Photos of this life

Monday, October 24, 2011

iCycle, October 22nd

Saturday was an interesting day for riding. It was the first day I got to test out my new shimano click in shoes and pedals. Its quite an interesting feeling. I must say that the performance advantage heavily outweighs any inconvenience. Jordan Estabrook accompanied me this particular ride. We started at his apartment on river and stone. Headed west on the river walk until the I-10. Proceeded south until we reached speedway and silverbell. After the initial climb at silverbell I realized I had a flat tire. Thanks to Jacob Estabrook we had a ride back to JJ's Bicycles. In the process of getting my tire and tube replaced I had a good talk with the owner Jose. I explained to him my problem on steep grades over 9% as I loose far too much momentum through my gearing. With that being said we found a suitable shimano 7 speed cassette that will allow me to climb steeper grades. I ordered the part and should be in this week hopefully. After initial repairs we hit the road again and decided to climb A mountain and check out the view. Its a short climb but grueling nonetheless. After the descent down "A" mountain, which is crazy fun, Jordan realized he now had a flat. Back to JJ's and we were all set to ride back to his apartment and call it a day. Total ride was about 37 miles. Here is what I took along the way. Included are the stats for a portion of the ride. Enjoy

Created by My Tracks on Android.

Total Distance: 20.55 km (12.8 mi). Total Time: 2:06:48. Moving Time: 1:00:45. Average Speed: 9.72 km/h (6.0 mi/h). Average Moving Speed: 20.29 km/h (12.6 mi/h). Max Speed: 66.12 km/h (41.1 mi/h). Min Elevation: 700 m (2298 ft). Max Elevation: 841 m (2758 ft). Elevation Gain: 216 m (707 ft). Max Grade: 3 %. Min Grade: -9 %. Recorded: Sat Oct 22 14:47:13 MST 2011

The white one is jordan's

Jordan

sweet reflection

dragonfly

The beast that is the I-10 freeway.

The view from the top of "A" mountain.

Good Climb

Ready to bomb this hill. 41mph top speed going down

Flat tire at the bottom of the hill

Back to JJ's

Back to the car

Thursday, October 20, 2011

iCycle. October 16th

I feel bad about being away from my blog for so long. Its become something that I truly have to find time for. Also I had some troubles coming up with content for this blog. I've been working alot on my facebook page Ricardo Chao Photography . With that being said I have found something I decided to dedicate specifically to my blog. I shall call it "iCycle". It will be a documentation of my cycling adventures, most notably, my preparation and training for the upcoming El Tour De Tucson. The content will feature my riding routes and the things I encounter along the way including photos. This past weekend was a very fun ride. I started at my house near Broadway/Swan area. Continues south to the aviation bike trail until I reached downtown. From downtown I headed west on 6th avenue to silverbell road. At this point I realized my front tire was completely flat. With the help of google I found the nearest bike shop to be JJ's Bicycles. With a new tube I hit the road again. Followed silverbell to speedway. As I traveled west bound I came upon the front side of gates pass. I somewhat underestimated the intensity of the front side given my experiences with the ultra gruelling back side. After riding through gates pass I headed south on kinney road until bopp. From there i made a stop at my girlfriend's house and had a good rest. The ride back home was much easier following ajo way east until I reached my home area. The entire ride totalled out to 55 miles. All in all it was a very good ride and excellent preparation with the hills. Until next time, enjoy the photos I took along the way.