Training Schedule
posted by Kevin G @ 3:49pm, Sunday 13 June 2010.
I am currently training for the Mt Lemmon Marathon here is my training schedule. If anyone is interested in joining me, let me know.
Crazy Saturday Ride
posted by Kevin G @ 6:50am, Tuesday 15 December 2009.
This was supposed to be the Scout Troop 211 50 Mile Ride, as part of earning their Cycling Merit Badge. The plan was to meet @ 10 AM head out (River-Alvernon-Ft Lowell-Swan-Sunrise-Ina) and have lunch @ Chipotle (around mile 20) then finish up the rest of the loop (Ina-Silverbell-Twin Peaks-Sandario-Avra Valley-Airline-Lambert-Silverbell-Ina-Thornydale-River). The boys had been averaging 10 mph in previous rides. So, 5 hours + 1 for lunch would put us back around 4 PM. That's not how it worked out.
First, we didn't hit the road until 10:45, then seven miles in, just past Campbell on River, I sliced open the sidewall on a brand new tire. I showed the boys how to replace the tube and use a boot to keep the tube inside the tire. We decided that I should go back to Arizona Cyclist and the group (with the other adult leaders) would ride on and I would catch up with them. I rode back and got a new tire, tube, CO2, and some snacks. I changed my tire, cleaned up, and hit the road. I guess (although I wasn't sure) that I was a half hour behind them. I figured that put them about 5 miles in front of me, or just past River on Swan. I decided to stay on river to make up a bit of distance. I rode hard to Swan and up Swan sort of expecting to see them as I climbed Swan. I turned onto Sunrise, and pushed down Ina all the way to Chipotle.
The whole time I was thinking they had to be in front of me, it was past 12 and they had to be close to the lunch spot, right? When I didn't see any bikes outside Chipotle, I got out my phone. I listened to the VM from another adult. Time now 12:29. Message left @ 12:17 "Kevin we are at the top of Swan @ Sunrise" Good grief! I over shot them by 8 miles! I tried calling back to see if they had stopped for lunch there. No answer, so I rode back toward them. While I was waiting at the light @ Ina and Oracle, I saw 2 team Astana guys and a RadioShack guy going south on Oracle. I didn't recognize them, but I knew Lance was riding on Oracle earlier that day. I got back to the group where Ina and Sunrise intersect. They were changing flat number 2 at the time. It seems that they used Glenn to get from Alvernon to Swan, and took a 15 minute restroom break. So I blew right past them by staying on river to 'make up some time'. Two miles later the same kid got another flat on the same tire (flat 3). He was right by his house, and decided to bail.
We finally made it to lunch, ate and hit the road again. Needless to say it was a lot later than I had expected. The ride out Ina to Silverbell and up to Twin Peaks was uneventful. Going up the hill on Twin Peaks, a complete jerk went by honking and gesturing at everyone as he passed. Some people just don't get that the roads aren't just for them. At this point it was 3:45 and we had about 20 miles left, and about 1 hour 50 minutes of usable light. Heading up Sandario an adult leader got flat 4. The rest of the group took a small break at Marana Regional Airport while that was fixed. Heading east on Avra Valley Rd, an older boy got flat 5 and 6. Another leader and I stayed with him and sent the rest of the group on to try to make it as far as possible with the remaining light. We ran out of light on Silverbell and as we came to the CVS on Cortaro and Silverbell, saw that this is were the group decided to stop. We finished our ride there @ 6 PM. The boys spend almost 7 hours on their bikes, made it 45 miles, and learned a lot about on-road repairs. They all held up really well, and I am proud of all of them. Tonight they will receive the Cycling Merit Badges that they truly earned.
(the GPS data below is a bit messed up because of my extra miles trying to catch up, and because I forgot to turn it back on after the rest at Marana Airport)
| Name | Troop 211 '50 Miler' |
| Date | 12/12/2009 |
| Time | 03:25:54 |
| Dist | 47.04 |
| Av Spd | 13.7 |
| Mx Spd | 33.5 |
| Av HR | 149 |
| Mx HR | 186 |
| Cals | 2,463 |
| Gain | 1,247 |
Training Ride with Riley
posted by Kevin G @ 12:46pm, Sunday 15 November 2009.
Did another training ride with Riley and boys from his Troop. They did great! I think Riley is going to do really well on Saturday. He seems to understand pacing himself during a long ride.
This is also an opportunity to test out my new charts from my rides page, and make sure they work when embedded in my blog.
Ride with Riley and Troop 211 | Time 01:59:24 | Dist 24.79 mi | Av Spd 12.5 mph | Mx Spd 35.2 mph | Av HR 129 | Mx HR 186 | Cals 1,262 | Gain 333 ft |
| Name | Ride with Riley and Troop 211 |
| Date | 11/14/2009 |
| Time | 01:59:24 |
| Dist | 24.79 |
| Av Spd | 12.5 |
| Mx Spd | 35.2 |
| Av HR | 129 |
| Mx HR | 186 |
| Cals | 1,262 |
| Gain | 333 |
Got a Hotrock
posted by Kevin G @ 9:29pm, Thursday 8 October 2009.
Yesterday went downtown to what used to be Bargain Basement Bikes, just off 6th. It isn't called that anymore. Now it is RC Bicycles. They had a used Specialized Hotrock 24" out front. Riley took it for a ride around the parking lot. It is aluminum, didn't feel too heavy, and has a threadless headset (important if I want to swap the stem and handlebars). I paid $150 for it. I think it was worth it, especially since I was ready to go down to the Trek dealer and drop $319 on a MT220.
Riley and I went for a 4.5 mile ride together today. After we got back I started looking at what I'm going to do to it. It weighs in at 28 lbs, so to lighten it up I'm going to get rid of the kickstand, the knobby tires (put on some 1.5" slicks), the chain tensioners and some of the chain. I'm going to also swap out the front fork for a rigid one (suspensions eat power). It doesn't currently have a bottle cage mounted, so I'm going to put on one of my old tacx cages. We will see where that gets us.
Before pics:
Time 00:28:46 | Dist 4.56 mi | Av Spd 9.5 mph | Mx Spd 14.5 mph | Av HR 104 | Mx HR 133 | Cals 197 | Gain 194 ft |
| Name | Ride with Riley |
| Date | 10/8/2009 |
| Time | 00:28:46 |
| Dist | 4.56 |
| Av Spd | 9.5 |
| Mx Spd | 14.5 |
| Av HR | 104 |
| Mx HR | 133 |
| Cals | 197 |
| Gain | 194 |
Kids' road bikes
posted by Kevin G @ 9:21am, Wednesday 7 October 2009.
I am looking for a bike for my 11 year old. He is going to be riding in this year's 35 mile El Tour de Tucson as part of his Cycling Merit Badge requirements. I would like to get him a road bike (go figure), but it is very difficult to find kids road bikes that are affordable.
I have seen 'youth' size road bikes (ages 9-12) for $750 and up. That is a little steep. Especially when you consider that you can get a decent quality MTB in the same size for $250, and that it would only last them a few years. I tried bidding on a few XS used bikes on ebay, but they went out of our price range. I think I am going to end up getting a Trek MT220 (MTB) and putting 1" slicks on it and possibly drop bars.
If he really takes to riding, someday I would consider getting him a Felt Z24 (again, go figure). This country needs a company like Islabikes, that focuses on high quality lightweight kids bikes. Anyone want to go in on it with me?
Mt Lemmon Climb
posted by Kevin G @ 8:47am, Wednesday 7 October 2009.
Name Sunday 73 Z4 F4 Mt Lemmon | Time 05:00:20 | Dist 72.69 mi | Av Spd 14.5 mph | Mx Spd 40.3 mph | Av HR 165 | Mx HR 179 | Cals 4,867 | Gain 6,223 ft |
This was from Sunday. Great ride except for losing my Camelbak bottle before mile 10 on Lemmon, having little water and no calories for the rest of the climb, and getting a flat .36 miles from the parking lot.
Getting ready to take a rest week between Build 1 and Build 2. I am ready for El Tour's 5 hour exertion.
| Name | Sunday 73 Z4 F4 Mt Lemmon |
| Date | 10/4/2009 |
| Time | 05:00:20 |
| Dist | 72.69 |
| Av Spd | 14.5 |
| Mx Spd | 40.3 |
| Av HR | 165 |
| Mx HR | 179 |
| Cals | 4,867 |
| Gain | 6,223 |
Tuesday 24 mile Zone 3 ride
posted by Kevin G @ 8:21am, Tuesday 1 September 2009.
Name Tuesday 24 Z3 | Time 01:13:40 | Dist 24.01 mi | Av Spd 19.6 mph | Mx Spd 30.0 mph | Av HR 161 | Mx HR 176 | Cals 1,508 | Gain 700 ft |
With only 2 more weeks of base training, my avg speeds are starting to pick up in Z3. Today was real windy and I didn't expect to do this well.
| Name | Tuesday 24 Z3 |
| Date | 9/1/2009 |
| Time | 01:13:40 |
| Dist | 24.01 |
| Av Spd | 19.6 |
| Mx Spd | 30.0 |
| Av HR | 161 |
| Mx HR | 176 |
| Cals | 1,508 |
| Gain | 700 |
New GarminConnect Code
posted by Kevin G @ 4:17pm, Thursday 20 August 2009.
Thursday 18 Z1/Z2 | Time 01:01:48 | Dist 18.00 mi | Av Spd 17.5 mph | Mx Spd 27.0 mph | Av HR 148 | Mx HR 167 | Cals 1,099 | Gain 579 ft |
This is a test with my new GarminConnect code. GC totally sucks, but it is all there is now.
This was today's Zone 1/ Zone 2 ride. Nice and slow...
| Name | Thursday 18 Z1/Z2 |
| Date | 8/20/2009 |
| Time | 01:01:48 |
| Dist | 18.00 |
| Av Spd | 17.5 |
| Mx Spd | 27.0 |
| Av HR | 148 |
| Mx HR | 167 |
| Cals | 1,099 |
| Gain | 579 |
GarminConnect
posted by Kevin G @ 2:45pm, Thursday 6 August 2009.
So after scouring the web, I found a garmin-connect perl module that uses json to pull in activities from an exposed garmin service. By requesting asx/ rather than json, and explore rather than activites, I am able to get an XML file with track info for a particular user.
This XML file has some good points and at least one bad point. The good side is that all of the data fields I display in my summary are in this file, so I don't have to get some from the tracks list and some from the raw data file, the way I was doing it before. The bad side is that the username is not one of the data fields stored in the track data in this file, so I am going to have to find a new way to store these in my database, perhaps by user_id, and have a linked table with user_id and username...
Anyway, on the TCX file side, the TCX format was almost identical to the HST format, so I can grab lat/long out the same way. The TCX export service is having issues with the rides that Garmin migrated from MotionBased, and you get an error when you try to grab them. For at least one ride that was erroring, I was able to export a KML file (for google earth). I may code a fallback to grab that if the TCX isn't available.
I am going to have to make new pseudo-code for accessing the GC rides from my blog maybe with [ride-gc]123213[/ride-gc] or something...
MB Bastards!
posted by Kevin G @ 11:52am, Wednesday 5 August 2009.
Just as soon as I get the chance to do some updates to my Mobile MB code, and finish the blog embed, they close down new uploads to MotionBased!!! They have been transitioning over to Garmin Connect for a while I guess, but the XML request interfaces they had at MotionBased aren't at Garmin Connect yet (if ever). So now I have to figure out a new way to pull in new rides (rss feed link? what a hack...), and have to reprogram the ride details parse from their .tcx file format. I had it previously pulling in .hst files, but no interface exists for those anymore.
I will also probably have to generate my own graphs now, as Garmin Connect uses flash to display those. Oddly enough the graphs they produce don't overlap, you can only look at elevation OR heart Rate OR speed, but you cant look at elevation WITH speed on the same graph... lame.
- June 2010
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