Bike-commute day 90—to work

Thursday, 06 September 2011

It was almost too cool for the open-finger gloves this morning, but not so much that I had to warm the fingers.

Somewhere near the Green Bridge, I passed a walker going my way that might have been Kevin Moore from the Human Race. I'm not so sure since he didn't turn to face me and his head was covered in a hood. But if so, it's the first time I saw him on the bikeway alone. He usually bikes with his partner Scott Stoney. I am looking forward to seeing their production of Caroline, or Change, which opens November 3. I bought tickets to the Thursday preview last night.

Ride conditions
Temperature: 44 to 52°F at 07:45
Precipitation: none
Winds: calm 
Clothing: Skinsuit, undershirt, ankle socks, open-finger gloves
Bike: Lotus Legend fixed gear
Time: 00:42:28 for 11.95 miles
Heart rate: 135 bpm HRave, 148 bpm HRmax
Bikeway users: 2 cyclists, 4 pedestrians, 1 dog
Playback of the ride

Bike-commute day 89—to work

Wednesday, 05 October 2011

It seemed hard work today. Could it be that the atmosphere was heavy with Autumn or that the sparse fog impeded my motion? Whatever the cause, it did not result in any notable time. But the time was certainly affected by the street crossings today, of which every one had enough traffic to warrant a planted-foot stop.

Yesterday I noticed a newly paved access to the bikeway that comes from the parking area northwest of Findlay and Monument avenues. In the morning, the access was roped off with stakes and yellow tape, which in the evening had been pulled to the ground. Just as with other newly asphalted parts of the bikeway, cyclists had made use of the addition well in advance of announcements of the availability.

I hope that someday soon the short distance from the Monument Avenue bridge to the ramp down to the bikeway will also be paved. The little stretch was left unfinished through the rebuilding of the Monument Avenue bridge, which extended through early 2011.

Housekeeping note: I used the whisk broom to clean off the remaining glass slivers from the walkway across Monument Avenue bridge.

Ride conditions
Temperature: 43 to 52°F at 07:25
Precipitation: none
Winds: calm 
Clothing: Skinsuit, longsleeve undershirt, ankle socks, open-finger gloves
Bike: Lotus Legend fixed gear
Time: 00:42:13 for 11.93 miles
Heart rate: 133 bpm HRave, 148 bpm HRmax
Bikeway users: 2 pedestrians, 1 dog
Playback of the ride

Bike-commute day 88—to work

Tuesday, 04 October 2011

Today was the first day with cool weather, cool enough to require two layers. Not many others were using the bikeway. Just an older cyclist around the Fair Park crossing, Paul and his dogs (AKA double-dog Jason) near the Woodbine crossing, and Gene and his dog Patches near the Woodman crossing. Even Millie and Gladys were apparently scared away by the cold snap.

Ride conditions
Temperature: 41 to 48°F at 07:25
Precipitation: none
Winds: calm 
Clothing: Skinsuit, undershirt, tights, ankle socks, full-finger gloves
Bike: Lotus Legend fixed gear
Time: 00:44:19 for 11.94 miles
Heart rate: 126 bpm HRave, 146 bpm HRmax
Bikeway users: 1 cyclist, 2 pedestrians, 3 dogs
Playback of the ride

Bike-commute day 26—to home

Cold, wet ride. Cautiously performed.

Again, the Garmin device performed inadequately, presumably because of the cloud cover.

Ride conditions
Temperature: 48 to 50°F at 18:00
Precipitation: light
Winds: 5 to 10 mph from the southwest
Clothing: 2-layer skinsuit; ankle socks. Open-finger gloves.
Bike: Trek 850
Time: 00:50:57 for 11.92 miles
Heart rate: 116 bpm average, 136 bpm maximum
Bikeway users: 4 pedestrians
Here is a playback of the ride. 10th Garmin day.

Bike-commute day 26—to work

Heavy cloud cover today. It was unlikely the Garmin device would perform well, and it cut out three times. Perhaps a minute of riding is unaccounted for, and the time for the ride comes from the elapsed time today.

Even with the heavy skies and cooler temperatures, the ride was pleasant, and made so by the fragrance of the just-blooming locust trees. Because I was coming off a three-day rest period, I took it pretty easy, barely breaking a 130 HR until the very last quarter mile.

Ride conditions
Temperature: 43 to 45°F at 06:45 and 45 to 48°F at 09:30
Precipitation: none
Winds: calm to 5 mph from the north and northeast
Clothing: 2 layers top and bottom, ankle socks, full-finger gloves.
Bike: Trek 850
Time: 00:51:39 for 11.92 miles
Heart rate: 122 bpm average, 150 bpm maximum
Bikeway users: 1 cyclist, 3 pedestrians, 1 dog
Here is a playback of the ride. 10th Garmin day.

Bike-commute day 20—to workHeart strength training program

Today I began training my heart. I pushed into three 30-second periods of riding at or above 150 bpm. The locations for the sprints were from Irwin Avenue to the Mad River's concrete bank, from Fairpark Avenue to the former Multi-Service plant, and from Burkhardt Road to a point outside the DPL MacGregor Park. I found it very hard to get up to 150 bpm on the third sprint, and also very hard to sustain a sprint for more than 30 seconds. Improving on these two aspects will become my goal for May and June.

I'll continue training with three to four sprints on two commutes each week.

Goal one. Using the standard 220 minus your age, I should expect a maximum heart rate of only 161 bpm. My HRmax today reached up to 95% of this expected rate.
My goal for the next couple months will be to reach 161 bpm consistently for two out of three or four sprints.

Goal two.
By the end of May, I want to increase my stamina to 1:00 at a HR of 145 to 161 bpm (90 to 100% of HRmax).
By the end of June, I want to increase my stamina to 2:00 at a HR of 90 to 100% of HRmax.

These goals probably will have a joint result in a higher actual HRmax. I'll find a sports medicine facility that can measure my HRmax at the end of June.


Last night, I moved the Garmin Edge 705 mount as far forward as the stem and handlebars would allow, which means a difference of only 0.75 inch. The device performed without problem today, even with a consistent cloud cover.

Ride conditions
Temperature: 44 to 50°F at 06:58
Precipitation: none, medium to heavy clouds
Winds: calm to 5 mph from the south
Clothing: 2-layer top, skinsuit; ankle socks. Full-finger gloves.
Bike: Trek 850
Time: 00:45:53 for 11.95 miles
Heart rate:132 bpm average, 154 bpm maximum
Bikeway users: 2 pedestrians, 2 cyclists
Here is a playback of the ride. 5th Garmin day.

Note about the illustration
The line drawings were published online and captured by me during the playback. The video provides stills from The Art of Frank Patterson by Horace F. Button, which was published 1952 by Temple Press, Ltd.

Bike-commute day 16—to work

Ahhhh. The first day of cycling weather (that didn't have necessary errands or a dicey weather forecast) in two weeks!

Since my last bike-commute, I bought and installed a Garmin Edge 705 cycling computer that is GPS-enabled and with a heart rate monitor and cadence-speed sensor. For further product information:

• The Garmin sales site offers the basic device+HR for $500, +HR+cadence at $550, +HR+cadence+topo at $600, and +HR+cadence+street at $650.
• I purchased my device at a 40% discount at Amazon.com. I researched lower prices considerably, and one site had a lower price, although they had no 705s in stock.
• I'm able to use the device without maps for now, since my riding is in familiar territory. 
• I'm looking for the best deals on mapping to load to the device. Since I plan to use the device in Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, California, and perhaps Arizona and Pennsylvania, the mapping may become fairly expensive. 
• Selecting the mapping add-ons is likely the most complex part of using the device, with options for road riding, trail riding, and geographic location.
• Setup took an evening, including charging the main device, setting up an online account for keeping statistics on my rides, setting up the main device, installing the device mounts on two bikes, and figuring out the mounting of the cadence sensor.
• I'm having trouble for the moment installing the cadence-speed sensor on my Trek hybrid, because the sensor doesn't seem to span the distance between the cadence magnet on the crank arm and the speed magnet on a rear-wheel spoke. I've contacted Garmin support online, which promised a reply in 3 days. This is the 2nd day of waiting for the reply. —There's no such trouble for the cadence-speed sensor on my Lotus fixed-gear. The trail bike may have a similar problem.

I've been riding—I'm beginning to think limping along—without a cyclometer (cycling computer) for about 3 years. Since my racing days, I've relied on a computer to help me keep track of mileage and timings. I also used a heart rate monitor while I was racing, ever trying to develop my stamina and capacity. But my last cyclometer failed when its cabling broke down and severed the connection between the speed sensor and the computer on the stem.

The cyclometers always failed first in the cabling. As the cabling on each bike successively failed, I thought then that keeping track of ride statistics was just giving in to a tendency toward obsessive-compulsive activity. I counteracted by giving in to inertia, and decided not to fulfill either a need or a desire to repair the computers.

But I've missed the statistics, and I've been ready to feed my OCD for some time. Back when the first cyclometer failed, wireless devices were beginning to be available, but they were pricey. Like all technology, prices have been coming down while features were piling on. Since last Autumn, when I decided it was time to upgrade to a wireless cyclometer, I've been searching out and comparing the many brands and models available. I finally decided on the Garmin 705 when I found it available at steep discounts that made its price more competitive with other brands that had fewer features.

Today's ride now is documented thoroughly with little effort. Before today, I kept refreshing the list of timings, memorizing them as I rode from home to work and from work to home. But today's ride had no memory work, other than the reminder to press LAP as I passed each established checkpoint. I could focus instead on whether I was really pushing the edge of what I could do, since I had set an alarm to indicate when my heart beat below 136 bpm or above 167 bpm. (I never heard that "too high" alarm today. Gotta find out what it sounds like some day soon.)

Then, at my desk after a shower, I plugged in the USB cable from the 705 to my computer, accessed my account at Garmin's site, and downloaded the commute data. The data crunching is instantaneous and immediately understandable.

Route with charts of all statistics and graphs of speed, elevation, and heart rate along an axis of time. You can also display the graphs of speed, elevation, and heart rate along an axis of distance or timed movement (tosses out those seconds or minutes spent at stop lights).

Chart of split statistics.

Route with a graphed comparison of speed and elevation. A playback of the entire ride moves red markers through the chart and through the route, while the momentary readings of time, distance, elevation, speed, and heart rate vary at the bottom.

 Route with a graphed comparison of speed and heart. A playback of the ride is also available here.



Ride conditions
Temperature: 45 to 48°F at 07:50, 52 to 55°F at 11:00
Precipitation: none
Winds: 10 to 15 mph, gusts to 20 mph from the south
Clothing: 2-layer top, 1-layer bottom; ankle socks. Open-finger gloves.
Bike: Trek 850
Time: 00:46:26 for 11.94 miles
Bikeway users: 2 pedestrians, 1 dog
1st Garmin day

Bike-commute day 12—to work with Wagner

Somewhere before checkpoint 2, Richard Wagner's Tristan und Isolde took hold of my rhythm, and it carried me through to halfway between checkpoint 3 and the end of my commute. My mind's eye pictured the score for the famous Sehnsucht (longing) theme,

...and my mind's ear heard the Act 2 "Prelude" repeatedly. But my memory carries the conducting of Daniel Barenboim and the voices of Siegfried Jerusalem (Tristan) and Waltraud Meier (Isolde)—from the better recording I own of the opera. I also have the Bayreuth performance under Herbert von Karajan, with Ramon Vinay (Tristan) and Martha Mödl (Isolde); but this is a poorly produced document of a live performance that lacks much presence. On the other hand, Meier and Jerusalem through truly believable sparks between each other.

The private concert ended when I saw Pat again with his two dogs, before I crossed Woodbine. I stopped to tell him my nickname for him here: Double-Dog-Jason.

Temperature: 43 to 45°F at 07:20, 48 to 49°F at 09:15
Precipitation: none
Winds: 5 to 15 mph from the south
Clothing: Top with 3 layers (Lycra longsleeve undershirt, skinsuit, arm warmers, Lycra-wool jacket); Bottom with 2 layers (skinsuit, Lycra tights); ankle socks. Full-finger Gore-tex gloves. (A bit too warm; unzipped top layer before checkpoint 2, unzipped middle layer after checkpoint 2.)
Bike: Lotus fixed-gear
Time: 0:51:00 (approx.) for 11.86 miles
Bikeway users: 2 pedestrians, 2 dogs

08:12—departing from home.
08:27—passing the zig-zag up from the Mad River Bikeway.
08:37—passing the west gate to Eastwood Park.
08:49—passing the trestle remains at Linden.
09:03—arriving at work.

Bike-commute day 11—Linh's restau and home

Tonight's ride home was a bit weird.  I decided in the locker room to dress with only two layers, and I packed all four layers that I had worn this morning. Yeah, I knew that it was cooler than 50°F; yeah, I even asked Hunter Everett if he had been outside and whether I should add at least the Lycra tights.

But I found myself walking to the Lotus and thinking Well, it's not really cold, but it sure is cool. By the time the whipping winds took hold of my ride at the north edge of Research Park, I told myself I can stop anywhere, pull out a layer, and add it to my kit. I stopped at the Grismer store at Woodman, ripped off my shoes, pulled out the Lycra, pulled on the tights, tugged the crotch up, and then pulled the wool-Lycra jacket out, and put it on.

The wind and chill changed my mind about going to the gym, and determined my commute would include a nice, hot dinner at Linh's. So 15 minutes into my commute, I was seated and enjoying two goi cuon, and anticipating a steaming bowl of Hu Thieu ga saté (Chicken-shrimp noodle soup). Dayton marketing guru and political activist David Esrati came in with his family and knew that I was stopping at the best restau in Dayton on my way home from work.

Fully satisfied, I resumed my commute and arrived home after a leisurely ride.



Temperature: 46 to 50°F at 17:35, 46 to 48°F at 19:45
Precipitation: none
Winds: 10 to 20 mph
Clothing: Top 2 layers (Lycra longlseeve undershirt, skinsuit); ankle socks.; open-finger gloves. Then top 3 layers and bottom 2 layers.
Time: 0:xx:xx (no timepiece) for 11.86 miles
Bikeway users: 0 cyclists, 11 pedestrians, 5 dogs

17:55—depart from work.
—trestle remains at Linden.
dinner at Linh's
—west gate to Eastwood Park
—passing the zig-zag up from the Mad River Bikeway.
19:45—arrive home. 

Bike commute day 10, heading home

Today is the 10th bike-commute day of the month of March. A few bike-able days occurred in the month without a bike-commute, but not many. In years past, my earliest start to regular bike commutes was in April.

Temperature: 42 to 48°F at 18:15
Precipitation: none
Winds: calm
Clothing: Skinsuit; ankle socks.; open-finger gloves.
Time: 0:47:00 (approx.) for 12.5 miles
Bikeway users: - cyclists, - pedestrians, - dogs

19:02—depart from work.
19:13—trestle remains at Linden.
19:23—west gate to Eastwood Park.
19:34—passing the zig-zag up from the Mad River Bikeway.
19:49—arrive home.