Monday, 13 June 2011.
Shortly before I reached Eastwood Park, Jeff Collier alerted me to his overtaking me. We rode together through to his turn east to parallel highway 35. He spoke of his 180-mile ride this past weekend, with a group that rode from southern Dayton to Kentucky. It was mostly flat, he said, and they ended the ride with a few selected hill climbs to make the ride worthwhile.
Hmm. His pace had me puffing a lot, not very able to keep up half of the conversation. My afternoon review of the commute showed me why: my HR was over 143 and ranging up to 155 throughout our ride together, with a short exception for a full stop at Springfield Street for heavier traffic than usual. But that I kept up and maintained a high HR for the duration shows that I've been easy on myself as a lone rider. Time to step up to what I really can do.
Ride conditions
Temperature: 56 to 60°F at 07:55, 63°F at 10:00
Precipitation: none
Winds: calm to 5 mph, variable
Clothing: Skinsuit, ankle socks, open-finger gloves.
Bike: Lotus Legend fixed gear
Time: 00:42:25 for 12.03 miles
Heart rate: 129 bpm average, 183* bpm maximum
Bikeway users: 1 cyclists, 3 pedestrians
Here is a playback of the ride.
* not reliable, a more likely HRmax was 154.
Showing posts with label Jeff Collier. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jeff Collier. Show all posts
13 June 2011
25 March 2011
Bike commute day 8, to work
I oiled the chain on my Trek 850, since it was noisy last night. Did it affect my efficiency then? I think so. It felt so. My time was much slower then. But time is affected by many factors. My pedalling seemed smoother this morning, but my work was still labored.
Since the first quarter of my commute to work is downhill, I get little sense of how I feel. I could be horribly tired, even achy, and I could still make it to the first checkpoint (at about mile 2.8) in a normal time.
It's the second quarter (from miles 2.8 to 5.6) where I discover suddenly that I may not be up to the commute today, or so I think momentarily. The terrain is generally flat, along the Mad River, but it is also gradually uphill—Google Earth reports the rise as 11 m, about 36 feet. My legs seem leaden, my heart thumps loudly, my left arm aches from the heart exertion, my breathing is labored, my sinuses fill repeatedly, I cough phlegm clots, even my contact lenses ache from the attacking cold air. I think alternating threads: I'm gonna have a stroke; then Wow, so this is what it means to be alive today! and when I swerve around where the Canadian geese have dropped white and green poop sticks, Some day I'm gonna bring some rat poison-laced bread for these damn geese; and If only it wasn't so fucking cold! but also, almost simultaneously, What a fragrance that is from Requarth Lumber's millworks! and again, Oh no, I've hit that pocket of cold again, same place every day; and, approaching the Findlay Street underpass, Ugh, that stench of burnt carbon from the foundry! lasts until I pass the low gate near the Irwin Street entrance, while I picture some momentary, fragmented scenes from my 19th Summer when I worked in the grinding room of C-E Ehrsam Foundry in Enterprise Kansas.
Usually after about 20 minutes of riding, as I start the third quarter (from miles 5.6 to 8.6), the aches and pains give way to endorphins, and I relax into the smooth turns and glides through the quiet morning. —And I just realized now while refining the route in Google Earth, that this is a slight climb in my morning commute, of 30 m or 100 ft over the 3 miles.
As I approached the Burkhardt Street crossing, for the first time this year I heard a cyclist behind me, announcing his intent to pass. I turned to say hi as he passed, and instead said, "Well hello, Jeff! I just mentioned you in my blog about commuting by bike." I increased my speed to nearly match his, he slowed a bit, and we continued a conversation until we separated at the trestle remains north of Linden Avenue. Some of the talk helped clarify what I know about his commute, and I will add a correction to the posting of a few days ago.
Bikeway housekeeping
Now for some notes for cyclists using the path today:
Temperature: 32 to 35°F at 06:50 and at 09:15
Precipitation: none
Winds: none to light
Clothing: Top with 3 layers (Lycra longsleeve undershirt, longsleeve skinsuit, arm warmers, wool-poly jacket); Bottom with 2 layer (skinsuit, quilted tights); ankle socks. Woolen full-face stocking cap, quilted gloves. (Comfortable; a bit sweaty in the last half of the ride.)
Bike: Trek 850
Time: 0:53:00 (approx.) for 12.5 miles
Bikeway users: 1 cyclist going my way
08:21—mile 0.0; departing from home.
08:35—mile 2.81; passing the zig-zag up from the Mad River Bikeway.
08:46—mile 5.59; passing the west gate to Eastwood Park.
09:00—mile 8.59; passing the trestle remains at Linden.
09:14—mile 11.86; arriving at work.
Since the first quarter of my commute to work is downhill, I get little sense of how I feel. I could be horribly tired, even achy, and I could still make it to the first checkpoint (at about mile 2.8) in a normal time.
It's the second quarter (from miles 2.8 to 5.6) where I discover suddenly that I may not be up to the commute today, or so I think momentarily. The terrain is generally flat, along the Mad River, but it is also gradually uphill—Google Earth reports the rise as 11 m, about 36 feet. My legs seem leaden, my heart thumps loudly, my left arm aches from the heart exertion, my breathing is labored, my sinuses fill repeatedly, I cough phlegm clots, even my contact lenses ache from the attacking cold air. I think alternating threads: I'm gonna have a stroke; then Wow, so this is what it means to be alive today! and when I swerve around where the Canadian geese have dropped white and green poop sticks, Some day I'm gonna bring some rat poison-laced bread for these damn geese; and If only it wasn't so fucking cold! but also, almost simultaneously, What a fragrance that is from Requarth Lumber's millworks! and again, Oh no, I've hit that pocket of cold again, same place every day; and, approaching the Findlay Street underpass, Ugh, that stench of burnt carbon from the foundry! lasts until I pass the low gate near the Irwin Street entrance, while I picture some momentary, fragmented scenes from my 19th Summer when I worked in the grinding room of C-E Ehrsam Foundry in Enterprise Kansas.
Usually after about 20 minutes of riding, as I start the third quarter (from miles 5.6 to 8.6), the aches and pains give way to endorphins, and I relax into the smooth turns and glides through the quiet morning. —And I just realized now while refining the route in Google Earth, that this is a slight climb in my morning commute, of 30 m or 100 ft over the 3 miles.
As I approached the Burkhardt Street crossing, for the first time this year I heard a cyclist behind me, announcing his intent to pass. I turned to say hi as he passed, and instead said, "Well hello, Jeff! I just mentioned you in my blog about commuting by bike." I increased my speed to nearly match his, he slowed a bit, and we continued a conversation until we separated at the trestle remains north of Linden Avenue. Some of the talk helped clarify what I know about his commute, and I will add a correction to the posting of a few days ago.
Bikeway housekeeping
Now for some notes for cyclists using the path today:
- Small amount of glass on the in-road marking on the north side of the crossing at Airway.
- Broken glass bottle on Creekside Trail, about 0.25 mile south of the Airway crossing.
- Broken glass bottle on Iron Horse Trail, about 0.3 mile north of the Woodbine Avenue crossing.
Temperature: 32 to 35°F at 06:50 and at 09:15
Precipitation: none
Winds: none to light
Clothing: Top with 3 layers (Lycra longsleeve undershirt, longsleeve skinsuit, arm warmers, wool-poly jacket); Bottom with 2 layer (skinsuit, quilted tights); ankle socks. Woolen full-face stocking cap, quilted gloves. (Comfortable; a bit sweaty in the last half of the ride.)
Bike: Trek 850
Time: 0:53:00 (approx.) for 12.5 miles
Bikeway users: 1 cyclist going my way
08:21—mile 0.0; departing from home.
08:35—mile 2.81; passing the zig-zag up from the Mad River Bikeway.
08:46—mile 5.59; passing the west gate to Eastwood Park.
09:00—mile 8.59; passing the trestle remains at Linden.
09:14—mile 11.86; arriving at work.
23 March 2011
Accessibility by bike from the Miami Valley bikeways
At the dinner meeting of Dayton Bicycle Adventures, I asked several people if they planned on commuting to work by bicycle. —Now I didn't ask everyone there, just those few sitting near me.— Most replies were along the lines of "I don't have a way to freshen up after the ride." "The distance is too far." "The bikeways don't connect directly enough." "The streets from home (or to the workplace) are too busy."
The last two reasons are a heart breaker for me, since we often celebrate the 300 miles or more of bikeways in the Miami Valley. But the reasons reveal an essential truth.
How the Bikeway System Fails the Suburbs
Here is the Dayton-Xenia bikeway system plotted over a Google Earth map. The brighter green paths are the Great Miami River Trail (GMR) and the Little Miami River Trail (LMR). The pale green paths are the Creekside Trail that connects the GMR and the LMR trails and the Ohio to Erie Trail that connects toward Columbus and northeastern Ohio. The blue paths are various trails that are presently incomplete, with plans from the MVRBC and Metroparks to complete them.
With those incomplete trails, the Dayton area has these conditions.
But I too look forward to the day when all the trails are contiguous. Some day the system will look like this, with the violet paths connecting the green and blue bikeways that exist now.
How the Bikeway System Fails the Commuter
or the Errand Runner
I'm also lucky in how well my bike commute correlates to my auto commute. My 12.5-mile commute, which has 85% of it on the bikeway, is an ideal distance for combining transportation and exercise. With very little exertion, it is a commute of an hour and 10 minutes. With a training intent, it is a commute of 45 minutes. On the other hand, my most direct commute by auto is 9.5 miles and takes about 20 minutes. The same route by bicycle takes about 30 minutes at the highest intensity. (Though that timing is from my experience of more than 15 years ago, when I was much stronger—and less cowed by auto traffic.)
I know of only one cyclist who regularly commutes between Miamisburg and the Research Park area. I see him (Jeff) only during the "rush hours" of long Summer days, since his bike commute requires more than an hour door-to-door.*Corrections at the break.* I estimate that his auto commute is 15 miles, and that his bike commute is 20 miles. He follows the auto route in outline, going north to downtown Dayton, east, and then south to Research Park. But his bike route goes to the Dayton hub on the north side of downtown, while the auto route goes to the freeway junction at the south side of downtown. That lack of correlation would dissuade most cyclists from commuting. Other cyclists consider this 20-mile distance much too far for commuting, and I believe Jeff commutes by bike frequently only during the Summer.
The regional bikeways follow a modified hub-and-spokes design. The design has two hubs: Dayton and Xenia. Each of these hubs have five spokes. The Dayton hub spokes are...
I'll offer an idea in another post.
The last two reasons are a heart breaker for me, since we often celebrate the 300 miles or more of bikeways in the Miami Valley. But the reasons reveal an essential truth.
How the Bikeway System Fails the Suburbs
Here is the Dayton-Xenia bikeway system plotted over a Google Earth map. The brighter green paths are the Great Miami River Trail (GMR) and the Little Miami River Trail (LMR). The pale green paths are the Creekside Trail that connects the GMR and the LMR trails and the Ohio to Erie Trail that connects toward Columbus and northeastern Ohio. The blue paths are various trails that are presently incomplete, with plans from the MVRBC and Metroparks to complete them.
 |
| Click the image to see a larger version. Then click Back on your browser. |
- Much of Kettering, Oakwood, and Centerville are cut off from the bikeways.
- Northwest Dayton and Trotwood are effectively cut off from the fully-connected system, with the poor state of the bikeway adjacent to McGee Boulevard.
- Englewood and Union are similarly cut off, with the lack of a connector from Englewood Reserve to, for example, Sinclair Park.
- Huber Heights has access to the bikeway, but only at the extreme west edge of the city.
- Fairborn is also cut off, due to the inability to develop the right-of-way through Riverside and the Dayton well fields that otherwise would connect to the Huffman Reserve and the Huffman Prairie bikeway.
- Two of the four largest potential sources of enthusiastic, year-round bike commuters—Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and Wright State University—are poorly served by gaps in the bikeway system.
- And finishing our clockwise survey, the Iron Horse Trail edges toward The Greene, then feints westerly before it disappears in the recreational facility around Delco Park. Thus Bellbrook, once the area renowned for superb cycling roads, is left isolated, even from the Little Miami Trail.
But I too look forward to the day when all the trails are contiguous. Some day the system will look like this, with the violet paths connecting the green and blue bikeways that exist now.
 |
| Click the image to see a larger version. Then click Back on your browser. |
How the Bikeway System Fails the Commuter
or the Errand Runner
I'm also lucky in how well my bike commute correlates to my auto commute. My 12.5-mile commute, which has 85% of it on the bikeway, is an ideal distance for combining transportation and exercise. With very little exertion, it is a commute of an hour and 10 minutes. With a training intent, it is a commute of 45 minutes. On the other hand, my most direct commute by auto is 9.5 miles and takes about 20 minutes. The same route by bicycle takes about 30 minutes at the highest intensity. (Though that timing is from my experience of more than 15 years ago, when I was much stronger—and less cowed by auto traffic.)
I know of only one cyclist who regularly commutes between Miamisburg and the Research Park area. I see him (Jeff) only during the "rush hours" of long Summer days, since his bike commute requires more than an hour door-to-door.*Corrections at the break.* I estimate that his auto commute is 15 miles, and that his bike commute is 20 miles. He follows the auto route in outline, going north to downtown Dayton, east, and then south to Research Park. But his bike route goes to the Dayton hub on the north side of downtown, while the auto route goes to the freeway junction at the south side of downtown. That lack of correlation would dissuade most cyclists from commuting. Other cyclists consider this 20-mile distance much too far for commuting, and I believe Jeff commutes by bike frequently only during the Summer.
The regional bikeways follow a modified hub-and-spokes design. The design has two hubs: Dayton and Xenia. Each of these hubs have five spokes. The Dayton hub spokes are...
- GMR trail north to Taylorsville Reserve and on to Troy
- Mad River and Creekside Trails to Beavercreek and Xenia
- GMR trail south to Miamisburg and Franklin
- Wolf Creek trail eventually to Trotwood and Verona
- Stillwater River trail through DeWeese and Wegerzyn Parks to Sinclair Park and eventually to Englewood
- LMR trail north to Yellow Springs and Springfield
- Ohio and Erie trail to Charleston and London
- Ohio Mound trail to Jamestown and eventually to Washington Court House
- LMR trail south to Waynesville and Loveland
- Creekside and Mad River trails to Dayton
I'll offer an idea in another post.
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