More commuting fun

One thing is for sure the commutes are never staid. That word can probably not be used to often in NYC but still even the most mundane commute is very colorful.

As long as you are colorful and safe it makes for interesting stories, the cars that come from behind you then turn in front of you or come within inches of you while you are biking, those guys need to get staid.

On a very positive note these vrdestein tri comps really are holding up like champs.

Escape NY

Saturday was Escape NY. I did the Century. I averaged 16mph. There was about 5k feet of elevation. Those hills were brutal. I had to get off and walk twice. Overall it seemed like i could have done another 50 miles and still averaged the same speed so i was feeling good about my chances for La Vuelta. To top it off my tires continue to hold up (mad shout out to Vrdestein for making decent tires).

However my hopes were dashed a little during my ride in today. It was slow and i was feeling it.

Bodes poorly for day 3.

Vrdestein!

The Fortezza Tricomps are holding up.

I have been running them hard and i have only had 1 pinch flat.

Not one puncture flat, even after doing over 100 miles the day of the NYC Century. They dont look as good as some of the other tires but who cares! Found a winner!!!

Back to the commute

I have had the distinct displeasure of biking with rush hour traffic twice over the past three commutes. The commute home yesterday and the commute in today.

The commute yesterday was worse from a number of egregious dumb dumb's perspective the commute in today had the biggest jerk yet on my commute award.

Yesterday to name a few a saw a cyclist that was blowing through lights and weaving in and out of traffic, he cut off a yeshiva bus and forced the bus into the bike lane almost getting me smashed in the bike lane. Also across the ever eventful drawbridge on Metropolitan ave a van came careening from behind me as i crested the bridge. He gave me plenty of berth at first but immediately started cutting closer to me. I knew that this meant and immediately applied the brakes. Sure enough he cuts in front of me and makes that immediate right off the bridge. Had i not applied brakes at a minimum i would have been forced into the sewer grate and more likely would have crashed into him cutting me off. That was two of about 10 seriously bad biking/driving things i ran into on that commute. Don't people realize this is life or death? Speaking of which i also had a driver again ask me what the symbol of the left arm bent at the elbow point down means...the stop signal...the streets are not safe...

Today i was coming downhill across Metropolitan and Flushing when a black SUV doing 40-50 honks as he passes maybe 2-3 inches from my left. I was scared crazy because had he hit me there really wasn't much i could have done. It was very very scary.

I wish i didn't have to commute during rush hour ever...

The NYC Century

So i rode my first century yesterday. The NYC century. There are two ways this is both a good goalpost and a bad one.

First this is heavily rode in NYC traffic so no matter what you will not go as fast as a ride where the streets are cordoned off.

Second while there are a few tough hills and bridges there is actually very little elevation 3,000 feet in total. La Vuelta Puerto Rico has 12,000 feet of elevation over 3 days.

The ride itself was awesome. I rode with the Prospect Park Century riders. Based on the start it looked like there were about 100 PP Century riders. I started a little mid'ish of the start and it took some time heading to the front in NYC traffic. I finally got to the front group at around Coney Island Avenue and started leading the century riders at around McDonald Ave. Yes i said leading. I actually was the pacesetter for almost the entire race. It was incredible, amazing and a ton of fun! Most of the rest stops we got to they said woah you guys got here too early and they were generally just unpacking the refreshments. I was the lead rider for the vast majority of the ride even riding into serious headwinds. Of course i would fall behind on some of the more serious uphills.

Going into the Bronx (around mile 70'ish) i was going up the second part of the RFK which is a switchback path. I was stopped on the path due to an obstruction. I had to dismount. When i tried to get back on my fear of hights kicked in and without the forward momentum i couldnt overcome my fear and thought i would fall over either side of the path. This forced me to walk the bike up the path. Because of it i lost the lead pack of 10. To make matters worse i got stuck at a red light at the Bruckner separating me even that much further from the lead pack (for those who know the Bruckner you know how long that light is). There was one other cyclist who was also separated from the lead pack due to getting stuck behind other cyclists on the bridge. We pushed each other, he probably actually pushed me more as i was pretty dejected at that point. Miraculously we actually caught the group after 1-2 miles. They actually cheered when we caught them and i went to the front to lead the pack. They said i provided a beast pace and helped push them all on their pace (i'm sure they didn't mind the tunes either).

That was such a great feeling when they cheered our return and said that.

I started chugging a little between mile 103 and 105 at that point we were whittled down to a pack of 5 and i did not lead the pack those last couple of miles, nonetheless i pulled into the finish line with the lead pack. The only single speeder among the finishing pack. There was a woman on a mountain bike who rode with us almost the whole time (we lost her somewhere after Central Park) was the first person to arrive after our lead pack (she was incredible), a woman on a heavy mountain bike who kept up with us the whole time, absolutely amazing! There was also one other single speeder who did the majority of the race with the lead pack however he stopped at Central park and didn't finish the last 16 miles (planned).

Overall we averaged between 16 and 17mph which is great for a ride in the city. In checking one of the lead pack's iphone app he clocked us at a pretty consistent clip between 20 and 15 mph with a max speed of 31mph (again lack of hills/elevation).

Overall it was amazing to actually lead a ride when it was my first century ever. Granted it was no race, and i am sure i will lag when i do the Escape NY Century this coming Sunday, but wow what a great experience.

Final thought, the music really helped me push my pace, without the music the ride just seemed harder (sometimes Pandora stalls on its stream and the last 16 miles my cell battery died).

Good ride yesterday

So yesterday i took a half day off from work and biked to Nyack.

It was interesting trying the ride solo.

Unfortunately i choked on what i call "Police Precinct" hill. I had to get off once and walk for about 1 minute before getting back on and finishing the hill.

This was better than my first attempt where i had to get off 3x before finishing the hill but still not good.

I also didnt bring an extra battery and my phone died slightly after the halfway point.

Finally when i got back to the city i hot the gym to do my brother's workout schedule. It was a legs day and it was absolutely brutal. We performed poorly but i didnt expect any different after biking about 70 miles. It still bodes less than ideal for La Vuelta Puerto Rico.

Finally i also came to the realization that i will not do well in the Vuelta format of riding in peleton's on my single speed. I will probably be fine with group B during slight uphills and slight downhills but i will be significantly slower on steep uphills or downhills. If i drop down to group C i will easily keep up with them for the majority except the steep uphills but as group c is the last group if i fall behind during one of those uphills i essentially drop out of the race.

I will look for guidance from the race director.

Tires and century rides

The new Vrdesteins have been holding up fairly well.

I did get a pinch flat on something i really shouldn't have but other than that no puncture flats to date.

The commutes have continued but i have not had the opportunity to do a long ride in a while.

This upcoming Sunday i will ride the NYC Century. Once i received the material for the century i was a little disappointed, the streets in the direction of the ride wont be closed (not even one lane), and we will have to contend with the standard NYC traffic issues including walking our bikes over many bridges that do not allow cycling. I was expecting a century in the vein of the 5 Boro Bike Tour. Instead it is more of a your path will have markers and we will man and stock rest stations (well it could be worse).

The weekend after that i will ride Escape New York. This appears to be more of a traditional century...we shall see.

The commuting has continued

I commuted in yesterday, not too fast, not too slow.

The commute in today was interesting. My Pandora streaming to my bluetooth speakerphone device wasnt working so i spent time pulled over fiddling with it.

Heading over the Willie B i was going up strong and halfway up the first up ramp i passed someone who was cruising but seemed strong.

He started stepping it up and followed me. I stayed ahead of him but the bridge was very crowded.

At one point on the downhill there were two cyclists riding side by side in the brooklyn and manhattan lanes heading to manhattan. I gave the stop hand signal and slowed down then called out coming up on your outside. The guy in the brooklyn bound lane started going over to his right but the guy i was ahead of was trying to get on their outside by going into the pedestrian lane =(

When the guy in the brooklyn lane moved into the Manhattan lane i passed and finished strong down the bridge (again passing the guy that passed in the pedestrian lane).

Rain rain go away

Its been raining pretty continuously here in the city.

I rode in yesterday but it was raining too hard in the evening and i didnt want to risk the streets of NY with rain that heavy so i didnt ride back. As i left my bike at work i also didnt make it in this morning.

Hoping i can bike back tonight.

Wheelset

So i have been told that my wheels are close to end of life, they have been trued too many times and are on the brink. I will likely keep riding them until right before La Vuelta. But that means i need to get some new wheels.

Wheelsets are expensive, heck the ones i am looking at cost almost as much as i originally paid for the bike which is making me think perhaps i should downgrade what i am looking for or perhaps i should just get a new TK3...to be continued...

The ride in yesterday

I had a very fast ride in yesterday. Averaging 16.9 mph, my fastest Ridgewood to Union SQ ride in so far. Heading up the Willie B felt fairly effortless. Coming back from USq yesterday was not as effortless. Here is to hoping i can continue to strengthen so i can consistently replicate the type of ride i had heading into Manhattan yesterday.

The tires have held up

The new tires arrived late on Friday.

I had them installed on Sunday. I have done some light riding on Sunday and Monday and they held up.

I hold out hope that they portend a better September.

Still no tires

So my curse with tires continues. They still haven't arrived. So much for a long ride with them before my first century.

I still haven't signed up for the century on the 25th because of the transportation costs involved (the ferry is the same price as the admission fee), but i need to make up my mind soon.

The ride in today was fairly solid, the Willie B was pretty packed with slow traffic so alot of stopping involved on the upslope, which hopefully makes me stronger.

My brother sent me a stiff leg deadlift technique video due to my poor technique in the gym. I sent him back a youtube link of the double x posse song "Not Gonna be Able to Do It"

Another good commute in today (9/1)

Still havent gotten my tires thanks to Irene.

However i had a nice strong ride in today.

It was tempered by something i read last night. I read about a cyclist that was killed by a turning truck on Metropolitan Ave. This is on my commute route and i started seeing that ghost bike a few days ago.

Here is a link to an article about the accident:

http://www.thelmagazine.com/TheMeasure/archives/2011/08/03/bushwick-cyclist-killed-while-passing-slow-moving-truck&cb=c3ab6b404b81b17f44e4276658cf1596&sort=desc#readerComments