Wednesday, May 8, 2013

May is National Bike Month!

Well, this month is National Bike Month. How are you celebrating? I had been looking for a way to celebrate it, but it was hard going since I'm already on my bike riding around town most days of the week both for commuting and for fun. Then last Friday I took the trash out and found this sturdy blue plastic broom and had an idea; I'd ride just as often as I already do, but once a week I'll strap the broom onto the bike and use it to clear the bike lane/path of debris that could cause punctures or crashes!

So here it is, the Smorgish blue broomcycle.


And the first broomcycle ride last Friday was along to popular 'Cabrillo route' from Liberty Station to Cabrillo National Park.



Catalina Blvd in the naval base area to Cabrillo is always prone to fingers of sand/dirt slides in the bike lane that force cyclists out onto the traffic lane, so that was my main objective, along with the intersections on northbound Catalina (they are always full of gravel debris that fan into the road).

This week I finally got round to that gravel-derby that is the eastern terminus of the Ocean Beach Bike Path. It's adjacent to Sefton Field, the baseball field with its gravel parking area. Cars can be so messy when transitioning from gravel to pavement!


Further west along the OBBP there often are spots of sand on the path, and some nastier (spill-inducing) stuff at the underpasses (sometimes the homeless folks that live there leave some broken glass bottles on the path, and you would often spot them too late because it's dark down there).
I was even well rewarded for my broomcycling effort! The sun came out and the air warmed up, and once I came out of the underpasses the view along the San Diego River was really to sweep for!

Friday, May 3, 2013

Funky ride around Spring Valley, Dictionary Hill, Casa de Oro - Mt Helix

Hrrrmph! I think I've got a sort of stomach flu or something. Been in low-energy mode since Tuesday or so. Was feeling pretty out of sort Wednesday morning and resting wasn't doing anything for it, so I hopped on the bike and thought I'd ride out to the Performance Bicycle in La Mesa and back. I was almost out of degreaser and needed to shop for a replacement chain rings.
Performance Bicycle on La Mesa Blvd in La Mesa
Didn't find the right chain rings, but did pick up a new bottle of degreaser and some more of those little chamois cream tubelets. The weather was supposed to get too hot to ride for the next two days, but just then it wasn't bad yet and I was still lethargic so I thought I'd ride a bit further and go south to explore a bit of Spring Valley and see if I'll perk up after a few more miles. You know, sometimes it takes a good sweating session to kick the bug out of your system.

Southbound Bancroft Dr in Spring Valley.
Bancroft Ranch House Museum.

Had a good roll down Bancroft Dr into Spring Valley and found the neighborhood more pleasant than expected. Stopped by at the Bancroft Ranch House Museum, but it was closed and there was nobody around except from a posse of chicken. The house used to be owned by Hubert Howe Bancroft who ran a huge olive farm out of it in the late 1890's and early 1900's. There supposedly is a spring on the property that gave the area its name, but it was all fenced up so I couldn't see.
Southbound up Helix St in Spring Valley.
Coronado Bridge & Pt Loma from Helix St in Spring Valley.
Anyhow, I took a left on Lamar and then headed south on the pleasantly curvy Helix St. What a nice bit of thoroughfare! The road climbs pretty gently as it curves its way up the north side of Dictionary Hill, with a few nice vistas of Mt Helix and the surrounding areas at its many curves. On a clear day you can see clear to Pt Loma!

Helix St at Grand Ave on the north side of Dictionary Hill.
I had Google Earthed the area before and wondered about cutting across the hill from the north side of Grand Ave to the southern bit. Eye-balling it as I passed by on Helix St, it looks doable (there's a dirt track across the top of the hill), but quite steep, so I didn't go and check it out. The steep dirt track wouldn't be much trouble for me going up, but coming down the other side of it on road tires and rim brakes could get ugly...
The Apple St monster...
Getting into La Presa I turned east on Jamacha Rd and came face to face with quite a monster... Some hills look worse than they are from the distance, this one just got worse and worse as you neared it! Apparently the average gradient for the whole climb is 17%, with the top pitch blowing up to 30%. Aside from the long sleeves and blue jeans I had on I had never regretted having the heavy U-lock (and all the stuff I bought at the bike shop earlier) in my backpack as much as I did going up that hill!
Smiley


Granted, the view from the top was pretty good, even for a hazy day. It just took me a while to feel like enjoying anything after having heaved up that gruesome ogre. There were a couple of breaks on the climb that helped somewhat. I freely admit to loitering a bit in really slow circles at the break before the final pitch. I wouldn't have made it up otherwise... That last pitch was both the steepest and the longest... Nothing to be attempted while using SPD pedals/shoes unless you are absolutely sure that you can make it to the top without stopping since there is no way you can clip out of the pedal in time to prevent a crash if you don't.

Well, I was out trying to ride this stomach bug out of my system, but apparently icky super-steep hills really aren't the best prescription for it. By the time I tacked my way down the east side of Apple St (it is a little bit more reasonable than the west side, though I'm afraid going up that hill from any direction on a bicycle is just plain painful) I was bonking a bit. It was now getting quite hot and the gentle climb up Jamacha Rd felt quite more draggy than it ought. It didn't help that I got a bit lost trying to take Calavo St all the way up to Fuerte on the way back. Well.... Calavo dead-ended on me (I think it jumped a few times to the side... I just didn't remember in which direction and chose wrong)... and it really doesn't pay to get lost in this hilly bit of town. Smiley
Del Rio St in Spring Valley.
Luckily after a while I found myself on a street whose name I remembered from the map, though Del Rio St came with some wacky traffic control devices. I don't think the side lane is a bike lane... You shouldn't ride in it anyhow, those icky little islands in the lane are quite nasty. The cars in the main traffic lane can ride over their bumps, but if you hit one of those little islands with your bike in the side lane, you're going down (and a few of them aren't easy to spot even with the white paint).

Anyhow, I made my way back to Avocado Blvd, Fuerte, and then took Grand View back west to Bancroft Dr to pick up La Mesa Blvd west back to town. It was a longer (and hillier) ride than I thought I would do, and it didn't get rid of the stomach flu like I hoped it would. It was still a good ride nonetheless. I got to know a new part of town and got some exercise in before the weather got really hot. And though it was anything but pleasant riding up Apple St, it is now crossed off my 'San Diego bucket list climbs' list...
Maria St at Apple St in Spring Valley.
Zoomed in on the top bit of Maria St.
Alas, I got a glimpse at another monster while I was on Apple St that looked even more evil to cycle up... This is Maria St, the top section of which is supposedly the steepest bit of pavement in town (32% grade)... and the whole thing looked longer (with fewer breaks) than Apple St is! Smiley I think I'll need to build up more climbing muscles for the next time I return to the area...

Friday, April 26, 2013

Off the bike: Birds!

I almost always carry a camera when I'm out riding around town and birds are one of the reasons why.


What can I say? The local birds are hilarious!

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Some Photos from the San Diego Gran Fondo Campagnolo 2013

Nah, I didn't ride in the San Diego Gran Fondo Campagnolo last Sunday. I just spent the day volunteering at different posts at the event's venue in the San Diego County Administration building's parking lot in Little Italy and managed to snap a few shots through out. If you see yourself in the photos, feel free to download.

First off, the volunteers!




Then the riders:

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Why cyclists shave their legs....

Having been riding in the mountains a lot this year I gave in to prevailing cycling wisdom and shaved my legs. No, it doesn't make me significantly more aerodynamic. Not that I have noticed, anyhow. I did it in case statistics catch up with me (if you put in 150 miles/week of cycling, then it is not if but when and how you are going to crash. I had a bad crash last September and knew from experience that road rashes are sucky enough to nurse without adding on the aggravation of the bad combination of adhesive bandages and leg hair...

I've read how many other cyclists like the look and feel of their well sculpted hairless legs. Well, I don't. I liked my legs hairy. My leg hair wasn't eliminated in my species' evolution process, and my legs don't look right without it. You can call me a Fred if you'd like, but you've better be able to repeat Cabrillo tidepool hill 10 times in an hour if you do or I'll drop you going uphill... and film the whole process on my handheld camera for posterity.


Anyhow... I didn't like the look and feel of my now hairless legs. I still don't, but I sure was glad that they were hairless when my square rear tire decided to slip on a curve last Sunday and earned my left knee this year's first road rash. Yes, I shaved my legs, but not because I think they look better that way but because road rashes are a lot easier to deal with without having hair involved.