Filtering by Tag: bike
100th Tour de France - trailer
Winter Riding Solution
With the temperatures -1c and below and the winds 25-50 km/h lately, indoor trainer has been a great solution.
TrainerRoad
By combining the Kurt Kinetic with TrainerRoad on my computer I have a Virtual Power Meter and can simulate any desired training ride.
Paris-Brest-Paris Training Trailer
I am training to ride in the 2015 Pairs-Brest-Paris 1200km ride that must be completed in 90 hours or less. This is my first video with the GoPro HD Hero2 video camera. Hope you enjoy. You can follow my progress here over the coming months. This is my fun trailer.
I plan on riding the PBP on a recumbent tadpole trike, that will look something like this one below.
Rocky Butte - Portland Oregon
Barbara from the OHPV forum rented me one of her trikes to use while in Portland. The Greenspeed clone was originally built with e-power and is heavier than the trikes I test rode earlier last week at Coventry Cycle. I am happy to have any trike to ride while here and am grateful for Barbara’s generosity.
Portland is crisscrossed with bike paths. See sample map below. I rode each morning around the north east part of the city and lengthened my rides each day.
Today I decided to climb Rocky Butte (177m) as you can see from the elevation graph above. The following photo was taken from the top looking out over the city, before the long fast decent back to the B&B.
Note the thick steel plate behind the seat where the original motor was mounted for electric assist up the hills.
We move further south tomorrow to another B&B on Hawthorne Ave for a few days before the Writers Conference. I look forward to triking around the south east part of the city each morning.
how a bike is made
New Personal Best - 88km at 30km/h avg speed
I am gradually increasing my distances in preparation for the Paris-Brest-Paris 1200 km ride in 2015. Today was going to be a 75+km day, but that was conservative. We ended up riding 88km.
My neighbor Ian and I left Blue Rocks and rode along the water through Maders Cove to The Biscuit Eater in Mahone Bay. Stopped for a cappuccino and split a biscuit. The caffeine helped us up the 97m Blockhouse hill. We crossed over the 103 a few kilometers further and continued over the rolling hills to the RCMP office in Bridgewater. Rode in along the river and crossed on the new bridge to King Street and headed to the LaHave Bakery. We thought we would have a tail wind along the river, since we had ridden against the wind all morning, but the wind shifted again to hit us in the face. Up to Bridgewater I was able to pull my share but after Bridgewater my legs were beginning to feel the extra distance. Luckily Ian pulled most of the way to Lahave and we stopped for a break (lemonade and half slice of pizza each). The scallop boat was in and we stopped to watch them unload. We caught the ferry and my legs began to cramp on the way to Rose Bay. Stopped at the Rose Bay store for a banana and Gatorade to replace potassium and electrolytes. Felt strong for the next several kilometers and pulled again against the wind. We finally had a short section with the wind to our backs and then the wind shifted again and I followed Ian into the headwind. We took a leisurely pace through Lunenburg in expectation of Rye Hill and rode all the way to Blue Rocks in another head wind.
My iPhone battery died at 71 km. Ian and I were averaging 30 kph to that point, a new personal best for distance ride. I would like to get my average speed above 30 kph consistently before I start riding with the Randonneurs Nova Scotia for the upcoming 120km, 160km, and 200km rides starting in September.
Note: Map and elevation chart are interactive.
Tour de France starts today
The 21 days of the Tour de France bicycle stage race starts today. Live coverage is available online at several locations. Below is the map of all the stages.
New Shoes and Clips = 2kph avg Increase
Bought new Shimano M162 shoes and Shimano PD-M540 SPD pedals yesterday in Halifax at CycleSmith and today increased my average speed by almost 2 km/h over the Blue Rocks - Stonehurst Loop. It feels good to be clipped in again and being able to push and pull with my legs. Time for spinning practice.
Bicycle Economics
Bill White rallied his community of Twin Bridges to erect the nation’s first ever Bike Camp and impacted the local economy. Read more here.