bikejournal.com journal

7/3/2007
(Tue)

18.35

01:07:04

29.20

16.40

0

8

290

366

Min: 85
Avg: 85
Max: 85

229

844

0

Road: Flat

Catrike Road
Trike

Team Catrike

Comments: State to Howell Prairie to Sunnyview to Cordon to State and home.

First ride in ten days. Stuff just kept coming up, and I kept getting more discouraged. Finally, Kim said, "Trikey misses you!" and basically kicked me out for a ride.

And it was good.

Nothing special on this ride, but it sure felt good. I think the rest did my legs good, as I felt stronger. And looking at my numbers, that's the fastest average speed I've ever had on that loop, and the fastest average speed on a ride in weeks.

Had a moron in a pickup dang near clobber me on Howell Prairie near Sunnyview. He passed me at 45-55 with an oncoming SUV, causing the SUV to cross the fog line, and clearing me by just over a foot. I was not happy.

Saw the buffalo on Sunnyview. Not sure if I have seen this one before, but it was not what I expected to see, that's for sure.

Clothing: the usual.

Technical notes: GPS continues to crap out on larger bumps.

Weather Conditions: Clear, dry, variable breeze 7-10 mph.

7/4/2007
(Wed)

20.97

01:22:47

27.80

15.20

0

8

290

450

Min: 76
Avg: 78
Max: 80

228

1240

0

Road: Flat

Catrike Road
Trike

Team Catrike

Comments: Same route as yesterday, with a slight detour to the Pratum Cemetery. Rode in the morning, right after breakfast (trying some new things in my routine, such as it is).

Rode with Katr to help her get a feel for a 15 mph average speed, as she is starting to train for her first century.

A nice ride. I learned to identify sugar beets.

Fields continue to be beautiful: wheat, fescue, clover, beans, zucchini, blueberries, and raspberries.

The buffalo was out again on Sunnyview.

Clothing: the usual.

Technical: The front fenders have been vibrating loose more and more often, so I took them off today. Much less distraction now.

Weather Conditions: Clear, dry, light variable breezes.

7/5/2007
(Thu)

44.11

03:09:43

47.80

13.90

0

12

797

1,786

Min: 75
Avg: 83
Max: 89

227

3978

0

Road: Hills

Catrike Road
Trike

Team Catrike

Comments: Commute plus a nice loop.

Rode out through Keizer Station to Quinaby/Clear Lake, then west to Wheatland Road and out to Willamette Mission State Park. Poked around the park a bit in the aftermath of the holiday's Civil War reenactment, then took the Wheatland Ferry across the river. To avoid the no-shoulder stretch of Wallace Road, I headed west on Lafayette Highway (past the oh-so-foul-smelling dairy that I usually avoid) to Hopewell, and then headed south on Hopewell Highway.

At Spring Valley Road, I turned right. On a lark, I decided to see what Bethel Heights Road was like. It was pretty, steep, and hot. When I started up, I noticed a plume of smoke coming from the top of the ridge and figured somebody must be field-burning. I got to the top and rested in the shade. As I was resting, two fire trucks rolled into the driveway next to me. Then it dawned on me that no one in their right mind would be doing an intentional burn on a 90-degree day with a light wind. I stuck around for another ten minutes or so as more apparatus arrived from rural fire departments all over the area. Never did find out the cause, but the fire quickly roamed all over the field, and was last seen heading downhill, propelled by a downslope breeze.

I continued on my way, with a lovely descent. Then the pavement turned to gravel. Given that Polk County has been a repaving spree this summer (most of te roads I was on today had new blacktop!), this was a real letdown. The gravel was pretty loose, so I really had a hard time getting traction. Several more pieces of fire apparatus came through, which made things more interesting. My average speed was a whopping 5.3 mph. The scenery was a gravel quarry, a large Christmas tree farm, and trees.

But, I was rewarded by 2.7 miles of lovely descent (31.2 mph avg, -4.1% avg grade)! The descent extended onto Zena Road, which I took to Brush College Road, where I ended my descent and headed south past Zena Church. I passed the 4-H Camp and then began the 3/4-mile climb (6%) to my final summit. The Brush College area farms were as pretty as ever, and I had a couple of nice views northeast across the valley. But I as really glad to get under the trees and out of the sun.

I enjoyed the descent into West Salem, buzzing along at an average speed of 29 mph until I got to Brush College School. This time, there wasn't an uphill gravel detour to contend with. I rode back through West Salem on Wallace Road, over the bridge, and home for some lunch.

After lunch, it was off to the studio, and then home in the evening.

Technical: First speed run without front fenders. I think the fenders take 2-3 mph off my top speed. The gravel caused a nut to fall off my rear fender mount, so I had some rattles on the way home. Descent off Bethel Heights resulted in enough hard braking (stop sign at bottom) that the front discs expanded a little, causing some tinging for a mile or so until they cooled off. Still very happy with the Q-rings, as my cadence continues to get smoother.

Food and water: 3 liters of water (had just enough, barely), 1 liter of Powerade, 1 box of raisins.

Clothes: Adidas bike shorts, red Mt. Borah jersey, smoke AiroShield, DeFeet Woolie Boolie socks, Lake MX60 shoes. Neutrogena Age Shield sunblock (SPF 45, UVA & UVB) continues to work very well.

Weather Conditions: Very warm, dry, clear. Northerly breezes at 6-8 mph. Relative humidity was 35-45%. Tied hottest ride to date (climbing in full sun is quite warm).

7/6/2007
(Fri)

22.88

01:35:50

31.20

14.30

0

9

317

605

Min: 78
Avg: 79
Max: 81

227

1278

0

Road: Flat

Catrike Road
Trike

Team Catrike

Comments: Did the Sunnyview/Howell Prairie/State Street loop, but went north on 17th Street first to do the reverse direction.

Nice ride.

Weather Conditions: Clear, dry, sunny. Northerly breezes 8-10 mph.

7/7/2007
(Sat)

30.06

02:03:31

41.90

14.60

0

9

586

1,165

Min: 71
Avg: 74
Max: 77

226

1475

0

Road: Rolling

Catrike Road
Trike

Team Catrike

Comments: Katr (welcome to BJ!) rode with me today.

We rode out past the airport to Turner Road, then out to Deer Park Road and past Corban College. Turned right onto Aumsville Hwy and climbed for a little over a mile (past the "zoo") to Witzel Road.

A nice descent on Witzel through oaks got us to Ogle/Olney Road, which we followed through nice gently rolling farm country. We headed south on 75th Place through some interesting damper lowlands (very pleasant) to Mill Creek Road, which we followed into Aumsville.

Riding through Aumsville was nice, especially the little brick city hall. We headed north on 1st Street, which became Shaw Road and took us across Hwy 22. We rode getnly uphill to Shaw, where we stoped for a snack under an oak tree.

Shaw is the southern terminus of Howell Prairie Road, upon which we rode north until we reached Macleay Road. We turned out wheels east and coasted into Macleay. Up we went again for a short climb, and then we had a sled ride down to Cordon Road. North to State Street and we were home.

Wildlife spotted: goldfinches, red-wing blackbirds, swallowtail butterflies, killdeer.

Non-wildlife spotted: a zebra (really!) American cream draft horses, and llamas.

Wardrobe used: the usual (neon yellow jersey).

Food and water: 2/3 liter of Powerade, about 1 liter of water, 1 package of Ritz peanut butter crackers, 1 Quaker Oats granola bar.

My first times: MFT seeing a zebra on a ride; MFT on most of this route; MFT riding to Aumsville and Shaw; MFT having a stranger issue a compliment to me about my riding partner's butt (he seemed like a decent enough guy up until that point).

Weather Conditions: Clear, dry, sunny, light breezes. Very nice.

7/8/2007
(Sun)

36.44

02:39:11

47.40

13.70

0

9

481

0

Min: 82
Avg: 84
Max: 84

226

2935

0

Road: Flat

Catrike Road
Trike

Team Catrike

Comments: Did an exploratory ride today, not in any particular hurry (for the most part).

Rode out Hwy 22 to Oak Grove Road and went north as usual. But this time, I went straight instead of turning to go up Orchard Heights. After a mile or so, I was in Oak Grove -- home to a school, a church, and a grange hall (all still going concerns

Weather Conditions: Clear, dry, sunny. Variable breezes 5-10 mph.

7/10/2007
(Tue)

22.41

01:24:09

30.30

16.00

0

6

306

518

Min: 95
Avg: 99
Max: 101

226

1841

0

139

160

0

Road: Flat

Catrike Road
Trike

Team Catrike

Comments: Commute to salle and back

Then did Pratum loop (State-Howell Prairie-Sunnyview-Cordon-State) and set a new personal best for this route (16.69 mph avg).

The fields continue to grow and ripen. The fruit stands are open in full force -- peaches are coming on now, in addition to berries.

Hottest ride to date. The dry air just sucked the sweat right off, so I stayed completely dry (except for a damp back) until I got home and stopped. Pavement heat was fine, but shade was always welcome.

Wardrobe: the usual (red jersey). Was late in the day, so dispensed with sunblock (I was lazy... but no burn so late in the day).

Food and water: 1/2 liter of Powerade (but didn't start drinking it until past Cordon Road on homeward leg; should have started earlier, as I needed the calories apparently), almost 1.5 liters of water.

Technical: Got my new wheel today with Capreo hub and cassette (9-10-11-13-15-17-20-23-26). As soon as I got home, I threw a Stelvio and a tube on (at mileage 3184) and went on my 18-mile Pratum loop. I definitely pushed, for whatever that's worth, but I set a new personal best on that loop with a GPS average speed of 16.69 (16.10 was previous best).
First impressions were good. The cassette shifted very cleanly and ran more quietly than the stock Shimano Deore. The stock cassette is 11-12-14-16-18-21-24-28-32, so this is a significant change. The front end is 30-40-52 Q-rings, so I now have something resembling road bike gearing. Comparing this with my experiments with a 62T big ring, this gives me a comparable high end without the front derailleur hassles, but at the cost of my beloved 30/32 granny gear. The rest of the gearing is very similar to my current set-up.

My original plan was to switch the wheels in and out depending on the route, but I'm going to leave new wheel on for a few days and see. It's nice to not top out on rollers and gentle downgrades. Eventually I will need to put a quicklink in the chain at the appropriate place to allow easy chain adjustment, but it works as-is for now.

GPS continues to shutdown on hard bumps. I have taken to dismounting it when approaching RR crossings and the like. HRM continues to be drop in and out, too, despite a new battery.

Weather Conditions: Clear, hot, dry, sunny. Northerly wind 12-15 mph.

7/11/2007
(Wed)

17.92

01:07:28

30.60

15.94

0

3

199

378

0

226

1052

0

Road: Flat

Catrike Road
Trike

Team Catrike

Comments: Commute to salle, then took the long way home for a night ride.

Went north on Commercial to Salem Parkway (note that it is advisable in the future to ride in the bike lane from Commercial to Cherry, THEN switch to the MUP, as west of Cherry it is sidewalk rather than MUP) out to Hazelgreen, over to Cordon, south to State Street and home.

Decent ride. Didn't have quite enough charge in my Sigma batteries to run two lights, so my speed was limited somewhat.

Weather Conditions: Warm, mostly clear. Light breezes.

7/15/2007
(Sun)

27.33

01:44:18

31.10

15.72

0

6

205

383

0

226

1833

0

Road: Flat

Catrike Road
Trike

Team Catrike

Comments: Rode out to Champoeg State Park for an overnight shakedown.

Ride details to come later.

Technical: Unfortunately, I forgot to reset my cyclometer, so the stats for today are approximate. However, combined with tomorrow's stats, they are accurate, as I have the correct totals.

Weather Conditions: A few clouds, but dry and not too hot. Light breezes.

7/16/2007
(Mon)

50.77

03:11:22

37.80

15.92

0

12

308

1,175

0

224

3746

0

Road: Rolling

Catrike Road
Trike

Team Catrike

Comments: Ride home from Champoeg State Park overnight trip. Rode north on Butteville Road (after stopping in Butteville for morning apple pie and milk) to Boones Ferry and then followed Boones Ferry Road all the way to 99E. Took a brief job north on 99E to catch the northern terminus of Howell Prairie Road, which I rode all the way to State Street, and then home. Stopped at Baumann Farms for lunch under the lovely oak tree by the side of the road. Also put on sunscreen then. With this ride, I have finally ridden all parts of Howell Prairie Road (a minor goal of mine). Next will be to do the whole road during one ride....

Weather Conditions: Partly cloudy, humid, no rain, light breezes.

7/21/2007
(Sat)

18.38

01:07:50

33.10

16.20

0

7

165

325

0

224

1179

0

Road: Flat

Catrike Road
Trike

Team Catrike

Comments: Pratum loop. First ride since Sunday. Felt good.

I am reading The High Performance Heart by Maffetone and Mantrell. So far, the information in the book is well thought out and well researched. The book strongly emphasizes the utility of a HRM, and is giving me some new ways to look at heart rate data.

So, for this ride, I tried to follow some of the guidelines in the book -- at least as best I can, considering I don't have an HRM available right now.

The Edge is off to Garmin for warranty repair (the random shutdowns), so I don't have heart-rate data. Elevation data obtained from new Garmin eTrex Vista Cx, which I really like. Too bad it doesn't handle heart rate and cadence....

Weather Conditions:

7/22/2007
(Sun)

40.13

02:52:59

49.10

13.90

0

16

622

1,929

Min: 76
Avg: 81
Max: 83

226

2352

0

Road: Hills

Catrike Road
Trike

Team Catrike

Comments: Rode out Battle Creek/Parrish Gap with Katr. Went south to Jefferson this time, then back on old 99E to Sunnyside Road and home by way of 12th Street.

The ride got off to a rough start when Katr's rear d�railleur cable broke. A trip to Wally-World ensued and they actually had cables. Then I realized I didn't have anything to cut cables with. Shears from the first aid kit! Nope, they snapped. (Am actually glad to find they were cheap POCs now rather than when I really needed 'em at a crash scene.) Back into Wally World for a lightweight pair of needle-nose pliers -- and a new fiberglass screwdriver that I happened to spot. The pliers made it through the cable, but not especially easily. After a successful search for a missing spring, we got the new cable installed, made some adjustments, and had Katr's bike better than it was before. Yay!

So, after an hour of bike fussing, we were off (thanks for buying me snacks, Katr!). We stopped to look for a geocache in the Cloverdale cemetery, but it appears to have been muggled. We found a cache in the Jefferson cemetery, though.

Scenery was very fine. Parrish Gap was as pleasant as ever. Jefferson was quaint. Sunnyside (both road and community) were very nice, with some nice climbs--and OMGP0N1ES!

Wildlife: numerous goldfinches, turkey buzzards, a doe and a 2-point buck..

Food and water: Forgot to eat lunch before we left, so I had to stop and munch a couple of miles out. Altogether, ate 1 Lucerne granola bar, 1 Quaker Oats granola bar, 2 Wal-Mart granola bars (pretty good, actually -- Honey & Oats); drank 2.5 liters of water and 1 liter of Powerade.

Wardrobe: the usual (red this time).

Technical: The ride was good. There were a couple of times when I wished for my factory granny gear, but I made it. And again, having the higher gearing really made the descents and rollers nice. I hit 49.1 coming down 12th Street. I'm liking the Capreo more and more.

Forgot to top off all the batteries last night. I like the new DiNotte 5w headlight for daytime use. Used the eTrex GPS again, which performed well (except that I forgot to charge those batteries, too -- argh!).

Weather Conditions: Mostly to partly cloudy, intermittent westerly and northwesterly breezes. Humidity around 50%.

7/23/2007
(Mon)

68.73

04:51:28

47.80

14.10

0

16

485

2,232

Min: 66
Avg: 71
Max: 76

224

3992

0

Road: Hills

Catrike Road
Trike

Team Catrike

Comments: Commute, errands, and a trip to CHAOS to have lunch with my wife.

After lunch, an impromptu metric!

Metric #12
Total time: 05:30 (approx.)

Rode out Brush College Road to Zena, then through Bethel and McCoy to Perrydale. Rode north on Broadmead Road to Ballston Road, then west to DeJong Road. After a brief jog west, I rode northeast on Hwy 18 to Oldfield Road and up to Glacial Erratic State Park. I followed the same route home.

Had a stiff headwind outbound that became a lovely tailwind for most of the return trip.

Clover fields were in full bloom and smelled heavenly. On the return leg, the silence of the tailwind allowed me to hear the wind blowing through the wheat as I kept pace with puffs of wind rippling through the fields of gold.

Also had a beautiful sunset on the return leg. The fields around Bethel were magically illuminated with the warm, golden glow of late afternoon sunlight.

Capping off the scenic beauty were two screaming twilight descents: into Zena (34 mph avg for 1.2 miles, peak of 44.3 mph) and into Brush College (29.0 mph avg for 1.7 miles, peak of 38.6 mph). There was much whooping as I went....

A very fine ride.

Technical: Had eTrex GPS again, as Edge 305 is still in the shop. The more I use the eTrex, the more I like it. This was the first long ride, and I actually used for navigation a couple of times, as I have topos for the area loaded in. Unfortunately, I had turned tracking off and forgot to start it until I got to Bethel, but it still kept basic stats, which was nice. But one of the nicest things about it was the backlighting. My speedometer isn't backlit, but by using the eTrex map display with current speed showing, nighttime descents became a lot safer as I could monitor my speed AND also preview the next few hundred feet of road on the screen.

Continued to use the Capreo. I still like it, but after today's ride, I will be using the factory gearing for Oregon Bicycle Ride. I had been debating which one to use. The Capreo did well so long as the grade was less than about 5-6%, but on steeper climbs, I had to stop periodically, as it was just too much to keep a cadence above 80 with that gearing. I think I might be able to build my leg strength over time to be able to use the Capreo for lots of climbing, but not in time for OBR.

Ordered three new tires: 2 35-406 Marathon Plus tries for the front and a 47-406 MP for the back. The front tires still have a bit of tread, but the back is almost slick. I'll see how they wear, but will probably change them out just before OBR.

The DiNotte 5w headlight is absolutely freakin' awesome! In daylight (flash mode), oncoming drivers see me very clearly. And at night, the flash mode lights up signs almost 1/4 mile away. I have it behind my front fairing, so the whole fairing is illuminated like a spaceship. The fairing illumination doesn't cause me any problem except at higher speeds when I need the best possible night vision. I turned it off for those two descents for this reason and used just the Sigma lights. But on nighttime city streets and anywhere in daylight, you can't beat it.

Wildlife spotted: a bat (on the way home in the evening), redtail hawk, three deer (including a very cute fawn), swallows, goldfinches, mourning doves.

Non-wildlife: the usual cows and horses, plus OMGPONIES! and three adorable fat little burros. And llamas. And goats. And sheep.

Food and water: five Wal-Mart granola bars, a pkg of peanut butter crackers, and a box of raisins; almost 4 liters of water. Should have taken more food (despite eating a good lunch). Should have taken Powerade.

Wardrobe: the usual (neon yellow). Took Gore jacket, but didn't need it. Used amber lens until Brush College descent (getting too dark).

Photos

Weather Conditions: Mostly cloudy, dry except a couple of sprinkles (despite some very ominous clouds in the afternoon), steady westerly winds at about 10 mph.

7/24/2007
(Tue)

12.91

00:53:28

31.00

14.36

0

13

124

235

Min: 74
Avg: 75
Max: 77

224

750

0

Road: Flat

Catrike Road
Trike

Team Catrike

Comments: Commute to salle.

Rode out Salem Parkway to Hazelgreen and back to the salle, then home. Corrected max grade = 5%

Weather Conditions: Partly cloudy, muggy. Northerly wind 10-13 mph.

7/25/2007
(Wed)

3.78

00:19:34

17.75

11.59

0

2

196

46

Min: 70
Avg: 75
Max: 81

224

194

0

Road: Flat

Catrike Road
Trike

Team Catrike

Comments: Commute to salle and back

Weather Conditions: Clear, variable breezes.

7/27/2007
(Fri)

24.78

01:45:57

30.40

14.00

0

3

299

374

Min: 84
Avg: 84
Max: 85

224

1439

0

125

145

0

Road: Flat

Catrike Road
Trike

Team Catrike

Comments: Commute to salle, plus Pratum loop.

Tried some different things with HRM today. Warmed up gradually to about 125 bpm (by Cordon Road), then kept HR 126-136 bpm until back at the same spot on the loop, when I began my cooldown. This is based on "The High Performance Heart" by Maffetone and Mantell.

Based on an n of 1, I'm impressed. I had a good workout, but finished feeling great -- invigorated, even. My average speed dropped a little to 15.79 for the active part of the ride. Will be interesting to see long-term results....

Technical: My Edge 305 arrived back today from repair. Yay!

Also got the Brunton Solar Roll that I ordered. This is a 4.5-watt weatherproof flexible solar panel. It fits pretty nicely loosely strapped to the top of my Arkel Tailrider. Test ride today went very well. Even in early evening sun, it still ran my Edge 305 and even managed to increase the charge on it a bit. So far, I'm very impressed.

Weather Conditions: Clear, dry, light breezes. Very pleasant.

7/28/2007
(Sat)

83.90

05:58:26

47.20

14.00

0

10

480

3,198

Min: 65
Avg: 75
Max: 78

224

6528

0

121

160

0

Road: Hills

Catrike Road
Trike

Team Catrike

Comments: Metric #13
Thermometer ride
2nd best weekly mileage ever
total time: 7:50

Rode with oregonkc (his first metric this year, and his longest ride ever as an adult). I rode out to his house, and from there we rode north through Salem to Salem Parkway and up to Keizer Station. We continued north to Quinaby Road, and then west to Wheatland Road, where we stopped for a snack.

While stopped, two ambulances from two different agencies went by running code to Salem Hospital. A few minutes later, a succession of fire vehicles began to drive by returning to quarters. We figured there must have been a wreck up the road. We were right.

At Wheatland and Brooklake, there was a (loaded) cement truck vs. passenger car wreck. Nasty looking, but the paper said no fatalities (yet -- one person critical). The sheriff's deputies wouldn't let us squeeze past the accident scene, so we had to detour 5 miles.

The detour only added about 4.5 miles to our ride, so that wasn't too bad. What was bad were the other vehicles: a somewhat-close call with a double dump truck, followed by a hazardous traffic backup on River Road just south of Waconda Road because of another incident (this one involving an old John Deere tractor sliding off a flatbed trailer mid-lane and a small crane attempting to lift it back on -- all with no flaggers) combined with... a combine traveling down the road. We decided to alter our detour and get off River Road as soon as possible.

We turned left on Waconda, and it was a lovely road, despite the chipseal, with some very fine orchards. Soon we were back on course on Wheatland Road. We cut through Willamette Mission State Park and hopped on the ferry. We ran into a friendly couple cycling on the other side of the river and warned them of the wreck. The wife cast envious looks at my Catrike.

We stopped for a snack at Maud Williamson State Park, and then headed west on Lafayette Highway, past the manure lagoon and past Hopewell. We rolled north on Webfoot Road, then jogged west on Fairview Road, stopping to take a photo of the old Fairview School.

Then it was over the hill with a nice descent into Amity. A quick stop at the market to get a bottle of chocolate milk (Wilcox Old Fashioned -- yum!) and a quart of Gatorade for later, and we were on our way west on Bellevue Road.

We eventually turned south on Cristiansen Road, which was new to me. It proved to be a very fine cycling road, with good pavement and respectable farmsteads. We turned south on Dejong Road and headed for Ballston and home.

In Ballston, I learned that the general store is, in fact, still a goin' concern, selling ice cream and cold drinks, among other things (but is closed Mondays). I resolved to make the store a destination for a future ride. We stopped briefly for me to tighten to rattling screws on the TailSok.

From Ballston, we followed the same route as my Monday metric, stopping for a snack at Bethel Church.

The fields were every bit as beautiful as they were on Monday, with lots of threshing and haying going on. The clover smelled wonderful, and the raptors were enjoying the harvest activity at the expense of the various field creatures.

The exhilaration of the descent on Brush College was dimmed somewhat because a car got between my partner and I, preventing me from passing either. I at least got the pleasure of incredulous looks from the passengers in the car as I drafted the car.

Had a close call at the gas station at the end of Brush College due to a older gentleman turning left in front of me while staring at the gas station price board instead of bothering to look for oncoming traffic.

State Street received a pavement overlay this week, and is now smooth from downtown to 12th Street! Hooray!

I monitored my HR closely today, as I did yesterday. However, I re-read the section on The High Performance Heart on determining one's anaerobic threshold and decided to revise mine up to 141, giving me a range of 131 to 141. It proved to be a good choice, and accurate, too. My average HR was only 121 today, but that was to stay with my riding partner.

Using the HRM resulted in a very different ride when climbing. Even though I still ended up going anaerobic on climbs over 5% (unavoidable with my current gearing), I did not have to stop on any of the climbs today. Overall, I just felt so much better. Still only a sample size of 2, but I'm happy with what I seeing already.

Technical: Trikey performed very well today. I used the Solar Roll again today with the GPS as a test. It kept it fully charged all day long. Next test will be with a AA battery charger on a metric.

Oiled the chain this morning (ah, silence!). Forgot to top off the Air Zound, which resulted in me using the last of the horn on the Brush College close call. Oops.

Food and water: 2.5 liters of water, 1 liter of Powerade, 1 liter of Gatorade, 1 pint of Wilcox Old Fashioned chocoalte milk (made with real cream!), 1 Quaker granola bar, 2 pkgs peanut butter crackers, plus 2 pints of 2% chocolate milk and a pint of Gatorade at home before the last 11 miles. Felt slightly hungry on Brush College.

Wardrobe: the usual (red jersey). Put on sunblock at Clear Lake fire station, but didn't put quite enough on my arms.

Wildlife: redtail hawks, osprey (mating pair with chick!), various other creatures. Also had a butterfly bounce off my beard at 20 mph. It seemed unharmed.

Weather Conditions: Mostly to partly cloudy, dry. Westerly breeze in late afternoon.

7/29/2007
(Sun)

68.80

04:30:23

38.70

15.20

0

11

524

1,869

Min: 68
Avg: 72
Max: 74

224

5456

0

128

150

0

Road: Rolling

Catrike Road
Trike

Team Catrike

Comments: Metric #14
First-ever back-to-back metrics
Most metrics in a 7-day period (3)

The Howell Prairie Road metric

Rode out State to Four Corners and cut south to Macleay Road and Culver Drive. Culver was a nice climb (new road to me). It became Ganon, then 71st.

I turned down Jordan Street somewhat dubiously, as it looked more like a driveway that a street. It turned out to be a nice road that I followed to the railroad, where I headed south on the improbably named Dumore Street. This brought me into Shaw and the southernmost point on my ride.

I headed north from Shaw on Howell Prairie Road. I played leapfrog with a minivan that kept stopping to let the kids pick up cans and bottles by the side of the road. The pastoral views were quite pleasant. I said hello to the burros at the turn to Macleay as I rode by and then dropped down to State and the prairie proper. Some nice motorist (possibly the same minivan) provided a rear escort on the descent.

I continued north on Howell Prairie Rd. As soon as I dropped down off the ridge, a good headwind kicked in at a steady 10-15 mph. The north wind was a consistent feature for the rest of the ride.

At Silverton Road, I jogged east to pick up Shannon Road in order to minimize repeated roads. Shannon became Scism Road (really!), and then North Howell Road (after another job east). And then North Howell dumped into Saratoga Road -- one of the prettiest roads in this part of the valley.

I followed Saratoga/Church Rd. to Mt. Angel, where I picked up Marquam Road and headed to... Marquam. I rode past Trinity Lutheran Church, which appears to be something of a landmark in an area that is historically German Catholic.

Just before Marquam Road jogged south and became Drake Road, I thought I had been teleported to Iowa -- just for a few minutes. There were dense cornfields close on both sides of the narrow road. All I could see was corn. I could even smell it.

Drake narrowed a bit and lost its road paint. The pavement was a little rough, but still better than many of Salem's city streets. I stopped and tightened up a number of loose bolts on the TailSok frame to preserve my sanity.

I breezed through Marquam, but there appears to be a pub worth a future visit. I misread my GPS cue and took the wrong fork. I quickly realized my error aand backtracked the 1/4 mile to Marquam. The right road, Canby-Marquam Hwy, proved to be much more pleasant.

A right turn on Monte Cristo Road (I'm not making this up!) defined the northeast corner of my day's odyssey. It also changed the headwind to a crosswind, which was a welcome relief. Trikey does well in a crosswind, even benefiting slightly if the wind is slightly aft.

Monte Cristo Rd was a nice set of rolling hills, with up- and downgrades in the 4-8% range, which provided the top speed of the ride. The road ended at the Monitor Bible Church, where I paused for a snack. I noticed that the original sign for the church said Nidaros Community Church -- Norwegians missing home must have settled there.

I rode Barlow Road into Monitor. This is not the Barlow Road -- merely the road to Barlow (to the north), although there is a connection to Sam Barlow, for whom the famous road was named.

Monitor also needs a return visit. It's hard to explain why, but it does....

I continued west through McKee. Not much left of McKee -- I couldn't even see the site of McKee School. Sounds like more exploration when I go back to Monitor....

Monitor-McKee Road seemed interminable. The surroundings changed from farms and orchards and rolling hills to flatland with greenhouses and nursery stock. Blech. Boring.

Finally, I arrived at Howell Prairie Road again. I zipped north a hundred yards to where Howell Prairie met 99W so I could honestly say I had ridden the whole road in one day. Then I headed south and for home.

The wind was at my back, and the miles began to fly by. My average speed began to steadily climb (it was at 14.5 at this point). The north wind pushed me down Howell Prairie Road to Pratum -- almost 12 miles -- at an average speed of 18.0 mph.

The same shepherd-ish dog chased me just south of Central Howell. He got Halt this time, but he was a little too far away so he only got a small taste. That dog really does not like trikes!

At Pratum, my tailwind became a crosswind again as I took Sunnyview Road (past the buffalo) to Cordon, and then Cordon south to State. At State, I started my cooldown and cruised on home, arriving just in time for bacon pancakes (it's a Norwegian thing -- excellent post-ride supper).

Technical: Note to self: put Loc-Tite on every nut and screw you can find before OBR....

Today was the first time I used the route function of the Edge 305. Unfortunately, I didn't realize that I had somehow loaded the route in reverse. I didn't catch it until after Four Corners, as that part of the route was the same. I ended up stopping and re-ordering the remaining 95 waypoints. It took about 10 minutes, but it was worth it. The route function allowed me to just ride and enjoy the scenery, as the Edge prompted me for turns in a surprisingly user-friendly fashion. I will definitely use this feature again on longer rides.

Heart rate: My avg HR (excluding warmup and cooldown) was 135. The graph is very steady, as I used the HR alert feature of the Edge. There were times when I had to hold back, but I never felt like I was running out of gas. Climbs were problematic, as I almost always went anaerobic. Even so, I kept my max HR to 150. In all, I spent 2:57 in my target zone, and only 17 minutes anaerobic. Good stuff.

Wardrobe: the usual, except for my new WU jersey (Go Bearcats!)

Food and water: 1 liter of Powerade (blue), 2.5 liters of water, 2 Safeway Select granola bars (yum!), 2 pkgs Ritz cheese and crackers, 1 pkg Ritz peanut butter crackers, 2 Quaker granola bars.

Weather Conditions: Partly cloudy, dry. North wind 10-15 mph. Pleasant.

7/30/2007
(Mon)

9.29

00:57:33

23.10

9.70

0

2

180

250

Min: 71
Avg: 75
Max: 79

224

400

0

Road: Flat

Catrike Road
Trike

Team Catrike

Comments: Commute and errands, plus some test rides for the replacement tie rod I finally got from Catrike a week or so ago (old one was a bit short for the 2007 frame, but it worked).

Got the new tie rod installed and the toe-in adjusted. Might tweak the toe-in a bit more to see if I can get the bump-steering to be a bit better....

Weather Conditions: Mostly clear, dry, northerly breezes.

7/31/2007
(Tue)

3.85

00:20:38

20.30

11.20

0

2

0

62

Min: 77
Avg: 82
Max: 87

224

333

0

Road: Flat

Catrike Road
Trike

Team Catrike

Comments: commute 625.79 miles for the month! A new PB!

Weather Conditions: Clear, dry, breezy.