FeralBlog

The number of bike-related posts will probably be drying up here as I’ve started shifting all my fitlog-style posts to a fantastic site that my friend Joshua has been cooking up called We Endure. At its core it’s a community-based endurance training logging application, but it’s got all the pre-requisite Web 2.0 features like tagging and a spanky AJAX interface. It’s closed beta at the moment, but should be open and then I advise everyone to get an account there before it gets bought up by Yahoo! and becomes less cool. You will notice a list of my most recent activities on the sidebar, so that’s where my fitness info will be going. You can also check out my page here.

If you like the site and can’t wait for it to open for public beta, shoot me an email and I’ll get you an invite.

In a month and a half I’m going with Jobie to do the Whiskey Off-Road ride, which is an endurance ride starting up in Prescott, which is about 200 miles north of here, past Phoenix. I think it’s out of the valley and up at high enough of an altitude (about 5500 feet according to gmap pedometer) that it won’t be a brutally hot as Tucson or Phoenix would be. I’m doing the 50 mile course because I’m insane like that. The longest one-day ride I’ve done so far was the 80-mile day one of the MS150 ride. And that was on pavement. And on a road bike. With gears. I’m trying to mentally calculate just how many bottle cages I can fit on one bike to supplement my Camelback.

Today Jobie is busting out his single-speed road bike, and we’re going to do a climb up Mt. Lemmon. The plan is to ride at least twice a week until the ride, and I’m hoping I don’t turn into a complete jellied mess today given how much time I’ve had off from hard exercise.

If I don’t pick up a bike between now and then I’ll be using Jobie’s Rig again, but with the swap meet coming up this weekend I’m hoping to be able to find something.

Saturday morning I met up with Jobie, one of the dealers at the local casino for a bike ride. We went over by Tucson Mountain Park (near the Desert Museum), and he had a mountain bike for me to use, since I didn’t own one. Both of his bikes are pretty sweet; one was a Gary Fisher Rig, and the other a Surly Karate Monkey that he built. Both were set up as single-speeds, which of course was way cool. I got the Fisher, because it was geared a little easier. Both bikes were 29ers, which basically is like riding a bicycle version of Bigfoot.

We went out on about an 18 mile loop around the park. It was easier than some of the rides that Jobie usually goes on (he’s pretty accomplished), but there was still some pretty technical sections. At first I was just trying to stay alive; whipping around tight turns inches away from very scary looking cactii or plummeting down into rocky washes isn’t something I’m used to with road biking. After a little while I started to get the hang of it, and started to think that I wasn’t going to die, and then it started to get really fun. The huge tires on the bikes just swallow up rocks and other irregularities, but the steel frame still let you know where you were and what you were doing.

About halfway through it started to actually feel like exercise, but I didn’t mind. Riding through the desert scrub, cresting turns around giant saguaro; it was beautiful scenery for the ride.

Along the way we met a few other mountain bikers, and they were all really nice. They all wanted to talk gear and trails; you know, shop talk. Jobie has some other really good trails in mind for us to go on around town, so it looks like I’ll have to start budgeting for a bike. Apparently there’s a swap meet next weekend, so I’ll have to have him keep his eye out, because I’ll be out in L.A. Damn you mountain biking, why did you have to be so fun? I thought I already had enoug hobbies!!!

Had a very nice early-ish morning ride with Darcey today, who hasn’t been on her bike since December, so we took a very leisurely loop down to Saguaru East and back.

20.9 miles
29.9 mph max speed
12.8 mph avg speed
1:37 ride time

Beautiful day today, and near-record temps in the low 80s. Headed down to U of A the usual way, but then detoured on the way back up to the considerably hillier and twistier River Rd. Unfortunately, the first few miles were very much under construction, so there was either a very sandy shoulder or no shoulder at all. I don’t think the elevation gauge for my route does justice to just how much of a roller coaster parts of River are.

27.0 miles
27.2 mph max speed
15.1 mph avg speed
1:47 ride time

Quick run after work today on the flats. Just down to U of A and back, with some construction avoiding to go with it.

19.85 miles
24.7 mph max speed
15.2 mph avg speed
1:18 ride time

Another run up Mt. Lemmon today. Gorgeous day with beautiful temps. I brought my camera along and took some pictures of my route.

27.49 miles
28.5 mph max speed
13.7 mph avg speed
1:59 ride time

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Excellent ride today. I should include a new stat, “vertical feet”, because I went a few miles up Mt. Lemmon today. Going up was steep, but not nearly as bad as I would have thunk. Coming down was a little bit tricky, as the shoulder is narrower on that side, and I couldn’t go all that fast on the fixie.

24.96 miles
24.7 mph max speed
13.8 mph avg speed
1:48 ride time

Late night of work last night, and a 10-20 mph headwind on the uphill side made this ride less than fun, but at least it was about 70 degrees! Went past Saguaro East, and a little further this time than last. Damn, going over those cattle guards is scary.

18.05 miles
31.1 mph max speed
14.8 mph avg speed
1:13 ride time

As as sign of how spoiled I am in Tucson I almost didn’t go riding today because it wasn’t completely cloudless. Yes, I’m serious. Went more on the flats; down to U of A and back. Fun ride.

20.05 miles
25.4 mph max speed
14.9 mph avg speed
1:20 ride time