Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Just can't win

Today I came to a four way stop intersection in west Farmington. There was only one other car on my left. I was about 20 yards from the stop sign and the car was already stopped. I slowed dramatically to show my intention to let them go as they were already stopped and could just go ahead. Instead he waited for me to come to nearly a complete stop and then wave me on. C'mon people! Just go! I waved at them to go since they were the ones that were in the right of way to go and momentum was already shot to hell. They still waited.

Road rage was setting in. I ended up turning left on the wrong side of the road cause I wasn't about to get in front of this doofus and have him second guess me. I know he was trying to be nice, but c'mon, many people don't give a crap about bikers and I'm used to no having people break their back for them. And they shouldn't. After last week's incident I'm not assuming people are going to give me the right of way.

Today's ride was typical:

Distance: 30.6 miles
Time: 1:30
Average Speed: 20.4
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The ride home was a tad faster:
Distance: 30.6 miles
Time: 1:26
Average Speed: 21.4 mph

Saturday, June 27, 2009

Albion to Snowville

We had such a fun time in Albion at the family reunion. We did the camping, playing games, performed in skits, tasted some great cooking, and had fun visiting with relatives. After "Deal or No Deal" game they started the Auction. It was 1:15 pm and I figured I should leave in order to get my ride done before Cathi would leave two hours later to meet me.

Here's the route I took:


The first six miles were uphill going up to the Mt Harrison turnoff, but after that it was pretty much downhill after that. In fact it was a good grade down right after the Mt Harrison turnoff. My max speed was 48 mph. Once I got to mile 26 my GPS ran out of batteries, and the backup batteries I had weren't very good and they died within a few minutes. So I was without GPS data the last half of my ride. It sucked. So I tried my best to just go as hard as I could so I could keep my goal of getting this done in just over 3 hours.

Here's video of me getting to the Utah/Idaho border:
From Biking


Cathi caught me about six miles before I got to Snowville. She said she was OK with just waiting at the end of the road. So I kept it going and met her about 20 minutes later. It was a long hot ride and it was fun. I wish I would have had someone with me to trade drafting with. I noticed the road turned to Nevada. That would be a very cool ride to go from Snowville to Elko Nevada. What a ride that would be!

Anyhow here are the stats (based on the distance and time elapsed):
Distance: 63.32 Miles
Time: 3:11
Average Speed: 19.89 mph

Here's the end of my ride:
From Biking

Friday, June 26, 2009

Mt Harrison Ride


I didn't ride up in the morning as planned because Robby (my Aunt Patricia's husband) said he would go up with me. He was going to ride his Mountain Bike and would be up there after lunch so I waited until he got to the park in Albion.

When he got there I was napping in the tent and hurried into my biking gear. We started up there and it was slow going. His bike had bike fat knobby tires with good suspension, but not very fast. Our first six miles we were going probably 11 mph average. Once we turned off the main highway and started up we went about 500 feet higher in elevation and then switched bikes. Robby seemed to like it and we went for another 1000 ft in elevation and then Rob switched back. After we were 11 miles into the ride he said I should go ahead. I did and went to the top and my GPS read 17.1 miles.


Coming back was crazy fast. Made it back to the park in less than 45 minutes. Very fun ride! I'm going to do it again next year when we come up. Looking forward to tomorrow's ride to Snowville too.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Near Death Experience

I'm a big believer in the power of prayer and today was a perfect example. While I'm glad to be alive right now, I'm disappointed that I'm so dumb. I'm sharing this to record that miracles do happen as well as a warning to myself and to other bikers to be more careful and not to assume obstacles don't exist. Cathi if you read this please know I've learned my lesson!


View Larger Map
Today when I got to the T intersection at end of weaver going onto Angel Street in Kaysville, I looked left before turning right going South onto Angel. Problem was, I didn't look right at all since I wasn't turning into traffic, but staying on the right side. I didn't look right at all and totally missed that here coming at me at about 20 mph was a huge double axle tractor, with a row of "middlebusters" (a ripper/plow) attachment on the back. The row of these plows was about 3-4 feet wider than the tractor itself. It took up nearly the whole road including my side!

When I turned I was going about 12 mph and turned into the middle of the right side of the road. I missed the tractor, but coming at me was the plow on the end of the attachment. I had less than a second to get out of the way. I thought, Oh crap (sadly not the tame version of the word), I'm going to die, or lose a leg. I also thought I should instantly intentionally spill to the right and crash to avoid getting hit and let the plow go over me as it was lifted up about 2 feet above the ground.

But somehow I managed to twist to the right enough to miss it entirely. I don't know how it happened. It was coming so fast and was so far into my lane that I should have been hit, but managed to escape with my life.

Now the blame rests entirely on me. There was a stop sign there and I don't typically come to a complete stop on those. I don't know any biker who actually does. But the thing I get from this is to go slower through intersections and to not assume that turning right doesn't mean there won't be something coming at you in the lane your turning into. I need to look BOTH ways at every intersection.

Just because I said a prayer for protection that morning, and was wearing temple garments doesn't turn me into superman and give me a warrant to be stupid and put my life in danger and expect to leave unharmed like I did. I have no doubt had I hit that plow, I would have either died, or lost a leg and been put in critical condition. Getting a higher average mph is NOT worth dying over, or even crashing over!

Lesson learned - slow down and look both ways. Intersections are dangerous! I've broke my arm and thumb before falling off a bike and both times, at intersections.

Distance: 30.6 miles
Time: 1:30
Average Speed: 20.4 mph
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The ride home was much less eventful which was good. Slower though. Its the first time I have run out of water this year and had to refill at a park.

Distance: 30.6 miles
Time: 1:32
Average Speed: 19.9 mph

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

You get wetter biking in the rain, than running in the rain.

With biking, you get the rain from on top, and the puddles coming up in your face and backside. This morning's ride was wet to say the least. It started from the get go and was on and off about 50% of the ride.

Distance: 30.6 miles
Time: 1:31
Average Speed: 20.18 mph

I got a flat half way down Warm Springs Road so I had to stop and change that real quick. Added about 6 minutes to my ride. Other than that it wasn't bad. I wasn't cold, just wet and it went by fast.
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The ride home was good until I got to the turn in Centerville. Slowed down considerably after that. My average speed at that point was 22.7 mph, but by the time I got home I dropped down to 21.1

Distance: 30.6 miles
Time: 1:26
Average Speed:21.1

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Much anticipated ride

Haven't been on the bike for 4 days and I'm antsy to get back on! This morning's ride was fine. I have three bibs and one of them is blue. It was worn enough that it was like a speedo that is getting old and you can almost see through it in some spots, so I threw it away.

Distance: 30.6 miles
Time: 1:27
Average Speed: 21.1 mph

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Saturday, June 13, 2009

Cathi's Utah Valley Marathon

I'm putting this post together mainly as a placeholder for Cathi for when she gets around to posting the details of her race.


Cathi spent the night down in Orem at her sister Kristen's. She got up early and ran the Utah Valley Marathon. Gordon went camping with Jacob at a scout camp so Cathi was all alone this time.



She found a good running partner during the race, Martine Louis. He kept encouraging Cathi even when she felt overwhelmed and drained. This was a hard race for Cathi and she struggled more than she normally does. She did end up with a pretty good time. She saw the clock at the finish and wanted to get under 4:00, but she didn't quite make it. She got a 4:00:16.




Good job Cathi!

Monday, June 08, 2009

Need a double backup system

This morning I got to the end of Warm Springs Road in NSL when I came to a construction zone and the guy was holding up a Stop sign in the middle of the road. As soon as I came to a complete stop, I hit something and immediately my front tire had air explode out of it. I said "Dang it" like Kip and the guy looked over and said sorry. I replaced the tube and blew it up with the CO2 I had. Took off and made it another 3 miles when I noticed my air in the front tire was going out again. I must have hit something else. This time on the side. I walked from the train tracks by the Gateway Mall the rest of the way (about 1.2 miles)

I only have one extra tube and should consider a second one. Better yet, I'm going to see if I can get some decent tires from Dale with some significant rubber on the sides, which is where I'm getting these punctures.

I'll have to take Frontrunner home tonight. Here's today's numbers:

Distance: 29.8 miles
Time: 1:22
Average Speed: 21.8 miles

Saturday, June 06, 2009

Resistance Training

Last night I spent the night at Mom and Dad's. We got up early and headed North for a good bike ride. Had a nice wind from the south so it was kind. I pulled Austin with a trailer so that was some pretty good resistance. It wasn't too tough. Kept my average speed down. Still held back though so I could stay with Mom and Dad.

Distance: 30.1 miles
Time: 2:10
Average Speed: 13.89

When I got home I then picked up Jonas and took him to Garr Ranch and back. Less resistance than Austin, but still pretty good especially pulling him up the hills:

Distance 50.7 miles
Time: 3:40
Average Speed: 13.8 mph

Total Distance: 80.8 miles

That's half the distance to Pocatello, pulling a kid in a trailer. Felt great!

Friday, June 05, 2009

There's a storm brewin'

This morning the wind was going pretty good from the west. I cut the top off the kids bike trailer and put it in the back of the Van. The plan is tomorrow morning to pull Austin (my 110 pound 13 year old) from my parents house to my house which is about 30 miles. My parents wanted to go on Legacy trail Saturday morning really early, so I'm going with them. I'm hoping that the handicap of pulling a mouthy teenager will make the ride more unified as I stay with them.

But this morning's ride was awesome.
Distance: 30.6 miles
Time: 1:27
Average Speed: 21.1 mph
Max Speed: 27.4 mph

Will spend the night tonight at Mom and Dad's then ride home tomorrow.

Wednesday, June 03, 2009

A little blister

Yesterday Tom Topik and I took the scouts 2.5 miles up Bair Canyon. It seemed like 5. It was warm for the first 40 minutes, but then it started to drizzle and it got cool fast. We crossed the stream three times which made for wet feet and my toes didn't like it. I only got one timy little blister on my third toe rubbing against my second. We lost the trail coming back and missed the bridge going back to the car so our trip was extended by about 30 minutes. Kind of crazy. Got up earlier this morning and started off to work on the bike:

Distance: 30.6 miles
Time: 1:30
Average Speed: 20.4 mph

Good ride
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The ride home was even better! I was sore all day from yesterday's hike and my quads are killing me. Getting out of downtown was a nightmare. Hit just about every light. But by the time I got to 600 W it was all smooth and fast from there. I was able to get my average speed to constantly move up. No wind to speak of. The last turn off Gentile on to Bluff I noticed a guy trying to gain on me, possibly to draft. Which I don't mind, but he has to earn it. I went from a steady 23 mph up to 29-30mph. He backed off. I was hoping he'd push it and stay with me. Excellent ride!

Distance: 30.6
Time: 1:25
Avg Speed: 21.6 mph

Monday, June 01, 2009

Lifting biceps

After the Stansbury Triathlon, I noticed that my upper arms were rubbing my lats and I had started to get a blister on the inside of my biceps. I realized that my uppers arms are too flabby. There is excessive skin now that they're smaller, so I need to fill them up with some muscle. So today I did some biceps, although I don't have any plans on making lifting weights a regular thing yet.

Seated Preacher Curls: 4 x 15 @ 75 (alt inside and outside grip)
Standing Arm Blaster Curls: 2 x 15 @ 75 (alt inside and outside grip)
Alternating DB Curls: 2 x 15 @ 30
Concentration Curls: 2 x 15 @ 25

Only about 30 minutes of lifting. Got a decent burn, but nothing outstanding. This needs to be a regular thing for any significant change to happen. Maybe on days I don't ride in to work I'll try to hit the gym. That's kind of a panzy commitment isn't it?