Cycling For Cancer

Dear Lowes,

Maybe you should teach your delivery truck drivers some driver etiquette. We were nearly run off the road by one of your trucks (NYS Plate # 76969JX) on Route 441 in Penfield, NY. We were not in the lane, we were on the white line as there wasn’t ample shoulder on the road to be to the right of the white line. This guy blew his air horn twice as he was next to us and was going faster than the posted speed limit of 45mph. It just about gave us a heart attack.

When we caught up with the guy at the light and ask him what his problem was he told us to stop be so F@CKING dumb and sped off.  Again the NYS Plate # was 76969JX.

From the League of American Bicyclists:

Sharing the Road: Motorists

Drive Cautiously:
> Reduce speed when encountering cyclists
> Don’t tailgate, especially in bad weather
> Recognize hazards cyclists may face and give them space

Yield to Cyclists:
> Bicycles are considered vehicles
> Cyclists should be given the appropriate right of way
> Allow extra time for cyclists to traverse intersections

Be Considerate:
> Scan for cyclists in traffic and at intersections
> Do not blast your horn in close proximity to cyclists
> Look for cyclists when opening doors

Pass with Care:
> When passing, leave four feet between you and a cyclist
> Wait for safe road and traffic conditions before you pass
> Check over your shoulder before moving back

Watch for Children:
> Children on bicycles are often unpredictable
> Expect the unexpected and slow down
> Don’t expect children to know traffic laws
> Because of their size children can be harder to see

UPDATE: Tyler received a call yesterday evening from the Manager of the Macedon Lowes (George) apologizing for his employee’s actions on the road. We’d like to thank George for his concern and promptness in which the situation was addressed.

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So this past Saturday found Tyler & I in Rushville, NY at the Jon Dechau Memorial Time Trial. I believe this is the 3rd year for the event.

The weather was much nicer than last, but very, very hot.

We ended up parking next to our friend Barry Cherney. We met Barry through the Western New York Wellness Group when I was riding with the group the last couple of years on a regular basis.

Tyler finished in 59:22:73 which beat his time from 2 years ago. I was able to finish in 1:08:34. Two minutes slower than last year, but I think I may have overheated.

All in all it was a great day spent with great friends. What more can anyone ask for?

Overall Results Category Results

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So I have been wanting a disc wheel for time trialing for some time now. The problem is that I cannot plunk down $795 for a Renn 5ive-5ive-5ive wheel nor did I have time to order the the Aero Disc Covers for $90 at WheelBuilder.com.

So I fired up Google and found this ARTICLE and this YOUTUBE VIDEO. This got me fired up thinking I could actually do this.

So I called around and finally got in touch with Josh at Vital Signs and Graphics in Webster, NY. Josh was nice enough to sell me a 4′ x 8′ sheet of corrugated plastic for this experiment.

This is what I ended up with:

Now I still have to attach it to the wheel. I could use zip ties, but that would leave me with a nub sticking out for each zip tie I used. It probably won’t hurt the aerodynamics too much, but I’d like it to look as clean as possible.

If I could find something like this:

I’ve searched online at Lowes and Home Depot and haven’t seen anything. So hopefully I will get it all mounted tonight and can tested it tomorrow before the Jon Dechau TT on Saturday.

UPDATE: (06/19/2010)

I was able to get the disc mounted, but the problem I discovered is 4mm corrugated plastic really is too thick to make a rear wheel cover. It wouldn’t allow my rear hub to spin freely. So I removed everything and will just run my 1996 HED Alps wheelset. I’ll have to source some thinner corrugated plastic (2mm?).

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The Jon Dechau Memorial Time Trial is this weekend (June 19, 2010) in Rushville, NY.

It is a great event and helps support the Jon Dechau Foundation.

From the GVCC website:

Come experience Rushville, Jon’s hometown that he loved and trained in for many years. Time Trial on a rolling ~35 Km out and back course on Route 245 through the Middlesex Valley from Rushville to Italy. Tune up for the NYS TT Championships on the roads that created a TT legend. Chip timing will be provided.

There are currently 30+ riders signed up as of this afternoon. I’ve done this event twice so far. Once in 2007 and again last year in 2009. If you race and you have nothing to do on Saturday please come out and show your support. Nothing beats riding as hard as you can with snot and slobber covering your face for 35Km!

Registration:

http://www.bikereg.com/events/register.asp?eventid=11044

Confirmed Rider List:

http://www.bikereg.com/events/ConfList.asp?EventID=11044

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So this week found the GVCC on the Chili course.

This week was extremely difficult for me. We did reverse pace lines during the warmup lap and my first sprint to the front of the pace line pretty much killed me. I was at 101% of my heart rate by the time I got to the front of the line. My second sprint during the warmup was up the hill on Ballantyne Road and I just bonked halfway through the pack. After that I couldn’t even hang on to the peloton. I finally caught up with the peloton as Mike had everyone stop at the start/finish line before the start of the first lap, but everyone had taken off as soon as I stopped.

So I did the best I could and just kept pedaling. I thought I was going to get reattached to the peloton on turn #2 on lap two, but when I rounded the corner they were just gone!

I had had a rough afternoon earlier in the day. That mood carried over to the race and ultimately got the best of me. I don’t know how many laps I did. I am thinking not many as my Garmin only read 10.14 miles. I can’t remember if I turned it on before the warmup lap or not.

The good news out of the whole race was that my good friend Tyler finally came out to try racing. He loved it and will getting his USA Cycling license and joining the GVCC this weeked.

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