So great...so tired.

My Garmin GPS gave out at mile 36 and it was at least 10 miles from home.  I'm gonna say I had fifty miles for the day.  It was indeed a great day.

Warm sun, great friends, interesting route choice.  It all kicked off with delicious breakfast at EB's casa.  Many assembled and partook in the mastication.  Then it was off to the Blue Line coffee house.  We met a couple other folk there, then we were on our way.

Across the BK bridge, South on the trails, a pit stop at Manawa so most of the guys could venture out onto the frozen over lake (I was not that adventurous).  Over to the Wabash where we probalby should have not opted to ride.  It was fun, but pretty messy.  We hit the road even further south so we could hit 370 into Bellevue.  We hung out at Hayworth park, then remounted and mozied toward downtown.  Most of the guys ate at the Upstream, but Brady and I had to get heading home.  We conjoined with Ryan and Roxy who were just coming back in from their wonderous warm winter day ride.

It was a great time, but I'm pooped.  50 mile rides used to be nothing to me.  Now, alas, I've slowed down and become soft.  I imagine once summer hits and I can put in some hours outside in the sun, I'll harden up again.  But until then, I'm content to get out when I can and soak up the comraderie with fellow pedalers.

Tomorrow!!!  Shabbos +1!!  Bob, I hope you read this before you go to bed.  The other Mike and I would like to ride somewhere in the AM if you want to join.  If you don't pipe up by 9pm, we'll assume you're busy and figure something out.  All posts about tomorrows ride please respond in the comments section.  Oh, and if, perchance Bob and/or the other Mike can't ride, I'd be willing to ride in the afternoon with whomever responds.  Talk to me Goose!!

It's like riding on gravel the whole time.

That must have been the thought process for the creators of tires like these:

I got these tires from Fred since he over-bought them.  I figured today's ride in some snow would be a good test.  I didn't get to mounting the rear tire, but I got the front one on.  I had to patch the tube that was going in it so I ran out of time before my 11am shift.

These things are super stiff.  I'm not sure how much pressure I got up to, as I used a frame pump since my regular pump went on the frits.  But even at, what I assumed was, about 50 psi it was still really stiff.  Also, these tires say they are 35C.  I've been running my 32 C Bonty hardcases and they seem WAY fatter than the 35s from Innova.  Kinda strange.

Anyway, now I see what all the hype is about.  With just the front tire being studded, I felt like I was velcroed to the ground, no matter what was on it - hardpack snow, loose fresh snow over hardpack, etc.  I couldn't tell if I went over any ice since it had just snowed some.  However, once i got onto the flat smooth plowed surface of Center street, the tire played against me.  I felt like I was going on a gravel ride.  My normal speed of 16-18mph dropped down to 13-14.  Which is kinda frustrating when you know it's the tire that's doing it.  I could have just as easily ridden both slicks since I only really have a couple blocks of non-treated roads.

Speaking of treated roads, has anyone noticed how much salt is on the roads nowadays?  I guess I'm glad since it makes for easier driving when I do that, but man, the drivetrain on my bike is completely orange with rust.  I have a heater for the garage, so I really should get it cleaned up.  I'm just not looking forward to all the scrubbing I'm going need to do.

grumble,grumble..Rides anyone?...grumble, grumble..

Anyone venturing outside this weekend?  Highs of 18.  North wind.  Snow on Sunday.

grumble...grumble...

Ok.  Anyone playing loads of Playstation/XBox/Nintendo and/or watching TV this weekend?

I'm up for either, but will be doing only the latter if I don't hear from anyone.

I rode, therefore I was?

Saturday's ride was a hurtfest for a number of reasons.  I met up with Bryan near Ponca hills and we proceeded to climb for an hour or so.  He was riding at almost LT, whereas near the end, I was blown past anaerobic.

Let me go back to that morning to set the stage.  The alarm went off at 8am so the woman and I could go grocery shopping long before the noon bike ride.  I was planning on re-applying the removeable fenders onto my race machine.  It was sloppy out and I didn't want to ride for a few hours with soaking bike shorts on.  Never a good idea.  The original plan was to be grocery shopping by 9am, done by 10am so I could have time to dink on my bike and ride to the coffee shop meeting place early.  

We were not so quick to get going.  9:45am rolls around and we head out the door.  We get to Bakers on Saddle Creek and Leavenworth only to find multiple cop cars around the parking lot.  Customers were still going in and out of Bakers, so we decided we better get our stuff done.  We talked to the coffee shop ladies and they mentioned that a half hour before we got there, some guys showed up to make a "withdrawal" from the USBank that's inside the Bakers.  So had we been on time......who knows?

We didn't get all the grocerys put away till 11:30, so that only left me enough time to change and ride out on my heavy commuter bike that has fenders.  Unfortunately the shifting had gone to crap after a couple really sloppy and cold commutes the week before.  Plus the rear brake was rubbing.  All this made for a very unhappy climbing repeats experience.  But I held on ok.  For the first 2 climbs.  After that, I was lagging behind Bryan as he crested the tops of the climbs.  Then eventually, I was almost a minute behind.  Meh.  He's been training, and I haven't.  That's the way it goes.

Sunday, Bob and I met up at Crane on 78th and Cass for an easy spin.  I was running late since my alarm went crazy(sorry again about that Bob).  The Crane store was closed with no reason why.  We had to get the rear rack off Bob's bike at my place, so that's where we went first.  We then tried the Crane that's 2 blocks from my house.  It was closed also.  It had a note, however, that gave notice that all Cranes would be closed that day for a large computer upgrade process.  So instead, we stopped at Blue Planet Natural Grill for some pre (me)/mid (Bob) ride drinkage.  I've only been to this place once to eat, but it was purdy tasty.  Hopefully when all of the Aksarben stuff gets done, they'll be hopping with business more.  Bob and I basically rode straight back to his place since he had to be home early, then I mosied home since I was tired from the previous day's ride. 

Overall, a decent weekend of outdoor riding, but I need to ride more to get back into shape.  Summer will be here before we know it and I don't want to keep falling off the back of rides.

Nice easy ride, part ni

That's Japanese for "2", for those of you in the no.  That last word is how the Japanese would read the word, "know."  I have no idea how to type the crazy Chinese characters for the word, "know." Ok, I'm done now.
This Sunday, or rather, Shabbos + 1, Bob and I are once again going to meet at Crane on 78th and Cass for a truly mellow ride about town.  Speed last week was an average of 14 mph.  We can go slower or faster depending on who shows up to join us.  Ride time is still up in the air, but Bob needs to be at his house (near Lake Cunningham) at 10:30am.   Last week, after we sat and drank coffee for a good half hour or so, we left at about 8:30 and were up at his place by 10:30.  The route we took only had a couple decent hills, but hey, it's Omaha.  There's no way around that.
Please post a response if you'd like to join us and/or if you have plans for Saturday that you'd like to share with others.  

Nice easy ride.

Met up with the Bob at Crane and we chilled (or rather warmed?) for  a while drinking coffee and chatting.  He had on his studded tires so once we did get riding, we had a nice mellow pace of about 14mph average.  Hills were done at 9-ish, downhills coasted near 20.

I forgot that I really enjoy the challenge of riding my slick tires in crappy weather.  Last year I made it just fine with 28C tires.  Now I have some 32C slicks from Bontrager and I had no issues.  The northern part of the Keystone trail was mostly snow with rough spots from walker/joggers and a few bike tracks.  I just muscled through and kept on rolling.  A couple of dips going under the bridges had my front wheel sliding slightly sideways, but the clear cement underneath was a nice respite.

Now that I remember how easy it is to ride in this stuff, I really have no excuse not to ride more.  Oh, and Fred, I so super sorry I bailed on yesterdays ride.  I hope you had fun laying down those first tracks on the Keystone.

Rough weekend plans.

Shabbos + 1 (Sunday for anyone new to this crazy blog):  We will leave from Crane coffee at 8am.  If you want coffee, get there early, I know I will.  The route will be heading up north after about a couple hours.  Bob needs to get home at 10am, and lives near Lake Cunningham.  That gives the rest of us time to ride home for some more time on the bike.  Tempo is real laid back.  Bring out your heavy bikes for some conversational pace riding.

Shabbos (Saturday) is still kinda up in the air.  I know Bryan is planning on a painful hill climbing workout in the afternoon.  So if you want to join in his fun, have at it.  Johnny has all afternoon to ride also, and my guess is he doesn't want to do hill repeats?  (correct me if I'm wrong, Johnny)  So if anyone has a definitive timeline for Saturday afternoon, that'd help the rest of us wonderers commit to the ride.

I challenge Bob!!!

This weekend, temps are looking kinda good.  37 for a high on Saturday and 42 for Sunday.  Saturday may feel warmer since it's supposed to be sunnier, however, there's also supposed to be lots of wind Friday that may carry into Saturday.

Let's start making plans now to put in some time this weekend either or both days.  Write what times you have available and we'll hopefully figure out a compromise to get everyone riding.

2009 Shabbos #1

It starts tomorrow. Weather permitting, outside. If not, then let's crash the Bike Master's trainer ride in the shop.

When 8:00 AM
Where Bike Masters
Duration 2.5 hours

Discuss

Ah vacation time.

I've been off of work since the 19th, my last post.  And being that the last almost 2 weeks have been inundated with family time, food occasions, and most of all laziness, I haven't been on the bike during that time either.  I'm riding in about 2 hours and it'll be interesting.

So lotsa people are doing the whole 2008 in review deal.  Here's mine: I rode some, I officiated some races, I became better friends with some new peeps and lost touch with others, I've paid down some debt and tried not to buy too much new bike stuff.  I can't say it's been a stellar year, but it's been a decent one.

For 2009, I hope to pay down more debt and keep up the commuting/fun rides.  I hope to go on  a couple vacations; another crank n camp this spring, a possible Colorado mtb trip in mid summer, and maybe another non-bike related vacation.  There might be some big life events coming up this year too.  I'll keep ya'll posted about this.

Hope everyone had a great 2008 and will have an even better 2009.

*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.

Thank you sir, may I have another!!

Ok, not really.  It was a fun ride, but painful also.  Peter, it's very wise that you didn't go.  Without amfibs and many layers, we all woulda died out there.

Start time, and my only bike put together was my Lemond.  Sean texts and asks if he could use my bike.  I didn't have one for him.  He was going to use Bryan's Bianchi, but again asked if he could borrow some lightweight gloves from me.  All he had were some Pearl Izumi Inferno gloves.  I was going to need all the gloves I had (liners and some wind resistant medium weight gloves), so I let him know that he should definitely use his Infernos.  I think he was glad he did.

I stopped by the shop and got some Planet Bike strap on fenders for my Lemond.  They worked quite well.  

Met up with Bryan and Sean on the Keystone and the plan was to go NorthEast to Fort Calhoun then play around Ponca hills till we got close to 4 hours.  Brady and his Bro John were going to meet us by Boyers Chute since they had stuff to do earlier.  It wasn't bad at first with no rain and 36 degrees.  We got to Fort Calhoun and it started to rain again.  That was bad.  It all went downhill from there....even though we did many uphills.  Met Brady and John right before the climb by Neal Woods.  Bryan we feeling fiesty for some reason, so the hills hurt a bit.  

After getting to the Ponca/NP Dodge area, we did some laps.  I was good on the first couple of hills, but we hit the 2:30 ride time mark, and I putzed out.  So I got a hard ride barrier to break through again.  I remember when I was a cat 3, riding with Randell and I would always hit a barrier at about 3 hours.  I got over that with lots of training.  So looks like I gotta start all over again.  

Anyway, after a couple laps, Brady wanted to stop by their car (parked at NP Dodge) and get some dry gloves since his were soaked.  I was in the exact same boat.  I couldn't shift at all since I had no blood going to my fingers.  It was more than a little uncomfortable.  But once I got some dry gloves on, Oh man, that was sweet.  

We did one final lap and started to head home.  We could tell the cold front was coming in since the wind changed and our faces all froze.  Sean, who was using Bryan's heavy (27 lb) Bianchi commuter, was dragging behind since the bike was too big and too heavy.  I've done the bike switch and long ride deal before so I know how painful it is.  You just can't be yourself on someone else's bike.  Sorry we left you behind so many times, Sean.  Way to tough it out.

So, overall, we survived, but barely.  Peeling my shoes and socks off, my toes looked like the chicken I pulled out of the freezer this morning: white, and dead looking.   Every time I do one of these rides, that's what happens to my toes.  If only I had fat feet.  Alas, my non-padded meta tarsels don't work well for heat.  Such is life.

Who knows if we're going out again tomorrow.  It's supposed to be kinda like today, but oh yeah, 20-30 mph winds.  Eh, maybe not.