Chai Tea and Lemon Cake

11/29/11 #237 26miles

Around noon it looked like the rain would blow through, although the weather cells were unusually moving in a south-to-north direction. At 1pm I got out on the bike under a decidedly fugly sky, it was scud-running weather — low ceilings, high gusty winds, no rain but the roads were wet. Good news: 58F. As is often the case, the hardest thing about the ride is the conation, the act of choosing on your own volition to get out there and get on with Rule 5.

I rode to my LBS, world famous Ambridge Bike Shop, to do some shopping and got to wish Head Sherpa Gary B. a Merry Christmas. Then I continued south to the Sewickley Starbucks, facing a headwind but pleased to know I'd have a tailwind on the return.

I stopped at Starbucks, bought a chai tea and lemon cake, several packets of honey went into the jersey pocket, and I sniffed the wifi and read the NYTimes. Read a fascinating article on the reliability of witness testimony due to the nature of human memory. Also enjoyed a profile of Steven Pinker, and a sidebar collection of some Pinkerisms.

One sign that you're spending too much time in coffee shops is when you begin to recognize the regulars to the point of avoiding the onerous ones. Today was the third time I saw one rather talkative gentlemen in the Starbucks, we both look for the padded armchairs, he's prone to recommending authors and in a way I felt that he and I were like Harold Krenshaw and Mr. Monk at their therapist's office.



Came out of the Starbucks and was surprised at how much the weather had improved. Sunny skies, the wind had died (no tailwind on the ride home), it was very nice.

On the second leg I realized how good it was for me to get out on the bike even in the gloomy windy conditions. It's always a good day to ride the bike, sometimes I forget that.

In cycling news:

• Shimano goes to 11-speeds
• Ivan Basso has confirmed he will race both the Giro d’Italia and Tour de France for the 2012 season.
• Jan Ullrich considers confessing to doping

Autumn Ride to Targets of Opportunity and Occupy Pittsburgh

10/15/11 #234 34miles 50-60F

Rode 34 miles in the city. The day started off cold but warmed up nicely.

Began at The Bastille (Western Pen) intending to ride to McKeesport, and proceeded via the Casino Trail and the Ft Duquesne Bridge. Crossing Point State Park there was some sort of re-enactment going on.

Continued on the Mon Whorf Trail, Jail Trail, Hot Metal Bridge of 4000 Brassieres, Southside Trail, Baldwin Trail, walked the tracks and rode Sandcastle to Riverton Bridge discovered that the Sandcastle lot is closed.

I'm mildly disappointed that Sandcastle bike access is lost. Even though it was a wink-and-nod arrangement, it was really nice to ride through there in the summertime, and the loss of Sandcastle will mean fewer bicyclists going from the Point to Boston. The (presumed) notion that bicycling stops in October is misinformed.

I rode 885 uphill to Century III Mall, met a friend at Denny's for coffee and pumpkin pie!, reversed on 885 and 837 to Southside, Station Square trail, and then I ran into a fully loaded, visiting cyclist who had just passed the West End Circle and was trying to figure out how to get into downtown.

Walter had rode from Cleveland in two days, stopping overnight and camping in Rogers Ohio. I really like the idea of bicycle camping and hope to give it a try.

He told me he'd had two flats and broke a few spokes, but that he's stopped at Ambridge Bike Shop and they'd taken great care of him. Which doesn't surprise me, Ambridge is the Best Local Bike Shop 4eva. We rode together across the Ft. Pitt Bridge and the Strip Trail to his destination, I think the city's trails and the easy transition across town made a favorable impression on him.

Then I rode crosstown to the #OccupyPittsburgh site. It seemed reasonable and well mannered, I spoke to a police officer who said there wasn't any tension at the site. In the throng there were ACLU attorneys wearing yellow armbands observing. I saw an observer wearing a Pittsburgh Police Accountability Review Board jacket which I though was extremely excellent.

I'd say the population skewed young and old, with fewer 40-year olds than there were 20-somethings and geezers like myself. Other than the age phenomenon, they seemed representative of the general public. Quite a few signs, which I suppose works well in a world of omnipresent cameras and social media. I didn't find much (if anything, really) to disagree with. The P-G has a list of sign messages.

The weather started off cold (50F) and ended up warmer (60F) and quite pretty and blue. It was very windy which made for an interesting ride. It was a day when having airspeed indicators on the bike would produce interesting data. Descending down 885 it felt like I was descending with a tailwind, that was a pretty quick segment.

10/15/11 Week 39

this week: 109 miles

[4th quarter: 275 miles]

2011: 3541 miles

LBS to the Rescue: Flat 1, Flat 2, Rim Tape and Glass Shards

7/29/11 #222

McD Burrito popcorn 1500 two pb&j, grapes 1900 steak, broccoli

Met R. for a ride on the Panhandle Trail. Uncharacteristically, I got to the rendezvous a half-hour early and got all my accessories aligned on the bike (a non-trivial task) only to find a flat rear tire, so I had time to change it and was almost complete with the change when R. pulled up. He did not appear empty handed; he had scored some newer maps of the Panhandle Trail, and that excited my I-M-G (inner map geek).

I'm not eager to have a flat tire, but it's a task that's good for my self esteem in that I'm somewhat capable of it. This flat tire came at a perfect moment - I was still at my car so I could use the bike rack as a work stand, I had three spare tubes with me; it was warm, daylight, and dry. Unfortunately, I was unable to diagnose what had caused the flat.

Changing the flat is a necessary but insufficient task; one needs to ascertain why the tire went flat and address the cause, or else the new tube will meet the same punctured fate as the previous tube. I could not find any cut, gouge, wire, or object that might have caused the flat, so I simply replaced the tube and set off, hoping for the best but knowing it was likely to happen again.



We rode west on the Panhandle Trail, from the Montour Trail in McDonald to Burgettstown. The trail is in excellent condition along this segment. West of Burgettstown the trail is quite primitive until the West Virginia line, when it resumes with a high-quality packed limestone surface.

Some local riders have been making an overnight trip starting in Coraopolis on the Montour Trail, joining the Panhandle Trail to Wierton, and then riding the Wheeling Trail to Wheeling WV, some 65 miles.

The Panhandle Trail is in very pretty country and sees far fewer people than the better known Montour Trail. At Burgettstown we exited the trail to stop for a cold drink at a convenience store, which has closed shop since last summer. A kind lady stopped to direct us to the local McDonald's for a cold drink.

As we set out to the Golden Arches, I saw that my rear tire was flat again, after only 9 miles of riding. R and I worked together well, we marked the puncture point and it was in the same vicinity of the first flat, but we couldn't find anything that might have caused the loss of pressure. I put a second tube on the bike, leaving me with one more tube (and if needed, a patch kit to repair the damaged tubes). Given the unexplained leaks on the rear wheel, I asked R. if we could just return to our cars and call it a ride at 18 miles, and he agreed.

The ride back was pleasant and uneventful. In a most-perfect-world, the tire would have gone flat at the trailhead, offering another carcass as evidence; but it was not to be.

I took the rear wheel and two punctured tubes to my Local Bike Shop (LBS), Ambridge Bike Shop, and explained that I had something going on that I couldn't figure out. It was educational to watch their diagnostic inquiry.

They noted that one puncture was on the inside of the tube, and the other on the outside. The rim tape had moved off track, exposing several spoke flanges and leaving gaps where the pressurized tire would herniate into the newly available gaps - replacing the rim tape resolved the issue with the leak on the inside of the tube.

The puncture on the outside of the tube was more puzzling, until they started flexing and testing the tire casing, when a gash holding shards of glass became visible. You couldn't see it if you'd simply looked at the tire, you had to stress the casing to make it apparent.

The tire was beginning to show threads here and there, so we replaced the tire and resolved the issue with the leak on the outside of the tube.

Although the new tire calls for inflation to PSI, they took pains to only inflate it to 75 psi, explaining that 75 psi in the air conditioned shop might easily exceed 80 psi in the heat outside. That's one of the things I love about those guys.

I purchased a few tubes to replace the two I'd used, and also bought a few water bottles with the Ambridge Bike Shop logo - you've got to wear the school colors, and these bottles have a new spout mechanism that seems to work well.

A hot ride on a little-used trail, and a chance to visit the LBS and watch mastery at work: not a bad day.

Nice Ride Tuesday

06-07-11 #229

0800 western omelette, eng.muffin 1000 yogurt 1600 powerbar 2015 chicken

Rode 26 miles on the Montour Trail. It had rained earlier in the day, but the trail had dried off nicely. I've made some progress in re-rigging my two headlights on my second handlebar, I need to re-organize the dashboard.

I'm probably going to take the LHT in to the world's best bike shop for the semi-annual "laying on of hands", it needs a few tweaks.

I've been riding pretty consistently but I'm not losing weight, I'm not sure what's up with that.