Two good pieces of kit

Despite the unpleasant weather (40s, drizzle) yesterday I set myself up to bike home. I had my new bags from Swift and loaded them onto the bike to test out.

The first thing I noticed when I got the box a couple of weeks ago was that the bags were beautiful. Swift lets you customize the bags and I couldn't be happier with how they cam out. The attachment is simple - I tossed in a little extra to have a bungie attachment with an S-hook for the bottom so all I did was hook the bungie on the bottom and pull up until I could hook the top bar on the rack. The two bags worked great for what I wanted to carry - my work clothes, computer, and some notebooks. With a second set of bags (which I have) I can easily load enough gear for a short trip (couple of days) without trouble. When the weather turns enough for me to test the bags out with a full tour, I'll let you know.

The other piece of kit I wanted to crow about is my Fat Cyclist woolie (sorry, it's a limited edition and there hasn't been any info on the next version). Like all FC gear it's made by Twin Six, and it's fantastic. Yesterday was the first time I really tested it in poor weather, I'd worn it on cool days before but not in the cold. I was wearing the jersey with a day-glo vest over it and shorts, and within a few minutes I was plenty warm. I will soon be ordering a few more wool jerseys for winter riding.

Clothes make the ride?

I managed to get off my @$$ and ride into work this morning (well, ride to BART and plan to ride home). Most of the time when I've ridden in I've kitted up since that's what I wear to ride home (12 miles - bike shorts are nice). Today I just put on my work clothes since the morning ride is so short. I noticed something odd though - there's one major intersection between my house and BART, and I normally crosswalk it. Today though I just pulled over and turned with the traffic in the left hand turn lane.

I'm perfectly comfortable taking the lane, and traffic isn't so brutal that the crosswalk is safer, so I don't know why I took the lane today instead. My only thought is that most of the time when I kit up I'm doing back road or bike trail riding, and most of the time when I'm in street clothes I'm running errands and commuting. Either way, I was more vehicular in the my riding in my street clothes.

Anyone else find their riding style changed based on what they wear?

Quick note - great causes

The master of soliciting donations, Elden Nelson (The Fat Cyclist) is at it again. First he sent an open letter to Johan Bruyneel explaining why he deserved to be on Team Radio Shack. Johan upped the game with this challenge:

By Friday December 11, 12:00 PM US Mountain Standard/Tucson, AZ Time you must have met the following criteria

• Raised a minimum of $10,000 for World Bicycle Relief

AND

• Raised a minimum of $10,000 for LIVESTRONG

If those two criteria are met by the stated deadline, I will fly you out to Arizona and you will have the one opportunity to ride with Team RadioShack on Sunday, December 13.

But I have a bonus for you!If you raise a minimum of $25,000 for World Bicycle Relief AND $25,000 for LIVESTRONG, you"ll get a brand new Trek Madone 6 Series bike powered by SRAM Red.

So, Fatty threw it open to everyone. Go to his blog, read the full post, and toss in for a chance to win.

Turkey Tri (San Dimas, CA) race report - for real

OK, now that I can feel all of the delicate parts of my body that were near-frozen after the swim on Sunday I'll write the race up.

As I mentioned in my earlier post it was 58F in the water and I didn't have a wetsuit. I had a pair of tri shorts (bike shorts with a thinner pad), the yellow Clyde class swim cap, and a pair of Sweedish goggles. That's it. I had to do the first 1/3 of the swim backstroke because when I put my chest in the water I couldn't hold my breath. I eventually hit a point where I could take a few strokes without dying but the water sucked most of my strength. Walking up the beach (and then up some stairs to T1) was tough.

The bike was better. The day was warming and it was comfortable to ride. I've done one other race in the same park and the route was shifted to be easier to start (last time you had a good climb right out of T1 so you had to have your bike in a low gear to make the run/walk from T1 - jump and ride move possible). I rode my Super Course and it was adjusted slightly off, with the seat a little too low, but that's my fault for not re-fitting the bike I haven't been on for better than a year. Oh, and I left my helmet in my truck (I carpooled to the race with my brother) and had to borrow one (Brian, bib # 77, you are my hero).

The run was a little long for a sprint (4.5 mi) but it was through the park and pretty nice. My only gripe is that the kid's duathlon they were running was using the adult run route for the kid's bike route and I got tagged in the arm by a sprinting kid.

As you can see from the pic above, I was last (20/20) in my class and darn near DFL (dead f---ing last) overall, but I did finish. I haven't been as good as I'd hoped with my training this fall and now I have a base time to try and better.

Turkey Tri (San Dimas, CA) race report

I did the Turkey Tri in San Dimas the Sunday after Thanksgiving. The water was 58F and I didn't have a wetsuit. When I thaw out I'll have a full write-up.

Getting ready

As I mentioned a little while ago, I've got a sprint tri coming up next weekend. I've done another race at this same location a few years ago, and that time I had to borrow my brother's old full suspension MTB to ride. The worst part (other than the fact that I don't like suspension to begin with) is that he hadn't used/maintained it for so long that the front fork lock-out wasn't working, so by the end of the bike section I was almost sea-sick from the bouncing every time I tried to really push on a climb. This time I'll be driving to his house instead of flying, so I can bring my own bike.

I thought about it a bit and decided to pull the Raleigh off of the trainer and use it. Sure, it's limited gear-wise (a straight 10, and not for climbing, compared to the 21 on the Trucker) but it weighs less, has no racks, and is easier to pack into my truck. I also decided to swap the pedals out. When I first bought it the Raleigh had what looked like original toe clip pedals on it and I pulled them off for clipless. In this case I want the toe clip so I can just wear my running shoes. Since I'm not going for speed the slight benefit of the clipless shoes is more than balanced by only having to put my shoes on once (I'm VERY slow at transitions.)


The only downside is that while I was pulling the non-driveside pedal off I wanged my thumb good - pinched it between the wrench and the crank. Darn thing is still tender. Oh, and the fact that the spare tube from the seat bag had spider webs on it.

Wednesday weigh-in: Week 15

In addition to the update on my weight (still going down, slower than I'd like) I want to talk about weather. In this case, the difference between cycling and running weather.

I really like to ride. It's one the of the most enjoyable activities I do. What I don't especially like is riding when it's chilly. Not cold, mind you, just chilly. Weather right now in the Bay Area is mid 50s and 60s which isn't bad for riding but for some reason I just can't get myself to ride in this sort of weather.

Running on the other hand...

I love running in this weather - the colder (down to 20s) the better. I head out in my shorts and sweatshirt and pound for an hour or so and I'm happy as can be. So why not with riding?

(and yes, that parenthetical in the first line is the weight update for this week)

Wednesday weigh-in: Week 14

Okay, so it's not Wednesday and I've been slipping more often than not on the "weekly" part. After a great week of working out I've had a week and a half of bad. Basically, I missed most of last week, was gone over the weekend (did a lot of hiking but no true workouts), and have been feeling a little meh this week. I will be back in the gym today to get back on the horse, but have a lot of ground to make up.As you can see from the graph I'm still trending down, although with some deviations. As I get back into working out regularly I hope to get that trend a little more solid.

I have registered for the Turkey Tri at Bonnelli Park in the LA area, the Sunday following Thanksgiving, so if any of you are in the are come by and laugh.

A rideless weekend

I spent last weekend in Mammoth Lakes, CA and intended to do some riding. I loaded my bike and all of my gear into the truck, and that's where it stayed for the length of the trip. Two things caught me short - the altitude and the hills. I fully expected both, but wasn't ready for just how much they would whoop me. I had a hard enough time hiking around and don't want to think about what would have happened if I'd tried to ride anywhere.

Below is a shot of McLeod Lake, a short hike from where I stayed. I also tromped around Convict Lake and a bit in Yosemite. This is will certainly go on my list of trips to repeat, especially in the spring/summer/fall while 120 through Tioga Pass is open.

Wednesday weigh-in: Week 12

I am a giant ball of muscle pain.

Monday I started a new workout routine, pinched from an old issue of Outside (I don't know which, except that it was in 2008). I had pulled the article out, probably because it's a triathlon-specific program, and stuck it in a pile of papers. I found it again about a week ago and decided to jump in. It's a 12-week program, with swim/bike/run and gym workouts. I'm two days into it and ... ow.

I'll add the screen-cap from Active Body (where I track my workouts) in a week or so, when there are enough of them to make sense of the pattern. For now, the weight loss graph.

1 - Last 30 days

The good news is that the weight keeps going down, and I seem to be getting back up to speed. I'm now down 32 pounds, and have cracked the 25-pound barrier with the Physics Diet calculated average.

2 - Total progress

A funny/sad side note on my fitness. I've been tracking both my weight and body fat % with Physics Diet, and while my body fat % hasn't changed much (which should shift with the workout routine being added) my BMI just seemed off. I knew I was fat, but I was coming in with a BMI of ~ 57, which as I understand it is essentially "Why Aren't You Dead?" level. Then I took another look at my profile and realized that I had listed myself as 5'0" instead of 5'10", oops. Added the "1" in and my BMI plummeted to 37, not a bad change in less than thirty seconds.

Wednesday weigh-in: Week 11

Catching up again. I missed the last couple of weeks because we were activated to support a team that went to American Samoa to provide assistance after the recent earthquake and tsunami. That meant a week + of straight 12 hour days, staring with a 17 hour day. Needless to say, I didn't get much exercise in.

The chart:

This is for the whole length of the weight loss, and the key thing I am seeing here is that I've crossed the 25 pound line. My "average" weight as calculated by Physics Diet is now 266.01, and I started at 292.2 just under three months ago. That's the good news.

The bad news is that next week is the last week of the first round of the program, and looking back at my initial goal I hoped to be done at this point. Instead I'm only a little over 1/3 of the way there. I should have been losing about 5 pounds a week, I've been losing about half that. The main culprit is that I haven't worked out, almost at all. Work is the easiest excuse, but that's all it is, an excuse.

I have put some money out for the gym, I go rarely. I've now dropped some additional money for a trainer, which will get me over there at least one day a week, and the rest will be up to me. I've shifted my goal to New Year's and should be able to make it. At my current rate of ~2.5 pounds a week I should lose another 25+ pounds by then, which would put me at about 230 and I should have a better idea if my original goal of 225 was accurate (as in, do I still look fat at that weight) or if I've got more to go.

Wednesday weigh-in: Week 8

I've broken through a wall that has been a problem for a while now - I'm dropped below 270 and held it for a couple of days. I've also made it back below the "best fit line" on the overall Physics Diet graph (red circle below).This is more significant that it might seem initially. What little graphing I remember from my time in math courses tells me that the "BFL" the is straight line that runs through or closest to most of your data points. If you look at the early days on the diet, my actual weight (green dots at the bottom of the graph, hanging down like stalactites) and the average weight calculated by the algorithm were far below the BFL, which indicates that I was losing weight rapidly enough to "confuse" the graph a bit. They we get to the last few weeks where it flips, and I'm above the BFL because I had pretty much stopped losing weight, excluding some daily fluctuations, and the BFL caught up with me. Now, it looks like I'm moving forward again and will hopefully start dropping like I was before.This second graph is only for September, and you can see the slight decline in the BFL, with the more significant drop in the green measured weight over the last couple of days.

Breaking 270 is significant for me, because that has been my floor of weight loss over the last few years, so getting past that is a great thing personally.

An almost fully-loaded commute

I have avoided commuting to work on Mondays because I usually have my laptop and a big heap of papers that I've brought home to work on over the weekend. This week was no different, except that the heap was closer to two heaps because of the (work-related) trip to Carson City last week. But I also did some riding there that both 1) reminded me how much I luv my bike and 2) demonstrated conclusively (and emasculating-ly) how much more I need to be on it. So I loaded up last night to make sure I would ride this morning. The result:


The back end is my Two Wheel Gear garment pannier (that I luv almost as much as my bike) and the front end, strapped to the top of my Nice Rack is my backpack with many heaps of papers and my laptop. I'm not a fan of a high load like that, the front was a bit wobbly, which reinforces the need to get some normal panniers that will mount on the sides (and low, an advantage of the Nice Racks) in the near future.

I will post about the rides in Carson. One was on dirt and really fueled my desire to get my hands on a twenty-niner, the other was a solo trek around town. Both were great and both hurt (see note above on emasculation) in that good "this ride kicked my sorry @$$" way. But more on that soon.

Quick post

Just a quickie this morning before a road trip. I'm on my way out to Carson City, NV and will be bring my bike. So here's the question - anyone know some good rides in the area? I don't have a MTB, but will be grabbing some knobbies for my Long Haul Trucker, so mild trails are fine, but I'm thinking more fire-road than single track. Any thoughts are welcome.

I do plan to spend at least part of the weekend in the area, so rides over a wider geography would be great.

Wednesday weigh-in: Week 6

I'm traveling again, so the weigh-in this week will be mostly historical data. First, the graph.


My biggest issue is the grand flatness that is emerging. I've plateaued pretty badly, and it's my own fault. I've been lax with following the fast - basically I've had a number of days where I didn't have the correct number of supplements leading to extreme hunger at the end of the day, leading to me eating. I also haven't been at all diligent with exercising, so the excess intake from eating actual food isn't offset by increased burning.

All that being said, I've gotten back into the swing of the fast, before I left for my trip I got rid of the last remaining food components (things like peanut butter), and have some definite plans for exercising. The downside is that this week and next week involve a lot of travel, so my hope to begin biking to/from work a few days a week will be disrupted. On the upside, the hotel I'm in now has a nice gym and since I don't have to worry about getting dinner I'll have plenty of time tonight to "enjoy" it.

Wednesday weigh-in: Week 5

This is just a quick note, and the full post will be up later today. I'm out of town for work today, and neglected to bring my little sheet with all my weigh-ins. Last week I had a last-minute trip to Seattle that messed up my timing.

The short version of the news is that things have slowed down. I'm at just over 20 pounds total loss, but haven't lost much in the last couple of weeks. My crazy work schedule has prevented me from working out, although I have plans for that.

Look for a full update tonight.

International Win For Susan Day

I've written about Elden and Susan more than once, and won't repeat. Head to his blog, check him out. Anyway, a couple of weeks ago, David Schloss over at Bike Hugger declared Sunday 23 Aug "International Win For Susan Day" and encouraged all supporters to get out and have a ride in their Fatty gear, upload it to Twitter, and donate to LAF.

Since I don't tweet, I'm doing it here.
No, I wasn't having a bad day. I was just trying to catch a quick pic of myself as we were heading out after grabbing coffee at the halfway point in the ride.

The picture was taken on my first ride with the Cherry City Cyclists, a local club. It was my first club ride, with this club or any. It was a mellow ride, which I used to work on my cadence training rather than anything else. It was different for me to ride at someone else's pace for that long. The last time I did group rides it was with a group of friends who would stop periodically and regroup, but other than that we broke up and rode in smaller groups. Something new to get used to.

Wednesday weigh-in: Week 3

Another week down, this one not quite as good.

Don't get me wrong, it's still going in the right direction, but I was hoping I'd be able to get into the gym more this week and get the pace to pick up a bit. I did see the training last Thursday, but the Friday was working and driving up to northern CA to see a friend. Saturday was spent at a county fair (so lots of walking but not too strenuous), a couple of hours hiking Sunday before the drive home (oh, and couch moving once I got home) and the first few days this week had no real activity.

My work load has gone through the roof, and will stay there for the next week or so. Hopefully I'll be able to get some things organized and spread the tasks to other people, but until then I'll be pulling 12 hours days to get it all done.

Wednesday weigh-in: Week 2

A little late getting it up, but today is still Wednesday...

I was a little concerned about what the trip to the group was going to show. I'll be quite honest here and say that I haven't stuck to the fast as rigorously as I should, as in I've had real food a couple of times, and my exercise hasn't kicked in full-bore yet. Also, I had no clue what the difference between my scale and the program scale was.

All that lead up, and it was good news. I'm down 11.8 pounds total (2 weeks) which is slightly above the average of 5lbs/week. I also learned (by checking) that my scale is within a few tenths of the program scale, so no more worries there. Once I get into a regular exercise schedule I should see the weight start falling more rapidly, but at this rate (5.9 lbs/week) I'll hit my goal in 11 more weeks, right in line with the 14-16 I thought it would take. I rode earlier in the week, and have an appointment with the trainer tomorrow afternoon. Next week I'll be starting a couple of classes at the gym, which will get me over there regularly (and whoop my @$$), which I need if I want to speed up the loss.

There's still a difference of a couple of pounds (about 3) between my scale weight and what the PhysicsDiet graph is coming up with. My guess is that this is because my loss isn't all that great compared to my total weight, and that the longer I keep up the same rate of loss the closer their average will get to my actual weight. This time around it's also a lot easier to see the benefit of the smoothing that the rolling average of their system puts into place. I didn't go above the average (all green points) but the spike where I was out of town and not weighing or exercising didn't really impact the overall trend. I also have a feeling that I pulled a Homer Simpson ("Dad, towel rack") on 9 Aug, there's really no good reason why I would have dropped two pounds and then have it show right back up and begin tracking slowly down from there. Had it been an up-tick it would make more sense. Oh well, it all comes out in the wash.

A newly discovered treasure

Tonight I needed a ride. Work is moving back into being stressful and it's been a few weeks since I've been on the bike, so I decided to check out Oyster Point Regional Shoreline. It's a smallish park only a short distance from my house. The downside - getting into the park means going past the "Davis Street Station for Material Recycling and Transfer" aka a non-permanent dump site. Oh, and the San Leandro Rifle and Pistol Range.

Once into the park it was easy to forget I was only 10 minutes from home. Well, except for the airplanes landing just across the slough.

All in all it was a great place to ride and will probably become my new training site. It has paved flat stretches running around the perimeter and a number of fairly wide dirt trails running over and across the hilly interior, providing opportunity for some speed training and for some mild climbing (since I'm not ready for serious climbing yet). Since it's only a short distance from the house it's not a problem for me to head over after work, get an hour or so in, and get home before it's too dark.
On top of all that it was just nice to be out on the bike after a long day at work.

A fight well-fought

I have written about Elden "Fatty" Nelson a number of times before. Today I'm borrowing his post in case there are some of my readers who haven't been to his site.

Don’t Say She Lost

08.5.2009 | 8:40 pm

Susan died tonight (August 5) at 7:25pm. It was a hard, long day, and Susan fought right to the end, for much longer than anyone would have thought she could.

My mom, my sisters Kellene and Jodi, and my Brother-in-Law Rocky were all here to support my family as Susan passed away.

I’ll have more to say soon, but consider this. Susan inspired me to expand the focus of my blog from nothing but bike-related jokes to a serious and pitched fight against cancer.

Then she inspired 500+ of you to join Team Fatty, the largest LiveStrong Challenge Team there has ever been.

And Team Fatty has raised close to more than $500,000 — a record amount.

Susan’s part in the battle is over, but she didn’t lose. She led the charge. She showed the rest of us how to fight: with determination, focus, creativity, and outrageous endurance.

Now it’s up to the rest of us to Fight Like Susan.

Wednesday weigh-in: Week 1

I'm a week into my diet program and it's working about as well as I'd expect. I don't have an "official" weight since I'm on the road for work this week and missed my group session. Also, there is a significant difference between the program scale and mine, with mine weighing almost 10 pounds lighter. Next week I'll adjust my scale (if I can - haven't looked to see how yet) but I want to do it by weighing for the group, then coming home and weighing right then in the same clothes/condition, then making any adjustments. Either way, I figure it will still be good for tracking the direction/degree of weight change, which so far is all the right way.

If you're unfamiliar with PhysicsDiet, it's a free tool for tracking weight change. It's a little different, in that you're supposed to weigh daily for their system to work. I won't get into the details, but it involves a sliding exponential average of your weight and all sorts of other fancy math. The idea is to generate a trend line (blue on the graph above) and then show the daily weights as either green or red (losing/gaining, respectively) compared to the trend line. The end result is you get a better feel for the total direction of your progress even if you hit a plateau or have some "noise". There is also a "best fit line" (black), but I'm not all that sure about why you need to know it, and the site says that if your weight is going down (mine is, that's why there's lots of green - the shaded area is the difference between my reported weight and the mathematical average) all you need to watch is the average.

Something that I have also done, beyond the nutrition program, is join the gym near my work. They have a lot of classes, including a spin/TRX program I'm interested in and Masters swimming. My goal is to be there all five work days for some combination of classes and showering after a bike to work.

Wednesday weigh-in: Week 0

I've been away for a while, and have been itching to get back at it. The time off has been good, and helped me move away from being so annoyed by some of the more strident "cars and the people who drive them are evil" writing that I was seeing and get back to just enjoying riding.

One of the things I had always wanted to use this blog for was to shame myself into losing weight. More specifically, to declare in a very public (and yet anonymous) forum the things I was doing to lose weight. And now is the time for that. Last night I began a very severe weight loss program that involves a medically-monitored fast. If my estimates are correct, I should be on it for between three and four months in order to make weight. Some background about me, courtesy of ActiveBody.org:

note - the only reason there is no body fat % is that I'm using the official weight from the program weigh in last night.

My intent is to post either a picture like that, or a graph of my progress to date every Wednesday, along with a running total of my progress at the very start of the post. Since this is the first one, and I have no progress, I'll stick to background.

I am, as the picture indicates, 5'9.5" and currently weigh 292.2 pounds. That gives a BMI (if you're the sort who thinks there's any validity to BMI - I'm not) of 42.5, which is well past "obese" My issue with BMI is that even if I hit my goal weight - 215, which would be around 15% BF - I will have a BMI of 31.5, still obese, although I don't think anyone would consider 15% BF "obese".

I got into this predicament through a couple of things:

• Bad meds - I'm epileptic and the med I take to control it leads to weight gain. Since I started on the meds, about the time I graduated college, I went from 220 to 290. I give this about 7% of the responsibility.
• Bad timing - I tend to miss lunch, often breakfast and lunch, and that leads to super-hunger at the end of the day. Too much food all at one time leads to more storage as fat. I give this another 7% of the blame.
• Bad habits - Not only do I tend to skip meals, but I've gotten really lazy about preparing food. That would be why I miss lunch most of the time. More often than not (let's say 95% of the time) I just pick up something on the way home form work, as opposed to cooking. I give this 80% of the blame.
• Who knows - Math majors will notice that my blame adds up to 95%. That's because I don't feel like counting out all of the tiny little things I do.
• Me - At the end of the day, all of this comes down to ME. I knew there was research showing that my meds complicated weight loss (it's only more-recent studies that go so far as to call them a causative agent), I knew skipping meals was bad, and I knew not cooking was dumb.

Hopefully I'll learn my lesson this time.

A break

I'm going to be taking a short break from this blog. The last couple of days the bike blogs I normally love seem to be filled with little more that hatred directed at people who drive and it's left me unable to write anything at all. I have the LiveStrong San Jose ride coming up, and hopefully the bike-positive (as opposed to car-negative) vibes of the rest of Team Fatty will renew my love of the sport.

I really hope so.

Being too close to transit

In one of my last posts I mentioned that one of the things making it tougher for me to ride is how easy it is for me to take public transit. I want to expand that a little so I don't sound like a whiner without anything to really complain about.

Previously, when I lived in the Bay Area, I lived a few miles from BART, and my work was more than a few miles from BART at the other end. That meant that getting to work required me to drive the whole way, including fighting the San Francisco commute both directions, or biking. Easy choice most of the time, even when biking meant leaving home ~ 04:00.

Now, I live a 10 minute walk from BART and my work is directly outside of a BART station. This means that biking is almost more hassle than not. I have to get up in the morning, pack my work clothes into a bag, kit up (for the ride home), haul my bike up to the platform and then down at the far end. The payoff? A fantastic 12 mile ride home. It really is a conflict.

I plan to join a gym near my work when I get back from my latest trip. This will give me access to showers, which might, let me repeat and be honest MIGHT, be what I need to get me to bike both directions at least a few days a week.

Anit-cancer loot

I've mentioned before that I'm doing the LiveStrong ride in San Jose, as a member of Team Fatty (and again, feel free to GO HERE and donate to me). One of the things that our team captain passed on recently was a link to the Team Estrogen site to get a pair of "Cancer Sucks" socks. The idea is that the whole team will show up with the Team Fatty jersey and the Cancer Sucks socks and make a strong statement. Today when I got home from work this is what I found in the mail.

Nothing like having anti-cancer kit for riding. I am going to look like a bit of a frilly bike-ninja though, with my all-black-and-pink ensemble for the ride. Maybe I should find an old helmet to paint...

On not riding and physical well-being

It has been a while since I've been on my bike, or physically active in any real way. This is due to two things - work-related travel (15 days away from home with no bike or running shoes) and the ease of getting to work on public transit. Something I've noticed is that the more time passes between my last workout and today the worse I feel. It's funny, in some ways I feel like it's the day after a good ride/run because my legs are tired and sore. The problem is that they are tired and sore from underuse, not exertion.

Obviously, my weight isn't going in the right direction since I'm not exercising. I do have some rides planned for later in the week when I head out of town again, this time for my nephew's first birthday. Hopefully I'll be able to get back into a rhythm.

Three about Boris Johnson

For US readers, Boris Johnson is the bike riding mayor of London. I'll freely admit that I don't know much else about the man, although he does get some discussion on "Politics Weekly", the Guardian weekly (natch) political podcast. I noticed that I had saved a couple of different stories about Mr. Johnson and since I'm not in a position to write extensively about any of them, here they are all at once.

Boris Johnson unveils blueprint for London's 'cycling revolution' - article outlines the mayor's announcement of a bike share program for London with an aim of 6000 bikes at 400 stations about 300 meters apart. Quote the Mayor:

"Much like hailing a cab, people will be able to pick up one of 6,000 bikes, and zip around town to their heart's content – not only a quick, easy, and healthy option, but one that will also make London a more liveable city."

Boris Johnson's 'near-death experience' with lorry caught on camera - a disconcerting article describing how a ride intended to show the transport minister and a deputy some sites for bike "super highways" the Mayor hopes to bring to London almost came to a catastrophic end. From the article:

In what is being described as the mayor's "near-death experience", the lorry's back door then suddenly flew open, dragged a parked car into the street and smashed into another – just feet from Johnson, Adonis and Ranger.

Most of it was caught on CCTV, and the article ends with an aide to Mr. Johnson making the incident an argument for the bikeways he (Johnson) is pushing for.

My "100 miles of nowhere" ride

Last Saturday I participated in the 2nd 100 Miles of Nowhere Ride, from the one and only Fat Cyclist. (Note - he is the only capital F capital C, I most certainly am a fat cyclist.) The whole thing got kicked off last year when Fatty had the (INSANE) idea to raise some money for LAF by doing a century ride, on his rollers. He took "bets" in the form of donations on whether or not he would finish it (he did). This year he opened it up to other riders (read suckers/nuts). For a small entry fee you got some great loot and the comfort of making a donation to LAF, oh, and the opportunity to hamster-wheel yourself a century.

The day of the "race" was the day before I had to get on a plane for a 5+ hour flight to Hawaii (don't get jealous, I'm working including working on Memorial Day) so I didn't have as much time to set aside as I'd hoped. I also realized that I didn't have a computer on the bike hooked up to the trainer making accuracy a problem. So I opted for the "5 hours of nowhere ride" with the following logic: my average roadspeed (baring wind) is 13 miles/hour; my goal was a metric, which is about 62 miles; at 13 MPH 62 miles should take 4:45; so if I ride 5 hours I can call it a metric and we're good.
In total, I spent about 6.5 hours for the ride, with some stretch breaks and bathroom runs. I ripped through most of the last half of The Black Donnelys (Netflix), with some breaks for Simpsons to mellow things out. It was about what I expected - uncomfortable after a while (I don't have a good seat on the trainer bike), not very exciting, and surprisingly fun.

Oh, and I'll probably do it again next year if it happens.

On the road again

Unfortunately, not on my bike. I'm traveling for work for the next two weeks and will try and get some things that I've been sitting on written up to post. One I need to do is my write up of my participation in the 100 miles of nowhere ride yesterday.

My commute

I've been meaning for some time to take my camera with me on my commute home from work (the to-work commute is mostly me in the BART train, not very exciting) and get some pics up. I finally got around to it. I've posted more, along with the little map thingee, at flikr. Keep in mind that I don't have a camera with a GPS, so some of the map placements are rough.

Approaching the Oakland AMTRAK station at Jack London Square

Two-way bike lane on one side of the street to provide access to the ped/bike bridge from Alameda to Bay Farm Island

On the ped/bike bridge

Crew team (one of three I saw) working out in the channel near the Oakland Coliseum

The entrance to the Oakland International Airport

I have a heap more (72 pics total) at the flikr link above. They run from the bike room at work to my workshop at home. Hope you enjoy them, I know I enjoyed the ride where I took them.

My bike-to-work day

I have been off and on with biking to work lately. A combination of being a short walk away from BART and working some long/tiring days have had me in kind of a funk. For bike-to-work day I made an extra effort though, and it paid off with pancakes.

Someone in the City of Oakland hierarchy organized a pancake breakfast/booth show/speeches event in front of city hall, and I work all of two blocks away, so I pretty much had to stop by. Because I was still in my bike funk, I rode the Schwinn and planned on only riding the short hops from my house to BART, and from BART to the office. I had forgotten how much of a workout (on the quads specifically) pedaling that monster was, and in my nice clothes no less.

I was met at the first BART station by some early volunteers. They weren't supposed to be up and running until 07:00, and I went by about 06:45. One of the guys came over to give me a bag and asked if I wanted any of the beverage/food they had, but since I was hopping a train I passed. When I got to Oakland I got a nifty "I biked today" sticker, like the "I gave blood" ones you get at blood drives. I also got a couple of pancakes, some coffee and OJ, and saw some interesting booths. I was pretty early (07:30) and most of the booths were just getting set up. I hung out for a little while and then wandered back to work.

There was one other guy from my office that rode, and where ever it was he went, he got a t-shirt. We did run into another guy in the building when we were heading out that night who had ridden for the first time that day (although I got the impression he had ridden before, just not to that particular location). All in all, a lot of fun.

Judging fitness

As I rode home yesterday I found myself thinking about the different ways I judge my fitness, or more accurately my cycling strength. I was started on this line of thought when I realized that I was in a much higher gear (big chainring rather than middle, nearly the same cog) and was still feeling pretty strong. Then I looked at my speed and found it significantly higher (16 MPH vs 12) than normal. Finally, I took the few mild hills (overpasses) by standing rather than having to downshift.

All of this has got my thinking about the best way to really judge my cycling strength. I don't race, nor do I care to (and let's face it, if I tried to they'd have to create a whole new weight class, what would you call a Clyde class for someone in the Clyde class? Clyde-squared? sounds too much like the chi-square from biostats to me) so simple road-speed calculations don't mean much. I also only record my cadence to see if I'm steady, so that doesn't mean much. I used to use gearing as a judge of fitness/strength, by which I mean that the steeper the hill I could climb without shifting the stronger I felt I was, but does that mean anything about fitness?

I'm going to shift to the miles-to-bonk (MTB) standard, by which I mean how far can I ride before I stand up in the pedals, breathe deeply, and say "Wait, I have to go how much farther?" I figure this standard will come in handy as I torture myself on the 2nd Annual 100 Miles of Nowhere Ride (or in my case, 50) at the end of the month. Yes, I have done the insane and registered for the ride, and for some reason I'm looking forward to it. What does that say about me?

FINALLY, redux

Again, I find myself saying "finally I'm back on my bike". This time I've been limited in my riding by weather (wind and rain) and travel for work. In the last week-and-a-day (that would be six workdays) I've ridden three times. Last Monday I chopped the ride short because I was feeling horrible and rain was threatening - I have a Brooks with no cover. Friday I rode and felt really good. Today I proved to myself that I was feeling better by jumping a number of gears and increasing my average speed significantly.

More than that, I'm just glad to be back in the saddle.

A short update

I haven't been riding at all this week, which has led to not posting. For those who don't know, my day job is emergency preparedness and previously pandemic planning. That being the case you might understand why I've been a bit busy. That has led to long (10-12 hour) days in the office and me being whooped by the time I get home. On top of that, the local weather took a turn for the unpleasant (mid-50s with strong winds) making bike commuting less appealing. Hopefully things will smooth out by the weekend and I'll get a couple of days it. I'm really at the "Rides you need" point, as discussed here.

Unintentional hiatus

Between back-to-back weeks of travel for work and spending the last few weekends trying to reclaim my yard from overgrowth and help out my recuperating mom I just haven't had time to write. Hopefully things will slow down soon and I'll be back at it.

Bike registration revisited

A few weeks back I did a little ranting about bike and cyclist registration. Short version - I'm not a huge fan of either tagging bikes or requiring cyclist licensing, but can see some justification for both. After that post went up I had a short email exchange with a commenter, Bunny, on the value of putting police-readable identification on bikes and I have to admit that I had ignored a specific segment of the community.

Bunny's initial comment:

If you were in NYC and had heart stopping experiences with bikers going through red lights, against traffic and on the sidewalk you might think differently. They should have a license so they can be identified and fined for not following the rules of the road.

My response was a little too flip, basically a rehash of some of my earlier arguments which boil down to the idea that most of those cyclists wouldn't bother to register/tag their bikes. My dislike for licensing and registration schemes of most types stems from my dislike of governmental intrusion into my life, and in this case I looked at the issue only from my perspective. I am a vehicular cyclist and I follow the rules of the road. Because I follow existing rules I don't see why I should have to put up with additional restrictions/regulations. Thinking about it after reading Bunny's comments and emails brought something else to mind:

Cars have to have plates on them, so requiring the same from cyclists isn't adding restrictions, it's bringing cyclists into greater parity with motor vehicles.

This is something I need to think about a little more, but at the minimum I am willing to recognize that I was wrong about bike licensing, and in some jurisdictions (those with large populations of scofflaw cyclists) putting plates on bikes might be a legitimate way to discourage inappropriate behavior.

Training - a request

I haven't been updating my training lately because I haven't done any. I've been on the road for work and that's going to keep going for the next few months. That brings me to my request. 

Anyone who has followed this thing since I started should know that my primary ride, my Long Haul Trucker, has S and S couplers installed on it. In theory, they should allow me to pack the Trucker up and take it on the road with me. Since I've been and will be traveling to places like Nevada, Arizona, and Hawaii I'd really like to have my bike with me. Unfortunately, things haven't worked out as well in practice as in theory.

I have tried exactly once to pack my bike into a case. It was a soft-side, rented from Mt. Airy. Problem was, I couldn't get the bike into the case. There are all sorts of guides on how to do it, but it seemed like the Trucker was just too long to fit. What I'm hoping for is that someone who reads this is familiar with S and S couplers and has packed a bike with them. Or, maybe that someone in the Bay Area can recommend a good shop that works with tourers primarily that might be able to help me out.

I'd really like to be able to use the Trucker as I intended, which means being able to pack it up. Any ideas?

Integrating bikes into American transport

The last few Friday's I've discussed some political/activist subjects, specifically licensing and helmet use. I'm going to keep that trend going with a couple of related bits on integrating bikes into the transport system in America.

First, is this bit from BRAIN from a few weeks back:

NEW YORK, NY (BRAIN)—It seems that New York City may only be bike friendly to a point.
 On his weekly radio program on Friday morning, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said he opposed allowing commuters to bring bicycles onto subway cars, even if the Metropolitan Transportation Authority permits it.
 “I know bicyclists will now ring the phones off the hook, but they are just too big, particularly at rush hour,” he said of the bikes. “I just don’t think they should allow it,” he added.

The full story is from the NYT, available here. Reading the full article, it turns out that the mayor was responding to a caller's question so to some extent he was extemporizing, but the result is the same as if it were a prepared statement. 

These feelings aren't restricted to either Mayor Bloomberg (a staunch advocate of mass transit) or New York. Most places where you find light rail or subways and cyclists you find conflict. Yes, bikes are large and take up space, but does that really mean they should be blocked from use? I'm a regular BART rider, with and without my bike (a largish Surly Long Haul Trucker). BART has specific times, peak commute, where bikes aren't supposed to be on cars and they ask cyclists to use judgement before boarding. I would really like to see BART take a more cycling-friendly stance and provide more space specifically for bikes, but for now the benign indifference is alright. As long as our work/live situation remains the way it is (live in suburbs, work in cities) many people will need to travel farther than is easy by bike, and that mean multi-mode. As long as people are traveling multi-mode, they need to be able to bring their bikes with them.

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The other piece I saw was on the East Bay Bike Coalition blog a couple of weeks back. This one was discussing Federal "complete streets" legislation. Specifically:

H.R. 1443: Complete Streets Act of 2009 Introduced Mar 11, 2009
S. 584: A bill to ensure that all users of the transportation system, including pedestrians, bicyclists, transit users, children, older individuals, and individuals with disabilities, are able to travel safely and conveniently on and across federally funded streets and highways. Introduced Mar 12, 2009.

Much like the Routine Accommodation policy adopted by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission in 2006, and the Complete Streets bill signed into California State Law in 2008, the national version will work to make certain that federal transportation dollars are not spent to build new barriers or daunting hazards for bicyclists.

This is one of those issues where I like the idea but not necessarily the execution. Transportation spending is a state issue, and this kind of action by the Federal government is referred to as "power of the purse" - using Federal funding to force the states to do something (aka "Do it my way or watch your butt.") As a small government person, this sort of side-stepping around separation of powers bothers me. On the other hand, there are likely some states that won't do the right thing by cyclists and other non-vehicular traffic without the Federal carrot/stick. 

So what is the right answer? I can't say. I for one won't be involved in pushing the issue forward, but unlike the other political issues I've talked about recently I'm not entirely opposed.

Helmets

Over the last few weeks I've seen a few different pieces on bike helmets in the blogs and newsfeeds I follow. Some, like this picture/post from Fritz are on the more humourous side:

and some, like pieces related to the accident, head injury, and unfortunate death of Natasha Richardson (there has been some discussion that the injury could have been lessened or prevented if she'd been wearing a helmet) are more serious. A third, also UK related, is from a recent High Court case:

Many cyclists were seriously concerned when a High Court Judge recently remarked that cyclists who suffer head injuries when not wearing a helmet may not be entitled to full compensation if it can be shown that a helmet would have reduced or prevented their injuries. After all, it is not compulsory to wear a helmet whilst cycling and there is no clear or conclusive evidence to support the view that compulsory wearing would either advance the cause of cycling, or necessarily improve cyclists’ safety on the road.

As I said, all of this got me thinking. Granted, helmets are one of the taboos of cycling blogs, and discussing their use is enough to start flame wars on even the most well-moderated forums, but I'm going to wade into those waters anyway. As in last week's post on licensing, I'll discuss the reasons I see for government action on helmets, and then give my opinions on each.

There are two major arguments that are used to justify helmet laws, whether for bicycles or motorcycles: protecting the riders and protecting the system. (In this case I am using "system" to cover everything and everyone involved in providing medical care to an injured rider who is uninsured and otherwise unable to pay for their own medical care.) Both of these are the same reasoning that led to mandatory seat belt use laws. The first derives from the belief that the government has a role in protecting us from our selves, and the second derives from the fact that there are more than a few people in the US who are unable to pay for their own medical care, meaning that it falls to uninvolved people (the taxpayers) to pick up the tab.

The first argument is one I have issues with. I don't believe that the government has a role in protecting me from my own choices. If I want to ride without a helmet it's on me. In fact, I agree with the High Court case mentioned above, and I've felt that was the better approach for a long time. Don't want to wear a helmet or seat belt? Fine, your insurance can then pay out less if your injuries are aggravated by your actions. It's the same thing that happens with drivers' insurance - you drive like a twit (as in, you get pulled over a lot, demonstrated poor behavior) your rates go up. That's called negative reinforcement and it's a great way to teach people not to do dumb things.

The other argument is a tougher one. I'm a taxpayer and that means that I'm partially liable (a wee tiny bit) when uninsured people are injured. To minimize that liability, I like the idea of requiring people to be safe. The question is - how far do you take it? Helmets on bikes make you safer than not, but then what about helmets in cars? or helmets for skiers? It rapidly becomes a slippery-slope argument, which makes me uncomfortable.

All in all, I agree with encouraging helmet use but not mandating it. Unlike a lot of cyclists, this extends to children. Parents should (and I would if I had kids) require their kids to use helmets, but I disagree with the government stepping in to force the issue.

A great way to look at it comes from the WashCycle, a blog covering cycling issues in Washington DC:

Wearing a helmet is like wearing sun screen. It protects you and only you from something harmful. Except unlike helmets, the efficacy of sun screen is not in question. And it helps you without some bizarre occurrence. The financial benefits of everyone wearing sun screen is probably higher than for wearing helmets. The same could be said of condoms. But, I don't hear anyone talking of mandating the wearing of either the way this article seems to encourage mandating helmet use.

I want this

When I bike commute these days it's one way, BART in the morning and biking in the afternoon. One problem with BART is that there aren't many bike spaces on the trains. What has been done for cyclists is that a few of the spaces for wheelchairs have also been tagged for bikes. Some mornings there are a few bikes in each car, more than enough to make it worth having some kind of reserved space. Maybe even something like this.

Sure, that type of rack works best if there isn't much rain, but at least from May through October the Bay Area is pretty dry. The picture links through to the CommuterPageBlog which is where I saw the picture. Follow the links there to get back to the original.

Bike registration, cyclist licensing

Updated 3/28 - added a few more in-text links to articles about licensing

A little while back the Bicycle Retailer and Industry News blog (BRAIN) had a piece on an effort in Oregon to get a bike licensing bill passed. The article was written primarily on the impact the bill would/not have on retailers and the general feeling was that it didn't have a huge chance of getting passed. From the post:

“The word I have is that the chair of House Transportation does not intend to schedule it for a hearing, so it is dead,” [Karl Rohde, government relations and public affairs director of the Bicycle Transportation Alliance (BTA)] said. “But we'll continue to monitor it though, in case it comes back from the dead.”

The piece does include the concerns that BTA has with the bill, specifically:

(f)or its part, the BTA opposes the bill stating that net revenue would not contribute significantly to the construction and maintenance of roads and ancillary facilities, and the cost of registration would discourage bicycling.

All of this, and some other posts I've seen floating around lately, has got me thinking about the validity of bike licenses.

My first thought is that there needs to be a good reason for licenses if you're going to require them. This is mainly my small government mindset speaking, but it's also common sense. Too often the reason given for requiring bike licenses is the "cyclists don't pay their fair share of road maintenance" argument (debunked and debated at the preceding links). Accepting this argument as valid (which I emphatically DO NOT) the appropriate response would be to just add a tax at the time of purchase of a new bike or other cycling equipment. Requiring licensing just for the fees generated makes little sense.

Drivers are licensed twice, once as an individual and once for their vehicle. In the first case, the license is supposed to ensure that the driver has gone through a state-approved course of education, or at the very least has demonstrated through testing knowledge equivalent to having completed the training. In the second case the vehicle license is to ensure that there is an accurate record of the vehicle (used when the driver violates the law) and that the vehicle passed certain safety/emissions testing. Do these same criteria hold up for cyclists?

• Individual licensing - I think there is some validity to having cyclists go through a specific course of education and be "certified", especially for cyclists in urban areas. If there were a recognized cyclist license, it could potentially ease some of the scofflaw-cyclist hatred, or at the very least provide riders with a ready response to that line of argument.

• Bike licensing - Unlike with motor vehicles, an unsafe bike is rarely (if ever) a threat to anyone other than the rider. Additionally, there are a number of existing private ways to get a bike "licensed" for theft-recovery purposes (identifying the bike). Licensing bikes for the purpose of catching lawbreakers strikes me as something that would require far more time, effort, and money than it would ever recoup in terms of tickets or deterrence.

So what does this all lead to? In my opinion there is some justification for licensing cyclists, if the goal is to integrate cyclists into the larger pool of road users. Licensing bikes makes no sense to me, although that seems to be the favored model of politicians. I will say that I'd rather see programs like those offered by the League of American Bicyclists expanded as a de facto standard rather than something coming down from either state or Federal government, but I don't know if that will carry the same weight with non-cyclists as something that is government sanctioned.

"Riding" vs "training"

A recent post on the Bike Noob blog asked "When does your riding become training?" The thrust of the piece was that there is "riding" - getting on the bike and having fun, and "training" - getting on the bike and doing a certain number of miles/hours because you have to get in shape for something specific. In the post, the author (Ray) discusses his upcoming MS 150 ride, the need to "train" for it, and his dislike of "training" compared to "riding".

As this stuff tends to, his post got me thinking. This time it got me thinking about my own riding vs training questions. I now have to admit that not only do I dislike "training", I just don't do it. Like Ray, I ride because I enjoy it. I do not enjoy riding on my trainer, just like I enjoy jogging and can't stand treadmills.

Previously, when I was pulling down a couple of hundred miles a week, I did my training by having a long commute home and riding it three to five days a week. That's my goal again. In this case, my commute is only 12 miles or so if I take it straight. I have a couple of options though, which include going up into the Oakland hills or just stretching the trip out past my house and looping back up. For now, the 12 miles is enough to whoop me but good by the end, but hopefully that won't last too long.

I can hear those hills calling.

Training update - 23 March

Last week I only got one ride in. It was another commute ride, so slightly over 12 miles in just over an hour. After only three of these rides my legs are getting much stronger. The first day I did it I wasn't sure I'd get home, the second day I made it home and was twitchy for a little while after. The third day I got home and felt good - tired, but good.

This week I'm working from home  (well, my mom's house) so I won't have the commute to motivate me. I've accepted that training is something I just don't like to do (by "training" I mean going to a ride just to train, as opposed to commuting or riding with friends - see Wednesday's post for a more extensive discussion) but I'm going to have to force myself to do it this week.

Commuting mojo

In the months that I haven't ridden my commute I've lost my commuting mojo. Specifically, I have lost my red light mojo.

There was a time where I could drift through town without missing a light. Sure, I'd have to hustle through some yellows, but I didn't have to stop. These last few days I've had streaks where I've had to stop at every light, five or more in a row. And since I'm rolling through a town like Alameda, if those lights are turning it means there's cars coming.

On another note - when I wrote about the TwoWheel Gear bag I mentioned that there wasn't a blinkie loop. I was wrong. I found the loop when I was packing the bag up for another trip to work. The little bag on top has a blinkie loop on the back, which puts the light right up on top. The downside is that at least with the light I'm using (Cateye TL-LD1000) unless the pocket is full the light flops over on its back. For now I'm going to keep playing with the way I load the bag to see what I can do to keep that pouch full, but in the ling run I'll probably try and figure out a good way to attach the light to the rack directly. 

The future of cycling?

A recent post over at Web Urbanist (a great blog of the odd and artistic sides of life) was on interesting concept bikes. Much like the concept cars unveiled at every auto show, the bikes on display in the post are radically designed. In some cases the bikes look like they're more artistic than functional, and some are designs I've seen in other places (like Bicycle Design). In either case, it got me thinking:

Why are so many people looking for "the future of cycling" in some kind of radical or odd design?

I freely admit to retro-grouchy inclinations when it comes to bikes. I ride nothing but steel and 2/3 of my stable is older than I am. All that aside I have to wonder what it is that causes so many people, including avid cyclists, to dream of the future? I don't see the future of cycling in an odd, artistic, or radical design. Far from it. I see the future of cycling in a throwback, specifically the old-school city bike. 

We don't need bikes to be different, we need to look at bikes differently. Most people, including many cyclists, see bikes and riding as:

• something kids do
• something athletes like Lance do
• something you have to wear spandex to do

As long as bikes are viewed as either athletic equipment or toys people won't think about cycling as a part of daily life. As long as people don't see cycling as a part of daily life we won't see wide-scale changes to the way cities are laid out, meaning that while we may see more bike lanes we won't see any serious integration of cycling.

And personally, the future of cycling I want to see is one where people riding a bike to work aren't given strange looks.

Training update

Last week there was a big jump in my training. As before (years before, the last time I lived in the Bay Area) it's easier for me to fit lots of miles in by commuting. Last week I did about 25 miles over two days, about an hour each day.

On the good side - the weather should make it easier for me to keep commuting by bike, and it shouldn't be too long until I can hit four or five days a week. My hope is that once I get up to that many miles in a week I'll be in better shape for weekend rides, and then I'll really be able to see what I can do.

On the bad side - in a couple of weeks my mom is coming home from the hospital and I'll be staying with her in case she needs any help. This means much less riding. Coming right at the start of my training this could be a problem.

Next week, or some time in the near future, I'm going to start adding weight info to my weekly training update. Honestly, I want to make sure that it's regularly going the right way first.

Product review (Initial Impressions) - TwoWheel Gear suit/pannier

A while back I mentioned that I had purchased one of the nifty suit bags/panniers from TwoWheel Gear. Until I started bike commuting again this week I hadn't used it. Now that I have, I can give my initial impressions.

I likes it.

The main compartment has a little velcro closure that goes over the hooks from hangers, which makes it easy to put the clothes in, a clipping strap that runs across the middle of the bag where it fold to go over the rack, and another strap near the bottom. All of which make sure your clothes  (in my case slacks and a long-sleeved dress shirt) stay in place.

On the outside are two pouches, one faces up when the bag is on the bike and the other faces up when the bag is hanging up. I don't know if it was what the designers intended, but the way I will be using this is to put things like my lunch in the "upright on bike" pouch, and things like shoes and toiletries in the "upright when hanging" one. Lastly, there is a small pocket that sits in the middle of those, which ends up on top of the rack with the opening facing the rear of the bike when the whole thing is mounted.

The bag held everything I needed to put in it, but I did have a few problems. First, the bag was tough to zip/unzip. I think it was probable because the material is stiff from being new. The other big issue is the lack of a loop for a blinkie. I used the clip for the shoulder strap, but it was sideways and the light came off on a bump. Maybe there's a loop that I missed, but I don't think so.

I'll write another review when I've used it a little more, but at this point I'm ready to say that if you commute more than a few miles and have to wear nice clothes at work this may be the bag for you.

Ow

Alright - I slacked last week and didn't train. That's why there was no training update. I sort of made up for it yesterday by finally bike commuting again. 

The trip to work was not very thrilling - I rode the mile or so to the BART station, took the train most of the way to work, and then rode the last 10 min or so to the office. On the way home though...

The total trip ended up to be a little over 12 miles, and I did it in just over an hour (better than I thought I could do). The trip took me past Jack London Square and the Oakland Airport. In the next few weeks I'll start taking my camera with me so I can shoot the ride and put some pictures up.

I was pretty glad that the only thing (clothing-wise) I forgot was my belt. I'd gotten so used to be able to commute in my work clothes (Baltimore commute was 1.6 miles, one way) that remembering all of the stuff I needed to bring was a little rough. 

Going on how I feel (a little sore, a lot twitchy, and REALLY eager to do it again) I'm hoping to do three days a week until I get the base miles in, and then up it to 4 or 5.

LiveStrong training update 1 March

Okay, this won't be much of an update, but I'm trying to establish a rhythm here. I have put in a whopping one day of training and learned something important -

the butt is more out of shape than the legs.

Specifically, I was okay to ride longer than the 30 min I got in, except that I just couldn't sit in the saddle any longer.

By my heart rate monitor I did 30 min with an average heart rate of 143, resulting in ~ 411 kcal burned. None of that is very impressive, but the important thing for me is that I was able to finally get started. Hopefully next week's update will be a wee bit more impressive.

Training site prepared

So finally, after meaning to get at it for almost two months, I've taken the extreme step of getting ready for the LiveStrong ride by...

putting a bike in the trainer.

Yeah, I've been a wee bit lax in getting prepared, but since the ride isn't until July 12, so it's not like I have to be ready tomorrow.

This will be essentially the same set-up I used a whopping three times in Baltimore before the boredom drove me batty. There are a few things working in my favor this time:

• Need - when I was in Baltimore I was training to train. Now I not only have the LiveStrong ride where I want to make a decent showing, but being in the Bay Area means that I have a number of cycling friends who aren't significantly overweight, which really tells in the climbs.
• Desire - I'm making what will hopefully be the last attempt to get my weight back under control. I worked with a group in the area before I took a lot of weight off, and I plan to sign back up. Roughly put I've got about 75 pounds to peel, and it's going to take significant changes in food and exercise to get there.
• Entertainment - the way I had things rigged up in Baltimore I think the bike/trainer was too close to my VCR/TV antenna, because when I would try to tape things the tapes came out sketchy. I'm not taping now and I'm on cable (for the moment) anyway. Also, I've recently found a couple of new series (Primeval being one) and with the bike at the window I'll be able to enjoy.
• Removing tech - I've only got one computer and it's on my Trucker. I'll be training for the first few weeks at least purely on time in the saddle, and will be basing my training time on how sore my hind-parts are and whatever I have from Netflix.

As I move forward I'll be doing a weekly weight/training update, focused mainly on time spent per day. I hope to be commuting by bike again soon, and will be adding that info in as well. Oh, lastly, I'm a member of Team Fatty for the San Jose LiveStrong Challenge ride, and if you want to donate or just wish me well, follow this link.