Snappy Comebacks

Like most tandem riders, we've had to endure our share of the "He's not pedaling!" comments. KJ, of course, doesn't seem to care. Following the advice of other tandem riders, I try to not let it bother me, but every once in awhile it gets to me. This morning we rode up to KJ's religious school, and KJ actually was doing a very good job of pedaling, in spite of the cloudy 46 degree weather. When we were within a block of the school, we stopped at a minimart for a snack (KJ prefers Little Debbie Zebra Cakes) because we were a few minutes early. As we pulled in, a Ford Expedition (a big-a**ed SUV) pulled in. A large guy (I wouldn't say he was fat, but he definitely could use some exercise) got out and dropped the usual "Hey! I don't think that guy in the back is pedaling.” comment on his way in to get his Sunday paper. I mumbled something about KJ pedaling on the way back, and let it go at that. As the guy got back in his SUV and drove off (no doubt headed 3 blocks or so back to his house), it occurred to me what a moron this guy was. If another cyclist wants to say something like that, OK, fine, you're trying to be funny. At least In my mind I formulated a few snappy responses, which I was smart enough to keep to myself:

1)“Neither are you...”
2)“At least he's on a bike...”
3)“And you're Lance Armstrong?”
4)"Better than driving an SUV..."

If you have a snappy comeback you would like to add, just let me know!

USA Today Article of the GAP Trail

Here's an nice article on the Yough Trail (Officially the Great Allegheny Passage Trail) that was in Friday's USA Today:

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/destinations/affordableamerica/2009-10-08-great-allegheny-passage_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip

If you need any more incentive to get out on the trail, this is it!

Never on a Saturday...

Riding the Jail Trail in combination with the Southside Trail and the Northside Trail has proven to be one of our favorite rides this year. So far we've done it 7 different times. Interestingly, almost every ride was on a Sunday, with the exception of one Friday ride thrown in when KJ had a day off from school. There are several reasons we like this trail:

• We can get to it quickly, without burning a lot of gas. In one instance we actually biked from the house to the trail, rode the trail, and then rode home.
• It is an inexpensive ride. Golden Triangle Bikes has ice cream for $1 a bar. It doesn't get much better than that. There are also a number of water fountains, so there are plenty of places to refill our bottles.
• Flexible routings. With the opening of the Hot Metal Bridge, there are a lot of different routes we can take. Our mileage can vary depending on how we're doing. It is also easy to cut a ride short and head back to the car if the weather starts to get bad.

So we decided to start on the Jail Trail today. We were working under some time constraints, so it seemed like a good choice. The Pirates are in town (does anybody still go to those games?) but the game wasn't until this evening, so that didn't seem to pose a problem.

It took a while to get to the trailhead, because there was a lot of traffic getting into town. The trailhead itself was busy, but not full. Once we were riding, that was when the craziness really started. Slow riders riding two or three across. Fast riders who apparently forgot where their brake levers were. A couple of people on those three-wheel scooter things that you propel by turning back and forth (which takes up too much trail width when it is crowded). But the "best" was the group of four riders who came off the Duquesne Bridge walkway and then turned left (AGAINST traffic) and rode two-across towards Heinz Field, going the wrong way in what was their far-left lane. I didn't hear any loud horn-honks or sirens, so I guess they made it OK. There was a lot more car traffic compared to the Sundays we've been downtown, and there were plenty of stupid drivers out too, especially near the intersection of Grant Street and the Boulevard of the Allies. One driver stopped past the white line, blocking the ramp tot he sidewalk, and then proceeded to make an illegal right-turn-on-red. Immediately after her came another woman making a right turn who couldn't decide if she wanted to turn onto the Boulevard ramp or go underneath it. She ended up doing what was starting to look like a 180-degree turn, before finally turning up the ramp. KJ and I just sat at the light for a bit until all the crazies left.

For all that, we actually had a good ride. Once we were on the Northside trail or the Southside trail things were not that busy, and KJ decided it was time for us to do some serious riding. Instead of our usual trail speed of 10 to 12.5 mph, KJ cranked us up to 12.5 to 15 mph. This seems to be a new thinkg with KJ, that has become particularly noticable this month. Instead of the previous sprinting that he did in years past (bursts of high-speed for a mile or less) this has been a steady, consistent pedaling that has resulting in higher average speeds for these rides. I'm not sure if this is for all rides, or if it is only going to be for rides on trails. Hopefully, as we do more rides, I'll be able to determine what's motivating him.

As long as it isn't downtown on a Saturday...

Mon Valley Century --Minute by Minute

I decided to try something a little different for this blog entry. I used my Palm Centro smartphone to keep a log the day of the ride, in the hope of providing a more "pedal-by-pedal" description of the ride.

The Night Before: KJ keeps signing "Ride 30 miles Sunday", so he's definitely ready for this. Since I wanted to leave the house around 7 am (significantly earlier than we usually get out the door when we ride), I tried to get as much ready the night before as possible. I had the rack on the car, put our Gatorade bottles in the freezer, and packed our rack bag with just what I wanted to take with us. I even had the jersey and shorts I planned to wear laid out.

5:00 am I haven't gotten up this early in months. Fed the cats and made coffee, in that order. Turn on the Weather Channel. Rain is moving out of the area. Good. And today looks to be our first 90 degree-plus day of the summer. Figures...

6:00 am Wake up KJ. He gets out of bed quickly. Like I said, he's ready for this. Try and wake up wife. No such luck. KJ has his usual breakfast (muffin, cereal, spaghetti, and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich).

6:45 am Go put the bike on the car. Noticed the rack is wet from the overnight rain. The pavement is wet also. Made sure to take along our mud flaps, just in case we needed them.

7:15 am We left house, more or less on time. It is warm enough out that we drive with the windows rolled down. It is so early that there is no traffic in the Rankin Bridge construction zone.

7:45 am Arrived in Elizabeth and parked the car. I noticed that it is a lot easier to find a place to park than in past years. We take the bike and head over to the registration table. There is just one table with two guys handing out the packets. Clearly this is a much smaller affair than the last time I did it (back when American Youth Hostels ran it). Back then, there were multiple lines for registration, broken down alphabetically, with a separate line for those who hadn't pre-registered. Our tag numbers are 378 and 379. I was concerned that KJ might not like the idea of pinning a tag to his back, fortunately his backpack provided an simple and effective alternative.

8:00 am Started the ride, more or less right on schedule.

8:22 am, 3.60 miles Stopped on side of road to get some Gatorade. I noticed that there aren't near as many riders on the road as I remember, and the riders we do see are all passing us. Most greet us with a friendly "Good morning!", and some even ask if we're OK (since we're stopped on the side of the road). So far it has been a bit of a grind. Don't know if it is because it is too early, or the route in unfamiliar, but KJ doesn't seem to be putting much effort into pedaling. Which means it is going to be a long ride. There's no way we're going to be doing the 50 mile route.

8:47 am, 7.23 miles We take a second break at the side of the road. I notice that KJ is finally pedaling, so things are a bit easier.

9:15 am, 10.59 miles We stopped for Powerbar break and to check the map. I thought I had perhaps missed a turn for the 30-mile route when we came off the bridge, but it turns out we are on track and everything is fine.

9:48 am, 15.37 miles, average speed 10.8 mph. Gatorade stop at the side of the road.

10:05 am, 17.89 miles, average speed 10.8 mph. KJ seems to be really into the pedaling. I'm wondering if maybe we shouldn't have done the 50 mile route.

10:22 am, 21.96 miles, average speed 10.8 mph. Arrived at the lunch stop. It is somewhat cruel that you see the lunchstop (in a park along the river) a half-mile before you actually come to the entrance to the park. They actually make the sandwiches for you. KJ had a PB&J, cheese crackers, a banana, and pasta salad. There aren't as many riders here as I remember from previus years. In looking at the other riders' tag numbers, I notice they all seem to be within 50 numbers of our own. The tags do not have a year on them, so I'm guessing they have a stack of tags and just use the next available numbers each year until they run out. Before we left we filled up our waterbottles with the most potent Gatorade I've ever tasted. Someone definitely used too much powder for the amount of water in the container. Can't really complain though, because it is better than the watered-down stuff I remember from the last time I did the Mon Valley Century.

10.54 am, 21.96 miles, average speed 10.8 mph. We leave the lunch stop. We're two-thirds of the way through the course.

11:15 am, 25.14 miles, average speed 10.7 mph. Gatorade stop. KJ's pedaling seems mixed. Sometimes he's putting forth effort, other times he's not.

11:31 am, 27.63 miles, average speed 10.8 mph. Stopped for a Gatorade break. KJ's doing a better job of pedaling. This should be our last stop. We're in the home stretch.

11:59 am, 31.85 miles, average speed 10.9 mph. We're over 30 miles, where is the end of this ride? Stopped at the bottom of the biggest *&#@%^ hill. Between the size of the hill, the distance we've ridden, and the fact that we're just hoping for the end of the ride, this really took the wind out of our sails. This hill looks like Alpe du Huez to me...

12:15 pm, 33.19 miles, average speed 10.8 mph. Finally made it back to the car. Unfortunately there isn't really any sort of finish line or official end point. Which is too bad. A bigger concern is that there is no water or snacks at the finish, which is arguably when you need those things the most. The most amazing thing is that our average speed remained fairly constant over the length of the entire ride.

Starting August with a Bang.

July was something of a disappointing month for us. We managed only 143 miles for the month, when normally for July our total is closer 200 miles. The reduced mileage was due to several things. One was the fact that KJ had camp during July, and wasn't home during the day when I was off work. My wife was out of town one weekend, so biking was out because I had to watch both boys (we no longer have our trailer bike). The wet weather we had during the second half of the month didn't help either.

After the crappy July, I'm pumped to make it up in August. And we got off to a great start this past Saturday. As we were getting ready to leave, my wife told me that KJ was ready and rarin' to go. How right she was... We headed to the Ghost Town Trail, out in Indiana County. We've been riding it for years, and it is one of our favorites. Very scenic, not very busy. It is about 70 minutes directly east of Pittsburgh, right off of Route 22, but because of the price of gas we haven't been out there as much as we used to. Because we had the entire day, and the weather was perfect, I decided to make it a special treat and head out there. Normally the Ghost Town Trail is a 24 mile round-trip (from Dilltown to Nanty Glo and back), but they've extended the trail all the way to Ebensburg, so a round trip is now over 40 miles. The first 6.5 miles is level, and then there is a steep (for a trail) uphill for 2.5 miles, before it becomes a more gradual uphill for the last 3 miles. I didn't know what to expect beyond the 12 mile point. I had figured we would ride to Nanty Glo, and maybe do a few more miles, just to see a little of the new part of the trail.

Once we got to the trail, it was obvious KJ was up for a big ride. We started out at a steady pace of 10.5 miles per hour, which is a pretty decent pace for us. But it was when we hit the hill that KJ decided to do his best Lance impression. The climb out of Vintondale is steep enough that we normally need to use our lowest gear and stop every half-mile or so to catch my breath. Not this time. I was amazed to find us climbing using our third-lowest gear, and we only had to stop at the points where we crossed the road. After the steepest part of the climb, when we were still going up hill, KJ pulled a classic lance move and accelerated! We actually hit a speed of 11.5 miles per hour on a climb. Un-be-lei-va-ble!

And KJ wasn't done. When we left Nanty Glo and were on the new part of the trail header to Ebensburg, we would periodically stop, and I would ask KJ if he wanted to keep going, or turn around and head back to the car. He would also point that he wanted to go farther up the trail. The new part of the trail is a steady uphill climb. That part of the trail is in excellent condition, but personally I don't find it as interesting as the original trail. The ride back was mostly downhill, and to my amazement, KJ never let up with the pedaling, all the way back to Dilltown. Our mileage for the day was a whopping 41.5 miles!

The only problem we ran in to was one of proper hydration. We started out with our usual four 22-oz. Gatorade bottles. Those lasted for about 24 miles. Problem is, on the part of the trail from Nanty Glo to Ebensburg, there isn't a single mini-mart or even a water fountain. Even a town as big as Ebensburg, we couldn't find anything within sight of the trail. I knew there were vending machines at Nanty Glo, along with a water fountain at a nearby ballfield. Unfortunately, all I had on me were five-dollar bills. Even though some of the machines said they accepted fives, none of them did. And the water fountain, which was my backup plan, was turned off. So we had to do without until we got to the water fountain at Vintondale.

We'll be at the Mon Valley Century on August 9.

A "Century" is cycling lingo for a 100 mile bike ride. It is the cycling equivalent of running a marathon. You may also see references to a "Metric Century", which is 100 kilometers (62 miles). In the time before trails, organized century rides were an end-of-the-season opportunity to test yourself.

The Mon Valley Century has been around for a long time. It starts in Elizabeth (right off of Route 51) and heads south. There are four different routes marked: 35 miles, 50 miles, 62 miles, and 100 miles. There is SAG support available, and food stops along the way. It has been quite a few years since I last did the Mon Valley Century. Over 10 years according to my biking log. A big reason is that it is just easier to go down to one of the trails and whip off however much distance you want. But this year I want something different, something that will be a nice change of pace for KJ and I. I don't think I ever did the Mon Valley Century with KJ, so this will be a first.

We'll signup for just the 35 miles ride. We might decide to do the 50 mile ride instead, but that will likely be a "game day decision". Both routes are reasonably flat. The 62 mile and 100 mile routes have some nasty hills, and I wouldn't recommend them if you are on a tandem or pulling a trailer of any sort.

For more information and an application, please see here. Hope to see you there! If you see a silver and blue tandem at the ride, make sure you introduce yourself!

What Lance Can Teach All of Us

I've always liked watching professional bike racing. In 1990 I came across the Tour de Trump (later known as the Tour duPont) while channel surfing one weekend, and that led directly to my getting on a bike and riding. I've always followed the Tour de France, even when there weren't any notable American riders, and I'm paying a bit more attention this year because Lance Armstrong is riding again. I've followed his career for a very long time, beginning when he was still an amateur and rode in the first Thrift Drug Classic here in Pittsburgh in the early 1990's (remember that??)

I realize that Cancer is Lance's big cause, with the money and awareness he has raising through his "Livestrong" organization. That said, I think there are some lessons for those of us cycling with a disabled child:

Practice, train, prepare. Lance is known for his training and his preparation. You don't just hop on the bike and decide to ride le Tour. You have to work up to it. After his cancer treatment, during one of his first rides, Lance was passed by a grandmother on a bike (I wonder if she realizes just who she passed that day). Obviously he has gotten a lot better. He studies everything: himself, his bike, the course. You should do the same. Know your limits. Train to get better. Know your bike. Know how to fix it if something breaks while you're out with the kids. If you have a new route you want to take, ride it beforehand by yourself, so you know what to expect. Surprises and problems are magnified when you're with someone with a disability.

Have a goal. Don't quit until you achieve it. Lance has always been focused on just the Tour de France. Doing so helped everything fall into place. If you have a goal, it will keep you motivated, and give you a framework to plan around. Ideally you should establish the goal at the start of the season (say February or March) and plan to meet it by the end of the season in September or October. Since we got the tandem in 2003, our goal has always been to pedal at least 1000 miles per year. Unfortunately, ever since I switched jobs at the beginning of 2006, my work schedule makes this nearly impossible. We're still trying for it this year, but if we don't make it I may need to find a new goal.

Depend on others. From the doctors who helped him overcome cancer, to his trainers, coaches, mechanics, sponsors, and teammates, Lance would not be the living legend he is by himself.

Prepare to be amazed, and be amazing. No one thought Lance could come back from cancer and even compete, let alone win the Tour. No one thought he could come out of retirement and compete. And yet here he is, a self-proclaimed "old fart"... Your kids will amaze you, and you will amaze yourself also. When we first got our tandem, I expected our mileage would drop from our annual average of around 500 miles. I figured K.J. would have trouble because the tandem layout required him to pedal the entire tire. Previously, on the trailer bike, he always had the option of free-wheeling and letting me do all the work. As it turned out, that first year we had the tandem our mileage actually doubled to over 1000 miles per year.

Enjoy the cheers. They give you a reason to continue. Over the years we have gotten a lot of comments from folks when we have been out on the tandem. Everything from little kids saying "Whoa, that bike is tight!" (which I assume is a good thing...) to an elderly World War 2 veteran riding on the passenger side of a car that gave us a thumbs-up when we were both stopped at a stop sign. Things like that more than make up for the occasional jerk you run in to.

There's something to be said for being an "old fart"...