[python] recent rides

I went for a couple of rides the last few days, and I thought that I'd share my 
self-observations.
We rode  to Mission Beach on Sunday, about 21km r-t:
http://www.rjs.org/gallery/python_MissionBeach_004.jpg
It was nice and flat, and I was consistently faster than my usual.
Stop-and-go maneuvering through people  was a bit difficult, but the bike gets 
attention, usually young kids. I crashed into the sand once, on the Bay side. 
The girls in thongs weren't out yet, and Barbara wouldn't have taken photos of 
them anyway. Sorry.

I added panniers to the rear and commuted to the office Monday, ~40km r-t. The 
Big problem was the main hill, 100m in 2km.  I stopped twice and almost went 
back - Calle del Oro is >10% in places
http://topozone.com/map.asp?z=11&n=3635500.00007553&e=476682.000000001&datum=nad83
I could barely stay in one side of the road and my quads were burning; when I 
put out high effort, I could no longer steer well with my legs, and using my 
hands caused erratic interactions. My first gear is 24f - 26r; a lower ratio 
and I would not be able to balance at a 3kph rate. This is considerably harder 
than my Trek tourer.

I find now that I steer with legs while riding flat and fast, just resting my 
hands on the brakes, then mentally "turn off" my legs and switch to hands for 
steep climbs and coasting downhill. I was able to descend at 35-40kph just 
fine. The big advantage was riding into the wind (always both ways, because of 
daily coastal flows) on the flat - fast and comfortable. My full cushion seat 
back is a bit warm with extended effort. It needs more open space to sweat.

I also need a sand/water guard for the tires.


Ray Schumacher
La Jolla, CA (near San Diego)
http://terraserver.microsoft.com/image.aspx?T=1&S=13&Z=11&X=296&Y=2270&W=1

http://rjs.org/bent.htm
also:
http://rexranger.com

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