Another big mileage weekend, sortof.

Jonny and I did the Great Plains Bicycle Club Spring Fling Metric Century on Saturday. First we asserted our authority for the first 15 miles and just rode off the front from Louisville to get to the first Sag station in Plattesmouth. After that we had a few headwind sections, so we got together with some strong guys and just rotated at a nice easy pace. The pace was a little too much for a couple of the guys so by the end of the bad headwind sections, at about mile 55, it was down to Jonny, me, and one other guy. At that point, the metric Century route headed back to Louisville. The 24 mile route took this same road, but then went West. (Hard to explain) Anyway, we added most of the 24 mile route and tacked on an extra 13 miles or so to our metric century by heading out to good ol' Murdock, up around South Bend, across the river onto hwy 31, then back to Louisville. They had hotdogs n Brats waiting at the end that were quite scrumptious. So that was 4 hours to do 73-ish miles. Good times.

Then Sunday, it was reality check time. I got a text from Ryan F saying that he, Roxy, Kev, and Shim were going out on a 3-4 hour ride. Now I knew they would go hard since Kevin is as strong as an ox and his long ride days are a little too quickish (by about 5 mph) for my current fitness level. Well little did I know that the fury was about to be brought. On the ride were: Ryan and Roxy, Jeff Bergan(sp?), Kevin, Shim, Jay Chesterman (of Iowa mtb fame), Jim (last name escapes me), Kent, Stephen Jarrett, and me. If you know those names, you know that they are all pretty much MTB specialists. Well apparently, all of them had some steam to blow off since the race down in Kansas got post-poned on them at the last minute. I told myself I was only going to ride with them for a little while since I was super sore after my 4 hr ride the previous day. We took the usual Wed night Trek store ride route which entails going North on the trail, bipping over to Irvington road, out to hwy 36, over to 72nd and the Omaha Trace, Ft. Calhoun, Boyers Chute, then South home some way. The "go fast" parts are always Irvington road up a long grinder hill, Omaha Trace, and the route between Ft. Calhoun and Hummel Park. I was at the front for the Irvington road hill, but then away they went, and I was off the back. We all regrouped to start the next fast section, Omaha Trace. Well we were on it for quite a while and the speed was mellow. I thought this was great and decided I could actually eat some food to keep the fire going. Well mid-bar, with a mouth full of food, the hammer dropped. And off the back I was again. This time I all but sat up and almost turned around. But I figured I was only a few miles from Ft. Calhoun and it would be easier with the group riding a tailwind. This assumption was wrong. After the Ft. Calhoun regrouping, the pace picked up on the flat roads by Boyers Chute. Now what was frustrating about this, and I don't mean to knock all the mtbers I was with, the group did not work well together at all. And I don't want to name names (Shim) but drafting confidently was hard since there were some squirrels among us. Anyway, once the big hills hit, the group split in 2: the guys who were in TT mode to get home on time, and the rest of us who were taking it easy. We rode home at a very mellow pace, but my legs were super hurty. This is the kind of achiness you're supposed to have in the winter when putting in mega mile days for the off-season. But alas, I'm doing my base training in April/May. Hopefully I'll reap the benefits in the late season. I guess we'll see.

Congrats to Bryan for fairing very well at his first out of state cat 4 race - the Iowa City race weekend. He is picking things up and getting stronger with every race, so that's good. Teammate Ryan Legg also did that race and got a 10th place money spot in the RR which is amazing considering the distance, competition, and weather conditions. He had a pack finish for the crit, but has grown a fire in his belly for racing since he knows now he is fit enough to be with the strongest guys. Ryan, you are one fast mofo, give em hell. Kevin, Noah (Kevin's son), and Troy were down in Kansas doing the Velotek Grand Prix. Kevin did very well getting on the podium with Brian Jensen. *(little disclaimer that there was a field of 5 cat 1/2s). This race has been, for the last few years at least, been run without a cat 1/2 field, strictly cat 3/4/5s, Masters, womens, and juniors. I believe it was run this way so cat 3s and Masters could actually get large payouts. This is kind of a good idea since those fields bring in the most people, but I'm sure it alienated a lot of cat 1/2s. So that plus the cost of traveling is my guess as to why the field was so small. Congrats guys, on having a fun successful weekend.

So that was just a brief summary of my weekend, how was yours?

The Cold has now subsided.

Well now that it's not dipping down to the 20s for overnight lows and I'm working the late shift, I've been actually riding a bunch. I've ridden 4 of the last 5 days. Saturday was a 3.5 hour jaunt with some teammates. Needless to say, it got kinda quick in places. That was mid-day so when 7am ride time on Sunday showed up, I was not at all recovered. I hurt from the very first pedal stroke and was happy with just doing 3.5 hours. The compatriots on this newly revived Shabbos + 1 ride were: Bryan, Brady, and Joe S. Everyone was a little tired, except for Brady. He's posted some news on his blog regarding his repositioning and knee issues. I dunno. I think he must have installed a bionic knee, and maybe a side order of whale lungs, because he put the hurt on all of us during some climbs. So that was a great hard weekend.

I took Monday easy with just the commute to/from work. Then Tuesday and today I hit the trails at Swanson for some single speed leg blasting workouts. I got in 3 laps in before work Tuesday, one with Mod. He was taking it easy on his full squish 29er Fisher with gears. Just like always, any technical section we hit and BAM, he's gone. I just can't rip the corners or ride as smooth as the true mountain bike brethren. Maybe someday I'll get it. Today, I slept in and was only able to get 2 laps in. I was just fine with that as I'm going to need a couple days recovery after all these miles on road and bumps off road.

It has been perfect weather recently. Riding to/from work, I've just been wearing everyday shorts and a t-shirt. I just pedal easily and I don't sweat. I'd love to look like an average joe who decided $3.50 a gallon is not worth it and is quietly protesting the use of cars with every ride. In plain clothes, I don't seem to get yelled at by many disgruntled drivers compared to when I'm riding in tight cycling clothing. Kinda weird. I'd love to find a t-shirt that had a pic of a gas pump with a red circle/cross through it to wear while I'm riding. If I could get just one person to try bike commuting, I'd be thrilled.


Oh yeah! This weekends plans. There's a Great Plains Spring Fling metric Century (near bottom of page) that leaves Louisville at 9am on Saturday. I'm planning on it, and I know Jonny Randell's in too. Brady mentioned he might crash the party also. I know the Iowa City races are the destination for most of the racing peeps out there. I do love those races, but man, I'm out of shape and broke. Maybe next year. So that also means Sunday is up in the air. We'll see what happens.

Hope everyone's enjoying the weather!

What's that you say?

Shabbos +1 is back??? From it's original starting location?

That's right my cycling brethren. The coffee shop formally known as Caribou has a new name. I don't know what that name is, even though I've been by it a dozen times or so. But this Sunday, at 7am, the brainchild of one Peter B (only in attendance once and now in California) and Mr. Mitmoned himself (as once seen in cycling sandals and rumored to do so again) will sure as Sheldon, roll on Shabbos.....+1.

Wouldn't it be great if Fred showed up in his wool jersey, ready to sweat out some last apprehensions before his final finals? And wouldn't it be great if Brady showed up with flags hanging off the back of Old Yeller so they can slow down his blazing fast speed since fixing his knee issues?(congratulations on that again, by the way)

Come one, come all to the event of a lifetime(or rather since it got really, really cold).

Meeting time: 7am
Meeting Place: The coffee shop formally known as Caribou (72nd-ish and Pacific)
Ride type: Friendly social ride with speeds averaging in the upper teens.
Distance/time: we'll figure it out based on who shows up and time constraints.

There'll be fun, laughs, and hopefully more than 2 people!! Hope to see you ALL there!!

Knowing both roles.

I've been the biker and the driver. Both actors portray their roles quite well.

This is just mean!!

Ya I gotta ride em! But I can't afford em!!

Lightweight wheels sweet!

You're Welcom Fred, and updates.

Fred, congratulations on the completion of a significant life milestone. Would you say, the later you get that diploma, the more you appreciate it? If so, you must really love it. Sorry, had to go there.

Well, despite Matt's fighting for my cause, the Lemond Zurich is not going to happen. Thanks again, dude, for trying. I will keep trucking on my Aluminum steed with much happiness. It really is a great bike. The opportunity was just hard to pass up. Some day, I hope to finally see what all the hype is about on a plastic bike. I will probably order that Salsa Casseroll later in the year when my relief check actually comes in (mine's not coming till mid August!!!). Hopefully, I'll find that bike more zippy and fun to ride than the Bianchi. There's something to be said about a stable tank of a bike, but there's much more to be said about a bike frame that doesn't squirm under every pedal stroke.

THIS WEEKEND!!! Saturday: 40s for low, 70s for high; Sunday: 50s for low, 70s for high. I think we might need to go practice bikes for a little while being that there's no races to attend or help with and the weather will be perfect. I have yet to confirm, but I think the old Caribou coffee shop has been replaced with a new one. I just drove by it, the other day and saw a new sign and lights on inside. I don't know if it's officially open yet, but that could be a new/old meeting spot again since it's right off the trail? Please post your open hours and preferences for ride time so we can get out there and put in some miles!

Thanks mike.

I was going to post to fredcube, but I thought that might be silly. I haven't even read any blogs for a few weeks. So what a great surprise to see my name in the title Munson's last post.

Oh by the way, I will graduate from the college on May 9th. Lots of people go to college for 25 years - yeah their called professors. Drop by the house in the afternoon/evening, if you'd like. I'm having a big huge party. I will start posting on fredcube about golf stuff real soon.

And Mike - I still have my Zurich if you could use a 59 cm steel frame. Oh wait, I'd never sell that bike. ever.

I'm turning into Fred or Sean

So I haven't posted in a while and kinda been scarce all around. Brady, I'm sorry I didn't get back to you about riding Saturday. I was on a cleaning frenzy (since that's about all I can do that's constructive when on call) that lasted well into the afternoon. I didn't even check my blog or pick up my phone till Saturday evening. I didn't really want to face that wind again anyway.

Sunday's races were fun. I was practice officiating and found it quite challenging. Well, the cat 4/5/womens/juniors race at least. With 28 people whizzing by on different laps with fitness levels spanning the rainbow, it was difficult to keep track of finishing order. Luckily, the very experienced and wise teacher, Neil Weide, got most everything down for us. But it was still fun.

Some more interesting news. After I just put a link to the Lemond bikes website(among other team/bike/sponsor sites), I find this out. I have a Lemond Zurich bike on order that is taking a while, I think. The order did get faxed by the soon-to-be-missed Matt N right before the Trek Store US-wide super sale, March 27th - 30th, so I'm sure all the stores and the company as a whole are recovering from that. If there is any issue at all with me not getting the bike, I'd be perfectly fine with that. I'm stretching the budget and selling current stuff to make this carbon framed beauty happen, but I don't really really need it. So if I find out that they aren't going to take all my money, I'm ok with that. But, my guess is this is my last chance at ever owning a carbon bike. If it happens, I sure hope it's worth all the hype. If not, I'm going completely luddite. Steel frame, either down-tube or bar-end shifters, and 32-spoke wheels. I've been eying this frame/fork for a while and wish I would have seen it before I got my Bianchi. Especially after my successful venture with this product. The Reelight setup has been on my racing machine for a couple weeks now and I'm very impressed with it. On the Bike Master's Century, Doug was in the follow vehicle and mentioned that my rear blinky was as bright or brighter than all the others. I never have to think about batteries or even turning them on. They just work all the time I'm riding and are just about all I need for road riding. I do wish that the front light could mount up on the handlebar and have an option for constant light instead of blinking. I'm hoping the company will explore this possibility. Have your bike shop order you a set through J&B Importers. It's a little pricey, but well worth it to have extra safety that you don't ever have to think about.

This weekend is the Spring Cycling Classic in Lincoln. Come one, come all and enjoy the bountiful sunshine and mild conditions. Oh wait, it's gonna be 30-40, windy, and possibly still raining in the morning. Real recent forecasts have the rain/snow ending early Saturday morning, like before sunrise. So hopefully that will pan out for you courageous racers out there. I will be helping with registration, then following a group with a truck full-o-wheels. Should be good times. If you are racing, keep this mantra in mind. (Warning, harsh lingo in said mantra.)

Riding has been a little scarce recently, just like my posting. I work from 11:30am - 8:30pm Mon - Thurs this month, so it's hard to get up early, eat food, then get excited about riding alone for a couple/few hours THEN going into work. Much depression shall ensue this month. So if anyone has some hours free in the morning and wants to help motivate me to get outside, let me know. Otherwise, I'll see ya'lls on the weekends.

Races, on-call, family rides.

So from the sounds of things, riding on the first extremely nice day of the year is not going to be a huge group gathering? I'm on call in the AM till noon...thirty....ish. I usually skip out of the last half hour since we rarely get calls anyway. Lots of people are heading out of town to either Iowa for road racing or Norfolk for some single track action. Bryan mentioned something about riding with people he refers to as "family" but apparently, that doesn't include us?? What gives bro-skee?

So anyway, I'll head outside for a while in the afternoon if anyone left in Omaha wants to join. Respond or give me a call.

Last night and this morning.

Was only a difference of 3-ish hours for me. I went to bed about 2am, and was at various stages of waking up by 5am. I do not do well with little sleep. I know Bryan is a master at such feats, being that his job forces him to be, and he handles it amazingly well. When I'm on my 6:30am - 3:30pm shift at work, I do best when going to bed around 10:30pm. I went just slightly past that last night.

It started off with me cleaning my bike, which some of you know, I'm just a little finicky about. I started the cleaning process at 7pm and was done at oh, about 9:30pm. Everything is sparkly again, just the way I like. Seriously, if I can't look at my crankset and see it as a potential stainless steel plate ready to eat off of, it's not clean. So I put everything away and remembered I hadn't eaten dinner yet. Oops. I pop in a Kashi frozen pizza since it was quick and easy. Yummy....cardboard crust....

So I scarf down the pizza, watch the weather on the 10 o'clock news and discover that there's no way I'm riding to work in the morning. Especially not on my clean-enough-to-eat-off-of bike. Unless they were wrong about the rain, which has happened a couple times in recent memory. But it seemed like they were pretty certain, so I figured I should drive to work and therefore had a whole half hour more to sleep in, a very nice thing for Monday morning. I flip around the channels and find the World Series of Poker '07 championships on ESPN (8 - the Ocho, I love that channel...can't get enough of it). They were running back to back episodes (each an hour long) of this progression of elimination. This is a tournament where a ton of people start, but eventually, all the chips remain with a final selection of great/lucky players. It was interesting because the guy who is credited with making Texas Holdem poker popular in 2003, Chris Moneymaker, was knocked out early in the tournament. Mr. Moneymaker made the "sport" well known because he, as a 25 year old, got into a poker tournament with $50 and made it all the way to the end to win something like $1.5 mill. I remember watching that and thinking, "Wow, that's like hitting the jackpot, but you increase your chances exponentially by being a great player." Anyway, I watched a few hours of this tournament, so this put me at about 1:30am. My late dinner finally settled and I was ready for bed. Waaaaaaaaaay past my bed time.

Our condo loft has a skylight that sits right above our bed. It's a good thing to have when it's cold out cause the sun shines through and heats the place well. However, since it's right above our bed, when it rains it is LOUD!! I guess some people sleep well when there's a droning sound like that, but with the rain we get, it's quiet for a little while, then comes down in buckets, then quiets down, then pours again. So it's not constant. I sleep much better in silence anyway. So the rain started around 4am and I had my alarm set for 5:30am. There's nothing worse than being woken up before you really want to get up. Especially when you haven't had much sleep to begin with. Very frustrating cause all you want to do is sleep, but you got this rain coming in waves, then your cat notices you're stirring so it must be time for canned food, so she jumps all over you. I angrily drifted in and out of slumber till 6am, got up, got dressed, (lightly) kicked the cat out of my way since I was too groggy and would step on her if she did her normal clingy thing. I got in my car, drove slowly to work, parked in the neighborhood just South of UNMC (free parking is the right price, just not very convenient), and got very wet walking the 5 blocks before reaching the cover of a building. What a great way to start a Monday.

So needless to say, I'm on a lot of coffee this morning. Luckily work is light, but that means I have to do something otherwise I'm going to fall over and start snoring. And now, after proofing this post for the 4th time to catch all my grogginess-induced mistakes, I'm done.

How do you fair with very little sleep and a crappy Monday morning?

Edit: Oh yeah, and a weekend report. Saturday; 3.5 hours with evil headwind/lovely tailwind ride with Brady. Thanks Brady, for sticking it out with me and I hope your position issues are solved so bike practicing is more fun. Sunday; first 3rd of the Bike Masters Century. It was wet at the start, but got pretty nice, Bryan and I broke off early since we both had stuff to do and I found out the meaning of pain as we rode Bryan's work-to-home commute route. Being he rode that route on a single speed, I can see why it was just a little hard on the training. Rollercoasters have less ups and downs than that route. So overall, 3-ish hours each day, not a bad weekend. Man I love riding my bike. I can't imagine doing anything else. Yes, I'm that tired that I'm getting mushy.

Ryan F and Roxy saw me while riding yesterday.

See how I made it look like all 3 of us were riding. Well we were.

I was just creeping home from a jaunt to the Northwest into some abslowtively reconculous wind. I would like wind a lot more, or rather hate it a lot less, if my eyes didn't feel like burning during/after a ride where I cry almost the whole time. I have this problem where my tears are mostly oil so my eyes are usually dry and itchy to begin with. Add some wind and I get the nice 40-grit sandpaper effect right to the retinal area. I tried contacts once, very unsuccessfully.

So I was riding home around the Aksarben area when I saw R and R probably just heading out to face the fun. Hope you guys enjoyed almost being knocked over a couple times. I sure did. Not.

Mounted, pumped up and ready to roll

Interpret that in any manner you wish. But here's the end result.

My own response to Random Thoughts

Topic 1: Well, there's a couple things that Safari fails at.  1. I went into options and selected, "Open links in new tab," not "Open links in new window," however, many pages open up in new windows.  I like tabbed browsing.  I like having one window to work it all.  2. I use google docs and have a couple spreadsheets.  On other browsers, you can navigate web-based spreadsheets normally with tab and arrow keys and such.  Not so with Safari.  O well, time to go back to the regular browsers.  Some pages do load up faster though.  Pezcyclingnews.com most notably.

Topic 2: I'm getting in shape, but not in shape.  Well maybe.  I did the Wed night ride and couldn't hang too well.  There's 3 possible reasons why.  Number one would be not enough food/drink.  I was semi-strong at the beginning of the group ride, but rode solo for 1.5 hours before.  I didn't have an energy drink or food till I got to the shop to start the group ride.  I ate a pouch of Cliff Shot Blocks and filled a bottle with Gu2O.  So I had some fuel to start out with the group.  I really should have heeded my own advice and had more to eat/drink though.  After an hour or so, I was struuuugling up the climbs and getting dropped bad.  The droppers were: Kevin Limpach, Greg Shimonek, and Ryan Legg - all really strong guys.  But in past years, I was always able to keep up or drop them.  Reason number 2 was the intervals I did the day before.  This is not as good of a reason since Ryan said he did pretty much the exact same thing the day before and was still riding away from me on the hills.  The final reason is I'm just not as strong as them......yet.  I guess the past 2 days have been about the only time going really really hard this season so I have some time to make up some ground.  I do need to drop about 5-10 pounds to really fly up the hills again.  I'm probably going to have to give up pop and cut back proportions to accomplish that, though.  Probably a healthy choice in any event.

So my plans for the next few days are: Today, easy ride, we're talking 15mph average tops.  Friday, maybe another easy ride since I'll be giving blood at lunch time.  Saturday, a trip down to Lincoln to help out with the Training race our team is hosting.  Sunday is up in the air.  It's not looking to be great weather, but I don't care anymore.  As long as it's above 15 degrees, I'm just fine with riding.  Last Sunday, Bryan and I started at 8am and it was a brisk 20 at the start.  That was just fine as we had a great ride.  So if you have suggestions for a route/time/meeting place, I'm open to ideas.

Random thoughts

Topic 1: Apple must be trying to take on Microsoft or something.  Now, if you ever updated your Quicktime Player, or downloaded iTunes, Apple asks if you want to do an automatic download thingy of updates.  On some PCs I do, on others I don't.  I usually update iTunes when it prompts me, but I was surprised when the updater asked me if I wanted to install the Safari web browser.  Since I rarely use a Mac, I've never used the Safari Browser, so I figured I'd give it a try.  It reminds me a lot of Netscape(which I haven't used in years), but has all the nice features I like in a browser; auto-spell check, tabbed browsing, unobtrusive nav/settings bar, and simple layout.  I'm using it now to post this, and I may be using it quite a bit more in the future.  Firefox is fine, but it has a bunch of plug-in problems with Active-X, Flash player, and such.  If Safari works better with these things, I will probably make the switch.  Not that anyone out there cares, except for maybe you Mac users, but Apple did pretty good here.  I guess that would be one way to take over the computer industry, slowly make people rely on Apple products until getting a Mac just makes sense.  Apple owns the personal music player industry with the iPod and iTunes has always been the easiest to use of the online music purchase stores.  If they turn enough people on to the web browser and photo management software, I think many people would fork over a little more money for a Mac.  Now if Macs would come down in price......that would be a huge industry shift.  And I don't think Supreme-Master Gates would like it.

Topic 2: Intervals.  I forgot how great it feels to be in shape.  At work, I can leap up a couple flights of stairs and not even breath hard if I've been doing intervals and long rides.  Yesterday, I decided to head up North and do long hill repeats up the steady grinder of hwy 36 (between 680 and 72nd street ).  I start the interval of what I'd say was on the upper end of LT, and got to the top of the climb within 6 minutes or so.  I was feeling pretty good, so I figured, "Hey, why not head out to Omaha Trace to make it a 10 minute interval instead of doing hill repeats."  So I finish that interval going into the wind.  It was pretty tough since I was going against 15mph of chilly norther air.  The 2nd 10 minute interval was along the hilly/curvy section of Omaha Trace with more of that great headwind.  Since I have no HRM or Power meter, I was using perceived exertion.  The first interval was rather tough for my lungs whereas the 2nd was harder on my leg muscles.  I got to the turnaround right before heading down the hill into Ft. Calhoun and did my last interval with a tailwind.  Now that was fun.  I had a hard time getting up into higher LT territory because I was running out of cogs.  Flying at 30-ish mph on that road is a blast.  Some of the hills bogged down my legs, but I still kept the speed up there with the aid of the wind.  I had a nice spin home and felt good about putting in a solid workout.

The Trek Store is officially starting up the Wed. night ride again, so I will probably hit that tonight.  I'll probably do what Jon Randell and I used as training in the early season and leave work at 3:30, put in some time, maybe a few hill climbs then meet up with the group for some more serious abuse.  I'm gonna be one sore pup tomorrow, but it's going to feel great.

Check this out

SHIMANO DURA-ACE 7900 2009!

Tubeless win a Classic!

I'm sure that Bryan has read this. If not it came from Velonews.com

After racing the final 22 kilometers alone, off the front, Francaise des Jeux rider Philippe Gilbert crossed the finish of Omloop Het Volk last week in victory. It was the second Het Volk win for the Belgian; his first came in 2006. The 2008 win was special to two of his sponsors and was a milestone for road technology, because Gilbert crossed the line on a tubeless wheel and tire.

Over four years ago prototype tubeless road tires started popping up in the pro peloton, but it wasn’t until two years ago that Shimano and Hutchinson presented their tubeless system to the public. The technology is well received and should considered by those looking for a happy medium between tubulars and clinchers, including both Lennard Zinn and me here at VeloNews. The technology hasn’t exactly been wholeheartedly embraced, in part because the only manufacturers pushing it are Shimano and Hutchinson.

Het had the perfect roads — cobblestones, wet surfaces and short steep climbs — to capitalize on the advantages the tubeless system offers: Grip and puncture resistance. The week before the race Gilbert and his FDJ teammates reconnoitered the crux sections using the system. After the test Gilbert and three teammates chose to race the system, which is comprised of Shimano’s new WH-7850-SL scandium-rimmed wheels and Hutchinson’s Fusion 2 tires.

The FDJ riders have been training with the wheels since January. But a new sealant clinched the deal. With it, the team was confident the system is even less flat-prone than tubulars, said Frederic Vanoli, chief of technical affairs for Francaise des Jeux.

Even so, Gilbert did suffer a rear flat during the race, which is more likely attributed to chance than a fault of the system. The Belgian’s rear flat didn’t seem to dampen the team’s enthusiasm for continued use of the system through out this spring’s races.

Puncture protection was key, especially considering the rather high pressures Gilbert used (7 bar or 102 psi in the front and 7.5 bar or 109 psi in the rear). Het Volk has only 16km of cobbles, but on rougher course, the system’s ability to run lower pressures would be an advantage.

Despite the successes of the tubeless system on the battlefields of the spring classics and semi-classics, FDJ has no plan to bring the technology to the Grand Tours. There the lightweight of carbon wheels and tubulars outweigh the advantages of the tubeless system’s durability.

“In team Francaise des Jeux [we only use tubeless] in Belgium and the north of France with cobblestones,” said Vanoli, “not in stage races.”

For the rest of us, not racing at the head of a ProTour peloton, the advantages of comfort, grip and puncture resistance make road tubeless a viable technology that’s still worth a look.

The wind is evil.

I forgot how much it takes out of you to ride against a >15 mph wind. Yesterday I got in a little more than a couple hours. I rode into the wind for and hour and 20 min, then made it home in something like 50 minutes. Now today, it's warm out, but even more windy than yesterday. I also didn't get very good sleep last night, so instead of getting sick like everyone else is, I'm going to take the day off.

Who knows when the next time it'll be near 60 degrees, but I'm too pooped to enjoy it now anyway. Yay recovery day.

The Sorry post

Here's some apologies I have to make after todays happenings. I'll go anti-alphabetical.

Johnny - Sorry about the hilly route and dropping you on said hilly route. I think we were all feeling pretty frisky so the speed was un-Shabbos like up those hills. Glad you came out and suffered with us while you could.

Chris (Bryan's wife) - sorry about hi-jacking your hubby for an over-extended amount of time. The route we planned took a bit longer than presumed and we didn't realize this till we were way out there.

Bryan - Sorry for planning a route that made you late. We should have turned around when Johnny did and skipped the Blair Climb. It was fun though.

Brady - Sorry for putting you through the wringer when we discovered how late we were. And also not being able to fix the rear hanger issue. It makes sense that it's bent inwards being that shifting it all the way up can throw the chain into the spokes. Getting it straightened will remedy all the issues you experience today. Well except for the destroyed knee and damaged spirits with having a hard time at the end of the ride. But hey, didn't you get a new PR for distance? Got that going for ya.

Aaron - Sorry that you have to leave for Belgium where you'll get to experience amazing bike races and live a dream that most of us will never realize. Ok, I'm not sorry about that. I'm extremely jealous. Have fun kid.

I had a great time this weekend. On Friday I did absolutely nothing after my commute home from work. Then Saturday, Michelle and I cleaned like maids on crack so the place is much more comfy and clean now. In the afternoon, Michelle's mom and sister came over and we played video games, ate pizza and then topped it off with Stone Cold Ice Cream. Plenty of fun, not conducive to training, but absolutely necessary.

Then today, I get in 83 miles just under 5 hours and felt just fine - fitness wise the whole time. Even at the end I still had some power to fight traffic through construction areas. Some of the hills did take it out of me, but I think if I do some hill repeats at Hummel or where ever, I'll be just fine. Man I wish I could race a bunch this year. I guess I shouldn't feel so confident until I do my first race of the year. That will let me know if feeling good after an 80 mile moderately paced ride constitutes being competitive with other cat 2s. Probably not, but hey, 90% of sport is 100% mental.

Bike There Feature on Google Maps

Check it out sigh or not. I think it's a cool feature for Google to have.


http://www.PetitionOnline.com/bikether/

Grump

This has been an off week.

For the bike at least. I got plenty of stuff done around the house. But that doesn't help keep me in shape. Oh well.

PLANS!!
Sunday: 12:30pm
Place: Crane Coffee - 78th and Cass
Route: Head NW on trails/streets to hit either Bryan's Bennington route, or the Bike Masters route to get to hwy 31 then 30. Take hwy 30 East-ish to Blair. Once in Blair, ride through town and conquer one doosy of a climb on the NW side of town. After a break at one of many gas stops, we'll head SE to Ft. Calhoun. From there I figure the guys who want/can go longer can head to Boyers Chute, downtown, to where ever while the others who need to jet home can take the Omaha Trace to the trail, or head out West (Bryan's and others case).

Sorry to post suggestions so late, but hopefully this works out. I'm up for counter-suggestions if need be. My only constraints are that I will be ready to ride from my place at 12:20-ish and I have to be home about 6pm. So many miles are possible for me. Come join the fun!