Roger Bikes

Author: Roger

  • Meet Jamone

    Meet Jamone

    It has been a while since I got a new bike. The mountain bike I have been riding is a 1997 custom titanium frame shredder that was gifted to me by a friend a few years ago. Before that it had been at least 5 years since I bought a bike.

    The titanium bike is a great bike and I have been riding it everywhere. On the roads and trails around our home in Colorado and on our 5 day tour of southern Arizona this last March. My main gripe is that it has large knobby mountain bike tires that are slow and wear out faster on asphalt.

    For at least a year I have considered buying a road bike. Buying new right now is very difficult as global supplies are still constrained due to the shut down last year, and demand has been through the roof as people turned to cycling while their gyms closed.

    I would peruse Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace somewhat regularly. The issue with buying used is a 3 fold problem:

    1. Is the price in my budget?
    2. Is the bike the right size for me?
    3. Is it close enough for me to go and test it out?

    Again and again I would find 1 or 2 matches but never all 3.

    Then this ad came up on Craigslist:

    Craigslist is still one of my favorite site on the Internet

    The price was close to my $1000 budget. The size is in my range at 58cm. The location is within an hour drive of my home. Oh and this Trek Damone is like a $5000 bike brand new!

    I contacted the seller and it was a retired gentleman who had not ridden the bike in about 5 years. It had been stored in his garage. Also he was willing to meet me halfway to test it out.

    The key to testing a bike is knowing what to look for. If you don’t know how to repair and maintain a bike I recommend either bringing someone knowledgable with you, or arranging to meet near a local bike shop and having a mechanic take a look.

    The key things to look for are cracks in the frame. Specifically at the high stress points: bottom bracket, headtube, seattube, and rear and front dropouts. If there are any cracks you should be concerned and probably pass on the bike.

    After that you should get on the bike and ride it around. A parking lot is great for this. Make sure to adjust the seat so you are at least comfortable. Then shift through all the gears a number of times. You want to see if there are any issues with the drivetrain.

    Again this is where knowing what to look for or having someone who knows what to look for will be critical. There are a lot of components to consider: chain, crank, bottom bracket, freewheel, cassette, and front and rear derailleurs. Some issues can be easy to correct like deralliure adjustments. Others will be costly like replacing the bottom bracket.

    Test the brakes, don’t skid the tires but practice how effective the brakes are. Take a look at the tires as they spin. Are they straight and true?

    In the end this bike passed all tests with flying colors. I made an offer lower than his asking price and he agreed. He also threw in the original set of wheels and a number of other things that made it an even better deal. The wheels that I am running on it now are pretty major upgrades and make the bike even lighter and faster!

    Damone is a cool name but since I am gonna be jammin on this bike it has been named Jamone. Silly I know but I also ride with flat pedals which should tell everyone I am not taking things too seriously.

    When you buy a used bike you should plan on replacing the tires right away. In this case the tires were cracked and that can be a serious health hazard if one decides to blow out at 30MPH. So I bought some new tires and also replaced the bar tape and pedals.

    So far I have put 150 miles on the bike and its like riding on a cloud. We have a bike challenge happening at work at the moment and it is a perfect match for trying to put as many miles/kms on the board as possible.

  • Getting Educated on Trails

    Getting Educated on Trails

    Last year I wrote about building Kiss of Cactus and Fenceline trail on our land. I learned how to build those from years of hiking and riding trails. I also read a lot of websites and watched some Youtube Videos talking about design and technique.

    In June I talked about how my local trail group, Mancos Trail Group, had organized a volunteer adopt a trail program on the Mancos Spur Trail for 2020. Last summer I spent a few days going out to pretty remote areas to work on the trails. It was very satisfying work and I had a great time. The problem was I had very little confidence in my trail building and maintenance skills.

    I know I did not harm the trails but my larger concern was how much wasn’t I doing? Without any real world training on how a trial should look and work I was probably doing a lot less work than the trail needed.

    This year the Mancos Trail Group announced a training program, in coordination with Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado, to help give the adopt a trail participants more confidence. The training was done in coordination with a community college so there was a decent online education portion.

    The culmination of the training was a 1 day in field seminar with highly experienced trail builders and maintainers. That day was today and I spent over 7 hours on trail asking questions and doing trail work that 1 year ago I would have passed up. It was a great experience.

    17 volunteers, 3 instructors, and Chris from the US Forest Service, social distancing was adhered to and it was pretty windy out.

    We did some safety talk covering how to handle an emergency with a plan, as well as how to use various tools for trail work. Once that was done we headed out on the trail and spent time just walking the trial and learning how to identify issues. After lunch we worked on a variety of features and even built some new ones.

    Learning how to maintain a water bar. Most of trail maintenance deals with getting water off the trail to prevent or reduce erosion.

    The biggest takeaway I had was that its ok to make an improvement to a trail. You just need to understand how to make that improvement correctly and with confidence. It was also nice meeting more locals in my area and seeing what drove them to be in the woods and working on our local trails.

    In person training is second to none and I was able to ask questions when I had doubts. It turned out that my instincts were pretty good about when a trail needed help. The online and real world training helped me feel confident about my decisions.

    This summer the adopt a trail program is back and I have my assigned segment. Its a new to me section of trail so I am excited to see a new area and also give the trail some lovin!

  • Strength Training and Recovery Ride

    Strength Training and Recovery Ride

    Today we are back in the gym, aka the living room, and doing some strength training. The prescription workout is for 1 hour of various exercises to strengthen the entire body. 2 sets of 20 reps per exercise is what is called for but I would lose my mind doing 20 reps of anything. It also calls for core work and stretching.

    I mentioned yesterday that last year I did my bodyweight routine when doing these workouts. There are a few issues I currently have with the bodyweight routine:

    1. It’s still cold here. It was 13F this morning and the bodyweight routine needs to be done outside with my pullup bar. Thats what they call a no-go for probably another month, or a third of the 12 week Training Program.
    2. The bodyweight routine is the same workout every time. I have done that routine over 100 times at this point. I need some variation and there are proponents of using variety to get even more gains from strength training.
    3. You need to track your progress on the bodyweight routine. The focus is on progression of strength by increases in reps and then altering the exercise to be more difficult, and continue. This means you need to count during the workout and then write them down. I use Google Sheets on my iPhone and its not a huge deal, but it is still one more thing to do.
    4. Pull Ups are still my kryptonite. I have been working on my pull ups off and on for a few years now and while there has been some progression I am still in the 2 to 3 rep range and its frustrating.

    The good news is that Apple Fitness+ workout’s solves all of these problems.

    1. I can do them inside.
    2. There is a lot of variety: The category of workouts are: HIIT, Yoga, Core, Strength, Treadmill, Cycling, Rowing, Dance, and Mindful Cooldown. There are 21 coaches many of whom teach multiple categories. The sheer volume of classes that Apple started with and continues to release is very impressive.
    3. Tracking is done by my Apple Watch. Sure I can see the numbers while I am working out; it can be interesting to know what heart-rate I have when I am in total agony. A bigger benefit is that I can then send that data into TrainingPeaks and compare things to what my Training Program wants me to be doing.
    4. There are no pull up bars, and therefore no pull ups in Apple Fitness+.😎

    Today was the second day that I used the Fitness+ classes for my prescribed strength workout. There are no 1 hour long classes in Fitness+. The longest classes are 45 minutes but the longest Strength classes are 30 minutes. So I build a combination of classes to get my workout done.

    On Monday I did a 10 minute Yoga class to warmup, then a 30 min strength class, followed with a 10 minute Core class, and finished with a 10 minute Cooldown class. It was challenging though never discouraging.

    Most classes have 3 people in the video with the main coach and 2 coaches from other disciplines to the left and right. Pretty much always the coach to the left on the screen is doing easier modifications of the main move.

    Today I changed it up and started with a 30 min Strength class, then two 10 minute Core classes, and closed with a 10 min Cooldown. This was a good challenge, and while I enjoy my Yoga I am also trying to adhere more closely with my overall Training Program. While some Yoga has a lot of strength work it is proportionally less than a specialized Strength or Core class.

    In the Strength classes the coaches use light and medium weight barbells most of the time. We do not currently own any barbells so I have just been clenching my fists. We are in the market for some barbells so I will eventually have those, but for the moment it seems like a benefit to not yet have them. Let me explain.

    The Strength classes are based around repetitive compound movements. You are squatting while holding barbells by your shoulders. When you stand up you also extend your arms up. You are working many major muscle groups at the same time.

    Using weights allows you to push the upper body workout further and there are studies that show it helps strengthen bones and all types of good things. They also allow you to overtrain and injure yourself especially if you haven’t been working out with weights in a long time. Right now I can go through the motions, focus on my form, and let my legs get torn up first.

    The amount of leg soreness from the Monday workout was still with me when I started todays classes. One good thing about working out though is that as soon as you start the soreness becomes a memory. (If it doesn’t then you are overtrained and need to take a break immediately.)

    The Core classes were challenging but kept things changing up enough that you didn’t dwell on how out of shape things are. The Cooldown class is becoming my favorite. They are like Yoga but even more simple movements and then a couple of minutes of stillness and meditation at the end. It definitely helps calm the mind and reflect.

    Then Kate and I went for a 30 minute recovery ride this evening just before sunset. A recovery ride is a really easy ride for letting the legs move and get the blood flowing. You get into a really easy gear and just let your legs fall over the pedals.

  • FTP (Feel The Pain) test day

    It’s been since last October that I’ve done an fitness or FTP test. After a good warmup you go as hard as possible for 20 minutes. Then use a calculator to figure out what your heart rate or power meter zones should be for training. This personalizes you training zones not just to your body but to your body at this time.

    As we improve our fitness our muscles get stronger and more efficient. This applies to the heart as much as the bicep or hamstring. In aerobic training the focus is one getting the heart to maintain a high level of output while being as efficient as possible. Science has shown that training the heart at a percentage below maximum is best for improving the hearts capabilities.

    If you are interested in this stuff I recommend researching Joe Friel. He wrote the book on this stuff and is a very successful athlete and coach. He created TrainingPeaks.com which is software for compiling your workout data and then analyzing it.

    Personally I’m touch and go with this level of training. It has the ability to wipe out all the fun of bike riding. It also has the ability to make you into a jerk. Currently I’m back on the wagon because we have a house being built and this will help distract me from thinking about that too much. There are also going to be bike races this year and I’m thinking of doing some of them.

    That said while I’m going to be following my workout routine I’m not going to be obsessed with it. I’m going to do my best to get all the workouts done first. Then I’ll try to hit the goals of each one.

    One big change this year is that I’m using Apple Fitness+ to help me with the strength workouts. Last year I was using my body weight workout routine which works great but it’s too cold outside to do that just now. Instead I’ve started using the Functional Strength workouts in Fitness+ and let me say this: ouch.

    I did my first class yesterday and I’m still sore. Turns out that you need to keep doing squats and deadlifts in order to be able to keep doing them. I was so sore this morning I was a little worried about being able to do the ride.

    The good news is that once I was on my bike the magic kicked into gear. Sure it was 30F and I had pretty much all my cycling gear on but I was grinning ear to ear the whole ride. One thing I was taught years ago in sports was to smile. It throws your competitors off but also gives you a psychological boost. If you can smile then it can’t be that bad.

    It is recommended that you try to do your fitness tests on the same route to reduce variations and try to keep the results neutral. My route starts on road 40. It’s about 4 miles from my house and gives me a nice warmup to get to it. Then I use road 40 to push myself as hard as possible.

    It’s a nice route because it doesn’t have a lot of traffic and it is uphill. Another recommendation is to have a route that climbs a little so that the challenge is more consistent. There are a few sections you may call steep but in Colorado that’s just a hill!😂

    At the top of my route you take a right into the Nordic Center parking lot and then onto the roads and trails of the Nordic Center. Unfortunately there is still snow in the Nordic Center so the top end of my route is not yet rideable.

    So today when I got to road 40 I kept going on by. This gave me a nice downhill to spin my legs out on and further my warm up. A couple miles down is the turnoff for road 41. I turned around there and started my test from there. This gave me a few miles on pavement before hitting the dirt on road 40. It was a perfect call as I hit 20 minutes about half a mile before the Nordic center and had a solid effort.

    Some instructions for a good fitness test is to go hard in the first 10 minutes but keep it back just a touch from full effort. Once you hit 10 minutes you reassess how things are going. Do you feel good or are you starting to wane?

    If you feel good then you should continue what you have going and consider stepping things up a bit. Remember there’s still 10 minutes left so you have to do what you just did. You want to finish the test strong.

    If you are starting to wane then consider pulling back a little. Give it a minute or two and reassess how that feels. Again the goal is to finish strong not spent. It’s only a 20 minute test so you should not be collapsing before the finish. After the finish?

  • Day 5 : Hold onto yer butts

    Day 5 : Hold onto yer butts

    Bittersweet morning today. It was the last day of the ride which is exciting as we will be done riding soon. Which will be nice on our butts. On the other hand it means we will be done riding our bikes. Which means we have to go back to our normal lives.

    All the gear on

    It was chilly this morning in the 40’sF with the breeze still coming from the southwest. The good news is that we were going to get to wear all of the warm cycling clothing we had been carrying.

    Today’s ride from Sonoita to Tucson was highlighted by a massive amount of downhill which we had paid for on Monday when we climbed up to Sonoita. After riding about an hour out of Sonoita we were at the top of the hill which concluded about 40 miles later in Tucson.

    Go fast!

    Descending on a two lane road is fun and terrifying. We were lucky to have had very polite automobile traffic the entire tour and that continued today. Still when you are riding at 40mph dealing with traffic is never ideal. We flew down the hills with no issue and the shot eating grins on our faces were very difficult to remove.

    The rest of our ride into Tucson was also uneventful except for our butts falling off. We definitely could have done some longer training rides but here we are riding for five days straight in March. Not a bad way to start off the cycling year.

    Tucson ahead

    Here’s the results on Strava:

    I’m gonna out some final thoughts together tomorrow or the next day but overall this tour was a success. We had no injuries, except for our tender bums, no major mechanical issues like a flat tire, and we are still married!

  • Day 4 : Hi, my name is wind

    Day 4 : Hi, my name is wind

    Today was the second shortest ride of the tour. 38 miles on highway 82 from Tombstone to Sonorita. The thinking was this might be a pretty nice day to ride with less elevation gain than either of the first two days. Then the wind forecasts started showing 30mph gusts for Tuesday then Wednesday and finally Thursday. It had blown us from Sonorita to Bisbee and now we needed to pay the piper to get back to Sonoita.

    Into the wind

    Sure enough we exited Tombstone and the headwind was immediate. So we dug in and duked it out all day. There were times when the wind wasn’t so bad but it wasn’t very often.

    Still smiling

    There is a point when wind is too strong and you should not be on the road. Basically if you cannot stand still in the wind you probably should not try to ride a bike unless you are Danny Macaskill.

    Today’s wind was not that bad but it wasn’t joking around either. We didn’t feel that it was pushing us into traffic and that’s really the important issue to consider.

    Rune’s front door

    We stopped at a winery called Rune about ten miles from Sonoita. It was a great place to get a nice rest and enjoy the scenery of the area.

    Desert patio

    We knew the wind was only getting worse as the day wore on. So we packed up from Rune and pushed the last ten miles into town. We stopped at the market for a few things including double stuff Oreos. What a day.

    Here’s the ride on Strava.

    Tomorrow we wrap up the Tour with a long downhill back to Tucson. It’s been a fun trip and while I’ve been complaining about how difficult it’s been we’ve enjoyed ourselves a lot.

  • Day3 : OK in Tombstone

    Day3 : OK in Tombstone

    Today marks the third and shortest riding day of the tour. Bisbee to Tombstone is just 24 miles. Sure there’s a hell of a climb out of Bisbee and another insane climb five miles from Tombstone but otherwise we got a massive descent.

    Stocking up on munchies

    Initially we were thinking of taking the morning to chill in Bisbee but the OK Cafe in Tombstone only served their veggie burger till 2pm so we cruised out just after 10am.

    The climb out of the town of Bisbee is deceptively easy at first. Sure you are climbing out of town but it’s not till the buildings stop that the climb gets really steep. Then you get to the tunnel.

    Looks fun

    The tunnel is about a mile long and is a steep climb. Once we got through it and to the other side a local rode up from the old pass road to let us know that people die in there all the time on bikes. We wished her a happy day and rode onto Tombstone.

    Tunnel climb

    Tombstone is probably most famous at this point for the historically questionable 1988 movie starring Curt Russell, Val Kilmer, Powers Booth, and a shit-ton of notable rich people from Hollywood. The town is a replica of the movie at this point with actors playing out the shootout at the OK Corral on a daily basis. It reminds me a little of sixth street in Austin.

    Pretty flat.

    At just 24 miles we only spent 2.5 hours getting to Tombstone and used the day as a recovery day. After unpacking and cleaning up we both took a restless nap listening to the strong winds which we managed to miss on our ride. Another good reason for riding earlier.

    The old west is still a lie.

    Here are the Strava details:

    Tomorrow we ride back to Sonoita. At just 38 miles it will be the second shortest day of the tour. It is also our wedding anniversary so it will be nice to not spend the entire day riding.

  • Day 2: we arrive to Bisbee

    Day 2: we arrive to Bisbee

    Today we rode to the namesake of the tour de Bisbee via Sierra Vista and a quick stop at a local bike shop. The weather started off lovely with sun and a nice tail wind. The main concern was the final climb to Bisbee.

    After a quick breakfast of coffee and peanut butter and jelly wraps we hit the road around 9am. Our goal was to have lunch in Sierra Vista about halfway to Bisbee.

    We made a quick stop at a local bike shop in Sierra Vista as my freewheel was starting to lock up. They were very hospitable with coffee and donuts and got us back in the road in twenty minutes.

    There was a red flag warning for high winds. Fortunately they were tail winds the whole way to the canyon before Bisbee. Even in the canyon the gusts pushed us up half the climb.

    We managed to ride 58 miles in 6.5 hours with over 2800 feet of elevation gain. It was the second hardest day of the ride and we crushed it in style. Cruising down into the town of Bisbee after riding over 100 miles in 2 days with over 1 mile of vertical gain felt good. Not gonna lie. It felt real good.

    Here’s the ride on Strava:

    Tomorrow we ride to Tombstone. It’s the easiest ride of the tour at just 24 miles. It will be nice to take our time in Bisbee in the morning.

  • Day 1: aaaaand we’re off!

    Day 1: aaaaand we’re off!

    Here we go! It’s the first day of the Tour de Bisbee. Today we rode 55 miles from central Tucson southeast to Sonoita. We climbed over three thousand vertical feet and completed the ride in 7 hours with 5.5 hours in the saddle.

    Jump up jump up and get down

    We rolled out of Tucson about 10am and rode down Broadway to Old Spanish Trail before heading south on Houghton. There was a pretty long section of Houghton where we had no shoulder due to construction. Fortunately the cars were friendly and didn’t force passing us with oncoming traffic. We took a left on Mary Ann Cleveland way to Vail.

    Healthy snacks only. We are athletes!

    We drank a lot of water even though it was cool and cloudy. From southern Tucson to Sonoita is 25 miles of desert. There are a few homes here and there so we stopped at a grocery store in Vail to replenish water and get some snacks in.

    Break time!

    We made sure to stop and take breaks every hour or so. The nice part about setting pre determined breaks is that no ones ego gets hurt.

    Aaaaand we’re not jumping off rocks anymore.

    What I mean by this is that for most active people, when asked if they want/need a break tend to say no. This happens for a variety of reasons from not wanting to look weak to not wanting to hold the group back.

    By setting a pre determined time that a break will occur it is the clock deciding when to take a break. Everyone is happy and no egos are hurt in the process.

    Nice views around here.

    To say the least our butts were tired and a little sore. We trained for this ride in the cold of Colorado. After a few hours of cold weather riding it tends to not be much fun. Today we realized that we could have done a couple of five hours rides and that probably would have helped the seat soreness today. That said it was still a lot of fun and I cannot think of anything else I’d rather be doing with anyone else.

    Here is our route on Strava:

    I forgot to unpause my workout after one break and lost a out 5 miles.

    Tomorrow we ride about the same distance and get to Bisbee. There will be a big climb at the end but we will get it done.

  • Prologue: Dry Run Tucson

    Prologue: Dry Run Tucson

    We drove from Mancos to Tucson yesterday on a route that was new to me. Usually we drive through flagstaff and Phoenix on the way to Tucson. This time google recommended that we stay further East and go through sho lo and globe before hitting Tucson.

    The route was great. We only had to drive on an interstate for about an hour. Otherwise it was low traffic until Tucson on the 60 and 77. South of sho lo the road goes through a huge canyon for the salt river. That was really cool.

    We got a late start out of Mancos afternoon which put us on schedule to arrive after 9pm. Packing the night before might have helped but we made it to Tucson before one of our favorite pizza shops closed. So we were able to pick up the pie and chill at our Airbnb for the next two nights.

    Today we wanted to get a bike ride in with Kate’s brother Trip, who lives in Tucson. the goals was to have a nice ride but also to test having everything on the bikes and see if there might be any problems.

    Being able to recover from a technical issue of much easier when you can call an Uber and goto a bike shop. Once we got the road we will be pretty remote.

    We rode just under 20 miles mainly on a nice bike path that goes through town. The weather is wonderful and warm here so we only wore jerseys and shorts. It was a much nicer setup than our cold weather riding outfits in Colorado.

    That said I made sure to stay hydrated and cut the bike riding short as it was going to hit 88F today. No need to wipe ourselves out before the tour even started.

    The path was crowded with cyclists and walkers. Everyone out being healthy and enjoying the weather. A few people wore masks and my anxiety was mild about COVID transmission. Still we kept a social distance

    Hi from Tucson.

    It sounds like outdoor exercise is safe to do but social distancing is still important. As always if you have symptoms of being sick then don’t go outside and exercise. Let alone around other people.

    Here is our route on Strava:

    Tomorrow we leave for Sonoita about 55 miles southeast of Tucson. It’s gonna be a climb all day but the weather is going to be slightly cooler which will be perfect.