This really annoys me - truck on Broadway

I always hate it when a driver can't wait for a biker to clear the intersection, but turns into it as I'm in the intersection or just approaching it.  This has happened before on Broadway, but last time it was a police vehicle:

If you watch closely you can see this guy pull out into the intersection, and then slow down as he starts to turn.  I think he knew what he was doing.  When I caught up with him at the light at Monroe, I asked him "didn't you see me?". He said "Oh I thought you were over to the side more". Well, I was over a little bit more than usual.  Still, it's unnerving to have a large vehicle turn towards you or in your direction no matter where you are on the road.

He was in business type clothes.  I'm always surprised by the number of people who use those 1/2 or 3/4 ton trucks as their daily commuters.

P.S. That annoying clicking noise in the video is just a lack of grease in the head tube or steering tube or somewhere in that vicinity which has thankfully been corrected now.

Last Weekend Wrap-Up and then some

As another famous blogger says "Me! Me! It's all about me!"

ok this is getting to be like old news now and it's long and no pictures. You're just lucky if you're reading this whole thing through that I deleted this weeks' Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday rides:

Last Thursday - went on my very first ever Shop Ride, which was 2 Wheel Transit's last shop ride of the season.  We started out at their future location on South Perry and headed up Southeast Boulevard, to Regal and then I'm not sure where. I remember we turned left up Jamieson at one point.  There are some nice views up there. The group got split up after a bit, and so after awhile I just tried to stick with one group as we headed back down the South Hill.  It was a fun ride, about 15 miles for me, some had more or less depending on their route.  It was a good group to ride with, and there was a mix of road and 'cross bikes and a hybrid or two. I'm not sure if I'm big on riding in a large group, but it's a good way to get out of the house and meet some new people.  The great folks at 2WT fed us with pizza and gave us a tour of the new shop-in-progress afterwards.

I learned a lesson - Bike Commuting/riding tip #4.2aa - Carry extra batteries, stupid! Or a back-up light.  Yes, my front light died somewhere on the ride.  It was getting near dusk when it was time to ride home, so I walked over to the convenience store and found they had 4-5 pegs filled with AAA batteries, a few 9v and D batteries, but no AA's for sale. I headed towards home while it was still light out and stopped at a 7-11 on 2nd Ave and picked up a 4-pack of batteries. It was dark by the time I made it to NW Blvd.  Sure felt strange riding in the dark already this time of year, and gave me a preview of fall and winter riding.  I like riding in the dark for some strange reason, but it sure seems like the sun is setting way too early.

Friday - I forget. I must've ridden to work and taken the 7-Mile loop home. Getting a little predictable, but another good 20+ miles.

Saturday - took it easy.  Renewed my USA Cycling license and finally sent away to WSBA for my race numbers.  Looks like I'm really going to do 'cross again this year, there's no backing out now.   Worked up some energy in the evening and rode my blue Redline to downtown Spokane to watch the Twilight Crit.  A pretty cool event, I made it in time for the kids race which was fun to watch.  Then came the Masters 40/50+ and Women's race.  Holy Crap! am I glad I didn't sign up.  Those guys were booking it around the course, leaning into the corners.  The course was open to the public after the Masters/Womens race so I took one half-embarrassed lap around the course during the "Citizen's Ragtag Rally" as they called it (don't care for that name, but then I had nothing to do with putting on this great event so can't complain).  I started out without my helmet on - gasp! - and thought better of it. Didn't want any pictures getting back to the Mrs.

Sunday - oh let's see...oh yeah we rode down to do the 5th annual Spokefest. We thought about doing the 47 mile Four Mounds option but ended doing the 21 mile route.  Through mishap and maybe bad judgement on my part, the gears on the blue bike which had been running so smooth after its tuneup, are now rattling up front and refusing to go in the two lowest gears in back.* Took Spokefest fairly easy, except for one spot on the return section.  A guy in a team jersey with a noisy bike passed me on the right and this annoyed me for some reason.  Got my competitive juices going, so I hung with him for a bit and then passed him on a hill.  So there.  In a real race I doubt if I would've caught him.

My wife missed seeing BikeStyle Spokane at the vendor tents this year as she was hoping to find some new bike gloves.  I had a german sausage, beans and a sno-cone to fuel the ride home, so we broke our long standing 3 year tradition of stopping at Doyle's Ice Cream on the way home from Spokefest.

Sheesh, this is more like a bike diary, I'm a regular Samuel Pepys.

*I've discovered it's not a good idea to lock your 30 pound U-lock to a strangely shaped bike rack and your seat tube above your front derailer. The lock slid down below the derailer and twisted it around a bit. And also riding on an almost flat rear tire the last few blocks home can do some weird voodoo thing to your rear derailer. I managed to get the front derailer working without rattling against the chain last night, but still need to fiddle with the rear a bit more before I cave and take it in to the shop.

Nice River views along Aubrey White Parkway

..but I am sorta training for cyclocross.  I'm trying to get in shape, I'm serious, stop looking at the river canyon.  No time to stop and admire the view.  No time for picture taking (oh that's right I don't have a phone or camera with me anyway).  Stay focused.  Pedal hard.  Maybe this year you'll have some energy left after the first 'cross lap.

I'm lucky to be able to combine training rides with commuting home rides, because I have to force myself to train.  Training can take all the fun out of biking.

So I've been doing some variations of the 7-Mile loop on my way home from work. With a 30-pound U-lock in my backpack, I'm hoping to build some muscle and endurance.  I'd gone out a few times on Gov't Way to the Military Cemetery to hook up with the Centennial Trail and ride to 7 Mile, then back on Aubrey White and Downriver Drive.  I reversed it last week, and that's when I looked up from Aubrey White Pkwy and noticed the nice views to my left along the river.

I should probably extend the ride a bit out to 9-Mile.  Spokane has some nice rides.

Bike Fever - Oye Como Vaya

Since my Conquest Sport junior cyclocross bike came with disc mounts and hubs, not to mention the world's worst cantilever brakes, I've always thought of upgrading to disc brakes.  What would make it even better would be to put a 2X10 drivetrain on it like my real cyclocross bike has.  I'm pretty much over triple cranks, don't use the small one hardly ever, and with the Sram Apex you can get the bike set up with about the same range of gears with a double as a triple (or so they say).  For riding to work and back and around town, I might just prefer a single up front but there's those occasions like hauling up to 5-Mile or the South Hill or charity rides when I might need a wider gear range than a single would provide.

I've thought about going the custom route, but I don't feel I know enough about what I want or need in a bike frame so I've put that thought on hold.  I'm a little partial to Redline and they're coming out with the Conquest Disc with Shimano Tiagra 2 x 10 which caught my eye. (update: just saw the new Metro Classic with discs and triple crank). Then I was innocently looking at bikes on either Universal Cycles' or Salsa's website when I stumbled across the Salsa Vaya. Might've seen it before, but this time it jumped out at me.  Disc brakes, Sram Apex 2X10, nice bright orange paint - just what I want.  Plenty of room for tires & fenders. Perfect for town, city, gravel, road, dirt. Steel, so it might be a little heavy hauling up and down our stairs (I really need to get the second remote for our garage door opener working).  Too bad Bicycling magazine featured it in their Sept issue, now everybody will want one.

I did some calculating. Ok it'd be cheaper to upgrade the Sport but the impulse part of my brain says it'd be easier to just get the Vaya.  I think I could do some wheeling and dealing and come up with the do-re-mi. If I could find one to try. I did find one online in what might be my size on the other side of the continent, but should probably wait for the new models to come out. Salsa's website lists Steve's on Cannon as a dealer, I'll have to check with them.  I also read online from an old post that non-dealer bike shops can order them, but it's iffy what's available after the dealers place their orders.

But then I picked up my blue Redline from the shop after it was in for a tuneup, and boy it rides smooth. Really seems to fit me. A couple people have complimented the bike lately, too so I feel bad thinking of abandoning it or hanging it in the garage to ride occasionally. My new bike fever has gone down a bit, but I'm still anticipating/waiting to see what the 2013 Salsa lineup will bring. 

Shoot what's that? Surly is coming out with the Krampus, a 29er+ with 3" tires. Totally different direction, but wonder how that'd work...

Kendall Yards - Centennial Trail

One of the neat (did I just say neat?) things happening in Spokane is the plans by the developers of Kendall Yards to complete the section of the Centennial Trail from the Monroe Street Bridge to the Sandifur bridge.  I've been wondering if the trail will go under the bridge making it easy to cross Monroe so I rode there after work Monday to check it out. It does look like it will go under the bridge, but I should check with the Kendall Yards folks to find out for sure.  I've tried to cross Monroe there and it can take some patience.

They have the trail laid out and somewhat graded from Monroe to the intersection of Ohio and Falls Ave/Elm Street.  I'm not sure where they're going to put the trail for the section past Elm, if it'll be alongside Ohio Street or off to the side.

I like to think I'm comfortable riding on the street with traffic, but it'd be great to have a nice traffic free paved trail to take west to Summit Blvd sometimes.  I ride down Broadway to Summit on my way home sometimes,  and though it takes me a little further west than I need to go before turning up North to the Shadle area, it might be quicker than my usual routes home because I can ride for long stretches uninterrupted by stop signs or intersections.

My iPhone battery drained on the last camping trip and refuses to charge and sync back up (darn, just in time for iPhone 5), so I wasn't able to take any pictures.

biking & lightning

Tuesday morning we had a good storm. Started out a few rain drops, then more. Thought it was just a teaser storm, but soon rain was falling hard. Wasn't too worried about it, seemed like it would pass pretty quickly... and then the thunder started. Real close. A few lightning flashes nearby. I started wondering, what are the chances of getting struck by lightning biking to work? I haven't had the best of luck this year.

Coincidentally, my usual bike-to-work blue Redline was in the shop for a tune-up, and due to be ready for pick-up Tuesday.  Instead of riding another bike in my stable, I decided to get a ride to work and walk to the shop after work to pick it up.  Did see quite a few bikes out and about Tuesday, so looks like a few braved the storm in the morning.

Williams Lake and environs

We went camping at Williams Lake south of Cheney last weekend. That Thursday (8/9/12) after work me and my bike got a ride out there. I know, I wimped out and didn't bike there, but we had a kayaking expedition with the Parks & Rec dept at 5pm I had to make. 

While my wife had to work Friday morning, and took the dogs with her, I of course got to go on a bike ride.  I'm not too familiar with the roads out there, but headed out going west-southish on Mullinix Rd with no particular destination in mind and soon came across this sign:

but instead of turning right on to Martin Rd, I continued on Mullinix Rd which was now a gravel road.  I was on my Redline Conquest Sport with 35mm Pasela tires - not really set up for trail riding, and I wanted to do some exploring. (Wait, now that I think about it, I did ride the Plateau trail on this bike last year, and on 32mm tires to boot.  But that was on the section between Fish Lake and Amber Lake. It's a slightly rocky section, but past Martin Rd the trail is full-bore railroad ballast.)

So I rode Mullinix to JW Henderson Rd to Belsby Rd. Not much traffic, which was nice, just a few farm trucks kicking up dust, one car. And one guy on a bike, wandering around the back roads.

What's funny, is I discovered by looking at Google maps and the atlas, if I had kept on Belsby Rd/Miller Rd and stayed on Belsby, I would've come across the John Wayne Trail near the north end of Rock Lake. But I turned around at Belsby and went back up to Mullinix Rd then went left on Reed Rd and followed it back up to Martin Rd. (I finally broke down and mapped it out on MapMy ride here. sheesh, I just checked the link and there's tons of ads and it makes you sign in or register to view full screen...).

At this point I thought I was past the Martin Rd trailhead, but I went left (west) on Martin anyways, went past a ranch and hunting guide place called Miller's something-or-other and came across a dirt/gravel road.  There was an old rusted bullet hole ridden mailbox there with the name of Falk on it.  I checked - no mail in it.  I took this road and then there it was, the Columbia Plateau trail.

Marker #1 on mapmyride

I could just barely make out somebody and a dog on the trail to the south, so I waited for a bit. What other fool is out here on a hot August morning?  But they were going the other way and they soon disappeared into the haze.

Ahead on the road was this sign that said Summer Road. It's open for only part of the year, but I thought that was the name of the road. So I'm not too quick sometimes.  I also thought I'd gone by a Summer Rd so I thought, good, this will take me back.  I had a general idea in which direction Williams Lake lay, and this seemed like it was heading that way.

This is the bike I was on:

And this is the road I was on now.  Is this is what they mean by underbiking?

I walked down one of these hills which was fairly steep as I have the world's worst cantilever brakes on this bike and I still haven't replaced them. After awhile I rode past a farmhouse (Marker #2 on map), some outbuildings and then came to another intersection. The road signs had 3 names on them: Falk, Harris and Scroggie (marker #3).  I turned around and read a sign facing the way I came from: Summer Road, 1 1/2 miles.  But I thought I was on Summer Road, how'd I get back on Falk?  There was a road that veered off by the farmhouse and then looked like it went a bit and then disappeared into the dirt, was that it? Ohhhh....that dirt section was only open during summer, not called Summer and I was always on Falk Rd.

Got a kick out of this sign, apparently there's enough bicyclists out here to warrant a warning sign:

on Harris Rd, I think

After a false start down Scroggie which seemed like it would head up towards Cheney, I turned down Harris Rd, and after going down it for a ways I started feeling like maybe I didn't really know where I was.  I could backtrack and find my way back to the lake, but didn't want to do that.  I wasn't too worried yet, I just wanted to be back before Debbie returned from work so she wouldn't wonder where I was. I figured I had at least a couple hours to find my way back before any alarms would be raised, but there's no cell reception at the lake. So I gave in to technology at an intersection with Pine Springs Rd and turned on my phone, which I brought along at the last minute. I've learned it's a good idea to carry a phone in case something goes wrong, like broken bone, stry dog bite, etc. Yea!, there's reception out here.  I was still heading in the general direction of Williams Lake, but was veering off to the north of it. I got my bearings and plotted a course back to the campground.

Pine Spring soon intersected the Plateau trail (near Amber Lake):

The Columbia Plateau trail,  just past Amber Lake (marker #4)

  

By taking Pine Springs Rd south, then turning right onto Woods Rd, I arrived back on Mullinix Rd and familiar ground.  I rolled into the campground with plenty of time to spare.  It was a good ride, about 27 miles in all.  These roads deserve some more exploring.