The Oracle of Apollo
Snippets from the life of Apollo Lee

Ah…April—the month of high winds and windy excuses. I got rained out on a few of the days and hammered against very strong headwinds on virtually every other day of the month. Despite all this, I set a personal best average speed, on the day, week, and month.

I’m sure when the winds subside a little, if they ever do, I’ll be much faster because of all the hard riding. My Saturday rides this month never exceeded 50.25 miles and were almost always relatively flat (usually involving a climb up to Portola Valley, nothing too hard). My intention in May is to increase my mileage, my climbing, and my weekend distances.

April: 700.26 mi in 37:19:30 (18.8 mph avg; 45.0 mph max)

Another five day riding week this week makes seven weeks in a row where my mileage was less than my goal mileage. In this case, it was a projected rain storm on Wednesday in which it rained most of the day and sprinkled after I got home from work. By the time I got moving enough to realize that accuweather was wrong again, I had already blown my window. So much for Wednesday.

On a couple of the weekdays, I rode all of my miles in one jaunt after work, primarily due to oversleeping my alarm clock in the morning or rain. If I had said “screw it” at 6 on Wednesday evening and gone out into the strong winds for an hour and a half, I’d have 200 miles on this chart for the first time since mid March. But, someone bearing a striking resemblance to…well…me needs to stop making bullshit excuses.

All in all, though, spinning through my SPD anniversary and beating the only other half-century in April by just over seven minutes, I’m not too displeased. Next week’s going to be a day short, too, but as this turbulent spring meanders into summer, I’m looking forward to many long, long weeks.

25 Apr:  30.39 mi;  1:37:22 (18.7 mph avg; 27.0 mph max)
26 Apr:  28.71 mi;  1:29:30 (19.2 mph avg; 34.5 mph max)
28 Apr:  28.57 mi;  1:29:05 (19.0 mph avg; 34.0 mph max)
29 Apr:  29.47 mi;  1:37:38 (18.1 mph avg; 26.5 mph max)
30 Apr:  50.25 mi;  2:37:55 (19.1 mph avg; 41.0 mph max)
Total : 167.39 mi;  8:51:30 (18.9 mph avg; 41.0 mph max)

Month so far:  700.26 mi.
2005 so far : 2430.67 mi (48.63% of goal).
2005 goal   : 5000.00 mi.
Remaining   : 2568.45 mi (73.38 mi / wk avg)

Today, I got started a little late, but earlier than I frequently do. With the longer days, the sun sets about 8 and jumping on my bike at 4:15 means that I can still hammer my miles out. After scrubbing, degreasing, and lubing my ride for the first time in a while, I was ready to feel that sweet smoothness as the chain responded to my power. I wanted a little change of pace from my usual Saturday routine, so I drew out a route map that included portions of Menlo Park, Atherton, Palo Alto, Mountain View, Sunnyvale, Cupertino, Los Altos, Portola Valley, Woodside, and a little piece of Redwood City. Saving the loop for last, I felt warmed up by the time I started my climb up Alpine.

It was a little murky and cool (about 58° F / 14° C). The pouty, mopy overcast clouds started sniffling like it was going to rain as I started my thump down Middlefield Road. That would be just perfect—a plunging temperature and a rain shower. Especially since the weather sites predicted 65° and partly cloudy. Of course, I left my rain gear at home. But, as long as it was pouting and not sobbing, I might as well shove on.

It was one of those days that just feels wrong for riding—overcast, humid, chilly, breezy. I kept the push going, bolting down Foothill and considering momentarily doing a back-and-forth on that beautiful cycling speedway. Heading up to Portola Valley on the old standard, Alpine, was fun, because I haven’t climbed Alpine in quite a while, due to the quagmire of road construction at the base of the road. After a short breather in Portola Valley, I stomped hard and completed my ride with a nice 41 mph zip down Woodside road.

I definitely need to start doing longer rides, but I’ll take a half century today. Especially one as fast as I did this one.

Today:   50.25 mi;   2:37:55 (19.1 mph avg; 41.0 mph max)
April:  700.26 mi;  37:19:30 (18.8 mph avg; 45.0 mph max)
2005 : 2430.67 mi; 130:55:04 (18.6 mph avg; 45.0 mph max)
Goal : 5000.00 mi (2568.45 mi to go : 48.63% complete)

One year ago today, Dave at Bike Connection in Menlo Park installed SPD pedals on my old Giant Cypress DX hybrid and I took my first ever ride in my Vittoria Skye ATB cycling shoes. My Trek 520 came equipped with SPD pedals, so I have continued to ride in SPDs for a full year. I’ve fallen a few times, had to adjust my left cleat once, and had one accident.

It’s hard to believe it. That maiden voyage was 7,121.47 miles ago.

I haven’t been out on hardwood in front of speaker stacks since Forward, a month ago. I used to go out every weekend night, meeting all kinds of people and having a great time. Lately, I have only rarely tended to check the scene out, which makes me feel like a little of a shut-in. So, knowing that David Harness and Rick Preston would be playing the music, I jumped in my car and drove up to Mighty, arriving at 11:30 (a really really late start for me).

The music was incredible. The tall speaker stacks on the glossy hardwood floor pounded under the might of David Harness’ records. He plays a beautiful set of jazzy deep house, with a couple of preachy gospel tracks thrown into the mix. Rick Preston followed with his more electronic tech-house. The party was full of beautiful people and that included Patrick, who showed up at 1:30. By about 4 in the morning, I was drenched with sweat and ready to go home.

I was on track for a six-day riding week and getting my first 100% complete week since the middle of March, but the weather guys forecast rain on Saturday, so I waited to see. It sprinkled a little bit mid-afternoon, and I really should have gone out on my ride, but by the time I realized that, in fact, meteorologists suck, it was too late to get my miles done. Perhaps next week.

Three of this week’s riding days were single-ride days. Usually, weekdays consist of an early morning commute to work and a late afternoon extended commute home. After snarling against an eon of strong headwinds every day (combine that with my penchant for hitting absolutely every red light everywhere I ride), I broke out of my headwind rut — putting the biggest average speed number in my daily log thus far. After that, I drove to work until Thursday, doing my miles all in one shot on three subsequent days. None of those days has an average speed less than 19.3 mph. Friday’s early morning commute even set a personal best—18.8 mph avg (with almost no caffeine in my system in heavy tights and a cycling shell).

So, despite being a huge Saturday short, this week nudges the weekly average speed best to 19.1 mph. I had a great week, which would have been greater if I had ignored the weather reports online before my ride. Of course, with my luck, it would have started raining on me then at Portola Valley.

18 Apr:  32.27 mi;  1:47:36 (18.0 mph avg; 26.5 mph max)
19 Apr:  28.71 mi;  1:26:40 (19.9 mph avg; 33.0 mph max)
20 Apr:  28.80 mi;  1:29:28 (19.3 mph avg; 33.5 mph max)
21 Apr:  28.78 mi;  1:27:55 (19.6 mph avg; 33.5 mph max)
22 Apr:  30.17 mi;  1:35:31 (19.0 mph avg; 30.0 mph max)
Total : 148.73 mi;  7:47:10 (19.1 mph avg; 33.5 mph max)

Month so far:  532.87 mi.
2005 so far : 2263.28 mi (45.27% of goal).
2005 goal   : 5000.00 mi.
Remaining   : 2736.72 mi (76.02 mi / wk avg)

The last several days have featured headwinds substantially higher than I’m used to—every single day. Yesterday’s commute home was a real endurance event—stomping as hard as I could to maintain my sanity against winds in my face over 25 miles an hour and “breezy” gusts that took me off the road three times. I ended up posting a ridiculously low 18.0 mph daily average and, despite not wearing my tights or cycling shell on the way home, posted a higher average speed wearing both on the way to work at 7 in the morning.

It really is hard to stay motivated, when you know you have 20 miles of headwinds on the way home every day and, no matter what the weather guy says, it’s always “breezy”. I really needed to break out of this rut of getting used to dailies that do nothing but drain away at my statistics. Today, I needed a change. A blistering romp that recharged my batteries and reminded me that I’m an ass stomper.

So, I drove to work. Now that daylight savings time is here, I have lots of daylight left at the end of the work day. Knowing that a northwest wind was blowing down the peninsula at 18 miles an hour meant that I would get half my ride with that wind at my back and half the ride battling the same wind on the way back. I got into my pedals about 6:15, shoved hard to the southeast, and maintained a good aggressive lean into my bars, pacing another group of cyclists down Foothill Expressway at 28 miles an hour. I turned around at Outfitter, ate a Clif Shot, and headed back, smiling at that beautiful average speed I’d built up.

“Okay, Apollo,” I told myself. “Keep as much of this on the cyclometer as you can. Now, let’s go.” And away I pushed.

The winds seem to have subsided slightly after 7, but they were gusty still. But, leaning over my handlebars, I got as small as I could and remembered that I didn’t have a foot of backpack sticking off my back and catching the wind. I stomped hard, trying to give up as little speed as I could on the rises, gaining as much as I could on the downhills. As I turned down Atherton Avenue, I realized that, if I kept my stomp going, I could get a personal best. After a felonious 26 mile an hour kick down that country road and a couple of extra miles afterwards to fulfill my chart, I rolled into my driveway with an average speed nearly two miles an hour faster than yesterday. Holy crap. That, ladies and gentlemen, is my best daily average speed ever.

Now that’s how you break a headwind rut! I wonder if I should just drive to work and do all my miles in one kick after work. Nah, that would be too easy.

Today:   28.71 mi;   1:26:40 (19.9 mph avg; 33.0 mph max)
April:  445.12 mi;  23:56:06 (18.6 mph avg; 45.0 mph max)
2005 : 2175.53 mi; 117:30:40 (18.5 mph avg; 45.0 mph max)
Goal : 5000.00 mi (2824.47 mi to go : 43.51% complete)

On July 22, 2004, I ordered a year of service from KnowSpam, a web-based spam killing solution, involving approvals, denials, good senders, and bad senders. I have been ecstatically satisfied with the service I have received. As of this moment, almost forty thousand spams have been blocked.

Today, I received a rather interesting message:

Due to business conditions, knowspam.net will be shutting down on June 25. Thank you for your support.

This is sad. Now, I’ve got two months to find a comparable solution. Anybody have any recommendations?

A six day riding week at long last, but despite my quivering desire to hammer hard and turn in good numbers this week, I was thwarted by a steady headwind every single day — sometimes approaching 30 miles an hour. A worn out back tire (and the flat that revealed it) thwarted my morning commute on Tuesday and I ended up fifteen miles short of my goal.

Despite this, I rolled through my two thousandth mile of the year on Wednesday (which is also the three thousandth mile since getting the Trek). The wind eased up on me a little bit on Friday, but I think I’m just going to have to get used to strong winds in the afternoons, rampaging down the peninsula—hell-bent on making me stronger.

11 Apr:  31.62 mi;  1:44:36 (18.1 mph avg; 28.5 mph max)
12 Apr:  13.11 mi;  0:41:58 (18.7 mph avg; 24.5 mph max)
13 Apr:  28.72 mi;  1:35:03 (18.1 mph avg; 27.5 mph max)
14 Apr:  29.46 mi;  1:36:41 (18.3 mph avg; 26.0 mph max)
15 Apr:  30.21 mi;  1:36:14 (18.9 mph avg; 28.0 mph max)
16 Apr:  48.18 mi;  2:35:07 (18.6 mph avg; 42.0 mph max)
Total : 181.30 mi;  9:49:39 (18.4 mph avg; 42.0 mph max)

Month so far:  384.14 mi.
2005 so far : 2114.55 mi (42.29% of goal).
2005 goal   : 5000.00 mi.
Remaining   : 2885.45 mi (77.99 mi / wk avg)

Last Saturday, I went for my ride about 4:30 in the afternoon. Completely by coincidence, I headed out for this Saturday’s ride about the same time. I knew I had about 3 hours and change to do my miles. Also, the weather report online told me that I’d have substantial headwinds (as in over 15 miles an hour) for a good majority of the ride.

I really need to start getting up off the couch earlier in the day on Saturdays and routing out new loops. The easiest way to stop improving, both in terms of speed and distance both, is to get complacent and routine. Half centuries down Junipero Serra, up to Portola Valley, down Woodside, along Alameda de las Pulgas / Junipero Serra / Foothill to Outfitter, and back home, are getting to be a weekly occurence. Fifty miles isn’t even difficult anymore. It’s just a chore that I do on Saturdays. Given the windiness today, I opted for a slightly shorter ramble.

The winds were rough, but I had a good ride, including a 42 mile an hour descent down Woodside Road and a nice rampage against the wind in the waning daylight toward home. I think next weekend I’m going to have to do something different. Maybe something with a tail wind?

Today:   48.18 mi;   2:35:07 (18.6 mph avg; 42.0 mph max)
April:  384.14 mi;  20:41:50 (18.6 mph avg; 45.0 mph max)
2005 : 2114.55 mi; 114:16:24 (18.5 mph avg; 45.0 mph max)
Goal : 5000.00 mi (2885.45 mi to go : 42.29% complete)

After my first puncture flat on the Trek yesterday, I noticed that I had worn out my back tire so that the nylon liner was showing through the tube. But my Trek has all of the original pieces it had when I took delivery, except for the inner tubes. On November 21, when I put my cyclometer on the new bike, it read 8207.70. Today, when I stopped at Outfitter to have a new chain and tire installed, it was at 11201.79 (2994.09 miles). You’re supposed to have your chain replaced about every 1500 miles, so I was overdue. The guys at the shop were surprised that I had ridden on that back tire as long as I had. They dropped what they were doing and hooked me up with quick work. Thanks, guys.

A little while later, near Foothill Expy & Page Mill Rd in Palo Alto, I finished my 2000th mile this year. Three quarters of a mile later, just past Stanford Ave, came the milestone for the bike. That makes 3000 clock miles (not counting the 14.1 I rode it home without the cyclometer going, because I was too dumb to remember the magnet for the front wheel).

Despite battling headwinds the whole way home and closing out the day with a wimpy 18.1 mph average speed, I feel Herculean, just because of that 3000 mile marker. Three thousand miles in twenty-one weeks is about 143 miles a week. I got the bike 143 days ago. Rearrange 143 and you get today’s date: 4-13. Okay, I’ll stop now.

Today:   28.72 mi;   1:35:03 (18.1 mph avg; 27.5 mph max)
April:  276.21 mi;  14:53:48 (18.5 mph avg; 45.0 mph max)
2005 : 2006.62 mi; 108:28:22 (18.5 mph avg; 45.0 mph max)
Goal : 5000.00 mi (2993.38 mi to go : 40.13% complete)

Finally, a nearly full week with five riding days in it. It was windy this week, but I bucked up and got my riding done, except for Friday–an extremely windy day with rain that forced me to drive to work. Hopefully, rainy season will end soon. Daylight Savings Time began at the beginning of the week and it feels so much different to start my ride home at 4, knowing that I have almost four hours of daylight remaining.

04 Apr:  32.98 mi;  1:45:30 (18.8 mph avg; 29.0 mph max)
05 Apr:  30.30 mi;  1:37:33 (18.6 mph avg; 27.5 mph max)
06 Apr:  30.22 mi;  1:35:41 (19.0 mph avg; 32.0 mph max)
07 Apr:  28.72 mi;  1:31:17 (18.9 mph avg; 35.0 mph max)
09 Apr:  50.25 mi;  2:44:56 (18.3 mph avg; 45.0 mph max)
Total : 172.47 mi;  9:14:57 (18.6 mph avg; 45.0 mph max)

Month so far:  202.76 mi.
2005 so far : 1933.17 mi (38.66% of goal).
2005 goal   : 5000.00 mi.
Remaining   : 3066.83 mi (80.71 mi / wk avg)

After farting around for quite a long time, I got on the road this afternoon at 4:30. I was simply dreading the weather, because of reports of substantial winds. On windy days, I almost never end up with tail winds. It’s always from the front or the sides. Today was no exception.

I headed out, taking the usual route toward Cupertino along Junipero Serra, but opted to climb Arastradero from Foothill, instead of Page Mill, the route I took on the last Saturday I rode, almost a month ago. Arastradero is a little steeper than I remember it being, particularly since I had a breezy day, but it was quiet and had little traffic.

My climbing against the headwind toward Portola Valley reduced an initially manly 18.9 mph average speed by more than two miles an hour by the time I stopped to refill my water bottles at Triangle Park in Portola Valley. The breezes kept my average speed down as I galloped toward Woodside, but I gained a little bit on my clock. By the time I reach Woodside, I decided to deviate from my usual course and head up Cañada Road toward Filoli Estates and take Edgewood down the hill. Pounding against strong crosswinds, I lost a little more of kick, but I ate a Clif Shot and climbed under the freeway and began my beautiful descent down Edgewood.

Edgewood sheds several hundred feet of elevation in two miles with big beautiful meandering curves. Before I was at the crest of the hill near the I-280 off ramp, I had already shifted into my big ring and was ready to push my top speed record. With the wind at my back, I leaned down, got close to my handlebars, and started spinning the gears up for my Trek’s first ever descent down Edgewood. 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, come on, 45 miles an hour! Yes, I just set a personal best.

A quick run down Alameda de las Pulgas / Junipero Serra / Foothill and back completed my half-century today, saving the ride for par (at 18 mph) despite battling headwinds and crosswinds for so long. The blistering descent down Edgewood and that luscious 45 mph (72.4 kph) top speed was the payoff for all that climbing.

Today:   50.25 mi;   2:44:56 (18.3 mph avg; 45.0 mph max)
April:  202.76 mi;  10:52:11 (18.7 mph avg; 45.0 mph max)
2005 : 1933.17 mi; 104:16:45 (18.5 mph avg; 45.0 mph max)
Goal : 5000.00 mi (3066.83 mi to go : 38.66% complete)

This morning, I overslept my alarm clock by over 90 minutes after a whole bunch of noise from the neighbor and a whole lot of noise in my own apartment had me staring at my alarm clock at 12:15 am, wondering when I was going to sleep. I scrambled out of bed at 6:35 am (I had reset my alarm clock to 5:00, when I missed my 9:30 pm go-to-bed time), jumped through the shower, ate a little something, and kicked to work.

Drop-kids-off hour on Middlefield Road is usually about 7:30 am, which is right about the time I headed past Menlo-Atherton High School and on through Menlo Park, Palo Alto, and Mountain View, three upscale towns with among the highest average per capita incomes in the United States. Commuting the nearly eleven miles to work at this time of day reinforced one of the many things I know about cars. Here’s something you can quote me on:

No automobile with a retail value over forty thousand dollars ($40,000) is equipped with turn signals.

Also, a little known, but apparently heavily followed, unwritten rule in California:

If you spent more than $40,000 on your automobile, you are legally required to own a cell phone and use it every instant that you drive it.

So, it’s easy to see why my commute was slow. I averaged 17.6 mph (28.4 kph) on the way to work, still fuming from oversleeping my alarm clock and not getting very much sleep in the first place. This whole morning, I had to really really work to keep my focus from slipping off the chain ring, as it were.

After work, which means about an hour after I usually leave, I pedaled home, sleep-deprived and pissed off, and just leaned my head down, got down in my drops, and started spinning. As I rounded the little entrance from Homestead Road to Foothill Expressway, my average speed was already 18.7 mph (30.1 kph). Damn. Foothill caressed my wheels and I pounded toward home. At 30 minutes, I broke my half hour distance record (now 9.94 miles / 16.00 km) and set my 10 mile sprint at 30:10 (a full five seconds faster than my personal best). At 11 miles, the timer read 32:33 (20.3 mph avg) and I saw 20.4 on average speed mode for the first time ever. Unfortunately, my speed was about to drop drastically and I would spend the rest of the time trying to recover a little bit of the glory of the first half of this commute.

A strong crosswind assaulted me as I approached the little hump that Foothill makes as it crosses Page Mill Road. The crosswind turned into a headwind (probably about 20 mph) and I struggled to shove against it, reaching down to shift more times than I’m probably legally allowed to. The Stanford quagmire (now that a bottleneck intersection is closed until Thanksgiving) gave me a little of my speed back, but the fierce face wind climbing Sand Hill Road and the ignorant drivers who decide to turn right only when they can read the emblem on the front of my bicycle slowed me up a little bit. A nice fast stomp down Valparaiso and a couple extra blocks and I shoved into my driveway with a total time under an hour, having completed a hundred hours of riding so far this year. Now, that’s how you finish your day!

Home :   19.63 mi;   0:59:38 (19.8 mph avg; 32.0 mph max)
Today:   30.22 mi;   1:35:41 (19.0 mph avg; 32.0 mph max)
April:  123.79 mi;   6:35:58 (18.8 mph avg; 32.0 mph max)
2005 : 1854.20 mi; 100:00:32 (18.5 mph avg; 43.0 mph max)
Goal : 5000.00 mi (3145.80 mi to go : 37.08% complete)

Another three-day riding week when six days were scheduled. I nudged my weekdays down to 28.52 miles after blowing the 34.51/57.78 week twice in a row. Last week’s storm blew into this week and kept the winds gusty and strong. Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday were successful days. Saturday got scrubbed due to a very sore and painful upper leg. Let’s hope for more than half my miles next week. Because, damn!

30 Mar:  30.65 mi;  1:39:15 (18.5 mph avg; 30.0 mph max)
31 Mar:  30.28 mi;  1:37:00 (18.7 mph avg; 30.0 mph max)
01 Apr:  30.29 mi;  1:37:14 (18.7 mph avg; 31.0 mph max)
Total :  91.22 mi;  4:53:29 (18.6 mph avg; 31.0 mph max)

Month so far:   30.29 mi.
2005 so far : 1760.70 mi (35.21% of goal).
2005 goal   : 5000.00 mi.
Remaining   : 3239.30 mi (83.06 mi / wk avg)

Another Saturday on which I planned to ride more than 45 miles. Last Saturday, I pulled my hamstrings by spending all of Friday night on a dance floor after a 35 mile day and being almost too sore to walk, much less ride 58 miles against a headwind.

Yesterday, I averaged over 19 mph on the way home, had a great ride, and felt really good. Today, I felt like someone punched me in the left leg, right about where the pocket opens. Straightening the leg was painful, bending it too much was painful. I vaguely remember crashing into the confidential document bin, which is about at waist height as I was getting my coffee yesterday (was it yesterday?). Riding 48 miles today when my mobility is shot might be possible, but I decided to err on the side of caution, in case it’s not that I bumped into something and forgot. So much for this week. Another three day riding week.

I think I’m getting better at making excuses than riding my damn miles. Pain in the hip also means that, no matter what, I’m staying home tonight. I just don’t have it in me to go hear Marques Wyatt spin records and stay off the dancefloor while he does.

Color me grumpy. I need to be a little more careful. There’s no way I should be riding three day weeks. I’m used to six. Pull it back together, Apollo, you pansy.

Tonight, I went to see Sin City (2005) with Daniel in San José. He brought me a €5 note from his recent trip to Italy and bought the tickets. Thanks, Daniel, next time it’s all on me, baby.

This movie kicks ass. It’s based on the graphic novels of Frank Miller. Most of the film was in black and white, in keeping with the film noir ambience of the movie, except for a few splashes of color. The story is violent, in the vein of a classic dark comic, replete with cringe-inducing villains, crooked cops, and bombshell dames. Some of the characters in the movie use mobile phones, despite the fact that the newest car in the movie seems to be one character’s 1957 Chevy Bel-Air.

I enjoyed the movie thoroughly. The photography was stunning, the story extremely well-written, and the acting superb. You should see this one in the theater.

Thanks, Daniel, for the invite and the movie. You rule.

Happy Birthday, Nathan!