Bakersfield Ride

So I went for two rides in the three days that I was in Bakersfield.  They were both quite refreshing since I didn't push the pace at all.  Just explored some unmapped territory (to me anyway).  Though I grew up and lived in Bakersfield most of my life, I only rode on the Kern River Parkway Bike Trail once and that was when I was well... riding a single speed 16 inch wheeled bike with training wheels pedaling a mile a minute to keep up with my Dad and older brother.   The bike path since then I believe has grown quite a bit along with the city.   I believe it boasts something like 30 miles of traffic free riding!!  But the bike path was saved for the second ride and this is about the first ride I took.  I kept this ride relatively close to home which is ok because the only hilly part of Bakersfield is around where my parents live.  The only nice part is that the AMGEN Tour of California has come through Bakersfield several times, most recently in 2012 where they held a Time Trial.  It's cool that the race was held in Bakersfield, but what is even better is knowing that I was able to ride the same roads as professional cyclists like Tejay van Garderen.  I didn't do the same course that they did, only part of it with the the biggest decent and acent.
 
Here's a video of the route they took.   Even though I didn't do the whole route that they did I would like to the next time I'm in Bakersfield.  I like taking existing routes and using them (as well as making up my own routes).  Before my brother and I started riding last year we did a little research to see where the local races took and take place so we could get a taste for what we were getting in to.  I would recommend this to everyone.  Strava is a good place to do this, but it's also a good idea to look up races that have taken place in your area.  I'm sure if you just search in google "cycling race in..(your area)" you'll come up with something.  There is always a chance you don't come up with something but then you get to do some exploring, check out a map and go on an adventure.   On this morning when I did this short 15 mile ride I found a new (to me) trail that I didn't know was there.  When I was done I told my Dad about it and he in turn told me about part of the Kern River Parkway Bike Trail that I was unaware of.  So the key here is research, get out, ride and have fun! 

Fartlick, Fartleak, Fartlip, Fartlink, that is i mean FARTLEK !

WARNING: some people might find this offensive - I think it's funny.

Keep reading and you'll eventually get to the stuff that's associated with cycling.

I was talking to my Dad while in Bakersfield and telling him about how when I ride I will usually pick a pace for the ride.  One ride will just be a joy slow ride, or maybe an all out ride.  Sometimes or most of the time somewhere in the middle is the pace I take becuase I don't like to kill myself.  My dad brought up the word FARTLEK and being me I missheard him, "Fartlick? What? Fartleak?! WHAT!!?? What are you talking about Dad?" even though I knew very well he was not talking about flatulence.  Today I am going to delve into the world of gas becuase I've been wanting to do a short post about Fartlek and it got me thinking about the meanings of the words which I missheard.  Here's what I've come up with.

Fartleak - the unapparent release of gas or simply the silent fart sometimes known as the SBD (silent but deadly) fart.

Fartlip - the anus

Fartlick - the unfortunate event of opening your mouth and getting a taste while in a cloud of someones (maybe your own) fart.

Fartlink - the meeting or coliding place of two or more farts.

Now for Fartlek - Speed play is its translation from Swedish.  It is basically a form of training or excersizing utilizing randomly timed intervals with varying speeds and distances.  My Dad is into running so he brought up how when the Kenyans took over the running world they utilized Fartlek in their racing. Kenyans used this technique of randomly running faster and slower to confuse the competition and they did confuse and they won... and well still win with relative regularity.  Fartlek was developed by a Swedish coach Gosta Holmer in 1937 so it's definately not a new idea.  He came up with the idea because he was tired of losing to the Finns.  I don't want to go any deeper into the history becuase to me it's a new idea of how to train and I like the idea.  Fartlek can be applied to pretty much any sport and for me that sport will be cycling.  So the next time you go for a ride remember Farts... that is Fartlek and sprint at a random spot or go slow and do some quick "breakaways" and spice up that ride.  
  

Eating and Riding: A few Words for the not so wise - cough cough myself

Eating as you would think goes hand in hand with many things.  Riding your bike just happens to be one of them.  A lack of fuel means problems.  I've had the problem of not properly filling my tank and I again had this problem over the last week while riding in Bakersfield.  I was doing pretty well until the ride was over or shall I say about 3 hours after the ride was over.  I ate some cereal before I went for my ride and grabbed an apple for the trip back.  It was a great ride.  40 miles at a leasurely pace.  I ate my apple as I was homeward bound and felt good.  When I finished I felt pretty worn even though I didn't push the pace at all.  My first mistake - not eating for three almost 4 hours after my ride.  My second mistake - eating way too much delicious heartburning greasy pepperoni pizza from Rosa's Italian Restaurant!!!  The pizza was amazing as usual.  My body about ten minutes after eating half a pizza was not in a good way.  The lesson to be learned here is to eat.  Eat enough, but not too much, eat often and make sure it's the good stuff, not the amazing stuff like pizza.

Yes, I still love Rosa's and highly recommend eating there if you're in Bakersfield.

 

Bakersfield Bluffs - Walking Trail on Panorama

I was finishing up my 40 mile ride on the Kern River Parkway Trail, which goes along the bottom of the Bluffs which also has a trail, when I noticed a few women walking on the Bluffs.  I'm not sure if you can't ride your bike on the trail and it's just a walking/running trail or it's just that no one does becuase the trail is pretty short.  It's a nice little path with a view of uhm... well oilfields.  Not the best view, unless you're in the oil business, then it's a pretty site. 

Here is a nice shot that give you an idea of what the path looks like but more importantly take note of the drop.  Falling would lead to a nasty incident.  It must be atleast a 300 ft. drop.  So back to the women.  Here they are

plugging away, but... they are not on the path, they are walking up to the path along a ridge.  I don't think that I would have paid much attention to people walking/hiking up to path except that these women seemed to be fairly weathly in years and were teeter-tottering up the trail.  So as I rode and watched one lady slipped! Slipping on the Bluffs is a bad idea.  These women ended up making it to the top, but after a quick search I found this article and video from the local news.  Check out this link - http://www.turnto23.com/news/your-neighborhood/east-county/second-hiker-falls-off-bluffs-in-2-weeks  To sum things us let's just say... uhm be careful and don't slip if you don't want to break a leg or worse while walking on the ridge of a clif.  I think that's nice enough. 

Bremenskie Muzikanti (Musicians from Bremen)

After a comment by my Mom I realized that the last picture from the Night Rider post reminds me of a Russian (Soviet) cartoon called Bremenskie Muzikanti.  There is actually some pretty decent music.  I know they made some updated versions but the old stuff I think has the best songs for example Luch Solnca Zolotogo (Golden Sun Ray).  Here are some pics anyway.  The animals and guy are the musicians.  


The Bremenskie Muzikanti got wheels too!  Even if it's not a bike they know that rollin' is the way to go!
Here's the song I mentioned.

Night Rider!

I woke up at 12:30am and was feeling pretty good.  I bought new front and rear lights for my bike and I've been dying to try them out. Except I've been sleeping through the night which is unusual for me but fully accepted. Sleep is good (but that is for another post)  I've also been wanting to make a segment on strava for a lap around town that I want to do more often since they just added a nice bike lane for part of my to be lap.  With this in mind I jumped on my bike and lit up the night with my new SecurityIng® 4 Modes Waterproof 2800 Lumens Cree XM-L U2 LED Bicycle Light (& 6400mAh Battery Pack & Charger, Cree LED Bike Lamp Light Super Bright Lighting Lamp for Outdoor Sports Like Camping, Hiking, etc..) which might just be getting a smashing review after some more use.  The rear light seems to be nice too but it's not something I can really see in action while riding, though it did offer a little light to my feet while clipping in.  Hopefully I'll get up a review of both the front light and the rear light (a Portland Design Works Danger Zone Tail Light).  Happily I used my new lights and could see great in the pitch black streetlightless roads around town, but riding at night is scary, at least it was this my first time.  Scared of the dark? No.  But there were the



Deer may be skittish but atleast you don't need to fear an attack!

 

deer.  I came across four of them on my 2.5 mile ride.  The first one scared me the most because it was on the side of the road and I didn't see it and it didn't see me until the last second at which point it jumped. Luckily for me in the right direction.  The others I saw from a distance and whistled and they went on there way no problem.  A dear could end my ride quite easily so I happy to dodge this first obtacle.  So along I ride and see more "wildlife." Infact the most wild of animals. 

The night cyclists least worrisome foe:the cat

The CAT!  Ok, so I saw a few cats and they were the least of my worries while riding since they were all a far away and steered clear of me.  But the next foe was probably the most worrisome opponents I came accross.  A dark (I think marbled) pitbull.  I'm not a big fan of pitbulls, and animals with little fear that like to chase bikes or cars (how dumb is that anyway - that's like a person chasing an airplane) such as dogs can pose a threat to the cyclist - in this case me.  I've been barked at on several occasions and chased by dogs that were behind fenses but this pitbull was strolling down the single lane street coming in my direction. 

 

Rare shot of a pitbull at night.  You won't find me taking one.



The dog saw me and I saw the dog but I am not a local news headline (thank goodness).  Neither of us gave up ground and went on our ways.  I quickened my pace after we passed and listened to make sure I didn't have the enemy attacking.  No offense to the dog, but I never want to see you again.  -- I would like to note that it took quite a while to find a picture of a pitbull at night.  I guess no one goes out seeking a pitbull at night for a photoshoot or says," Hey check it out it's a pitbull let's take a pic."

The last nightcreeper I saw was a

the nights final opponent:the raccoon

raccoon.  It was pretty big. It was probably medium dog sized and as many know raccoons can be quite scary.  The raccoon and I snuck up on each other so I'm sure the raccoons heart skipped a beat too as I rode away and it ran. Again in opposite directions!  I was back in bed by 1:00am. 

 After this short 15 min. or so night ride will I be riding at night again? Yes, but I think I got a heads up that there are definately others up at midnight for cyclists to worry about.  Less cars, more animals!  I think I'll take my chances with the animals.  I think a collision with a deуr would end better than a collision with a car.  I saw this pic which with a few animal modifications pretty well sums up my first night ride.

For me it would have been a deer, dog, racoon, cat combo.  I think there's a rooster on top in the photo.

Century Ride PASKENTA Ride/Race

I have opted in to do a century ride.  It is in 3 months.  I have never ridden 100 miles.  Infact the closest I've been to riding 100 miles is about 70 and that was once.  We did climb about 7,000 ft or so but well this should be interesting.  I figure the best way to train for a century ride is to ride centuries but I don't think that's going to happen for me.  I'm excited about it, and hopefully I'll be able to stay excited and ride quite a bit before then.  It has about 1,700 ft of climbing which shouldn't be bad at all but it does have a 4 mile strip of gravel road!  One of the first R.A.C.E. events I did this past year included a section of gravel road and let's just say I wouldn't call it fun.  I still haven't decided if I'll do that race again this next year or not (probably will).  That was a crazy race.  My saddle came loose on the second to last lap which made for a rockin' ride.  The good part was that I got a new(used) saddle after the race.  Here is a link to the PASKENTA ride/race from the R.A.C.E. site where you can check out pictures from previous years and the map of where the ride will go.  Apparently 200-300 people show up if the weather's right.  The biggest plus - It's Free!

Any comments on how to prepare for a century are welcome.

Here's a nice shot of the gravel section of the PASKENTA ride/race that I found on the marcpro-strava cycling teams site : http://marcpro-strava.com/blog/2013/01/24/2013-paskenta-riderace-this-february-3rd/  Looks like they came out to ride.