortably inside a car after just 34 miles.  Heckuva way to start the season!

The bike is now back in the rack and will receive my full attention before the next ride.  Might be a couple of days though….I still hurt!

bicycling, bike repair, bike ride , ,