Friday, November 14, 2008

A New Crossing

Hooray! The long awaited Broadway Pedestrian Overpass bridge is finally open! I have waited over a year for this to get done and it is now a reality!

East side entrance to overpass

Midspan view looking east

No more taking this route to or from work!

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Lousy Ride

Rode home from work today. The weather was nice, the skies clear and the road was dry.

It would have been a great ride if I didn't get 3 flats, get held up by a train for a good 10 minutes and I still had a slow leak in the tire I fixed.

Distance: 43.9 mi
Ride Time: 2:33
Average: 17.1 mph
Max: 26.2 mph
Average HR: 148 bpm
Max HR: 181 bpm
Cadence: 83 rpm

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Tire Change

My rear tire on my Eddy Merckx is finally at the end of life. The tire is square edged and bare threads are showing through. It wouldn't be much longer before it would puncture or I take a turn hard and go down. Its time for a tire change.

Over 2800 miles on this one!

As I stated in a previous post, I was wondering if it was better to buy 3 tires at a time or two. This will be my first application of using a three tire method. The tires, Vredestein Fortezzas, have over 2800 miles on them. I will be replacing the rear tire and leaving the front unchanged. It is my hope that by the time I wear the rear one out I will need a whole new set. My expectation is the get a minimum of 5000 miles on a set of 3 tires. This might be a bit of a stretch, but it is my hope. Time to put it to the test.

The 3rd tire of the set mounted and ready.

Sunday, November 9, 2008

No RBR Ride Today

I was planning to do the RoadBikeReview ride today, but I misread the Siclista blog on where the meeting place was. So I rode alone for a good 15 miles until I remembered that there was another shorter ride which was posted on the blog. I figured I would ride against the route and I should run into them. I was already close to the start point and I hadn't run into anyone. A quick SMS message to the ride leader and I find out that they decided to the the ride clockwise. We were about 6-8 miles apart so we rode toward each other till we hooked up.

L-R Me, JohnM & Manny

We met up and there were just two riders, JohnM and Manny. JohnM was riding a different bike. He usually rides a Softride bike, but today he showed up on a Orbea Orca bike! Nice bike JohnM! He too was planning to ride the RBR ride, but realized he forgot most of his riding gear, he had to go back home to get it. So he decided to do the short ride that was posted. Good thing he did, because he is so used to riding the Softride bike which is setup TT and the Orca is setup as a standard road bike. It was a new riding experience for him.

JohnM with his Orbea Orca

During the ride back to my car, I got a flat and while repairing it, I met Sissie and Glenn from Florida. They were on these 3 wheel trikkes that I have seen on tv.

Glenn & Sissie

Ride Stats: Time: 3:23 Dist: 53.61mi Avg: 15.8mph Cadence: 82rpm Max: 42.3mph AHR: 151bpm MHR: 188bpm

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Dark/Lonely Ride

Did a ride from work (Burlingame, CA) to home (Milpitas, CA). Started late so it got dark fast. But no worries, had my Dinotte 200L to light the way and a 140L in fast strobe mode to fend off any cars thinking of getting too close. Temperatures started to cool but my base layer wind blocker kept the cold air at bay. The ride was uneventful. At least I had my iPod shuffle to entertain me and it kept my cadence steady at 90+ rpm. I passed one other cyclist on the way home.
Ride Info: 44 miles, 2:15:00
Avg pbm: 159

Not a very good shot of my dinotte 200L in action (setting on high)

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

I Voted...How About You?

Today is a big day. No matter what side you are on, get out and vote. There are other issues at stake that need to voted on, not just who is going to be sitting in the Oval Office. History will be made either way.


Sunday, November 2, 2008

1st Ride for November

With the daylight savings time change and an extra hour sleep, Sunday turned out to be a good day for a ride. It had been raining pretty good the last few days and I needed to get out stretch my legs.

My local bike club, Siclista California, had a short/easy 33 mile ride scheduled for today, so I decided to add to it by biking to the meeting location from my house 16 miles away. Thinking it was going to be a chilly morning ride, I decided to layer up for the ride. Man was I wrong! First off, I started late so I was forced to ride hard to make sure I got to the meeting place before they took off. I did make it with a good 10 minutes to spare, but I was overheating big time. I could see the steam emanating from my body while waiting for the rest of the riders to show up.

We ended up with a group of 7 riders. Either the late night heavy rain scared off the riders or they just wanted to take advantage of the extra hour of sleep (I don't blame them!). I ended up with a good 45mi ride.