Bike Shop Monday

Big Nellie is cursed. About every other summer, Big Nellie ends up at the bike shop for repairs for weeks. During the last few rides, the steering on Big Nellie has been erratic. I can’t quite explain it but it is definitely not right. Sometimes it feels as if the front wheel is going to disconnect from the bike. Other times it seems like the front wheel is riding in a rut in the road. So I took the bike to my local bike shop. There was a long line for repairs, this being a holiday and good weather.

As happened yesterday, the mechanic could find nothing obviously wrong. So he took the bike for a test ride. I thought I would have to give him some tips because riding a long wheel base recumbent is entirely different from riding a regular bike. This mechanic however worked for several years in a bike shop in Portland Maine where he frequently worked on Tour Easy recumbents. I couldn’t believe my luck.

After his test ride he still wasn’t sure what I was finding wrong with the steering so we decided to do some exploratory surgery. (Frankly, I am scared to ride the thing at this point.) It could be a problem with the headset, the bearings or the fork inside the tubing of the bike. Hopefully, he won’t find something fatal like a crack in the head tube. Fingers crossed.

I went home and decided to go for a ride on The Mule. The Mule has conventional pedals and straps and after five miles I missed the Speedplay Frogs on Big Nellie. So I decided to ride to REI and get anothe pair. It was in the 90s and my ride took me across Alexandria, a hilly ride. I used the new bicycle lane on King Street. It’s painted a bright green and looks pretty spiffy.

REI was pretty busy. I tried some Keen cycling sandals while waiting for a sales person. They looked really wide but felt horrible on my feet. Luckily a sales person appeared because I was in buy mode and lord knows what I would have found to haul home if I waited any longer. The clerk went looking for the Frogs and came back empty handed.

Fail.

I rode home but stopped at The Dairy Godmother in the Del Ray neighborhood of Alexandria. I consumed a root beer float. They didn’t have any more vanilla ice cream so they made my float with caramel heath bar ice cream. I am pretty sure this concoction is on the short list to be classified as a controled substance by the Food and Drug Administration.

When I got home, I ordered some Frogs online. (For some reason, REY doesn’t include them in its online catalogue. Their loss.)

Tomorrow it’s back to work. By bike, of course.

To the Park the Long Way

The idea was to go to Meridian Hill Park to hang out with my friend Florencia. Trouble was that we were meeting at 3 and I had a day to kill.

I decided to go for a bike ride. I’ll bet you saw that coming, didn’t you?

I took off aboard Big Nellie, my Tour Easy recumbent, heading north along the Mount Vernon Trail toward the city. The weather was perfect: warm, low humidity, a refreshing breeze, a puffy cloud interrupting the blue, blue sky. The trail was somewhat crowded but I made a reasonable pace. Now and then I came to a crawl waiting for a cluster of weekenders to step aside. Just north of Old Town Alexandria a car did a u-turn across the trail. (For some reason cars do this a lot when any point in the road would suffice.) At this point in the trail there are railroad tracks on the right. As I came to a near stop for the car, a cyclists came up behind me and passed me, crossing over the left rail in the process. The cyclists was a MAMIL, middle aged man in lycra. Actually, since he was clearly in his sixties, he probably qualified as an OMIL (the “O” being for “old”) but OMIL doesn’t quite roll of the tonque.

As the car left he began to cross back in front of me. I glanced to the left, saw his skinny front tire, and thought “He’s goin’ down in three, two, one…” BAM! His tire caught along the rail and down he went directly in front of me. He didn’t roll or skid he just stick the landing on his shoulder, hip and knee.

MOAN. “Entirely my fault. My fault.” Must have been a RABIL (retired altar boy in lycra).

I came to a stop a couple of inches from his sad repose. Two sets of walkers came along. One guy said, “Don’t move, mate.” AMT! Aussie Medical Technician.

We waited for the OMIL to get himself together and watched as he sheepishly called the wife for transport home.

I rode on weaving in and out of the trail peeps. I stopped at Gravelley Park to use a green room and watch a plane take off then headed into the city on the 14th Street Bridge. I expected that the city streets would be congested with the Rolling Thunder Memorial Day event so I stayed along the river. Ohio Drive and Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway were both barricaded so I could ride in the street all the way to Georgetown.

After a brief dance with the cars underneath the Whitehurst Freeway I picked up the Capital Crescent Trail and headed to Bethesda. The trail was crowded as expected. Dodging the walkers, bladers, runners, and cyclists took my mind off the fact that the steering on Big Nellie was messed up. One second it felt like the front wheel was going to leave me behind, the next it felt like the wheel was tracking in a rut. I gave it a good looking over in Bethesda but I could see nothing wrong.

After eating a slice of pizza at Bethesda Bagels (their pizza is as good as their bagels and that’s saying something) I took the Georgetown Branch Trail to City Bikes in Chevy Chase. There a mechanic (Travis, I think. I am awful with names) took Big Nellie for spin. He said the steering felt fine to him.

On I rode reaching the trestle over Rock Creek Park. I love the view from the treetops here.

Since I had about two hours to kill at this point, I headed north on Beach Drive in Rock Creek Park. I hadn’t ridden this road in ages and it is a beautiful place to roll. I took a wrong turn but went with the flow and ended up climbing out of the park into Kensington MD. Once there I checked my map app and found my way back to Beach Drive. I took it north all the way to Garrett Park MD. There was method in my route. I figured that if my steering failed she could come and get me at our friends’ Rulon and Heather’s place in Garrett Park.

My steering didn’t fail so I did a uey and headed back toward DC.

Since I was now going slightly downhill my pace picked up. The sketchy steering made this a tense ride but I made it without problem. I stopped to refill my water bottles and headed out of the park up the gradual hill to the Mount Pleasant neighborhood. I kept pace with a woman on a road bike and thought that the new Speedplay Frog pedals made climbing infinitely easier.

Once I was our of the park I proceeded to get lost. I think this may be my greatest cycling skill.

I knew that all I needed to do was find 16th Street and I could find Meridian Hill Park so I focused on that task. In short order I was at the park. An old man was playing chess. Groups of people where picnicing on the grass. Bench sitters were people watching. Frisbees were being tossed. Dogs were being watched. A woman in a bridal gown carried yellow flowers as her soon to be husband stood along side in his suit. The drum circle beat out a cacophonous rhythm.

I was a half hour early so I hung out alone and relaxed. After a while I spotted a woman wearing what looked like dark pink-ish tight pants. Flor? No way. I’ve never seen her in colors. So I hung out some more.

A little after three, I duck walked my bike around the park and soon pink tights lady stood up and waved. It was Flor after all. She promptly jumped aboard Big Nellie. Flor is small and Nellie is big so her ride lasted only a few yards. I think Flor secretly wants a recumbent. It would probably just fit in her efficiency condo. (Not.)

More friends arrived. Food came out. Conversation ensued. Sun shine. Breezes blew. The slack liners did their thing a few feet away. Flor’s rock climbing friend Jonna showed up with a surprise. She was on the nest as they used to say in the moving picture shows. I guessed she was six months along but she is due in three weeks. Go girl!

We hung out for three hours and then it was time to hit the road so that I’d get home before night fall.

The ride down 16th Street was surprisingly devoid of motorcycle traffic. That didn’t make it any less interesting because Big Nellie’s steering was turning my downhill glide into an adventure.

I made it home without incident, 64 miles for the day. Along the way, Big Nellie’s odometer turned 36,000 miles. Maybe the steering is dying of old age.

So I declare the day a success. Perfect weather. Windy roads in Rock Creek Park. Friends and breezes in the park.

Now it’s time to take Big Nellie to the bike doctor for exploratory surgery.

Pix of the day are here.

Very Interesting but…

I have now logged about 90 miles using Speedplay Frog pedals on Big Nellie my Tour Easy recumbent. This is a progress report on my frogitude.

Frogs are a kind of clipless pedal system. A cleat on the sole of your shoe clicks into a fitting on the pedal. This supposedly gives you more pedalling efficiency. Frogs are reputed to be the kindest pedals for your knees. Since I have knees of glass this is an important consideration. Frogs are knee friendly because they have free float. This means you foot can swivel a whole lot without detaching your shoe from the pedal.

Years ago I tried a Look pedal system on my old Trek 1200 road bike. The Look cleats allowed lots of float. I used them for an entire summer and never much liked them. The float felt like I was pedalling on ice.

Most recumbent riders says that clipless cleats should be put as far back on your shoe as possible. (Some recumbent riders even expand the holes in the sole with a Dremel tool so that the cleat can go even farther back.) I positioned the cleats all the way back and went for a 20-mile ride.

For some reason this cleat position aggravated a nerve condition in my left foot. For my second 15-mile ride, I moved the left cleat forward a bit. This felt better. So I rode the bike to work on Wednesday and Thursday.

Bottom line: I like Frogs. They feel like they aren’t there. This is great until you need to get a foot on the ground and your brain says, “Oh, yeah, I gotta unclip.” I haven’t pulled an Arte Johnson side flop yet but I’ve come close three or four times.

(Side flops are not that big a deal on a recumbent because you have much less farther to fall.)

Another aspect of Frogs that I like is the fact that I don’t have to expend any energy keeping my feet on the pedals. This is not much of an issue on a conventional bike when the pedals are directly beneath you but on a recumbent your feet are out in front of you. With my old platform pedals, I was unconsciously curling my toes to maintain pressure on the pedals. No need to do that with Frogs. My feet are attached.

The forward position of my feet on Big Nellie means that my feet are not bearing much weight, unlike a conventional bike. This means that I don’t get that ice feeling that I disliked with the Look pedals.

My pedalling is a little more efficient making me about a mile per hour faster. This is a nice little bonus.

One thing I wasn’t expecting was the fact that being bound to the pedals makes the bike feel different. Big Nellie already felt like a street luge when going downhill but the Frogs extend that feeling to the flats. Going around curves is a gas.

It looks like the Frogs are a keeper. I need to do a long ride to see if the nerve problem is gone but for now I am pretty happy. I’ll probably try them on Little Nellie, my Bike Friday New World Tourist next.

So as Arte Johnson said, “Very interesting…”

Bike to Work Day T-Shirt.

I missed Bike to Work Day (BTWD) this year. Instead I drove 8 hours in a rainstorm to go to my son’s college graduation. (The graduation was great. The rain not so much.) I signed up for BTWD anyway because I bike to work most other days (like today). Lucky for me I could still pick up the 2014 BTWD t-shirt at the Arlington County Commuter Store across the street from work. I now have red, light blue, dark blue, white, orange, light green, dark green and white BTWD t-shirts in addition to this coral one. (I missed out on the year with the purple shirt.)

Most of my BTWD t-shirts are stretched beyond wearability. I still wear them though because I need to maintain my reputation as a fashion disaster. My red one is currently doing service as a shop rag.

Back to Clipless

Today I returned to my back doctor. For the last five days my back has felt pretty normal. My back doctor checked out my MRI. I have a moderate bulging disc that is the likely cause of my recent problems.

We don’t know if my back is getting better or the medications are keeping me out of pain. There is only one way to find out. I am gradually tapering my medications for the next week or so. If my back problems return, I’ll go back to the doctor for a cortisone shot. If they don’t return, I’ll call the doctor and tell him thanks.

Among my recurring symptoms are a burning sensation in my left hip and an aching sensation in my left knee. They hurt enough that they wake me up at anout 5 every morning. So I decided to give clipless pedals a try. I know three people who use Speedplay Frog pedals and they all swear by them.

Yesterday I got the left pedal off my bike and installed a Frog pedal in its place. The right pedal simply would no t budge. After my doctor appointment, I took Big Nellie to Spokes Etc. at Belle Haven. Fred, one of the mechanics there, has been working on my bikes for over 25 years. He pulled out a long pedal wrench and had the old pedal off in less than 20 seconds.

When I got the bike home, I took the bike out for a trial ride. I did 20 miles and didn’t fall over once. I think I need to tweak the left pedal cleat because my foot was a little achy after the ride.

I liked the feel of these pedals after only ten miles. My hope is the foot ache will go away when I move the cleat forward a bit.

Driving Me Mad

The last two weekends have been packed with driving. Mrs. Rootchopper and I drove to Indianapolis to fetch our daughter after her freshman year at Butler. It takes about 10 hours each way so it is quite a slog. This weekend we drove 8-ish hours to Saratoga Springs New York to see our son graduate from Skidmore College. It was a cool, breezy day. The ceremony was held in the Saratoga Performing Arts Center. The last time I was there was 41 years ago to see the Beach Boys and their opening act, Jackson Browne. It was my first concert.

The graduation dragged on, as they always seem to. We took pictures like crazy and yelled when our boy’s name was announced. Each graduate writes their name on a card. An announcer then reads their name as they move to get their diplomas. (Actually, they already received their diplomas beforehand. The ceremony was for show.) My son has an Irish first name that is often butchered so he wrote his name phonetically for the announcer. He’s clever.

The man sitting next to me asked if my grandson was graduating. OUCH!

We are all very proud of him. My son that is, not the dude who thought I was a grandpa.

If anybody needs a newly minted market researcher, drop me a line and I will hook you up with a talented young man.

During the drive back to campus, I spotted one the faculty members riding her bike in full academic robes. I so wish I had a camera but I was busy trying not to run anybody over. I am pretty sure the Skidmore community appreciates that.

After a day of hanging out, my daughter and I drove back to DC. We arrived just before midnight. Less than 18 hours later she was on a plane to Paris.

In two weekends, I covered over 2,000 miles in a car. I can hear my bikes calling my name,

It’s driving me mad.

Critters

On the way home from work I saw a two geese waddling across the trail underneath the railroad bridge. Between them were some fuzzy green goslings. In front of them two mallards were waddling with a bunch of ducklings stumbling along behind them. These are the first goslings and ducklings of 2014 on the Mount Vernon Trail.

Later a big black snake slithered across the trail.

Near the Belle Haven nest, an osprey fought to maintain his perch in the face of a gusting wind.

Next up, in Belle Haven park, I spotted a big dead fish on the side of the trail.

Another half mile later, a pair of migrating touring cyclists were heading north.

What did you see on your car commute?

Flor Weather: T-shirt. Shorts. Water. Recumbent. Go!

T-shirt. Shorts. Water. Recumbent. Go!

I love commuting when I don’t have to deal with layers of clothing.

I was out the door and headed toward Alexandria for a visit to my finger doctor. I had surgery to remove a cyst and a bone spur on my right middle finger. Thanks to the motorists of the DMV I was able to assure the doctor that my middle finger is now fully operational. He was pleased with the result and said in a few months all the swelling and numbness would be completely gone. I was good to go.

The finger doctor was only one of several on my medical to-do list. He was a professional and easy to deal with but I am glad I now have him in my rear view mirror.

The next few medical visits were supposed to be: MRI for my back tomorrow. Back doctor on Monday. Eye doctor on Tuesday.

It looks like I may now wiff on all three.

The eye doctor had to be rescheduled to August because the calendar on my stupid iPhone did not sync up with my work laptop. So I scheduled a meeting involving 3 consulatants from out of state for the same time.

The back doctor appointment is contingent on getting the MRI.

I arrived home to find a copy of my insurance company’s approval for the MRI. I was dated May 7. It was a copy of a fax. They cc’ed my primary care physician and my back doctor. I checked my home voice mail. The radiology center called to tell me that they haven’t received authorization so they canceled my appointment for tomorrow. So my MRI and my Monday doctor appointment will get rescheduled. This is the second time I’ve rescheduled because of clerical problems.

I’d be really pissed about this except for the fact that for the last two days my back has been almost painfree. Pain in my left hip and left knee at 5 in the morning are a reminder that all is still not well. It may be that the NSAIDs and muscle relaxants are helping. I am certain that riding my recumbent is a postive factor as well. Something about the mechanics of riding a bike while pushing my lower back into the mesh seat back seems to relax my lower back.

So I may still be dealing with this back thing until after Memorial Day. Then I can go back to the skin doctor and the dentist.

As for the ride home, it was hot and muggy so the Mount Vernon Trail was not very crowded. (I call this Flor weather. My friend Flor lives for it. Pretty much everyone else I know hates it.) Nothing beats ridng home in hot weather. I was going to drive to work so that I could go to the MRI place tomorrow, but now I’m going to have to ride instead.

T-shirt. Shorts. Water. Recumbent. Go!

P.S. On the way to work, I watched as a guy on a water board went flying as he hit the wake of the tow boat that was pulling him.

Need Me Some Elbow Room

It has been a busy couple of days. Sunday brought lovely weather. So I went for a 45-mile bike ride. That was followed up by a one-hour mow the lawn festival. Then Mrs. Rootchopper, our daughter, and I drove into DC to see Elbow play at the 9:30 club. Just as they did a couple of years ago they put on a fantastic show. And just as two years ago, Ed (@dailyrandonneur) and Mary (@coffeeneur) were there, except this time they were not standing next to me. They were on the opposite side of the stage. It was fun trying to spot them in the crowd. I figured I’d just look for Ed’s (um, how do I put this kindly) dome. Apparently the Domehead society was in attendacne because there must have been 20 men with shaved or bald heads. I stuck to my strategy and, using Twitter for communication, managed to exchanged some waves.

Speaking of waves, the Elbow lead singer got the crowd to wave their hands rhythmically over their heads during several songs. It turns out this was excellent therapy for my back problems. Considering the fact that I was on my feet on concrete from 7 to 11:30 this revelation came as welcome relief.

I hit the hay after midnight. My left knee and hip woke me at 5 a.m. This is going to be a long, painful day.

After another hour or so of trying to sleep, I got up and found that I was in not-half-bad shape. I did my back exercises, a few yoga poses, and some waving of my hands over my head. When I was done, my back, hip and knee felt fine.

I rode Big Nellie to work and felt no ill effects of Sunday’s exercions. On the way I saw Nancy “Two Sheds” Duley and Tony from Alexandria along the way. Waves.

The ride home featured 80+ degree temperatures. What the heck is that all about? Wait’ll I tell my wovel.

The ride home also featured a calvalcade of annoying and dangerous cyclists and drivers. The fun began went a car blogged the curb cut at the Lynn Street connection to the Mount Vernon Trail. This is the very Intersection of Doom that poses so much danger to cyclists and pedestrians. I yelled at the driver to move back as I passed him.

The fun continued on the trail. Every mile or so somebody decided to pass me as bike and pedestrian traffic approached from the opposite direction. Doesn’t it occur to these idiots that the reason I am waiting behind the bikes and walkers is so that I could pass them safely. On multiple occassions the bike passing me ended up swerving back to the right to avoid on-coming bikes. Kevin the @byclclebug on Twitter suggested that these aggressive riders were trying to set some sort of record on Strava. They are going to get someone hurt. I won’t lose a lot of sleep if they hurt themselves.

As the MVT goes around the power plant it crosses a cantilevered bridge that is enclosed in a wire mesh fence. There are two bling turns to negotiate. As I approached the first turn, I rang my bell and hit my brakes. An on-coming bike tried to cut the blind corner and had to swerve to avoid hitting me. Set your Strava record somewhere else, a-hole. He very nearly crashed into the fence after his swerve. Too bad he missed.

In Old Town Alexandria I spotted a rarity: an Alexandria cop had pulled a car over. Finally!

Near Belle Haven Park, a motorcycle was lying on its side between the MVT and the George Washington Memorial Highway. It had a small trunk on the back. The lid of the trunk was in the grass a few feet beyond the bike. I hope the bike wasn’t involved in a crash.

Further south on the MVT, a boy of about sixth grade age served toward me as he approached. His mother called at him to pull over. Two near misses in one day.

South of Old Town a mother and child were riding bikes in my direction,

It’s BIke to Work Week. I can’t wait until some of these people get back in their cars. I need the elbow room.

No Mother. Yes Bike Ride, Elbow Later

My mother is in a better place. My wife is in upstate New York with our son. My daughter slept until noon. What should I do?

Big Nellie and I headed out for a flat ride. Yesterday was a bad day for my back so I planned on taking it easy. Within 2 miles my back loosened up and I was good to go. A bunch of #bikedc folk were headed out to a barbeque place on the W&OD bike trail. Most people around her go nuts over barbeque. I think it’s way overrated. (I have eaten at the barbeque place they were headed for. I’m sure it’s great barbeque. For somebody who likes barbeque.)

I rode through Old Town Alexandria and out King Street. Part of King Street is about to get bike lanes after a months long kerfuffle that even involved op ed pieces in the Wall Street Journal. (Pity the Journal’s readers. They can’t get it’s editorial head around the concept of public infrastructure. They probably oppose increases to the gas tax. May they drive over a bridge as it collaspses due to floods caused by man-made climate change.)

King Street, even on Sunday morning, is not a whole lot of fun to ride on. Once I crossed I-395, I jogged north a half mile to the W&OD trail. (Please note: it’s the Washington and Old Dominion Trail. Many people call it the WO and D. Dyslexia lives.)

Out the W&OD I rode against a gradual up grade. I didn’t see anyone I knew and figured the DC biking crowd was behind me. Some 10 miles later I pulled into Cafe Amouri in Vienna and there they were. A group of eight or so cyclists with the buzz of caffeine on their faces.

I grabbed a Guatamalan coffee (this place makes excellent coffee, by the way) and chatted with the assembled wheelpersons. Most of them took off for barbeque, but Ed and Mary rode up the street a couple of blocks to Bikes at Vienna, the shop where I bought Big Nellie. The shop was closed until noon and this being just after 11 we decided it wasn’t worth waiting around for an hour when the roads were calling our names.

Ed and Mary headed back to DC on their Co-motion Tandem. The thing is huge. It looks like something the Defense Department would design. It’s got racks and bags and bike computers and couplers (so it can be broken down for shipping) and a new generator light and mounts for all sorts of other goodies. It probably cost more than my car. It probably rides better too.

I headed back on the trail, enjoying the 70 degree weather and the slight downhill. I avoided the Mount Vernon Trail on the way home. On days like this it is so congested as to be nearly useless. About four miles from home, I decided to tackle Beacon Hill. It is one of the nastiest climbs around these parts, which explains why I avoid it like the plague.

After 45 miles I arrived home. Time to mow the lawn and get ready for Elbow at the 9:30 Club in DC. They gave an excellent show the last time they were in DC. Ed and Mary will be there too. Mary is an Elbowhead. (Don’t tell any body.)