Yellow Springs to Xenia on the Little Miami Trail

Hoped to catch the bike shop open in Yellow Springs tonight to talk about a new handlebar stem.  They were closed, so I rode from Yellow Springs to Xenia and back on the Little Miami Trail.  It’s a fairly steady descent down to Xenia with a nice high MPH average outbound, but the return is steady gradual ascent back to Yellow Springs.  I tried to keep the spin rate high.  Been cycling a few days in a row now, mostly hill workouts, so I didn’t want to push it.

Very scenic area of the trail and pleasant to ride!

20 miles; 1:40

Small Tweaks and Equipment Testing on the Surly LHT’s

Today, my back was still tight…. but I didn’t want an intense bike ride.  Instead, we focused on relatively easy spinning and testing some tweaks to the touring bikes.  We both wanted some changes to our handle bars, so we headed out on the road.  I raised Penny’s handlebar and rotated mine.

We both hit the road without any padding, using the Columbia Road, Turtlecreek Rd-Mason Morrow Rd loop.  I tried to wear casual shorts over compression shorts, but my I should have grabbed my longer compression shorts.  The casual shorts kept rubbing and grabbing my leg hair… ouch!!  It wasn’t too terrible though.  On our way back to the vehicle I rotated Penny’s handlebar and then later bumped her seat forward.

I left my casual shorts at the vehicle before we headed out again on the bike path just to get some miles for Penny’s saddle change.  Using the Little Miami Trail, we headed up towards Morrow.  It’s quite different dealing with pedestrians and bike traffic after doing quite a bit of riding on the road recently.  Not better or worse, per se… just different.

My unpadded bum was starting to complain a bit, even though my seat is pretty comfortable, so we turned around at Stubbs Mill Rd.  I can’t complain… 16 miles is pretty good with no padding… more than I’d attempted previously!

I think I have a few more handlebar tweaks to make, but I’m getting close.  Should be ready for a Metric Century (100K/62M) or standard Century (100M) before long if I can fit it in.

16 miles, 1hr 10min

Short Intense Bike Ride

Haven’t been feeling myself for the past few days…. heavy bruising and back twinges.  Loading and Unloading training equipment for work today didn’t help.  But I just didn’t feel like sitting around all evening, so we went for a short 6 mile road ride…. some nice rollers with a couple of good moderate hills.  Despite the hills, we kept the average pace at over 17 mph, and just coasted down the hills, so the average speed wasn’t padded much (max speed 24mph).

When I hit the hills, I didn’t change gears, but instead forced myself out of the saddle to power over the top.  This help toast my quads pretty fast, but in a good way.

Lately, we’ve OD’d with LSD on our LHT’s… or we’ve been doing entirely too much “long slow distance” mileage on our touring bikes on the relatively flat rail trails.  I’ll never get my legs any stronger like that, so this short intense rolling hill workout was just the ticket we needed for a change of pace!!  Also… I think I finally have my Black B17 saddle dialed in nicely.  I rode without any padded bike shorts… just compression shorts and gym shorts….. NICE!!

Here’s to “Rockin’ the Rollers!”

Little Miami Scenic Trail Closure: MM15-16

This is a notice that the riverbank restoration project just south of Corwin on the Little Miami Scenic Trail will begin this coming Monday morning September 14, 2009. Trail closures may be expected between September 14 and October 14, 2009. Barricades will be placed in the area of MM 15 and 16, just south of the Corwin Village limits. Trail users are advised to use the Corwin Staging area for points north on the trail and the Caesar Creek Access staging area for points south.

Our thanks go to Marsha Rolph with the Warren County Soil and Water Conservation District for coordinating work and securing the EPA Grant funding for this project. As many of you are aware, we were in danger, in the very near future, of losing that portion of trail due to riverbank erosion. It is expected that this project will restore a sustainable bank slope and preserve the original railroad/trail base.

We regret the inconvenience of a trail closure. However, it became apparent during our last site visit that due to the extent of the erosion and the size of the heavy equipment required to conduct the repairs, that a safe route around the project would not be possible. We ask our loyal park users to bear with us as we make these continued improvements to ensure the integrity of the trail.

If you have any further questions please give me a call.

Thank you,

Alan Ferguson
Park Manager
Ohio State Parks
Cowan Lake Region
513-897-3055

Slow and Easy Bike Ride to test the Healing… that was the plan!

Saturday we planned on doing some local riding… 20 miles or so… initially thinking we would make multiple loops close to the vehicle in case my body decided it had “had enough”…. well… that was the plan anyway…. (how come plans fairly survive “first contact” with reality?)

We took off from Kingview Industrial park on our Surly Long Haul Truckers (LHT) touring bikes.  I’d recently installed the B17 Aged Leather seat, so this was the first long ride on it.  As we reached Morrow, the designated turn-around to head back toward the vehicle, I was feeling pretty good, as was Penny, so we continued northward…. and the miles continued to add up.  I kept asking Penny if she was doing okay and wanted to turn around.  The response I got was something to the effect of “she wasn’t about to give out before the lame, and she’d fall off her bike before giving in”.  Daaaaaannnnng… talk about laying down the gauntlet!!!

Once we got up toward Oregonia, I was pretty much committed to reaching Corwin.  Since we’d planned a short ride, we didn’t have the food supplies for something longer, so a food stop at the Corwin Peddler was needed.  As we sat there eating, we started doing some calculations on our time.  The sun would be setting in a couple of hours, so we couldn’t head any further north since that would put us home in the dark (didn’t plan on riding this long, thus no lights).

Well… impending night fall gave us both a graceful way out of our stubbornness. LOL  However, we did pick up the average pace several miles per hour (we were averaging just barely over 10mph on the way up…. being prudent with my recent injuries… but were around 15mph coming back).  After we passed the south side of Morrow, there is a stretch that makes for a nice fast run, so I picked up the speed considerably, pushing up towards 20mph.  Instead of falling into the draft, Penny came screaming up next to me and I thought “Hell with that!!!” and laid down the lumber!!!  Once we got down to the stop sign, I asked her what her max speed was… somewhere around a respectable 24mph… mine was almost 29mph… I think at one point I looked back and I wasn’t even sure she was still on the same bike path she was so far behind.  So much for taking advantage of the lame and crippled!!! bwahahahaha

Well… that pretty much burned up any reserves that I had left, and my body threw up plenty of complaints, reminding me it was still “under construction”… so Penny pushed hard on the way back … around 17-18mph… and I just laid into her draft.

I was definitely tapped out by the time we got back to the vehicle….. felt good, but I was really tired!!  We ended up with something over 40 miles of riding.  Now I know that Penny will take advantage of any sign of weakness I might have, so have to be on my guard!!

CRASH!! Or how NOT to fly off the side of a bridge!!

On Wednesday, when Penny got home, I had the bikes loaded up for some mountain biking up at Caesars Creek on the “Easy” trail.  We’d hiked the “hard” trails last weekend, and they were a bit too aggressive for us to ride, so “easy” sounded good on the bikes.  We’d never done this trail before, but we like the “easy” trails at other parks, so this should be good too… right?!?

As we started down the trail, there were some interesting ups and downs, plus a multitude of roots that kept the route interesting, albeit more technical than we expected.  At one point I looked back and Penny wasn’t behind me, so I waited a bit, then turned around.  Just then, I saw her coming toward me.  One of the sections we encountered, she opted to walk to be on the safe side.

After we continued on, I saw a ramp or bridge up ahead and also a trail down to the right, probably to go around it.  I like ramps, so I accelerated forward, but things were not as they seemed.

It sure looked easy enough!  But as I got over half way across, what I saw stopped me in my tracks.  Instead of a ramp down the other side, the other side ended abruptly in steep stairs pretty much guaranteeing an ENDO (Head first over the handle bars).

I yelled “Oh SHIIIIIIITTTT”, slammed my brakes, and jerked my feet out of the pedal clips, which in hindsight knocked me off balance.  Feeling myself toppling over to the left, I tried to throw myself back to the right and as I felt myself going over, I clawed at the boards, futilely trying to stay on top the bridge.  The next thing I knew, I slammed down on my right side, dropping over 8 ft down into the dry creek bed with my bike on top of me.  Kinda odd how that happened.  One would expect that falling off the left hand side, I’d have ended up on top of my bike, but my violent effort to stay on top the bridge must have altered my momentum and the bike’s, sending us down on my right side.

The impact was stunning, probably the most intense I’d ever felt!  It didn’t knock the wind out of me, but pain just enveloped my entire body as I tried to evaluate my situation and slowly move.  Poor Penny was behind me and had just reached the bridge in time to watch me topple over.  I started rolling up onto my forearms and knees, as Penny was shouting very authoritatively from above “Do NOT Move!  Do NOT Move!  Wait for me to get down there!”  She said that a couple of times, and even though I got rolled up to my knees and forearms, I prudently considered the wisdom of her words.  It’s interesting how the mind/body just wants to jump up and use the fight/flight adrenaline to get out of a vulnerable situation.  Penny’s words triggered a thought in my head… just a few weeks earlier, I’d come upon a cyclist that had just crashed on the paved trail.  He immediately jumped to his feet, fainted and smashed his face into the pavement.  Not wanting to do what he did, I just stayed there until Penny climbed down and pulled the bike off of the top of me.  Only then did I remain on my knees, and raise up.  She looked me over to see if there was anything obvious.  The pain in my right elbow and hip were the most apparent, but nothing was sticking through the skin, so I had her brace me as I got to my feet.

Feeling around and doing a body part inventory took a few more minutes.  Sore, but otherwise mobile, I started to grab the bike, and thought to have Penny take some pics of the “crime scene”.

She said when she initially crossed the bridge, she couldn’t see me laying below.  Here I am standing below, and it looks a fair drop down.

Penny:  [I really was thinking, "okay, how do I tell EMS how to find us? How many bones are broken. Please not his back or neck...."
And then I find him......miracle.]

The bike was a little dinged… rear wheel knock around in the dropouts, my handlebar is skewed on the stem, but looks easily fixable, and my front tire loosened way up and nearly fell out of the dropouts.  Otherwise, it had a softer landing than me since it landed ON me… lol!  Evenso, I’m going to have the bike shop check it out just to ensure there isn’t any hidden damage.

Aside from the considerable jarring my back took, my elbow took a pretty good hit, with a big lump appearing soon after.

When I got home, Penny cleaned out the major abrasions, while I downed several shots of Yukon Jack to stave off the soreness that was enveloping my body… and primarily my back.

The following morning found me so sore that it took everything I had to roll/twist out of bed.  Aleve, Ice, and Icy Hot have been dear friends to me… but I still managed to get on the rowing machine and use it to loosen sore legs and get some healing moving around my body.

I’m an extremely lucky guy!!  This situation could have turned out much much worse, especially with the large rocks that were littering the creek bed (I “found” some of them)!  I think the primary “lesson learned” for me was that the first time on a trail should be taken with extreme care (I went slowly over most sections, but cast caution to the wind on what I thought was a ramp).  I would be a good idea to ride or walk around any obstacles or trail where the other side can’t be seen!!

… but this all left me wondering… WHY is there a bridge like this on an “easy” trail?  Has anyone else mistakenly ridden out on this bridge?

My First Grocery Trip… Well… On a Bike

It was lunch time, the cat was hungry… so what’s a guy to do?  I needed a break from the computer anyway, so instead of jumping into a Jeep with a V8 for some cat food, I’d decided to try pedaling up to the store instead.  The store is only two miles away, albeit down a busy 2 lane highway, but doable.

I figured since it was a day of firsts, I may as well do it right!  So I wore non-bike specific clothing so that I wouldn’t look like a dork walking through the store… the exception being my biking sandals… but it would be hard for non-cyclists to recognize them as anything but strangely-branded shoes…. no bike shorts… no padding in the seat… no form-fitting bike shirts… just a t-shirt, compression shorts, loose casual shorts, and a prayer that the saddle wouldn’t be rubbing me raw!!

bike sandals

pedal clips (for clipless-pedals)

I put on one pannier, grabbed my bike lock and headed for the store.

pannier

I have to say… it’s exactly 2 miles from my door to the store, an easy distance in comparison to any of our other rides… but it’s amazing how much the adrenaline gets cranked up when traffic is screaming along just a couple of feet away on a road with little or no shoulders.  Immediately, I found that I was pushing myself cold much harder than I normally would… going uphill at a pace I normally do on a flat trail… WHOA Nellie!!!

Coming back home, it was fun to cruise down the big hill at almost 30mph…. WHEEEEEE…. and that was mostly coasting!

When I got home, the cat was pleased with the results of my shopping!

cat food

Was I too bold to be wearing this t-shirt while riding to the store?  I wasn’t looking to make too big a statement or become a target.

I suppose you get used to the traffic and all… but I was glad I chose a slower traffic period for this maiden voyage to the store.  Makes me wonder how Paul Murray manages to bike around Long Island to get some exercise when I’m only in a slightly busy small town in Northern Cincinnati.

Share the Road

First shopping trip was a success, managing a slightly lower carbon footprint, and kept the cat alive at the same time!  WooHoo!!

Ft Ancient to the Corwin Nixon Covered Bridge

1hr 20min of cycling.  Toggled between high cadence (easy gears) and high effort (hard gears) to hit some aerobic, then muscle strength.  Even threw in a big hill for good measure.

The sun is setting sooner and soon every day now, so to keep things fresh, we drove up to the Ft Ancient (Morgan Canoe Livery) area after Penny got home from work.  Tonight, we used the Cannondale “Go Fast” bikes, and I was amazed how nimble and twitchy these bikes are compared to the Surly LHT’s.  Quite responsive actually.

I’d grabbed another Brooks Saddle tonight, a B17 Standard Aged Laced, to either put on my Trucker or keep on the Cannondale.

In comparing our Touring bike and “Go Fast” bikes, a couple of things struck me on the ride.

• Top speed is very similar between the two bikes.  The difference is the acceleration.
• The low-end gearing on the road bike is disappointing.  Lowest Gear ratio on the Road bike is 30:27, but is 26:34 on the LHT, giving a better than 1:1 ratio, and mechanical advantage on the big hills to the Surly.  Now, if I could get that mountain bike gearing on the road bike, that would be pretty sweet!

Beautifully Cool Day for a 4 Hour Ride

We’ve made some tweaks and modifications to our Surly Long Haul Truckers, so it was time for an extended test ride.

I’d gotten in the new Velo Orange seat posts that allow our saddles to move back a few additional centimeters, had raised my handle bars one spacer, trued Penny’s rear tire (the best I could), and replaced a stripped seat post bolt on Penny’s bike, so her seat should stop sinking now… lol!

We made it a good ride too…  Starting at the Kingsview Industrial Park, we rode all the way down to the Little Miami Golf Center in Newtown, then back.

The weather was pretty cool, so we layered shorts and tights, as well as 3 or so shirts (sleeveless, short sleeve, and long).  Although it remained cool most of the day, I shed the bike tights after about 10 miles, then had my long sleeve shirt on and off a couple of times for regulation.  I finally just gave up and left my outer shirt on to keep my arms warm.

At the start, I’d discussed with Penny that we wanted a nice “touring pace”, and even chose the southern route to encounter more traffic (and there was lots and lots of pedestrians/dogs/kids-on-bikes)… mission accomplished!!

All told, we pedaled for 4 hours and although getting a bit tired from not spacing our eating well… we still felt pretty decent at the end…. I think we were easily good for 15-20 miles more without pushing too hard…. but Jess called while we were on the bike and wanted to get together, so we didn’t head north of our parking spot and called it a day.

Despite having to go slow with trail congestion, it was a relaxing 45 mile ride!

More Road Miles on the Surly LHT

In order to keep practicing rolling hills and shifting on the Surly Long Haul Trucker, we took the Little Miami trail up to Stubb Mills Rd and used Mason-Morrow Rd to parallel the river on the opposite side as the trail.  We only spent just over 5 of the 20 miles on the rolling hills but it was a good variation from the flat trail.

What’s even more surprising is our average speeds are higher, even when climbing.  I’m not sure exactly why that is, but my theory is the roads are smoother, the rolling hills make you push harder.  Another possibility is that on the LHT, the heavier Surly has good momentum, and the bar end shifters force you to shift less and push harder in a gear before you finally change.

We seemed to find we push ourselves a bit harder with the LHT’s than we did with our lighter “go-fast” bikes.  It even gives us the confidence to try more road work with the potential of hills, especially after handling our local “hill of death”.

I’m beginning to wonder if I shouldn’t list my Cannondale Synapse 2 on Craiglist… lol