Bicycle riding

[JVShocker]

Had a wonderful ride today. Left downtown, was just going to go north to the spillway, ended up circling the zoo and all the paths in Sg Co Park. Lots of bicyclists, walkers, joggers, dogs, and roller bladers out and about, too! Another 20 miles. Heard a tinging noise on the rear wheel on the way back, just a loose spoke. Tightened it as best as I could with my fingers. Usually carry my spoke tightener with me, but its in the kit bag on the mtn bike. Otherwise I would have stayed out longer. Don't know what the final temperature number was, but it was good enough for shorts and jersey today. Sitting at 117 outdoor miles for the month and LOVING this weather.

[MadDog]

Got a 21 miler on the K96 and Redbud paths this afternoon. Beautiful day for a ride. I would estimate there were easily over 100 people on the path, maybe 30 or more on their bicycles. In addition there were at least 40 dogs out for a walk.

Saw some new stuff today... encountered one three generation family out for a ride, three of them on e-bikes, and three carrying their little dogs with them. They had these little boxes that sat above the rear tire and had a wire cage that sat on top of the box to keep the dogs from jumping out. Looks like both the dogs and humans were enjoying the ride.

I also encountered my first “folder” bike today. I know Shaka has talked about his folder before, but that’s the first time I’ve actually seen one.

I also got to ride with my buddy who rides the Huffy. It was his first ride coming out of COVID recovery. He did pretty well but had lost some leg conditioning and was a little tired. He’ll be back to full speed soon I’m sure. So we were kind of putzing along about 14.5 mph when this beautiful young lady blows by me at about 20 mph. Probably about 40 and a spitting image of JV’s avatar. So I channeled my inner JV and decided to chase her down. Brilliant! I get to within about 10 yards of her when the ol brain kicks in... 1) if I catch her and go by, that will last about 10 seconds as I’d quickly Peter out and she’ll blow by me again, this time laughing. 2) if I pursue this chase I’ll leave my buddy 1/2 mile behind, so no good there, and 3) if I did pull up beside her, what would I say? I asked myself, what would JV do? He chases people down all the time. But I didn’t have an answer, so I dropped back. Oh well. Maybe JV will give me some tips?

[JVShocker]

Got a 21 miler on the K96 and Redbud paths this afternoon. Beautiful day for a ride. I would estimate there were easily over 100 people on the path, maybe 30 or more on their bicycles. In addition there were at least 40 dogs out for a walk.

Saw some new stuff today... encountered one three generation family out for a ride, three of them on e-bikes, and three carrying their little dogs with them. They had these little boxes that sat above the rear tire and had a wire cage that sat on top of the box to keep the dogs from jumping out. Looks like both the dogs and humans were enjoying the ride.

I also encountered my first “folder” bike today. I know Shaka has talked about his folder before, but that’s the first time I’ve actually seen one.

I also got to ride with my buddy who rides the Huffy. It was his first ride coming out of COVID recovery. He did pretty well but had lost some leg conditioning and was a little tired. He’ll be back to full speed soon I’m sure. So we were kind of putzing along about 14.5 mph when this beautiful young lady blows by me at about 20 mph. Probably about 40 and a spitting image of JV’s avatar. So I channeled my inner JV and decided to chase her down. Brilliant! I get to within about 10 yards of her when the ol brain kicks in... 1) if I catch her and go by, that will last about 10 seconds as I’d quickly Peter out and she’ll blow by me again, this time laughing. 2) if I pursue this chase I’ll leave my buddy 1/2 mile behind, so no good there, and 3) if I did pull up beside her, what would I say? I asked myself, what would JV do? He chases people down all the time. But I didn’t have an answer, so I dropped back. Oh well. Maybe JV will give me some tips?

You want tips? I used to chase every bicyclist down.
Rules of the road (hope I don't come across sounding like Cold too much here) ;-)

1. Chase every bicyclist down. Even if it kills you. (this is sarcasm)

2. (Let's get serious) Take your time catching them. Analyze the cadence. Are they riding big or little gear? High cadence or slow cadence. That will give you loads of info on how to proceed with the actual pass and how to proceed with the furthering of your ride ahead of them.

3. Next time you see her or anyone else that looks like this:



Please get her name and phone number for me. Address wouldn't hurt either (I'm not totally against stalking). Even if my wife says "no don't do any of that", please, PLEASE disregard anything she (my wife) says.

I don't pass girls on bicycles....my wife says I'm just too nice. I really prefer to follow.

[revenge_of_shocka_khan]

I always used to do the following:

• Catch the person in front of you and pass them.
• If they pass you back, get behind then and draft off of them.
• When they start moving their upper body in a wobbly manner, draft just a little longer.
• Hit the gas and pass them. If they are lucky enough to pass you again, they will run out of energy much quicker.
• If you get passed again, repeat the above process, except draft off of them for an extended period of time to make sure they are worn out before trying this again.

[WstateU]

You want tips? I used to chase every bicyclist down.
Rules of the road (hope I don't come across sounding like Cold too much here) ;-)

1. Chase every bicyclist down. Even if it kills you. (this is sarcasm)

2. (Let's get serious) Take your time catching them. Analyze the cadence. Are they riding big or little gear? High cadence or slow cadence. That will give you loads of info on how to proceed with the actual pass and how to proceed with the furthering of your ride ahead of them.

3. Next time you see her or anyone else that looks like this:



Please get her name and phone number for me. Address wouldn't hurt either (I'm not totally against stalking). Even if my wife says "no don't do any of that", please, PLEASE disregard anything she (my wife) says.

I don't pass girls on bicycles....my wife says I'm just too nice. I really prefer to follow.

[MadDog]

Shaka, great advice if you’re chasing some dude. Reference the girl in the pink shorts:

behind her:

beside her:

in front of her:

[JVShocker]

Could very well have been the LAST day of the year to ride in shorts and a jersey. 67 degrees. Monitored the weather all morning long so I wouldn't get caught up behind the cold front. Temps behind were about 15 degrees cooler. Almost 15 beautiful, sunny, warm miles just enjoying my music and the last really nice day (for a while?) Tomorrow it may be raining. Sitting at 131.4 for the month. I might actually reach 300 by Dec. 31 if the weather can somehow stay relatively dry during the daytime hours. Hope all are well.

[MadDog]

I’m on a distribution list for minutes of the Wichita Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory board, and there are some very cool plans on the top of the priority list. Some examples:

Expand the Prairie Spirit trail eastward through the Kellogg and I235 interchange clear to Delano, where it would connect to the Chisholm path.

Expand the Prairie Spirit trail westward to Cheney

Build a bridge over Kellogg to continue the Redbud expansion east with plans to ultimately connect the Redbud to the Prairie Spirit trail near Iola

This is exciting stuff if you’re a cyclist in Wichita!

[JVShocker]

I’m on a distribution list for minutes of the Wichita Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory board, and there are some very cool plans on the top of the priority list. Some examples:

Expand the Prairie Spirit trail eastward through the Kellogg and I235 interchange clear to Delano, where it would connect to the Chisholm path.

Expand the Prairie Spirit trail westward to Cheney

Build a bridge over Kellogg to continue the Redbud expansion east with plans to ultimately connect the Redbud to the Prairie Spirit trail near Iola

This is exciting stuff if you’re a cyclist in Wichita!

That is simply REMARKABLE news. Thanks for sharing. Any chance work begins simultaneously on both projects this spring? Any news on possible paving of railroad corridor east of Woodlawn?
edit: looked up the info myself. Ways for people to attend the meeting virtually. Can email questions/comments in advance. Have to give this some thought.

[MoValley John]

Finally am getting dialed in on the trainer and enjoying it. Used Zwift, didn't care for it and wo y pay their exorbitant amount of monthly fees. Used a couple others and finally figured out that I really enjoy simply using Wahoo to read my heart, cadence and speed, and follow the GCN training videos online. Today I did a half hour workout, averaged 17 mph and was absolutely beat. They do HIIT training, its supposed to increase your endurance cadence and speed.

I averaged 17 MPH today including the relaxed pace warmup and cool down. I'm gonna keep working out on it, I like it a lot.
Screenshot_20201210-183353_Wahoo.jpg

[JVShocker]

Finally am getting dialed in on the trainer and enjoying it. Used Zwift, didn't care for it and wo y pay their exorbitant amount of monthly fees. Used a couple others and finally figured out that I really enjoy simply using Wahoo to read my heart, cadence and speed, and follow the GCN training videos online. Today I did a half hour workout, averaged 17 mph and was absolutely beat. They do HIIT training, its supposed to increase your endurance cadence and speed.

I averaged 17 MPH today including the relaxed pace warmup and cool down. I'm gonna keep working out on it, I like it a lot.
Screenshot_20201210-183353_Wahoo.jpg

Is it noisy? That's all I can remember about having a trainer one winter.



That and replacing tires/rotating front back tires....Glad to hear your stamina came back.

[MadDog]

Yeah JV, it would sure be nice if they would pave the Redbud from K96 to Woodlawn. I always search the minutes for that, but it’s never on the list. (:

I’m interested in that Delano path. They’ve referred to it in several sets of minutes, but I’ve never seen it on a map yet. That could be key to tie east and west Wichita together.

[revenge_of_shocka_khan]

Shaka, great advice if you’re chasing some dude. Reference the girl in the pink shorts:

behind her:

beside her:

in front of her:

I'd rather be behind her. I used to like to do that when I ran. It's more fun that way. Only problem with a girl on a bike vs. a girl running is that you get the ENTIRE picture when you're watching them run.

[revenge_of_shocka_khan]

Rode 22 miles Thursday night, 44 for the week, trying for 25-30 tomorrow. They are forecasting 35-40 mph wind gusts Sunday afternoon with a low of 34 Monday morning.

[revenge_of_shocka_khan]

Speaking of runners, I knew a lady runner, a quite good lady runner in Houston. She was about 5' 2" and couldn't have weighed 100 pounds. And that girl liked to party.

I had a thing going on with my buddy who managed the gym at work. I volunteered to be in the support team for the Houston Fine Arts 5K (our company was one of the lead sponsors) and he helped me with the MS-150 - recruiting riders, helping them get ready and so forth.

After we were acquired by AIG in 2001, the buildings started emptying out. In early 2002, he reached out to me and asked me if I could recruit someone for the team. We had lost of our employees due to the merger, so I agreed to help. I asked this lady runner if she would participate.

The week of the race (actually Thursday) she stayed out all night Thursday, went to work on Friday (she was a teacher) and only had Friday night to rest and get ready for the run.

On that day, she ran a 17 minute 5K (she was in her early 50's, by the way). She apologized to me for not getting enough rest, she confided to me that she would have been down in the 16's if she just hadn't stayed out all night.

She ran over two minutes faster than any of the men on the team.

Please don't try to follow a runner that fast, it might kill you.....try to find one that will at least give you a challenge, though.