Random Downtown Spokane Bikes - Thursday

I finally got a new mePhone last week (been without a cellphone since end of August) so I tried out the camera downtown yesterday.  BikePortland has a series of action shots of cyclists biking around Portland, and sometimes they get indignant cyclists writing in saying "how dare you post pictures of me without my permission!"  Now, I'm sure cyclists would love to be featured here, but yesterday I focused just on locked up stationary bikes.

This first one is at Soulful Soups and Spirits. 15% off if you ride your bike - might have to ride the one block there on my lunch. 

out front Riverpark Square

at the Library

out back Riverpark Square

Wall Street & Spokane Falls Blvd

Chase Bank

lunch was almost over before I realized I didn't get any Jimmy John's bikes.
This was parked between Jimmy John's and Thomas Hammers, so I'm not sure

if it is one of the delivery bikes

whoops, wrong trail!

I was riding back from Riverside State Park last weekend, and decided to take the trail home up to Merkel Sports Center. It's a little steep, but not too bad.  I was tired and thought it'd be quicker than going by Downriver Golf Course.

But halfway up, something didn't feel right.  The trail was supposed to be a gradual climb to the left up the side of the hill, but I was going straight up.  What? Somehow, I took the wrong trail and was heading up towards Fairmount Cemetery.

it's steeper than it looks, honest

Stopped and looked around, taking some time to appreciate the view. And to catch my breath. I got off my bike and walked up the rest of the way.

Today on my way home I stopped by to investigate where I went wrong.  This is the trail I took on Sunday.  One of the trails from Aubrey White Pkwy leads straight to this one.

This is the trail just a bit to the north that I should have taken:

I think I have it straight now.

More Bike Stylin' (?)

These shoes were on clearance last year at Recycled Cycles.  Not sure why.
Work great, and the youngsters at work think they're cool.

Pasela TG's (aka Old Man Tires) flat again

For a few weeks I've been noticing more gravel and debris along the side of the streets.  I was glad to see the street sweepers were out cleaning a couple of the East-West streets I cross like Garland, but they haven't made it to the main streets I ride.  So somewhere along Broadway I felt that funny feeling - what, is my wheel loose and going to fall off? - soon I realized the back tire was dangerously low.  I made it to Riverfront Park before walking the last couple blocks in to work.  The culprit turned out to be a little crumbly piece of safety glass. These tires ride nice, but I'm not too impressed with their flat protection.  Maybe I just attract nails, glass and debris and need a bomb proof tire.

Panaracer T-Servs look like they might protect against flats better, but I'm not ready to shell out close to $50 bucks each for them (I want the ones with the reflective sidewalls, mostly for the look).  I don't really want to buy new tires, so I think I might try those tire liners.  Maybe that'll give me enough protection on the mean streets I ride on.

Speaking of gumwall tires, I got a laugh out of the guy over at All Hail the Black Market. He was trying some Bruce Gordon Rock 'n Road gumwall tires and said "They look like old man tires." (Towards the bottom of this post.)  Maybe that's why I like the Paselas.  Except for that flatting thing.

DBL's - Daytime Biking Lights

I've often been commuting with my lights on in the daylight this past summer and I've noticed something: I see lots of drivers approach an intersection as if they're going to roll through it, do a double take, see my high-powered-disco-strobe-flashing-annoying-front light and then come to a complete stop.  Could be my imagination, but I think the lights make drivers notice this biker coming down the street more.  It could be the reverse - it's me who's noticing the drivers stopping more because I know I have the lights on.  They would've seen me and stopped anyway. I should probably do a proper scientific study.  Maybe somebody already has.  But in the meantime I think I'll keep riding with the lights on in the daylight.

1st Cyclocross race of the season - some random thoughts

1. Riding my bike out to Riverside for the race instead of driving didn't take too much out of me, in fact it may've helped my "racing".

2. I keep hoping every year that the old man 50+ race will be only 30 minutes long instead of 45.  But that's hardly worth coming out and racing for.

3. That woman I heard say 'he's got no technique" after I jumped over the 2nd barrier and tried to get back on my bike probably wasn't talking about me, but could have been.  It pretty much describes my mounting style. Fumble around a bit trying to find the pedal with my left foot, then swing the right leg over.  I gave up trying to do the jump over for now.

4. Either I'm getting better, or the race leaders are slower this year, as I didn't get lapped until their last lap (my 3rd or 4th lap, I lost track).

5. I don't know why I bring my Garmin, I never remember to start it at the start, or to hit the lap button.  It'd be nice to have some lap info so I could compare laps.

6. Luckily Hank asked me "are you racing this next race?" just before our race started.  I hand't seen anybody lining up yet, but that's because they moved the starting spot back from last year and I was looking in the wrong spot.  Made it to the start just in time, but the race official didn't have my name on the list, so I wonder which race I actually signed up for.  I thought I signed the Masters 40/50 race sheet but who knows.

6. I need to get better at riding fast on dirt.  Probably just need to get a few more races down as I haven't practiced with the cross bike on dirt too much this year.

7. The course seemed bumpier than the last two seasons.  Thinking of taking my mountain bike next time.

8. I didn't get laughed off the course for putting platform pedals on my real 'cross bike, a Redline Conquest Pro:

I was having a terrible time last year with toe overlap in the slow, twisty portions of the courses, partly due to my size 44 mtb shoes which seem about an inch too long for my 9 1/2 size feet.  Size 43 is too small for me, and I didn't have time to find some 9 1/2 shoes to experiment with so I thought hey why don't I use platforms? Dave at 2 Wheel transit had sold me some $20 Redline pedals for my mountain bike and they worked great, so I bought another set and put 'em on the cross bike.  They grip pretty good.  They look a little funny on the cross bike, but they worked great. No worrying about clipping and unclipping.  I'm just about completely over clipless pedals, too bad I have 3 pairs of the SPD compatible shoes.  These pedals are pretty wide so I might invest in a narrower pair now that I've found they work for 'cross.

9.  I didn't get laughed off the course for wearing those long knicker-manpri's over lycra bike shorts.

10. If I bought that nice Elephant single speed they had for sale at the race, I could race at 10:15am instead of 12:15 and get it over with.  Or I could ride both, cuz it'd be a shame to leave the Redline sitting around not racing.

11. I couldn't buy the Elephant cuz I biked to the race and didn't have anyway to get it home.

12. I don't really need a new bike.

13. Really.

14. The Salsa Vaya is still tempting me.

15. This is my 3rd year of cross.  Just like last year, I wake up early Sunday and wonder am I crazy for doing 'cross?  I'm old and slow, nowhere near competitive.  I'm not much of a racer. Blah blah blah. Maybe I'll just stay in bed.  Then I think Ok maybe I should do today's race and maybe a couple others.  I finally pull myself together and ride to the course.  I wake up a bit. This is going to be fun.  I'm hooked again.

54 YO Biker ISO Single Track

It was my birthday, early July afternoon, 95 degrees out. We'd ridden our bikes up at Palisades Park in the morning, but now I had to try out my new toy:

This was just the ride down the Merkel Trail to Riverside, I'll spare you the long slow ride back up. I think I'll take the camera off the wide angle setting, some of those scenes make me feel a little queasy, what with the bent trees and horizon. 

If you're still with me, down below is a bonus clip from a ride at Mt Spokane sometime in August.  I'd taken Trail 110 up to the intersection by the Mt Kit Carson Loop - holy crap! that's a workout! - and then wandered onto a trail that soon petered out.  I read an article recently about some landscape repair that had to be done to an illegal bike trail on the mountain, so from now on I'm going to stick on the real trails, if I can figure out which is which. Not too familiar with the trails up there.


By the way, if you have the Falcon Guide "Mountain Biking - Spokane & Coeur d'Alene" there might be a typo on Ride 23 Mt Spokane - Mt Kit Carson.  It says to take Trail 105 just past the park headquarters, but when I stopped to talk to a ranger there, he said well there's no trail 105 that I know of, but there's trail 110 there.  And so there was.  I got kinda a funny look from him, like "you're planning on riding up that trail?" but I ignored it.  Maybe I shoulda asked a few more questions, or read the guide book's description closer: "series of steep switchbacks", "continue climbing", "climb steep and winding".

Shoot, this is too funny, I just read the directions for the ride and looked at the map closer, and it turns out I rode it backwards from the book's directions. It says about trail 105 (110?) "you'll be coming back this way". Oh well, I was looking for a good workout, and would probably have gotten a good workout going the other direction, too.