RAGBRAI Preparation #3

Today I finished my last RAGBRAI training ride. I won't be able to ride between now and the event because of work and an out-of-town trip. I hope I'm ready.

Here's a training summary for the year 2021 so far, according to Strava:

• 3020 total miles
• 1945 of those miles were virtual on Zwift
• 1075 of those miles were outdoors
• 15 round trips from Hunter Mill road to Purcellville via the W&OD trail added up to just under 900 miles
• 175 miles were split between trips to Occoquan and Prince William Forest Park

July 4 Fireworks over DC

I had so much fun last year that I did it again. The weather was wonderful (for July anyway) and we beat the crowds to the Potomac shore to pick our spot to watch the show.

Almost everything went right this time; no need for any preamble. Here are some of my favorite shots.

As usual, the first few shots are the only ones in which the Washington Monument is clear of smoke.

Fireworks over DC

Big Finale

Big Finale

After the show

RAGBRAI Preparation #2

 My training plan for RAGBRAI has worked out well so far. I’ve ridden several weekends in a row of 60 miles per day, 120 miles per weekend. At first, the Sunday rides and Mondays at work were tough. It’s still not easy, but it’s much easier.

Of course it couldn’t be that simple. This past Sunday I got out to Purcellville and then my bike started making an awful noise every time I coasted and I had intermittent issues with the chain staying in the selected gear.

I made it home and when I took the cassette off the hub it was apparent that the cassette was wobbling, meaning the hub was wobbling. The race that covers the bearings was mangled. I removed the hub and then removed the race and discovered that several ball bearings had escaped their installed location and in their absence the axle was no longer held in place, hence the wobbling hub and cassette. I couldn’t get the ball bearings back in place and I needed a new race.

I searched online for a replacement hub/axle assembly (they’re a unit on this wheel). No luck, except for a single supplier in Germany. I took the wheel to a bike shop, hoping they as a Specialized dealer could order a replacement or fix the old part. The part could not be repaired and it was no longer produced.

I had been considering upgrading my wheels; this incident forced me to actually do it. I bought a new pair of wheels. The shop transferred my old brake discs and tubes and tires to the new wheels.

I went on my first ride on the new wheels today. I like them, but the hub sounds a lot louder when I coast. The wheels produce more noise too, probably because of the spokes that are more like thin strips of metal than cylindrical in shape.

I have one last weekend to train before I leave for Iceland, and shortly after my return it’s time for RAGBRAI. And while it sucks that my wheel was irreparable, I consider myself lucky that this happened before my trip to Iowa. It would have been a devastating blow to get there and then have an unfixable mechanical failure while riding. It’s unlikely that I would have been able to easily find new wheels for my bike with its disc brakes and thru axles.

RAGBRAI Preparation #1

Two years ago my son went to college and suddenly I had a lot of time on my hands. I started cycling again. That was 2019. I quickly found out that I was in awful shape.

I got serious by riding a lot. My stamina improved. My speed (gradually) improved. A lot has changed since I last rode: there's a lot of training info on the web and services like Strava and Zwift make it easy to track activity and train effectively. Well, it doesn't make training easy but it does make it easier to know what to do. I embraced the training. I embraced the technology. I got a heart rate monitor, cadence sensor, power meter, and turbo trainer. No more excuses that it's too cold: that's what the turbo trainer is for. I rode (outside) more than 1,000 miles in 2019.

In the Fall of 2019 I stumbled upon a reference to RAGBRAI. I started reading about it. I watched YouTube videos. I decided to go. I subscribed to Rouvy and started training. A lot. I didn't know I could sweat that much. I got a Lasko fan that's designed to dry a flooded room's walls. I have it blasting air on me when I train. I (virtually) rode all Winter. As soon as RAGBRAI registration opened, I registered for the lottery. I booked a charter company for the ride from the end town to the start town.

Then I heard about COVID-19 in early 2020. I kept training, hoping there would be a quick shutdown of the disease. But no, it got worse. RAGBRAI was cancelled.

I kept riding indoors when it was cold, outdoors when it was warm. I kept training. I was enjoying it. I set personal records for distance. I rode 2,000 miles in 2020. 

Finally, it's 2021. I got my COVID-19 vaccinations. The rates of new infections are dropping fast. RAGBRAI is on. My RAGBRAI registration rolled to this year with no lottery for me. My charter company did the same.

So now it's the home stretch of training. I have about 6 weeks left. And it's HOT now. I've switched from 20-30 mile rides to longer ones. My plan is to ride 60 miles on the W&OD trail every day that I have off from work. That should get me ready for the heat, distance, and hours in the saddle on successive days. Others who have ridden RAGBRAI in the past have said that day #2 is the hardest because it's the first day that you start with a sore ass. It seems to me that RAGBRAI prep is more about training my ass for hours in the saddle than it is about speed or stamina. The route passes through several towns each day. It's really like several 10-15 mile rides in one day. It's not 40-80 miles nonstop.

And finally I need to make sure my bike is in good working order. When I went out on my first long ride in a few months, I started with a quiet bike and ended with creaking and groaning and a rattling stem. I went through a thorough round of greasing parts and found that one of the bearings in my stem was broken. So I ordered a new one and installed it. Next up: replace the chain and then I'll reindex the derailleurs. And I'll make sure to test ride before I leave for Iowa. My rear tire is looking a little worn too. I just ordered two new tires today.

For now, it's train, train, train, sweat, sweat, sweat.

Specialized Phenom Comp Saddle Review

I've been riding my bike a lot. As the weather got cold, I put my bike on a turbo trainer and subscribed to Zwift so I could stay in shape over the winter. It took about 2 months to figure out that the stock saddle is not working for me. That saddle was fine when I rode outside. The occasional stops for traffic and the odd hill climb got me out of the saddle enough to hide the problems with that stock saddle. But riding on Zwift is another matter.

Indoor riding means my butt is planted on the saddle, sometimes for a couple of hours. I could ride outdoors on that saddle for four hours. But 90 minutes indoors, after riding 6-7 days a week, was definitely uncomfortable.

OK, time for a new saddle. It should be simple, right? Wrong.

There are TOO many options. But the first problem: what size should I get?

It turns out there are standard widths. It felt like the stock saddle that I have is just a little small. I went to the bike shop and the salesman had me sit on a memory foam cushion. Then she put two ball bearings into the depressions that my sit bones made. Then she measured. Yep. My saddle is too small.

Their selection was pretty limited. My choice: shop around more, or just try something. All of my reading about this topic showed that there's no science to this, no easy guide. You just have to try saddles until you find something that works. I saw no point in looking around for anything else when I would have no reason to believe that anything else is easier to decide is right for me. So I bought a Specialized Phenom Comp saddle.

Installation was quick work. I tried it today. It already feels better. I have 14 days from the date of purchase to return it. I'm going to ride a lot in the meantime to see if I want to keep it.

Update: it's now 4 months later and this saddle has worked well for me. The ultimate test is to see how it works for me when I go to RAGBRAI.

Cicadas

 Here in Virginia we are in the middle of the Brood X periodic cicada emergence. Every 17 years the insects which make this brood up emerge from the ground, try to climb a tree (or fence, or house, or car, or whatever they can find). Upon emergence, they have no wings. Shortly after they exit the soil, their exoskeleton hardens, often while they're grasping a tree or fence. Then the exoskeleton splits open as they molt and the cicada emerges with stubby wings, leaving the exoskeleton behind, often still attached to a tree or fence. The wings grow quickly, the insects darken in color, then they try to fly/climb to the tops of the trees. Then they make an awful racket as they attempt to mate. Then the females cut slits in tree/shrub branches, and the adult cicadas die. Eventually the eggs hatch, the hatched nymphs fall to the ground, they dig into the soil, and they live there for 17 years, when they emerge from the ground and the cycle starts again.

This is the second time I've seen the emergence in Virginia. Just like last time, these insects are everywhere for a few weeks. They're on the sidewalks, in the air, and sometimes they land on me. They are all over my yard, roses, fence, and trees. The bugs are everywhere. The empty shells are everywhere. No bird or rat is going hungry right now. Cicadas emerge in such enormous numbers that it does not matter to the population that many of them die before procreating.

Why am I writing about this? Because I tried my hand at macro photography, using them as the subject. They're slow-moving and easy to find right now. I used a tripod, a 70-200 f2.8 lens, and an extension tube for close focusing. This makes the focal plane extremely thin, which makes it hard to get a sharp shot. So there's the challenge. Here are some results.

On my roses

On my roses

Climbing

Just emerged from the exoskeleton

Bulging red eyes

Cygnus NG-15 Launch

Every now and then NASA sends a resupply payload to the International Space Station. Some of the missions launch from the Midatlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS). My wife and I sometimes go watch the launch when the date/time is convenient.

We usually drive to Chincoteague and park on/near the causeway that leads to Assateague Island. There's a good view from there to the launch site.

While it's fun to watch this, photography is hard. The pad is several miles away, visible in the distance. Even on a cold day (like yesterday) there is a haze that makes sharp photos impossible.

Launch

The atmospheric distortion can even make the rocket itself look bent.

Distortion

As the rocket climbs, the air through which I'm shooting is cleaner and less disturbed, but by then the rocket is farther away so it appears smaller. This is also when the noise of the launch finally reaches the causeway. The roar is not loud, but lasts a while, even as the rocket disappears.

Climbing

Eventually the rocket gets far overhead and fades away.

High Up and about to Disappear from View

I was ready for the cloudy contrail this time. But, there was no nice pretty trail to shoot.