249 – Rolling Resistance

 Cycling, Katie, Mountain Biking  No Responses »
Sep 062013
 
Take two of these and call me in the morning.

Take two of these and call me in the morning.

Chunky!

Chunky! Too chunky, in fact.

There's something to be said for a tire that looks as good as it performs.

There’s something to be said for a tire that looks as good as it performs.

Last fall, Airborne was blowing out their Sabre 26″ hardtail mountain bikes, right around the same time I was looking to get Katie on a bike. The price was far too good to pass up, so I picked one up for her, even though it wasn’t precisely the bike she was looking for. Primarily, her rides are on the bike path or around the neighborhood, so a full-on MTB is a little bit of overkill. But I assured her that a well made hardtail would be perfectly fine for those rides, and give her the ability to tackle any of the local singletrack as well.

In the year since we’ve gotten it, she’s grown more comfortable on the bike, and now goes out for rides on her own or with my sister and niece, with increasing regularity. But she’d had quite enough of the increased pedaling effort required by the stock Kenda Kinetics, which are meant for loose gravel and mud, more than pavement.

I picked up a set of Kenda Small Block Eights to replace them, and she’s in heaven. They’re a tire that perfectly matches her requirements for the bike, having low rolling resistance, excellent traction, and enough tread to handle any of the local trails, provided that they’re dry enough.

248 – One Thousand

 Cycling  No Responses »
Sep 052013
 

248

Tonight was just another ride, in a lot of ways. There was nothing really remarkable about it, except that it was perfect. The temperature, the sky, the wind, all perfect. The route was one of my favorites for a short ride, and it was filled with dozens of other people, out enjoying the perfection of yet another perfectly cool, but pleasantly warm, late summer evening.

I wasn’t out hammering, for once. I did make it up the hill at Huffman Dam without shifting, which was a first. And I charged the Powell Road hill faster than I’ve done it before. I also rolled over a thousand miles on my road bike somewhere between my house and downtown. Normally this is something I’d try to get a picture of for this blog, but I was completely enveloped in the tranquility of the ride. And anyway, I think we’ve all seen enough pictures of my bike’s computer, if we’re honest.

But otherwise it was just an easy, cruising 23 miles. Just after I crossed the river to head north, I ran across this small group, practicing forms as the shadows got long. It encapsulated one of the things I love about Dayton, which is that there are limitless things to be doing here, if you know where to look. More things you see best from the seat of a bicycle.

247 – Cinder

 Running  No Responses »
Sep 042013
 

247

Running club was tonight. I haven’t been able to go for a few weeks, owing to the slightly stupid number of mountain bike races I’ve had lately. The venue has moved, once a week, to the Kettering Rec Center track, since there are soccer games on Wednesday nights at the high school track we had been using.

The track at Kettering is a cinder track, which I haven’t run on since eighth grade. It was a little nostalgic, hearing the crunch of fine gravel under my feet as we worked through our sets. Cinder tracks aren’t very fast or fun to run on, but they’re soft enough that they don’t hurt like pavement, and old school enough that you feel pretty badass running on one.

There were pee wee football teams practicing on the fields next to us, and a couple of the teams ran laps alongside us at one point. They were clearly not enjoying the experience as much as I. Maybe they will when they’re 30.

246 – Pork Showdown

 Food  No Responses »
Sep 032013
 
The tender contenders.

The tender contenders.

Tonight we had ourselves a bit of a dilemma. What was for dinner, bratwurst from KJB Farms or italian sausage from National Trail Family Farm? The obvious answer was both. All in the name of science, of course. On the left are the brats and the sausages are on the right, all grilled to perfection over lump charcoal by yours truly. In the end, and after careful research, we both agreed that KJB’s brats were quite a bit better.

What’s that you say? It wasn’t a fair comparison? We should’ve used the same product from both vendors? Maybe, but that wouldn’t have given us an excuse to consume an otherwise unconscionable portion of pork product, now would it? I thought so.

245 – The Long Way to Mom’s House

 Cycling  No Responses »
Sep 022013
 
Another Dayton First!

Another Dayton First!

It being the start of football season, I thought it would be appropriate to get a picture of this marker for the blog. It details how the first ever NFL game was played right here in Dayton, financed by local businesses, and played in a park that they built. I’ve stopped to read this before, but never took a picture until today. It’s just another cool little thing I discovered by exploring the city on my bike.

After dorking up my thumb in a mountain bike crash, I had an unplanned day off from training, which is something I hate doing. It makes me antsy to sit around in the first place, and to do it when I hadn’t planned on it makes the itching worse. Last night, I figured out that I could still grip the hoods on my road bike without too much trouble, and used the excuse of a family gathering at my parents’ house to squeeze in a ride.

Of course, I couldn’t just go straight there, because that was only a 15 mile route, and that’s just too short to have any fun at all. So I got up early and mapped out a 44 mile route, mostly on bike path, that would land me at their front door right about when the festivities (for a couple birthdays) would begin.

I anticipated just going easy, especially as my hip and thumb ached and complained through the first 10 miles. But when I turned east out of downtown, I looked down to see my pace increasing, easily. Something about the aches and pains, and being out riding anyway, and the cool, cloudy morning spoke to my athlete’s heart, and I surged ahead without even really trying. I blasted over to Eastwood at 22 mph, hands in the drops and barely breathing hard. It felt good, far better than a ride so close to a hard crash should feel, and I was eating it up.

I took a little break from Eastwood to Beavercreek and then let loose again, bobbing and weaving through the holiday bike path traffic, who all acted surprised at my apparent sense of urgency. East to Xenia and then north to Yellow Springs, I never really felt the need to let up, and my front tire seemed as hungry for miles as my legs were for speed. Even given stops for traffic, street crossings and a sluggish first ten miles, I averaged almost 18mph, which is good for me even when I’m healthy. I wrapped up the ride feeling mentally restored, even if my body still hurt.

I sure am glad I bought my road bike. And I’m glad I took the long way to Mom’s house.

Oh, and go Buckeyes!

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