30 Days Ago, Needed Oxygen, a Walker, and a Home Health Aid to Leave The House. Today...

[Watana Bob]

Catalyzt it is good to hear that you are recovering so well, looking forward to hearing about your 50 mile rides next summer!

 

[Catalyzt]

Remarkable recovery for a guy who cheated death! Good that your docs aren't overly cautious.

Not sure that tells you much about the averaging method behind your Average Watts metric. Did the segments differ significantly in the fraction of time spent coasting, stopped, or at very low power output?

Yes, sorry if that wasn't clear! The first segment, I climbed about 1,000 feet total, with 200 feet of descent mixed in. The second segment, I returned exactly the way I'd came, so the numbers were reversed-- a lot of coasting. But returning, I did try to pedal as hard (when I was pedaling, which was far smaller percentage of the time) as I did on the way up. My average output was about 4 watts less.

Be careful with those vertical cracks. If they're wide enough and deep enough to swallow the tire, your front rim can get caught in it, and then you're going down faster than you can blink an eye. It happened to me on a local road at 25mph. I rode away after fixing the flat, but I had to get a new helmet.

Absolutely. That was what was so odd about this-- my front wheel didn't hit the crack, and I didn't see a crack at all, which is what worries me. I'd feel differently if I'd been aware that I barely missed a crack with my front tire, but my back tire tracked a slightly different line; it would have been more explainable.

I'm a little concerned about my glasses, which are progressives, in this respect. It seems like only the middle of the lens is set to infinity, the bottom is set to reading distance, which is fine, but I don't know why the top is anything besides infinity. Also, I'm often looking over the top of my glasses, which is not great in flat light or at twilight. This was just after sunset-- the most stunning time to ride, right before the moment when using the headlight would be helpful. They are transition lenses which darken automatically-- I know that this could be a problem in some situations if I abruptly ride into shadow, but this hasn't been a problem so far.

I think I need a dedicated set of sport progressive that have taller lenses and are set to infinity at the top, which seems to be anything over about five or six feet away. I feel vindicated by not getting ANY anti-reflective coatings, because for me, these ALWAYS smear and cloud the lenses almost immediately, no matter what coating is used, after cleaning the glasses with microfiber and water or glasses even just a few times. Yeah, sure, the reflections are annoying, but I recognize them as artifacts immediately, they don't impede my view of the road or anything else, particularly at night. Hazy lenses drive me crazy, and feel unsafe.

But yes, front wheel entrapment is far more dangerous. What you describe sounds similar to what happened to me once on the old Raleigh Competition, when I was drafting my buddy too closely, and the front of my front tire kissed the back of his rear tire, opposite directions of rotation. My body did a complete somersault, and a quarter barrel roll, in the air, and the bike did more or less the same thing. I wound up sliding down the pavement on the double yellow line; we were lucky there were no cars on the road. I'm sure I was pushing 30 when it happened. No helmet.

My first question was, "How is the bike?"

My dad's answer was, "Let's get you the hell off the road!" My buddy saw that Dad was taking care of me, and immediately got my bike onto the shoulder, bless his black little heart. (We were 15, and are still close friends today). The bike only had a few scratches.