Bike Repair Stand

For nearly two years I have wanted a bike repair stand.  Not because I fancy myself as a world class worthless mechanic, but because it will make cleaning my bike a whole lot easier.  Living in Washington State means riding many hours in the rain.  Each time I ride in the rain, I am amazed by the amount of crap from the road that ends up on my bike...There is dirt and grime, I have found strands of cloth (seriously), worms, and bits of fur (please do not ask).

When leaving for a ride over 25 miles, in the rain, I always have good intentions...Do a serious cleaning when I get back.  However, it has been said that the road to hell was paved with good intentions, and as you can imagine my bike does not get cleaned.  This does not mean that I do not love my bike, I am just cold, wet, dirty, and tired.  If my wife would let me, I would carefully bring the bike upstairs, into the shower, and give it the soapy love it deserves, but alas Bella would kill me and then mock me to no end!  So instead I do one of two things to my bike:

1 - let her air dry
2 - turn on the hose and lightly rise the crud off.

using my race bike as a prop...she is always cleaned after a race or bad weather ride

I know both of those options are bad, but without a repair stand I had to be creative.  I discovered the best way, for me, to clean my bike was to precariously balance it against the recycle bin and start the process.  Then when it was time to clean the chain and gears, I would put my left foot behind the wheel, sit on the cold, wet ground, and then begin the process.  This would always result in dirty, greasy cleaning fluid splattering onto my pants and feet.

Yes, those are purple slippers...lets go with the UW Huskies as the reason

I know cleaning a bike is important for its proper function and longevity, but it was a royal pain.  So instead of doing all that work, I would end up doing one of the two previously listed options, then wipe down the wet chain, and finally lube it up and call it good.  Once everything was dry I would then gently wipe off the dirt before bringing it upstairs to put on my trainer.

Last weekend I finally bought my repair stand.  Now I am not much of a mechanical/put it together kind of guy but I can usually get the job completed.  In fact, like most guys, I look at the directions and think "nahhhhh, no thanks".  However, this time I decided I would actually use the directions to make sure I put the stand together correctly.

To me these directions looked pretty confusing and had multiple steps listed together as one.  After a bit of looking at the pictures, and the written directions on the other page, I was able to get the process going.  30 minutes later, I had a brand spanking new and shiny bike repair stand.

Luckily for me, I had just completed a good ride (Ride in the Weather) to test out my new stand.  I gently rinsed off my bike and then hooked it into the stand.  The whole process was so much easier, and kept me a whole lot cleaner.  As Scott said "It is a game changer."  That was probably the first time in 3-4 months that my bike was officially cleaned after a wet, dirty ride!

Cleaned

I have also used the stand to do my first "repair" work on the bike.  I removed my old worthless fenders and replaced them with better, stiffer fenders.  That job was also a lot easier and quicker...wish I made this purchase a couple of years ago.

Ride in the Weather

Yesterday was an indoor trainer day.  Not because the weather was awful, but I prefer not to be on the road for my "kill me now" workouts.  Yes it was overcast, yes it was cold, yes there was some rain, but that never stops me.  However, once 2 pm rolled around it became somewhat sunny and almost warm (50 degrees).  The reason I mention all this is that the weather is down right crappy today.

I woke up for my 8 am ride, 2+ hour, to rain and winds of 15 mph.  Why is it that the weather plays such a cruel and sick trick on people like me.  Yesterday almost warm and somewhat sunny, today crap!!!  I almost feel like Charlie Brown walking around with a rain cloud over my head, or maybe I was like Lt. Dan cursing the almighty while weathering a hurricane on a shrimping boat.  Either way the weather was nasty.

I have to give it up to my teammates Scott and Brent.  Both dutifully showed up at the designated location right on time and were ready to go.  In addition to them, we had David from wheelsportcycling join us.  After some opening chit chat, we got on our bikes and hit the road.  On tap was 40ish miles.  We started in the town of Orting, which is in a valley, and worked our way to Buckley, then Enumclaw and eventually made it back to Orting.

I am not quite sure how, but we managed to miss most of the rain.  The roads were always wet from a shower hitting just before our arrival, but we only dealt with the rain a couple of time.  However, the wind was relentless and there was never any shelter.  To make matter worse, my legs were dead from my workout yesterday.

To keep with my references above...We safely made it back to Orting, put our bikes in the cars, and the sun decided to make an appearance.  Yes, I was pretty upset that I just rode 40ish miles in 40 degree weather and then the sun comes out!

Orting after the ride

I want to give Brent a special THANK YOU, he was kind enough to forget his fenders.  So even though we missed most of the rain, it felt as if we were being rained on most of the ride.  You never realize how much dirt and grime can be on the road until riding behind someone without fenders.

My glasses

David's helmet

Brent is in Black...He was also the only clean one

Bike Butterfly

You say what?!?!?!  Yes I said Bike Buttery.  It is a unique solution for pedestrians who do not see you riding.  I saw this on bikerumor.com and youtube.

Enjoy

My Love Hate Relationship

Everyone has a relationship like this...for me it is training.  As an avid cyclist it is obvious to say that I like to ride.  You could also say I like to ride FAST and FASTER.  That does not mean that I do not take time to enjoy the occasional slow scenic ride, but I love FAST and FASTER.  The problem with FAST and FASTER is that it does not come easily.  You have to work HARD and HARDER, and that means not just riding hard but training. 

If you have ever ridden an indoor trainer, you know you are going to experience ____ minutes of hell.  You work your butt off, go nowhere very fast, feel lots of burn in your lungs and legs, and must deal with the constant knowledge that the suffer-fest can easily end by simply stopping and getting off the bike.  However, there are tricks to making the time more bearable.

1 - Have a fan blowing on you
2 - Put some races on TV that can provide some entertainment and white noise
3 - Open a window so Bella does not comment on the stink (ok that pertains to just me, unless you have a Bella in your life too)
4 - Depending on the amount of time, two very cold bottles of water
5 - Did I mention a fan?

Even using all the above, you know you are about to do hard time.  To keep working I use a statement, as a mantra, I read somewhere..."You can do anything for one minute."  Each time I feel as if I am about to crack I start to repeat my mantra in my head. 

Most of my indoor training workouts are about 90 minutes.  By the time I am done (yes I chose done as in cooked like a turkey instead of finished) I am drenched in sweat, my headband is soaked, my shirt is soaked, my hand towel is soaked, my water is gone, and I am a brilliant shade of red.  The room also has a pleasant BO aroma that I am considering bottling and calling "Essence du Rod".

What I am really saying is that I love to hate training, hate to feel sluggish, and love to crush a local hill or climb.  In the end, I need this relationship to be more successful on each ride.  The relationship also allows me to better appreciate the long, slow, scenic rides in the mountains.

Background Part 2

In January of 2011, I was lucky enough to go on a few rides with Joe.  Joe worked at my local bike shop and was also organizing a race team.  Joe might be one of the biggest reasons I did not quit riding...Like I said in the previous post, I was in a lot of pain.

Joe saw that I was dedicated, working through my injuries and wanting to improve.  After a couple of rides he asked me to join the team.  Initially I was uncertain, I did not believe I was strong enough, fast enough or even experienced enough.  However, my wife thought it would be better if I rode with people rather than riding solo, so I joined the team.

Shortly after joining the team, I began to train as I had before the accident.  I was feeling good going into my first race, Independence Valley Road Race, and very excited.  I believed I had been working hard and thus I would be able to earn a good result...Well, that did not happen.

If you have ever raced, I am sure you know there is a major difference between riding hard and training to race.   I had done lots of hard riding, thinking I was training.  After about 3 miles I was dropped on the first climb.  There is nothing worse than having to race in the cold, wind and rain, all by yourself.  In the back of my mind I wanted to abandon the race, but I made a commitment and knew I had to finish.  My wife was there waiting for me, and it was a GREAT feeling when she reacted as if I had won the Tour de France.  Somehow I managed not to finish last, but was way behind the winners.

My second and third races had the same results, and I was really beginning to wonder if I should just stop racing.  I finally had a confidence building breakthrough at the Ravensdale Road Race...I finished with the lead group, in 18th position.  It was at that moment I knew I had been bitten by the bug.  Over the remainder of the season,  I only had one other good result, I finished in 9th place at the Mutual of Enumclaw Criterium. 

I am now in my second season of racing, but I am still a Cat 5 racer.  I have yet to meet the minimum race requirements in order to move up to Cat 4.  I have already done the Independence Valley Road Race, and have seen vast improvement.  Check out the race recap at: http://teambonney.blogspot.com/

Background Part 1

Today I made the BIG decision to blog.  Not really sure why or what I will ultimately include, but this is going to be an interesting experience for me and whomever chooses to read.

I have always been an active and athletic person.  I have played soccer, volleyball and done some Taekwondo.  Due to injuries and pain, I slowly had to give up each sport.  With that I noticed my enjoyment of food and beverage caused me to gain some weight...not a lot, but more than I definitely wanted.

I found that I really enjoyed watching cycling and thought "really how hard can this sport be?"  So I bought my first bike, a Specialized Allez Elite.  Oscar was beautiful and fast!  In my mind I was riding often and far.  Turns out a 12 mile ride is not considered far, and three days a week is not considered often.  However, it was a start and I quickly progressed.

After a year of riding, I decided to set a monumental goal.  I was going to do my first century ride.  I started to train in earnest and after a couple of months decided my goal would be to finish in under 5 hours and 45 minutes.  I guess I did well with my training, and I finished in 5 hours and 28 minutes.  Between my wife's encouragement and the result, I decided to work harder to continue my improvement.

I started to ride further and faster each month, and soon I was completing 40 - 60 mile rides.  Two years ago a friend asked me to do the STP, Seattle to Portland, in one day.  I decided why not and began to train for it.  Then the unthinkable occurred while out for a training ride, I was hit by a car!

My bike broke in half, the gears were bent, and the cranks were bent along with an assortment of other issues.  That said, I had it worse...I flew into the car, over the car and into the road.  My clothing was torn, I had road rash, a cut on my head and an ambulance was called.  When I arrived at the hospital they discovered those were the least of my worries...I had also broken my neck and had a severe concussion.

I was flown from the small hospital to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.  I spent the next 5 months recovering and seeing doctors.  I was eventually cleared to work and ride again at the end of August.  I am not sure how I did it, but with encouragement from my wife, again, I bought a new bike and started to ride.

The next 10 months, on the bike, were not the most pleasant.  At first, any ride more than 15 minutes caused severe pain in my neck, shoulders and back.  However, each ride was a little better and longer.  Soon I was back up to 20, 25, 30 and 40 miles.  My fear slowly started to dissipate and I began to meet people at a local bike shop. 

With the encouragement of my friends and family I rediscovered why I loved to ride.  The feeling of going fast, pushing hard, the wind in my hair, the burn in my lungs and legs, and mostly the satisfaction of setting a new personal best for a given route.