Okay, so I didn’t make it to 150 this week, but I did get out for that easy spin around town this afternoon-evening which felt great and actually turned into more than anticipated – 37 – I guess I’m feeling better – 147 for the week - got home just as it was getting too dark (no lights).
On a somewhat unrelated note, I’m pretty sure I saw Floyd Landis driving around in a blue compact car. Maybe he was in town to promote his book. He seemed a little bit jealous that I was out riding and he was stuck in a car.
Sunday, June 29, 2008
brown and white
White flowering buckwheat all over the hillsides of Brown mountain – more flowers than any bee could dream of. Went up there on another hot sunny Friday afternoon-evening ride. Very quiet up there.
This week’s bike miles were adding up pretty quickly. I thought I might be able to make it to 150 for the week, which is rare for me, but then I got that bug that’s going around and that pretty much killed my weekend. Hoping for an easy spin around town later today…
This week’s bike miles were adding up pretty quickly. I thought I might be able to make it to 150 for the week, which is rare for me, but then I got that bug that’s going around and that pretty much killed my weekend. Hoping for an easy spin around town later today…
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
First run in two weeks!
I guess I was taking a break, although it wasn’t really intentional. Finally got out this morning for a short easy town run. Felt great. Squishy shoes and socks and a full set of clean clothes made me feel like one of those normal people that go out jogging. I probably did need the rest after doing a lot of mountain running in preparation for the Mount Wilson run. Rest is important even though it’s hard to remember to get it sometimes – especially when not really training for anything in particular – just running and riding and running and riding with no particular plan – so, glad I got a break. My form/stride/gait seemed to hold up nicely throughout the time off.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
listening in
Well, I haven’t yet figured out what the difference is between the Tour Divide Race and the Great Divide Race, but I don’t really care. They’re both totally awesome and inspiring. I just listened to the audio call-ins from the riders and they’re great. If they don’t make you want to ride a mountain bike…
Monday, June 23, 2008
raising the bar
the post, actually - the seat post – I keep raising and raising – I don’t know what the deal is – pretty soon I’m going to need to grow longer legs if I keep this up – at any rate it feels good for the moment to be so high up there – something different anyway – Dan the Man and I did some hill riding this evening – it’s really cooling off now – about 80 by 7pm – perfect evening riding weather – it felt great bombing down the hills – I can’t explain it but the higher seat makes me feel more comfortable on the descents – something about geometry I guess…
Sunday, June 22, 2008
another forty
Back to miles again and back to the Rose Bowl Loop. Last week I estimated this ride at 39 miles so I guess I was somehow able to correctly keep track of the number of laps I took. Today I had the little bike computer to think for me. It started cooling off a little earlier today. I think it was about 95ish when I started the ride at about 5pm. It’s always surprising that biking in hot weather can still be comfortable as long as you keep moving – gotta love the wind chill factor. Very few people were out this time, although more started showing up as the evening progressed and it cooled down a little more.
Peanut’s calorie calculator tells me I burned about 2000 calories on that ride. That seems too high to me, but maybe I should steal some of Hilary’s ice cream anyway…
Peanut’s calorie calculator tells me I burned about 2000 calories on that ride. That seems too high to me, but maybe I should steal some of Hilary’s ice cream anyway…
another hundred
Not miles this time – degrees, Fahrenheit – for about a week now – not much desire to move about in it...
Sunday, June 15, 2008
hundred-mile weekend
Mostly just rode, talked about, watched, fixed, and lived bikes this weekend. Fixed two flats with Dan the Man yesterday. Went up Brown mountain this morning - lots of people up there – surprising ‘cause it’s hot. Also watched the cycling coverage of the Dauphine Libere and Tour de Suisse this afternoon after adjusting the shifting on Totally 80’s, raised the seat on Mindful Mule and Missy Queen - is that what we’ve been calling her? I can’t even remember. Now, I’m thinking she might have been from Tennessee and not Mississippi so her name makes no sense. Whatever. Just keep riding… I don’t know why, but I keep raising my seats higher and higher. I wonder if this is common for people as they ride more? Whatever. Just keep riding…
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Friday evening loops
Went out for a fairly long ride on “totally eighties” last night. I wasn’t feeling too adventurous so I just headed up to the Rose Bowl and did loop after loop after loop. Some people think that this is a boring route to ride, but I think it’s rather nice. There’s almost always a lot of people out walking and running and riding, so the people watching potential alone keeps it interesting.
It’s also nice when you’re breaking in a new bike because you can just focus on the bike for miles and miles without having to worry too much about where to turn or cars or whatnot. “T80” presented me with several tuning and adjustment challenges during the ride. The rear wheel pulled out of the dropouts several times and the rear shifting was not quite smooth so I stopped occasionally to address these issues.
At about lap number five I called Hilary (yes, from the bike, is that illegal, I don’t know). She told me she was bringing home cookies! That powered me through several more laps. It’s always nice to have tasty treats waiting after a long ride. And the cookies went great with the last pale ale from the fridge. I pretty much passed out after that - goodnight!
It’s also nice when you’re breaking in a new bike because you can just focus on the bike for miles and miles without having to worry too much about where to turn or cars or whatnot. “T80” presented me with several tuning and adjustment challenges during the ride. The rear wheel pulled out of the dropouts several times and the rear shifting was not quite smooth so I stopped occasionally to address these issues.
At about lap number five I called Hilary (yes, from the bike, is that illegal, I don’t know). She told me she was bringing home cookies! That powered me through several more laps. It’s always nice to have tasty treats waiting after a long ride. And the cookies went great with the last pale ale from the fridge. I pretty much passed out after that - goodnight!
Thursday, June 12, 2008
123 read something
Tag, I’m it. A Midnight Rider has requested that I share a few lines from the book I’m currently reading. So I will. And then I’ll tag five other people and force them to do the same.
Three Cups of Tea
Mortenson, Relin
Page 123
Sentence 6-8
“He slipped me a big roll of rupees,” McCown says, “and asked me to act like a big boss from America. So I hammed it up. I walked around like a chief, paying everyone their wages, telling them they were doing a great job, and to really throw themselves into it, and finish as fast as they could.”
The book is a lot better than that paragraph might suggest, but rules are rules and I don’t want no bad luck…
Do You?
Shawn, Pulsipher, Tonya, Kessler, Mr. Forsan Et Haec…
p.s. – my rules are abbreviated, see A Midnight Rider for full details…
Three Cups of Tea
Mortenson, Relin
Page 123
Sentence 6-8
“He slipped me a big roll of rupees,” McCown says, “and asked me to act like a big boss from America. So I hammed it up. I walked around like a chief, paying everyone their wages, telling them they were doing a great job, and to really throw themselves into it, and finish as fast as they could.”
The book is a lot better than that paragraph might suggest, but rules are rules and I don’t want no bad luck…
Do You?
Shawn, Pulsipher, Tonya, Kessler, Mr. Forsan Et Haec…
p.s. – my rules are abbreviated, see A Midnight Rider for full details…
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Saturday, June 7, 2008
running news
The Mt Wilson trail race was rescheduled for this morning. 4.3 miles and 2000 vertical feet up and then straight back down the same trail all the while trying not to force the other runners of the steep slope just one misstep off the two foot wide trail. The trail was in really good shape after the fires and subsequent trail crew work. It was a nice sunny warm early morning. The best part of the trail is towards the top where it levels out a bit and gets some nice deep shade from big old trees.
My goals for this event were to A) to do better than last year, B) break 1 hour 30 minutes (1h 37m in 2007), C) finish in 1:24 (this was a late breaking goal when I found out this morning that my bib number was 124 – I thought it would be neat to have matching finish time and bib number).
I was really happy with my improvement over last year. I finished in about 1:27 – about 10% faster. Goal C will have to wait ‘til next year…
My goals for this event were to A) to do better than last year, B) break 1 hour 30 minutes (1h 37m in 2007), C) finish in 1:24 (this was a late breaking goal when I found out this morning that my bib number was 124 – I thought it would be neat to have matching finish time and bib number).
I was really happy with my improvement over last year. I finished in about 1:27 – about 10% faster. Goal C will have to wait ‘til next year…
bike news
I picked up a new road bike yesterday. Which means I need to think of a new name. I’m thinking maybe “totally eighties!” I don’t know the exact year of this bike yet – maybe I never will, but I believe it’s somewhere between ’85 and ’89. It has index shifting (I was surprised by this) on the down tube – for the cassette, anyway, not the front chain rings. She’s a little scratched up and could use a good set of tires, but all in all, not bad to look at – or ride.
Monday, June 2, 2008
drafting butterfly
On a warm, sunny day, about halfway up Brown mountain, Butterfly appeared, her wings mostly dark and brown with some yellow splashes. I followed her along awhile. She led the way just ahead of me, flapping her wings, creating a powerful slipstream that pulled me up the hill. Pedaling and flapping and floating and flying, we followed each other up, then crested and sped back down through all those familiar curves…
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