6/25/09 Loop 410 East

It's amazing to me that the access road for Loop 410 on the southeast side of town has such little traffic on it. I wonder how long that will last?

6/23/09 Mission Trail

We rode the Mission Trail at 7:00 am this morning. It's actually pleasant at that time of day, before the heat hits.

6/22/09 McAllister Park

In my continuing quest to conquer my back problems, I tried out a different bike today. I rented a large 29" Specialized from Ride Away Bikes. I wanted to see if a different bike had any effect on how my back does during a mountain bike ride. I learned some things.


First, I learned that I really like the 29" wheels. They rolled over everything and really smoothed out the trail. They aren't so awesome that I'm going to rush out and buy a new bike tomorrow, but when it comes time to replace my current bike the new one will have 29" wheels. Definitely.


Second, I learned that I really like SRAM's trigger shifters. They just feel very intuitive. I've been riding Shimano XTR shifters for over 10 years, and it only took me about fifteen minutes to get used to the SRAM shifters. Fifteen minutes after that I was in love with them. They just worked great. The ones on the bike were the X-7 model, so I figure that the top-of-the-line X-0 models probably work even better. I'm definitely using SRAM on my next mountain bike.


The big takeaway from the day, though, was a change to my seating position. Since the bike was a large, which is bigger than I usually ride, by the time I got the seat height adjusted the bars were slightly above the seat. My current bike has the bars about two inches below the seat (or more). Bars below the seat is the standard position for mountain bikes (and road bikes, for that matter). I found that the bars being seat height made a huge difference. My back wasn't perfectly pain free, but the difference was very noticeable. I immediately ordered a new high-rise handlebar when I got home. I have high hopes for it.


So, renting the bike turned out to be well worth it. It's always nice to learn new things.

6/21/09 Flat Rock Ranch

The creek on Flat Rock Ranch is bone dry this year. I've seen it deep enough in the past that it was difficult to wade across. This really is a dry year.

6/19/09 Mission Trail

I'm really amazed at how many other people are out on the Mission Trail riding whenever I'm there. I see all levels of riders, from the serious folks in full gear to the families in their t-shirts and shorts. This place is really good for San Antonio.

6/18/09 McAllister Park

I tried out a new (for me) stem this evening.  I've been battling with back aches for years, and for the past few months I've been trying to get them worked out.  Exercise has gotten the road riding taken care of, but I still get aches while riding my mountain bike.  I changed to a non-offset seatpost to move my seat forward, and the stem I tried today is shorter.  This should bring me more upright and make me less bent over.  Unfortunately, it didn't really make any difference.  I still hurt by the middle of the ride.

I measured my mountain bike and compared it to my road bike.  Seat height is about the same on both of them, and with the new stem the distance from seat to handlebars, and the height of the seat above the handlebars, are both about the same.  I'm running out of differences between the bikes to blame it on.

I know that it's possible that riding off-road just beats my back into submission, but I'm not ready to draw that conclusion yet.  If I keep investigating possible causes, the worst thing that will happen is that I find nothing and I just learn to live with the pain.  Anything I discover in the process can only help.  Therefore, there's no reason to stop trying new things until I've really exhausted all options.

The last real differences I see between the bikes is that the moutain bike handlebars are much wider, and the mountain bike cranks are a bit longer (172.5 vs. 175).  Also, I ride with bar ends on the mountain bike.

Things left to try:

• shorter cranks
• ride without the bar ends
• narrower bars
  
• vary the ride (I always do the same course) and see if the aches happen at the same places, or just at the same times in the ride.  This way maybe I could isolate what type of riding does it and work from there.
• see if the physical therapist has any other exercise suggestions
  
• try another bike and see if that makes a difference. Several of the local shops rent bikes, so it wouldn't be that hard to do.
  

6/17/09 Mission Trail

It was windy tonight.  I'm not used to this in the summer time.  I guess I need to check the weather closer to see why it's still blowing.

6/15/09 McAllister Park

There's not nearly so much activity in the park in the afternoons now that summer has arrived. When I got there at 5:30 pm, the parking lot was only about 1/3 full. By the time we finished there were more cars, but it still wasn't full. There weren't many kids on the playgrounds, either. I can't blame everyone for staying in now that the heat has arrived.

6/14/09 Gruene

We rode the Tour de Gruene time trail loop today. I had forgotten how much I dislike FM 306. It's OK from FM 2673 up to Purgatory road, because it has a nice shoulder. After that, the shoulder narrows to one bike wide, and there's a ton of traffic. That road's not high on my list of places to ride.

6/13/09 Comfort MTB

It looks like they're running some power transmission lines through Flat Rock Ranch. They've got huge poles laying on the ground, and have cut new roads to get the poles in. I wonder if they're going to use a helicopter to run the wires? I wonder if Jimmy is happy to have the roads, or is bummed about having the lines run through his place?

6/10/09 Mission Trail

This was the first time I rode the Mission Trail on the actual trail. Usually we do most of the ride on the roads that parallel the trail, only dipping onto the trail for key sections. It turns out the trail is good enough to send people down. It's also hot enough that they probably won't want to until fall.

6/9/09 New Tuesday Nighter

It has finally gotten hot.  It's not the pavement blistering August kind of hot, but we're way past the spring pleasantness.  I drank 5 bottles on the ride and was still dehydrated by the time I finished.  I also hadn't eaten anything since lunch, so I was dragging late in the ride.  I need to remember to bring food with me for evening rides in addition to the extra water bottle.

6/7/09 Gruene

When I was growing up my family always went to the lake or the coast when we wanted to play in the water.  I can't recall ever getting in an inner-tube and floating down a river.  So, I'm always surprised when we ride down River Road in the summer time and it's packed wall-to-wall with motor homes and people in tents, though I shouldn't be.

The interesting part is doing it at 7:30 am, before everyone has woken up.  It's actually calm and peaceful.  The problem part is riding back down River Road at around 10:00 am, when everyone has gotten up and is heading back home.  Then it looks like ants streaming out of the colony, especially since there's only one road in and out.  And the ants aren't at all happy to have to drive slowly behind you as you ride out of the valley.  Honking, cursing, and shooting the finger make for good times!  The fact that they're all hung-over probably doesn't help a bit.

6/6/09 Bullis County Park

I'm still finishing rides with lots of water left.  This can't last for much longer.  Summer's bound to arrive in full force any minute now.

6/4/09 Po-Po's

I shouldn't have commented yesterday on my friend's flat problems.  The first thing that happened to me this morning was that the stem broke off the valve on my rear tube when I was topping it off.  I had to change the tube before I could ride.  Karma's not always nice.

6/3/09 Mission Trail

My friend Will is 2 for 2 on flats lately.  He got one on Sunday and he got one this evening when we rode.  It's amazing how you can go for years without a flat, then you get a whole bunch in a row.

6/2/09 Comfort

It was a day for the wildlife.  I saw axis deer, white tail deer, turkey, buzzards, and lots of dead things.  It pays to look out for cars if you're a wild animal.

5/31/09 Gruene

We managed to get lost today scouting a new course.  Well, we weren't really lost, but we took a wrong turn and didn't do the route we originally planned.  It's been a while since I got lost, and it was actually nice because we rode a bunch of roads I've never ridden before.  I got several ideas for new routes.  All in all, a great day.

5/30/09 Real Ale Ride

I have a friend.  I don't want to embarass him, so we'll just identify him as rider 'J'.

Rider 'J' had an eventful day at the Real Ale Ride.  He started off the morning by snapping his rear deraileur cable on the first real hill we came to.  We jury-rigged it to stay in one gear, then went on our way.  Luckily, the first rest stop we came to had a bike mechanic who fixed him up.  Which is a good thing, because 'J's legs weren't up for a ride of this magnitude, especially with only one gear.  He's one of the strongest riders I know, and can ride away from me at will on any terrain, but he hasn't been getting many miles of late.  About 15 miles from the end in Blanco, his legs went into full cramp.  He managed to get them worked out, but was truly suffering for the rest of the ride.  I gave him what food I had, and we got him some water, but that really doesn't help much once the cramps have set it.  He swears that he's going to ride more and get in better shape, but I'll believe that when I see it.  'J' has a tendency to push himself to the limits of endurance in life, and there just aren't the hours in the day for him to ride more and keep up with his workload.