I have to say that the current rash of cycling accidents has given me pause. I have been working on riding more consistently but I'm rethinking routes and timing again. This is after multiple crashes here in the valley just last week. By my count 3 cyclists were killed and 2 or 3 others seriously injured in less than a week. and those are just the ones that made the news.
One of those injured was my next door neighbor who was riding his bike about a half mile from the house. I don't have all the details but it appears the car shot across a busy street right in front of him and he hit her car. He spent a few day in the hospital with a concussion and is fortunately expected to make a full recovery.
All of these crashes once again have me thinking about the safety of riding on the roads in this area. unfortunately there are not protected bike paths anywhere near my house. I know that if I had a nice path near the house I would definitely be inclined to bike more often as it would feel safer. I am hoping there will be more paths in the area to which we will be moving by the end of summer.
One of the contributing factors that make me less apt to ride with traffic are the speed limits around here. One of the roads I frequent, in fact the one on which my neighbor was hit, has a speed limit of 45 mph. That means the cars are typically doing 55 to 60 mph. This just isn't safe with the number of side streets into various subdivisions. Everyone is in such a hurry and there are multiple crashes on this road each month.
So, my concerns with safety and my trip out of state have curtailed my recent riding adventures. Next week it may be the heat keeping me to shorter rides as we are heading close to 110 by Monday and staying in the 100+ range for the foreseeable future. I do want to and plan to ride, but I am being extra cognizant of what is happening all around me.
I still say Get on your bikes and ride, but do it safely!
Thursday, June 11, 2015
Thursday, June 4, 2015
The wonders of technology
Technology is a wonderful thing. We have so many devices around us that work, essentially, flawlessly that we take them for granted. Case in point. I have a Garmin Forerunner 305 that I purchased when I was training for my first ever triathlon back in 2010. It is almost 5 years old at this point. Except for the one or two times I've screwed up hitting buttons incorrectly, it has performed essentially flawlessly for me.
It dutifully records my time, distance and actual track that I take when I do my rides. I can then, through the wonders of that same technology we take for granted, upload and share that information with the world through sites like Daily Mile, Map My Ride and Strava. I can also participate in a monumental group ride of sorts like the National Bike Challenge.
Now, like I said, this is something that we take for granted. I put my Garmin in the cradle, plug it into my computer and magically it uploads the data for me.
This morning it has let me down. I uploaded the data from my ride and while it does show the time and distance of my ride, that real wonder, the actual track of the ride is blank. No matter what I do it appears that the track file on the device has been corrupted and therefore is unusable for any of the applications that I link it with.
Now, I never believe that something isn't going to work the first time it doesn't. I've tried deleting and re-importing the data from the device but to no avail. I've tried loading it directly to various sites, including Garmin Connect, but again no luck.
This leaves me with what feels like an emptiness, a hole in my training. Up to this point I had this nice, what I felt was essentially complete record of my rides and now it feels like its ruined.
OK, its not that bad. When put in perspective it means nothing that I don't have the actual track I rode for a training ride around essentially the same course that I've ridden hundreds of time previously.
I do hope that this is but a singular glitch and will reset and clear out the Garmin in preparation for my next ride.
Get on your bike and ride!!!!
It dutifully records my time, distance and actual track that I take when I do my rides. I can then, through the wonders of that same technology we take for granted, upload and share that information with the world through sites like Daily Mile, Map My Ride and Strava. I can also participate in a monumental group ride of sorts like the National Bike Challenge.
Now, like I said, this is something that we take for granted. I put my Garmin in the cradle, plug it into my computer and magically it uploads the data for me.
This morning it has let me down. I uploaded the data from my ride and while it does show the time and distance of my ride, that real wonder, the actual track of the ride is blank. No matter what I do it appears that the track file on the device has been corrupted and therefore is unusable for any of the applications that I link it with.
Now, I never believe that something isn't going to work the first time it doesn't. I've tried deleting and re-importing the data from the device but to no avail. I've tried loading it directly to various sites, including Garmin Connect, but again no luck.
This leaves me with what feels like an emptiness, a hole in my training. Up to this point I had this nice, what I felt was essentially complete record of my rides and now it feels like its ruined.
OK, its not that bad. When put in perspective it means nothing that I don't have the actual track I rode for a training ride around essentially the same course that I've ridden hundreds of time previously.
I do hope that this is but a singular glitch and will reset and clear out the Garmin in preparation for my next ride.
Get on your bike and ride!!!!
Tuesday, June 2, 2015
Rolling right along
Got up at 4:00 am again this morning to get in another ride before work. It was ride number 11 for the National Bike challenge. I've not gotten in as many rides as I had hoped so far this year, but I have increased the average distance of the rides. So far this year my average is right at 5 miles per ride. Not bad and not good.
Well, this morning's ride was challenging as the winds were out of the southwest at 17 gusting to 28 mph. The direction meant that as I was going up the slight uphill I was not only fighting gravity but the wind too. I'm guessing based on my perceived effort that it cost me about 1 mph on the uphill. Of course you would hope that would mean an increase on the downhill, but it was more of a cross wind and blocked by houses and a wall. Here's the map from strava:
This morning's ride was also challenging due to an idiot in his little white car. On my first lap, at the end of the block, on the short street (Mercer see the little bump in the lower left on the map above), I noticed a car in the driveway of a house with a woman leaning in through the open passenger door. The car was running with the lights on. No big deal.
After I made the 2 turns and headed up Quarterhorse towards Pebble, I heard an engine racing and the whit car came flying by doing about 60 in the 35 mph zone. He passed me with a good bit of room so it was no big deal. he got to the stop sign and merely slow as he took the corner. When I finally made the corner and looked he was already approaching Durango (about 3/4 of a mile away) with his right signal on. He must have been flying down Pebble which has a 45 mph speed limit. I thought little more about it as I made my way around the rest of my loop.
As I got to the end of the block again, I saw the woman standing in the street looking away from me in the direction the car had traveled. As I didn't want to startle her, I moved towards the center of the street. As I was passing her, I heard an engine and saw headlights turning onto Westchester and come flying around the corner. I moved to the left side of the street, next to the parked cars and the car passed about a foot to my right. He probably wasn't even paying attention to what was in front of him. I'm glad I was defensive and had moved to the right or he would have run me down.
I shouted that people shouldn't drive if they were idiots, or something to that effect and kept going on my way. I had thought about stopping and letting the driver know just what an idiot he was, but figured he was likely drunk, it seeming like they were coming home from a late night since it was 4:20 in the morning. My common sense and discretion prevailed and I just kept riding, thinking to myself lots of nasty things I would like to say to the driver.
It figures that there were only 2 cars that passed me this morning on my ride and one of the two was a total idiot. Anyway, when I next passed the house the car was gone and there was no one outside. My guess was that they were dropping the woman off and needed to run to the store to get her something. Th irony is that I ride in the early morning to try and avoid the idiots on the road but it seems they still find a way to find me. :)
Other than that it was a good ride and I enjoyed myself.
So, get on your bike and ride!!!!!!!!
Well, this morning's ride was challenging as the winds were out of the southwest at 17 gusting to 28 mph. The direction meant that as I was going up the slight uphill I was not only fighting gravity but the wind too. I'm guessing based on my perceived effort that it cost me about 1 mph on the uphill. Of course you would hope that would mean an increase on the downhill, but it was more of a cross wind and blocked by houses and a wall. Here's the map from strava:
This morning's ride was also challenging due to an idiot in his little white car. On my first lap, at the end of the block, on the short street (Mercer see the little bump in the lower left on the map above), I noticed a car in the driveway of a house with a woman leaning in through the open passenger door. The car was running with the lights on. No big deal.
After I made the 2 turns and headed up Quarterhorse towards Pebble, I heard an engine racing and the whit car came flying by doing about 60 in the 35 mph zone. He passed me with a good bit of room so it was no big deal. he got to the stop sign and merely slow as he took the corner. When I finally made the corner and looked he was already approaching Durango (about 3/4 of a mile away) with his right signal on. He must have been flying down Pebble which has a 45 mph speed limit. I thought little more about it as I made my way around the rest of my loop.
As I got to the end of the block again, I saw the woman standing in the street looking away from me in the direction the car had traveled. As I didn't want to startle her, I moved towards the center of the street. As I was passing her, I heard an engine and saw headlights turning onto Westchester and come flying around the corner. I moved to the left side of the street, next to the parked cars and the car passed about a foot to my right. He probably wasn't even paying attention to what was in front of him. I'm glad I was defensive and had moved to the right or he would have run me down.
I shouted that people shouldn't drive if they were idiots, or something to that effect and kept going on my way. I had thought about stopping and letting the driver know just what an idiot he was, but figured he was likely drunk, it seeming like they were coming home from a late night since it was 4:20 in the morning. My common sense and discretion prevailed and I just kept riding, thinking to myself lots of nasty things I would like to say to the driver.
It figures that there were only 2 cars that passed me this morning on my ride and one of the two was a total idiot. Anyway, when I next passed the house the car was gone and there was no one outside. My guess was that they were dropping the woman off and needed to run to the store to get her something. Th irony is that I ride in the early morning to try and avoid the idiots on the road but it seems they still find a way to find me. :)
Other than that it was a good ride and I enjoyed myself.
So, get on your bike and ride!!!!!!!!
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