Ride Schedule – Winter 2011

Wednesdays (Road Ride): Yak Shack start @ 4:30pm (a vigorous ride that is usually 1 to 1.5 hr long).  Beverages and snacks at the Shack.  (time will change after the Nov 6/11 day light Savings Time change)

Friday (MTB Ride): (INTERMITTENT) 7:00pm start for this night ride (a vigorous ride that is usually 1 to 2 hrs long).

Saturdays (Road Ride): Cafe Aroma start @ 10:30am (a less vigerous ride).

Sundays (MTB Ride): Trail head start @ 1:00pm, organized by phone tree.  If you would like to join us, just call a number below and introduce yourself.

• Richard Pielou : 285-2065
• Sam Whittingham : 285-3181
• Jack Mar : 285-3939 or 285-3627 (Island Cycle)
• James Manders : 285-2139
• Jeroen : 285-2299

Videos of the Island

Quadra Island has a few of south-end log rides (Swale Trail #1 log), Homestead trail log (currently retired) are shown here:  http://www.pinkbike.com/video/109218/

Quadra Island’s north-end “Dead Deer Trail”… enjoy the ride:  http://www.pinkbike.com/video/201922/

For some reason I don’t quite understand yet, I like this video… perhaps it’s the neural aid station at the beach?:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftoc5mx1pro

Two guys on an adventure, with their bikes… sounds like they’re enjoying themselves… even with the long, tiring ups…:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMFZATJfrHg

I was “just riding along” when… How quickly can you identify the part that failed?

I guess for those that deal with this on a routine basis, this would simply be another “JRA”… for me it was a chance for reflection…  okay, so the ride was cut short a bit, and the 6km run was not part of the initial plan, it was all good (anything done outside is good!)… and well I’m okay, my bike took bit of a hit.

If it was a plane crash, the investigators would identify the accident chain… that series of warnings (events) and steps taken that ended in a crash.  While much less serious than a plane crash, at what step can you correctly identify the failure?

1. At the base of the first steep climb of Cash Only, rear derailleur shifts past low gear into the spokes.

2. After putting the chain back on the rear cassette, the derailleur continues to shift in to the spokes.  (I push bike up this first pitch).

3. Shifting is now normal, and I continue to ride… the rest of Cash Only, Money Shot, Snars, Portal, Plaything, Yellow Mud, and halfway up Dead Fish.

4. I go to give a bit of a kick to loft the wheel on to a 4′ protruding rock, and the cassette turns freely. The pedals turn, but the wheel just sits there and starts to roll back.

5. I push up hills and coast down… Up Dead Fish, down Ridge Trail, up Straight as a Dime, up and then down the Connector Road.  Rear wheel stops rotating, and I throw on the brakes to make a nice 30′ skid, just like a kid.

6. The ride ends here with the above rear derailleur configuration.  After removing the twisted chain, derailleur bits and then the wheel, I noticed that the free hub body seems to be working fine.

7. The rear axle is binding when it is rotated.

8. The Chain whip is bought out and the rear cassette is removed.  The free body seems to be smooth and working well.  The rear axle is removed.  The cones are secure but the bearings on the drive side are covered in brown coloured grease.

9. The 10mm allen key is inserted and the free hub body falls off.

There you go, you should have enough to solve this bike problem!… What part failed and at what step did you figure it out?

Google Maps – James’ favourite rides

I thought that I’d share some of my past favorite rides:

• The CENTURY ride. (Thanks to believing I can do it)
• The 270 km VICTORIA GRAND FONDO ride. (Thanks Sam, et al.)
• The “holy shi!” long ride SOUTH VANCOUVER LOOP, weekend stage ride. (Thanks Rob, et al.)
• The Quadra Island WEDNESDAY RIDE sprint lines. (Thanks Jack, et al.)
• The Quadra MTB fun ride. (Thanks to so many friends!)

As per my NORCO license plate frame…  ”Ride to live. Live to ride”

Sorrow felt over the loss of a fellow rider, following his passion.

It is with a saddened heart that I heard that the Belgian rider, Wouter Weylandt 26yrs, was killed in a descending crash during Monday’s Stage 3 of the Giro d’Italia.   (source: http://www.steephill.tv/giro-d-italia/ (May 10/ 2011))

Nugedzi – winter is still holding on (Apr 24/11)

Well, my favorite loop: starting from the bottom of Backseat driver 4km road ride over to the Mt. Seymour trail, up to Nugedzi Plateau, across and back down, is not quite ready yet!

The top of the Mt. Seymour trail and first part of the Nugedzi trail are covered with a few snow drifts… I’d guess 5 feet deep at the top… It wasn’t to much fun carrying the bike then falling through the snow to your waist… sigh… GOOD NEWS… there are only half a dozen small”ish” windfalls this year.

Hallelujah, I’ve seen the line

For me MTB has always had a “divine” like experience.    I have often thought that the activity (mountain biking) and the environment (in the forest) work together to improve my “body awareness”… both the physical and mental aspects.  It’s a process of evolution that develops with never-ending enlightenment.

The other day I saw yet another YouTube video, of a local DH trail Backseat Driver… previously, I had resigned to the thought that I’d never see someone ride what appeared to be the ONLY line through a steep section… well, that has changed.  I’ve seen the line and the enlightenment continues beyond the trail.  Not that I’ll be riding this section any time soon.  The audible “oof” at the bottom followed by a “phew” says it all.  I just can’t get too excited about falling 10′ and using my arms to break the fall, taking a hit to the abdomen in the process.  Just kidding!  I’d do it, but unfortunately I don’t wear the double crown.

Dreams of summer

Jeroen, Nic, Sam and I were out huffing and puffing today on our road bikes… snow everywhere else!  The sun was enough to lift my spirit a bit, and allow thoughts of summer to shine.  The sad truth is that Nugedzi is under snow right now, and will be for some time.  Still, let me share my day dream with you, enjoy the video.  ‘Click’ on the image of the cyclist below to see the YouTube video: Project: Awsome”.

Quadra Island’s Wednesday Ride

For decades Quarda Island riders have come together for the Wednesday group ride.  There is no preset route, but rather the direction of travelled is influenced by the whims of the riders.  It’s a social ride of about 2 hours, that often attracts a variety of riders and abilities.  For most riders this is their long ride, but one can personalize their ride by adding solo ride time before and/or after the group ride to make their ride longer.  Although everyone gets to develop their endurance, there are sprint lines (google maps has additional details) spread throughout the Island, that helps those that are interested, to develop power, bike handling skills and strategy.

So you think that you pedal smoothly, do you?

Just when I thought I got it figured out, I learn that I still have more to learn.

I’ve always just assumed my left leg was stronger than my right… but there is more going on then this!  The other day, sneaking a tempo ride on my son’s rollers, I discovered that if I really concentrated on smooth pedaling, my cadence picked up a bit and heart rate dropped.  As soon as my concentration fell off, I went back to my old ways.  I thought that single leg pedalling drill was in order.

First up was the left leg for the 3x 60 s drill with a 60 s both leg pedalling rest between sets.  It felt okay, but there could be some improvement.  Second up was the right leg.  Apparently a drive drain abusing exercise.  My right leg can’t get up and over the crest of the pedal stroke.  EACH STROKE had that horrible drivetrain ‘clunk’ as the right leg struggled to make it over the top.  I had no idea!  I think that more drills are in order, and I’ll leave the Power Cranks, pictured below, for the pros.