Training Log Archive: veinbuster

Last day on the road

Tour de Pierre stage 14
River trail south

Took off for a ride after getting most of the truck unpacked. About 6km south there was a gang of about 50 adults apparently playing Pokémon Go - all standing at various pints in the middle of the trail staring at their phones.

Aurora put a bunch of fresh fine gravel on the trail so all hills were a bit dodgy. The area is full of mosquitoes, most noticeable at any photo stop.

I did notice how easy it was to get oxygen back at my normal elevation.

Yesterday we learned the SUV AC is no match for 41C temperatures. We decided starting earlier today would spend more of our driving time comfortable. My mountain time walk up of 5:30 became 6:30 in Kansas and Mrs woke up before I got out of the room...so we grabbed breakfast and took off.

Then it wasn’t as hot today, so we drove until the sun threatened to set.

8 stages to go, probable including:
Home trail north
Home trail south
Mrs accompanied along Lake Simcoe south
Mrs accompanied Barrie to Orillia trail
Shelburne - Owen Sound (from my mom’s until I U turn)
Spirit Tree along the Caledon Trail
Maybe early weekend east on Mulock to 48 big block
Maybe Doane-404 east and north in the safe cycling block
Maybe Brown Hill tract - new ground

Tour de Pierre stage 13
Garden of the Gods, Colorado Springs

I set out to explore the plateau we were staying on, and hoping to crack through 2000m. The little complex we were in didn’t amount to anything and most things along the main road were gated. Back to the round about were we were staying, I slipped by the gate into the golf course community.

Roads were nice. There was virtually no traffic. The few people out were friendly. The counter clockwise loop started as a slow descent. I knew I would have to climb back up the 30m. When I found it on a steep grade, it was followed up by a long false flat easily pushing me over the 2000m mark.

After a nice second loop with no detours, I started looking for the exit - most of them had electronic gates for residents only. Once I got out, I took a run to the other end of the plateau to finish up.

Beautiful riding with miles and miles of bike paths and god road surfaces. I did notice this latest decrease in oxygen riding at a higher effort than yesterday.

Day 2 free weights and pushups

Really nice gym at Garden of the Gods. Bonus fantastic view of the mountains.

Tour de Pierre stage 12
Colorado Springs

This was the stage I was waiting for: testing a bunch of bikes. Tests over 3 hours.

First: fast trikes.

Bacchetta CT 2.0: This is incredibly light and a piece of art. Handling was good, but not up to the standard of my Greenspeed X5. The seat might get uncomfortable after a while because the width isn’t the best match for my shoulders. The riding position is excellent and not much different than my X5. It is pretty quick: probably somewhere between my cross bike and my SWorks Tarmac.

Greenspeed Aero: tank steering, 56 tooth chainring. This trike smokes. If you want fast, it is hands down a winner over the Bacchetta CT. The riding position is extremely aggressive with a fixed 20 degree seat angle. The neck rest is a must. This one has a nicely shaped memory foam one. I’m not sure if I could be comfortable on it for the long haul. The smart money is probon upgrading the drive train on the X5.

I didn’t even try the others in this category. The Areo was too good.

Bikes less aggressive than the Bacchetta Strada, i.e. lower bottom bracket relative to seat. Everything I tried had bottom bracket and seat at the same level.

Bacchetta Giro 20 (20” front, 26” rear).
This bike handled like a dream. Everything I like about the Strada with my feet so high I can’t maneuver in traffic. steering might not be as quick as my road bike, but it was good enough I would be comfortable riding through town on it. The question is: used steel with bags, mirrors and bottle holders or new carbon with a slick drivetrain (for about 2 1/2 times the price, but still cheaper than my SWorks).

Lightening P38
I’ve been fascinated with the R84 since it came out and tested this to see how I liked the Lightening geometry. This one had 81 gear (triple front, 9 speed rear plus 3 speed hub). It was a nice ride, but didn’t have quite as much knee space as the Giro. It also transmitted all road imperfections through to me. I would have liked it if I hadn’t already been on the Giro.

Azub Origami.
I’ve been interested in this a a compact travelling recumbent. It’s folding is almost as well engineered as the Brompton. The ride was really good. I would want a better drive train than the internal 8 speed, but I feel it would serve very well as a compact recumbent. Maybe down the road if we start flying more.

Not a hard ride, but it started at 30C and got warmer at 1940m.

Tour de Pierre stage 11
Casper Wyoming

The hotel was at 1580m and surrounded by big highways. Last night I had walked Mrs around my ‘worst case’ loop up the hill from the hotel. I did a couple of laps there and felt traffic was light enough I could shoot downhill under the interstate and see what was there.

It turns out a bit of abandoned industrial and a modest sized residential area. The bright sun was low enough that it made visibility tricky in spots, but there was very little traffic so it was a nice relaxed ride at altitude. This was the first day I really noticed the struggle for oxygen - the highest I’ve been by about 200m. Sadly just under the mile barrier.

Testing mountain trikes in Colorado Springs. Tests spanned about 2 hours. No idea what distance might have been. Tests were in a short loop with pavement, fist sized rock, grass, curbs. Pictures are on 2 phones. I’ll get them later.

Azub TiFly X: 3x26” wheels. 1x12 gearing. The handling of this trike was really good. Turning circle 2 3/4 parking spaces. I still find the titanium leaves make more contact than I would like with my calves. 15 years from now it might be hard to get in and out of the seat. Gearing was suitable for off road, but would be a bit low for my tastes on rail trails or asphalt.

Azub Fat with 18 speed pinion. I mostly tried this to get a feel for the Pinion. While the Azub has nice flexibility, I’ve always preferred the handling of the ICE Full Fat. The Pinion has a really good range and the twist grip works fine, even though I’m generally not a fan of twist shifters. My only beef with the Pinion, is that changing it out mean replacing the boom in addition to the drive train - perhaps not tragic, but there might not be a resale market for that expensive component. Range doesn’t feel much different than the Rohloff, but gears are closer together.

ICE half fat: 3x29”. Rohloff + Efneo 3 speed crank. I really liked the handling on this trike. The mild suspension handled bumps well - certainly a different league than my Greenspeed. Turning radius about 2 1/3 parking spaces, which seemed much tighter than I remembered the fat equipped trike handling. I like this setup a lot. This trike, however has a strange seat, that while comfortable doesn’t lend itself to removal. That makes it quite a bit less useable to me. It also has single side braking, which I could get used to, but I have liked being able to brake either side. I’ll price out those changes to see how it compares to doing a new build. I probably wouldn’t spring for the Rohloff at full price. Maybe a 1x12 with a speed/mountain drive or the Efneo, which give less total range but the smaller jumps might be more manageable. I might also go with 650 on a custom build.

C • Offroad trikes 1

Tour de Pierre stage 10
Helena Montana

Mrs has some ‘emergency’ work to do at our next stop so I committed to finishing today’s stage by 7am. Sunrise was a bit late at 5:50 here so I got the first few km in before it came up.

I found a nice compact loop with hardly any traffic so stuck to it. A nice little climb, then a descent into a hard right where I had to merge with the early cars heading to the interstate. It made for compact intervals.

I was surprised at the elevation: 1250m, because we descended for what felt like forever to get to town.

Still working on our lemonade.

We got to our hotel and no one was there. The owner had left keys for 6 people checking in - none of them us. A call got ‘you can stay in room 8 tonight, but we’re full after that’. Next door had a room for 9.

We went to Invermere to visit the town and postpone deciding what to do. Mrs favoured not giving them any money. I favoured giving her at least one night of an incredible view.

While we toured Invermere on foot, the hotel called to say my reservation had been cancelled. I assured them we had not canceled and that I had all of our correspondence (the interchange had left me concerned, mostly about the likelihood of a season price change). No: it had been cancelled, but he didn’t know why. I went over and he showed me his book with ‘Peter’ scratched out. No sorry. No acknowledgement of a mistake.

I took the room for the night. We had a really nice dinner. We have a spectacular view. We’ll go somewhere else today.

C • Ugh 2