Tour De-Troit 2011 High-Speed

A lovely stroll through Detroit at a higher paced playback with music by: Perplexa - "Beautiful Ride" which goes more than perfectly with the video, you got to love it when YouTube's "Audio Swap" feature actually works out.

If you so happen to be interested in reading about our little "tour", by all means please check out the blog writeup here for all the vids and stats.

The weather here is kinda poohey lately.

-WCFTW

Rain and Cycling: YouTube Playlist #1 Use While on your Trainer

So it has been borderline crappy outside all week, not impossible to ride, but not enjoyable by any stretch. Okay, I'm being a total marshmallow and need to follow Rule Number Five. I was 7 microns from going riding last night but the unthinkable happened: My excuse list exceeded my do list.

SO WATCH THIS PLAY LIST IN FULL SCREEN!

Total Riding time: 81 mins approx.

EXCUSES:

1. My Truck has a vibrating FRT RH Axle Shaft and is ready to fail, my truck resonates at 118 db after 45 mph and on the freeway it is insane loud, let alone the coins in my cup holder start to dance like Can-Can girls back in Vegas, it is intense. Extreme left turns completely silence the sound, let's hope it is cupping of the tyres, I doubt it entirely.

2. I have a cold and blew out my neck, I was not able to turn my head without moving my body at the same time, it made fellow co-workers uncomfortable when they would come by for snacks and see me slowly cringe whilst rotating my rigor mortised upper torso slowly to peer who it was, I could have used my mirror above my monitor but my eye sight is already messed up from staring at this screen all day, why strain by looking into a pair of aviators to catch a brief glimpse of a salsa thief when you can just spin around anyway? Oh yeah, my neck is screwed up.

3. The training location is Dorais Park in Detroit, about 60 miles round trip for an hour or so of intense HTFU riding / training in the cold drizzle fo shizzle... Rule no. 5 comes to mind.

View Larger Map
It is missing out in this ride that I am really beating myself up over.

4. I am almost finished reading Bike Snob and it is totally worth reading instead of riding a silly bike in the stupid rain any day.

5. My Gunnar is too clean to ride in the mud.


Those excuses are not worth their weight, I know, it is just too damn murkyblurky out right now and by the time I leave work (1800) it is dusk, the sadness sets in because this is exactly what I felt during winter until I HTFU, strapped some lights and blinky's on a bike and rode. I do love winter riding for some reason, that reason is that is NOT RAINING + COLD. Those two, not one or the other, are the main culprits for me staying indoors period. This must stop, or else ride rollers and watch videos, and that brings us to this lot of weirdness from my yesteryear.

The goal here is to ride, watch, drink water (or tea), and get fit.  The videos collectively:




[45:19] 20 videos in 24 hours Challenge!


[11:34] Autumn Riding, The unseen video from 2009.


[00:51] 1998 Destroying a door in the abandoned Hospital.


[ n/a ] A Private video still, but you can at least see the image of how "big" I was before cycling.
Sheesh.


[08:43] My Custom 1982 Mercury Cougar... R.I.P. I wish I didn't scrap it. the engine ran like a top.


[03:09] Curling Cam, my very own creation as far as I am aware. ;-)


[01:24] My very first upload to YouTube, as far as still being there and not deleted. [July 17, 2006 10:06 AM ] Many many years ago I deleted all my subs, friends, videos, mail, basically I cleaned out the whole dang thing just to support M13 as he was banned from YT for talking his mind, which was slander apparently.

So what does this have anything to do about cycling anyway? Two wheels is also motorcycling.

[10:08] There you go, my first "Nice" Bicycle, which has nearly 3000 miles on it now.

I've got it! Ride the rollers while watching the whole lot! Hmmm... Play list incoming.
I hope your rainy drizzle shut-in day was entertaining after watching these videos, thanks for your time to check them out.

-WCFTW

Tour De-troit 2011 - WannabeCyclist

TOUR DE-TROIT 2011

The morning was perfect.  Packet pickup wednesday that week was smooth and stress free.  The drive in was quick and easy, and parking was a breese, (we ended up parking near Michigan Ave and wabash, just like last year at 0720.)  Unloading and taking our first photos went well, we didn't forget our camera batterys and we laughed.  The ride was VERY eventful, see the teaser video right below for the basic details.

The Teaser Video

The High Speed Video  *NEW*

Fixie Crank Failure Translation: Operator Error (I should have double checked everything)

The last 20 minutes of the tour, it is a very very slow pace, but at least we had fun and had a chance to see Detroit in her beauty.

Megumi gets her pants caught in the cranks! (My fault for not telling her to cuff her pants proper.)

The Porta-Jon Theory and waiting in needless lines. (Philosophy 102)

Cartoon Cycling!  *NEW*

Summary
Distance: 18.30 mi
Time: 2:53:22
Avg Pace: 9:31 min/mi
Avg Speed: 6.3 mph
Elevation Gain: 71 ft
Calories: 2,472 C
Details
Timing
Time: 2:53:22
Moving Time: 2:02:14
Elapsed Time: 2:53:22
Avg Speed: 6.3 mph
Avg Moving Speed: 9.0 mph
Max Speed: 52.0 mph
Avg Pace: 9:31 min/mi
Avg Moving Pace: 6:41 min/mi
Best Pace: 1:09 min/mi
SpeedPaceElevation
Elevation Gain: 71 ft
Elevation Loss: 72 ft


There are some great pictures too!

 There were many people from all over here in the "D"  it is too bad we don't come out more often.

 These people shots are kinda filler shots, a bit boring IMHO, but I wanted to show a bit of the mayhem before the actual ride.  I totally omitted much of the video taking this year, saved the majority for the long 20 minute ride in my video collection.

 This is what 4000 people look like from a low vantage point, wouldn't it be sweet to see this shot from the roof of the Train Station?  I think it should be vlogged proper. 

 The best part of a ride like this is the bringing together of all the people, mostly recks, but people nevertheless who want to get into the cycling atmosphere and have a good time.  We really need to do more mini rides, i included, need to get out there, they exist, there is the "Beat The Train Ride"  and Crit Mass, but i never make the time for them, and feel kinda guilty for that, like I am less of a cyclist for not showing up to at least one of these cool events.

 Did I mention that I love my Schwinn Traveler Commuter Fixie?  It is true, this bike rocks and is a total blast to ride, when the cranks are built right!

 A bizarre random shot, look at the balance and chaos in the shot.

 So what happened in a nutshell is this:  I rush built my crank set to my new 103mm shortened BB, it was so tight the crank arms were binding up against the BB, it was failure from the start, that was Friday night.  I had to bust out the grinder and grind down a few millimeters on both crank arms to get this to work properly.  it was still too damn tight.  The Lock ring for the BB was missing in the rush as well, see last set of videos tomorrow for details.  so in order to keep from running too tight, I stopped grinding the cranks and just left the cranks "kinda loose" so it would work.  This ended up wiggling loose during the ride and I finally took the damn thing off and put it in my pocket until we made it to the break area.  It was there we found a cool SAG fella with a totally bitching custom army green commuter hauler bike, he lent me a 14 mm socket and a custom bent ratchet and viola! we were back in business and rolling again.

 Our cute lil' bicycles were cuddling while we went off to eat our food and give away our beer tickets.  Yep, standing in a line was worth too much time as it were, it was cheaper to go to the cooler and pop a few tops, just kidding, we were rolling outta there soon so we didn't have time to play.

Time for Michigan Central Station

 After the bike ride we just milled about and took pictures of the Train Station all the while tempting ourselvese to go inside and explore, but it was REALLY posted and razor wired off, there were other ways in but we were not prepared with our lights and proper gear.  If you are so ever inclined to explore Detroit and all the abandoned buildings around here, please visit this channel: Bagaauwk He is the REAL DEAL.

 All in all, this was a very well planned event, special thanks to all the Detroit police officers that escotred us, blocked traffic, and gave us warm friendly smiles as we greeted them from our bicycles, you all are very appreciated.  hanks go out to all of you who helped with catering, electrical, beer, sound, SAG, and organization to this great event.

 Hmm...  Back to cuddling bicycles again, I guess it is time to stop writing this blog for now!  Stay tuned because I will edit a really cool TDT video in the coming hours, it will rock!

The sunset on the 24th of September, 2011.

GARMIN DATA for all you data nerds.
  [Note:  As of 20110926 there are more videos and footage going to be uploaded so stay tuned!]
 [Note:  As of 20110930 there are 2 more videos added to this blog!]


2011 Tour De-Troit / Wannabe Cyclist



-WCFTW

My Velospace Schwinn Fixie

I finally have my Schwinn Traveler just about where I want it to be, it is a BA Fixie Commuter, here is the latest and greatest.

That was a brief "Bike Check" last week, it since then has a custom spash guard made from an old tyre.


Here is the review in Velospace, I hope you enjoy!



-WCFTW

Bike Path Cleanup [I-275 Metro Trail]

There was a very dangerous stick in the way, I had to make this better.


-WCFTW

Single Speed Commute - Schwinn Traveler Custom

YO!

As per usual, the GARMIN date for your viewing pleasure right HERE.

So Here is the story:

I awoke to one of MANY alarms this morning around 0530 ish in Canton while still dreaming about fixies and skid stopping, it dawned on me that today would be the coldest day of summer, as for commuting goes. It must be noted that I am no slouch when it comes to cold weather riding, in fact, I do quite a bit of icy rides and enjoy them quite much actually, to name a few, the Worst Ride Of The Year comes to mind, this was a doosey! and the Barry Roubaix wasn't too far off the pucker factor either with a freezing temperature of SEVEN degrees F! Needless to say, I love commuting and don't mind the cold at all, it is soothing to me.

This was today at 0700, it was actually quite nicer, I missed the shot as I was trying to get passed Ford Rd and on to the trail (I-275 Bike Path) so this shot was taken at Ann Arbor Trail and the path. The commute was very brisk thereafter as I decided to stow my yellow rain jacket atop my luggage. Honestly I was contemplating putting my jacket back on, but followed RULE #5 and kept on keeping on.

The commute was rather enjoyable and at a decent pace, all things considered, since I was rolling on my heavy commuter with gear all up hill, in the rain, and sleet and snow... barefoot.. okay not bare foot but it was a good workout all the same.

An hour and ten or so later we ended up at work, and made the aforementioned video doing the "Bike Check" and then after editing the video and upping it via iPhone to YouTube, I noticed something in the picture... it was something missing and now I want you to play Along with me and try to find it, be honest and you will enjoy the game more that way. First I present you with a photo of today, after shooting the video.

Great HUH?!

 

Now, scroll down if you want to see the answer.

Hint:  It was below the Play Arrow on the YouTube video above.

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I wasn't kidding.

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BOOM!

NO BLINKY!!! Whisky Tango Foxtrot!

I lost my damn blinker!! Not just a blinker but my very first blinker i had purchased two years ago in this video. So it is SPECIAL to me. I must have lost it between Seven Mile and work, most likely on the bumpy service drive, which compels me to ride back the same way to find it. I was planning on exploring a new site, however in hindsight, it would be far too dangerous going alone dressed in a Pink tight shirt, self preservation is key here. ;-)

We did meet our goal for the Komen for the Cure benefit thought, here is my page as it stands today. I want to publicly thank each and every one of you for contributing, that means you Dan, thank you very much brother! I single Dan out because he is the only one who reads my blog, at this time anyway. I'm content with that as I really don't post anything that cool anyway.



Well, that is my lunch hour, I must finish and check the grammar later. it is a fine good day and I would like to share a Bible verse with you now, it goes something like this:

1 Corinthians 16:14


"Let all your things be done with love."







-WCFTW

Cruisin' Boozin' And Losin'...

So I rode a cruiser bike today... and I liked it.

September 11th I went for a good ol' bike ride on the ol' lady's TOTALLY BADASS SWEET CRUISER BIKE and gave the built in bottle opener a good test, four times with some sweet Erdinger N/A beers.  I ride the I-275 metro trail to Morton Taylor trailhead near Michigan Ave, it was a totally fun ride!

Summary

Distance:	11.43 mi
Time:	1:17:17
Avg Pace:	6:46 min/mi
Avg Speed:	8.9 mph
Elevation Gain:	30 ft
Calories:	1,343 C

Details

Timing

Time:	1:17:17
Moving Time:	58:02
Elapsed Time:	1:28:41

Avg Speed:	8.9 mph
Avg Moving Speed:	11.8 mph
Max Speed:	21.3 mph

Avg Pace:	6:46 min/mi
Avg Moving Pace:	5:05 min/mi
Best Pace:	2:49 min/mi

Speed

Pace

Elevation

Elevation Gain:	30 ft
Elevation Loss:	35 ft

All In all, I love her cruiser bike.  A Lot.

-WCFTW

Scatterbrain Cyclist - In a Mind's Eye

-WCFTW

Commuting Hundreds of Miles...

私は一方通行にし、17マイル、約仕事から私の自転車に乗る Seventeen mile commute to work from Canton, all bike path, and all awesome. This saves in petrol consumption dramatically, in fact, it saves 40 miles round trip which is about six trips on my 255 mile 66 dollar petrol tank. Roughly 15 MPG and that is the savings of Ten bucks per commute, at the cost of three thousand or so calories, which could be replenished by eating ten bucks worth of food... However, it should be doubly noted that such activity benefits the human body in more ways than just burning fat. Let me expraign...

We ride our bikes for a great many reasons, some overlapping into others but all with the general consensus that there is a tremendous gain psychologically and physical towards our human bodies, that it becomes somewhat of a drug, a very extensive drug that melds into our every day lives, one spoke at a time, and one hipster fixie in Royal Oak at a time too, the Plymouth Hipsters don't ride as much. With that said, suffice it to say: commuting by bicycle can be totally rad like Helltrack bit without Mr. Duke Best's smug grin whilst riding his 24" Mongoose BMX. Where is this blog going now you might ask? Dunno, I'm laying in bed writing this on my iPhone hoping the grammar is correct and I am hoping to post some pictures in this post later on today at lunch time, just so you may see some of my commute. It truly rocks and feels so wonderful when I get to work an hour and half later, it is like stepping on the moon Eruopa for the first time, such analogy is moot as you or I have never been there. The Endorphins are released in our bodies and help create the euphoric, floatiy, and dreamy state there after riding all that way, be sure to carb up too! Well, I leave in a few hours so I must carry on later, until then, stay vigilant people, I will post an addendum to this here post.

UPDATE!

My morning commute: GARMIN
How is that for some bike path fun!!! I have a video and lotsa pics coming up, I might add as a new blog entry due to the size and quanity.

UPDATE NUMBER TWO!!
A Nice Slideshow with some nice X-tian Music from the Kry in it:

The Very Last part of my Commute, the rough section:



All in all, the I-275 Bike Path is a straight shot and one of the mmore enjoyable rides, even though we are riding to work!



-WCFTW