HOT! Too HOT!

Pardon the Spaceballs reference.

Anyone who's in or near Kansas City (or heck, any where in the midwest) will think I'm crazy saying "Too hot!" because yesterday, temps plummeted from MORE THAN 50 DEGREES down to single digits in under 24 hours, along with sleet, ice, and a brief bout of snow last night. Temperature on departure this morning: 4°F.

I'm slowly amassing more cold-weather cycling gear. Over the weekend, I bought a cheap but very warm pair of mittens (pictured below) and another inexpensive form-fitting long-sleeve base layer shirt.

Despite the chilly temperatures, I was overdressed this morning. I just had too many layers on up top. Legs were fine with a base layer, flannel and cargo pants. Feet were great. Wool against my feet, plastic bags, then cotton on the outside, all stuffed into my tennis shoes which I'd loosened quite a bit to keep my blood circulation good.

I had two balaclavas on. I could have gotten by with just one. The Seirus balaclava (made with Thermax) is very thin and thus breathable, but is deceptively warm. The goggles were a welcome addition this morning. My eyes probably wouldn't freeze up at 4 degrees, but I would probably get tears that would freeze in my eyelashes. It's more of a comfort thing than a necessity.

My torso, though, was burning up. I had my new base layer on, with a long-john shirt and synthetic running shirt under my ski coat. It was just overkill. I could have gotten rid of the long john shirt or gone with a thinner outer layer. Perhaps a hoodie and windbreaker instead of the ski coat.

Oh, and mittens positively rock! <3

My thick ski gloves start getting chilly below 10°F. These were really, really warm this morning, and I scored them for $7 at the local grocery store. They have reinforced thumb webbing that's made for gripping ski poles. Needless to say, they work great on handlebars as well.

Random Tunage:
Crystal Method - Bad Stone
The Act - Something About You

Top Ten Content in 2008

Seems like my product reviews and Tricks Of The Trade are quite popular. Going over 2008's statistics, these were the most popular posts of mine this year (some were not written in 2008)

I have no idea how many people have gone out and bought (or avoided at all costs) the products I covered after reading my review, but I do know how many thousands of people have looked at them this year.

1) DiNotte 200L review
I tried pitching Rob Skaff at DiNotte to see if I could try some other DiNotte products on a review basis only (i.e. I would even send the demo units back) He never responded. This was far and away the most popular page on this site in 2008, particularly after the Daylight Saving Time switch-over.

2) Park Tool MTB-3 review
I bought the first one, and Dave got me a replacement after mine got stolen. It's come in handy on my own commute, as well as for helping others on the road side. I don't leave home without it.

3) Genuine Innovations Ultraflate review
Most of the problems I had with the Ultraflate are no longer an issue with the Ultraflate 2. I should probably do a follow-up.

4) Make your own studded ice tires
I'd only recommend doing this if you live somewhere that you won't actually ride directly on pavement for a sustained period of time. They work great on ice and hard-pack snow. They don't do any better than knobbies on loose snow, and they're down-right wretched on pavement. While it had a lot of hits for the cold season early in 2008, this posts's popularity has skyrocketed again in the past couple of weeks, boosting it to #4.

5) Mac Luv
Okay. I have no clue why this one keeps getting consistent traffic. It gets hit several times per day from image search engines.

6) Banjo Brothers Saddlebag review
The initial review was good, but later on, I started having a lot of problems keeping the seams from pulling apart. I still have them, but rarely use them. They've been to the seamstress a few times to get repaired.

7) Bontrager Hard-Case Tire pseudo-review
Conclusion: Good for commuting, bad for racing.

8) From the readers: Cold weather gear
This is a relatively new post that took off in popularity after I wrote it. A lot of people search for cold weather cycling attire, apparently.

9) Drying your grimy shoes
I had something to do with this, as I posted about it on CommuteByBike with a link to this post. That's where most of the traffic came from

10) My 1-year commute-a-versary post
Sadly, most of the hits come from people looking for weight loss from bicycle commuting. I didn't lose any significant weight in 2008. I came into 2008 a Clydesdale, and I'm going to leave 2008 a damn-near-clydesdale.

Bike Saddle Tripod

I really need to invest in a Gorillapod or another small, highly-adaptable tripod like it. This morning, my bike saddle was the only thing I could use. I tried to capture the bright, full moon. The street lights washed the sky out too much. It's probably a junk photo but I thought I'd share anyways.



Also, at the suggestion of some readers, I made a composite of the sunset HDR against one of the original photos. The sky is from the HDR. The buildings are from an original photograph with modified levels in GIMP. The frozen water is the HDR toned down using a partially transparent layer from the same photo the buildings are taken from. I think it looks a little less extreme.


Yesterday was the judging contest of the office decorations. Each aisle had the opportunity to participate. My group didn't do this, but it was pretty clever:


That's a monitor inside an old cardboard box that's showing a fireplace screensaver (complete with crackling fire noises). Finished off with some real roasted marshmallows. My explosive elf just couldn't compete, even though the ladies did decorate quite a bit more after I took those photos. We got second place.

Random Tunage:
Alanis Morissette - Thank U
Finger Eleven - One Thing

Frozen Lake, Vibrant Sunset

HDR Composite of 5 shots. The sky actually did look almost that colorful. It's too bad the rest of the photo came out looking cartoony.

I always think it's funny watching geese attempt to walk across ice. They do a pretty good job considering the anatomy of their feet. They do slide around quite a bit, though. Coming up the stairs from the parking lot and seeing this view, I had to take pause for a moment and pull the camera out.

Temps were above freezing today only briefly, and back down to 30 by the time I got off the bus on Antioch. As I approached 87th St. from the back roads, I saw one cyclocross-race-gear-clad cyclist with a pretty beefy messenger bag. Likely commuting, but you just don't know. For those who don't like to ride in street clothes, the winter stay-warm gear for cyclocross is probably great for commuting up to an hour or two in the cold. Having never worn it myself, I wouldn't know, but I seem to see quite a bit of it in use among commuters and club riders alike, off the cyclocross course.

I just went outside a while ago, and the slush is re-freezing again. It's already 20 degrees outside, but we're not supposed to get nearly as cold as we did this morning. Stay safe out there!

Goggles

9°F (-13°C) upon departure this morning, with wind chills down to -3°F -- of course I spent most of my time riding WITH the wind not into it on the way to the bus. Furthermore, wind chill only applies to directly-exposed skin, of which there was NONE this morning. I had my goggles on, as always when the ambient temperature is 10°F or below.

I marinated the moving bits of my briny bike with more tri-flow last night after wiping it down and letting it come to room temperature, which seems to have done the trick as far as keeping things nice, shiny and smooth. Last year, there was one chain that only lasted about 200 miles because I didn't keep it adequately protected. I've only put about 90 miles on this bike since I threw it together a few weeks ago. So far, it's staying healthy. The salty slush is a killer, and I'm probably going to put a lot more preventive maintenance into it this winter than I did last season, as I no longer have a backup bike that's suitable for snow duty.

Although the solstice is more than a week away, it may very well be time to break out the Winter Edition Logo. Last year, I broke it out on December 12th. Close enough.

Random Tunage:
Nine Inch Nails - Discipline
Amber - Anyway (Steve Porter Mix)

Snow Bikes

There were not just other cyclists out in the snow today. There were quite a few. A surprising number of them. I saw several downtown. The guy who rides the Fuji Nevada around the corner from my office is still riding.



The snow was really coming down by the time I got out of work.


The bus trip home was pretty much a parking lot the entire way home. I may very well have beaten the bus had I ridden The Goat the whole trip. Probably not, but it was a long, slow bus ride.


As I pedaled down 87th, I saw another cyclist (on a flat-bar road bike!) going the opposite direction, all commuter-geared-out. This is the first full-on snow ride of the season for me, where I have to wipe the bike down, roll out the floor mat and all that jazz.

Good Idea / Bad Idea

Good Idea: Riding a bike 36 miles in a day.

Bad Idea: Riding a mountain bike 36 miles in a day, wearing denim jeans.

It wasn't too bad, but it wasn't comfortable, either. I rode to jury duty and the Monday Night Recovery ride wrapped up the day. Good thing, too. Tomorrow's looking like a bus ride both directions with the forecast of rain at near-freezing temperatures, followed by a wintry mix.

BTW, I always loved the Good Idea / Bad Idea segments on Animaniacs as a kid.

Dismissed. Homeward on Indian Creek Trail.

This is going to be a HUGE case with plenty of media attention. I was picked into the panel for the first round. When the lawyers chose to eliminate jurors, I was excused. I am really craving a JavaJazz mocha from JCCC. I didn't get breakfast this morning.

Ready for jury duty!

Maybe my bike helmet will get me dismissed?

Randonneuring

I've been getting some questions in comments, e-mail and in real life about what exactly this "200k Permanent" stuff is. The name of the sport is Randonneuring. Randonneurs USA is the sanctioning body here in the US. Randonnées take several shapes depending on the organizers, but there are two main flavors: Audax and Allure Libre.

I don't know much about Audax other than it's a group effort where everyone tries to stick together at exactly the same speed, but Allure Libre seems more common in the US. That's where everyone is on their own personal ride. Even though everyone participating is hitting the same places, it's not a competition. Sure, a rider might see someone ahead and take chase, but there is no first place or last place. Randonnée roughly translates to "ramble": The goal is to complete the course from end to end in the time alotted. There's only those who complete and those who do not.

Controls
To make sure no short cuts are taken, controls are put into place. These checkpoints can be staffed by event organizers, they can be a store that you get a time-stamped reciept from, or they can be information controls where, for example, you are asked to answer a question that can only be answered if you're right there. "What's the mile marker on the side of the road?" "According to the sign, how far is it to Joplin?" On some events, a "secret" control is also added, which you may not know about ahead of time.

These controls have an "open" time and a "close" time. If you hammer it and get there too early, you'll find yourself waiting. If you slack off or just can't keep a decent pace, you risk arriving at the control too late and timing out.

Randonees
Usually, randonneurs talk about Brevets. Some may use "randonee" and "brevet" interchangeably, but brevets are just one type of randonee.

A Populaire is a casual ride of less than 200km, often around 100-150km. These are often used for training and recruiting others to the sport of randonneuring. It's not really a sanctioned ride, but the event coordinator might draft up a cue sheet and set up controls like you'd find on a permanent.

Brevets are organized events that are always 200 kilometers (120 miles or so) or longer. Accomplished randonneurs will often participate in the Super Randonneur series: 200k, 300k, 400k and 600k. Upon successful completion of this series in a season, you get a Super Randonneur award. You're also then qualified to ride in a 1200k event such as the Paris-Brest-Paris.

The two events I've participared in so far are called Permanents. Permanent routes can be 200k or longer. These are standing routes that RUSA has certified which can be ridden at any time, provided that a permanent coordinator knows you're doing it and all agreed-upon paperwork has been completed. My local permanent coordinator (Spencer Klaassen) completed a nearly-3000-kilometer permanent route (Pony Express Permanent) with another local man. CommuterDude has some coverage and links about that one.

Regardless, each participant carries a route cue sheet and a card onto which timestamps are logged.

Rules
The full rules for RUSA-sanctioned events are found on the RUSA web site, but in general, they stress self-sufficient riding. Some rules that might seem offputting to "normal" road cyclists that are used to club-sponsored "centuries" and longer charity rides like the MS-150:

• You're supposed to ride as if you're alone. Drafting, getting road-side service or nourishment from someone and things of that nature can get you disqualified.
• You can stop at shops or stores for yourself, but not for someone else.
• If you leave the route (on purpose: to get food, or on accident: wrong turn) you must go back to that same spot to re-enter the route.
  
• You're allowed to get outside help at a control. You can call a friend to bring you a new wheel or some tools, for example.
  

I'm slowly getting hooked on the idea of randonneuring. I'd eventually like to do self-supported touring, and I don't have a whole lot of interest in high-speed competitive cycling sports. From what I've seen so far, you find a lot of commuters and tourers that are into Rando.

If this kind of thing interests you, look for a local RUSA chapter. If you're near Kansas City, I can get you in contact with the people you should know. I'd like to ride with you (or maybe 2 miles behind you?) on my next 200k!

200k Attempt - Part Two

Lansing came and went with a few nice downhills that I knew I'd loathe on the way back. The fascinating architecture on the Veterans Administration's Lansing Campus -- and the old Governor's House would provide a little visual and mental stimulus after seeing nothing but brown fields, barren after harvest, and hearing nothing but buffeting wind.

Winds out of the Northwest were being attenuated by trees and structures as we transitioned into Leavenworth, which sits just on the back door of Lansing. I tried to get a few good shots of the various correctional facilities, but I just didn't have my mind on the camera today. A westward slog into the baleful headwind would take us up to K-92 to cross the Missouri River. We finally get a slight downhill and a decent tail wind for the next few miles.


Some of the expansion joints on this bridge were treacherous enough to eat a wheel.


This was our third checkpoint: an Information Control where a photograph containing the information needed, or your initials and a date stamp (and the information needed hand-written) serve as proof on the honor system that you made it to this control. Note, the windbreaker over my panniers has been drying out since QuikTrip when I changed windbreakers. I'd eventually soak through the second one by the time we got to Weston, but this one had dried out. My panniers look stuffed, but there's just stuff sitting in the bottom of them, poofing them out. I should have probably tightened the straps up and folded stuff instead of rolling it, but I doubt any of this would have saved me today.


I got no pictures from Weston MO other than the ones I already posted. This was coming back through Leavenworth.


Yes, I did just GLOSS OVER everything on the trip between this railroad shack, Weston, and back to Leavenworth (save for the photos I posted live from the road) - Maybe someday I'll get back to that. There were some good times, and some of the worst suffering of the whole trip I'm leaving out.

Once Keith and I got back onto the VA campus again, I was certain that I was jeopardizing his success. I told him to do what he had to do. Drop me and don't look back. Don't stop. Don't worry. Just get to QuikTrip as fast as he could, get his card signed then call me.

A while down the road, I found myself off course. I could get back on course. I knew where I was, but there was no way I was hitting QuikTrip in time. I was more drained at 82 miles than I was at the end of the 134-mile Permanent I had completed. I didn't have 40 more miles in me. The climb from Holliday to Midland, the one from Midland to 95th... Those alone would do me in. I couldn't even get back home on my own power.

Defeated, I called my wife to pick me up, then rode to the nearest highway where it'd be easy to find me. Then, my phone started acting up. It would reboot whenever it recieved an incoming call. This was frustrating my wife who was trying to get clear directions. Fortunately I realized what was going on and called her back.

Shortly after she picked me up, it was 2:56 and my phone rebooted. There's only one person it could be: Keith... and 2:56 is a mere 4 minutes from the Control closure at QuikTrip. I called Keith. Indeed, it was him, and he'd made it by almost as narrow a margin as I had thought. This confirms that even had I not gotten off course, the 200k was simply not in the cards for me today.

Post-Mortem:
When things go wrong, I analyze them. Where I come from, we call it a Post-Mortem. In forensics, post-mortem exams are things like autopsy and the like, to determine the cause of death. In IT (and other project-centered groups), it's much the same. Take it apart and see where the failure occurred. Here's the obvious list:

• Endurance. I had more than 750 miles under my belt in the 30 days prior to the last 200k. I had 300 miles under my belt in the 30 days prior to this one.
• Hydration. Drinking was nearly intolerable between the temperature and flavor of my drinks this time.
• Inexperience. I've never done more than 30 miles below 40 degrees before. It requires a lot more attention to balancing clothing and riding effort to stay warm. I was over-packed and under-prepared.

Having said that, I learned a lot on the road today that I will directly and immediately apply to my daily commute, and I wouldn't consider the ride a failure. My goal was to put some serious miles on the bike today to help me make the year-end goal of 5,000 miles a little easier to attain. Like ripping an adhesive bandage off quickly, I put myself through a lot of pain today. Because of that, I am now within 250 miles of my goal: That's only about 10 miles per day for the rest of the month. It's not getting any warmer outside, but I think I'm in striking distance!

Oh yeah. Why am I writing this tonight? I spent a lot of time on the brink of bonk, and a lot of time with my heart rate pegged into the 170s for sustained periods of time. I'm still working on getting re-hydrated. My heart still hasn't settled down. I'm wicked tired but my body's doing things that make it impossible to sleep. So here I am.

200k Attempt - Part One

It went kind of like this:

I had 2600 last night. Usually, this keeps me out until 11pm or midnight. Not last night. I got home around 8:00PM and started preparing stuff: Making PB sandwiches, charging batteries, checking the forecast, dumping out the panniers and packing them with what I wanted to carry along. That kind of stuff. I also had to do a load of laundry so I could take a spare base layer with me in case I started to soak through one. Charging batteries and laundry kept me up until about 10:00. I got to sleep around 10:30.

I could have gone with one pannier, but decided to balance the bike. With me in pannier #1:

• All the tools I carry on my commute: CO2 inflater and 4 spare carts, inner tube, patches, tire levers, multi-tool, Zogics CitraWipes
• A pair of two-year-old, never-used Hot Hands chemical warmers
• Five half-PB sandwiches (folded over with PB)
• A small bag of assorted crackers
  

Pannier 2:

• 32-ounce flask of Grape Gatorade - BLECH! I hate this flavor. Never again.
• Dry clothes: windbreaker, wicking long t-shirt & long johns, cycling shorts, gloves, socks

Since I moved the tools to the pannier, I re-purposed my Trek SideLoader wedge as a camera carrier for my small point-and-shoot, and had a Polar Bottle (water) and stainless bottle (coffee) in the bottle cages.

I could have traveled a bit lighter. I didn't touch the spare gloves, shorts, or base-layer. I didn't need all the sandwiches, we ate a hearty meal in Weston. Two or three would have been fine. While I didn't use any of my tools, I would not do this without them.

I woke up at 3:30 - A solid 5 hours of sleep. Not bad considering that's about all I get in a normal day and I had gotten almost TWICE that Thursday-into-Friday trying to kill off my sinus bug. 3 days worth of sleep in 2 days is a good thing.

At 3:30, the National Weather Service site was showing hourly stats from 3:00. Temps near 40. Wind out of the southwest. PERFECT! At 4:20, I took my bike down to the Explorer. My wife rode with me to Control #1 (7-11 in Olathe) and left with the truck when c-Dawg showed up. At this time, temps had fallen into the mid-30s and the wind had gone from stiff southwest to light variable. We dawdled until 5:00 sharp, then raided 7-11 to get our permanent route sheet signed and a date-stamped reciept.

Variable winds continued until we hit Renner. Then, we had a NW wind that was probably gusting to 15 MPH or so. It was enough to make stretches of Renner seem deceptively steep. I pointed out a house to c'Dude that I think is a decoy on Meritex property. Its windows were open despite being near freezing outside, and there's always a light on in what you'd think is the living room. ALWAYS. I'm pretty sure it was built on top of a vertical mine elevator, as it's sitting directly on top of a re-purposed limestone mine-turned-office/warehouse complex: The same complex the Lenexa Midnight ride goes through.

Miles tick by and we ride through a rat-maze of roundabouts, then get stopped just south of Shawnee Mission Park in the cool of pre-dawn, noticing how the whispy cirrus clouds emit pink hues against a sapphire sky while we wait for our turn at the traffic light. A dive down Renner towards Midland made me recall with certain fondness the way Meyer Blvd banks and descends westward from Research Medical Center. After some slogging, I'm greeted with another merry downhill run, one which would send my bike coasting upwards of 40 MPH without any input on the cranks, dumping us out onto Holliday Drive. The clouds are moving in.

Squarely a North wind now: evaporative cooling off of the Kaw River would send chills through my pants and into my legs. The biting, sub-freezing blast was also working its way through my shoes and wool socks.

This was a long exposure I took at a landscaping place. That's how dark it was out here. I had to crank up the levels just to get any detail out of it. It was here that I'd rip open the chemical warmers and add a layer of socks to my feet. It would take almost 20 miles for my toes to feel normal again.


Shortly after that, we encountered a few more cyclists out enjoying the (relatively) nice December weather. It ended up being Badger (whom I've ridden with quite a few times) and Pat, a friend of his. They rode near and beside us for the better part of 15 miles, making conversation. By "us", I mean c'Dude. I was already starting to slow down a bit. We eventually made it to Control #2, QuikTrip, about 33 miles in.


We wove our way through some of KCK's residential turf and slogged a hill on Georgia Ave. that I'd probably give a firm 17% grade if you asked me to guess. A little beagle followed me up the hill slowly, and gave playful chase to us as we veered northward and took off toward the rollers of Wyandotte Lake Park.

This was how I spent most of my ride: In No-Man's-Land, A good 1/4 to 2 miles behind Keith.


At some point, riding through the terrain shown above, 10 miles started to feel like 30, and I started to lose track of time. On up-hills, my legs were becoming useless hunks of meat. I was approaching Bonk from dehydration, lack of electrolyte and lack of fuel. My water -- nearly freezing -- would sting my teeth after it hit my chapped lips, then sink to the very pit of my stomach with that lumpy ache like you get when you accidentally swallow an ice cube. My Gatorade was a wretched flavor that tasted like Grape Big League Chew. What little remained of my coffee was cold. I had no desire to drink, regardless how badly I knew I needed it. Perhaps 45 miles in, I'm already questioning if I have 80 more miles left in my legs today.

Keith would stop just to make sure I was still alive back there. Give me some pointers. Wait while I pinched my nose and tried to suck down as much Haterade as I could while munching on sandwiches and c-store junk food. It was here, on the curvy, shoulderless backroads somewhere near Bonner Springs and Lansing that I knew I was going to severely hinder Keith's chance at the R-12.

Read on for Part 2 or check out my mobile posts from the road.

Tapping out at mile 82

Going too slow to make the next control before it closes and obviously in worse shape than I was for my last 200k, I am admitting defeat this time.

Lunch!

Half way! 63 miles down.

Obdurate headwinds will finally work in our favor

At quiktrip. 33 miles in

Adding a layer of socks!

And... we are off!

Test post from the garage.

Just making sure this works

Breakfast

Yesterday morning, I felt good. I'd gotten a little more sleep than usual. About two hours into my work day, my nose started running. My immune system is pretty strong, and if I recognize illnesses before they become big problems, I can usually nip them in the butt pretty quickly. I popped some cold/sinus pills I had at work from earlier this year, then started drinking water and tea like mad. I was still feeling pretty crappy by the time I left work. I limped home on the D bus, and went to bed a good 3 hours earlier than normal.

I felt quite a bit better but not 100% this morning. The 14-degree ride to the bus didn't help matters much, but I am doing more of the same (Tea, grapefruit, decongestant, water) this morning and it seems to be working.

I'm hoping I can shake this off before the big ride.

I can e-mail quick blog updates and photos from my phone directly to Blogger. Should I post a few updates from the road tomorrow?

Random Tunage:
Traci Lords - Control
VNV Nation - Prelude