Owling & `nastics

Watching Lady and the Tramp The Wee One said

Watch Mama, he’s gonna owl and he’s gonna owl loud!

Then the dog howled and she said

See Mama, he owls really loud!

On an unrelated note the mermaids started once a week ‘nastics. Both of them really wanted to do ‘nastics but Dance was preferred. We found a good schedule that suited us all and there they go.

Tonight was The Wee One’s 1st ever ‘tryout’ and the instructor watched her pull a pike position on the not-so-high bar and commented on how strong she is. Keeping up with a big sister such as hers would do that.

They both passed their tryouts with flying colors and will continue on a month-to-month basis jumping on the trampoline and climbing ropes and doing somersaults and performing exquisite cartwheels.

Each from each

The Wee Mermaid has a way with words…and shoes.
Recently she has taken to a flip flop on one foot alongside a rubber galosh on the other.

It makes for a unique visual and auditory experience when she runs hunkered down, clinging with her toes on one foot and her heel (if that is possible) on the other through, say, a McLendons or the mall.

flip-clumph-smack
flip-clumph-smack
flip-clumph-smack
flip-clumph-smack
flip-clumph-smack

Meditate on a horse race, with rubber horseshoes, on concrete, and jellyfish tied ’round the ankles and you’ll have it.
It is pretty clear which one is ours.

Somewhere along the line she described her style as “each from each” and she uses it liberally. She has even coerced her sister and together they might insist on nightgowns and ‘each from each’.

Now you know.

A new stake in the sand

I just checked on my old record, set on my Thunderbolt, and let’s just start this off with a subtle statement.

I smashed it.

Cutting to the chase numbers right away:

  • Distance = 16.8 mi (perfectly calibrated odometer/speedometer)
  • Time = 54min 42s (56 seconds better than my previous record)
  • Average = 18.5 mph

With only 400 miles on my Silvio I beat my herculean effort on my Thunderbolt and I did it via Colman Park (not Massachusets hill) which is approximately 2 tenths of a mile further…on the flat that would be about 30-40 seconds…on a hill maybe 1 minute?

Some other points to note about this ride.

  • I had a good time going out of the gate, I got lucky on a few lights in Renton and was able to maintain most or all of my momentum without danger.
  • I am about 5-8 lbs lighter this year than I was last year.
  • I was running light (no bike bin) because I have noticed the aero-drag of the bike-bin.
  • I was not nearly as wiped out after this ride as I was in Aug of 08 – I am in better shape and I didn’t lay it all on the line with the ride…I went hard for sure but there was still more in the tank when I was done.
  • At the onset of my first real climb I was rockin a 21 mph average over 20 minutes
  • After that climb reduced my average to 18+ my flat speed brought it back up to mid 20’s.
  • The next big climb through Colman Park took it back down to about 19 and change and if I am not mistaken I crested that hill in the 38th minute and re-attained a 20 mph average before I hit the city riding.

Incidentally, the fact that I wasn’t as tired doesn’t mean a whole lot. I could have TOTALLY spent every last reserve, collapsed at the door and maybe eeked another minute out of my commute? I may try that some day but really the best point is that with roughly the same “level of effort” I can reduce my commute time by nearly 10 percent.

Where 60 minutes used to be a target, now 55 minutes is.
Where 65 minutes used to a norm, now 60 minutes is.

Traffic lights and other factors make a bigger difference than the aerodynamics and weight of my bike for my commute but overall I am extremely happy with this bike and especially my prospects for longer faster rides.

Go Cruzbike!

The commute bar has been lowered

A couple of things before I get to the meat of this one –

This is about biking, specifically my new bike, and because I spend up to two hours a day on my bike; well let’s just say that she doesn’t have a name…but…she…does seem to have just acquired a gender.

This is about statistics, which is a thing some people who get freaked out about their bikes do. Not all bike freaks do…well for that matter I wouldn’t have considered myself a bike freak in the truest sense of the word except that I have just spent 10 minutes thinking and talking about how I am going to describe to all of you Mermaid lovers just how cool my new bike is, new bikes are in general, and thinking of a clever way to entreat you to read this post anyway.
Oh, and I will be prattling on about statistics related to my bike.

Let’s move on.

This morning I was paying close attention to an unexplained shimmy after about 32-34mph coasting downhill. When I hit 37.8 without a single shimmy** and then proceeded to hit every green light through Renton (NEVER HAPPENS!!!) I decided

This is a good day for a record attempt

** Grumpy may be disappointed to hear this considering how much fun he was having talking about ‘lateral elasticity’ but I am not saying it is MIA just yet. The only difference between yesterday and today is I re-inflated my tires to their proper psi (110) and finally figured out how to properly inflate the head shock. It may have been darn near flat before – I have no way of knowing. Also, I was paying close attention to it…that always makes problems disappear.

I stop at the airport for a shot of albuterol (just in case) and mumble something challenging to myself at a passing rabbit commuter. I caught him at the north end of the airport.

The headwind down Rainier nearly sunk me, that and my left hamstring was troubling me but being the freak scientist that I am I tarried on. Well that and last night I just read that part in the Call of The Wild to La Grande Mermaid where Buck wins his masters foolish bet by breaking a 1000 lb sled loose from the ice and dragging it 100 yards by himself.

Gee!
Haw!
MUSH!!

So I couldn’t give up on a count of a little wind.

After a nice climb through Seward Park (she climbs pretty fast) I came down to the Blvd and found a reverse rabbit*. He looked strong and he was clearly out on a training run. That is, I have a built in excuse for when he overtakes me; he is training and I am ‘commuting’. So I hammered it up to 22mph and in the headwind settled into a mildly strenuous 19mph.

His headlight only ever got smaller.

* a reverse rabbit is another biker that you encounter in your travels that never actually starts in front of you, like a plain ‘ol rabbit. Usually you see them enter in your mirror, this time he came from a side street and pulled in behind.

Another commuter rabbit came and went and soon I found myself closing in on downtown. I ran into a few red lights that killed some time but holy cow, I found a new skill this morning – a high speed sprint and it REALLY goes. The ability to pull on the handle bars makes such a profound difference in the feel of a sprint. I don’t know objectively if I can crank it up any faster than on my Thunderbolt (no gender by the way) but she certainly feels lively and quick and springy and fast.

Now I come into stoplight ‘heaven’, but it’s good cause I can get a breather. Still I wish we could learn from the dutch on this one. I make my way through the chicane of buses, cars, pedestrians, and other bikes down to my straightaway finish – the waterfront.

I engage my newfound skill and sprint up to about 25mph and I top out. I guess I shoulda had something to eat this morning. There is more gear and more go in my body but something gives out and I just don’t have the energy to keep the sprint going as long as I usually can. So I settle into a hard-ish 21 or so, dodge a few tourists bound for the slow boat to Alaska (and some goofball blocking two lanes while performing a textbook 13-point u-turn) and I skim up Wall St.

This time I only slip my wheel once…I am getting better.

My ride statistics (my computer is not calibrated well so on the avg I have adjusted the number based on my time – the rest of the numbers don’t matter too much so I didn’t bother.)
Top speed – ~37.8mph
Distance – adjusted 16.85 miles (reading 17.09)
Time – 58:01
Average Speed – adjusted 17.4 mph (reading is 17.8)
Total odometer – 96.7 miles

As it turns out that was a fun story to recount, I hope the Mermaid lovers weren’t put off by my initial bike-siren and got this far.

Silvio benchmark

I am finally fully kitted out on my Silvio (clipless, no fairing, fenders, rack…don’t have my bikebin yet) and took my first full ride into work this morning.

My time, in a hard (but not epic) push, was 59:10. Previously I mentioned that I would have a healthy record to beat if I ever got a Silvio. That record by the way was set pre-fairing. Whewie…I can’t believe I ran that time. It’s gonna be tough to beat.

Climbing speeds were really fast.
I noticed that my descent down Talbot got a little wavy pedalling up to about 33mph and stayed wobbly after I stopped pedaling. Not sure yet what that is about.

Stats:
Distance reading – 17.11 miles (Colman Park alternative)
Average speed – 17.4 mph
Top speed (wobbly) 38.1 mph on Talbot.
Total distance on the bike so far is 40.5 miles.

Movin and Groovin it

Tonight we enjoyed a spectacular dance show.
The Mermaids were showing all of their best moves, extemporaneously, in the living room to the soundtrack to High School Musical.
We saw shoulder shrugs, toes pointing, bridge-roll-overs, spins, donkey-kicks, leaps, twirls, lips-pursing, somersaults, one after the other for two or more songs in a row. Each song ended with a special “end-pose”.
The Mommy and I both agreed that we were seeing something special and Emma agreed wholeheartedly
as she continued to dance

We are movin‘
and groovin‘ it
and breakin’ it down guys!

Don’t ask me where she got that from…neither of us have a clue.

Plate Hack

Recently I was forced into riding my wedgie MTbike on my commute (more on that in a different post) and I needed some weather protection for my feet/bike/face.

I was fresh out of political signs so I made my front fender out of the next best thing – license plates.

Parts list
* Zip-ties
* Old license plates
* Political sign stand
* Tin snips (warning: do not get mounted to the bike)
* Drill using drill master step-drill bits.

Pros
It’s really reflective.
It’s light, as in not-heavy.
It’s inexpensive, as in free (except for the cost of the zip-ties and your time).
It’s a good conversation starter: “Well THAT is certainly a good use of a car.”

Cons
It’s kinda loud and bangs around a little bit. It could be stiffened I think.
It could cut/scratch. The edges could be knurled to reduce the chances for cuts.
It’s a little fragile. I had one zip-tie break – probably from being cut by the edge of the plate when over-tightened.

Pictures


Mango bones

After lunch The Wee Mermaid implored The Mommy for more mango.

No honey, I don’t want you to get a belly ache.

The Wee One got off her chair, approached The Mommy with a puppy dog look, rubbed her belly longingly and soberly made her plea

But Mom. My bonesth need more mango.

She got more mango.