Laziness induced single speed

Two weekends ago we (uh, almost too many people to name - Rafal, Miles, Limpach, Shim, Larry, Ryan, Roxy, Jarrett, anyone else?) had a great gravel road adventure. Rafal and I got separated from the group at the end and forgot to turn in toward Shim's house. We just putzed home instead. I got home and both me and the bike were covered in gravel mud. I cleaned myself and my clothes, but went on to neglect my bike completely till this morning.

I had the week of Christmas off, did all my shopping and prepping then, so no riding happened. I took the bus yesterday in hopes that the major streets would get another good passover with the plows. This morning, I hopped on my bike and found that a week and a half of neglect is not a good thing for a bike. I tried shifting and nothing happened. The bike was stuck in it's easiest gear (34x23) so I wasn't going anywhere fast. I hopped off and messed with the derailleur until it moved a bit. I settled on a decent enough gear combo and called it good for the ride in. There were a couple spots that my 32C road tires did not like (or rather, I didn't like as the bike floated around beneath me), but I made it ok. I should have swapped out to my studded snow tire at least on the front, but again, the laziness struck....

I hope everyone had a fun Christmas and maybe got out of their house at some point. Our new CR-V has been amazing in this weather so I'm very happy with that choice. Of course I probably won't be saying that when the the first payment comes due.

It looks like the next week at least will be too cold for any melting to happen and the highs predicted for the weekend are only in the teens. Maybe we can get that trainer session going this weekend? Anyone? It's always easier to suffer with friends rather than alone.

Hibernation and Rest Week

So, this forecast looks conducive to some activities but riding a bicycle outside isn't that high on the list in my opinion, some of y'all have a different viewpoint as to what constitutes decent weather for outside riding, but the weekend highs combined with this purported snowfall lead me to think that the trainer will be the safest place to hide this weekend. So this weekend, you can find me in my basement watching the 2006 Tour, knocking out a power test, and possibly eating some Christmas cookies... its my rest week anyways so why not...

Munson hasn't posted this week, so I'm not entirely sure he made it back fr0m our gravel adventure last Sunday. In case he didn't make it back, I tried to pay a small homage to him in that extremely long run-on sentence above.

Anyways Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays to everyone. If anybody wants to suffer together maybe we can post up a trainer session somewhere.

Weekend plans and being all growed up.

I fail at friendship sometimes. Friends ask to get together, I agree, then sometimes don't make it. Case in point: Peter was in town from Texas. He drove here in 1 day. He probably almost died several times. We did hang out on Saturday and that was fun. He wanted to get together again during the week. I had some fiascoes and then money issues, both tied together, so I didn't make it happen. Probably the worst part is that I didn't let Peter know what was going on. I just flaked out. I don't really have a good excuse other than being all weirded out that the wife and I got a newish car.

Our 16 year old Honda Civic was rusting (not a big deal) had 175k miles on it (not that big of a deal, except...) and had one too many upcoming mechanical issues. It still ran great, got upper 20's mpg, but the tires kept going flat, an eminent $800 repair was coming, and getting around in the snow was ridiculous. So over last weekend we found a decently priced, mid-mileage Honda CR-V. I've heard great things about this small SUV and so far we've been really happy. The fiasco part was that the battery died 2 days after we got it. But Superior Honda, the place we purchased it from, did right by us and took care of it. They also took the old Civic off our hands too. So we're still a 1 car family, but this vehicle should serve us well for quite a while.

So back to being a horrible friend. Being that the buying a car thing is a new experience to me (we sort of inherited the Civic) I'm having a little bit of sticker shock. To most people, a car payment is almost as standard as paying taxes. We had yet to experience that. So with the down payment, and upcoming monthly payments, our budget has to be extra toight now. I had some fantasies about getting back into racing next season, but I'm just fine jumping in with some group rides and generally having fun on the bike. I'll be doing the bike building thing again next season, so I'll be working some 12 hour days a couple/few times a week. It'll suck, but getting out of debt and getting on with life is priority 1 right now.

So that was a long way for me to apologize to Peter for skipping out on him. Sorry good buddy. We'll hang out more when you come back in January(?). If your knee injury doesn't get better, we could just hang out with Jonny and do some Call of Duty nights. Good times.
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Weekend plans. Friday night you should decorate your bike and go here. Scott's got a cool setup that I may mimic if I get my act together tonight. I figure more lights on the commuter bike, the better anyway.

Saturday and/or Sunday: gravel? Road? MTB? Post your plans and we'll try to come to a consensus.

An Exercise (or lack thereof) in Futility

I've been on a bike 2 times in the last 7 days. That is not normal for me at all. I rode to work last Friday, which was fun, but the rest of the days I was either off work or took the bus. Took the bus today since there's a nice layer of ice under a fresh layer of snow. I would've had no issue getting into work on the bike, but I'm leery of drivers.

I guess you could say I'm becoming more cautious (and/or pessimistic) in my older age. I just don't trust motorists in this weather. I made it fine the last few winters, but for some reason, I feel like the bus is just as good, and much safer, than riding into work.

Mr. Miles and I attempted to ride Manawa on mountain bikes on Sunday. It was not happening. Apparently, snowmobiles don't pack down snow, they just glide over it. We tried but gave up after too much hike a bike. We opted for the paved trails around there. We went one way till the trail was plowed no more, then went the other way till the drifts were again impassable. We got maybe an hour in on the bikes. So that whole trip wasn't quite worth the effort, but it was fun to hang out with Mr. Miles anyway.

Speaking of having fun hanging out. Fred, his friend from highschool, Peter, and I ate some good burgers at 5 Guys Burgers. It was pretty good, but not outstanding. But talking with the guys was fun. Peter if you read this, we should hang out again on Tuesday evening. Let me know if you're free.

So anyway, it's December 14th, and I'm tired of snow already. Supposedly this is going to be an El Nino winter in which the beginning is rough then gets mild later. I sure hope so. I gots the spring fever now.

Studded snow tires

Aside from feeling guilty for being in the way of a few motorists and still feeling weak from my cold, the ride in this morning was great! Studded snow tires make it seem too easy. I look at the conditions on the ground as I easily roll over it and just chortle quietly to myself (cqtm instead of LOL?) .

Guess who's coming to eat burgers with me and Fred on Saturday!?!? Mr. Boyd himself. I guess he got tired of the tough weather conditions of Cali (or wherever he resides now) and wanted to feel "at home" in Nebraska. So that's happening at 1:30 if I can convince the other 2 hooligans to nail down a time. If you're out at 132nd and Dodge, we'll be eating at 5 Guys Burgers. Never been there, but I look forward to a good burger.

Mr. Miles and I are trying to plan a snow trail ride at Manawa. Anyone know if people have broken in the trails there yet? We might shoot for a Sunday ride just to let the first suckers...I mean...adventurers pack down the trail a little for us.

Please respond with confirmation of burger consumption or trail conditions.

Getting sick and strength

Have you ever noticed that right before and right after a cold you feel invincible? I have an annoying cold right now. Runny, alternating with stuffed up nose, slightly achy, a little on the dizzy/groggy side. Besides the nose, all of those symptoms could be from the riding this weekend.

On Saturday, Mod, Mr. Miles, and I journeyed down the Keystone all the way to the end at Hayworth park and back. About 2.5 hrs with 4-ish big gear workouts mixed in. I MISS BIG GEAR WORKOUTS!! It's been at least a year and I forgot how much I loved getting into the 53x12 and just grinding it out for 10 minutes. I was feeling rather spunky, so I tended to get ahead of Mod and Mr. Miles. Whoops. At least I'm feeling better after my flat pedal fiasco of 2 weekends ago.

I was sore the next morning, of course, but it was mostly in my neck and back(?) I'm not sure if this was my lymph nodes going into overtime to fight off the oncoming cold, but it was nice to think that I could muscle some big gears and not hurt much afterward.

Then on Sunday, Mr. Miles and I visited Swanson before the snow fell. It wasn't that cold when we went at 1pm and the trail was in primo condition. I had my singlespeed, so after a good couple lap warmup, I hit it kinda hard. Mike was having a bad lap, with some bonking, so again, I was off the front. Our final lap, Mike was right on my tail and feeling better as I was pretty much done. 3-ish laps is all I could usually muster at Swanson anyway. My core and legs just can't last for that long. That would be a good thing to work on this winter though.

So after 2 really strong days on the bike, I'm left now with a cold and really crappy weather. I guess it all works out.

What's the time?

No, it's not time to get ill. It's all about the 1 pm.

Saturday - road ride - meet at Scooters on 63rd and Center at 1pm. 2.5 hrs with some big gear workouts. Good times.

Sunday - 1pm meet at Swanson for some dirty fun.

Sorry to the guys who have earlier plans. It's all about the 1pm (and the temps the go with....).

Weekend 12/5-12/6

So Finally its starting to feel a bit like winter. I may get blasted for saying this but I really am glad to finally see a few flakes on flying and everything else that goes along with it. I hate the cold but I like being a good stimulator of the economy and that is heavily predicated on cold, so I'll wear another layer (or sit in my basement) and continue to pedal.

This weekend looks cool but not awful, so lets get out there, eh?

Saturday: Road ride around Noontime in order for anyone? 2-3 hours
Sunday: MTB Ride... someone want to chime in with a location?

Futuristic bike.

This bike looks amazing and the handlebar/lock idea is ingenious, but changing a flat would be interesting.

Wytze's graduation project for Cannondale from Eelke D. on Vimeo.

Going flashy.

Well my blog isn't going flashy. It's going wide and simple. I imagine there's going to be many more videos in 16x9 format in the future and I'm tired of having to size them down. So, in short, get used to this format.

But, if you wanted to go flashy, you could go here on this date. Since I'm too lazy to change my lettering into different colors and sizes and such, I'll try a cut and paste to see if it works:

Bike Omaha is inviting You, to the first annual Bike De'lights ride.

Who: You and your family on bikes

What: A 13-mile social ride (distance is approximate)

When: Friday, December, 11th at 7:00pm (bad weather reschedule date Dec. 18th)

Where: Ride starts at Midtown Crossing Marcus Theatre at 3201 Farnam St (Meet Inside)

Why: To spend time with friends enjoying the lights and activity of downtown Omaha

We have made the following updates. We will keep this post updated if we make any additional changes.

Update 1: The updated route (see below) is approximately 13 miles. Let us know if you think that is too long for any of the riders you would like to have join us. We are still fine-tuning the route and we can adjust a few things to bring the distance back down if we need to.

Update 2: A route map was added to replace the scarry list of turns. Riders will not need to memorize the route unless they plan to go off on their own and meet up with us at one of the stops. We will have people leading the ride and keeping the group together.

The Bike De'lights ride will be family friendly and we will all be riding together at a casual/conversational pace. We will be making stops along the way to warm up and relax. Children are welcome and encouraged to participate. The ride will take 2 or 3 hours depending on how long we stay at each stop. Bike De'lights will be a social ride, so we will not be in a hurry.

Participants are encouraged to wear WARM & casual street clothes. You should dress like you would for walking around downtown in December. There will be several chances to get off the bike, go inside, and warm up. However, you should dress warm and bring extra layers in case it's colder than you expect. Participants should also ride with lights on their bikes if at all possible. Plus, we can be a rolling holiday lights show at the same time.

Meet inside the Marcus Theaters Lounge to start.

My epic failure ride.

A cycling career is a series of experiments. Some things work and some things don't. After many saddles I found the one that works with my bum is a Silverado by WTB. There's others out there I'd like to try, but I don't have the money to test saddles.

One experiment I've been trying recently is riding in plain clothes. Or rather, not lycra and such. It's worked out perfect on my short jaunt to work and on some half hour to hour rides. I've even gone so far as to put flat pedals on my commuter and wear my comfy shoes. No more clackity clackity walking into work.

So this particular experiment went too far on today's ride. The plan was to meet at Ryan F's house, ride to the Wabash trailhead, take that down to Malvern, then ride home. I hadn't really thought it out, but that was going to equal about 75 miles or so. Ryan said it would be a nice mellow ride. So I figured, what the hey. I'll go in near plain clothes, flat pedals, and comfy shoes. Maybe I'll discover that my cold feet issues can be solved this way (that issue is a whole post unto itself).

I met Ryan, we get going, and I feel pretty good. It was mid 30s at the start with a brisk Northish wind, so it was at our backs or sides most of the way. Well after an hour, my toes did their normal winter going numb thing. The only way I can avoid that is to use those chemical toe warmer deals. I got some hints from Ryan and Mr. Bixby that I may try on future long rides.

After we met up with Martin and Tom at the Wabash trailhead, we headed South west with a nice tailwind. After a couple miles, Tom all of a sudden realized that he didn't have his cycling glasses on to protect his contact covered eyes from cold wind and trail debris. He said we could keep going and he'd catch up after going back to the car, but I figured I'd offer my cycling glasses as I had my regular glasses to use. So that worked out fine. We kept right on trucking.

As we kept going Ryan and I would creep off the front sometimes as we were both feeling pretty good. I had forgotten how far Malvern was, though. It's 22 miles down the trail. We left the trailhead at 9:10 and pulled into the C and A cafe at 10:35, just in time to miss breakfast. DOH!! So that was another failure. Martin had wanted to leave the trailhead by 8am, but that would have meant Ryan and I leaving mid-town when it was barely light at 7am and colder still.

Anywho, we ate some great food and Ryan, being the lightest dressed of all of us, decided he needed to get going pretty fast on the return trip to warm up. I felt like going hard too so I went with him. This meant we bid farewell to Tom and Martin at Malvern. This is also the first apology I'm announcing publicly to Tom because I sorta needed my sunglasses back as I didn't see a way for us to cross paths again soon before I'd need to use them. So he had to ride all the way back into a 20ish mph headwind with no eye protection. Tom, I'm very sorry for not thinking that through. I owe you a beer or a beverage of your choice.

Ryan and I got going pretty darn fast. Too fast for my stomach and tired quads to handle. See, when you ride flat pedals, pretty much the only part of your pedal rotation getting any power is the down stroke. I've heard from various places that you don't really pull up on the backside of your stroke as much as you unweight your non power phase. This proved wrong in my case. So after a while of hammering into the wind, uphill, with no blood in my legs due to the digestion of food, I had to back it off. From there on, it was a steady decline into the worst thing a cyclist can do to end a ride - call for an early pick up. Yup, that is the 2nd and consequently 3rd apologies I owe. Ryan, I'm so sorry to turn what could have been a great epic ride into a horrible epic failure by having you call your dad to pick us up at the Wabash Trailhead. And Doug (Ryan's dad) I'm sorry we had you drive over to come pick us up. It was pretty much my complaining (and snail like pace) that led Ryan to call you.

So that's pretty much it. NEVER EVER EVER go for a ride over an hour on flat pedals. Especially if food is involved that will take away the blood you will need to keep your quad only pedal strokes going.

I think I'm going to take a nap now.

Here's an oldie but goodie

Unfortunately this holds true for some cyclists on paved trails too. There's just a mentality of, "I'm going faster and am more important, so get out my way," that happens among some.

Treat others as I'd like to be treated is my rule.

By the way, anyone have any riding plans this weekend? Post em if ya got em!

Anyone not going to Lincoln this weekend?

The Lincoln Cyclocross races are this weekend. If you're fit, go race them. If you want entertainment, go watch them. I think this may be my first year of not attending them. After sucking at racing them (even at my fastest) I would either volunteer, officiate, or just show up to the Lincoln races. Hooligan hill is a good time. Lots of shenanigans going on there. I am not proud to say that I've snatched taped dollar bills from the crotcheral regions of spectators/donators in past races. But after being lapped a few times by the leaders, I didn't care anymore.

So, if you aren't going to join the festivities in Lincoln and want to put in some road/gravel/whatever miles, let me know.

It was fun, is the ride report.

So after failing to read my blog Sunday morning, (sorry bout that Jim and Mark) a group of 6 peeps met up at Scooters for some adventurous times. That's the largest we've had in a while. Which was good since the biting North wind was not fun to battle against.

We headed over the Bob bridge just like last week and instead of hitting the Wabash right away, we took Mark's suggested Woodbine Drive route. This was after Bryan and Jim both had to head home. So then there was 4.

Woodbine Drive was an amazing hill. According to Google, it's a mile and a half climb - a nice steady grinder. I predict future visits to the bluffs. Too bad you usually have to ride along busy roads to get to some of these climbs.

Anywho, the route Mark picked dropped us off right by Dumfries on the Wabash, then we headed around Council Bluffs to ride the Northeast wind home. It was only a total of 47 miles, but with the climbing, it seemed like more. Plus my feet were pretty much frozen blocks of ice by the end. That part was also not so fun.

Thuper Thunday

Scooters at 63rd and Center is the meeting place.

1pm is the meeting time.

3 hours is the ride time (roughly)

Mellow to moderate is the pace.

I will be there is the correct response.

Weekend?

So anybody got anything on tap for the weekend (other than Cranksgiving)?

For Saturday:
Here
For Sunday:
Post up, we'll get something going... weather's going to be iffy so maybe a good day for some gravel?

One hundred and eleventy

After uploading my many commutes and few group rides since I bought the Garmin Edge 205, I have raised $111 for the Rails to Trails Concervancy on behalf of Trek. All possible through the Plus 3 Network website. They have really streamlined the uploading process to make it easier and since I commute to work everyday, I have a lot of files to upload. I wait till my Garmin is low on battery and recharge it through the PC's USB line after inputting all my data.

I got used to this after training for racing. Back then, I had the Polar 725 connected to it's power sensor dealy. The software that comes with Polar is awesome and I sometimes wish I still had the power data. It probably wasn't very accurate, but at least it let me know when I was really on the rivet. I remember ramping it up to around 320 watts for time trials and loving the burn for an hour. But not much more. Ah, those were the days. To be in shape again...

Eleven Eight O Nine

Sunday Ride Details are below... I may or may not be in attendance but I'll be there in spirit at the very least (which means I'll be sleeping in if I don't show)
Place: Scooters @ 120th and Blondo Street
Time: 9 AM Central Standard Time
Duration: 3 Hours
Pace: In the words of one confirmed participant "steady" so I'd say not super easy but its pretty well assured nobody will get dropped.

That is all.

Update on Weekend rides.

Mr. Miles, Randell and I are leaving from my place at 8am to meet up with the Rafal group down at Scooters by 8:30. We'll then ride with them (unless they take off without us) and take the Wabash as far as time will allow. We will probably not do the gravel road route that Rafal has planned.

So that's Saturday. Anyone got plans for Sunday? Post em if ya got em!

Wabash Saturday... 11/7/2009

I am taking the cross bike out on the Wabash Saturday, but you can probably do it on the road bike without a problem. Pace should be pretty relaxed (175-200W with no surges over 250W) for me so I can't think anybody will get dropped. If you want to go faster I'll probably Venga, Venga, Venga but I will let you ride me off your wheel and I will not care. Strictly headed out there for base miles as its that time of the year.

Time: 9AM
Place: Council Bluffs Wabash Trailhead
Duration: 3ish hours of riding