STP rehash

Yes, we are some professional looking riders. But don't be fooled, we were all wearing biking shorts underneath. I foolishly applied sunscreen before removing the top shorts, and ended up burning the hell out of my knees.
50 miles into the ride (halfway to our overnight stop) Sean's rear derailleur (the bit that shifts the chain between the cogs on the back wheel) decided to snap clean off! It flew through the back wheel, taking a couple spokes with it. Essentially his bike was now a drasine (see the bike history posts) and we were 6 miles from the nearest bike shop, which closed in an hour. All looked bleak until Charlie rallied with the questionable but ultimately successful idea of using bungee cords to tow Sean into town. We limped into the shop about 10 minutes before closing, only t have them essentially say we were screwed. Fortunately, like most good bike shops, there was one old guy in the back willing to take a look. The half-assed solution...turn it into a single speed and limp on to Centralia with a severely out of true wheel. Rebuilding the back wheel would have taken at least an hour, as would installing and tuning a new derailleur. So we made our way to Centralia, WA arriving at about 11:30. But wait...why can't we find the Motel Centrailia, where we reserved a room for the night? Oh, it's actually in Centrailia Illinois?! hmm... Needless to say we found another place to stay and crashed into bed some time after midnight.

The next day we were delayed in setting out because the local bike shop didn't open until 10. The guy that worked there was a jerk, and basically told us he could help us for 45 minutes, and if anyone else need help we would have to wait longer. Ass.
Again Charlie rallied and after convincing the guy to let us use a few tools, he installed the new spokes and trued the wheel as best he could. It wasn't perfect, but it was better than the +1" play in the wheel, and the certainty that it would only get worse.

By 11 we were back on the road.
The second day proved the hardest for me, I had a hard time sustaining the same pace we had set the day before.
One of the great things about riding the STP route so soon after the official organized ride is that we could still rely on their street markings pointing out when to turn and when to go straight. the little marker above is for straight ahead, turns would have a leg off the top indicating the direction.

We knew we were close when we passed under the St. Johns Bridge...only 7 or 8 miles to go!! Eventually we made it, and were kindly entertained by Sean's friends Jordan and Anya. We destroyed some food and beer and crashed out on their floor.

The next day we walked up to the Washington park rose garden, made a quick trip to Powell's (the happiest place on earth) and then headed for the train station.
This was only my second time on a train in the US. It's nice to see that some cities are still maintaining their old stations.

And here I am rocking my cool bike hat...which I now feel I deserve to wear.

So that's the trip. It was a great experience that left me with some good memories, sunburned knees, two numb fingers, and a couple lessons in long distance riding. The first lesson is to be sure you change up your grip and don't put too much weight on the handlebars (hence the numbness) and the second is to learn how to turn a bike into a single speed and repair a wheel.

And now I am going to jump on the bike again and head to the beach to beat the 100 degree weather.

Seattle

All packed up and ready to go. Hopefully we will be on the road no later than 2 pm, and will do about 100 miles to Centralia by sunset at 9pm.

STP on our own

For those of you curious about this weekend's ride, this is the route that the STP followed the weekend before last. I think next year I may ride with the big group, but this year we are doing it on our own.

GOAAALLLL!!!!!

I've succeeded in one of my major goals for the summer! On May 23rd my bike odometer hit 500 miles, and I determined to add another 500 by the end of July.
Today I hit 1000!!! Of course I wasn't paying attention when it actually turned over, but I caught it within the 1000th mile for a photo.

As for the next goal... a two day double century ride from Seattle to Portland. Trip starts this coming Friday, tune in next Sunday to hear how it goes.
(note the new pannier...thanks mom and dad)

Bicycle History

Today I thought I'd give a little rundown of the development of the "people's nag." It was a winding route that finally led to the development of the safety bicycle, characterized by a low mount, equal size wheels, chain-driven rear wheel, and inflatable tires.

While it is arguably not a bicycle, the draisine was clearly an important early step in the history. The draisine was the first "velocipede," a term coined by it's inventor, the German baron Karl von Drais. The root of the word, from the latin for fast foot, highlights the fact that the draisine was actually more of a running support. He introduced the draisine in 1817, and while it garnered attention, it never really caught on. One of the biggest problems is that it didn't really go up hills very well, in fact most people had to get off and push, which kind of defeats the purpose. The fact that it was made of wood with heavy metal wheels probably made it a bitch to push.

After the draisine failed to really fulfill the requirements, people returned to the idea of a horseless carriage, which for most meant three or four wheels. The next several decades where filled with an increasingly bizarre collection of trikes and 4 wheelers. I'm not going to bother mentioning them because I just don't care.

In 1867, the first modern bicycle showed up in Paris. It was created by a carriage maker named Pierre Michaux, and was the first time pedals were attached directly to the hub of the front wheel. It was a a direct drive, what today is called a fixie. While it caught on quick, there was still a lot of public skepticism. Not to mention the cost was astronomical, a years salary for the average working man. It also had some significant problems..imagine trying to pedal and turn at the same time. Not to mention the heavy steel wheels and wooden frame would have been incredibly clunky, which is why early bicycles were called "boneshakers."


Now for the weirdest development in bikes, the "ordinary" or "penny-farthing." I never really understood why people rode bikes with such huge front wheels, but it makes sense if you think in terms of gearing. Modern bikes have larger cogs on the front crank, with a set of smaller cogs on the rear wheel. The idea was the same, by making the front wheel larger each rotation was able to produce more motion ad faster speeds. Eventually the front wheels were over 55" tall, and the saddle had moved up to keep the riders center of gravity close to the middle of the wheel. It doesn't take much to realize that a header from one of these things could do some serious damage.

Busy weekend

The parents were in town this weekend , so it was a chance to show them around the area and introduce them to friends.

We were the last car waved onto the ferry to Orcas Island up in the San Juans.

Drove around the island to see the sites and visit shops. There was a charming pottery overlooking the bay.

I had to go back to Novelty Hill/Januik for a tasting...

and down the street to Redhook for a brewery tour...and tasting

This morning we did the underground tour of Seattle. After the city burned to the ground in 1888, they decided to raise the level of the business district to deal with the daily tidal flooding, sewage in the streets, etc. The businesses didn't want to wait, so they just built the buildings at the earlier elevations, and the ground floors eventually became basements. It was an interesting tour.

Seattle being what it is, they had to close the roof at the Mariners game this afternoon due to rain. This is a couple minutes into the closing operation, it takes a while.

Parents are at the airport and I'm home catching up on the Tour de France with a glass of scotch. Nice way to close out the weekend.

Le Tour

For those of you that haven't been keeping track, The Tour de France started on Saturday. I've decided to include a couple posts over the next 3 weeks with some interesting facts, history, etc about the tour and bicycling in general.

First off, I have to declare my allegiance to Team Garmin Slipstream, and it's not just because their logo/design includes argyle. On Saturday I watched a documentary about the creation of the team (they have only been around a couple years) and it was very moving. I don't follow any sports, so all it takes is a little insight into the team members to make me decide wether or not to support the team.





On to the facts of the day, JERSEYS! (info via wikipedia)



We all know about the yellow jersy, awarded to the overall time leader. It is a bit unclear when the first yellow jersey was awarded. The first official yellow jersey was in 1919 for the winner of a stage from Grenoble. However, there is evidence that the first time a yelow jersey was passed between riders was as early as 1914. Starting in 1924, companies paid a daily prize, known as "rent" to the jersey wearer.

The green jersey is awarded to the points leader. Points are awarded in various amounts to the first 25 riders to finish in flat stages, the first 20 to finish in medium-mountain stages, the first 15 in high-mountain stages, and the top ten finishers in time trial stages. (more about the 21 stages in later post) There are also points awarded for sprints that are spread throughout the stages. The points competition started in 1953 to celebrate the 50th aniversary of the tour.

King of the Hills jersey (currently polka-dot) is awarded for the first to summit particular peaks. Recognition for best climber was started in 1933, time bonuses were awarded starting in 1934 (the gap between fisrt and second is deducted from the first riders time) but are no longer awarded. The jersey was awarded starting in 1975. It was sponsored by a chocolate company, which chose the colors to match a product they were adversising. (I need to do some more research into this)

The white jersey is awarded for the best placed rider under the age of 26 as of Jan 1 of the tour year. Originally the white jersey had been awarded to the best overall rider (combining time, points, and climbing competitions) but as of 1975 it went to the young rider.

Additional awards:


The combativity award is given to the rider (chosen by a panel of judges) who has been most aggressive in that stage. This rider is often attacking the leaders, forcing them to expend energy sooner than they would like to avoid falling behind. It has an off and on history, but has been given yearly since 1981. Since that time no winner of the combativity award has won the Tour. I think it is really an award for a team player. My uneducated guess would be that these aggressive riders are instructed to mount an attack to allow their team's lead rider to benefit from a weakening of his toughest opponents. There is not an actual jersey for this award, but the rider who won it for the previous stage will often have his number in white on a red background, rather than the traditional black on white.



Like the combativity, the team prize does not have a jersey. The team prize is determined by adding the times of the top three riders of a team, not counting time bonuses or penalties. The team prize winners of the previous stage will wear their numbers in black against a yellow background.



Look for these jerseys (as well as the argyle of Garmin-Slipstream) when you're watching the race (or at least the highlights) over the next three weeks. (full coverage on Versus)

Happy 4th

Lake Union fireworks as seen from my front yard

quest for 1000 cont.

This weekend we decided to hop on the bikes and head out of town to Whidbey Island.

Seattle to Muckelteo

Share your bike routes @ Bikely.com

We rode from my house to the ferry in Muckelteo, then rode our bikes onto the ferry and over t Whidbey. It was another couple miles to a lake where we met up with friends, then another couple miles to where we camped. Once there it was all about relaxing with a little wiffle ball, good food, dominoes, and a campfire.
Saturday morning we went out to do a little berry picking (mostly huckleberries and salmon berries) before breakfast.


After a little more lounging around, it was back on the bikes. In all it was about a 50 mile round trip. That's not much more than my longest trip to date, but it was definitely a lot more challenging. The elevation chart shows what it was like getting to the ferry....notice the big drop at the end. That big drop (green) made for a big climb coming home. Of course I noticed last night that I had a flat tire. No idea when that happened.

Construction Fail

This is what it looks like when an entire apartment building just lays down on its side!
The building under construction in Shanghai fell over last weekend. Apparently the built a parking garage under half of it, but the other half was just mounded dirt, possibly uncompacted. Several officials at the construction firm have been placed "under appropriate control" by local authorities.