HOT SULTRY SUNDAY WITH RACE RECAPS

 

Links to current races/tours I  am following:

The Race Across America (RAAM) The Tour Divide The Tour of Switzerland The Tour of Discovery: Ride for the Republic

 

That crunching sound run to ground… maybe!

I guess better late than never applies to this inspection or lack of timely inspection. I now realize I’d better add to my normal scheduled inspection, check those cleats! On the left you can see the condition of my cleats after hitting the deep pothole last week and beginning to hear a crunching sound. On the right, is my shoes with newly replaced cleats. Hmm, there is a difference!

Note sharp point on shoe on right.	Newly replaced cleats.

I now think that bottoming out the pothole broke off a remaining portion of the thin cleat on my left shoe (shown on right in left image above) and that resulted in the crunching sound that I was getting. I sure hope so because the next option is my knee! I hope to test my theory later today.

Artis arrives in Bar Harbor…

(Jim Artis image of sunrise on Cadillac Mountain, Bar Harbor. Click on the image to see more Artis imagery.) 

The final stages of preparation for tomorrow’s Tour of Discovery: Ride for the Republic are underway. Cycling Experiences Jim Artis arrived in Bar Harbor, ME after having driven straight through from Fayetteville, NC. If I am correctly interpreting his SPOT markers, Jim arrived in Bar Harbor around 9:30 p.m. last night (Saturday). According to email I received from him this morning, he spent the night in his van. He now appears to have ridden to the top of Cadillac Mountain and reconnoitered tomorrow's starting location. As of this writing, I do not know if his touring partner, Rafael Giraldo, has arrived in Bar Harbor. The tour begins tomorrow morning when the first rays of sun hit Cadillac Mountain.

“Mountain Turtle” continues “hastening slowly”…

Kent “Mountain Turtle” Peterson has reentered the good old USA approximately one hour ago, which would be around 2:00 p.m. EDT. A quick look at the Tour Divide Leader Board shows “Mountain Turtle” near a number of racers as they approach Eureka, Montana. Matthew Lee and Erik Lobeck appear to be in the over-all lead. Keep in mind that “Mountain Turtle” is racing a single speed bike!

Team Bent Up Cycles moves into 3rd place…

In the 4 man team category, Bent Up Cycles has captured 3rd place behind second place team Doc2doc and first place team Bandwidth.com, Inc. Teams in 2nd, 3rd, and 4th place are only separated by seconds at this point. They have travelled 441 miles and are maintaining an average speed of 20.77 mph. You may find current standings for all categories at the RAAM Leader Board.

The Tour of Switzerland, Stage 2…

Heinrich Haussler took the stage victory and Fabrian Cancellara retained the yellow jersey following the sprint finish. In a tweet to his followers, Lance Armstrong indicated “I felt o.k. Not great, not terrible”. Armstrong is in 46th place after stage 2. Andreas Kloden and Levi Leipheimer, also of Team Radio Shack, are in 28th and 42nd positions respectively. Congratulations to Janez Brajkovic for his win in the Critérium du Dauphiné 2010.

The coming week…

Be sure to “tune in” tomorrow for the start of the Tour of Discovery: Ride for the Republic. Tomorrow will be our first chance to see the technological goodies planned by Jim Artis. Jim will have posts at Cycling Experiences and I’ll do my best to keep updates fresh here as well. Also, check out the interactive site for the Tour of Discovery setup by the South Florida Sun Sentinel.

I hope to hear that Bro Dave got confirmation on the sale of his crankforward in Los Angeles yesterday. If so, there may be a Fargo Salsa in his near future! As in all things, time will tell…

Until later,

- Zeke

RACES GALORE!

I’m currently tracking participants or those in preparation for 3 races and 1 great tour. At the moment, enthusiastic readers can follow:

• The Race Across America (RAAM)
• The Tour Divide
• The Tour of Switzerland
• The Tour of Discovery: Ride for the Republic

Now, if that doesn’t keep you busy, I’m sure there are some other races out there to add to this list. These are the events that have captured my attention for the time being.

RAAM: I’m following Team Bent Up Cycles. I’ve done business with and know (virtually) Dana Lieberman, owner of Bent Up Cycles in Los Angeles. Dana has always been very friendly and honest when dealing with me even though we’ve never met and live on opposite ends of the country. The Bent Up Cycle blog will carry updates on the team’s progress as RAAM gets underway. Best of luck to Dana and crew as they make their way to the east coast into Annapolis!

 

The Tour Divide: Kent “Mountain Turtle” Peterson is underway on his trek to regain his title for swiftest completion of a single speed bike on this ultra endurance race. The race kicked off this morning in Banff, AB, Canada. As of this writing “Mountain Turtle” has just finished transiting the Spray Lakes Reservoir in the Spray Valley Provincial Park. According to my calculations, “Mountain Turtle” has travelled 46.046 miles or 74 km since the beginning of the race this morning. This is less than 1/2 the distance “Mountain Turtle” rode each day on his prologue just to get to the starting line. You can follow his progress on his shared SPOT page and get race summaries at his blog and eventually at MTBCast.com.

The Tour of Switzerland: The 74th running of this 9 day stage race is loaded with lots of top performers in the Pro cycling world as they work toward bringing themselves to peak form for the Tour De France. I’m pulling for Team Radio Shack but, who knows how this one will go. The top finishers of the Amgen Tour of California are all there. We’ll see how hard the teams want to ride as they round into shape.

 

The Tour of Discovery: Ride for the Republic: Rafael Giraldo is already on the road making his way north with his ride, Manifest Destiny, toward Bar Harbor, ME for the beginning of this educational tour that will touch upon all 13 of the original colonies. He will be joined tomorrow by fellow touring aficionado, Jim Artis. As I write, Jim is securing his rental van to carry the magnificent Fargo to Bar Harbor. Jim is now less than 12 hours before his departure to connect with Rafael in Virginia and complete the trip to Bar Harbor in convoy fashion. This ride begins as the sun rests its rays upon American soil on Cadillac Mountain on Flag Day, Monday, June 14th. You may follow this amazing trip via Cycling Experiences or through my own efforts here to stay abreast of the TOD. Please join me for this exciting summer trip!

All this racing and touring makes me want to ride! The current lightening storm outside my home is tending to keep me safely sitting in front of my computer, dubbed the Mean Green Machine by the local computer wonks that help keep me on-line. I picked up my Fuji from my LBS yesterday. The good news is that the crunching sound I dealt with on Monday after hitting bottom in a nasty pothole could not be replicated at the shop and an in-depth review of my cranks, pedals, drive train, and bottom bracket showed no damage and no explanation for the constant crunching that I heard. That leaves the possibility that something is wrong with the cleat on my left shoe. Failing that, it must have been my left knee! Oh well, time will tell. I hope tomorrow to put it all to the test as I climb my way up to the Blue Ridge Parkway from beautiful Bethel, NC.

Until later,

- Zeke

FARGO DECLARED FINISHED!

 

Jim Artis, owner of super HPV (quad) Fargo, has just posted the finished images of Fargo with his amazing technological trailer now connected. Images have just been posted at Cycling Experiences!

It has been awhile since we’ve mentioned the trailer so you might want to review posts on this Artis created mobile power source. Let me suggest that you backtrack in your reading to some of the original posts regarding the trailer build. I really see Fargo and the trailer as a unified entity that without considering their relationship will leave you with only a partial understanding of what Jim has created.

Jim is less than 48 hours away from his departure for Bar Harbor, ME and the Flag Day start of Tour of Discovery: Ride for the Republic. There will be many opportunities for following this adventure including daily updates on Cycling Experiences, this blog, and other media.

As for me…

It goes without saying (but I guess I’m saying it anyway…) how jealous I am of this great upcoming tour for Rafael Giraldo and Jim as they touch base with each of the 13 original colonies. It isn’t out of the realm of possibility that I might get to catch up to them for a day or two of riding on their journey. I sure hope it comes to pass!

At the moment however, my ride is getting some loving care from my LBS. After getting sucked into a deep pothole on Monday of this week, my bike developed an odd crunching sound when I mashed down on the left crank. Thus far, I’ve been unable to replicate the issue but we’re going over the bike and checking the cranks, clips, and bottom bracket to be certain that I didn’t experience damage to my Fuji. I hope to pick “her” up later today just in time for the afternoon rain…

Until later,

- Zeke

THE “MOUNTAIN TURTLE” CLOSES IN ON RACE SITE

 

Kent “Mountain Turtle” Peterson is closing in on Banff, AB, Canada after several days of riding to the BEGINNING of the Great Divide Race. Kent has been on the road since last Thursday making his way through Washington, Idaho, Montana, and now Canada in order to start the race on Friday. He is currently on the BanffWindemere Parkway heading toward the intersection with the TransCanada Highway and then on into Banff. According to the calculations I get in Google Earth he has only 38.9 km to go in order to reach Banff as of this posting.

Kent’s Travel Information Through Tuesday Night Date                 Miles              Overnight Stop   State/Province         total Wed  Jun 2         0.0                  Issaquah            WA                          0.0 Thu Jun 3       102.1                Thorp                 WA                       102.1 Fri Jun 4         124.5                Moses Lake       WA                        226.6 Sat Jun 5        154.8                Coeur d'Alene     ID                          381.4 Sun Jun 6       147.8                 Libby                MT                         529.2 Mon Jun 7     112.7                Cathiness           BC                          641.9 Tue Jun 8       113.3                Dry Gulch         BC                           755.2 As of waking up Wednesday morning Kent had ridden 755.2 miles, or 1215.1 km.

Data courtesy of KentsBikeBlog and Mark Canizaro used under Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Rights

This is, by any standard, a remarkable “warm up” for a race! Have you ever wondered about what someone in Kent’s position might be ruminating on while pedaling hour after hour? Well, check out the answer to that question as Kent ponders seeing “Dennis Hopper’s Ghost”.

Our best to “Mountain Turtle” in the coming days as he heads south along the spine of the Rockies!

Until later,

Zeke

NICE END TO A MONDAY WORK DAY!

Monday’s weather made for the start of an excellent first work day of the week. Tracy at Springfield Cyclist hit the nail on the head with his description of the weather in Springfield, MO on Sunday during his ride. We were fortunate to catch that same wave of fine weather here the next day.

I started out from work just as the end-of-workday traffic was heading home. My normal route takes me out Vance St. by the Waynesville Recreation Department. I wanted some variety on this trip so I headed straight up North Main St. along Business 23. The lower section of this road still shows the signs of winter with potholes galore. One particularly nasty pothole must have had a vortex of swirling wind pulling everything nearby into its bottomless pit. I sure didn’t see it coming in time to avoid it. My front wheel hit bottom, my butt hit a deeper bottom, and then my rear wheel finalized the jolt.

I sense a visit to my chiropractor in the near future after that one but more importantly a visit to my LBS (Rolls Rite Bicycles) as I developed an unusual sound in the left crank after the jolt. It sounds like something is grinding and only makes the noise when I mash on the left crank. This particular route took me by the shop but they are closed on Mondays so I brought my Fuji CCR3 back in today for a review. I’ve also written to our head of our town’s street maintenance department to see how to go about getting the potholes filled in.

After loosening up my back and spinning on, I got caught up in a last minute traffic light change and ended up on a slightly different than planned street. It was o.k. as it took me up Hospital Hill Dr. This hill has a steep climb and was one that really hurt when I first started riding again 2 years ago (or was it 3 now?). Then, I would be down on my smallest ring in my lowest gear thinking I was going to die before I got to the top. Yesterday, I didn’t exactly cruise over it in my middle ring but I did maintain 10 mph on the climb and kept my heart rate below 165. (It used to hit 183 bpm.) It’s good to have that as a measuring stick!

The short change also took me past a planned connector to Lee Road. I managed to get back on Lee at the intersection of Jones Cove Rd where I had to cross the railroad tracks.

 

 

 

(Rail Road Crossing – Jones Cove going East)

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Rail Road Crossing – Jones Cove going West)

One or two trains per day still use this Southern Railway train track as it runs out to Jackson County just west of my home county, Haywood. One day, some of us hope it become a Rails-to-Trails conversion, although with the new emphasis upon alternate modes of travel, the old rail system may see new life.

Upon reaching Clyde, I opted for the middle route to Canton for a change. This route has two longer climbs with grades around 5 to 6 % and goes by the old Patton Farm and the new Clyde Elementary School. It is an alternative route for me between Thickety Road to it’s north and Business 23 to its south. It is somewhat more heavily travelled than Thickety but nothing near as busy as Business 23. It also is about 5 miles shorter of a commute home than when I take Thickety Road.

I took a short refueling stop on Pisgah Drive after transiting Canton. I’ve gone back to carrying peanut butter flavored PowerBars. I have more recently been sticking a Stinger or chocolate flavored PowerBar in my rear jersey but they tend to melt in these temperatures and are a mess to try and eat. I watched traffic for a moment at the car wash and grabbed the following photo:

(Black Bear Cafe under red awning. 7 miles from home…) 

The final miles home were pleasant as I pedaled up NC 110 to Bethel. Traffic was fairly heavy but gave me plenty of room. I did note that the gutters have not yet been swept and reclaimed from the winter debris. The NC DOT staff member responsible for this section of road had informed me via email some 6 weeks ago that the work was scheduled within 3 weeks of that time. I think I need to follow-up as I can’t tell that the work has ever been done. The gutters are still filled with trash made even worse by a recent mowing. The gutter is piled high with dead grass clippings in areas requiring that you merge back out into the lane of travel to avoid riding through an unknown patch of something. Also, the areas that I highlighted to DOT that were to be reclaimed from several years of growth are still only about 12” to 18” wide.

SPOT linked route for ride:

An Adventurer update:

Jim Artis, Cycling Experiences, continues to prep for his departure to Bar Harbor, ME. He has pushed his departure date back one day to June 12th. The Tour of Discovery: Ride for the Republic begins on Flag Day, June 14th. He is indeed going to be pushing the limit to get to Bar Harbor in time. Work on Fargo continues. Please visit his site to see this exciting blend of Human Powered Vehicle and various technologies come together! 

Kent “Mountain Turtle” Peterson continues his movement to Banff, AB, Canada for the start of the Great Divide Ride. As of this morning, Kent appears to be about 284 miles from Banff. To see the distance he is covering each day is very impressive to me and to realize that he is doing it on a single speed bike is just that much more impressive. There are numerous ways to follow Kent’s progress. Check out the post for June 7th to see how technology allows us to enjoy his trip with him!

 

Until later,

- Zeke

SUNDAY RIDE AND ADVENTURER UPDATES!

Sunday’s on-again, off-again rain showers/storms left me guessing when I would be able to get in a quick ride. Around 11:30 a.m., it looked like we would get flooded but nothing ever actually fell from the sky. At 3:00 p.m., the skies were full of white fluffy clouds and lots of sunshine so I decided it was “now or never.”

We were to be in Asheville, NC for a meal at 4:30 p.m. and had a couple of quick errands to take care of before that time so riding time was limited. The Navigator readily agreed to picking me up at my father-in-law’s home which is 12 miles away and on the way to Asheville from our house. After packing some suitable dining clothes in my Timbuktu Messenger bag, I headed out and down US 276 to NC 215 and the on into Canton before hitting North Main with its short climb to Newfound Road. After crossing over I-40, I made the short run out to the house for pick-up.

The Navigator had queried me as to how much time she needed to allot before picking me up. I had remarked, without much thought, 40 minutes. I pulled into the driveway at 40 minutes and 30 seconds. She was 2 minutes behind me. I’d say our timing was in synch on this pretty Sunday.

The ride itself was uneventful. I was more surprised by the lack of traffic than anything else. The Canton Recreation area was busy with kids’ ball games and families visiting. Downtown Canton didn’t have much going on at all but this is normal for a Sunday in this mill town. 

 

The “Mountain Turtle” continues his northward trek…

Kent “Mountain Turtle” Peterson is still moving steadily toward Banff, AB for the start of the Great Divide Race. His very supportive spouse posted updates on the first couple of days of his prologue at KentsbikeBlog. The previous post to Christine’s entry covers the roll-out from Issaquah. Kent crossed through Idaho and into Montana last night before apparently bedding down in Fireman’s Park in Libby, Montana. He is up and on the move again headed toward Eureka, Montana. he is currently riding through Kootenai National Forest.

 

Fargo is scheduled for graphics today!

Fargo, the HPV of Jim Artis, is headed to the Graphic Artist’s shop today for application of pin striping and logos. Time is running short as Jim and Fargo are scheduled to head toward Bar Harbor, ME for the start of the Tour of Discovery: Ride for the Republic on June 14th. Jim has been busy over the weekend building the cockpit and attaching light bars and electronics. There is still wiring to be done and final testing before the departure date. Check in with Jim at Cycling Experiences to see some awesome images of his work thus far. 

 

Until later,

- Zeke

ADVENTURER UPDATES!

 

Our friend Jim Artis continues to prepare for his upcoming Tour of Discovery: Ride for the Republic. Yesterday’s activities entailed picking up Fargo, his HPV quadricycle, in Charlotte, NC and getting it to Fayetteville for more prep work this weekend.  This coming Monday will see the application of graphics and pin stripes. You can see the loading of a fully crated Fargo into the rental van and  check out more on this exciting upcoming tour at Cycling Experiences!

Kent “Mountain Turtle” Peterson continues on his route to Banff for the start of the race along the Great Divide. After apparently spending the night Potholes State Park, Kent has resumed his trek and now appears to be in Ritzville, WA headed in the direction of Spokane. Kent now appears to be riding surface roads paralleling I-90. I’m looking forward to his description of the ride thus far, especially yesterday’s interesting “triangle” route.

 

Hopefully, I’ll get through riding my John Deere tractor shortly and get to write about my own ride locally!

Until later,

- Zeke

OUR INTREPID TRAVELLERS ON THE MOVE!

Friday, June 4th @ 9:18 EDT update:

 

(Hasten Slowly!)

After stopping for the night around 12:30 a.m. EDT, Kent “Mountain Turtle” Peterson is on the move again. He appears to be riding the Iron Horse Trail just now approaching the John Wayne Pioneer Trail. Follow along on Kent’s journey to the beginning of the Great Divide Race by checking his SPOT shared page.

Meanwhile, our friend and soon-to-be east coast tourer, Jim Artis, is in Charlotte, NC picking up his fantastic quadricycle, Fargo. Final setup and prep for Jim’s departure is now in high gear. The Tour of Discovery: Ride for the Republic kicks off from the top of Cadillac Mountain in Bar Harbor, ME on June 14th! Follow this tour at Cycling Experiences! SPOT tracking and live streaming, when available, will be posted on this site as will numerous daily updates from the road!

Until later,

- Zeke

Kent “Mountain Turtle” Peterson Begins Pre-Race Trek

 

Kent Peterson our intrepid blogger/biker/racer has hit the road and headed toward the starting point of this year’s Great Divide Race. The race begins on June 11th in Banff, AB. Kent left his home in Issaquah, Washington some 7 hours ago. Let’s see, Kent is going to ride 7 or so days to get to the start of a 2700 mile race…

Hmmm, that, my friends, is one serious biker! You can follow Kent’s progress at his SPOT shared page:

For more details on Kent’s preparation, visit his site at Kent’s Bike Blog. You can also get additional information on the Great Divide Race HERE!

Until later,

- Zeke

FIRST RIDE OF NEW MONTH HAS SAD INTERLUDE

After my return to work following 12 days of vacation, I was ready to ride and discharge pent up stress resulting in catching up, getting subpoenaed to Court, and other aspects of my job. We’re in another wet pattern here in lovely and VERY GREEN Western North Carolina. I was keeping an eye on the local radar trying to gauge whether a break in the rain bands would allow the 20+ mile commute home.

After a steady rainfall of 30 minutes around 3:00 p.m., the radar seemed to indicate that no more moisture would be arriving for 3 or 4 hours. The next big band was well off to my northwest in Tennessee. So, it was on – my first commute of the month and my first ride on familiar roads since returning from our 2 week camping adventure.

At the close of business, I loaded up and headed out only to discover that the cadence sending unit on my VDO-Z1 bike computer wasn’t working. I’ve been meaning to change batteries and I guess it is now clearly time to do so. This was my first ride with my new SPOT II on the bike. I used it extensively to track our course while camping but it was always based in the truck so this was my first real test to see if it would report through my cycling jersey. (Note: upon returning home, I discovered the SPOT had nicely charted my course. I carried it in the back left pocket of my jersey. It is so light that I didn’t notice it once. The arm band that comes with it was not to my liking so I’m pleased that if functioned through the jersey.)

The streets had largely dried off except in very low lying areas so there was no road spray to speak of that would affect the ride. I was hitting the roads just as the end-of-workday traffic was picking up but I fortunately didn’t seem to hold anyone up so the only horn blowing I received was a friendly “toot” letting me know that the person was behind me. I waved them around when I could see the road ahead was clear and they threw up a hand in greeting as they went by me.

I was interested to see if the knife that I had previously placed on a bridge railing several weeks ago would still be in place. The knife served to get my mind off an unpleasant interaction with an auto driver and I’ve maintained, admittedly silly, interest in seeing how long it would remain on the bridge. Yesterday was the first time in over 2 weeks that I’ve been on the bridge. The knife had finally been taken. Someone came across it and took it away. It lasted longer than I thought it would in that location.

I ran the length of the Pigeon from the intersection of Richland Creek Rd. and NC 209 to east Canton where the road and river diverge. I was struck by how calm the river was yesterday. In places it barely appeared to be moving, which made for enhanced observation of the dark tea color of the water that results from the tannins in the paper making process at the mill in Canton.

As I passed the second of two churches and two climbs, the road had a clear view looking east of Canton and along I-40. One home in particular still had all of its Memorial Day colors on display. (Thickety Road northwest of Canton. Note I-40 ribbon in distance.)

I-40 through Haywood County into and from Tennessee has now reopened following the clearance of debris resulting from a rock slide months ago. The good news for local business owners is that the return of traffic has begun to bring business transactions back toward normal. The following image was taken from the same location as the shot above. I used the maximum zoom option of the Canon PowerShot to show how busy I-40 was on this first day after Memorial Day 2010.

(Traffic on reopened I-40) 

My ride continued on pleasantly for another couple of miles before taking a very sad turn of events. I made a short climb up to a 3 way intersection where I was the right hand turning “vehicle”. I waved a truck to my left on so they could go in front of me and clipped back into my pedals to get moving. As I made the right hand turn, a small dog at a home diagonally across the road spotted me as I began moving and started giving chase. A woman, whom I assume to be the owner, started calling him/her but the dog would have none of it. The dog had a full head of steam and was coming my way. This was a short, small dog and I was already well out in front of it so it posed no threat to me but I realized that it wasn’t going to stop and stay in its yard. It dashed underneath some pine trees on the edge of the road to continue its pursuit of me. I started trying to point it out to oncoming traffic as I realized the dog was coming into the main road. The lead car did start slowing down but then I heard a loud crunching sound following by a wailing dog as it tried to drag itself back home. Several other vehicles were approaching and I tried to slow them down as well. At least 3 of them stopped to offer assistance.

I was torn between going back or going on. I realized that there wasn’t anything I could do to offer aid and was concerned that my presence might be an added stressor for the owner of the dog. Even though I did nothing to cause the accident, I know that human beings see things differently in times of stress and I feared I might have been seen as the instigator of the event although I know that not to be the case. I chose to continue toward home and said a short prayer for the little dog. I hope that its injuries are not life threatening.

The unpleasantness of the situation made the remaining 10 miles of the ride home significantly less bright. I caught a few rain drops on the south side of Canton but otherwise arrived home wet only from my own perspiration. The few rain drops I did catch felt pretty good in reality. So, it’s home again and riding familiar roads, which is a fine feeling!

Until later,

- Zeke