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Cycling After RVin
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Return to Cycling Page 5
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Sunday, October 19, 2025: I was
ready to ride on my bike with new tires and a new cassette
but I soon learned my Hammerhead Bicycle Computer would
not turn on. We always say, "if the ride isn't recorded,
it never happened". I monitor my ride continuously
with my Hammerhead. I sent a message to my friend in
Colorado who is a Hammerhead customer service tech but did
not wait for an answer. Instead I decided to use an APP on
my phone, Ride with GPS (RWGPS). The photo at the right is
a copy of the screen at my halfway point. It's a great APP
but my phone is in my back pocket so I can't see the
screen. I ride to my heart rate, it's not on the
RWGPS screen. The incline is not there either nor is the
distance to my destination. The minutes I've been riding
is there but what time is it? My Hammerhead tells me all
that. Once I returned, I check for messages and my friend
sent me the steps to get my computer working. That's why
you can see the screen at the left. |
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Saturday, October 18, 2025: My day
began early with a Zwift ride with a group set to ride exactly 1
hour. These rides are always tough for me because I can rarely
keep up with the other riders. I'm usually in the last 25% of the
group. That was the case this morning. At the end of 1 hour my
legs were screaming for me to stop! I fixed breakfast after the
ride. After breakfast Amazon arrived with my new cassette for my
road bike. The old cassette had some chipped teeth which made it
difficult to shift into some of the gears. I mounted the cassette
to the rear wheel then made a small derailleur adjustment to get
smooth shifting. I installed the wheel to the bike and the bike is
now ready for tomorrow's ride. |
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| Friday, October 17, 2025: I
mentioned yesterday my problems with tires on the bike.
Front tire has a new tire but was flat. Rear tire was
falling apart and needed to be replaced. I chose to go
tubeless with both tires. I applied new rim tape and new
valve stems. Tubeless tires must be "blown on" to seat to
the rims. They must also have sealant to protect from
small punctures. The valve stem core must be removed
to seat and fill with sealant. Here is a short
video showing how I seat the tires using an Airshot.
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Wednesday: October 8, 2025: My
longest ride yet on the Loop this season. I'm trying
something new but failed to read the contents of the
Energy Puree until after my first bite. The flavor was a
surprise. It tasted better after I realized what it was. I
sat on "Kate's" bench for the Puree treat but Kate wasn't
talking to me today. Click on the left photo to see my
view from Kate's bench. |
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Monday, October 6, 2025: My first ride of
the season on The Loop. I got a late morning start, 9:45 so I had
to deal with warm temperatures, 86 - 89. The city of Tucson takes
good care of The Loop. The asphalt is usually clean, landscape
cared for and trash picked up. Someone has pickup up bags of trash
on both sides of the Pantano Wash. Tuscon provides alternatives
for the homeless population but they are still troublesome. Click
the center photo to see grocery carts stolen then abandoned in the
Pantano Wash. The photo on the right shows an empty well where my
8 pound battery usually sits. I rode without a battery so no
e-assistance today. Click all three photos for another view. |
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Thursday, October 2, 2025: My second day
of Zwift, more difficult this time since I increased to the next
level and sore from yesterday. The far right photo is a good photo
of D. Bernie the pacer robot next to me. |
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Wednesday,
October 1, 2025: It has been a while since I have
ridden any distance on a bicycle so I choose to ride
Zwift to get back into shape before riding the street.
I rode with a slow robot today, one level below where
I normally ride. I will ride with my normal group
tomorrow. A Zwift robot is a robot pace rider. The
pace rider sets a steady power pace so it keeps the
same power. It slows down keeping the same power when
climbing and speeds up on a descent still keeping the
same power. The Wahoo Kicker connected to the back
wheel of my bike logs into Zwift where Zwift changes
the resistance depending upon the virtual terrain we
are riding. So when climbing resistance is increased,
when descending resistance is decreased just like real
life.
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Friday,
August 15, 2025: Ten riders showed up today for the
Friday Coffee ride with the Umpqua Velo Bicycle Club.
Nine in this photo and I'm taking the photo making ten.
Today's ride was the longest I've done this summer at 46
miles. The Velo riders rode from Roseburg, while I rode
from Sutherlin. It was nearly equal mileage for both of
us. |
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Friday, August 8, 2025: I
join the Umpqua Velo Bicycle Club for their Friday ride.
It began only a mile from our trailer at Central Park in
Sutherlin. That made it easy to join. Four of us did a
ride I have done many times but since I haven't been on
my bike for a month, 36 miles was a stretch for
me. Here is a short
video of the guys on a downhill portion of the
route. |
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Wednesday, July 9, 2025:
Another nice cool day along the coast. Glen and I began a
ride along the north bank of the Coquille River then
turned north for a few miles before wondering our way back
south for a loop. None of the ride was on the busy Hiway
101 even though 101 is the official Oregon Coast cycling
route. Click both photos for more views. |
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| Friday, June 27, 2025: The
Umpqua Velo Bicycle Club always has a Friday ride during
the summer months. Today it was only Mark and myself which
was OK with both of us since nobody would be pushing us.
We rode a nice preplanned route along the Umpqua River.
Behind the Oregon Duck photo above is a photo of the
North Umpqua joining the South Umpqua Rivers.
Today's route was preplanned by someone so we followed the
route on our computers. The Cole Valley Church is out in
the middle of nowhere but is apparently still going
strong. I've been riding by it for 13 years but it has
been nearly 3 years since I was last here. Behind the
church photo is the Umpqua River, the second longest in
Oregon, on it's way to Reedsport where is dumps into the
Pacific Ocean. This was an easy 28 mile ride with 1000
feet of climbing. |
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Friday, June 19, 2025: I found
my front tire flat again. Previously I installed a new
tube but forgot to check the rim tape, actually also
forgot to check the inner tire casing for sharp objects
too. I checked the tube and found the hole easily on the
side of the tire facing the rim. I found the rim tape had
pulled away from a spoke hole allowing the spoke to
puncture the tube. Of course my extra rim tape is in
Tucson so ordered another roll. I also decided to replace
the worn tire with a new one. The tape and new tire should
arrive on Monday. |
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Thursday, June 12,
2025: This is my first ride in Sutherlin, Oregon
for nearly two years. This part of Oregon has
wonderful road riding due to the lightly traveled
rural roads. It is much different from
riding the Loop in Tucson because the entire Loop
is essentially flat. The elevation changes on the
Loop are so gentle you don't even know if you are
ascending or descending. The roads here are
rolling hills and you know when you are climbing.
Oregon got lots of rain during the winter months
so it is still mostly green in June. |
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