*Sigh*

This weekend......

Trainer time....

Unless you got skis, snowshoes, mountainbikes with huge tires, or just want to go sledding, the only road bike activity is going to happen indoors.

Bryan mentioned to me that he's heading to Bike Masters on Saturday to put in some time at their morning trainer session.  My plan is to head over to Jon Randells place, guts through an hour or so on the trainer, then have fun playing Xbox.  hurrah.  The same will probably also happen on Sunday, with the addition of Bryan.  Let me know in the comments if anyone wants to join us this weekend.  Trainer, Xbox, or otherwise.

Didn't have to twist my arm much.

Originally, my big bro and I were planning on meeting at the parents house after work to wrap presents and have a family dinner.  Well then the snow happened.  I was back and forth about whether I wanted to ride home at 3:30pm then drive to the parents house.  Well both my dad and my brother convinced me to catch a ride home with my dad in his truck and wait to do the family thing another (safer travel) night.  

On the ride, watching how some people drove confirmed that it was probably a wise decision.  Every year, we all have to re-learn how to drive in the snow.  Some remember better/faster than others.  If you were brave enough to face the crazy drivers out there for the trip home by bike, then you have earned my respect and admirition.  I'd like to be that fearless some day.

Fingers slammed in a car door.

That's what my index and pinky finger on my right hand only feel like after riding to work.  Everything else is just fine, but my index and pinky finger.  I was even sweaty by the time I got there.  Good cycling clothes are amazing.

About halfway there, I realized I couldn't feel my pinky on my right hand, and shifting was getting really difficult.  I had my bike in the house overnight, so I'm thinking the warmth to freeze factor might have caused some icing of parts.  Any shift I did took quite a bit of force.  I think this is what caused my index finger to get angry.  Cause after getting inside, it hurt like crazy.

But I made it anyway.  I actually would have taken the bus, but I didn't have any money.  I should have had money, but my change jar had been raided by Michelle. *scowls*  So I need to build that back up for the next time when it's probably wiser to travel protected from the elements.

And the Forecast Sayssss.....

More wind.

Saturday, high of 40, cloudy, 20mph South winds.  

Sunday, temp of 30 in the morning, down to 10 degrees by the afternoon, which means an evil cold front brung in by lots of blustery North wind.  I think this would be a good trainer day.

Oh wait!  That crazy 6/12 hour trainer thing is this weekend at Bike Masters right?  Bryan, are you hitting the trainer all weekend?  

Anyone else have any ride ideas?  I'm up for whatever.

I forgot, did Spence ride with us?

Ok, my legs hurt as if I just went on a Spence Pain Train ride.  Seriously, I have the angry legs.  I think the main reason is this was my 3rd crazy windy cold ride in a row.  Thursday was my failed attempt to ride in 25 degree, 20+ mph wind weather.  It was still an hour of way-too-cold at any rate.  Then yesterday, I got off work at 3:30 and decided to do my usual Southern loop down Bellevue Blvd to Old Towne Bellevue, then decide whether I wanted to loop all the way around Offutt on the trail, or just take 370 straight to 25th and the trail.  It was already getting dim when I hit Old Towne and I forgot to wear my booties, so my toes were already frozen pretty good.  I headed straight home instead of adding an extra 10 miles or so.  I'm very glad I did since the wind had decided to shift more to the West by that point.  This meant that even though I had been going into the wind most of the ride, at the "turn around" I was still going into the wind.  I didn't get a real tailwind till about Harrison St which is all of 5 miles away from my house.  So that sucked.

Today the plan was to meet with a few gents at Crane about 11:40, then catch Bryan by his place, then figure out a route.  At Crane was Brady and the Big Puma(aka Brandon Fenster).  We didn't know, but Shim caught up to us after TTing for about an hour from his house in Bellevue.  He was pretty pooped when he caught us, but he obliged whenever Brady was feeling his Steel Cut Oats.  Brady, I love ya, but man your cruising speed is too much sometimes.  I think I went into this ride not wanting to really do it, so the speed and pain of the blustery cold wind didn't help my attitude.  I gutsed through it with being dropped only 5 or 6 times.  Now I'm ready to move to someplace that has no wind.

I'm just fine with cold cold temps.  It's the 15-20mph winds which just beats down on my enjoyment of riding.   Anyway, we headed North for a while, Brady and Shim had things to do, so they turned around early (man, I wish I would've joined you guys).  Bryan, Puma and I headed more North to almost hwy 30.  

A weird thing, turning around really didn't help much.  Sure it was not as hard to pedal, but all the sweat I was accumulating started to freeze really bad.  I got COLD.  Plus, I was running on fumes.  I ate a couple bars, so that helped, but still, every hill just took it out of me.

On a positive note, I rode 50 some miles, so I added another dollar to my Plus 3 Network charity deal.  Tomorrow, I think we're riding trainers and there's no money for riding my bike no where.  Oh well.  At least it won't be windy.  Sheesh, with all my complaining, I don't think I could be considered a Flahute.  I would beg for more if I really was one.  Oh well.  I think I can live with that.

Late post for Saturday Plans!!

Brady and Joe(and whoever else wants to join us for a 3 hour easy ride), meet me at the 78th st Crane coffee shop by 11:40am.  From there, we head out to meet Bryan at 120th and Fort by about 12:15.

The route we pick will drop Brady off near his house by 2:30pm or so.  That route has yet to be determined.  See you guys mid day so we can sure as shikahkah roll on Shabbos.

Ouch, that was a bad idea.

I brought to work Brady's lobster gloves that I so thankfully borrowed from him on this last weekends Flahute ride.  I had a great plan to make a big loop up North and hit his house on the way home so I could deliver his gloves to him.  Well, things didn't go as planned.  I made my way toward the airport and it just got worse and worse as I started to turn directly into the wind.  So I followed my childhood hero's advice.

My nose told me, "Turn around now, or you're going to lose me!"  So, I turned around right at the last downtown exit.  I then snaked through town to get to Brady's abode and dropped his gloves off in his mailbox.  On my return trip home, I passed MOD on his sweet Fisher Simple City.  His studded tires made a sound like he was riding on gravel.  Come to think of it, he looked a lot like this fellow:

So anyway, I got home and man was I cold.  I didn't dress right for the 20 degrees and wind weather.  Oh well.  It's nice and toasty inside so that's where I'm stayin!

Well, at least it won't be raining.

So this weekend looks pretty wintery, weather wise.  Snow is possible for Sunday, but Saturday just looks cloudy.  I know it won't be a barrel of laughs, but does anyone want to head out for 2-5 hours either day?  Post a comment if you have a plan.  Cause I don't have a riding problem.  I'm just a social rider.

Yay MAT bus!

Being that I heard some sliding tires behind me on my Tuesday morning bike commute and there was no precipitation, I figured I'd let the dumb drivers get into fender benders with vehicles that have fenders, not a rear wheel.   So I went all Brady like and took the MAT bus.

Here's some stats for Brady:

I took the first #55, but I have no idea what kind of bus it was.  I'm not as OCD as Brady.  

~32 blocks of travel

Picked up 8 people besides me and another guy who got on when I did.

That's one person per 4 blocks!!  Or about 3 people per mile!

5 people besides me got off at UNMC.

And that's all I got.  I don't think there was a bike rack on the front of the bus, but I don't think I could get all my bike stuff together, then not ride.  It would feel really weird.  Although, that would have been a better plan than how I rolled yesterday.  It was 22 in the morning, so I had 3 layers up top and lots of extras to keep warm.  Then, when I got out at 3:30, it was fricken 50 degrees.  So all my layers had to be either crammed into the handlebar bag, or worn.  I got plenty warm on my ride.  But it was a nice change from last Saturday's ride.

On the ride, which was down the Keystone then over to HighGear and back, I did some one-legged drills.  Those are TOUGH!!  But I can tell it's a good thing.  It worked my core and my leg muscles.  So this month, I think I'm going to do a couple of those sessions a week, do some weight lifting/core workouts, and whatever longer rides I can fit in.  Then next month, I might try to do some intervals just so I can keep up with Bryan next summer.  Having people refer to me as a cat 2, then promptly getting dropped....often...does not sit well with me.  I'm not planning on racing since I can't afford it, but I'd like to help people suffer on their group rides.  You know, cause that's what friends are for, to help you suffer.