Roark getting a free 250 dollar retrofitting at Cadence, the upscale Philadelphia bike shop. The fitting was a gift from Bicycle Club of Philadelphia for being the club's Most Improved Rider.
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Ride Report, September 14, 2008 - Bike Philly
Sunday morning was clear and warm. I decided to drive to the start of Bike Philly, instead of riding as I wished, because of time - I hadn't brought lights, sunrise wasn't until 6:45 AM, I needed to pick up my rider information, and I didn't know how strict the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia, the event organizer, was about enforcing their 7:45 AM deadline for appearing at the ride. So I punted and drove to the parking lot at Lloyd Hall, about a half mile from the ride start at Eakins Oval in front of the Art Museum. When I arrived at the Art Museum, the sun was rising over the City of Brotherly Love, and the BCGP was hard at work setting up. After speeches and last minute instructions, the PA system played the theme from "Rocky" and 3000 cyclists began a car-free journey through seven miles of downtown Philadelphia.
After the seven miles of the downtown, riders were directed onto the West River Drive, and the routes divided into a ten mile and a 20/35/5o mile group. I chose the latter, but rode only 20 miles. After hanging out for an hour, I pedaled back to my car, and drove home full of thoughts about my cycling and the nature of events such as Bike Philly.
To get the personal out of the way, I got through both rides this weekend without a clipless fall. That said, I had problems using the pedals. I have a hard time getting in on the right. And I had a hard time convincing myself I really need to go clipless. The only benefit I discovered this weekend was that on a hard climb I might have some slight advantage being clipped in, but even that might be simply a matter of being forced to finish the climb because I wouldn't be able to clip out safely. I suppose being forced to exert myself beyond the so-called comfort zone is a benefit, but that's not what clipless is being sold, and oversold, for. There's a lot to be said for being able to put a foot down anywhere, anytime, for any reason. Still, I don't want to dismiss it without more testing, so I'm clipped for now.
Cadence's refitting of my bike held up very well. On the hilly ride on Saturday, I had some back pain, but not in the usual place. Previously I had pain in the upper right shoulder and back. Now it's on the left side of my back and ribs, and milder than before. Raising the saddle brought me into a more 'stretched' posture, and the soreness I'm feeling on the left is probably my 'shorter' side being stretched out. This is all to the good, and I expect as I get used to the fit, it will go away.
I was disappointed with my hill-climbing. A summer of flat riding, as well as six weeks off with a broken rib, has hurt what little conditioning I had. I think I'll be OK on the MS City to Shore in two weeks, for that's a flat ride.
Speaking of hurt, my hunt for a new saddle begins tomorrow. My gel saddle has over three thousand miles on it, and it hasn't worn well.
My thoughts about Bike Philly are mixed. It was a wonderful event, wonderfully run. However, what sort of message does an event that shuts down city streets for cyclists send? I've ridden in Philadelphia. It's a very bike friendly city. While it's nice not to have auto traffic to deal with, I've ridden in traffic with some success. Bikes belong on the roads all the time, not just when the dangerous cars are gone. Every day is Bike Philly if you want it to be.
I rode with a family down the Ben Franklin Parkway. The mother was marveling at the flags lining the road. "I never get to see these." The unspoken part of the sentence was "...with the cars around." Curiously enough, I've ridden the same road with Neil Fein, back in November and December, and we've seen those same flags. The road wasn't blocked off for us.
In fact, I felt more comfortable dealing with auto traffic than I did at times on Bike Philly. Cars are often more predictable than novice or 'Sunday cyclists'. The last stretch of West River Drive was very awkward, as I had to dodge kids weaving all over the road. In Fairmount Park I was stopped at the side of the road drinking, and someone walked his bike into my rear wheel. "Sorry",he said, "I wasn't looking." He wasn't looking later, as I passed him and his kid as they weaved back and forth across the lane. He did turn as I shouted "on your right" to him - I don't normally pass on the right, but I had to get through where I could.
Still, despite these concerns, which are related to the bigger problem of defining what bicycle advocacy is, Bike Philly was a great event, and I look forward to next year's big cycling weekend in Philadelphia.
After the seven miles of the downtown, riders were directed onto the West River Drive, and the routes divided into a ten mile and a 20/35/5o mile group. I chose the latter, but rode only 20 miles. After hanging out for an hour, I pedaled back to my car, and drove home full of thoughts about my cycling and the nature of events such as Bike Philly.
To get the personal out of the way, I got through both rides this weekend without a clipless fall. That said, I had problems using the pedals. I have a hard time getting in on the right. And I had a hard time convincing myself I really need to go clipless. The only benefit I discovered this weekend was that on a hard climb I might have some slight advantage being clipped in, but even that might be simply a matter of being forced to finish the climb because I wouldn't be able to clip out safely. I suppose being forced to exert myself beyond the so-called comfort zone is a benefit, but that's not what clipless is being sold, and oversold, for. There's a lot to be said for being able to put a foot down anywhere, anytime, for any reason. Still, I don't want to dismiss it without more testing, so I'm clipped for now.
Cadence's refitting of my bike held up very well. On the hilly ride on Saturday, I had some back pain, but not in the usual place. Previously I had pain in the upper right shoulder and back. Now it's on the left side of my back and ribs, and milder than before. Raising the saddle brought me into a more 'stretched' posture, and the soreness I'm feeling on the left is probably my 'shorter' side being stretched out. This is all to the good, and I expect as I get used to the fit, it will go away.
I was disappointed with my hill-climbing. A summer of flat riding, as well as six weeks off with a broken rib, has hurt what little conditioning I had. I think I'll be OK on the MS City to Shore in two weeks, for that's a flat ride.
Speaking of hurt, my hunt for a new saddle begins tomorrow. My gel saddle has over three thousand miles on it, and it hasn't worn well.
My thoughts about Bike Philly are mixed. It was a wonderful event, wonderfully run. However, what sort of message does an event that shuts down city streets for cyclists send? I've ridden in Philadelphia. It's a very bike friendly city. While it's nice not to have auto traffic to deal with, I've ridden in traffic with some success. Bikes belong on the roads all the time, not just when the dangerous cars are gone. Every day is Bike Philly if you want it to be.
I rode with a family down the Ben Franklin Parkway. The mother was marveling at the flags lining the road. "I never get to see these." The unspoken part of the sentence was "...with the cars around." Curiously enough, I've ridden the same road with Neil Fein, back in November and December, and we've seen those same flags. The road wasn't blocked off for us.
In fact, I felt more comfortable dealing with auto traffic than I did at times on Bike Philly. Cars are often more predictable than novice or 'Sunday cyclists'. The last stretch of West River Drive was very awkward, as I had to dodge kids weaving all over the road. In Fairmount Park I was stopped at the side of the road drinking, and someone walked his bike into my rear wheel. "Sorry",he said, "I wasn't looking." He wasn't looking later, as I passed him and his kid as they weaved back and forth across the lane. He did turn as I shouted "on your right" to him - I don't normally pass on the right, but I had to get through where I could.
Still, despite these concerns, which are related to the bigger problem of defining what bicycle advocacy is, Bike Philly was a great event, and I look forward to next year's big cycling weekend in Philadelphia.
Ride Report, September 13, 2008 - Scenic Schuylkill Century
Friday night I and my bike headed into Philadelphia for what promised to be a weekend of hard riding. Not only because Bicycle Club of Philadelphia's Scenic Schuylkill Century was a challenging course, but because I had to deal with a new fitting on the bike, and learn to use clipless pedals as well. Would I be able to finish the rides unscit did mirror the concern I had in my heart. Would I have a deluge of problems on these rides?athed, and ride in Bike Philly the next morning? The heavy rains on Friday didn't dampen my enthusiasm, but
I arrived at Chamounix Mansion Hostel in Fairmount Park about 11:00 PM, and was assigned a room with three other riders, John, Kevin, and David, all Clydesdales, who had driven up from Virginia for the rides. We soon formed a plan to leave at 7:00 AM the next morning, I leading the group. We settled to bed, they dreaming of their rides, and I having a nightmare about falling making a left turn in traffic from Leverington onto Umbria in Manayunk.
Next morning we headed off, I leading the pack through Fairmount Park, over the Strawberry Mansion Bridge, and on a roundabout trip to the ride start at Lloyd Hall, in the shadow of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. A flat tire on John's road bike delayed us a few minutes.
After the repair and a slight wrong turn on my part, we reached the ride start. We let the mass start take place before we entered the stream of cyclists riding towards the Art Museum, in front of the "Rocky" steps, and onto West River Drive. Philadelphia closes West River Drive to motorized vehicles from 7-5 on weekends, so it was a wall of cyclists.
At the Falls Bridge, cyclists had to face traffic as they headed into Manayunk. Well before this point, I had been dropped, by agreement, by my hostel friends. So I, and my clipless and fit concerns, were riding solo. I wasn't bothered by the traffic in Manayunk any more than normal, although I became alarmed at how long it took me to get unclipped on the left foot as I approached one light. When I turned onto Leverington I got up and walked the hill and the left onto Umbria, and so avoided fulfilling my nightmare. Once on Umbria, I clipped in and pedaled up. And up. And up. Clipless pedals forced me to climb the hill as a whole because I knew if I stopped, I'd never get unclipped in time. My quads were screaming by the end. The downhill was fun, except that I was required to dismount at the bottom - it's a sharp left onto Shawmont, and six cyclists that morning had spilled on the wet gravel there.
The first rest stop was Cedar Grove Park, 13 miles out. Food and drink was inside the building. While I was inside, a fellow from Keswick Cyclery replaced the tube in my front tire, which had begun to get soft.
By here I had scaled back my plans from doing a metric century to the 38 mile route, going out to Fort Washington and back. The hills earlier in the ride had gotten to me, and I walked up a couple of quadbusters at the halfway point. As I turned around, I decided, since I wasn't going for a metric, I could treat the rest of the ride as just a test of the fit and clipless, and take the opportunity for photography as it arose.
As I approached Manayunk, a volunteer on the ride passed me and asked if I was alright. He persisted in questioning me, and I suddenly realized I hadn't eaten in hours and was out of water. I didn't feel lightheaded - yet. Not wanting to either tempt fate or the climb onto Umbria from Shawmont, I chose to ride the flat Manayunk Canal Towpath, and stop at a place in town for food and water.
After food and drink, I rode back to the Falls Bridge, over to West River Drive, and towards the ride end. I can see the city skyline in the distance. Soon enough the Art Museum came into view. And before I knew it, I was at the BCP end of ride pizza party, walking around in my socks like half the other clipless riders.
Two of my hostel friends, David and Kevin, finished the 38 an hour before me, and they headed back up the hill to the hostel. John showed up shortly afterward, bushed from the metric century. He also left as I stayed for a massage. Then I too headed back to the hostel for a shower and dinner, reaching there just as some rain started to fall. The four of us went out to dinner, carbed up, and prepared for Bike Philly. I went to bed happy to have completed a long, hard ride without a clipless fall or an accident like my recent gashing of my right leg on my chainring.
I arrived at Chamounix Mansion Hostel in Fairmount Park about 11:00 PM, and was assigned a room with three other riders, John, Kevin, and David, all Clydesdales, who had driven up from Virginia for the rides. We soon formed a plan to leave at 7:00 AM the next morning, I leading the group. We settled to bed, they dreaming of their rides, and I having a nightmare about falling making a left turn in traffic from Leverington onto Umbria in Manayunk.
Next morning we headed off, I leading the pack through Fairmount Park, over the Strawberry Mansion Bridge, and on a roundabout trip to the ride start at Lloyd Hall, in the shadow of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. A flat tire on John's road bike delayed us a few minutes.
After the repair and a slight wrong turn on my part, we reached the ride start. We let the mass start take place before we entered the stream of cyclists riding towards the Art Museum, in front of the "Rocky" steps, and onto West River Drive. Philadelphia closes West River Drive to motorized vehicles from 7-5 on weekends, so it was a wall of cyclists.
At the Falls Bridge, cyclists had to face traffic as they headed into Manayunk. Well before this point, I had been dropped, by agreement, by my hostel friends. So I, and my clipless and fit concerns, were riding solo. I wasn't bothered by the traffic in Manayunk any more than normal, although I became alarmed at how long it took me to get unclipped on the left foot as I approached one light. When I turned onto Leverington I got up and walked the hill and the left onto Umbria, and so avoided fulfilling my nightmare. Once on Umbria, I clipped in and pedaled up. And up. And up. Clipless pedals forced me to climb the hill as a whole because I knew if I stopped, I'd never get unclipped in time. My quads were screaming by the end. The downhill was fun, except that I was required to dismount at the bottom - it's a sharp left onto Shawmont, and six cyclists that morning had spilled on the wet gravel there.
The first rest stop was Cedar Grove Park, 13 miles out. Food and drink was inside the building. While I was inside, a fellow from Keswick Cyclery replaced the tube in my front tire, which had begun to get soft.
By here I had scaled back my plans from doing a metric century to the 38 mile route, going out to Fort Washington and back. The hills earlier in the ride had gotten to me, and I walked up a couple of quadbusters at the halfway point. As I turned around, I decided, since I wasn't going for a metric, I could treat the rest of the ride as just a test of the fit and clipless, and take the opportunity for photography as it arose.
As I approached Manayunk, a volunteer on the ride passed me and asked if I was alright. He persisted in questioning me, and I suddenly realized I hadn't eaten in hours and was out of water. I didn't feel lightheaded - yet. Not wanting to either tempt fate or the climb onto Umbria from Shawmont, I chose to ride the flat Manayunk Canal Towpath, and stop at a place in town for food and water.
After food and drink, I rode back to the Falls Bridge, over to West River Drive, and towards the ride end. I can see the city skyline in the distance. Soon enough the Art Museum came into view. And before I knew it, I was at the BCP end of ride pizza party, walking around in my socks like half the other clipless riders.
Two of my hostel friends, David and Kevin, finished the 38 an hour before me, and they headed back up the hill to the hostel. John showed up shortly afterward, bushed from the metric century. He also left as I stayed for a massage. Then I too headed back to the hostel for a shower and dinner, reaching there just as some rain started to fall. The four of us went out to dinner, carbed up, and prepared for Bike Philly. I went to bed happy to have completed a long, hard ride without a clipless fall or an accident like my recent gashing of my right leg on my chainring.
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