Newton and Herons

It has been about 60 days since I started riding a bike again.  I have seen some really beautiful scenery, met some really nice people and lost some weight.   I have probably ridden a total of 4-500 miles since I started training for this ride.  Of everything I have seen to date, the most beautiful was when my odometer rolled over to 60 kilometers last Sunday!

What a beautiful day.  Jim Haake, my in house biking coach, agreed to ride the proposed route with me.  We left our office parking lot around 8:30 in the morning, heading North on Troost Ave.   I was thinking of motion. Like me coasting down the hill and gravity, like me falling off my bicycle while coasting down the hill, so I thought of Isaac Newton. 

When Sir Isaac Newton wrote the three laws of motion over 300 years ago, I am sure he had no idea how they would impact an old fat guy on a bicycle.  The first law says that an object at rest tends to stay at rest, and an object in motion tends to stay in motion, with the same direction and speed. Motion (or lack of motion) cannot change without an unbalanced force acting. If nothing is happening to you, and nothing does happen, you will never go anywhere. If you're going in a specific direction, unless something happens to you, you will always go in that direction. Forever.

I considered that as I was careening down Troost hill towards Emmanuel Cleaver II Blvd.  I was doing something, and I was going somewhere.  Mostly,   I was just enjoying the thrill of rushing through the cool morning at 28 miles an hour!  

 As I crossed Brush Creek Blvd. and looked up the hill, I remembered the second part about the unbalanced force, in this case the First  Law of Motion.  As I started up the hill I remembered that   Newton's law of universal gravitation states that every point mass in the universe attracts every other point mass with a force that is directly proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them.  I’m not sure exactly what point in the universe was trying to pull me back down that hill, but they were giving it a good shot!  It was a slow accent, but not as bad as I was afraid of.   Training is paying off. 

As I neared the top of the hill, I completely understood his second law. The second law says that the acceleration of an object produced by a net (total) applied force is directly related to the magnitude of the force, the same direction as the force, and inversely related to the mass of the object (inverse is a value that is one over another number... the inverse of 2 is 1/2). The second law shows that if you exert the same force on two objects of different mass, you will get different accelerations (changes in motion). The effect (acceleration) on the smaller mass will be greater (more noticeable). The effect of a 10 newton force on a baseball would be much greater than that same force acting on a truck. The difference in effect (acceleration) is entirely due to the difference in their masses.  That is why, even though Jim was pedaling up the hill at about the same speed, he was a block ahead of me; basically, I have considerably more mass!

Once over the top of the hill, the rest of the ride was great.  We rode the Trolley Trail and the Brush Creek Trail.  I was especially happy with the Brush Creek Trail. In the heart of the city, it’s an unexpected nature spot.  As we rode along, we saw at least 6 heron standing in the water, dozens of other water fowl, like our friend the Canada Goose, who leaves a lot of little calling cards all over the path.

There is a great waterfall that you can only see from the trail, all of it nicely maintained and smooth.  There is one place where the trail has been closed due to falling rock, but overall it was a great ride.

We stopped a number of times to check the route, discuss where the flattest hill was etc., so it took around 3 ½ hours to finish.  We’ll do better next time. 

Nature and Newton.  Who knew?

More Later

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Tolkein and Trail riding

I loaded my bike on the carrier and headed over to the Little Blue River Trace trail.  I have been wanting to do a 100% trail ride for a while, and today was it.  This trail runs 11 miles from around the Independence Event Center to the North side of 24 Highway. Very well maintained, with a good road surface.

Although the lack of rain has dried out the fields, it is still a great trail.  The Little Blue River runs beside the trail, and there are still parts of the river that have enough water to be fishing holes. After the spring rains, I am going to have to come back with a collapsible fishing rod and give it a try.

I had planned to ride 30 miles, but the gravel surface is a little harder to ride on than pavement, and I was pretty beat when I made it back after 23 miles ( I started a little south of the trail)  The great thing about the trail is that it is mostly flat, with no big hills. For a new trail rider, the bad thing is that it is really flat, and I didn’t get to coast too much.  I pretty much peddled for a little over two hours.

  

Somewhere in The Hobbit, Bilbo sings a song about the road rising to meet him.  I found out what that means today.  I would have thought it was impossible, but I would swear that  the trail is uphill in both directions.  Especially on my way back when a breeze came up and I was riding into it. It s a great trail, great exercise and I plan to do it again in the next few days.  At the end of my ride though, I was happy to think about another song from Tolkein; Merry and Bilbo are at the end of the trail, and sing a song about the joys of hot water and soap.  Good one, JR.

More later,

www.nhsofkcmo.org

Churchill, wildlife, and doctors

The heat finally broke this morning, and it was 62 degrees when I started my ride. What a beautiful morning! Winston Churchill once said that there is something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a man.  While the size of the saddle and the amounts of effort are considerably different, I think the same can be said for a bicycle.

I think today was the first time that I really just relaxed and enjoyed the ride. I wasn’t training or exercising, I was just riding my bike around a lake.  I saw a wild turkey, some herons and lots of ducks and geese. As I ride along, I can hear the wildlife stirring around in the woods as the sun finishes coming up.  Being on a bike is so quiet, a lot of the wildlife barely notices I am passing by.

I rode about 12 miles, average speed of 10.5 miles per hour, and top speed of 21.4 miles per hour. That was a really big hill that was great to ride down, but a gut puller to ride up.   It changes about 50 feet of elevation in around two blocks, but the ride down is worth the ride up!

I just realized I left something out of my first entry. When I decided to do this, my first stop was my doctor. He did all the blood work, checked my heart, signed me up for a cardio Doppler or some such thing, and verified that I was probably healthy enough  to get this done.  I want to encourage anyone who is following this to get a bike and start riding, but if you are my age, talk to the doc first.

Sunday I will be hitting the Blue Springs Trail and hopefully making it as far as Lees Summit. More about that on Monday.

I hope you will take time to pledge or donate to support this ride, and the work that NHS does in our neighborhoods.

More later. 

www.nhsofkcmo.org

Toe Clips & Polyester Polos

As my rides have gotten longer, the need to ride on busier streets has increased.  I used to be frustrated when I rode my motorcycle (before the Chairman made me sell it,) because drivers did not pay much attention to two wheeled vehicles.  It is even worse with a non motorized two wheeled vehicle.  Please be aware of all traffic, including bicycles.  I am probably going to do most of my long range training on trails. 

My biking coach (Jim Haake) suggested that I get some toe clips for my pedals.  These screw into your pedals and do two major things as far as I can tell; they keep your feet on the pedals and the allow you to use some of your energy to help lift the pedals.  Back I go  to Dicks Sporting Goods, where these are surprisingly affordable at only $10. (One thing I have noticed is that biking accessories are inexpensive.  My buddies that ride the big motorcycles tell me that HD really stands for “Hundred Dollars”.) 

Sunday morning, I planned to be up before the sun, get the clips installed and go for a 30 mile ride.  I overslept.  I put the clips on (not bad at all, even though they did not come with instructions,) and headed out around 8:30.  

DO NOT WEAR A 100% POLYESTER POLO SHIRT WHEN YOU ARE RIDING A BICYCLE A LONG DISTANCE!  Someone recommended this brand as a good way to wick moisture away from your body, but I must not sweat right.  I was really hot, and it was the coolest day in a month.  I should have stuck to my 100% COTTON t shirt!

After circling the Bass Pro trail a couple of times, I rode over to the Blue River Trace trail.  This is a very good trail, with the only disadvantage being that it is almost impossible to get there by bicycle.  I will put the bike on my car next time.

By the way, if you are walking or riding on a trail, be aware of what is going on around you.  Using noise cancelling in-ear plugs for your music makes it difficult to hear what is going on around you.  Several times, I startled folks on the trail, even though I announced myself and that I was passing them.  

This is a great trail, with both paved and chat (really small gravel) surfaces.  There is lots of open trail and a lot of folks riding and walking on the trail.  I was already at 15 miles when I hit the trail, so I didn’t get to follow it and see the sights, but next time I will.

 By the end of the ride, including leaving the Blue River trail and heading back over to Bass Pro, then riding back home, I did 23 miles.  I would have tried to keep going, because I was not that tired (love those toe clips!) but I finished my 2 liter hydration pack, and I was out of water.  As explained in an earlier blog, this is an issue for me. I gotta have water.

I tried a new Smart Phone program to check my odometer on my bike.  Runtastic is available for an android (my phone) and I am guessing for I Phones etc. It’s a free app that uses GPS to log your miles, calories burned etc. You can pick from running, biking etc.   The GPS verified that my odometer was accurate within about 1/10^th of a mile, which is close enough for me.

My Birthday Bash is September 15^th. If you want to ride, or make a donation to support NHS and 60 year olds learning new things, visit our website at www.nhsofkcmo.org.

More later

The First BIG Ride

After a 12 mile ride during the week, my self assigned personal trainer (Rob Rawlings, our COO) told me that I needed to do a big ride. I was planning on a twenty mile ride anyway, so that seemed like good advice. I especially liked the advice to take the day off after the twenty mile ride. 

I took my bike to the Bass Pro nature trails in Independence for my first long ride.  This is a beautiful area surrounding a  man made lake. Lots of natural grasses and trees.

 

After the first two trips around this large complex, I realized I had no way to measure distance.  I knew that I could ride 10 miles in just over an hour, so I decided that two hours of riding would equal approximately 20 miles. Close enough until I can get to Kmart and buy a speedometer/odometer.

Based on my rough estimate, it was three miles around, so I rode 6 times around and did not go all the way around on a 7^th circuit.  Finishing in exactly two hours, I was pretty sure I was a little under twenty miles, but pretty close, and I felt great.

Except for where I meet the saddle.  The end of my spine is a little tender, and I think a new seat is in order, as well as the speedometer. Saturday afternoon, back to Kmart and bought a Bell wireless speedometer. Also the Bell Memory Foam seat. Very nice!   I decided I also needed more padding in my shorts, so off to Dicks Sporting Goods for shorts with gel pads.  Being cheap, I hate spending $40 for padded shorts, but they do work. Sunday I installed the seat and speedometer. For those of you who do not know, I am technology challenged. I refer to myself as the speed bump on the information super highway.  Installing this thing was easy even for me, so I am sure a 10 year old child could have done it in about 5 minutes; took me about an hour.

Monday morning, back at Bass Pro at 6:30.  Wearing my new shorts, and riding the new seat, my seat is happy. I do about 12 miles, which takes a little over an hour. Based on my new odometer, each trip around is actually almost 4 miles so I rode almost 25 miles on Sunday.  I am starting to think that this fund raiser is going to be possible. 

My in house biking coach (Jim Haake, who is one of our construction managers and also is on the Bike Trails Board), thinks I need to get bike clips. These are the little cage thingies that go over your toes on your pedals. They let you lift the pedal as well as pushing down on the pedal. 

Back to Dicks. 

 www.nhsofkcmo.org

The First Week

First, the next person who says to you that it is just like riding a bicycle, they are wrong. There is nothing like riding a bicycle, and you DO forget how.

As someone who has run, jogged and walked (in that order) for a number of years, it feels weird to be moving with traffic. I always walked into traffic so I could see what they were doing.

I only rode about 15 minutes the first day.  I came back drenched in sweat, legs a knot of pain and all my water gone.  I needed to stop to rest twice.

When I bought my bike, it was pretty basic. After my first days ride, I realized I would be riding a lot when there was not a lot of light.  Went to the K Mart near my house, and bought the Schwinn light set.   A little headlight and tail light that you can set to flash off and on.  Feel better about that.  Gloves are good too, prevents the blisters. 

By the end of the week, I was settling into my regimen. Riding about 30 minutes, mostly on the level with a few mild hills mixed in.  Still pain, but I no longer fall up the stairs when I come back to my house.

One of my Board members rides the Missouri 150, and he suggested I get a gel seat cover, and buy the padded bicycle shorts.  Back to K Mart.  HE is getting something nice for Christmas!  This is much better. 

I am about 10 days in, and I suddenly realized that I am not stretching when I am done! Always stretch when the muscles are warm or you can tear something. (My Daughter in Law is a Doctor of PT.)  Started stretching, and the pain is much less the next day.

Stopped today for a drink at Quik Trip- realized I did not have a chain and lock.  Back to K Mark for the Schwinn Bicycle lock set. 

One side effect of my radiation therapy was losing a lot of saliva glands.  Makes me choke pretty easy, and I drink a lot of water.  Exercising is difficult because of that, and I have to stop a lot. Found the perfect answer- Hi Sierra hydration pack. It is a little back pack that carries 2 liters of water, and I just suck on a straw to get a drink. This is awesome!  The first day I used it was the first day I did not have to stop to rest during my ride.

Still using the hydration pack.  Rode 10 miles for the first time today.  Took me an hour and 2 minutes.  Not trying to be a racer, but feel pretty good about that. 

Things I have learned so far:

·         Starting a very active exercise program at the beginning of the longest stretch of hot weather on record was not a good idea.  I am only able to ride very early in the morning, which means I get up very early.  

·         Aspercreme- very important. Oddly, my knees do not hurt at all, but stretching out the muscles on the tops of the thighs is going to be a painful experience

More late
www.nhsofkcmo.org
 

Zero to 60 in 90 days

In May, it occurred to me that I should do something big for my birthday this year.  I am going to be 60 on September 15, which is a Big Milestone.  It is also my 25^th anniversary as a cancer survivor, so it deserves a REALLY big celebration.

After having the Board of Directors (the real one that has only one member, my wife, not the NHS Board) reject several suggestions about jumping out of planes and such, I decided on a bicycle ride. It might be a nice ride through the neighborhoods that NHS serves; it might be a historic bike trail or something else entirely.  By telling my story in this blog, I can maybe even help other folks my age take on a challenge. 

Since I work for a non-profit, I also decided this would be a great fund raiser.  I decided to call it Marks First Annual Birthday Bicycle Bash, or Zero-60  I have ridden 0 miles since 1968, and I will be 60 on 9/15/12.     

 I decided that we will launch the fundraiser and we would ask people to pledge for each mile I ride and invite other riders to get folks to make pledges for the miles they rode. I decided that we would finish it up with a barbecue and beverage in our parking lot. Everything was planned.  Goal set.  Mission accomplished!

There were only two problems; 1) I didn’t own a bicycle, and 2) I hadn’t ridden a bike since I got my drivers license at age 16.  

The first problem was easy; the Revolve Bicycle shop at 5100 Troost is one of a growing number of Community Bike Shops across the country. Revolve and NHS are both partners in the Green Impact Zone, so getting a gently used and refurbished bicycle made a lot of environmental sense to me. They also have a fantastic program called Earn A Bike.  I just went to their website (www.revolvekc.org) and took a bicycle safety test.  I passed with a score of 87.5% (minimum 70% to get the bike,) and went down the street to see Elizabeth Bejan at Revolve. They had a nice selection of good used bikes that were free. I decided to upgrade just a little and bought a good used Specialized bike for a great price.  I also bought a helmet for just $10. 

The second problem will take a little longer, and will be the subject of this blog between now and September 15^th.  I started with a 1 or 2 mile ride, and will work my way up to a yet-to be-determined distance by the time September 15^th gets here.  I hope you will stop in and read my blog each week.

(PLANNING on 60k, but we will see)

Mark Stalsworth

President/CEO NHS of KC

www.nhsofkcmo.org