stevestonbike

[stevestonbike]

A couple of weeks gone by.

I have been out 6 more times. 4 of those being a lap out to the airport. The weather is gone back to what we usually see in March. It was nice for a couple days. Then this gloom. I hope real summer starts soon, the solstice was over the weekend.

In 53 km I will pass last June. Should be easy as I have a whole week to do that.

This past weekend I only did 58 km as the night before was a local wine festival and I had a lot of.....fun. I was feeling not optimum to say the least. I did the Stanley Park loop, and it went well. I did a solid climb up prospect point. A guy passed me on the first pitch as I cleared the hairpin curve I saw he was not pulling away. So as is the rule I pulled him in and passed him on the last curve before the top.

I got my muscles in shape now. I just need to build up endurance. Old story. Been here many times before.

My Garmin overseer says my VO2 max is now 42. I am in the top 3% of my age group. I am old. Not middle aged, old!

I only need to get the hotel sorted for September to Whistler.

Oh my blue Canyon bike just passed 12,000 km. Shit it was new only a little time ago. I have the summer wheels on, and bought a new rear tire. The old one looked pretty good, but the tread on the center was gone and visibly not round. I have been using Pirrelli tires. They are tight on the rims, but otherwise have worked well for me at my not svelte weight of 185 pounds. Yes everything but my weight is metric, this is Canada.

[stevestonbike]

Biggish ride.

Just shy of 94 km in almost bang on 4 hours. Best part was I did not feel very tired or depleted after it. Worst part is the wind would not leave me alone. It usually dies down in summer which makes the heat harder to bear, but ironically it makes riding easier.

I started the ride with jersey and shorts and a light wind shell. I took off the shell after the first hour. I even needed the sunscreen. My biker's tan is developing.

I did a loop out to Stanley park that started with a diversion out East in Flatmond that added 20 ish km to the distance. After SP I cut over to UBC and took the steep hill up 8th Ave rather than the less steep hill up from Spanish Banks. I did that as getting to the latter hill meant a 3 km beat to windward. The Run down marine drive was a gas and I was feeling good.

I have the summer wheels on and took the fenders off. So Aero now! It makes a difference. The hill in SP down from prospect point in a simple coast is 45 kph with the fat tires and is 52 kph all aero mode. I think the major bit is fewer spokes on the deep wheels and those that are there are shorter. The tires are only a couple mm narrower.

The wheels also have a loud freewheel which I like to use as a warning to people I am overtaking, (when that actually happens).

I closed off the first week of June and have 213 km in the book. Ya me.

[stevestonbike]

A couple more loops to YVR

I have added two loops out to IONA by the Airport. I felt fine, and I am getting into shape. My FFF factor was under 5 for the last 3 rides. That is a good sign.

All I need now is for the wind to die down and the temperature to climb. I now have two whole rides with just shorts and jersey. No jackets or tights. It almost feels like spring.

[stevestonbike]

June is here.

I was out June 1. I did a modest 52 km. I worked on my car all morning and it was exhausting. I knew I was going to be sore from leaning over the engine so I decided to go out and give my muscles something else to complain about. It kinda worked. All my muscles are a bit sore now.

The wind was rather heavy and was from the West so in my face on a long uphill run, but a tailwind going down that same hill. That almost made up for it. You never get back the energy in a headwind as wind drag is proportional to the square of the speed. Yes I am an engineer.

I am doing fine. I am even starting my biker's tan.

My weight is staying under 190 lbs. 186 this morning. I like that as there is less to haul up hills. I am not doing anything to drop weight, it is just happening. Well less beer for sure. The wine drinker's diet?

I am still old. My brother is visiting he is three years older, but acts more like 10 or 15 years older. He had a bout of cancer (free now) but the treatment knocked a lot out of him. The contrast bothers me. He used to be much thinner than I was, but now I am the skinny one. His partner prides herself on cooking lots of food.

[stevestonbike]

A few weeks later.

May is almost done. I had a birthday. I am old. Damn!

I have booked a few more km than last year and am just ahead of my 5 year running average for May. I am officially back on track.

I still have a lingering bug but I feel much better than before. My fitness is good. Yesterday I did a loop of Stanley Park and felt fine going up that hill to Prospect Point. I just need to do longer rides to get full summer shape.

I will probably hit the mountain in June. (Yah Sure)

[stevestonbike]

House cleaning the Garmin

I have a Garmin Edge 130 bike computer. It is very basic but has worked OK. It is the least expensive unit with all the basic features I need. I do not need a colour display or a touch screen. I don't need navigation as I generally know where I am and where I am going. I just want a record of my rides.

Sometimes the Garmin would reboot in the middle of a ride. Very annoying. It has happened a few too many times recently and I lose a bit of a ride record.

Then I recalled that all these rides are recorded and filed in the memory of this tiny thing. I should check that out. If you take the USB cable and plug it into a computer it will appear as a thumb drive. So I dug out an extra cable and got the 130 from the bike and plugged her in.

I have done this before once or twice I think. Or maybe an old one I had that crapped out. In any event I look at the files and there are over two years of rides listed. Hmmm.

I check the size of the "drive" and it says there is only 5% of the space available. She is kinda full. I mark all but a few of the "activities" for deleting, and away they go. Now I have over 90% space available.

Garmin is a very sophisticated company. They should have some kind of software thing that warns of this. Hey my Cable TV box will overwrite old show recordings automatically if it needs the space. Maybe if the thing crashes dead the first thing people do is buy a new one. My old bike computer failed because the tiny little pins in the USB port got bent and would no longer charge.

There should be a facility on the device or certainly in the Garmin Connect App to take care of this. The simplest would be to clear an activity from the computer once it is synced with the Connect app or program. That would fix one of my two gripes about my Garmin. The other is the altimeter is hilariously wrong.

Oh about that I have it read a fixed elevation when I start my rides. I do not think the air pressure changes very much over my typical ride time. I have ridden in my basement, which is at sea level by the way, at it said I was 90 meters in the air. OK I know that is not much of a pressure distance, but if the device is so far off why have it at all.

For you geeks out there GPS altitude is not reliable as it is an approximation of an oblate sphere representing the ground. Some very expensive GPS devices have point maps of terrain in memory, not my bike computer though.

[stevestonbike]

72 km in the sun.

It was still cool and the wind is annoying. It always seemed to find a way to blow in my face no matter which compass heading I am on.

I did my lap out to Lord Stanley's Park returning by way of UBC. This time I did the climb to the bluff by way of 8th Avenue which is a stiff bitch of a hill. I was slow and used all my gears.

The blast down Marine Drive was fun as per usual. I felt pretty good overall. It is all coming along.

As I crossed into the big City I passed my old club "Lotus" in three groups. I waved, but I was not recognized. I miss some of that. Not the getting up an extra hour early to make the meet up. My most fun rides were with those guys. All of those were unplanned which made them even better.

This loop has some good variation. Uphill and downhill, fast and slow.

I still have the winter wheels and tires on the bike. I will change them over soon. I do not like going out in rain with the carbon wheels. Water gets into weird places.

[stevestonbike]

April is done, stick a fork in it.

I am slightly ahead of last April, but still behind for the year to date. At least with respect to numbers. I did a ride last night out to the airport and felt pretty good, even with that wind.

We are well into the year at about 1/3 of it. I have 37 rides or sessions booked with 1200 km covered. Things are fine.

My sports watch reports my resting heart rate was 53 last night. Pretty damn good for an old man. Apparently for some people that is too slow and is a condition called Bradycardia. The Mayo clinic says heart rates below 60 may be an issue. Except of course for fit athletic types. Funny I never thought of myself as that. For young fit athletes a resting heart rate of 40 to 60 is fine. Not much on line about geezers like me.

I found this.

I guess I am an athlete. Just an old and slow one.

I have my max heart rate set at 167 right now. That may even be a bit low as I have hit that number twice this year during HIIT sessions. Of course that is when you are supposed to hit it. The Pedersen method to figure VO2Max is MRT/RHT*15.3. In my example that gives me a VO2max of 48ish and an FTP of 270Watts. I am pretty sure that is too generous. I mean it is a statistical reduction from studies of many people so there must be a lot of variability. If I really had that power I think I would be faster on the bike.

The Max heart rate formula 220-age is also statistical and for me way off. A fancier formula gives me 155 beats / min. Still 167 I measured with a bike computer and chest strap. My actual max max may be higher as when I hit 167 I did not feel that bad.

Have you noticed me and the numbers thing. Sorry it is my curse. It does help me keep track of stuff though.

[stevestonbike]

Things other than cycling

In the paper this AM there was a good time story to balance the usual tragedy. It was a 77 year old woman who runs marathons around the world and is as fit as a 25 year old. She is the holder of several world records for her age group.

Hey it is a newspaper so massive simplifications are involved. Her fitness age is based on her VO2 max, which they did not list. The average VO2 max for mid 20s female is 37. My watch says mine is 40 and my spreadsheet says 44 ish. On that basis I am low 40 years rather than pushing (hard against) 70. That is not the only number involved. But for all that she is an outlier and fit as all hell.

This was a follow up to the big 10k run on the weekend. They want to demystify and prove that fitness is possible for any age. There was a 90 and above category in that run. 4 men, and two women finished the 10k in that list. Damn.

I know that in the Granfondo Whistler there was at least one 80 ish year old a few years ago. I met him and I think he beat my time.

Fitness is not an isolated state. It relates to what you do. If you can run long distances comfortably you are fit. If you can bike up a mountain you are fit. Keep it up forever and be fit forever.

[stevestonbike]

Bit by bit.

I have done a couple more rides and there is a day or two left in April. I have passed April 2024, and may pass the 5 year average for April with another good little loop.

The weather has turned on the Spring mode. Warmer, rain is holding off, if only the wind would die down.

Saturday I did an easy loop to UBC by way of Spanish Banks. That means I did that nasty little hill from the beach to the bluff upon which the University is perched. I was riding in the afternoon as I had my grandsons baseball game to cheer at in the morning. There were only a few riders out by then. Morning is the usual time to pull on spandex and look for distant coffee shops.

On that hill I passed a geezer (probably younger than me) who was just a bit ahead. I barely passed him, but the rule is you gotta. He stayed on my wheel for the steepest part. I looked back and he said; " thanks for the pull." At our speed there really is no pull, it is more a mind game when you have a person in front to pace off of. My fastest rides always involved at least one other person to chase, pass, pace off, get passed by. Those are fun.

I pulled away hit the top, and enjoyed the ride down than long hill and this time there was a tailwind.

It was two and a half hours so not fast, but a comfortable pace. No pain or soreness. I felt fine the whole way. My fitness is coming on. I need a bit more power, and a bit more endurance. I am in Spring shape heading to summer shape.

[stevestonbike]

I was once a newby

I was once a fully certified couch potato. I was not Fat, but I was larger than I should have been. I and several workmates were fascinated by the Tour D' France. It was on TV because this steroid enhanced American was blowing away the competition again and again. Yes him. But the upside for me was re-kindling an interest in cycling.

Years before this I was short of money, had an old car that needed lots of fixing, and had a relatively short distance to my work. I had a bike. It was old school, steel, and heavy as heck. I did the math and figured hey lets try that riding to work on a bike thing. I did. That lasted 3 years until I got hit by a small Honda.

My office moved and I was limited to riding a bus for a while. I had Vertigo from the blow to my head in the collision. But this TV thing was interesting and woke my desire to ride a bike again. It had got me into pretty good shape, lost weight, and stuff like that. I was drifting into potato-ism again.

Encouraged by a friend I bought a nice aluminum road bike and rode it. I rode it often and started to commute to work again over about 20 km each way. Not much distance, but 10 rides a week makes a difference.

This is a rather long intro into my first mountain ride. It was that that made me think I really was a cyclist. An old, rather large, and slow one to be sure. I saw in the Tour that they often rode in mountains. I had done a few hills and figured why not try. We had some on the other side of the city just over there.

Being a man, I did not think I needed to check with a doctor or have my heart tested or anything like that. Maybe I should have, but I didn't. I had a simple turbo trainer and measured my max heart rate and it was really high for a person of my age (53) at the time. I did not have one of those watches that monitors your sleep and gives you a proper resting heart rate. Actually I don't recall if those existed then. I had a bike computer that did measure heart rate when I was riding.

I had been riding small hills and flat ground for a few years. I understood about hydration and fuel on long rides. I had three water bottles, and a pocket full of power bars and stuff. I rode across the city over several bridges and got to the North Shore and the Base of Cypress mountain. The bottom was at sea level beside a big shopping center.

I took a big breath and started out.

The First bit was the steepest and much later I would learn of its reputation. I was ignorant I just pushed as hard as I dared. One thing I had already learned was when in doubt slow down. I went pretty slow.

After about thirty minutes I got past a highway and up to the access road up to the ski hill on the mountain. The next 9 km were going to take over an hour, not including several stops.

It was a scorching hot day. I was sweating a lot. I felt like I was over heating and would stop in shady areas to rest. My heart was maxed out. I mean it was beating at my maximum. I got worried a couple times but eventually the rate would drop as I rested in the shade. Being foolish and a man, I kept going.

It was hard, but I had established a routine of going until my heart rate maxed out and I could find some shade. I had a vague idea of where I was. This was before GPS maps on a phone. There were no signs saying how far it was to go, but there were posts showing elevation and how far from the start of the access road you had come. I did not know the full distance or the elevation at the top. I do now.

I got into a fog about how I was doing. I had finished all my snacks. I drank almost all my water. There was no place to refill on the trip up. I know that now. The road just kept going up. You round a bend and there is just more up. Eventually I saw the road ahead seem to pitch down. I was around 900 meters of elevation. The air was a bit cooler, there was a breeze. I finished all my water.

The road did pitch down. It was still uphill, but only a bit and it felt flat after that endless climb. After a couple more km I got to the ski area which had some water even some food in a Cafe. I was crusty with salt on my clothes. I had trouble getting off the bike as every muscle from my chest down was cramping. I must have looked funny to the hikers that were going to spend the day on mountain. I did not care.

I was in Euphoria. I did it. I was alive.

The trip down was fast. I hit 70 kph a few times on those scary skinny tires. In almost no time I was back at the shopping center. I then had to climb this bridge to get out of North Vancouver and it is not a low bridge, but hey this is nothing after what I just did. I was slow, but I got home. It was a five hour round trip.

I told my wife what I had done. She got angry. I do not blame her, now I tell her where I am going. Of course now I have a watch that will call 911 if I fall and don't move.

I do that trip at least once every year. I do not max out my heart rate. It is much stronger. I did it four times a few years ago when I was training new riders. Once you have done that hill you can do anything.

[stevestonbike]

Weekday Outside.

First such ride of the year. 33.4 km out to YVR. Cool with wind, but dry for a change.

This was a big part of my old routine. Funny I had to actually persuade myself to get the gear on and go. Hopefully next time that will not be necessary. It is taking a bit of work to get back on track.

Another 35km will pass April of 2025. Easy.

I am behind for the year due to family commitments, but those are covered now. I have already done some longer rides and should pass 100km distances next month. That is good.

I tend to not plan, but I hope to do a mountain before June ends. If I get some repeats in I will be in great shape for the big ride.

I am old, but pretty fit for a fossil. My max heart rate is high, my resting heart rate is low. I am less fat than I was 20 years ago. Good things.

I am old enough, but not rich enough to retire. Ironically I am fitter than everyone else in my office. I intend to stay that way. Fitness is not a goal it is a tool. It is used to accomplish things. In my case a long ride up a long climb to a mountain resort that many people much younger than I am are intimidated by. Go Me!

Keep the rubber side down.

[stevestonbike]

The Total is looking good.

I just booked my last rides on my spreadsheet. In 68 km I will pass April of 2024. I am far behind year to date, but lots of time to make it up.

I keep telling myself these are only numbers. It is more important that I feel good on rides. The weather has been nasty and it is not fun out in nasty weather. On warm sunny days it is glorious. I kid you not I have have euphoric experiences on a bike.

The classic one is going under the "magic power lines" on Cypress Mountain. That is suffer..suffer.. suffer, I AM HERE! That hill and I have a weird thing going. I have never failed to summit once I started the climb. Knowing that now I can't ever let that happen.

The Most recent one was my last Granfondo to Whistler. I was entering the town just before the last turn to the finish and heard my little granddaughter scream "GRANDPA!" It almost knocked me off my bike.

Euphoria is good.

Next Weekend is the Vancouver Sun Run. I do not run. My wife has done a few. She is skipping this year after some surgery, but next time! We are going to watch. Is that silly? Tens of Thousands of people of all ages and sizes and abilities. It was once the biggest 10k run in the world. It aint smaller, 10ks just got popular.

The magic is the energy. All those people feeling positive and good and it is magic. It is how I feel about the Fondo. It is how my wife feels about the Sun Run. Even if you are less than an athlete it is good to try such an event. These are celebrations of being alive. I assure you being alive is good.

[stevestonbike]

87.5 km was hard

Bigger loop. took almost 4 hours. I walked funny after that.

It was warmer and dry, but I still needed layers. I did not end up in survival mode so that is good.

My Garmin rebooted in the middle of the ride. Stupid thing. Lost maybe 300m. The altimeter sensor went nuts in the last half. PITA.

Progress is happening.

Today I renewed my drivers license. The weight showed 95 kg. Damn I haven't weighed that for a while, but I did once. 85.3 kg today. they changed it. Quite a difference. Though I still think in terms of pounds.

[stevestonbike]

Back on Track... kinda.

I did a couple of basement rides and a real outdoors ride on the weekend. The weather is not getting warm yet, but the monsoon may be ending. It was dry out.

I did 69 km on Sunday. The main thing is I felt fine. My rear did not ache, and my legs felt OK the whole ride. I think I have my basic strength back, and my endurance is better. So good things.

My distance for April is also on track so that is good. The sunset is now after 8 pm, so I should be able to do outside loops during the week. Those are weather and when I get home on time dependent.

The air is still cool so I need several layers, and the air is thicker. I am not even going to think about average speed until I get my summer aero wheels on the bike. The winter fat tires with many spokes are slow. They make a surprising difference. There is this hill in the city I can coast down at 52 kph on the summer wheels, but the winter wheels it is 40 kph. Aero makes a difference. Actually I think the deep rim advantage is the spokes are shorter and there are fewer of them.

Oh and I have fenders on for the wet. They are quite tight to the tires so the issue is minimized, but still significant.

Onward we go.

[stevestonbike]

I have done a couple more.

Last weekend the weather was almost nice. I did a loop to Stanley park which was just shy of 60 km. It was a simple out and back. Next time I should include the side trip to UBC. That makes it longer and yes harder.

The park has one notorious climb at prospect point. In the big scheme of things it is a bump, but early in the year.... I did not push hard as I was trying to not stress my lungs. That bug is lingering but far less bothersome than it has been.

I did a ride with the washing machine last night. It was normal. Lots of sweat at the end. Etc.

I signed up for the Granfondo in September.

This picture is approaching Whistler and yes it is beautiful (if the weather cooperates.)

It will be my 12th. The fondo organizers recognize I did 10. It is actually 11. The interesting thing is that 40 other people have done that number too. Roughly 1% of the riders. I wonder how may have done 11? If they miscounted mine have they miscounted theirs too?

I am buying a new Fondo Jersey. Mine is from the second ever ride in 2011, and is kinda old. Not cheap, but nothing is.

I am getting old, but my speed over the course has been remarkably consistent over 14 years. Yikes that is a fair bit of years.

So here we go again.

[stevestonbike]

Still have some kind of bug

I have had a nagging cough for a couple weeks now. It was a bit wet and is now a dry hacking thing. I did not ride in the week, but felt bad about that. So over the weekend I did two rides.

One was out to the airport in light rain. The 34ish km distance is about the same as two washing machine rides. Funny that 90 odd minutes in the rain and cold is far more pleasurable than even one session in the basement.

The second was a loop out to the University for 56 km. I took a slightly longer route going into the city with a more gradual climb. I was deliberately being gentle on my lungs. No hard pushes or heavy climbing. It was two and a half hours in relatively dry weather. It was bright with a high overcast, but there was still wetness on the roads here and there.

I am behind last year of course, but at least month to month my distance is increasing.

Half of March was limited by family health things. I had to stay close to home. That at least is improving and I should be back on track soon.

I have not yet signed up for the Fondo, but the next price increase is in a week. It is getting expensive. Frankly the ride fee is only part of the whole thing. Two days or more of hotels and eating out in a resort town is not cheap. But it is not about the cost in money is it?

It proves something. What that is kinda hard to pin down. Yes I am still alive and capable. Yes I am actually quite fit for an old man. Yes I find fun in this rather unpleasant activity.

Keep the rubber side down.