On Bicycles, and.... what else is there?

For the first time this year since I started my blog in 2008, total posts have dropped. Here's a plot of the rate of net posts during the year since 2008, when Cara convinced me to start the blog: I started a bit slowly this year, then rallied, catching my 2010 schedule. But then I started losing ground, finishing in a dead heat with 2009. So what happened? The answer is I started riding more. This is evident from the plot on my Strava page . Barely surviving through April, then my hours start to take off in May. Normal commute means I am in the train around 100 minutes with my laptop. SF2G means I leave home early, then have only my cell phone for my train ride home. More riding = less posting. And that is a very good thing. Here's another look at my SF2G schedule. I counted the number of Strava activities I had with SF2G in the title. Before the period of the plot I didn't have GPS so I'd need to check my old training logs. I may have been occasional...

This weekend I was in Philadelphia for the first time since I was a small child, visiting Cara's family. The house was only a mile from the Philadelphia Art Museum, and that got me very excited. Sure, we went to the museum (or rather the Perelman Building extension: a fascinating exhibition of Zaha Hadid's architecture ), which was nice, but arguably far more famous than the museum itself is the steps leading to the front door of the main building, for these were the steps Rocky Balboa used to prove his fitness in Rocky , the Best Picture Acadamy Award winner of 1976. Here's a link to a YouTube version of the inspirational scene. You know you like it! As I began the short run to the museum, I readied myself for the ridicule of bystanders. Here would be an adult living out a scene of a 35-year-old film: Heh! Look at that bozo! "Go Rocky!" Heh. First, the statue. I had to take a photo. There's a long story on the statue, which was commissioned for R...

It is traditional that the top 3 men, top 3 women, top 3 juniors, and the Endurance Award winner of the Low-Key Hillclimb series are all awarded a free spot in Pen Velo's long-running San Bruno Hill Climb , held every year on Jan 1. I finished 4th, just out of the "money". But yesterday I signed up anyway, paying the entry fee: it's not often I have fitness and opportunity this time of year to do the climb. The USA Cycling page has it listed as a "time trial", but that's incorrect. It's a mass-start race, riders starting in waves from the base of Guadalupe Canyon Road near Bayshore, climbing to the "saddle point" marking the top of Guadalupe. Then from there it's a sharp right into the state park, down a short descent past the ranger kiosk, an immediate right turn over rough pavement a short straight, another right, pass back under Guadalupe Canyon, then the narrow, sometimes rough climb to the summit. Here's the profile: ...

I'm very excited about the 2012 North American Handbuilt Bicycle Show in the first weekend in March. (I was tempted to ride the Death Valley Double Century, but the two conflict.... Death Valley can wait.) Fairwheel Bikes , which has been stealing a lot of attention from the big boys at Interbike the past few years with their ultra-light project bikes, is delivering a new project to the show: "Project Right". I just came across this today, having seen their latest blog update . Here's the frame: Check that out: the left side of the rear triangle is completely missing, and there's no seat stays. This is really only an incremental change from the trend taken by Cervelo and Pinarello. Cervelo reduced the seat stays to mere formalities to provide vertical compliance, while Pinarello has been a leader (in marketing at least) in focusing material on the right chainstay, since that's the side where force is transmitted via the drivetrain. Here's the Ce...

I had a good year at the Low-Key Hillclimbs this year. Often by the time October rolls around fatigue from the year is starting to kick it. Last year I came into the series fairly fresh and fit, but then started a new job and my fitness went straight downhill from week 3 (my first) onward. I finally started exercising at a reasonable rate again in April this year, a mixture of running and some cycling (mostly long commutes to work), and surprised myself with a sub-1:31 half marathon in August: I considered that good given my lack of formal running background. So I knew I had some fitness but wasn't sure about how I'd do on the bike. I did a few climbs of Diablo before the series, just to get some climbing legs, and was surprised my times weren't so bad. But for the Low-Keys, you've got to be better than "not so bad". Everyone seems to raise their game for the series. But despite my worries I did pretty well. So as the series wound down, Tim Clark a...

Here's a good story: from the excellent StreetsBlog San Francisco, What's the Hold Up for Van Ness BRT? . San Francisco has no meaningful intra-city subway, and most of the street car lines were ripped out early in the 20th century. Street cars were mostly privately owned, and they couldn't compete with the massive public support provided to car infrastructure under political pressure from the car companies. So en masse, street lines were paved over, except for a skeletal few: there's a few key MUNI lines, and a few cable car lines which cater to tourists. BART runs through downtown, but just makes a few stops in the city, designed primarily to connect San Francisco to the East Bay. It's original goal of surrounding the Bay was gutted by first Santa Clara County opting out in 1957, then San Mateo County in 1961, each preferring to focus on expressways; Marin dropped out soon after [ Wikipedia ] (what an unbelievable tragedy). So San Francisco is stuck with bus...

The Cortland Hurl is the only significant climb on the SF2G Bayway route. According to Strava, it gains 25 meters in 400 meters, an average grade of 6.3%, although the grade is non-uniform. It starts out fairly gradual, then steepens, then gets gradual again towards the top. I like to make a good effort here when I'm feeling good during morning commutes. Typically I'm behind at the top of the steep bit, but I tend to do fairly well on the final gradual portion. If I'm having a good day, depending on who's there and how they're riding, I have a chance to be first to the top. I've not ridden with a power meter for a year now. I sort of lost interest: I just like riding my bike and I don't care what the power meter data are, so why carry around a heavy, expensive Powertap wheel? Strava gives me a fairly good idea how I'm doing with its segment timings. However, in addition to speed numbers Strava also produces power estimates. In fact, it will u...