The Friday Fix: What's in your office?

You might be wondering what does this post have to do with riding fixed gears.  Well, since I only commute on a fixed gear it's relevant to the Friday Fix but then again, this is more of a commuting-esque post than fixed gear.

Who uses file cabinents or credenzas anymore? I am in IT and everything we do is online and electronic so I don't need a filing cabinet. Instead, I use mine for my shower shoes, belt and dress shoes just so that I can lighten my load just a little bit. While riding to work is fun, especially riding fixed, the logistics of riding to work can be daunting. What works for me is to leave a few things at the office, including toiletries (they are in my other filing cabinet) and just carry my clothes in the garment bag pannier I have.

Improve your skill, not the trail

There is this little technical section on NEMBA's Rock and Roll Trail that for all of it's briefness always put the fear of god in me because on the big 29er wheels if I were to stall out I would be in the pond! Some A-Hole decided to smooth section out and now it's no longer technical. I would like to find out who did this and make them pick up all the road apples at Huntington.

There is always one bad apple that spoils the bunch. Over in Easton/Weston, CT at Trout Brook Valley there were reports of people poaching the trails during the off season. Turns out it was someone who lived next to the area. I hope the person who defiled the trail realizes what they have done only hurts the trail. I can see possibly why they wanted to change this because it makes this section more flowy. But, hey, if you want flowy trails then you are in the wrong part of the country.

One Less Tooth

I finally rode the 19t cog in a condition when I knew what was going on and there is a slight difference over the 20t. Looking back on Sunday, I realize that I did not drink enough water while working on the trails at the Pequonnock River Valley and got dehrydrated. I didn't take any chances for Tuesday's training ride at Huntington. Prior to leaving the office I downed a 32 oz bottle of Powerade and then I refilled that bottle with water and drank that. En route, I hit the local 7-11 for an additional 32oz bottle of water and a Gatorade that I knew would fit in my bottle cage. Also ate 4 granola bars and a banana.

Decided to mix things up a bit and do a distance ride. Added some new trails into the mix, a lot of which was mostly single track. I wanted to finish the ride with 10 miles under my belt so I took a spin on the NEMBA Rock and Roll Trail. Probably shouldn't have done that because I was tiring and not paying enough attention and ended up endoing again (also did it Sunday) in almost the same exact spot I endoed on October 31st, 2006 in which I smashed my knee cap and from that injury probably was the reason I got a blood clott in my knee a month later.

Looks like I am going to race on Sunday. Ride once more to work this week and knock out some laps Friday after work and I will be ready to race. Finishing today's ride I still had lots in the tank. I did hit my max on the heart rate while climbing the South Pond Gravel Grinder. Funny thing is that I didn't feel like I was over doing it and despite the warnings I climbed the whole hill.

West Hartford Bikes

I think West Hartford is the most prolific bike community in the state.  There just seems to be a polarization of cyclists here.  There are bike lanes, the Rez (hopefully it will remain open) and many events focused on cycling.  The only other place that comes close is New Haven, however, I think that is largely due to the fact that Yale pretty much makes up most of the City and there are many students using bikes for transportation.

I was up at the West Hartford Town Hall to see what was going on with the MDC hearings and the potential access issues for the Rez (West Hartford Reservoir).  I won't get into the gory details of what happened and why access is threatened, feel free to read about that over on the CT NEMBA Blog, but in a nutshell someone had a bike accident in which the cyclist ran into an obstruction that has been there for years, turned around sued the MDC and won.  The MDC thought they were immune to these kinds of lawsuits but the judge in the case felt otherwise.  Now the MDC liability insurance could sky rocket and clearly they need to figure out a way so they aren't caught like this again.

There is no doubt they need to institute some sort of pass system/liability waiver to protect them from future law suits and there definitely needs to be some changes in the rec use statutes to prevent these law suits in the future otherwise mountain biking could get seriously limited.  I got up to West Hartford towards the tail end of the Public Outcry to support continued access to the trails but was able to borrow someone's camera and get some great bike shots.  The Cargo bike above I have seen numerous times on the BeatBikeBlog.  The yellow Giant is nice, but I really dig the blue rims on the classic Special-Ed Stumpjumper.

A Mid-Summer's Trail Maintenance Dream

Met up with the Trumbull Trails Coalition on Sunday to do a trail reroute on the red trail as it descends towards the second stream crossing. It was a great turn out with 8 people in total. If you ride the Pequonnock River Valley frequently you will know that the this descent is a washed out down hill run that keeps getting worse and worse as the seasons pass.  After four hours of working in the humidity we went for a little ride but found that our energy was sapped from working so long and cut the ride short.

Later during the day, after taking a nap I cramped up so bad that I thought I would have to go to hospital.  Makes me wonder if trying to train in the this heat for Hodges Village is worth it.  The new drive chain was a lot more quieter.  I think adjusting the chain line helped.  The only thing makes any noise now is the EBB.  Going to have to work more on that.