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May 21, 2013

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Bike MS training update: The Real Ale Ride

This past Saturday, at an ungodly early hour, I loaded up my bike and headed out to Blanco for the annual Real Ale Ride that leaves from the Real Ale brewery. The ride motto? “Up the hills, Down the beers.” Definitely fitting. I was hopeful as the ride started that maybe the wind wouldn’t get as bad as promised. And around mile 35, with a tailwind, I climbed a THREE MILE long hill that I hoped was the worst that I would experience. Ha. No such luck. Soon after climbing that hill, we turned again and were greeted with a gusty headwind. There were moments where I questioned my resolve. I even pulled over on the side of the road (not at a rest stop) to have a snack and rest, something I’ve never done on an organized ride. The hills were good training (see the Garmin route here), I suppose, for the Bike MS event Ride the Rim that I will participate in out in Canyon, TX on June 22nd. There is a very very nasty hill on that ride. In support of the fact that I will not SAG up that hill, please consider making a donation to the MS Society in support of my participation! (SAG = support vehicle that I could choose to ride in)

The good news is that I finished after 65 miles in one piece and got to enjoy lunch, beer, music and italian ice. By that time of day, it was downright hot and the humidity was still ridiculous so the italian ice from Rita’s was a special treat. The other fun part? I won a contest to be a “Beerbassador” sponsored by Real Ale and Bicycle Sport Shop. I got a free Real Ale Phoenix jersey, entry into the Real Ale Ride, a cool bottle opener and a very heavy case of Fireman’s 4.

Warning: this post has many pictures because I got yet another handlebar mount for my GoPro. This one is supposed to swivel but once I tightened the set screw, I couldn’t loosen it, so I couldn’t swivel the camera on my bike. Sigh.

Do you see me in the crowd of beerbassadors?

Classic cars, rolling down the main street in Blanco right after the ride started.

The day started out extremely humid and very hazy.

The haze slowly started to clear.

Lots of wildflowers on the left side of the road.

It’s hard to tell here, but you can see hills off in the distance.

Pretty clouds and a great view.

Small cliffs along the side of the road.

Rolling into a small town, where the first rest stop I stopped at was located.

First rest stop! At a cute little general store type building.

Hills in the distance and the haze was back.

This picture is for my father-in-law. There’s an old thresher on the left side of the road. Can you see it?

Tandem riders. Maybe I’ll have one of those someday. I’ll have to be the front rider through.

Hills…

Wildflowers!

The second rest stop I paused at had a table with a high school boy serving Rita’s italian ice. I think it’s the only reason I got back on my bike to fight the headwind to the finish.

The Blanco river is on the right side of the road. It’s hard to see here.

That blue sign says “Ride your bike hard today” from Clif bar. Don’t worry, I did.

When I first pulled up to the finish the food line was SO long. Luckily it moved pretty quickly.

The finish party had a band, dancers, food and beer. Plenty of tents to sit in the shade too.

After making it home with my prize, Mojo was king of the Fireman’s 4 beer mountain.

Thanks for reading! Please consider a donation to my Bike MS fundraising!

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Laura

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January 20, 2013

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Another video made

I finally came back to the rest of the video I took with my GoPro Hero3 while mountain biking a few weeks back and edited down the footage from the BMX Loop at Walnut Creek Park. While this trail has a couple of technical spots, it also has super fast sections where you get to go over small ramps and zoom around switch backs. Towards the end of the mountain biking trail is where you find the BMX park. On the day that I took this video, there were some people out doing maintenance on the BMX ramps. Whenever I come across people riding their BMX bikes in the park area, I like to stop and observe them for a while. It looks super fun!

Once again, I need to learn how to make these videos less grainy, although this one does appear slightly better than the previous two. I think it looks best if you go to YouTube to watch it, rather than watching it in the embedded size.

Previous videos: First try at making a video

Today’s video:

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January 8, 2013

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First try at making a video

My lovely husband gifted me a GoPro 3 video camera for Christmas. I wonder if this means he wants me to try more adventure sports…

Anyhow, we picked up a handlebar mount for the GoPro since biking is the closest to any adventure sport that I get. I tried it out over this weekend and used iMovie to create two YouTube videos.

A few lessons learned from using the GoPro:

The handlebar mount can’t just be hand tightened. There’s a reason why the finger screws have a phillips screw head in the center of them. To use a screw driver so that the camera doesn’t end up filming the ground!
The battery doesn’t last that long. From a full charge I road my bike for about an hour with the camera on, but it wasn’t taking video the whole time. I took about 18 minutes of video and the battery was already showing just one bar out of three.
I need to learn more about video formats. Both of my YouTube videos look sort of grainy / pixelated. I used all the default settings in iMovie.

Back view of the camera on my handlebars

Front view of the camera mounted on my bike

For the first video, I took two clips from my ride and cut them down a bit. I sped up the speed to twice the normal speed. The afternoon Texas sun was strong so the trails aren’t the easiest to see in that contrast-y light. I’ll have to redo them in better light on another day.

For the second video, I selected shorter clips and let them play in real-time. If you look closely, you’ll see some dogs playing in the creek crossing.

I have at least one more video from that day of riding the BMX loop that I want to edit and upload. I expect that to take a bit more time. Maybe I’ll learn how to create clearer videos by then 🙂

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July 29, 2012

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BikeMS Training update #12: All trained up and ready to go!

Wow, I can’t believe next weekend is when I ride the Bike MS: Pedal to the Point in northern Ohio. It’s a 180 mile bike ride over two days. The ride goes right through the best part of Ohio: the flat part and the part that I lived in for 18 years of my life. I can’t wait to ride in temperatures no higher than the mid-80s (according to the current forecast). It will be quite the change from the Austin summer heat.

This is my 5th year riding a Bike MS ride and my first time riding in northern Ohio. With one week to go, I am at 40% of my fundraising goal. Can you pitch in to help me meet by goal by making a donation to the MS Society? Every little bit helps. I continue to participate in this event because I’ve seen too many friends and family affected by the disease and I hope to see a cure in my lifetime.

Today I completed my last training ride, bringing my total riding distance over the last 12 weeks to 1,586 miles. Whew! On Saturday’s ride I knew that I was ready when I averaged 16.5 mph for a 75 mile ride with hills and a bit of wind. On the second half of the ride I was in “the zone” – riding was effortless and I was lost in my surroundings. It was a great day for a bike ride. My chosen route combined aspects of the Tres Burritos ride from last weekend and my long ride out Parmer Lane the weekend before. Riding out Parmer Lane, especially after getting past the heavier traffic, is a great way to spend a weekend morning.

A Texas country road

The sunflowers are still blooming. I passed a whole field of them on Saturday!

Beautiful shiny horses hanging out by the road

My Sunday ride ended up being 35 miles and I road a reverse route of last Sunday’s ride around a local golf course. After getting home, I started on bike maintenance so that I could get my bike packaged up for its travel to Ohio.

After cleaning the entire thing, including the chain rings, I was covered in grease. I also replaced my front brake pads which were quite worn. To disassemble my bike, I had to do the following things:

Remove my seat and handle bar bags
Remove the bottle cages
Remove both tires and deflate the tubes
Remove the skewers from the wheels
Remove the pedals
Remove the bike computer
Remove the seat (after I marked its height with masking tape)
Remove the handle bars (also after marking with tape)

Next I used a combination of foam tubes and bubble wrap to wrap up the bike safe and sound (or at least I hope it will be safe and sound). All the pieces then went into my hard-sided bike case and were strapped down with a combination of velcro and tape. When finished, it was hard to believe that there was a bicycle under there:

All wrapped up and ready to go.

Bon voyage, ma bicyclette!

My bike leaves Monday morning via FedEx (Bikeflights.com is how I set up the shipping). She arrives in Ohio on Thursday. I arrive in Ohio late Wednesday night. I’ll miss you old friend! I guess I’ll actually have to drive to work Monday, Tuesday, AND Wednesday, ugh.

Stay tuned for photos of the Pedal to the Point (and please consider a donation)!

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Posted on

July 23, 2012

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Bike MS Training update #11: Longest ride of the year (so far)

Two weeks from now I’ll have completed the 2012 Bike MS: Pedal to the Point in northern Ohio. It’s a 180 mile bike ride over two days. The ride goes right through the best part of Ohio: the flat part and the part that I lived in for 18 years of my life. This is my 5th year riding a Bike MS ride and my first time riding in northern Ohio. I can’t wait to make the trip. I have one more training weekend to go. Next Sunday evening I’ll be disassembling my bike, packing it into a bike case, and trusting its care to FedEx so that I can have it for the ride. If you’re able, please consider supporting my participation by making a donation to the MS Society. Every little bit helps. I continue to participate in this event because I’ve seen too many friends and family affected by the disease and I hope to see a cure in my lifetime.

This weekend I participated in the Tres Burritos ride sponsored by Bicycle Sport Shop, a very friendly and supportive local bike shop here in Austin. I chose the “Go the distance” route which left from their Parmer Lane shop, about 9 miles from my house. The longest “distance” route was only 60 miles so I knew I needed to add miles in order to continue to follow my training plans. With that in mind, I set out from my home on my bike at 6:35 am (!!) to make it to the shop in time to check in before we rolled out at 7:30 am. I made it in plenty of time. The morning was humid but nice.

At 6:45 am, the sun is just rising over the cars on Mopac

I don’t have many photos to share from Saturday’s ride for good reason. I got caught up in the intermediate pace group a number of times. In a pace group you ride close together to take advantage of the aerodynamics of the group and therefore it requires concentration and no one-handed picture taking while riding your bike. I made it out to Andice, TX in good time mostly on my own. The rest stop was at the Andice General Store and I paused there to grab some snacks and fill up on water and ice from the gigantic water reservoir and ice chest.

Glorious cold water

After that stop, I headed west into a decent headwind on a bumpy road. After crossing 183 with the assistance of an off-duty sheriff keeping a watchful eye on traffic, I headed into an area with some short rolling hills. At that point, the intermediate pace group passed me and because of their aerodynamic assistance, I was able to ride with them for quite some time, which made my speed increase considerably. I rode in this group of about 20 – 25 men for quite some time before being ejected out the back on some hills where I couldn’t build up as much speed as larger men on nice light bikes. During that time I realized what riding in the peloton must be like. Smelly! I could no longer smell the nice fresh air any longer and could only smell sweatiness. Thanks guys.

I made it back to the rest stop in Andice for another fuel stop. I caught the pace group again which had dwindled in number and rode with them for much longer, until about 12 miles remained at which point the riders stopped at a rest stop and I kept going. I knew I wanted to get back to Bicycle Sport Shop as early as possible so that I could grab my t-shirt and tacos and then ride the 9 miles home. The pace groups make riding in wind so much easier and I was very grateful for their assistance. I am not fast or strong enough to lead a group that fast in the wind so I was sure to keep to the middle or back of the group to avoid getting caught in the lead position.

After making it back to Bicycle Sport Shop, I picked up my event t-shirt and two free veggie tacos from One Taco. With 9 miles to ride before making it home, I didn’t want to eat my tacos yet, so I rearranged all my stuff so that I could put both the tacos and my t-shirt into my jersey pockets. I’m sure I looked ridiculous from behind but it was well worth it. Those tacos were delicious! I ended up riding 79 miles that day. I expect that this is my peak training distance for this season.

On Sunday I planned to sleep in (and I did, kinda) but was still on my bike by 7:45 am because my body is so used to waking up early these days. It was another nice morning, although breezier than Saturday. I rode a more residential route so my pace was lower. It was also shadier. Part of my ride was in the Balcones Country Club area. I love riding through some of the older neighborhoods like this one in northwest Austin. The houses have interesting and eclectic architecture and are shaded by huge trees. My ride ended at 36 miles. A very good riding weekend.

Early morning view of the Balcones golf course

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June 10, 2012

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Bike MS Training Update #5: A wreck and recovery

Yes, you read that correctly. A wreck. Not during a training ride of course, but rather on a 3 mile ride from the office to the movie theater on Friday night. I was even riding in a skirt because I was hardly going anywhere! I had just crossed a road and the bike lane I was in ended. Rather than take the right lane of the two lanes (which I often do) I opted to go for the sidewalk / parking lot area since I was decently close to my final destination. I angled myself into the parking lot driveway and neglected to notice the large cement lip between the road and driveway. I hit it and went down on my right side going about 17 mph. Once my bike and I stopped I was laying on my back in the middle of the driveway with a car trying to turn into the parking lot behind me. My first attempt to get up was thwarted by the fact that my legs and bike were all tangled. I eventually made it up and out of the way after verifying no part of me was broken. The driver and passenger of that vehicle stopped to ask me if I was going to be OK. They didn’t get out to help me get up, just stared at me. I realized was dripping blood everywhere from my elbow and the chain had fallen off my bike. Another driver (who was a cyclist also) actually got out and offered to give me a ride somewhere. He put the chain back on my bike. I really only had to go one block more so I had to turn him down, but I was impressed with his kindness.

There is a bike store just next to the movie theater so I went in there with my bike because the brake and shifter handles were knocked out of position. Well, I did this as soon as I verified my work laptop was still working since I was pretty sure I heard it hit the ground in the crash. It works thankfully. The bike mechanics straightened the brake handles while I washed the blood off my right arm, which had finally stopped dripping, and cleaned four different scrapes on my left arm. When I finished they showed me that the rear derailer was bent and almost touched the spokes of the wheel. While they readjusted it, I headed to CVS, also in the same plaza, for bandages. I phoned my husband to let him know why I was late to the movie and he was sweet enough to ask me if I wanted to go home despite the fact that he really wanted to see the Avengers AND arrived an hour early to make sure we got good seats. I didn’t really see any point in going home so after fetching my bike again, I found his car, locked my bike up on the bike rack and proceeded inside. Besides, I could have wine and food in the theater.

At that point I knew my training plan for the weekend had to change. On Saturday morning I needed to test out my bike and my badly bruised knee somewhere that I could easily bail to the car if needed. My husband was out of commission at a bee keeping class an hour away so he would be unable to rescue me if something happened. I headed to the Veloway in south Austin to ride loops around the 3.1 mile course, closed to cars and pedestrians. My knee felt pretty good, if a bit weak, so I roade 8 laps easier than I otherwise would have. The rear shifting was a bit off so I stopped by Bicycle Sport Shop for an adjustment on my way home. It turned out that the rear derailer hanger was ruined so I had to head to another local bike shop to get a new one. They had it swapped out and I was on my way in no time.

That afternoon I put the bike up on my bike stand and finally cleaned it after many months of neglect. I washed off multiple drips of blood. I learned to adjust the rear brake as that had gone out of whack.

Poor bike. Shifter all scraped up.

Blood on the rim. A “badge of honor” as the bike shop employee put it.

On Sunday I knew that I could ride longer again. I left home a few minutes before 7am so that I could beat the wind and the heat. Unfortunately the wind forecast was wrong and the wind started super early. I turned around to face the headwind earlier than planned because I wasn’t sure that fighting a strong headwind for 25 miles was a good idea with a weak knee and bad shoulder. I made up for it by riding in town a bit for a total of 53 miles.

Seen on the ride: a cow at the dead end of a road.

During the ride: Stopping to wait for a train

Anyhow, I promise next week to return to my regular short ride updates because there will be no crashing to go on about.

Thanks for reading and remember – I’m training for the 2012 Pedal to the Point Bike MS ride in northern Ohio on August 4th & 5th. Consider supporting my participation by making a donation today!

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Laura

Posted on

June 5, 2012

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Bike MS training update #4: These people are riding to Anchorage!

This past weekend was a great weekend for bike training. Saturday I rode the Atlas ride which is the kickoff ride for the Texas 4000 riders. The Texas 4000 riders are UT students that ride from Austin, Texas to Anchorage Alaska over a 70 day period and more than 4,500 miles. They spread hope, knowledge, and charity while raising funds to fight cancer. It’s a once in a lifetime experience, no rider can ride more than once. I know, I’m jealous too. Day one goes from Cedar Park to Lampasas on either a 53 or 70 mile route. This year, I rode the 53 mile route. The day was gorgeous and the route was generous – it went mostly north with decent wind out of the south and seemed to be more downhill than up. My average speed was quite speedy and I finished nice in early, in time to go back to Austin for a brewery open house.

At the start line, the supply trailer waiting to pull out after the riders.

Texas 4000 riders waiting to start

Tiny little church in Joppa, across from a rest stop.

In early at the finish line, barely no one in the tent

Bike racks waiting for the riders to roll in at the finish

On Sunday it was pretty windy, with wind out of the south again. I stayed on a mostly sheltered route through town for about 21 miles. The sunflowers are gorgeous this time of year.

I call this one sunflowers and railroad tracks

Thanks for reading and remember – I’m training for the 2012 Pedal to the Point Bike MS ride in northern Ohio. Consider supporting my participation by making a donation today!

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Laura

Posted on

June 1, 2012

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Bike MS Training update #3

Well, I’m a little behind on this update, but I did get out on my bike last weekend. Luckily, it was a rather boring bike weekend so I don’t have a lot to say.

Saturday it was windy of course, so I rode in a bunch of random directions for 42 miles. I stopped along loop 360 to take some photos because it’s peach season and some tents were set up along the side of the road.

The wildflowers are still in bloom, giving me a great view:

Sunday was a pretty laid back day, also windy, so I just cruised the neighborhood for 20 miles.

I’m training for the 2012 Pedal to the Point Bike MS ride in northern Ohio. Consider supporting my participation by making a donation today!

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Posted on

May 13, 2012

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It’s that time… training season for Bike MS

For the next two and a half months I’ll be writing about my bike training shenanigans. You see, each year I ride in a Bike MS event. My first three years doing this, I rode the Houston to Austin BP MS 150 with 13,000 other riders. It’s quite the spectacle. Last year, I rode the Escape to the Lake in Western Pennsylvania, which is where my extended family lives. This year, I’m riding the Pedal to the Point in Northern Ohio on August 4th and 5th. It goes right through my home town! Needless to say, I’m super excited to ride in my old stomping grounds AND somewhere that isn’t Texas in August.

Each weekend I’ll update you on my training progress. This Saturday I rode in the Austin Cycling Association’s Armadillo Ride out in Liberty Hill. Because of the rain this week the temperatures were reasonable, the breeze was light, wildflowers in bloom, and the clouds were variable. All in all, it was a great 52 mile ride to kickoff my training season. The route is always well marked and the rest stops stocked with friendly volunteers. The only downside was a 6 mile stretch we rode both on the out and back route that was so bumpy I thought perhaps my head would rattle off. At least the wildflowers were particularly pretty on that stretch.

Oh, and I got to see the crazy banana bike in action. I’ve seen it out on Loop 360 before and always have to stare.

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February 7, 2012

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Making sound panels in the theme of Dazed & Confused

Cover of "Dazed & Confused (Widescreen Fl...

Cover via Amazon

Recently my company, Ant’s Eye View, moved our Austin office. We ended up with an incredibly awesome location on North Lamar Blvd that happened to be the scene of the Emporium in the movie Dazed and Confused. My co-workers decided to play up the famous location a bit so we’ve got the Emporium sign painted across a wall that spans multiple rooms and each conference room is named after a location in the movie. Oh, and there are movie posters and paddles for decorations.

After moving into the office, we found that the conference rooms had terrible echoes. To fix this, we decided to make sound dampening panels for each room. To complement the movie theme, each room has panels in solid colors that go with the location.

The Top Notch room (click to see sign colors):

The 50 yard line room:

The Moon Tower (pale yellow and dark blue in case you can’t tell):

Being crafty, I was the person who actually constructed the sound panels.

Materials:

Sound dampening foam – we used 2′ x 2′ foam with a waffle texture and they look a bit like this
Particle board – for mounting the foam and fabric
Solid cotton fabric
White felt (goes under the cotton to keep bumps from show as much)
Mending plates
Screws
Staple gun
Drill

Method:

Cut particle board into 2 x 2 squares. Cut fabric a few inches larger on each side and iron it. First put down the cotton, then the felt, then the sound dampening foam, and then the particle board. Fold in the corners sort of like you are wrapping a present and fold it over the back, pulling it tight. Use the staple gun to tack down the fabric. Mark holes using the mending plate so that one hole just barely shows above the panel. I used two plates for the 2 x 2 panels. Drill a small hole and then use a screw driver to screw in the small holes. You’re now ready to hang your sound panels!

Laura Makes

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Tag Archives: austin

Bike MS training update: The Real Ale Ride

Another video made

First try at making a video

BikeMS Training update #12: All trained up and ready to go!

Bike MS Training update #11: Longest ride of the year (so far)

Bike MS Training Update #5: A wreck and recovery

Bike MS training update #4: These people are riding to Anchorage!

Bike MS Training update #3

It’s that time… training season for Bike MS

Making sound panels in the theme of Dazed & Confused

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