39 replies to this topic

[John T Roberts]

Since several of you stated that in my 2007 year end cycling report that I had inspired them to get out and ride, ride more, or just exercise more, I decide to post my 2008 stats on the forum. The software that I use generates low quality PDF files that I will place on the forum for all to look at and review. Right now, I will post my mileage graphs on a daily, weekly, and monthly progress report. If anyone would like to see additional information like feet climbed, average speed, time, number of rides per week, heart rate, etc. I would be more than happy to share this information.

Primarily, I ride with the Fort Worth Bicycling Association. We are a club of about 650 members that offers all kinds of rides on different days and at different times. I served on the Board of Directors for many years and I have held many of the positions, including Rides Coordinator and President. If anyone bicycles, I would love to have you come out as a guest to ride with us. The distances on our rides range from 15 miles all the way up to 100 miles (or more). We also show up in large numbers at the major pay rides across the area. However, I do ride some on my own, and I am planning to do a forum bike ride sometime this year. Last year, Bernie and I did one as a part of our Forum Picnic.

2008 Daily Mileage Graph

2008 Weekly Mileage Graph

2008 Monthly Mileage Graph

[Papaw]

John, I have a stupid question about gearing. I am just an occasional biker, mostly around the neighborhood and occasionally use the trail. Is there any health or exercise advantage in the cadence you use? In other words are you better off peddling faster-easier or slower-harder, or is it entirely what ever feels most comfortable?

[John T Roberts]

Some of the cyclists may disagree with me, but I have been riding so long that I just go with whatever is more comfortable for me. I have found that over the years, this has been shown (through some testing) with me that is how I'm the most efficient. The gearing that I use varies from day to day and in different conditions, but I ride where I'm comfortable. I used to have a cadence meter on one of my older bike computers and I found that where I was comfortable was very close to the most efficient use of the gearing and my energy.

[John T Roberts]

Since I have the Garmin Bicycle Computer, I can plot all of my routes on Google Earth. I thought I would share the routes and locations that I have ridden since I purchased the unit.

Here is where I have ridden to date. Each ride is in a different color. As you can see most of the rides have been in North Texas and the furthest away that I have toured is down in Leakey. Most of my routes in the DFW area actually overlap.


I've now zoomed in to the DFW area to show a little more detail. I would guess that by the end of 2008, all of these routes will touch.

Edited by John T Roberts, 05 March 2008 - 09:34 PM.

[John T Roberts]

Yesterday, I did the FWBA/Arlington Bicycles, Inc. Ride. I put in 57 miles on the course and we rode from I-20 and Green Oaks in Arlington to Venus and back. The other routes that were offered were 37 and 100 miles. Even though I had not done the 57 mile route from the store, the course only added a couple of streets to the routes in the above post. I will update the map later when I've ridden a major new route.

[Fort Worthology]

I've got a bike coming (from Bernie, of course) for city uses. Will feel good to get back on a bike after sooooo long away from them.

[GenE]

Gotta say, those miles scare me. I just got a simple 7 speed bike, and am happy that I have gotten up to a little better than 1/2 mile around the apartment.

Oh well, I am in my 5th decade, and it is a start.

GenE

[edperc]

John, I have a stupid question about gearing. I am just an occasional biker, mostly around the neighborhood and occasionally use the trail. Is there any health or exercise advantage in the cadence you use? In other words are you better off peddling faster-easier or slower-harder, or is it entirely what ever feels most comfortable?

I ride/train 6-7 days per week and always set cadence parameters for each workout. Higher cadence (90-100+ rpm) is obviously easier on the legs and generally places emphasis on the development of your aerobic engine. A smooth, even pedal stroke is gonna determine how effective a high cadence is. If you find yourself bouncing up and down on the saddle, you may have to even out your pedal stroke, but first check that your saddle height isn't set too high... Lower cadence (65-85 rpm) is mostly used to develop leg strength and power - that is, assuming that you're pushing harder gears. You can also improve the efficiency of your pedal stroke at a lower cadence by focusing on what is often times referred to as 'pedaling in circles' - that is, effectively pulling up with one leg as the other pushes downward (hard to do if you're not clipped in)... Aerobic riding, or high cadence, is typically associated w/ burning a higher percentage of fat as fuel, while lower cadence is associated w/ burning a higher percentage of blood glucose as fuel...

Sorry to sound like a bike geek...

Congrats, John, on accomplishing your 2007 goals.

[Papaw]

Ed - thanks for your input and you bring up another question. How is the best way to test for proper seat height? The last time I made the seat adjustment it seemed I was following a guide that someone said your leg should be fully extended at the very bottom of the pedal cycle, but when you do this, when you come to a stop you have to let the bike fall over about 40 degrees before you can put your foot on the ground to catch it.
You mention lifting the pedal with your foot on the upstroke - which you would have to be chained to the peddle (cleated). Man, you don't know how unstable I am on one of these contraptions and the last thing I would want is this thing fastened to any part of my body as when things start going to hell ---I am bailing.

[edperc]

Ed - thanks for your input and you bring up another question. How is the best way to test for proper seat height? The last time I made the seat adjustment it seemed I was following a guide that someone said your leg should be fully extended at the very bottom of the pedal cycle, but when you do this, when you come to a stop you have to let the bike fall over about 40 degrees before you can put your foot on the ground to catch it.
You mention lifting the pedal with your foot on the upstroke - which you would have to be chained to the peddle (cleated). Man, you don't know how unstable I am on one of these contraptions and the last thing I would want is this thing fastened to any part of my body as when things start going to hell ---I am bailing.

Man, I can certainly understand someone's reluctance to clip into their pedals, but should you ever get up the courage, you'll completely change your experience of cycling. It took me forever to convince my wife to clip in, but now she insists on it. Besides, you'd be amazed at how quickly and effortlessly you adapt to getting in and out of your clips...

As to saddle height, the ancient concept of having the saddle at a height where your feet can both touch down while seated is exactly that - ancient! Now, on the other hand, if your saddle is so high that your leg is completely extended when the pedal is in the 6:00 position, you're losing alot of energy at the bottom of your stroke and causing your hips to rock. Ideally, when the pedal is in the 6:00 position, there should be a 30 degree bend at your knee. You WILL have to lean the bike over a bit in order to dab your foot down, but that doesn't take long to get comfortable with. Hope this helps!! -Ed

[John T Roberts]

There have been a lot of responses to this thread in the last 24 hours. First of all, I will give you an update. Since I did the Bicycles, Inc. ride, I have completed two other major rides. One was a 32 mile loop from Weatherford through Brock and Millsap, and the other was the Super Bowl Ride where we rode from Downtown Fort Worth to Downtown Dallas and ate lunch at Dick's Last Resort. About 300 cyclists started from different points in the area, and converged in Victory Park. It was the warmest Super Bowl Ride that I can ever remember. Our route followed the old US 80 and round trip was 66 miles. I live fairly close to downtown, and I thought about being 100% green by riding from my house to the start and then riding home afterwards, but I took the truck into downtown. A few of the FWBA members from Southwest Fort Worth and Berkeley rode their bikes to the start. I will have to upload the new map and stats this weekend.

Atomic, congratulations on the new bike. You will really enjoy having one to take short trips around town. I use mine for errands quite frequently. One of these days, I am planning on doing a Forum Bicycle Tour. However, if anyone would like to do one, I'm leading one coming up on February 24th for the FWBA. I would love to have a few forum members participating, as well.

GenE, keep up the training. Soon, your +1/2 mile will turn into 1 mile, then 2, and so on. You will soon be able to do multiple miles.

Edperc, you certainly ride with a great amount of frequency. With my crazy work schedule, I never can tell if I will even have the opportunity to get out on the bike after hours until it happens. That is why I always set my yearly goals fairly low. There is an excellent chance that even with overtime, I will make it. I will admit that in 2007, I really had to work at it during my time off, but I had also earned the vacation.

Papaw, your leg should not be fully extended at the very bottom of the pedal stroke. Your knee should be slightly bent when the pedal is at that position. If you are having trouble getting the bike adjusted to you, take it in to Bernie at Panther City Bicycles. He's a forum member and a great guy. I'm sure he will be able to help you out. As for my actual stroke, I do lift with my foot on the upstroke to get more power from the pedal, especially when I'm climbing hills. I am a much more efficient cyclist in cleats than I am without them. I know you would feel uncomfortable with them, but I have used them since their inception (and toe clips before that), and I feel very at ease being "attached" to the bike. Although I don't have very many accidents, I have always come out of them when I have wrecked.

[Papaw]

Thanks Ed and John, It looks like a good day so I think I will take your suggestions and make some adjustments and maybe even look at some cleats. One of the problems I have is letting the cars intimidate me into going from the pavement into the gutter and back, which is often a 2 or 3 inch abrupt drop off and very rough. This is the main reason I still have a bike with the wider tires. Guess I just need to claim my lane - I do keep my insurance paid up.

[John T Roberts]

I put in 26 more miles today, giving me a total of 384.36 miles for 2008, so far. The software that I use to calculate my ride statistics predicts that I will have 3,611 miles by the end of the year. However, this is not even prime riding season. My average speed is .25 miles per hour faster than my average for the entire year of 2007, and I'm riding nearly 1 mile per hour faster than I did at this time last year.

[John T Roberts]

Well, I need to have my head examined. I went out to Venus with the FWBA and put in almost 100 miles today. I did a very short ride on Monday, and I now have 100 miles for the week, so my total for the year is 484.29 miles. This is the earliest in the year that I have ever done a century. I'm on pace to have 3,330 miles by the end of the year, and prime cycling season hasn't even been factored into the equation. I will update the 2008 mileage graphs and GPS maps. The ride today went along a route that included Venus, Maypearl, Italy, Avalon, Bardwell, Ennis, Waxahachie, and Mountain Peak. At the current time all of my routes since December 2006 connect from Springtown to Ennis. I'm also proud that I did this Century 0.3 miles per hour faster than I did one in April 2007 that was flatter and not as windy as today's ride.

[Papaw]

"I was out in Weatherford for a bike ride this morning, and as I returned home eastbound on I-20 at Markum Ranch Road, you can really see the building rising out of the skyline"

John, when biking on I-20 and and other highways, do you have enough room on the side to feel comfortable with the cars and big rigs passing at 70 mph or better? I was studying your GPS tracts of your trips and kept wondering the same thing. I have had to change flats on the side of freeways before and been lucky not to have had to change my underwear after the feeling the vortex of the passing traffic and knowing possibly 10% of the drivers had been drinking.
I have seen a bikers wearing little rear view mirrors attached to their helmets but on a freeway at 70 or 80 I would think you wouldn't have time to get any prospective as to how close they were going to be when they pass.
Maybe there are access roads most of the way but when there are bridges etc. I don't think you have any option other than to go on the highway.
Last question - you are on a busy 3 lane road coming up to a major intersection and the right lane is right turn only but you are going straight. Do you get in the middle lane through the light or get in the right lane and stop and wait for the cars turning before crossing?
I have done both and heard my ears burning doing the first and felt wrong and stupid doing the latter.

[John T Roberts]

Papaw, I assume that you were kidding when asking about bicycling on I-20. I do not ride on Interstate Highways. I only ride on regular city streets, some highways, preferably not the main thoroughfares unless necessary, residential streets, county roads, and bicycle trails. The reason that my GPS tracks of my tours looks like I am riding down freeways is that I did not zoom in enough to show the detail to where you can see I was on the service roads. One of the reasons that I did not zoom in further is that it could tell the world exactly where I live. I do not ride on the interstates, even if the bridge is the only access. I will take a longer route to go around on a less busy road. My comment on the Omni Hotel in the skyline was made while driving my truck home with my bike mounted to the bed of the truck.

Now to answer your question on other highways, I feel very comfortable riding on highways that have wide shoulders. There is usually enough room to where there is plenty of space between you and the vehicles. My favorite roads are the two lane county roads that have very little traffic. I also use a rear-view mirror, and I can judge fairly well if a car is coming too close. If I see that happening, I will go off the pavement. I always wear a helmet, and I have two flashing LED tail lights, and one LED head light. When I'm riding near sundown, I turn on the lights so that I am visible to the cars on the road.

The answer to your last question is that legally, you are a vehicle, so you should be in the center lane. The best thing to do is to take the lane and then get over to the right after you pass the intersection. If you go straight from the right turn lane, technically, you are breaking the law. The lane is for right turns only.

I hope that I have assisted you a little bit.

[John T Roberts]

My Century from the Ellis County area from last Saturday has now been added on the maps.

[Papaw]

No, I wasn't kidding, I misinterpreted your post about biking in Weatherford and returning down I-20 - I should know better. However, I was wondering the same thing while reading the adventures of Bernie's group's tour to Enchanted Rock as I know that road well and while the traffic is much less than I-35 the speeds are the same.
I appreciate your advice and it sounds like your off to a great start on your 08 cycling stats.

[John T Roberts]

I also know those roads around Hamilton, Hico, and other towns along US 281 down to the Hill Country. There are Farm to Market Roads that run through those areas that can allow cyclists to ride southward through the state. As I mentioned in the post on Bernie's trip, Jim Beckman used to ride the country roads all the way down to Kerrville the week before Easter.

On our century last Saturday, we rode 20 miles along TX 34 between Italy and Ennis. This 2-lane highway has a smooth pavement, a very wide shoulder, and carried very little traffic. I felt very comfortable along this highway. Even when we crossed Bardwell Reservior, the road narrowed to about a 2-3 foot shoulder on each side, but I still felt there was enough room between the marked lane and the rail.

[AndyN]

Google says I got 2.5 miles from my house through the Clinton Stockyards Rally to the CVS at N. Main and 28th Street. I came back via the T and really like the bike racks they have on their buses. Then another 1.7 miles from the ITC back to the house. And it only took me 4 hours, but I did stop to listen to Hillary and buy some necessities at the drugstore.

[John T Roberts]

Sounds like a great adventure, Andy.

I have now updated the maps and the charts up to last Saturday. This includes my two centuries the last two Saturdays.

[John T Roberts]

Review of March 2008:

At the first of the month, I did a 100 mile ride. I continued to train for a bike tour during the third week of the month. I did the Easter Hill Country Tour the week before Easter and I really had a great time. It was the Fort Worth Bicycling Association's turn to host the tour, so I had to work some of the ride. This allowed me to ride four of the five days I was there, and I worked on the last day. In those four days, I put in 226 miles on the bicycle. We did a great amount of climbing, since that area is much hillier than Fort Worth. I still continued to ride after the tour and for the month, I put in 538.4 miles.

The month of April is starting off well, because last Saturday, I did a century and I followed that up with a 26 mile ride on Sunday afternoon. As of April 8th, my mileage for the year is 1,180.04. If I continue this pace through the year, I will have 4,400 by December 31st.

I haven't uploaded my latest stats and maps to the forum, but I will try to do that in a few days.

[John T Roberts]

I'm falling behind on everything with the web site and the forum because I'm riding too much. I finished up May with 1,828 miles for the year. I rode 113 miles this weekend. At my current pace, I'm still on track to finish the year with 4,400 miles.

[John T Roberts]

I rode another 113 miles last week and I have now ridden 1,903 miles for the year. I'm planning to hit 2,000 by June 15th. This still keeps me on track for 4,400 miles for the year. I've just updated my routes and you can see the updated maps in Post #4.

[John T Roberts]

It's been a while since I have posted any information on my cycling. I have been riding about 130 miles per week during the summer. I passed the 2,000 mile point on June 15th, as I predicted. I went up to Wichita Falls to do the Hotter'n Hell Hundred last weekend. I had the opportunity to spend three days up there and I had a ball. I was particularly pleased with the results of the ride. I finished the first 20 miles at a 22 mph pace. Hell's Gate is where the 100 milers are short circuited after 12:30 PM to keep them off of the road later in the day. I made it to Hell's Gate at 60 miles in 3 hours, so at that point, I was averaging 20 mph. After Hell's Gate, I knew I could slow down and take it easy. By the time it was all said and done, I finished the 100 miles with a time of 05:51:50. That was a 17.1 mph average. My goal was to finish in less than 6 hours.

I did a recovery ride of 23 miles on Sunday afternoon. At that point, I had 3,150 miles for the year and I am averaging enough miles per week to finish the year with 4,900 miles. My next major event is the three day tour in the Hill Country called the Leakey Death Ride. I attended last year.

[John T Roberts]

My mileage is increasing. I'm on the verge of hitting 3,500 miles for the year. This was my original goal in mileage. I have now upped my goal to be 4,000. According to my cycling software, I'm still on track to finish with 4,800 miles by the end of the year.

[Stadtplan]

John, how's the cycling goal coming along y.t.d.?

[John T Roberts]

Well, I rode every mile of the Leakey Death Ride on October 17, 18, & 19. The mileage at Leakey over the three days was 206 miles. While I was at Leakey, I crossed over the 4,000 mile mark. With less than one month to go, I am just a few miles shy of 4,600 for the year. As of last Sunday, I was still averaging enough to finish with 4,900 miles by the end of the year. However, if the weather is nice, I would like to try make 5,000 miles by December 31st. After the end of the year, I will post all of my final statistics, plus an updated map showing where I have ridden in Texas over the last couple of years.

[John T Roberts]

I have a photo to post of myself taken in Leakey. This was taken on the second day that featured 100 miles of "chip-seal" paving, a lot of rolling hills, and a few steep climbs.

[Recyclican]

Dear John - thank you for your continued motivation. As I've mentioned to you earlier today, my modest daily cycling has resulted in me dropping at least 3, almost 4 waist sizes on my clothing since August!

It was a pleasure running in to you this afternoon on the trail. I hope to ride with you while I'm in town; however if you think I'll keep you from reaching 5K you should go ahead and leave me behind! Here's a map of my route today, two can play at this GPS game

http://4.bp.blogspot...600-h/Dec29.jpg

[John T Roberts]

Your route was similar to mine because we went up to the Stock Yards and then out to Gateway Park.

[John T Roberts]

Well the year of 2008 is complete and I rode a little more than 5,000 miles. Here are my final bicycling statistics for the year:

Total Distance: 5,029.22 miles
Total Number of Rides: 131
Total Time on bicycle: 365 hours, 44 minutes, 24 seconds
Total Feet Climbed: 235,580

Average Heart Rate: 142 bpm
Average Speed: 13.8 mph
Average Ride: 38.39 miles
Average Time Per Ride: 2 hours, 46 minutes, 31 seconds
Average Times Per Week Riding: 2.5
Average Times Per Month Riding: 10.9
Average Distance Per Week: 96.18 miles
Average Distance Per Month: 418.21 miles
Average Climbed Per Ride: 1,798 feet

Shortest Distance Ridden on Single Ride: 2.65 miles on 03/28/08 (errand in neighborhood)
Longest Distance Ridden on Single Ride: 104.74 miles on 10/11/08 - Bicycles, Inc. Century
Number of consecutive weeks with at least one mile ridden: 52
Weeks with Least Miles: 5.05 miles during Jan. 1-5
Week with Most Miles: 225.52 miles in week of March 16-22 at the Easter Hill Country Tour (Actual week with most miles: Dec. 28-Jan 3 2009 with 236.85 miles, but this extended into 2009)
Month with Least Miles: 199.64 miles in January
Month with Most Miles: 542.91 miles in December
Total Number of Century Rides: 9
Fastest Century: Hotter'n Hell Hundred, August 23, 17.1 mph average speed
Bike Tours: Easter Hill Country Tour, March 19-23, 225.52 miles; Leakey Death Ride, October 19-21, 205.22 miles
Pay Rides: Moritz Ride for Heroes - Aledo, Cross Timbers Classic - Fort Worth, Tour d'Italia - Italy, Goatneck - Cleburne, Hotter'n Hell Hundred - Wichita Falls, Cowtown Classic - Fort Worth

2008 Daily Mileage Graph

2008 Weekly Mileage Graph

2008 Monthly Mileage Graph

Here's where I have ridden in the State of Texas during 2007 and 2008. The roads, county, lines, and various other map features have been turned off to show the actual routes. If requested, I could show a map with these features turned on.


Here's a more close up view of the North Texas Area where most of my rides have occurred during 2007 and 2008.

[Stadtplan]

John, What route did you take on your Fort Worth - Dallas trip? Trinity, Irving Blvd, Shady Grove, 180, 303/Kiest are some of the only non-freeway roads that I can think of off the top of my head, not that any of those are very conducive for biking.

I'm tempted to take my bike to Dallas on the TRE and explore some urban routes over there.

[cajunmike]

John,

Congrats on the great stats !

[John T Roberts]

We went straight down TX 180 and returned the same way. That was the Annual Super Bowl Ride, which leaves from several different locations in the area and converges on Dick's Last Resort on Houston Street. We had a lead and a rear vehicle; therefore, we took up the entire right lane of the road. Most of the motorists waved at us and we didn't have anyone get mad. We still stopped at traffic lights and stop signs, and rode no more than two abreast. We did our very best to obey all of the traffic laws. I think about 200 attended, but only about 35 rode from Fort Worth. Another 35 or so joined us in Arlington. Under normal circumstances, I would not recommend cycling from Fort Worth to Dallas on 180. The only way that I would recommend for a small group to do it would be to go from neighborhood to neighborhood, and then only ride on the main thoroughfares for the stretches where that is the only route. I think a route in this manner would be very difficult to navigate and take a lot of time.

As you can see, my local routes almost all connect, except for a few miles in Weatherford, Lipan, Cleburne, west of Justin, and around Roanoke. I'm sure those will fill in eventually.

[Jim Wilson]

I had the pleasure to finally meet John Roberts last week.
After all this time and pleasure of utilizing this web site- it was a great surprise encounter.

John joined cyclists from the LMRA Bicycle Club, Plano, Richardson and others at a
FWBA hosted speaking engagement for Bike Texas (formerly Texas Bicycle Coalition).
Robin Stallings (Executive Director of Bike Texas) spoke about numerous topics.
The most important- this years' Safe Passing Bill for Cyclists.
Mr Stallings also thanked our region for sending a more cycling supportive Senator to Austin...
... Senator Wendy Davis.

Anyhow, along with motivating others to ride through details of his own experiences,
John also shows-up to learn about and support cycling in Nort Texas.

It was great to finally meet you John.

[John T Roberts]

Jim, it was nice to finally meet you. You should have hung around for a little bit because we took Robin out to eat after the meeting. I really enjoyed visiting with him at that time.

I also probably should have posted more information about the meeting on the forum, but last couple of weeks have been very hectic. Also, thank you for your comments.

[Jim Wilson]

Thanks John,
Glad you got to spend some additional time with Mr. Stallings.

I went to the APA meeting in El Paso last Wed - Saturday,
it was a great experience and provided many learning opportunities.

Regarding cycling, I can't tell you how many times I heard
"new urbanism", "intermodal needs", and "bicycle" during the presentations.
A sign for the future?

Hope to see you on the road- certainly at the up-coming Aledo Ride for Heroes.
Jim

[John T Roberts]

I think that when we are formulating the master plans for our cities, "new urbanism", "intermodal needs", and "bicycles" are indeed a sign for the future. I actually just received an e-mail from a friend who bicycles regarding more planning for allowing bicycles on buses and commuter trains. I do think that as we plan for upgrading our infrastructure, pedestrians and bicycles should be considered.

I am planning to be at the Aledo Ride For Heroes, so I will be looking out for the LMRA jerseys.

[Papaw]

I found a bike that that might help me keep up with John T Roberts. Only problems are the cost and the fact that I would kill myself at that speed.

http://news.bbc.co.u...ure/8147104.stm