TT race 3 - Kentucky Speedway

The third time trial in the series was held yesterday at the Kentucky speedway, down in Sparta. (Or was it Warsaw?) The race, being held on an actual Nascar track, was rather interesting. (Ignore the Strava climb data, it has issues.)

It was a "long" 2 hour drive down there, which is nothing compared to at least one racer from Pennsylvania that also made the trip. The mountains were lovely, and the areas where there was no shoulder nor guardrail overlooking some valleys were just insane. (Note to self, try not to take I-71 in Kentucky, unless necessary.)

Packed the night before,  spare clothes for after the race, tools for changing a tire, etc. For a lot of my races, I still the bike inside the Vue rather than on the bike rack.

It took a few minutes to find the entrance to the racetrack (gate 3, in hindsight. That was missed in the pre-race instructions) and then I got to drive under the track itself to the central area for parking. (I assume that would be the place spectators don't get to visit.)

 

It was a nice tunnel though.

 It was a somewhat fun race, a little different being on the track, especially compared to the road races that make up the rest of the time trial series. 7 laps on a NASCAR track, and no worry about pedal strike if I corner to hard, what isn't to like?

I might have enjoyed myself more than I should have...

 I got 5th place, and have a firm grasp of 4th for the point series. If I miss the final race, which I don't plan to miss, I will still be guaranteed 4th overall. I don't think one of the 3 above me will miss, the race is local to one, and the other two haven't missed a race either. (Certainly the guy who has a freaking Carbon framed fixie isn't going to start skipping now, and the other guy did RAIN the day before the race, as well as in the time between finishing RAIN, he picked up his daughter at the airport and still beat me at the race. (He came in at 353rd for RAIN, out of 1,086 riders. Showoff...)

During pre-race warmup, I stopped to get a pic of my bike leaning against the wall in turn 4, which was more difficult than I expected, due to the slope of the track.

It was a fun race overall, I do need to get more time riding in to place, but my times are getting better, and next year I think I will actually be able to beat someone in the fixed division. I don't know if I will do that on Glowie though, but maybe I will. Just because they have carbon or aluminum bikes don't make them the fastest. (Though the 50/15 ratios help them, by about 6% compared to my 44/14 ratio.)

I know what the bike needs to go faster. White tires. Or at least white walls. Yeah, that's it...

Seriously though, I enjoyed the race. It did get a bit hot out before the awards were done, and I did come home with another # of pasta. (After the first race, I think I have a lifetime supply.)

Hey, more pictures! (some by me, some from Good Times races, who did the timing.)

Gloves and a color shifting bike

I got to thinking about my gloves during a ride this week, largely because my rides give me a bit too much time to think. I own three pair of cycling gloves, a pair of Schwinn gloves, Bell (from Walmart a few years back) and some Bontrager mountain biking gloves my wife bought me for a holiday or birthday when she worked a few miles from the Springfield bike shop.

Typically, I never wear the Bontrager gloves, they feel weird on my hands, and in the winder, they are not much help. If I did mountain biking, which probably would require I have a mountain bike, they might be great. I haven't owned a mountain bike since my Mongoose Transport was stolen off my second floor balcony back in 2003. (That happened to be the same 2 day period of the great Blackout, and my dad's death. That week rather sucked. And yes, the bike was locked, they really wanted that bike, not the 20 other bikes in the complex that weighed much less, and were not locked up.)

(I refuse to acknowledge the Kmart special, a Huffy Howler. I had a few issues with it, but it was all I could afford after the Mongoose was stolen. The deductible on the insurance was 500, so they gave me $100. I would later sell that thing at a garage sale for $5. I'd have happily thrown that thing off of a cliff, if it wouldn't have been considered littering.)

Anyways.... my go-to gloves are the Schwinn ones. I got them at the Troy bike shop when I worked at Wendys, so that would have been in 1996. I had actually looked at them a few days before I bought them, and figured I would come back for them. I was then riding across the overpass for I-75, when I had a gear break on the Huffy Blade I had at the time. (I had crappy bikes after my parents divorced. I probably would have had better bikes had I picked to live with my dad instead...)  In the crash that happened, I cut my hand open rather badly. I did get a decent scar from it, and I probably should have gotten stitches, but I didn't. Had I bought the gloves, I would have been a lot better off.

Being that the gloves are now a good 18 years old, and legally old enough to buy their own porn, I really should retire them. Half the time I put them on, my fingers end up coming out of a different hole than the finger hole, but they still work.

A few weeks ago, after my last race, I stopped into the Performance Bike in "Dayton", and saw some nice looking crocheted style gloves. They reminded me of the ones my dad had when I was little, but they didn't have my size. I just find it weird to think of retiring a pair of gloves that I have had, and used, for over half of my life. Like I said, sometimes when I am riding, I have too much time to think.

The other odd thing for me is that I still can't get Glowie to glow when I ride. Not that she hasn't learned a new trick. Last month, I ran a 5k put on by NoxGear, who makes a glowing vest. (Fiber-optic LED) Now, because Glowie is white when not glowing, whatever color the vest is lit up, Glowie reflects. So.... riding at night, the bike is now shifting between various colors, including red, green, and blue. (I forgot what other colors it can do.)

I have my next race Sunday morning, at the Kentucky Speedway. This may well be as close to a Velodrome as I will ever get, so I really need to make it count. I'll pack up for it tomorrow afternoon, after I put oil in my car. (I swear it seems to drink oil sometimes.) I have a busy couple of weeks ahead, with the TT this weekend, the Dayton Dragons 5k next weekend, Dayton Celtic Festival's 10k the weekend after that, and I am planning to do a 5k the weekend after that as well. On top of that, I need to start pushing my longer rides, in preparation for the Double Donut. That won't be on Glowie, I think, but it is going to be a hard ride.

Last chance, bike. Last chance.

Yesterday was the annual Vandalia Freedom Tour bike ride, and I decided to do the 50k route. I had picked this distance partly because I haven't really gotten any major long rides in this year, as well as not having the road bike ready when I was signing up. (My KHS had a loose spoke in the wheel.) I did get the wheel trued, which is great, because that would have sucked on a fixie.

The route was hilly, and it was only 52 degrees at the start, which is really cold for Ohio on the 4th of July. I set a few PRs for parts of the route, and it was strange riding a multi-speed bike after getting used to the fixie, though the fixie did help me learn to get up hills a little better. (There is still a lot of room for improvement.)

It started out well enough, it really did. Unlike 2012, when I had a flat tire on the bike carrier, and blew out my only spare when I changed it. (And then got sagged because of heat at around mile 48, and a few miles from the next rest stop.)

But this was not 2012. The flat tire wasn't until 4 miles after the first rest stop. This was an annoying thing to fix, but I had the tools to do it with me, and cost me a good 20 minutes to get it changed. (Rear wheel, super tight tires, no visible leak, etc. I can change the tires on my other bikes in a fraction of the time. I've shown my son how to do it in well under 5 minutes before as well.)

I rode the remaining 20 miles wondering if the tire as low, leaking again, etc. (We all know I mean tube and not really the tire, its just how most people say it.) Considering I inflated it from a CO2 canister, I don't really know the pressure. Better a little low than to destroy my last tube. (And my only cannister with me.) Still, I got through the ride, but I am no longer happy with the bike. I might replace the rear tire and rim tape, but I am thinking that I might be happier trading in that bike. It just hasn't been quite right since I had to replace the wheel set, and I would love to get my hands on a true touring bike.

I know Fuji has one, but their website doesn't make it easy to find. Purefix doesn't do that kind of thing, KHS has one, but the only spec that has changed in the last 4 years is the price going up, although I just looked, and it is now blue instead of black. Still, at over $1000 msrp, I don't think it is worth it. Now, the Salsa Vaya Travel, I would totally buy that. Sadly, I think there are a lot of things I would pay out $4,000 for before I'd buy that. If I had a job that paid about $120,000/ year, I could afford that. So that is out.

Really, I am probably best off replacing the tires, and the rear rim tape, that is a fair bit more affordable. Still, I don't feel like I can rely on the bike any more, and that is not a good thing.

Final prep

I got the rear wheel on my KHS road bike trued last week before the LBS closed for vacation, and everything is tuned up and ready for the Vandalia Freedom Tour in the morning. This one isn't going to be easy, really it will be the longest bike ride this year for me, at 32 miles, give or take, and hills unlike what my home town can offer.

This ride is rather a bitter one for me, two years ago, I got sagged around mile 48 of the 100k route. (I did the 100k successfully in 2011) This year, it is going to be much cooler, and I am doing the shorter route. The caveat to this though is the 50k route doesn't leave the hilly region of the moraine. The 100k actually goes into some nice flat areas, and even within a few miles of my house. In some ways, the 100k might actually be easier...

One thing I do love about the tour though is they supply a water bottle. I had two of them (1 for each year) but my son's soccer coach two years ago stole one, and refused to give it back. I am still bitter about it, since it wasn't one I could just go to the store and replace. I might pick up a spare this year if I can, but I heard the design changed last year, so...

Still, with the ride starting in about 8 hours, I probably should go to bed. Not that I am in a huge hurry.