Author: James

On Saturday I decided I’d join the NP ride starting out at Logboom Park. I left the house at about 8:30am to ride over to the start for 9am and arrived to find no one there. A bit puzzled I decided I might as well just keep riding out to Redmond and then go home so at least I’d get in a bit of a workout. Put in a pleasant 50+ miles with blue skies and little wind and got home to check my email to work out what might have happened.All references to the ride had it starting at 11am. Humm, I’m not sure were I got 9 am from. Oh well at least I got a ride in.

Next weekend sees my first official brevet with a 300k starting down at Olympia. I missed the 200k a couple weeks ago as Susan was away so this will be a bit of a leap in distance from my rides so far this year. Will see how it goes. If nothing else my saddle should be broken in by the end of it.

This weekend I received a package from the Audax Club Parisien, the organizers of PBP, with a result booklet and DVD commemorating the 2007 ride. I was very impressed with the amount of time and effort that had been put into creating these.

Reading through the booklet with its blurbs written by each of the participating control towns and huge teams of volunteers it brought back just what a great level of support there was to help put this ride on. It also broke down the results into a myriad of statistics, from average ages, where people abandoned, finishing times, etc… The DVD was also fun to watch as it documented the ride from start to finish with shots of various riders along the way and interviews on the course. It did a good job of capturing the feel of the event and bringing back some good memories.

Roll on 2011 and the next occurrence of this event!

Yesterday evening saw some blue sky and a break from the rain of the past week so I headed out for an evening social ride with the Native Planet crowd. I got to see and chat with some familiar faces from last years rides. The ride started from Green Lake and did a short loop over to the UW and then back along the Burke Gilman and up Stoneway. I went up and over on 65^th St. to the start so got a nice little bonus hill in.

All familiar territory from when we lived over in Wallingford but just nice to be out and about.

My new saddle wasn’t tightened enough so ended up moving on me as the ride went on. I had to stop at one stage and reposition it. I’m still trying to work out the best position and tilt for it but it certainly hasn’t been as uncomfortable so far as I thought it might be from all the horror stories of the breaking in period. (Though it’s only been 1 day so far)

I’m considering swapping my old road bike (Giant OCR3) for a fixed gear to use as a commuter.

I’m not really using it at all and like the idea of a simple bike for training purposes. A fixed gear is meant to really help your pedaling stroke as you can never stop pedaling – you stop pedaling, the bike stops! No coasting on the downhills, instead your legs are a blur at a high cadence.

In a way it would be back to the simplicity of my first real bike in Bangladesh in the late 70s, a high back bike with 1 gear that I rode everywhere. Though I remember never being able to keep up with the one road bike in my circle of friends that had … gears.

Here’s one bike I’m considering, the Redline 925.

Another is the Bianchi San Jose (a single speed which I’d need to get converted to fixed)

No riding for me this weekend as Susan’s away and so I’m full time juggling kids activities, from dance recitals to birthday parties.

I did manage to install my new saddle this morning. I’ve taken the plunge and decided to try a Brooks saddle (a hand made leather saddle from an English company which seems to be the saddle maker of choice for many randonneurs) . The idea is that this rock hard saddle molds to your body once broken in and is extremely comfortable. It’s meant to take at least a couple hundred miles though before it’s bearable so let’s hope it’s worth it.

Sheldon Brown’s website describes it as “The Professional series is most appropriate for vigorous cyclists who set their handlebars somewhat lower than their saddles. The leather is a bit thicker than other models, making the professional a little slower to break in, but making it the most durable model.”

First test will be on my Monday commute. We’ll see how much I’m hobbling around the office afterwards.  I’ve two weeks before a 300K so hope to have it ready by then. I’m generally averaging 100 miles a week at the moment.