I haven’t had many chances to go for a good training ride in a while, but Mary and I managed to sneak one in Sunday afternoon, despite growing wind (SW, 15 mph) and threatening clouds. We started at the Bicycle Kitchen, running up I Street into West Sacramento across the harrowing I Street Bridge.  Then we jogged down to West Capitol Avenue for a few miles to the entrance to the bike trail running across the Yolo Causeway.  After four miles on the loud and dusty causeway, three miles on the frontage road and three miles along a mostly separated bike path, we ended up right in downtown Davis.

While there, we cooled off by taking a quick tour of two bike shops and warmed up with some drinks at Peet’s.  When a few drops of rain hit, we decided to head back.  We got to follow a lovely bit of rainbow for the entire ride from the causeway.  Though my cell phone camera didn’t grab the best picture, it’s barely visible arching over the second telephone pole from the left.

And while I’m at it, here’s Mary, just a few feet away from the I-80 traffic:

The dust and noise aside, it was rather fun to get a closer look at what I’m usually passing by at 70 mph – the eucalyptus groves, birds, ponds, and trains.  About halfway across the causeway, we inadvertantly played tag with a flock of birds.  They’d perched on the railing, and when we got too close, they’d fly ahead and perch on another section of railing.  We approach, they move, and on again until they eventually circled around and flew right back to their starting point, perhaps to play with some other biyclists.

Fortunately, the wind that had worked against us heading in was a real boon on the way back, and we made pretty good time for the leisurely ride.  Unfortunately, I caught a particularly nasty flat on West Capitol about a mile from the Tower Bridge.  I had a pump with me, but the schrader-presta valve adapter I had bent the valve stem and I couldn’t remove the adapter, preventing me from inflating or removing the tube.  Stuck on the roadside, we walked the last couple of miles back to the Bike Kitchen, where I clipped the whole valve stem off, replaced the tube, and headed home.

Overall, I felt pretty good; the route to Davis is pretty long, flat, and straight, but it’s a good 15 miles and I handled it rather well. I’ve only got to do this five times a day for seven days in a row…

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Miles/hours this trip:       32/3
Total training miles/hours:  62/5

23 days of fundraising and 227 to go , and I’m already 40% of the way there.  I wanted to send a quick public kudo to the following friends and family that have helped get to and well over $1,000  (in no particular order):

• Lillian Yam
• Beth Harrington
• Russ Carter
• Bonnie and Jim Dean
• Jeffery Beaudette
• Nick Shelley
• Mike Skidmore
• Beth and Steve Pladson

Thank you all very much.  Only $1,770 to go!

Naturally, it’s hard to take on a 545 mile bicycle trip without something to ride, so I thought I’d take a minute to familiarize you with the bike I’ll be riding.  Below are some pictures of my 12-speed 1983 Raleigh Competition lugged-steel frame, made in Japan for Raleigh Cycle Company of America, and bought off Craigslist for $240.  The Competition was Raleigh’s entry-level racing bike, made more for the competitive market than the recreational rider.  Shows what they know…

Other than the newer saddle and seat post it came with and the chain and pedals I put on, it’s stock (including the tires, by the look of them).  The rigid steel tubing won’t be very fun going over potholes on Highway 101 at 25 miles per hour, but it should handle the 545 mile trip better than I will.

That little pack slung under the saddle is a quickie burrito; I cut an 18″x18″ square of an old felt blanket, wrapped a spare tube, patch kit, tire leves, pen, and paper inside, and lashed it under my saddle with an old leather strap.  I’m intending to add a set of 4mm, 5mm, and 6mm allen wrenches and a couple of other small tools to make it a general-purpose road tool kit, along with a rear rack to make it a little more commute-friendly.

There’s still some more work to do before I’m finished.  The tires are holding quite well now, but I think I’m going to want some newer ones before the ride starts.  The derailleurs should really be cleaned out, and it wouldn’t hurt the brakes to give them a once-over, too.  I really want to change the handlebars – the standard Raleigh drop bars are quite uncomfortable for my large hands.  Before I I do that, I’m playing with different bar wrapping.

Right now, the left side of the bars are meticulously wrapped with cotton twine, with the top half coated in amber shellac.  The raw twine is quite comfortable to grasp, the shellaced twine less so (but still comfortable) but it doesn’t provide any cushioning, and I suspect the un-shellaced parts are going to get dirty from use rather quickly.  The right side of the bar was another experiment: I wrapped a used inner tube around the bar, then wrapped the twine over it.  Unfortunately, the twine couldn’t wrap uniformly around the tube, leaving ugly gaps, and the tube is too compressed to offer any cushioning.  Next, I’m going to try wrapping another layer of twine over the left side to see how that plays out, while I shop around for a more comfortable set of drops.

In the meantime, she’s working quite well as a daily commuter.