Just another nerd...

Throwing in the Sweat Soaked Towel...

2009-07-03T14:51:00.004-05:00

Today I was harshly reminded why I tend to ride considerably less in the summer. After about 6 miles on 360 in the heat and the exhaust I was done. It just wasn't fun anymore. Riding became a chore and I anxiously awaited seeing the flag at my apartment community rise over the hill as I returned home...defeated.

When I first moved here I was excited about riding more since I'm in just about the perfect spot for long road rides here in Austin. However the realization quickly set in that I'm in a valley and to get in a good ride I need to put in about 30 minutes on the rollers to get warmed up before I even head out. Which is something I really don't want to do!

So I think for the rest of the summer I'll be doing more mountain biking than road biking. I'm sure I'll go on an occasional road ride but it won't likely be on 360.

EHCT Routes

2009-04-09T19:03:00.002-05:00

Just finished uploading the EHCT routes for Friday, Saturday and Sunday...these are the routes I'm planning on doing at least. There are a couple of other options on each day that offer shorter mileage. We'll see what I end up doing for Sunday. I'm planning on riding but the mileage on Saturday might put a good hurt on me!

Anyways, here are the routes:

Friday - Metric Century

&amp;lt;a href="http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-states/tx/kerrville/746123932070470638"&amp;gt;2009 Easter Hill Country Tour - Friday Metric Century&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt;&amp;lt;br/&amp;gt;&amp;lt;a href="http://www.mapmyride.com/find-ride/united-states/tx/kerrville"&amp;gt;Find more Bike Rides in Kerrville, Texas&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt;

Saturday - Century

&amp;lt;a href="http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-states/tx/kerrville/894123931957026723"&amp;gt;2009 - Easter Hill Country Tour - Saturday Century&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt;&amp;lt;br/&amp;gt;&amp;lt;a href="http://www.mapmyride.com/find-ride/united-states/tx/kerrville"&amp;gt;Find more Bike Rides in Kerrville, Texas&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt;

Sunday - "Recovery" 40 miles

&amp;lt;a href="http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-states/tx/kerrville/611123932122864635"&amp;gt;2009 Easter Hill Country Tour - Sunday 42 Mile&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt;&amp;lt;br/&amp;gt;&amp;lt;a href="http://www.mapmyride.com/find-ride/united-states/tx/kerrville"&amp;gt;Find more Bike Rides in Kerrville, Texas&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt;

Sorry about the double linking...the second links are for those (probably almost all) of you that view this in some sort of RSS reader.

Anyways, should be fun! Don't forget you only have a week left to donate to me for the MS150! Then I'll stop bugging you (and start bugging you with something else entirely :-)

J

EHCBT

2009-04-09T09:24:00.002-05:00

As my final prep for the MS150 I'm doing the Easter Hill Country Bike Tour this weekend down in Kerrville TX. Should be a LOT of good riding! I'm planning on doing the max mileage on Friday (Metric Century) and Saturday (Century) and I'll probably take it a little easier on Sunday.

If anyone would like to join for Friday, Saturday or Sunday I have a camp site in Schreiner Park. Drop me a comment or send me an e-mail. I'll have my phone on me the entire time.

J

Hanging It Up...

2009-04-01T09:32:00.002-05:00

I've been considering this for a long time. I enjoy cycling a lot, but lately with the move and everything else going on I just can't seem to make time for it. A while back I took up jogging and it's been a nice break from cycling. I also really like that I can get in as good of a workout in about a quarter of the time.

So it's really no surprise that I haven't been riding as much. For 2009 I decided I needed to start saving more money and having 3 fairly nice bikes seems like it's a waste. So rather than just let them depreciate I'm going to put them on craigslist later today and see if I can get anything decent for them.

I've had a lot of fun and met a lot of really great people. I still haven't figured out what I'm going to do about the MS150 coming up here in a couple of weeks. I guess I might have to take Mike up on his offer to ride it for me.

Well, just wanted to get this out there...oh, and April Fools :-)

J

Way too busy!

2009-03-25T19:48:00.002-05:00

These last couple of weeks (and particularly days) have been extremely busy and crazy! The really good news is my house is sold! And I got more than I had expected...sweet! The bad news is I have less than a month to move...and the REALLY chaotic news is that I move this coming Saturday.

There are a lot of other things I NEED to be doing. For instance the MS150 is coming up in about 3 weeks and I haven't really trained for it at all. And if things keep going like they're going I might not get much training in!

So here's the "play by play" for the last couple of days...
Friday - sent final offer to prospective buyers...
Weekend - Went camping, realizing this would be the last peace for weeks to come
Monday - Her from Realtor that buyers agreed to price...looked for and found apartment (took off from work)
Tuesday - Worked...ran by apartment office and dropped off application and too much money. Picked up packet for MS150...started packing. Got office, hall closet, and some of the kitchen packed
Wednesday - worked, more packing! By the end of today I'll have the entire kitchen packed.

Rest of the week:
Thursday - more packing...
Friday - more packing...
Saturday - MOVE! Movers come by at 9:00am, hopefully done before noon...unpack...go for much needed ride!!!

So that's how my week has been stacked up.

What's better is that I close on the house April 16th...which is the day before I head to Houston for the MS150! Thankfully I've taken off a couple of days so that I can maintain my sanity and get everything done.

The new apartment is on 360 so I'll be riding a LOT more. One thing I hated about my house was having to ride for 7 miles in dense traffic to get "out of town." With my new place I'm on 360 in a couple hundred yards :-)

Sorry for the rambling/chaotic post...but it fits my mood these days!

J

Damn the Dam

2009-03-15T18:59:00.003-05:00

Well, not really. I headed out today to put in some miles in preparation for the MS150 coming up in about 5 weeks...speaking of which, feel free to make a donation to my campaign . If you do, you won't get any flats for at least the next year and your overall speed will increase by 5mph...that's pretty big! You'll also be helping to support people living with MS and helping to fund new research.

Back to the ride...

I left today in somewhat of a hurry. I had some people coming by to look at the house and needed to get out, speaking of which I actually have an offer on the house now (not these people) so I may be moving out sooner than I thought. In my rush to leave I forgot to put on sunscreen. I didn't really think it was a big deal...it was overcast. I ended up leaving my arm warmers at home too, but after a couple of blocks I went back for those! Still no sunscreen!

I headed to the Arboretum from my place. I found a new, more direct route that shaved off some time. Nothing too exciting on 360. I was feeling good and pushing fairly hard. I did realize that I need to come up with some easier/longer routes for days that I need to take it easy. I seem to have only one speed which is to push fairly hard. Anyways I had never ridden on 620 before, at least not up to 2222. The ride was nice, lots of shoulder, not a ton of traffic, and a good amount of other riders.

A little ways before I got to the dam I received a flat! YAY! I had run over a 1" staple and it tore up the tube...and did some damage to the tire too! The tire was salvageable but the tube was wasted. Great. I pulled out my spare tube and stuffed the trashed one back into my bag (nod to the Noob). Started to air it up and realized the C02 was out...great. Grabbed the other C02 and filed up the tire. Rode about 3 miles and realized the tire was getting flat...awesome! I wasn't really thinking clearly and just topped off the tire with my last little bit of C02. About 2 miles later I was flat again! I had just passed the dam and was on the up hill area. A ride passed "need anything?" - "Ya! got a pump or something?" - "Nope, just tubes..." Sigh, oh well. 4 other riders blew by, not one asked and I didn't have time as they raced passed to ask them. Finally I got to a clearing and pulled off the tire and tube. The hole was small...so small I couldn't find it After about 5 minutes of waiting a guy on a VERY nice tri-bike rolls up and stops...asking if I need anything. I explained the situation to him and he ended up giving me 2 C02 canisters (he had no tubes as he was running tubulars) I sat there for a while and decided to over inflate the tire ... and then I found the hole. Apparently, Bontrager sells patched tubes. This one had 3 other "pro" looking patches in it. I took it out of the box when I fixed the previous flat of the day! One of Bontrager "spec" patches was leaking :-(. I fixed it...filled back up and didn't have a single problem the entire way home. Thanks Tri-Guy!

Coming down 2222 was awesome :-) On the hilly part I shifted down to 53-12 and pushed as hard as I could...ended up spinning out around 40mph, then gravity took me to 52mph! Which was sustained for about 10 seconds or so...awesome! The Smoothie ES has always been rock solid in descents. This one was no exception! It was even responsive enough to dodge some trash :-)

I'm also getting better at my track stands and as long as there is a slight grade I can hold it for a good while. Oh, and if you haven't been down Steck Ave you need to go check it out! The city did a VERY nice job resurfacing it and putting the bike lanes in! It has the same asphault like parts of Shoal Creek has...you know, where you hit it and speed up without doing anything!

I liked the Dam Loop quite a bit and I'll be riding it more frequently. I guess I had been worried about the hills previously but they "ain't no thang"

J

Don't Forget!

Pedal Through The Pines ... or ... How Out of Shape Am I!?

2009-03-08T19:59:00.004-05:00

I don't think I've ever been 12 miles into a ride and contemplated calling sag before. Normally that happens after the 50 mile mark. The Pedal Through the Pines was different. I've ridden most of the route before when I headed down to Buescher. I knew what I was in store for. Somehow that didn't seem to matter.

I met up with my friends Mark and Jen. They're both very strong riders. She races crits and he...well, he rides with her. At the very beginning of the ride there is a fairly long hill leading up to Bastrop State Park. If you've ever rode or drove out there you know the hill that I'm talking about. About 1/4 of the way up the hill and they were gone. I pushed on and made it up to the entrance of Bastrop State Park...ah, 2 miles of 62 done!

Park Road 1C is pretty...but it's hilly. Some of them are fairly steep while others are more rolling. You have to do 12 miles of these steep hills before you get a break. At mile 12 I was seriously contemplating taking the 26 mile turn around..but I some how missed it.

The wind was really blowing (15-20mph) and after we got out of the park things got interesting. I'm not sure which I hate more headwinds or steep inclines. Thankfully the wind was at our back for a little while and at the 50 mile turn off I was feeling good and comitted to the 62 mile course. After a couple more miles we turned right into the wind...the next 12 miles were hell. However, I never contemplated SAG-ing after the initial scare at mile 12.

I made it back in under 4 hours. 3.5 hours were on the bike and the other 10 minutes or so was broken up between 2 rest stops. I've learned to make rest stops as short as possible...refuel and get back on the bike. If I stop too long I cool down and then it really sucks!

The ride was nice, I talked to a couple of people along the way and didn't have any major problems. I'l planning on switching out tires fairly soon and I need to get one of my rims straightened before the MS150. Now that daylight savings time is in affect I'm planning on riding more in the evenings! Hopefully I'll start to drop some weight again too!

I'm glad I did this ride. It provided a nice kick in the pants to remind me that I need to get on the bike more if I plan on riding the MS150!

No pictures...since I managed to lose my camera in Lake Tahoe :-(

J

Oh Crap!

2009-03-05T17:34:00.004-06:00

Don't you hate it when you get caught off guard? I was flipping through my e-mail today and had a note from the MS150...it's in about 5 weeks and I haven't ridden in a month. Within that e-mail was also a not telling me about suggested rides. One of which is the Pedal Through the Pines, which is this weekend...which I'm signed up for and completely forgot about!

Awesome...I'm still planning on riding 65 miles. I have a feeling I'll regret that at about mile 20. At least I know what I'm in for. I rode a good chunk of 1C when I went down to Buescher. And I know the hills are pretty intense. It's a really pretty ride though and despite the complete lack of planning I'm really looking forward to it. Guess that means I need to dust off my bike, like right NOW. I haven't figured out if I'm taking the Smoothie or the DoubleCross. Most likely the Smoothie will win...but I think one of the wheels is a little out of true...guess it's time to break out the wrenches!

Anyways, life has been busy busy lately. The house is now on the market as of today. Unfortunately someone broke into my house yesterday and swiped my TV, laptop, monitor and some other stuff...about $3k worth. Which really sucks! I miss the laptop more than anything but I would really like to have my TV back too! THANKFULLY they left my desktop which has my entire life on it. I've taken some extra precautions and I'm now backing it up more frequently...I've also beafed up the locks on the doors so it will be a lot harder to get anything out of the house!

Well, guess that's all for now. Who's headed to Bastrop this weekend for the ride?

J

Finding Time...

2009-02-12T19:14:00.004-06:00

Life has been ... well ... let's just say hectic lately. Between working on the house, heading out of town, dating (eh), and work there just doesn't seem to be much time left for anything else.

I can't remember the last time I was on my bike. I've been jogging and hiking to try and stay in shape but I would really rather ride, I just can't seem to find the time for it. I think the main problem is that the road bike is too efficient. I can jog for 30 minutes and burn the same amount of calories from a 2 hour bike ride. I guess this speaks for the benefits of changing up your workout routine.

Anyways...

This last weekend my Dad and I headed up to Lake Tahoe for a nice father/son vacation. He skiied for 2 days while I skiied one and snow boarded the other. It was an awesome trip with a lot of great scenery! Unfortunately I managed to lose my point and shoot camera on the first day so my iPhone had to stand in to get the rest of the shots.

We stayed on the Nevada side so I took advantage of that and gambled each night we were there. I'm not a big gambler and I don't ever expect to walk away with any money. I consider it more of a form of entertainment and thankfully I was able to make my modest amount of gambling money last for all 3 nights.

Maybe one of the days this week I'll take my rear wheel by and get the broken spoke fixed. I guess in the mean time I can always throw on the "spare" set of wheels I have...or just use the other bike (like I've been doing.)

J

Other Stuff

2009-01-20T21:57:00.005-06:00

I haven't been getting out as much lately as I would like, and with that in mind I'm changing up the format on my blog to be more about my life rather than just cycling. I'm sure it will still be fairly bike centric...but not today.

Lately I've been doing quite a big of astronomy and astrophotography. My Dad has been interested in astronomy since I can remember. Earlier this year he decided I needed to get into it too and found a good deal on a telescope and a used mount. It's really nice stuff...probably nicer than what I should start with, but I've been enjoying it quite a bit!

Getting started in astronomy has been quite the adventure. Like cycling you can drop as much money as you would like! I decided to get a new dSLR camera (Canon XS). I've wanted a SLR for a long while now and having a nice telescope kind of pushed that purchase over the edge...so I've been enjoying the camera a lot too...even without the telescope.

This weekend a friend and I went out to Eagle Eye Observatory for a public star party and I was able to get some pretty decent shots. The mount wasn't aligned as well as I would like so I could only get a 3 minute exposure without getting streaks across the image.

Anyways, here's one of my first shots. This is Messier 42 (Orion Nebula). It's located in the Orion Constelation. It's located at the middle star in Orion's sword.

There are a couple other shots on my Flickr site. I also played around with my new camera and put together a nice looking HDR shot. Although when I composed the image I had some weird settings going on with my laptop so the color isn't as saturated as I would like.

And here's a shot of me with the telescope.

Jared

2009 - A New Year

2009-01-01T17:23:00.003-06:00

Part of me wants to talk about mileage from 2008...but since I've been slacking since Thanksgiving I'm not going to go into it. I know I surpassed the 3k mark, which is what I was aiming for for 2008...so I'm happy with that. I've been "getting back on the horse" recently and I've been riding a good deal more. November and December weren't great riding months though. Plus I haven't been keeping track of mileage either and for the time being that seems to work out well.

2008 was a pretty rough year for me and I'm extremely happy to see it go away. A good deal of bad and good things happened in '08. So:

The Bad:
Most notably I'm now a single man...most of you might not have known that I was actually married...but indeed I was. And as of December 17th I'm now officially single. The divorce went fairly smoothly. We were married for a little over 2 years but we spent the majority of the time apart. When we officially separated (in May of 08) we had already been physically separated since January since she was overseas researching...anyways, enough on that.

2008 was also the year I was involved in the bike vs car accident. This isn't really all THAT horrible. I mean I did come out of the accident in somewhat good shape, and all things considered it could have been considerably worse...however it still makes the "bad" list!

Weight - somehow between November and now I managed to gain a good chunk of weight...hmmm...let's think how that happened... I'm actually heavier now than when 2008 started!...this will be changing soon.

Those are really the only bad things that seem to stick out at the moment...but really the divorce is enough to overshadow and make 2008 a bad year!

The Good:
Friends...I have awesome friends...I don't have a ton of them, but the ones I do have are pure gold. They've helped me out through the good and bad times this year and I'm extremely grateful that they're in my life. Incidentally I met the majority of the people I would consider my good friends either early in 2008 or late in 2007.

Health - ya, so this was on the bad list too...but I'm in considerably better shape at the end of 2008 than I was at the beginning. If you would have told me after my first couple of rides in 2008 that I would do 2 centuries and 2 bike camping trips I would have laughed...and probably fallen over if I tried them in early '08!

Goals - I didn't really have any goals for '08, however I did set out to accomplish a couple of things throughout the year and I think I did a pretty good job. I think I've grown considerably as a person...I'm much more open and I'm getting better at being more expressive than I have been. I've also reached a number of cycling goals like the 2 centuries, 2 camping trips (one that was over 120 miles...with massive hills!), I'm also more confident with night riding and I'm starting to get back out and do more group rides.

So it looks like 2009 is lined up to be a great year. I hope to carry the current momentum from the end of 2008 through to the rest of 2009...and hopefully beyond!

I do have a couple of goals that I'm setting for 2009. Maybe I'll post more on that later but I have a night ride that I need to start getting ready for :-)

Happy New Year!
Jared

Night Riding

2008-11-12T23:45:00.003-06:00

Well, it's that time of year again. Daylight Saving Time is gone and we're stuck with No Daylight Time. I leave work around 5:00 or 5:30 just to find that it's already getting dark. I haven't been riding to work as much these days as I don't like riding home in dense traffic with the setting sun behind me...blinding oncoming traffic. So I haven't been riding much at all. Plus at "only" $2 a gallon, gas is practically free... (thick sarcasm there!)

This evening was a different story though. I responded to a CraigsList posting about a Chrome Metropolis bag. I currently have a Citizen and the guy was looking to trade down as the Metropolis was too big for him. For me the Citizen has worked but it's been a little on the small side more than a time or two. After work I threw the bag in the car, got about .5 miles from the house and turned around...heading back home. The weather was awesome, there was still a little bit of light out...I grabbed the bike, aired up the tires and headed out again.

The majority of the 6 mile ride was uneventful. A car almost pulled out in front of me but that's, unfortunately, normal. At night I ride slower and I'm considerably more cautious. I ride in the center of the lane if not a little towards the left. If I see a car about to pull out of a driveway or stop sign I slow and ready to take evasive action.

Even with all the extra things to worry about I really enjoy riding at night. Or maybe it's because of the extra things...I'm not entirely sure. After meeting him and swapping out bags, I rode down south for another 6 miles before heading up to the Flying Saucer to meet a friend for dinner and a drink.

On my way back home the streets were abandoned, I saw a couple of faint blinkies in the distance and about 3 cars on the 5 miles back home. It's a different city at 10:00...that's for sure.

J

Things to get/Things to remember

2008-10-26T12:00:00.002-05:00

These last "micro tours" have been good in that they've helped me to identify weak and strong spots with my setup. I've identified a couple of things that I need to modify/obtain out before spending any major time on the bike away from home.

Stuff to get/change:
1 - New rear rack. It's held up o.k. so far...I still don't trust it!
2 - Front Rack - having no weight on the front feels a little weird. The wheel is very light and it makes the bike extremely twitchy.
3 - Front panniers...to go on said front rack.

Stuff to leave alone:
1 - The drive train. I was planning on swapping out the XT Cranks for a set of road cranks. No way! That little granny gear bailed me out on a couple 20%+ grade hills so it's staying. Plus I can already push plenty fast on the downhills and on the straights it doesn't matter since I have plenty of gears as it is. I spin out around 34mph...that's plenty fast...I'll just coast!
2 - Handlebars. I really like my Nitto Noodles. Initially I wasn't a big fan but after riding them for a while I'm seriously contemplating a set for my road bike!
3 - Saddle. Dispite the problem of the chamois in my baggie shorts, the Brooks is extremely comfortable. I do need to remember to cover it at night when the bike is outside though (like on camping trips...the bike is NEVER stored outside when I'm at home.)
4 - Tires. I love the Schwalbe Marathon Supremes...I have an overwhelming amount of confidence in these tires. Highly highly recommended!

Thoughts:
1 - I added fenders earlier this week. Overall I like them, I mean I haven't had to use them yet but I like the idea of having them for when I do. I did get one thing which I didn't think about though - toe overlap. Before my toe would never hit the front wheel...now it does. Not really a major deal. This is typical for road bikes but for touring bikes you have to maneuver slowly at times and this can be a problem...as long as I remember it, things should be o.k.!
2 - Mountain bike shorts suck - well...not really. I actually really like my mountain bike shorts but the chamois doesn't work well for me. There is a crease where a crease shouldn't be and it literally rubs me wrong! Maybe I'll use some of that cream stuff when these and see how that goes. This only bothered me on day 2. But for touring I would MUCH rather use baggie shorts.
3 - Overall I like my rear panniers, however for the fronts I'm planning on getting are the Bike Packer Plus panniers which are not roll top. I like the roll tops...and I would get them again. But I think I'll use the fronts for my "quick access" items since the roll tops can be some what of a pain to get into and reclose.

J

Pace Bend ... There and Back

2008-10-25T17:05:00.006-05:00

Just got back from my trip to Pace Bent County Park...alive and in one piece! I wouldn't recommend riding down there...and I don't think I will again! But the park was nice and the majority of the ride was VERY nice. Temps were nice and cool too...overall a great trip...except for...

1) Crazy Property Owners - Part of my route took me through a 1 mile chunk of private property. It was a little questionable as to what it was when I was mapping it out...but it looked like a road. It became painfully obvious as I pulled up on the questionable spot. Bam...a fence. I spent a good chunk of my childhood on a farm or ranch and really have no problem jumping fences. I contemplated it for about 10 minutes and decided to go around. See. Normally you'll find a "No Trespassing" sign on every 10th fence post or so. That's normal. Under those circumstances I would have jumped the fence. These people had barracaded the road with trash cans with 2x4s running between them with multiple "No Trespassing" signs on the board. As well as MANY "No Trespassing" signs on the fence. Probably one ever 5 feet. These people would have probably shot me...they MEANT it! So because of the crazy people I decided to go back and add about 15 miles to my originally planned milage.

2) SH-71 - I knew this was giong to be ugly and the original route avoided it entirely. However when I decided to not get shot at...er, trespass, I added a good 6 mile chunk of SH-71 to my route. Going to Pace Bend wasn't bad as it's mostly downhill and I was moving pretty good. However coming back was mostly uphill so I was crawling with 70mph traffic very close. At one point the shoulder disappears. THANKFULLY there was some road construction and the right lane was completely blocked...which became my lane!

So...now that that's out of the way.

I headed out from work around 4:30ish. I wanted to leave right at 4 but that didn't happen for a couple of reasons. I figured it would take me about 2-3 hours to do the (initial) 30 mile ride. I didn't take a lot of pictures of the ride out as I was a little pressed for time and wanted to get there and setup camp. This is actually the only picture I took on the way out:

Heading out from work

Overall the route was pretty good. I did have to go through a gated housing area which caused me to have to wait for someone to come through so I could sneak in...I had to do the same on the way out as well! It provided some STEEP hills but nice views and nice homes.

Camp Site In the Morning (Lens fogging up)

Because of the detour I added about 16 miles onto my initial estimate. I didn't get to the park until almost 8:00pm! It was dark by then and I needed to get water. Unfortunately there was only one potable water faucet in the entire park, which happened to be on the east side of the park which was horribly light polluted.

View from campsite

After filling up I headed over to the west side of the park which had a considerably darker sky. The milky way was clearly visible! I setup camp, boiled some water and reconstituted some Sweet and Sour Pork...which was pretty good considering how hungry I was! Later a friend came out and we made Smores over the Mini Trangia. It amazes me how quickly the Trangia burns through a full "pot" of fuel. It's holds enough to boil about 2 cups of water...and not much more! Thankfully I knew about the Smores and decided to pickup a MSR fuel holder and brought about 11oz more alcohol with me. Camp fire would have been better..but we're under a burn ban. The Smores were still yummy and it was nice to have some companionship out there and to enjoy the extremely clear sky!

Double Cross after breaking camp

In the morning I woke up and shot some pictures, ate a cliff bar and started packing up camp. By "morning" I mean around 10:00am. I slept great! The new sleeping bag is extremely warm, so much so I had to unzip it about half way in the middle of the night because I was too hot! Awesome! I actually woke up around 7:00 and started doing stuff...but then I realized it was cold and that I should crawl back into the sleeping bag...which I did :)

Shot of Lake Travis from camp

There is a burger place about 4 miles outside of Pace Bend. I think it's called Fred's or Freddy's. It was yummy and hit the spot! I grabbed a "small" 1/3lb burger with swiss and american cheese as well as some of the hottest jalapenios I've ever eaten! It didn't take long before the jalapenios were removed...and I can usually handle some heat!

Some hill...somewhere on Bee Creek Rd.

After getting off of 71 and onto Bee Caves I decided I needed some coffee and hit up the Starbucks that was on the corner while I relaxed for a little while.

Blooming Century Plant on Bee Creek Rd.

Eventually I made it back to Austin from Bee Caves Rd and then went onto Redbud Trail to get the rest of the way back to humanity...as a side note Redbud Trail is one of my favorite routes in Austin to ride...but only from West->East. Which is mostly downhill, twisty and fun!

Austin from Redbud Trail

I eventually arrived back home, physically tired from a couple of nice long rides but at the same time mentally refreshed. I think next time I'll be heading down to Pedernales Falls or possible McKinney Falls...and I also want to go for 2 nights rather than just one.

J

An Update and Camping Stuff

2008-10-23T21:38:00.005-05:00

I rode the Outlaw Trail 100 last weekend with Mike and Señior Noob. I'm not really sure why I'm referring to Bike Noob as "Señior Noob" but I have a feeling it's going to stick around for a while :-) Speaking of Señior Noob...Congrats on your first century! And to Mike, awesome work destroying the goal you set out for yourself! As for me...I finished exponentionally stronger than I did my first century...which makes me very happy, and it's exactly what I set out to do!

In other news I'm headed out to Pace Bend Park this weekend to do a little bike camping. Nothing too exciting. I'm taking off tomorrow after work and heading directly down there. It should be a good, although somewhat short, trip as I'll only be staying one night and coming back mid/late Saturday afternoon. This is kind of a "last long day" type of trip since the time will be changing shortly.

Earlier in the week I was thinking to myself how it's getting a little cooler at night and during the day it's been really nice too. I started thinking about plans for this weekend and realized that I have it "free" to myself and figured camping would be a lot of fun! A friend of mine may visit me out there if they're in the area and bring along some materials for smores making!

Since it's getting a little cooler I decided to pickup a new sleeping bag. So I hit REI and picked up a Polar Pod which is good down to 20ºF, which I can probably take even cooler since I tend to radiate crazy amounts of heat when I sleep. This will be my first "real" sleeping bag that is capable of actually keeping me warm when things get cold. I opted to go synthetic because I didn't really feel like spending twice as much for down! Maybe when I start camping considerably more I'll get a down one.

In more camping related news...I also ordered a Hennessy Hammock. I've been contemplating hammock vs. tent for a while now. The tent I'm currently using is borrowed and while it does a great job I don't like borrowing things for extended periods of time. After a good bit of research, an excellent sale and a somewhat spontaneous purchase ... I now have one coming my way. I'm looking forward to it and I'll have to "make up an excuse" to go camping again in the very near future!

I also got a good CraigsList deal on some brand new SKS fenders. So after a good hour of cussing and fiddling with them they are now installed on the DoubleCross. I'll try and remember to get some updated pictures of the bike this weekend.
I'm still working to perfect my trackstand and I'm getting quite good. So far I can trackstand with either foot forward although my "goofy" foot is still pretty unstable. My "chocolate" foot (or my dominant foot) is pretty good and I'm VERY stable on a fixed gear and almost as stable on a geared bike.

Well...that's all going on here. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

J

Decisions Decisions!

2008-10-14T22:18:00.005-05:00

There is way too much going on this weekend...unfortunately I have to choose between 2 awesome bike events. There is the Tour de Fat, and the Outlaw 100.

At the Tour de Fat I get to hang around a bunch of weird bikes and enjoy some crazy shows put on by New Belgium Brewery...and enjoy some good beer and friends. All proceeds also go to help out local clubs...

OR I can go to the Outlaw 100 and do a century. Again with some friends and fairly flat course but it could be windy...considerably less beer and weirdness but a good opportunity to get a century in...

So what do you think? Ride 100 miles or check out the Tour de Fat? I would also get to wear my new Fat Cyclist jersey that I got in the mail today!

In other news I rode a fixed gear for the first time today...one of the other mountain bikers had a fixed gear mountain bike at the ride this evening...it was pretty cool. I don't think I would want a fixed mountain bike but it was pretty cool riding it around the parking lot and working on my track stand!

Jared

Learning to Trackstand

2008-10-10T19:59:00.002-05:00

First off sorry for the long break. I've been riding quite a bit but I haven't been logging many of the miles...for some reason I've stopped caring about how many miles I ride in a month...I think that's a good milestone for me!

So the majority of riding I've been doing lately has been been on a single speed mountain bike. Unfortunately it's not mine but I'm really enjoying it! I think I might have to get one for myself in the fairly near future! This is what I've been riding, but with disc brakes...I like the rigid too!
So today on the ride home (on my Double Cross...not the mountain bike!) I decided I wanted to spend some time learning to trackstand. After about 30 minutes I was starting to get pretty good at it! I've found that getting into the trackstand is by far the most difficult part, but once I have one established I can hold it for a fairly long time. This is of course on slight incline since I don't currently have a fixed gear and can't "roll back" on flat ground.

I rode the Rip Roarin' Ride a couple weeks back. It was a really nice ride. It was along the same route that the Armadillo Hill Country Classic is on which is a fairly hilly route with nice scenic views and almost 0 traffic. I met up with a cycling friend (that is really more of an RC friend) but he rides too and he and his girlfriend were doing this ride. They're both VERY strong riders and it was nice to ride with them...even though I was pretty tired after the 65 mile ride! They kept up a pretty high pace for the entire ride. At one point we hooked up with a tandem and were being pulled along fairly fast for a good long while!

J

Buescher State Park...and back

2008-09-21T20:07:00.007-05:00

Wow, seems like the last two days have been really packed...actually it feels like the last two days where much longer than the really are. I sure managed to pack a lot of fun into the last 30 or so hours!

Saturday morning had me rising really early. I set my alarm for 7:00 and was planning on meeting Andrew around 8:20...I couldn't sleep and ended up getting out of bed around 6:00 or thereabouts. I finished packing up the bike, double checking to make sure I had everything I needed and headed out the door around 7:50 for a 60 mile ride consisting of way more hills than I was expecting...exciting times.
Andrew just recently moved here. He rode a brakeless fixed gear and handled it extremely well. He rides a lot and is used to considerably more hills. This ride was child's play for him and it nearly killed me...go figure!
We started off with a nice tailwind and made pretty good time into Bastrop. We stopped a couple of times along the way but nothing too major. The ride down to Bastrop isn't all that pretty but the roads are very nice. There were only a couple of "scary" places but they weren't really all that bad. I would ride them again without thinking about it. We grabbed a bite to eat in Bastrop and took it easy for an hour or so at the restaurant (Big Mouth on Main). They hooked us up with some nice cold good water for our Camelbaks and bottles and we were on our way.
Almost immediately upon leaving the restaurant the climb up to Bastrop State Park started. I was feeling pretty good once we got to the park...unfortunately that feeling would not last.
After we got out of Bastrop State Park on State Road 1C we hit some of the steepest hills I've ever climbed. My GPS recorded 3, 20%+ Grades and one that is off the chart (I'm assuming a bad altitude read.) I climbed all but one of them, granted most of them were in the "granny" gear but hey, I climbed them.
We arrived at our camping area around 3:00 and hung out for a while. For dinner we rode to Smithville and ate at a burger joint that I promptly forgot the name of....had a beer too :) On the way back Andrew got a flat...first one of the trip.

The campsite we were at was pretty loud. There were some partiers not too far down from us but they didn't bother me too much because as I learned in Palo Duro, ear plugs are good! I didn't bother with the tent and Andrew didn't bring one, so we just slept under the stars. His sleeping bag was too warm, my blanket was too cold. I think both of us only got a couple of hours sleep, but it was enough.
Today we headed out around 7:45. Andrew ended up with 2 flats today and I ended up with one, which left the flat count at 4 for the entire trip.
As we neared Austin we got faint glimses in the distance.
Some of the roads back to Austin also provided some nice downhills...this is apparently how you coast on a fixed gear :)
It was a good trip. I'm looking forward to more in the future. I definitely learned some things things time. Mainly not to pack so much and that I need to ride more. I probably could have taken less than half of what I took on this trip...oh well, camp and learn!

Trip Stats:

128 Miles
4600ft Climbed
Other Fun Numbers...

Cue Freak Out...

2008-09-19T20:15:00.004-05:00

12 hours...that's all that separates me from walking outside, closing the garage door and riding 65ish miles to spend the night away from home. Not a big deal right? It's just one night...riiiiight. I'll just keep telling myself that. So far I've only repacked everything twice and quadruple checked my list...which should be written down but it's in my head. I'm worried about pretty much everything...but the main worry I have is "will my rack stay in one piece?"

See, the thing is, I have a cheap Performance Bike rack. It was $15...it has a stamp that says "Do not exceed 25kg" and while I know the weight on the rack is under 30lbs I still tend to worry about it's extremely cheap construction...I have a feeling that no matter what happens on this trip that I will be replacing the rack post haste, even if just for the piece of mind! Some of the sturdier racks aren't rated much over 25kg, which doesn't give me a lot of confidence in the rack I currently have. I'm bringing some zip ties just incase I need to make an emergency repair!
Initially I was planning on heading out to Bastrop State Park, unfortunately it seems that Bastrop State Park and I are star crossed and I just can't seem to get in there. They're booked up for the next couple of weeks with evacuees from the Texas coast...I'm not complaining. I think this is pretty awesome actually...but it means that we'll be riding through Bastrop State Park on our way to Buscher State Park.

I was lucky enough to convince a person from Bike Mojo to join me on this trip. Hopefully it will be fun and we won't kill each other. Hopefully he's a strong rider but not THAT MUCH stronger than I am...he's also planning on doing the ride down to Buescher State Park on a fixed gear which could prove interesting and difficult as we ride through the many hills in Bastrop State Park.
All in all I'm really excited if not a little (lot) freaked out about the trip. In the back of my mind I KNOW that nothing major is going to happen. Worst case I have to call a friend to pick me/us up (o.k., that's not really WORST case...but comeon...let's be reasonable.)

All I have left to do is dump the course onto my Garmin and get my Camelbak ready to go...oh, and dump some Heed into my water bottles :)

So don't plan on hearing from me until Sunday...hopefully I'll have some good pictures!

Jared

Biking, Camping and Cooking

2008-09-16T21:26:00.004-05:00

So I've been busy doing a fair bit of riding lately. I've been commuting to work on a pretty regular basis, and doubling or trippling the commute milage on the way home. I've named these routes "Home+", "Home++", "Home+++", and "Home++++". As you can see I've very original. Each + increments the milage and the overall amount of climbing. There is also just a "Home" route as well but I generally don't ride that one. Yesterday I hit the "Home+++" route which incorporates 3 very steep hills. I'll need to ride with my GPS to see how steep they all are. One of them almost pushed me down to the granny gear on my tripple!

The weather has just been WAY too nice to drive lately. I've been doing pretty much all errands by bike and I've only driven about twice in the last 2 weeks...it's been nice and it's allowed me to rack up some nice milage while not really even thinking about it. Hopefully this weather will stay around for this weekend...when...

I FINALLY head out to Bastrop State Park for some bike camping...yay! I decided earlier today that I'm just going to go. I'll head out on Saturday and head back on Sunday. It's 50 miles each way from my place. Should be a nice ride. I'm trying to convince a friend or two to join me but unfortunately I have a feeling that won't actually happen...so it will be a lone tour unless anyone wants to join me :)

I also picked up a new stove today. It's a Mini Trangia. I have a camping stove which is actually pretty small, but the fuel canister is pretty large...and that's without any type of cooking gear. I really don't need to do much more than heat some water and maybe occasionally cook some eggs or something. I've already fired it up...it works pretty nicely, but the flame fairly hard to see.

So I'm pretty excited about the camping trip...I'll probably start packing for it...tomorrow...or later tonight :)

I'm also REALLY enjoying the DoubleCross a lot these days. It's much better in it's current state than it's ever been. So much so that my Smoothie ES hasn't been ridden in about 4 weeks! It's hard having 2 bikes...one is always jealous. Next weekend the Smoothie will get some love out at the Rip Roarin' Ride. It will be interesting to see how different it feels after riding the DC for so long.

I think that's about all the excitement going on here. More fun bike camping news to follow later!

New Wheels

2008-09-11T21:24:00.004-05:00

I mentioned yesterday that I picked up some new wheels...well, here they are:
The rear is 36 spoke and the front is 32. Initially I was planning on doing 32 on both just because 32 hole rims are easier to find if I have to replace a rim on tour...however the rear 32 hole hub was backordered for a couple of months! So I opted for 36h instead.
While color isn't really all that important...it's somewhat important :) I've tried to go fairly stealth with the components on this bike. Pretty much everything is black with the exception of the cockpit and the brakes that add a nice silver accent. Going with this "theme" I went for all black wheels, but silver nipples...I think the contrast is nice. Also the nipples are brass...which is pretty much the standard unless you pay big money for "light" aluminum nipples, which aren't as strong. The spokes are under fairly high tension to prevent breakages. I believe he said each spoke is tensioned to 110-120 (is this pounds?)
The hubs are XT Disc hubs. Really these are probably the best hubs you can get for your money! The rear dropouts are spaced at 132.5mm so I can run 130 or 135mm hubs. Since these are mountain hubs the rear is 135mm. The nice thing about Centerlock hubs is that you can't really tell that they're disc hubs. I mean both wheels are dished, but the disc interface is pretty small...not like 6 bolt.
I also picked up a kickstand. This model is very steady and should hold up the bike when it's fully loaded. Both legs fold onto the left side of the bike. Getting it installed was pretty tight with the front derailer cable (I should probably make more of a provision for it...right now it's rubbing up against part of the kickstand but it doesn't affect shifting.)

As you can see it lifts the rear wheel up pretty high. I need to cut it down. I'm just not sure how much I should cut off. It would be most stable with both wheels and the kickstand down, but getting that level of percision could be difficult! Plus it wouldn't work very well in dirt. I think I need to cut some more off...but I don't know how much. Guess I should ask in the forums.
I like the tires a LOT too. They have some tread (I'm not really sure why road tires have tread), but you can't feel it on the road. These tires grip...and grip some more! Since they're wider the contact patch is larger these are cornering machines. The ride is pretty smooth and plush too, I'm glad I spend the extra money and went with the Supremes over the normal Marathons. These roll extremely well and they're ALMOST as good as the 23mm tires on my Smoothie ES.

Speaking of the Smoothie ES my Double Cross is really giving her a run for her money! I haven't been on the Smoothie in a couple of weeks now and the DC has been hogging up all the miles. It's too bad you can't ride 2 bikes at once! I think after some more miles on the DC I'll really appreciate the lightness of the Smoothie a lot more! I've been riding the last 3 days and plan on riding to work tomorrow as well. Each day I've added on a "Home+" route to up the mileage. I've been trying to keep it slow and stop doing intervals...so far it's working o.k., not great.

I'm also finally starting to drop some pounds...YAY! I think I'll pickup one of those scales that measures body fat content...or maybe just one of the hand held ones. I would like to track my fat loss/gain rather than weight which doesn't really mean much since I workout and could just be putting on muscle...ya, that's it...

It's really nice to have something meaningful to post about...things are less muddled and words just seem to flow!

J

How I Roll

2008-09-10T22:24:00.003-05:00

I received an e-mail earlier today saying that my wheels were done and I could pick them up after work. I rode home as fast as possible...picked up the Forester and headed out to get the wheels. Unfortunately I didn't have any way to carry them on my bike or I would have just rode to pick them up...if I knew they were going to be ready today I would have made provisions.

The wheels came out awesome! The build quality is excellent and it's pretty easy to tell that Mike (the guy that built the wheels) takes a lot of pride in his work. He doesn't work at a bike shop or anything but he does build wheels quite often...he even seemed a little excited about building these since they're not the normal type of wheels that he builds at work.

They came out lighter than I expected and they're extremely stout! I'll post some detailed pictures tomorrow after I get them broken in a little more. So far I haven't heard any "pings" from the spokes settling in. He built these with fairly high spoke tension since I'll be using them for loaded touring so I think the spokes have probably already settled.

The Schwalbe Marathon Supremes are extremely nice. They're stealthy quiet and they grab like there's no tomorrow...not to mention that they roll a lot easier than my last set of tires. I'll put them through some more extreme tests tomorrow...but I think I made a good decision here!

Well, enough rambling on about my wheels...pictures to follow tomorrow. Now I just need some fenders and my touring setup will be pretty complete! The fenders may wait...but they're not all that expensive either.

J

Many things...

2008-09-09T21:50:00.006-05:00

Weather Woes -
Well, I'm sitting here, watching the news, thinking "wow, I'm really excited about the Tour de Florence!" When I see the projected track for Ike. It looks like all of the computer models are placing it right on top of Austin as a tropical storm on Saturday...which means 40+ MPH winds. So it's very possible that I won't be riding the Tour de Florence this weekend :-(

Today I didn't get rained on...although it was pretty much humid enough to "act" like rain. I guess I was making my own rain because of the moisture. It took me a while to dry off at work today. I ended up staying outside talking with some of the smokers for a little while until I was at a mostly dry state...

Loading it Down -

Generally when I ride to work I just go with a single pannier. I don't notice it's there unless I'm going up a huge hill, but a lot of people seem to think it would feel odd with a single bag on the back...it doesn't. Today as I was riding to work I looked down only to notice the pannier was gone! I freaked out for a brief moment...then quickly realized that the bag was on the other side of the rack. I used to put the single bag on the left side of the bike. I've started putting it on the right since that's the drive side and if I lay the bike down on it's side, for whatever reason, I always put it on the non-drive side...so it just makes sense to have the bag on the drive side so I'm not laying the bike on the bag.

Anyways on my ride home I needed to grab some groceries but I neglected to grab the other pannier as I left this morning...I didn't need much, so I decided to see how much I could pack into a single bag. I ended up getting everything in the pannier without problems. I even hit the bike store and picked up a new rear light:

It's bright...REALLY BRIGHT!

Once I arrived home I plopped the bag on the scale (20lbs.) I then unpacked, made dinner and made some Poppy Seed Bread, which is the reason I needed to go to the store...mmmmm
It's still unclear why I don't seem to be losing weight like I used to...hmmm.

Restoring Bikes -
About a month ago a good friend happened on to a vintage Schwinn. She hasn't ridden a bike in about 10 years, if not longer, but wants to have something to ride around the neighborhood and possibly go out to the Veloway with. She's not looking to become anything more than an occasional cyclist...even though I would like for her to ride with me when I'm running around town.
I started restoring the bike about 2 weeks ago. I've been moving pretty slowly considering I did everything you see here in about 4 hours. Most parts have been removed. The BB and headset have been rebuilt, brakes and most non-painted metal has been polished up. I still have a fair bit of work to do but so far it's coming along nicely. I need to run the serial numbers and if it's "nothing special" then I'll probably scuff it and put on a new top coat of paint, but I haven't decided on that yet.

And for no particular reason here's another shot of my SOMAs. The DoubleCross has been getting a lot of love lately...I haven't ridden the Smoothie ES in a while now. I was hoping to get her some action on Saturday but as I mentioned above it doesn't look like that's going to happen now. I'm sure there is plenty of tarmac in her future though!
Peace Out!
J

Because I "need" bike stuff...

2008-09-07T23:21:00.005-05:00

Well, I'm having a nice set of touring wheels built. I found a guy here in town that's building them up for me. He works "in the biz" but doesn't work for a shop, however he builds LOTS of wheels at his job and can get parts at wholesale prices. He's also a touring cyclist so I tend to trust his opinion on things. We talked for a while (really e-mails back and forth) and I'm getting a set of wheels with DT Swiss TK Rims, 14 gauge spokes and Shimano XT Hubs. Rims, Hubs and Spokes will be black, with silver nipples. Similar to the current wheels on the Double Cross...just with more spokes (32 front...36 rear) and in a 3 cross pattern...so they'll actually be nothing like these, except for the same color palette.

All of the pieces are fairly top end. For instance the rims use a full insert rather than just 2 eyelets that surround the spoke hole. These rims actually have an insert that goes completely through the rim...nice. The hubs are disc compatible for later use on...well, whatever. The disc hubs weren't that much more and it's nice to have options. The spokes are butted, which he recommended to not only save weight but to also better distribute strain throughout the wheel rather than placing all the pressure right on the flange area. Essentially the spokes will give a little more in the "thin" area.

I also ordered a set of Schwalbe Marathon Supremes in 35mm width. I've heard LOTS of good things about the Marathon Supremes...and I'm really looking forward to getting them in. They look pretty sexy too.
So, that's really all the "news" going on these days. I'm looking forward to the Tour de Florence coming up on Saturday. Hopefully I'll be able to hookup with Señor Bike Noob and I believe Skinny Mike is also headed out there as well. No news as to whether my astranged riding buddies Eric and Christine plan on heading out or not.

J

In nerd news, if you haven't checked out Google Chrome...I highly recommend it.

Where to start?

2008-08-30T23:22:00.003-05:00

My last 2 rides have been awesome...I've gotten rained on for at least a couple of minutes on each ride and I've met some pretty nice people too. Even the motorists seem to be on-board with my riding and I've received quite a few waves and exactly 0 honks.

I ventured out on Thursday after work on the Smoothie ES. My goal was to stay in zone 2. I quickly realized that this wasn't going to happen so I decided to try and stay under zone 4. This was considerably easier to manage and I did pop into zone 4 and even 5 for a little bit...but not for long. Generally I tend to stay in zone 4 for the majority of my rides but I'm trying to take more easier/longer rides and switch up my training. I had a nice medium paced ride, met a Scott and let him draft for a while when we were in a big head wind. He was headed downtown to meet up with some family and was on a converted mountain bike with some panniers on the back. We got to talking when I saw a tripod in his pack and asked him about it. Apparently when he saw the nice fluffly clouds he decided to grab the camera and shoot some HDR...we rode together in the light rain for a couple of miles before I turned off. Immediately the rain stopped and the street was dry...the pavement was completely dry for the rest of the ride home.

Today I took out the DoubleCross and went to Frankenbike ... I don't really know why I bother going. I don't actually NEED anything but I do like looking at all the bike parts. I guess at heart I am a Bike Nerd and I enjoy seeing new/old/different bike stuff. After Frankenbike I headed to Freewheeling Bicycles and then up to Pflugerville to meet up with my RC Buddies. About 5 miles before I got to the field it started to sprinkle. When I arrived it was still sprinkling but we could hear the hard rain hitting the trees about 500 feet to our east. They quickly packed up and I jumped on the bike...beating the rain and heading back home. After a couple of miles I had to turn south, directly into the rain. I thought to myself "wow, it would be nice to have fenders..." but honestly I don't mind getting wet! After the rain dissopated I headed to Subway to "fuel" up...I sat in there for probably a good 30 minutes just sucking down water and relaxing. The rest of the ride home was pretty uneventful. Here's a map of today's ride:

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-states/tx/austin/477837229687"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;08/30/2008 Route&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br/&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://www.mapmyride.com/find-ride/united-states/tx/austin"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Find more Bike Rides in Austin, Texas&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

Today was also the first day that I tried out my new panniers. Well...I actually only tried out one of them. However so far I REALLY like them. Getting them on and off the bike is super easy. The attachment method seems really strong; however, I was able to get the bottom part to release from the rack...this happened while I was bunny hopping over some PVC pipe in the road so I don't really fault the bag here! The top stayed connected and the bag would not have released from the rack, which is really the important part. I can also vouch for their waterproofness since it did get rained on pretty good!

That's about all the excitement happening in these parts. I think I'll be taking a break tomorrow and do some RC flying. Although I might get out and do some mountain biking in the afternoon. No plans for Monday just yet.

Hope everyone has a good 3 day weekend!
J

Retraction (somewhat):
In my last post I mentioned that I hated my Michelin TransCity tires. They're not quite as bad as I made them out to be. Actually today they seemed to work out fairly well. The turning still isn't that great but rolling resistance didn't seem nearly as bad as last time. So it's probably more fair to say that I just strongly dislike them and want to replace them rather than "hate" them.