I like to ride my bicycle - for long distances. I have earned the California Triple Crown and finished the Furnace Creek 508. My goals include qualifying for RAAM and ...(read the blog to find out).
"The bicycle has a soul. If you are able to love it as it deserves, it will give you emotions you will never forget."
Mario Cipolini
"Nothing compares to the simple pleasure of a bike ride."
John F. Kennedy
"The important decisions in my life I make while out riding my bike."
Former Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi
"Pain is temporary, quitting lasts forever.” Lance Armstrong
Monday, January 22, 2007
First Century of the Year
Miles: 100.81
January Miles: 193.61
What do you do when you have been off of the bike for nearly three weeks due to injury and bad weather and when the first good weekend comes along, you have previously planned a weekend at the coast? Well, you bring your bike and ride it home!
That's what I did yesterday. Martin, Carol, Joanne and I spent Saturday night in a yurt at Cape Lookout State Park. In the morning, I rode six miles north to the small town of Netarts where we ate breakfast. After a scrumptious omelet, I headed home via the small towns of Pacific City, Grand Ronde, Sheridan, Balston, Perrydale and Lincoln.
Along the way, I came upon Mark Janaba who was out for a Sunday afternoon ride. He rode in with me to Salem and as we came into town, we came upon yelling into his cell phone and pointing to a house on fire. We had to stop and watch as firetruck after firetruck came rushing along. I'm sorry, but I really don't think that entering a burning house is a good way to earn a living. These folks just are not paid enough.
I make it home just as darkness fell. It was a very good ride for me. No rain fell, and while the skies were mostly cloudy, I did see the sun for a few minutes. I did have one flat, but changing a flat when it is not raining is not that bad of a task.
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
I wish I could ride!
The weather has been just lousy for bicycle riding. On Tuesday, we were hit with a snow storm. Salem only received a couple of inches, but Portland had much more. So, I did not have to go to work on Tuesday or today (Wednesday). I got to say home and work on my web site and clean the house.
As to the web site. I wanted to upload my weather data to The Weather Underground but the program that does this was not working. After reviewing the bug reports for Open2300, the software that I use, I determined that I needed to edit the source code and recompile. Once I did so, all was well. You can now view my weather data on my site, www.onyourleft.net/ws/, or at the Weather Underground. I only have less than one day's worth of data, but it is being updated every five minutes.
With the snow, I have not been able to ride. I really should have taken the opportunity last Sunday, and now I really wish I had. But, I made it down to Gold's Gym tonight and had a good workout.
The weather looks warmer for this weekend, but I will be down at the coast on a short get away mid-January vacation.
Saturday, January 13, 2007
Baby, it is Cold Outside!
Miles: 76.62
January Miles: 92.8
January rides in the Rain: One
The low temperature at my house was just 18.1° F. One would think that it would be just too cold to ride, but no, since it was not raining, and it was Saturday, it was time for a long ride. My only concession to the cold weather was that we started at 10:00 am, not first thing in the morning. This was Sal's suggestion; he is a sensible person.
The later starting time was a tactical error though. It allowed me to not set an alarm clock and as such, I overslept. As such, my morning was rushed and I did not eat a good breakfast; I consumed two Paley Bars as I drove down to the red lot.
We did a shorten version of my Kings Valley Loop. We did not finish with Liberty Hill, but headed back to Salem after crossing the Independence Bridge. None the less, we got in over 75 miles in the cold.
I had dressed correctly considering the weather. I had on three tops, two bottoms, a head covering, good gloves and two pairs of socks (one wool) and booties. The only improvement could have been a second set of booties, but my toes did not get painfully cold, just cold.
The route was good, with just enough hills to make it worthwhile. We did see some ice, but never so much that we were in trouble. The roads were mostly dry.
I had a good ride; I felt strong. However, I did suffer in two areas. After 50 miles, my rear end was telling me that the two weeks off I took had soften my saddle contact points. I found myself standing a lot to ease the pain. Also, my left arm was sore from holding my body up. Perhaps, my handlebars are too far forward. Time for a bike fitting.
This ride does not count toward a "Saturday Century" so I still need a century this month. Since I have Monday, Martin Luther King Day off, it looks like I can bag one soon.
Fishback Hill
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
Tuesday in the Rain
Miles: 16.18
January Miles: 16.18
January Rides in the Rain: One!
Tuesday was a nice day, yes it was cloudy, but it was dry. On my drive home from work, the sky was still not dripping, but the radio said a storm was coming. It was still dry when I arrived home, so I decided to do the Scott's ride. I got myself and my bike ready and just as I was locking up the house, I started to feel a few, light drops of rain.
I pushed off and within two blocks, the sky opened up and I was drenched! Not just wet, but wet through and through. I should have turned around, but this was my first ride since dumping the tandem and I really wanted to ride. I was ready. I wanted it badly, so I continued on in the downpour.
I was raining so hard, I was concerned for my safety, but I continued on none the less. I reached Scott's Cycles, and found that hardly anyone was there, and no one wanted to ride. So, I joined up with Tony and headed home.
I was glad to see Joanne on the Johnny G Spinner when I got home, and she had both hands on the handlebar! She is healing well.
Sunday, January 07, 2007
Just look out the window!
One day I was surfing and came upon map of personal weather stations near my home in Keizer. I thought this was cool, so I called Joanne over to take a look. I could see that see was interested, but I did not know how interested until I received a personal weather station as a Christmas present. Joanne gave me a Lacrosse Weather Pro Center (WS-2310 TWC).
Fun! I now had a project!
From the first, my intent was to connect the weather station to a computer and present near-time weather observations on my web site. And, I wanted to do this using Linux and open source software. Well, after several false starts, my weather page is ready to go live.
Before I send you off there, here is some information concerning my setup.
First of all, my Thermo-Hygro sensor, my rain sensor and wind sensor are located on the rear deck of the house. This is a temporary location and my result in some inaccurate readings. I have order and awaiting delivery of a mast so I can mount the sensors above the roof, a much better location than the current one.
The three weather sensors use a 433 MHz radio signal to communicate with the weather station base station wirelessly. The base station is connected to a serial port of a computer running SuSE Linux. I have installed an open source set of utilities known as Open2300 on the computer and configured the computer to pull data every 2 minutes from the weather station and upload it to my web server. A script formats the data and presents the data in a readable format. You can see the results at www.onyourleft.net/ws.
No, the project is not done. I have several things left to do...
1) Install the mast and mount the sensors once the mast arrives.
2) Start sending data to The Weather Underground.
Down the road, I may consider archiving weather data in a MySQL database and creating reports. However, I will only go there if I can not use Weather Underground for this.
Yes, if I am not riding the bike, this is what I do for fun.
Wednesday, January 03, 2007
Monday, January 01, 2007
2007 Resolutions
¤ Record all of my food intake at Fitday.com
¤ Record all of my century rides in the UMCA Year Rounder Challenge
¤ Finish the harest double century in California - The Devil Mountain Double
¤ Finish the Davis 24 Hour Challenge with at least 350 miles
¤ Finish the Ring of Fire 24 Hour Time Trial with at least 325 miles (307 last year)
¤ Ride a week long self supported tour with my wife (Arizona perhaps?)
Too much for one bicyclists to do? Well, Henry David Thoreau said it better, “If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.”