10 Mile Ride

The weather cooled off for a week or so. Then it shot up to 100F again yesterday. It must the summer barking out loud for the last time. 

I didn't count on it. I didn't bother to check the weather before I left and I got dehydrated half way to Paradise. I aborted the trip when I got the Expo Parkway. I found a Subway next REI there and gulped down a few cups. I knew Subway gives refill -- we've bought a cup and two of us soaked ourselves at one in Worthington, MN. While REI, I checked out Synapse bike in size 54. The size was workable -- I could put the zero offset seatpost and 80mm stem and could ride it comfortably. But the bike was not as lively as my Contend SL. I'll spring for a second when I find a stiff 54 under 16 lbs. with low stand-over.

The river trail disappeared at N 12th. The road turned into Hwy 162 in North direction and the bridge going over the river had a narrow sidewalk. It didn't seem like a good idea to ride on it, in the wrong direction no less. I didn't know where that led to anyway. So I rode down the 12th, crossed over to the other side and the stopped at CubeSmart to ask. She told me that the street between Ford and Casino will lead to my salvation. As such I got back on the Northern Bike trail, only to find that the river trail became a dirt track from there on. I wasn't going to ride for 3 miles on the dirt road. I crossed the river to get on to Jedediah-Smith trail that led me to Expo Parkway shopping center.

It was good for 10 miles round trip starting from Matsui Waterfront Park. I left my car there and ended up with a ticket. I didn't know there was a time limit there. Parking at Tiscornia as I originally planned and paying $5 would've been a better deal.  The car was boiling in the sun too when I got back. 

I'm fatigued today, but ok otherwise. It's a normal post-exercise fatigue, not sickness. And I'm ready to believe that I'm recovering, for good this time around. I'll shoot for 20 miles in the Fall. If I make it, I'll declare that I'm recovered. For now, we are travelling to Oregon next week. 

Trip Write-up

Oh, I forgot to link our cross-country trip write-up. It was published on Health Rising website  back in June.

Cycling Begins

Cycling is working out better than I imagined. I rode 5.5 miles along the river on Saturday. I took one day recuperating and I was back on saddle again for 4 miles today. And I rode at a decent clip too, at least twice as fast as the ride in 2010 that made me sick for a week. It's now as if I'm only extremely out of shape rather than sick. I'm going to do 10 miles this week and see if I can get away with it without getting sick. If I can, oh boy, I could really start believing that I'm recovering.

So, I was in SF  last week to pick up the bike. In the morning I went back to the old neighborhood around the Rincon Hill  where I walked around like a zombie, sitting down wherever I could. Portico at 1st and Mission. 201 Mission where I draped myself on a patio chair outside of Angus Burger, now gone, during a desolate walk on the thanksgiving of 2009. Starbucks on Drumm where I camped with my legs up on the chair to relieve the ache. Starbucks on Howard and Spear. How I struggled to walk a few blocks back then. And how anticlimactic it would be to recover from all that as if nothing happened.

In the evening, I picked up a Giant Contend SL 1 from Bike Connection. I was gonna buy Giant Contend SL 2 from an LA bike shop -- they were selling a red one that I was looking for $899, almost 25% off -- and see my nephew and his new bride while there.  The one from the SF bike shop for 15% off instead. But going down to LA was too much a work and SF is nearer in case I need to get the bike serviced. (Turned out, I needed 80mm stem and they will swap it out for free.) So now I'm finally done with the bike shopping. For now and happy with it -- it is an aluminium bike, but it is very responsive and comfortable at the same time. And it fits me every well. Next week I'll go to Mike's Bike and see what they have on sale. If they have a Tarmac comp or S-Works at 25% off, I may get tempted.

Bike from Bikesdirect.com

I sold my old Trek bike about 8 years ago after a leisurely riding of 7 km put me in bed for a week. This summer I am getting another false recovery and I am getting ambitious. So I bought a used bike that weighs 40 lbs for pennies and I was able to ride 4-5 miles without getting sick. And I figured I can ride further on a lighter road bike.

I spent months searching for a new bike --  I can't help, I get obsessive on this kind of things -- and settled with Motobecane Le Champion CF SL Di2. I didn't need such an expensive one; I'll ride 10 miles a week at the most. But I figured I'll future-proof it just in case I make a fully recovery, so I wanted a light weight climbing bike. This Motobecane bike was a real deal, at first anyhow. Just the groupset and the wheelset alone was worth more than the bike price. Then they switched the spec after I pre-paid for it. Now it is slightly cheaper than a name brand bike would be, not a gang buster deal I thought it was at first. It may have been an honest mistake on their part, but the effect was the still the same: it was a bait-and-switch.

I could've cancelled it  and go with Giant TCR Advanced SL 2-KOM that I found on sale in a local bike shop last week. I saw this shop while I was driving through East Sacramento, dropped in, and they conveniently happened to have one in my size on sale for $3200. That was a kick-ass price for a bike of this caliber. At the end though, I decided to stay with Motobecane. It still comes with decent parts and the electronic shifting will make it easier for me as I plan to ride with my hands on the top of the handlebar at a walking speed.

If you price them out though, Giant was a better value:

	Motobecane Le Champ CF SL Di2	Giant TCR Advanced TCR SL 2
Frame	1000	2500
Wheels	500	1400
Groupset	1300	700
Other	200	200
Total Value	3000	4800
Price+Tax	2200	3500
Savings	800	1300

The discount on the value of the bike is $800 for Motobecane and $1300 for Giant. If you take into account the cost of replacing the stem and handlebar on Motobecane -- the crank also came with one size too big for a small bike, but I'm not going to bother with it since that's too expensive -- the gap gets even bigger.

One could argue that Motobecane frame is worth more than $1000. I came up with $1000 because: 1)  it is open-mold (generic) frame, not a highly engineered, brand-specific frame, and 2) the material is one or two grades below Giant's SL 2 frame which is ligthter, stiffer and just about the best frame on the market. A well received Chinese-made generic frame that is lighter than Motobecane's sells for $700. And Canyon's highly acclaimed CF SL frame, made in Taiwan, sells for $1400. I think $1000 is a generous price for a Taiwanese-made generic frame.

If you are a hardcore cyclist, the frame and the wheels are the most important thing. And Giant TCR Advanced SL 2 has much better frame/wheels, hands down, so it comes out at the top on that account as well. You'd be a fool not to choose Giant hence.

Then why did I choose Motobecane? Well, for one thing, I'm not a hardcore cyclist. And, as I said, electronic shifting was the deciding factor as I needed something I can sit up straight and shift by pressing buttons rather than hunch down to twist the lever. Giant TCR is a full blown race bike and it wasn't too comfortable for me at the moment. I also got additional $100 off for ordering the Motobecane early and a carbon seat post worth $200 for their spec mistake, so that partially made up the value difference. I kinda regret not getting Giant though. I could truly future-proof with it and therefore it could've been the last bike I would ever buy.

I did the same pricing exercise comparing Motobecane Le Champion Pro and Canyon's CF SL 8.0, and Canyon was a better value too. And it was full price comparison, not sales price:

	Motobecane Le Champion CF Pro	Canyon Ultimate CF SL 8.0
Frame	600	1400
Wheels	400	735
Groupset	700	700
Other	200	500
Total Value	1900	3335
Price+Tax	1700	2500
Savings	200	835

The frame on Le Champion CF Pro is a mediocre one that is heavier than its CF SL version and you can buy it from bikesdirect.com for $600. Here, the value difference is whopping $635 in favor of Canyon.

Any finally, here is the most apple-to-apple comparison between Motobecane CF SL and Canyon's CF SL:

	Motobecane CF SL	Canyon CF SL
Frame	1000	1400
Wheels	800	735
Groupset	700	700
Other	500	500
Total Value	3000	3335
Price+Tax	2000	2500
savings	1000	835

Motobecane has a carbon crank while Canyon has carbon stem/handlebar and better saddle. So the price for "other" parts add up to about the same. The net saving is also about the same, meaning you don't get much more value by buying Motobecane. You get a similar result if you compare it with Canyon CF SL 8.0 Disc which is available in the US.

The conclusion: The price difference comes down to the frame. If a generic frame will do, you could go with bikesdirect.com and save on the frame and tax. But don't get fooled by bikesdirect.com's price. You get a better deal with major brands at the year end sale. That is especially true when you account for the intangibles like warranty and service at your local bike shop. 

Here is a review of bikesdirect.com by a owner of a major bike shop. It is writtten in 2014, but I think it is still spot on. You should read it first if you are considering bikesdirect.com for your next purchase.

Update: Bikesdirect.com fail to deliver the good. They notify me with the tracking number, but for a week nothing happened. Turned out, they only created the label to create an impression that they were shipping without actually shipping. So I cancelled the order and I'm back to square one. Maybe I'll try them later when they actually have the bikes in stock. Not sure if I trust them though. They may not be an outright scam, but they certainly are a shady operation.

False Recovery, Again?

Last Friday, I meandered through the Grid all the way up to H Street. It was 100F weather and I felt like keep walking. I logged 3 miles in 3 hours at the end of the day.

Two days later, I biked 4.3 miles. I went to the Tower Bridge, napped for a while and then worked on my computer for an hour. Then off to my wife's work in downtown to keep her company. Business was slow and she was bored. I had a cold drink, left my phone with her so that she could surf the Net, and came back. It was a super slow biking practically at a walking speed, putting the pressure on the pedal only occasionally.

I had trouble sleeping on both days despite all that walking/biking, just like in the summer of 2016. I woke up in the dawn after 5 hours sleep and I was wide awake. Still, I was functioning fine the next days.

Yesterday I went to a local bike shop and tested a bike for half a mile. I did pedal most of the way and I pooped out by the time afternoon rolled in today. Pedaling half a mile puts a lot more stress on my body than rolling at half the speed for 4.3 miles apparently. That's the proof that I'm still a way off from the recovery.

It's an improvement nonetheless. I remember biking 7km back in 2011 and crashing for a week.  That was an easier ride too: the trail along Han-gang river had no stop signs and I took more breaks along the way. I sold the bike shortly after that and never rode till now. But chances are, this improvement will also fade by the autumn just like the last one. I'll enjoy it while it last.

Trip Analysis

I finally got around to charting my activities during the trip. Here it is the trip route and the 7 day rolling sum of the number of steps taken.

The bad days, with the condition level 4 or less, are overlaid on the activity chart as the red vertical lines:

Here are some observations:

1. There is no red line in late March and April. This is when I was on the move.  
2. Thick lines appear in early May when we stopped in Virginia. 
3. The lines disappear again till we settled in NYC in June.
4. Then the lines get denser as we approach July. This is the post-trip struggle in NYC.
5. Lines disappear in August as we got back on the road. 
6. Thick lines in the middle of September when we stopped for  a week in Mesquite.
7. Once we got back home, the lines became regular as before.
8. Similar pattern appears while we traveled to Paris in Oct and Nov. It was less conclusive though, because it was only for a month.
9. Ignore thick lines in Dec and Jan. This is when I was having flu.

These observations agrees with what I observed before:

• The novelty of taveling elevates the crash threshold
• When the novelty fades, so does the elevation effect
• When the elevation effect dissipates, post-trip struggle sets in.
• The post-trip struggle ends quickly when traveling resumes.

Heat Wave

It's now 7PM and still warm. I had to take my outer shirt off. It was even warmer this afternoon. I went to Naked Lounge this afternoon and lounged in 72F weather. A lot of people were out on this sunny Saturday afternoon. The air was so pleasant, it took me an hour to get off my butt and come back. (I'm looking forward to the summer in Sacto -- it'll be hot and I'd like to find out how it affects my CFS).

It appears my post-flu struggle is over. I looked at my activity log and it seems to have ended on 2/28, about 2 weeks after the flu was over. It is the same amount of time it took to get over the struggle after the flu shot in 2016. Coincidence? Maybe. Or maybe low grade inflammation persisted for 2 weeks after the flu was over. Or maybe I'm forcing myself to find a pattern. I was looking for the end of one-day-up-one-day-down pattern. And it ended on 1/28 when I went several days without a down day. After a down day on  2/1, I took 7500 steps and then 5500 today. So the struggling pattern is definitely ended.

As for the post-trip struggle, my theory now is that the trip triggers inflammation that takes 3 weeks to fully dissipate. Healthy people either don't feel it or recover when the inflammation goes down. CFS patients, on the other hand, continue to feel the the full 3 weeks while the low grade inflammation persists. This also gibes with the depression as an inflammation disorder. (Post-vacation blues are commonly understood as depression). How credible a theory is that? Well, I'm now boldly predicting that they'll find the inflammation marker in people who suffer from post-vacation blues. And, if the test is sensitive enough, it will reveal that the low grade inflammation persists for 3 weeks. And my theory is likely to be true if that prediction comes true.

One could ask: why don't people feel the inflammation effect while travelling? My answer is that their tolerance to inflammation goes up while they are aroused. For CFS patients, that also means the crash threshold goes up, or perhaps even removed. I'd like to test that out the next time I travel. I'll finish 2+ mile hiking over 600+ feet elevation and see what happens. That ought to be enough even for people without CFS but extremely out of shape. And that is more than the Navajo Loop that I did not finish last September because I didn't want to get sick while travelling. If I make it at a decent pace, I could claim that the crash threshold is entirely removed while travelling. I'll have to continue to travel 4 more days afterward though, and taper down. If I quit travelling right after the hike, the inflammation will be high enough to trigger the crash or worse.

Finally, I'm making a slow progress in analyzing my trip data. I got tripped up on last year's February data when my Fitbit went kaput. It took me 2 weeks to replace it, so there is a hole in the tracking data. I spent a couple of days to figure out the best way to deal with it and settled with filling it with NA. That done, I'll resume the data analysis tomorrow.