Saturday, July 02, 2016

Messin Around

Yesterday afternoon, at the end of my normal work day, I had a decision to make.  I could either ride to the bike shop and fight for space to attempt to build bikes while hordes of customers came in dropping off more bikes in the back of the shop, or I could just go on a ride.  It was nice out - 80° with a little Southish breeze and not much humidity.  I figured it would probably do me and my soft belly some good to actually go out on a ride for a change.

The other thing that convinced me to take a ride was reminiscing on the past.  There was an earlier conversation with a co-worker who lamented that there were no more true bakeries left in town who made their own stuff on site.  My mind immediately flipped to Orsi's Bakery on 7th and Pacific.  That bakery was one of many memorable sights on my commonly used South O/Bellevue bike route I would ride for training during my race days.  After letting him know about the bakery and finding that it was still open from the google maps, I decided that was course I would ride after work.  The route has a few variations depending on if you want to just mess around, put in some distance, or do seriously intense training intervals.  The route has everything you could want and not much traffic. So I took the middle ground easy route and ended up with 27 miles mostly riding too fast because I didn't have sun screen on and didn't have water bottles.  I know, I know.  It doesn't make sense to ride faster when you have no water because you're body will crave water more.  Well, my thought was get the ride over with sooner to get to the water rather than drag it out.  Plus I was having a lot of fun and that usually entails riding fast.  I was parched and only slightly sun burnt after the ride, but I had a ton of fun, so I think I made the right call.

I stole Brady's subject line because I remember needing to switch things up too.  (Warning: obligatory Randell mention) After getting tired of that South O/Bellevue route for the millionth time, and coinciding with Randell moving out West, our mini-group rides changed drastically.  This was about the time that we were both done with racing, but still wanted to stay in shape by having fun, messin around on bikes.  So our group rides turned into games, rather than anything remotely serious or constructive training wise.  I don't remember if we officially came up with a name for the game, but basically, the rules are this:

1. no big chain ring
2. cruise around aimlessly as a group in a subdivision
3. if you see a "for sale" sign in front of a house in the distance, there is a small ring only sprint for it
4. if you win the sprint, you pick up the flyer for the house
5. the person with the most expensive house wins, with an honorable mention also going to the cheapest nicest house.

There were tactics to this game because we would pretty much sprint to every house for sale.  If you saw that the house was not worth it, you could sprint less hard.  If you saw that there was no flyer, you sprint less hard and hoped the next one had a flyer.  Of course, when I say sprint, I mean the goofiest sprint imaginable since only small chainrings were allowed.  But hey, it helped with high cadence pedaling.

So I would highly recommend this game as a form of messin around while still getting some beneficial exercise on the bike.

Friday, June 03, 2016

Yearly update, or "Holy Crapsauce! Munson Posted Something!"

I visit this blog nearly everyday because it has a list of other blogs which updates when new postings have been, uh, posted.  I like to read race reports, funny stories (Hi Fred!) and updates on pain and misery (Hi Bryan!).

In the time that it takes to read a few posts, I could probably post something myself.  But that would require something new and exciting to write about.  The only thing new and exciting for me is my strawberry patch, which came with the house, is producing a bowl of deliciousness each day now.  So if anyone wants strawberries, let me know.

I guess a couple other somewhat eventful things have happened.  We bought a newish car.  Our trusty 2005 CRV became not so trusty any more.  After there was an $800 fix needed to keep it going, we decided to trade it in and downsize to a 2013 Honda Fit.  It's a nice teal/blue color that gets a lot of compliments.  I'd like to say our monthly gas bill dramatically improved, but so has everyone else's.  Didn't think we'd ever see >$2 gas again after 2008.  It was nice while it lasted, but $2.20's not bad either.  

Another interesting event was our dishwasher broke.  It also came with the house and was probably made in the 90's being that it played Ace of Base after every load.  JUST KIDDING.  That would be the worst thing ever.  Well no. Playing Nickelback after every load would be the worst thing ever.  So anywho, I learned how to replace a dishwasher by watching the youtubes and reading books and websites and stuff.  It was a weekend project and I've found out, within that process, that our entire house is wired very weirdly and the circuit breaker's labels are almost all wrong.  So that will take another weekend of work sometime down the line.

So remember how I quit racing because I was in a deep well of debt?  Yeah.  It's coming along, but definitely at a snail's pace.  My wife should be getting into a full time job soon now that her schooling is very nearly over.  So that will help immensely.  Planning for that, I've already told all the leaders in Nebraska Cycling Association that I will not be back to do chip timing next year.  I want my damn weekends back.  But this means 2 things.  One, someone will need to take on this task.  So to all my 2-3 (4?) readers; if you know anyone that wants to make some extra dough while watching races, let me know so we can start training them.  Secondly, I don't know if I'll see any races after this year.  That makes me kinda sad, but like I said, I want to be able to go on bike rides, bike camping, hang out with my wife, or do anything besides work.  And I could always visit the races, just as a spectator.

I guess I could train my butt off from now till next season and possibly get in Cat 3 shape to race again.  I'd love to use the excuse, "I'm too old for that," but most of the Omaha peloton put's that notion to shame (Hi Fred, Brady, Mark, Shim, Kent, etc).  What I have found is that as time has crept by, the wear and tear on my body has made things harder.  Past injuries like my wrist and getting hit by a car, plus overuse from years of playing the bass and bike building all make my joints, muscles, and tendons ache.  I know, I know.  More excuses.  I could just as easily buckle down, commit to a training regiment that included weight lifting and stretching, which would be a huge benefit.  I'm just so tired all the time.  Or is it laziness?  Is that a thing that comes with age?