In spite of the threat of cold and rainy weather today, my neighbor and I woke up early and rode in a fundraiser bike ride called The Great Escape Bicycle Ride in Manvel, TX. This event is a fundraiser for the Brazoria County Sheriffs Office Reserves. As is typical for these kind of rides, there were several different ride distances to choose from: 14, 40, 52, 70 and 86 miles. Up until this point, my longest ride so far had been 62 miles, which occurred last weekend in Baytown. I figured another 24 miles wouldn't be too bad, so we took off on the 86 mile route.
The morning started out a bit chilly, but it wasn't long before we both realized that this was nearly a perfect day for riding. It wasn't too cold, very little wind, the rain stayed away and we had overcast clouds to keep the temperature from climbing too much...ahhh...PERFECT!
About five and a half hours after we hopped on our bikes, we found ourselves back at the car. A few miles from the finish line I heard a sudden popping noise from my rear tire. It sounded as though a wheel spoke had broken. However, after it happened, I didn't hear anything rattling around or grinding in the chain so I kept on cruising toward the finish line. Once I stopped, I looked back at the rim and noticed that it was severely out of round. Sure enough, a spoke had broken just a few miles from the finish line and the resulting unbalanced tension from the remaining spokes warped the rim! I bet the wheel would not have made it through the entire ride if the spoke would have instead, broken a few miles from the start. Lucky me!
The rain that had threatened to get us wet all morning started about 20 minutes after we finished the ride....Lucky me again!
Todays miles: 86, Total miles: 507.8
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Saturday, March 7, 2009
A One-Way Trip To Outer Space
Q: "Outer Space" is generally defined to start at what altitude?
This weekend I participated in the Gator Ride in Baytown, TX, a ride of about 1200 bikers, which is a fundraiser for the YMCA. The ride had two noteworthy features: First, within a mile or two of the starting line, we started the climb over the huge and beautiful Fred Hartman Bridge that crosses over the Houston Ship Channel (click the picture below for a very cool picture). Second, about 10 miles later, we hopped off of our bikes and took a short ferry ride on the Lynchberg Ferry.
Other than the cool bridge and ferry crossings (oh and let's not forget that we rode past the San Jacinto Monument), the first half of the ride was rather easy and very fast. The group that I was riding with averaged about 20-21 mph for most of the first 30 or so miles of the route. By the time that we had reached rest stop #3, we had approached the outskirts of the cool town of Crosby, TX.
At this point, the ride was going great, but then we turned back south/southeast to head to the finish line. By this time the wind had started to pick up (blowing at 20+ mph) and we were riding directly into it. Most of the last 20 miles of the ride were difficult not only because of the wind but also because I was peddling like crazy to keep up with a very good group of riders from our Johnson Space Center riding team, TMC (Team Mission Control). All of these riders are very good and fast riders, so I considered it quite an accomplisment that I was able to keep pace with them through the first 54 miles of the ride. I took a few more minutes than TMC did at the final rest stop, so I cruised the last 8 miles on in to the finish line by myself. Distance today: 62 miles, Total miles: 421.8 miles
A: It is generally accepted that Outer Space starts at an altitude of 62 miles (the same distance I rode today), and that altitude is called the Karman Line.
This weekend I participated in the Gator Ride in Baytown, TX, a ride of about 1200 bikers, which is a fundraiser for the YMCA. The ride had two noteworthy features: First, within a mile or two of the starting line, we started the climb over the huge and beautiful Fred Hartman Bridge that crosses over the Houston Ship Channel (click the picture below for a very cool picture). Second, about 10 miles later, we hopped off of our bikes and took a short ferry ride on the Lynchberg Ferry.
Other than the cool bridge and ferry crossings (oh and let's not forget that we rode past the San Jacinto Monument), the first half of the ride was rather easy and very fast. The group that I was riding with averaged about 20-21 mph for most of the first 30 or so miles of the route. By the time that we had reached rest stop #3, we had approached the outskirts of the cool town of Crosby, TX.
At this point, the ride was going great, but then we turned back south/southeast to head to the finish line. By this time the wind had started to pick up (blowing at 20+ mph) and we were riding directly into it. Most of the last 20 miles of the ride were difficult not only because of the wind but also because I was peddling like crazy to keep up with a very good group of riders from our Johnson Space Center riding team, TMC (Team Mission Control). All of these riders are very good and fast riders, so I considered it quite an accomplisment that I was able to keep pace with them through the first 54 miles of the ride. I took a few more minutes than TMC did at the final rest stop, so I cruised the last 8 miles on in to the finish line by myself. Distance today: 62 miles, Total miles: 421.8 miles
A: It is generally accepted that Outer Space starts at an altitude of 62 miles (the same distance I rode today), and that altitude is called the Karman Line.
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