December 2010

You are currently browsing the monthly archive for December 2010.

headlands in silhouette

December 21, 2010 in riding | No comments

I checked the radar when I woke up this morning, and noticed that there were no rain clouds in sight. the humidity was a tad high, and the ground was still wet, so I remained cautious. and yes, I learned from my tire pressure mistake yesterday morning, opting for 75-80psi today. the ride was much more comfortable, and the front tire stuck turns perfectly.

it also seems like the sun keeps rising a hair later, everyday. yesterday it was 7:20am, today it was 7:21am – several weeks ago I’m fairly certain that the sunrise was at 7:15am (possibly earlier). either way, I’m glad my front light works well and isn’t acting up like it did a while back. nothing worse than finding yourself in pitch black. and out in the headlands, there are basically no street lights which means if you’re out of light, you’re riding blind. not ideal, or safe for that matter. today, the sun had a clear shot through the clouds, and when it finally rose over san francisco, the view was epic. granted, I didn’t stop to take a picture, but it’s not too hard to imagine what it looked like. just go a couple weeks back on the blog to see!

anyway, the roads and streets were quieter than usual, I’m guessing it’s because of christmas. even my commute into work was ghostly.

perfect!

Tags: cannondale supersix, double, rain, rodeo beach, san francisco, winter

the monday before x-mas.

December 20, 2010 in riding | No comments

it seems as if I avoided the morning showers when I rode this morning. the radar showed a bit of precipitation above marin, and below san francisco, which left a humid, dry road in the headlands. to my surprise, the sun rose rather late in the morning (7:20am), and I rode nearly half the ride in darkness. luckily, I avoided a majority of the road hazards, hitting only one big rock while descending the backside of rodeo beach. it came out of no where, srsly.

the wind was strong from the south, and I made awesome time back to the bunker tunnel. of course, when I arrived at the bridge, the wind was non-stop, in your face, all the way across. it was a bit disheartening, but at least it wasn’t raining. and as a side note, I ran my front tire a bit overinflated by about 10psi, and that just made the ride quality just horrible. definitely not going to do that again, especially since the tire drop would be less, slipping out the front wheel could be a potential danger. yikes!

I rode the bmx in to work, and saw two packages waiting for me. one was from hammer nutrition, which contained a jersey, bibs, hat, wind vest, and a small sample kit containing endurolytes (and fizz), a bar, and some heed/recoverite which I’m fairly familiar with now. I plan on using the kit to train in, everyday use type stuff. I chose the hammer kit because it was made by voler, the same manufacturer for the freewheel kit. it’s a bit hard switching back and forth from one chaomis shape to the next, I’ve gotten quite used to the voler cut and fit, it only made sense to pick the same company when looking for another kit.

the other package was the phil wood hoodie:

number 1 out of 100! so legit.

Tags: cannondale supersix, double, freewheel, gear, rain, rodeo beach, san francisco, spotted, weather

for sale on a rainy day.

December 19, 2010 in general | No comments

I’ve moved onto a 140mm deda zero100 stem, so my old 130mm one is up for sale!

deda zero 100 servizio corse stem

- 130mm length, 31.7mm clamp, 82 degrees

- titanium bolts

- lightly used

$90 cash only, local sf sales only.

that being said, I hope my waterproof shoe covers and gloves come soon. it seems like the rain is staying until thursday. I’m taking today to recharge my legs for the stretch of wet, pre-dawn rides I’ll be doing for the next couple days.

Tags: for sale, gear

more wind than rain.

December 18, 2010 in riding | No comments

I lucked out today, the rain clouds gapped as I headed out from the house. the ground was still saturated, so I opted to keep the ride short and the intensity high. the bike path on the bridge was open, which was nice for a change. there wasn’t anyone riding on it though. I saw no one until bunker road – travis was coming up the path, head down, pushing the big ring, presumably doing an interval. a couple seconds later, I saw gabe (mashsf!) smiling at me as I rode by. I kept my eyes on rodeo beach, riding straight into the heavy headwind. there was a steady 15mph wind off the coast and a thick air all around the headlands. the humidity was hovering around 90%, which made for a very moist ride, to say the least. at least it wasn’t freezing cold.

then a tall, lanky guy in a freewheel kit popped up about 500ft in front of me. he began climbing the short loop around rodeo beach, and I was fairly certain it was connor (cat1 hero!). I caught him a couple minutes later at the top of the climb, and we proceeded to ride another loop around the hill. on our initial descent, a deer was standing in the middle of the path as we came around a corner. I wasn’t sure which way the deer would go, but luckily, it hopped off to the side and stared at us as we rode past. he was probably thinking the same thing we were: “what are you doing in the middle of the road?!”. anyway, we went around once more, and on the second descent, a dog was standing in the middle of the path. I looked back to see where connor was, and we both slowed down. the dog stayed planted in his spot, only moving towards his owner once we rode past. I was just glad he didn’t hop in front of us…that would’ve been bad. of course, when we thought we were free and clear, the SAME deer was in the middle of the road. this time, it hopped onto the high ground, completely away from any road traffic.

connor led me around a small residential path, a detour off bunker road. it was slightly more hilly, but it was nice to be off the main road traffic. we regrouped with travis (but lost gabe somewhere), and hit mccollough, back to the bike path on the bridge. it was good running into you guys, thanks for letting me tag along, connor! I have to say, riding with experienced cyclists has taught me a bunch about cycling – it’s technique. the ability to pedal efficiently under all conditions, the quick decision making skills when descending, knowing when to feather front or rear brakes, and how much…I’ve still got a ways to go, but that’s the best part of it all. you can always improve. as we rode across the bridge, I saw ryan (cat4, now on team mike’s bikes) heading out as we were coming back into the city. hope you had a good ride!

I spent the remainder of the day running some errands with mi madre, prepping our old house for the hardwood floor work. have some dailies:

Tags: daily, double, freewheel hayes, headlands, rain, rodeo beach, san francisco, spotted, weather, winter

silent hill.

December 17, 2010 in riding | No comments

yes, unfortunately, the rain is back. apparently it’ll be here for a while, even through next week. on the bright side, the bike rides and shifts smoothly. the brand new rear tire, paired with all the other tweaks the shop did, offered a very secure ride even in the wet. I was fortunate enough to avoid heavy downpour, which helped delay water seeping into my socks and shoes. I’ve got smaller sized gore-tex waterproof shoe covers on the way, the mediums fit too loosely, even though they’re sized for my shoe length. I’ve also had a fairly difficult time picking a pair of gloves on cold, wet mornings. all the options I currently have aren’t waterproof, and they tend to soak up water, which ends up wicking away any heat – I’d be better off riding with my bare hands (surprisingly, I learned this from man vs. wild with bear grylls…bummer I don’t have a television anymore). speaking of heat and things I’ve learned from my tv watching days: 40% of your body’s heat vents from your head. it’s important to keep your head warm in cold weather.

that being said, I ordered a couple more items along with those gore-tex shoe covers. the wet, windy weather leaves my hands cold constantly, so I opted to try a more insulated glove. enter, the endura deluge waterproof glove: fully sealed, cordura/supplex wrapped, neoprene AND velcro cuffed, this glove reads as the ultimate hand protection from the bite of the wind, as well as rain. various capo products were also on sale at the time, and I jumped for some cordura shoe covers, and a thin wool beanie. the cool thing about the beanie is that it has a visor, which is perfect for brisk, clear mornings where the sun is unobstructed. there has been numerous times in the past where my vision of the road has been blocked by streaming rays of light…it’s ideal to have a cap with a visor. my current micro-fleece beanie seems to be better for foggy mornings, such as today, where there is no direct sunlight. I’m always pleasantly surprised on how much a visor affects my field of vision, I could see the sky for once!

Tags: cannondale supersix, double, freewheel hayes, gear, rain, rodeo beach, san francisco, weather

the cold is back.

December 16, 2010 in riding | No comments

the weather turned a bit chilly overnight, lows reaching somewhere in the high 30′s, low 40′s. I took a peak at the forecast before I left this morning, and “freezing fog” was the general reading in marin (past sausalito at least). the cold was manageable, I was just glad it wasn’t raining. I headed out to rodeo beach (surprise), and went around the hill twice. on my way back, I decided to tack on some more climbing, so I turned onto mccollough and climbed to the top of conzelman. I descended back down to the bunker intersection, and climbed it a second time, determined to thoroughly enjoy my stay out in the headlands before heading back. you can see the fog rolling in, strong and thick, in the picture above. it was cold and windy on the way back.

my bike had a date at the shop, so I packed it in the car, and drove over to get it tuned. it must’ve been months, and thousands of miles since it was last tweaked. it desperately needed the tune-up. when I arrived at the shop, dustin took the park tools chain stretch gauge and attempted to gauge my chain. turns out, the chain was so toasted that the gauge didn’t even grab…sick. it was replaced with a new 7900 chain. the rear gatorskin had flatted 3 times, and was pretty much flat in the middle, so that was swapped out for a steel beaded new one. the front derailleur cable and housing were also worn, which meant the left side of the bar had to be re-wrapped after the housing swap (…like ‘wife swap’? ha!). travis sent me a picture of my fork and lower bearing…it looked like a grind fest of sand, grit, and dirt. that’s what happens when you ride in the wet, agh!

the lower bearing was also very worn. they took off the seals and regreased it, but eventually, it’ll need to be replaced. travis threw a special order form down for phil wood – they actually make a 1.5″ lower bearing, fancy that. that should be in next week or so, perfect timing for the clear weather. unfortunately, the rain will be coming down friday through sunday (possibly monday), so that’ll put a dampener on any long riding I’ll be doing.

there it is, the 140mm stem, in all it’s glory. time to list the 130mm stem for sale. and possibly my reynolds strikes? we shall see, I’m going to have the shop pull off my 12-23t 7900 cassette next week when I’m there swapping out my headset bearing, so that I can sell the wheels by themselves. or maybe I’ll just keep them, just in case…

Tags: cannondale supersix, double, freewheel hayes, gear, headlands, rodeo beach, san francisco, weather, winter

r45′s.

December 15, 2010 in porn | No comments

the powerhouse behind charly wegelius and the rest of the unitedhealthcare pro continental team. I’m quite fond of the orange anodized chris king r45 hubs…that is so G. maybe I should snag some red r45′s when I have freewheel build my next wheelset up…the orange just makes them pop! as a side note, unitedhealthcare will be running maxxis clincher tires on their enve 45′s, which I find a bit interesting, considering most pro teams run tubulars for races.

read the full article on cyclingnews.

Charly Wegelius’s UnitedHealthcare

Tags: porn

dawn patrol.

December 15, 2010 in riding | No comments

the rain stopped early this morning, leaving a cool and crisp air around marin. it was in the mid-40′s by time I made it through to bunker road, but lack of wind kept the chill at a minimum. nothing eventful really happened on my rounds out near the beach, but there were these two big, curly haired dogs that were barking at me from the side of a mini cooper. they did it before, last week, and I’m almost certain, one of these days the small guy who owns both of those dogs won’t be paying attention and they’ll both run after me. that would SUCK.

anyway, I headed back towards san francisco on the bridge, and around the second pillar I saw some of my favorite bros: travis, connor, gabe (I think), and joseph from HOC. yes, getting in that early morning steez.

GET IT!

Tags: cannondale supersix, double, freewheel hayes, rodeo beach, san francisco, spotted, winter

daily.

December 14, 2010 in general | 1 comment

all sorts of liquorice?

nope. liquorice. all sorts.

I’ve been slowly chipping away at this. my mom seems to get the tastiest christmas gifts.

Tags: daily

welcome to hell.

December 14, 2010 in riding | No comments

left the house at 6am today to push out a ride before work. the forecast read as 70% chance of rain, but the radar appeared to only show a fast moving mist in marin. but of course, as soon as I reached the embarcadero, the mist came down with fury, and the wind draped my face with water. there was a strong northbound wind of at least 20mph, which made pedaling across the empty bridge towards marin a breeze. but as I made my way through bunker, past the tunnel, the wind hit like a brick wall. there was no escaping it, and the water slowly seeped past my shoe covers, into my socks.

I kept my head up, and continued to push towards rodeo beach, in search of a bit of coverage and elevation from the small hills in the area. there was no one out. srsly. I saw one or two cars the entire time I was out there, it was very eery. the climbing went well, but I did most of it in the dark. a thick, humid fog covered most of the road, and seeing more than 30ft was nearly impossible. I was a bit spooked descending in the fog and wet, but the turns were the same. just ill-lit and slippery.

the ride back to the tunnel was quick because of the tail-wind, but as soon as I reached the bridge, the wind was at 100% once again. it was disheartening to say the least.

I made it back, safely, and for that, I am grateful. shoutout to the bike gods for keeping the rubber side down, and anyone else who braved the weather this morning.

Tags: cannondale supersix, double, rain, rodeo beach, san francisco, spotted, weather

« Older entries § Newer entries »