frame geometry

Discipline in Training Pays Dividends

Yesterday, I went on a training ride after work that made me proud. I ride out on this path frequently since it is so close to my house and there are no cars. It also allows me to get out for quick training rides after work, which often end up becoming a race to get home before the sun goes down.

This was the first ride of the third week of my current training plan, and this ride showed me that I am making progress. My overall speed is increasing and I am feeling a lot more comfortable in “harder” heart rate zones. I spent a large percentage of the ride around my lactate threshold heart rate, so either my HR at LT has increased, or I’m beginning to adapt to that tempo. I even broke my personal 9-minute/3-mile barrier in lap 2 (but to be fair, I got behind a guy from UCI who was also out there training). It was a pretty windy day but I feel like that didn’t make a big difference in my speed. As far as training rides go, this is one for the cigar box.

It’s nice to see that sticking to my plan has produced results, especially since this is only the third week. I’m excited to see how much further I can push myself, and I’m starting to get excited for my first planned competition (coming up in June).

Food Park Ride – Attempt #1

I went on my first group ride today…I got dropped after 8 miles.  I spent a little while recovering from my last effort to hang onto the back of the group, and then rode around solo for a while longer before heading back home.

Even though I’m disappointed in my fitness level at the moment, the ride did provide me with an opportunity to use my new Garmin Edge 500. Here are the details: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/24583278

31-mile loop offers tenfold view of Orange County

Note: In case you haven’t noticed, I’ve decided to use headline-style titles for my blog posts. I just like the way they sound. And they allow me to use the comma as a substitute for a conjunction.

One of my favorite routes in Orange County is what I call the PCH Loop.  You can see the route on Google Maps here.  It includes a healthy mix of hills, descents, and flats, and passes through several different Orange County locales.  Since I live in Irvine, I always start there.

As you may know, Irvine is a mostly suburban city in OC, but the route starts off by tracing through Shady Canyon, which is a gated community up on the hill (there’s only one tall hill in Irvine).  There is a dedicated off-road paved bike path that runs through the entire community, winding along the street past large ponds, over bridges, and by a large variety of plant life (cacti included).  This leg of the route culminates in a short climb to the top of the hill followed by a fairly rapid descent (I’ve pushed 45mph on this descent before, so remember to always wear a helmet).

From Shady Canyon, the route continues over the 405 freeway into the southern end of Irvine, which is a small urban hub surrounding the Spectrum (Irvine’s largest mall).  After a short while, the route heads west, and after passing back over the 405, the road turns upward in one of the steeper climbs of the ride.  It’s a short climb (no longer than two minutes), but it can wear you out quickly if you don’t take the right approach (I used to always drop into my smallest chainring on this climb when I was using my triple crank bike).  After this hill is a short descent followed by a longer, easier climb up El Toro road into the Laguna Canyon area.  Every time I ride through this area, I forget that I’m in Orange County. NorCal comes to mind, for some reason.

Laguna Canyon is, as the name implies, a canyon with grassy slopes that winds between the west end of Lake Forest and Laguna Beach.  Since I ride west, the road slopes downhill for the five or six mile ride to the coast.  This is an excellent leg of the route for time trialing: nice, smooth roads, very little traffic, and the wind is usually blowing to the east to make the downhill ride just a little bit tougher.  This part of the ride can also get a little cold, so the armwarmers are always handy (army?) except on the hottest summer days.

The canyon opens up to the Pacific Coast Highway at Laguna Beach, and every time I take in this view I’m thankful for the legs that got me there.  The rest of the ride is a northbound along the smooth rolling hills of PCH (about 10 miles or so), with beautiful ocean views and a pleasant marine climate that keeps you cool without chilling you too much.

For the last few miles of the ride, I take the Back Bay path past UCI and back to the familiar marshy area in which I reside.  The Back Bay path is part of my favorite bike trail in Orange County: the Mountains to Sea Trail.  You can expect a full entry about this trail soon.

So in the title, I mentioned that the loop offers a tenfold view of OC, since you on the ride you experience the hilly, pond-and-golf-course dotted Shady Canyon area, the urban center of Irvine near the Spectrum, the seemingly out-of-place Laguna Canyon, the lazy beach community of Laguna (kind of like OB, but with it’s own unique flavor, and not quite as lazy), and the serene coastal bluffs along PCH.  Okay, so maybe I can’t name ten distinct regions, but you get the idea.

Skaters, Haters Adorn Popular Bike Path

I was out for a ride the other day on the path that I usually take at some point during my rides: the Mountains to Sea Trail. There are usually a lot of people out on this path: other cyclists, joggers, roller bladers, skaters, and the occasional individual who doesn’t have anything better to do than stand around watching the aforementioned people pass by.  Typically people treat each other with courtesy and respect: riders wave at other riders, when passing someone says “on your left,” and that sort of thing.  In general, it’s a great place to ride, with excellent scenery and great people.

So naturally, as I approached the two skaters doing tricks or some such,  I assumed I’d receive the treatment to which I’ve grown accustomed.  I slowed down and cleared my throat loudly, since I wasn’t exactly sure which side I could pass on.  As I got closer, the guy on the right went up an embankment on his board, and started coming back down.  I had to stop so I wouldn’t hit him, and I waited patiently as he picked up his board and moved out of the way. As I rode past he said, “F*** you.”

At this point, I was utterly confused; while I know that skaters are stereotypically portrayed as less than savory characters, I failed to see what I had done to merit such a response. Perhaps I should document the incident in a craigslist “missed connection” advert (I must thank bikesnobnyc for showcasing such ads on his site).  Hopefully, the skater could respond and enlighten me as to why he felt it necessary to shout such obscenities as “F*** you and your f***ing little shorts!” and “F***ing f******!”

How would I have been treated had I been riding a fixed gear bike instead of my road bike? You know, the kind of fixed gear with deep-v rims, straight and narrow handlebars, and no brakes? Would I have been greeted with a wave as a passed instead of an obscenity? Why is it that we cyclists get so much disrespect, even from those who some may consider our closest kin? I guess I won’t know until I go back out there with a fixie (although, I think I will ride with brakes). And if I see those skaters again, I may just have to ask them.

But for now, I can’t complain; I have a great path to ride, even if I have to deal with the occasional hater.

Touring San Diego By Bicycle

We were in San Diego for the holiday weekend, so for Sunday’s ride, I did my best to see as much of the city in which I grew up in as little time as possible (I only had about two hours to ride between a late lunch and an evening trip to Del Mar to visit some family friends).  I brought my trusty camera phone with me to document my excursion, and I was able to get a few decent shots of the places I visited.

My family lives in Point Loma, so I started out by heading down my street and riding a loop around my old college campus (yes, I went to school down the street from where I lived).  It’s about a 3-mile loop by my estimate, and it culminates in a 300-foot climb (maybe less; it feels high) back up to the entrance to campus (and it is a pretty steep grade at times).

Next, I turned South and headed to Cabrillo National Monument, which is where Cabrillo is supposed to have discovered California back in 1542.  It was a lot farther away than I remembered, but well worth the ride.  I saw a guy on a fixed-gear riding out there too.

Cabrillo National Monument. I'm pretty sure the Aztecs already knew California was here, but Cabrillo gets the credit for discovering it

It had been a long time since I had been out to Cabrillo, and I had forgotten how awesome (and hilly) it was. There is a constant view of the Pacific Ocean to one side, and the San Diego harbor to the other side.  If you ever have the opportunity to ride out to the tip of a peninsula, you should definitely do it.  There’s a pretty cool old lighthouse out there (couldn’t get a good picture of it), and even on a hot day like Sunday the weather at the Point was very nice.

The Pacific Ocean - this was my view for four years during college

Taking a quick break on the "cobbles" at Cabrillo

San Diego Harbor and Coronado Island, seen from the road to Cabrillo

Once I had snapped my fill of pictures at and around Cabrillo, I headed back up to the main road, took a quick jaunt through the Point Loma woods, and flew down Talbot St. to ride a loop around Shelter Island.  Last time I had ridden around Shelter Island, I was coming out of a turn and a seagull flew in front of me.  I thought I would run over it and lose control but luckily I just hit its outstretched wing.  I think it mostly startled the animal, but other than that it seemed okay.  I didn’t have any incidents this time.

At the end of Shelter Island, there's this Japanese friendship bell. This was given to San Diego by our sister city, Yokohama, in 1960.

Shelter Island is actually a man-made peninsula that is a popular destination because of the resorts and views of the harbor.  It’s also a great place to launch a boat if you want to go fishing in the channel for the day. When I was a kid I had a couple of pet ducks (don’t ask why) that we eventually released here, where you can usually find a sizable throng (herd? team? raft?) of ducks scavenging for food.

Leaving Shelter Island, I headed East along N Harbor Drive all the way to the urban center of San Diego.  It’s not a huge city, but definitely bigger than any city in Orange County, and the ride goes right along the water with great views of the buildings downtown and Coronado Island.

This is a representative shot of Downtown. The Phillips-screwdriver looking building (One American Plaza) is the tallest building in San Diego. (Don't the buildings behind it look like hex keys?)

Continuing South and East leads to Seaport Village, a small area with some cool shops and nice views of the harbor (have you noticed a recurring theme yet?).  Following N Harbor Drive farther East eventually takes you to the San Diego Convention Center.  This center is used every year as the site of the (world-famous) San Diego Comic Convention. Comicon always happens in July, so I didn’t see any Boba Fetts today (sadly).

San Diego Convention Center

You can also see Petco Park, home of the San Diego Padres, from the Convention Center.  (Maybe they will win the World Series someday…)

Petco Park and some surrounding buildings

As the day was drawing to a close, I raced up Fifth Ave. to Laurel St. (which is difficult to do considering all the stop lights I had to go through; I wonder if riding through Downtown San Diego is anything like riding through Manhattan.)  If you travel East on Laurel, you will cross the appropriately-named Laurel St. Bridge into Balboa Park, site of the 1915-16 Panama-California Exposition (a sort of world’s fair).  Here you can also find the (world-famous) San Diego Zoo, which happens to be the largest zoo in the world.

The entrance to Balboa Park. Apparently, William Randolph Hearst drew some inspiration for his famous Castle from the towering structures of Balboa Park.

After I saw Balboa Park, it was a race home to shower and eat before getting dessert in Del Mar.

Click here to see the approximate route that I took (Google Maps was a little finicky on a couple sections, but this is pretty close to the real thing).

According to Google Maps, it was about 26 miles, but my computer says it was 29.31 miles. It took me 2 hrs 14 minutes from front door to front door, so that’s an average speed of about 13 mph (including stops for water, pictures, etc.).  Obviously it wasn’t an overly difficult ride, but it had its tough moments, like going up the hill at PLNU or riding up Fifth Ave. from the convention center to Balboa Park. There was also one block on Laurel St. where I got off my bike and walked it down the hill, because it was too steep to ride down (at least it was to steep for me; I’d bet that it’s at least a 20% grade on that block).

This ride can be cut down or expanded if there are other sights to see, but I think this gives a great overall view of San Diego (at least the parts close to where I live).  Yes, San Diego is a movable feast, and that feast is best enjoyed via bicycle.  Next time I’m in town I think I’ll climb Mt. Soledad and/or head into La Jolla to show you how the elite crowd in SD does things.

Exploring the Globe with camera in hand, math in head

I’m a mathematician, at least by education.  The process of becoming a mathematician has not always been easy: all too often, when others learn what I like to spend my time studying, I am greeted with the phrase, “Oh…so you’re one of those people.”

Yes, I am one of those people.  I’m one of those people who like to do math for the sake of doing math, and can’t really explain why.  But on a deeper level, I’m one of those people who seek to understand the meaning of things, who enjoys discovery of new ideas, and who isn’t afraid to get into it with someone over what the truth really is.

Maybe that’s why I like cycling so much. Growing up, I always enjoyed the feeling of the wind in my hair, the thrill of going fast enough to know it would hurt if I fell, and that awesome (but not completely in the best interest of the tires) way of locking the coaster brake and skidding to a stop.  But most of all, I enjoyed the freedom that my bike gave me: I could explore. My bike gave enabled me to discover new things about my neighborhood, and to get to places that were too far to walk but inaccessible by car. I loved to just get out and ride, not necessarily with any particular goal in mind, but just to do it.

Now that I’m older, cycling is still a big part of my life, but I find that I don’t have as much time to get out and find new and great places like I used to.  It is in that spirit of adventure that I am starting this blog.  I will be conscientiously making time to ride around Orange County for at least 8 hours each week, and posting my experiences here. I hope that by actively documenting my experiences as I explore the county in which I now live, I can inspire others to get outside and see what their town/city/country has to offer to those willing to explore.  Sometimes I’ll go out with a destination in mind, while other times I will simply push my bike out the front door and see where it takes me.  I’ll take a camera wherever I go, and on this blog I will provide route information, photos of my favorite places and people I meet on the way.  I also would like to begin riding to work a few days a week, so my posts will sometimes highlight the pros and cons of commuting via bicycle.  And as often as I can, I’ll incorporate some math into my writings; whether it’s a discussion of optimum gear ratios or a simple calculation of the distance I’ve ridden, I’ll do my best to integrate my mathematical passion into this blog.

I currently own a decent road bike, but I think my perfect companion on this journey would be a simple, light bike that doesn’t take itself too seriously but is still able to get up to speed in the event I feel a little daring.  I want a bike that is durable enough for unkempt paths and the occasional pothole, but doesn’t feel like a tank, and I don’t need all the race-oriented components of a road bike.  It seems to me that a fixed-gear bike fits that bill pretty well; specifically, I’m talking about the Globe Roll. It’s sleek yet subtle, and it’s clear that Specialized/Globe put some good time into creating this bike.  Although I’ve never ridden a Roll (in fact, I’ve never ridden a fixed-gear bike at all), I can’t help but think that it is the adult version of the bike I loved as a kid: easy to maintain, simple to use, and designed to just go.

As I embark on this project, my hope for this blog is that anyone who reads it will make it a goal to become “one of those people” who enjoy discovery, and that they would choose their bike to accompany them in that process.