Happy New Year! Weekend Plans -Saturday Time change to 11.

Yeah it's cold, but it's Nebraska in January whatcha gonna do? Some of us are planning to ride at Manawa at 10:00 a.m. The temps don't look like they will vary much tomorrow so get your ride in early and settle in for a day of bowl games (or video games for you dorks). Bring either MTB or cross bike. I rode Manawa today and the trails are in good shape for some winter hours.

As for Sunday, it looks like Mr. Freeze is going to cut us a little slack. Planning on leaving at 11:30 again this week exact route to be determined at ride time.

Man that was fun.

As everyone saw the temp forecast for today, the tweets and such started to fly. Plan was, meet at Wohlners (3 blocks from my house) at 1pm. I got a little busy with stuff during the morning and at 12:20 decided I could fender-ize my Lemond and join the fun. Well, one flat tire later, I was late to the meeting spot. Luckily, Eric O had run behind also. So Eric and I took it easy down the trail and did pretty much the exact route that we would've done had we been 5 minutes earlier.

It was fricken 59° at the start and quickly rose to 65° mid ride. Of course, once we turned North, the wind had to change also and became a much colder NW wind. Eric and I skirted Northish so we could part ways at Happy Hollow.

The ride was just right; not too fast, but a couple surges to get some exercise. I have no idea how I felt so good since it's seriously been months since my last outdoor road ride. Turns out the fenders were nearly unnecessary as there were only a couple puddles on the trail. But soon, that will all change. This weekend is looking ugly with temps only in the teens for Saturday and may 20 for Sunday. I usually don't head out for more than an hour if it's below 25 outside. Just isn't that fun and a better workout could be had on the trainer instead. Which may or may not happen. I do need to lose some winter cheer weight.

Hope everyone had a good Christmas and enjoys (but not too much) their New Year's celebration.

Last weekend's rides were nice, due to the holiday we'll skip this Saturday's ride and move Sunday's start time back to 11:30.

Sunday's Plan: Leaving from 5224 Lake Forest, Papillion at 11:30, doing the normal route with extenders if needed. Back around 2:30ish. Free Beer after compliments of Steel Cut Oats (Brady Murphy). Plan on 3+ hours of ride time.

Looks Like Gravel Season is Upon Us.

So, it's that time of year again and I hear the gravel calling my name. I'll be back on Thursday to post a couple of weekend epics. Thinking of leaving from the Bob on Saturday (mostly flat) and somewhere on the South side (mostly hilly) on Sunday.

Let's Plan on Meeting on the West side of the Bob on Saturday 10 a.m. Based on the forecast we'll probably head North on the CB side and pick up gravel near the end of the bike path.

Sunday's Plan: Leaving from 5224 Lake Forest, Papillion at 11:00, doing the normal route with extenders if needed. Back around 2ish. Free Beer after compliments of Steel Cut Oats (Brady Murphy).

I'd like to give all the sheep of the world some love

Wait, that sounded bad.

-4° on the ride into work = need for warm clothing. Enter: Sheep hair, aka wool.

If you don't have any mid to high quality wool clothing, I highly recommend it. I have 3 wool shirts that go on in layers depending on the temps - 2 Smartwool long sleeve base layers (one lighter and one heavier) and a regular cheap-ish wool sweatshirt. The wool sweatshirt is of lower quality, so it itches like crazy against the skin. I only bust that out when it's cold enough to warrant 2 layers of long sleevedness; like this morning. I add a cycling vest in between the layers for wind block since wool, by itself, isn't that great at keeping the drafts off my skin.

I'll wear 1 to 2 of these wool shirts all through the week, then wash whichever ones get stinky. Usually, that's only the base layer if I've worn it every day and had a couple warmish rides in there too. There's no way technical fabric base layers could handle that washing schedule. Or rather, no way I (and my I, I mean my nose) could stand being around it for more than 2 days, max. I have mentioned before, that my manly smell can be quite formidable. Wool somehow doesn't hold in as much funk as newer technical fabric. Not sure how it works, but I'll take it. It's much better than going through 5 tech fabric shirts all week and having a pile of stinky laundry by the weekend. Plus it could be cheaper, depending on how much you'd spend on the tech fabrics, versus how cheap you can find your wool. I like to hit up Canfield's sales in Fall for Summer stuff and Spring for Winter stuff.

When the temp drops and whisks away your wharmth, I whole wheartedly recommend you whear your whool. Cool Whip.

I'm like an onion.

Cause I'm stinky?

No, because I have layers.

Wait, have I posted this very thing before? I can't remember. Oh well.

So, at the 30° and below mark you have to start doing layers. Especially when it's windy and snowy. 22° with 20-ish mph winds is not fun. And with layering, it's tough to strike the balance between warmth, wind block, and breathability with clothing.

Here's what I found worked but left me a little warm by the end of the ride:

Head - Trek winter cycling cap (now made by Bontrager) under the helmet

Torso - Long sleeve Wool baselayer, cycling vest for wind stopping, and a 100% cotton long sleeve button down shirt. Cotton is bad for base layer, but decent for outer layering since it can block wind. I probably should've nixed the cycling vest, but wanted the extra warmth after last night's under-dressed, way too cold ride home.

Legs - cycling shorts and full leg warmers all under some cotton/rayon pants. If I had had some tighter fitting non-cotton sweat pants, I could've used those, but i already have the bike stuff, might as well use it.

Feet - wool socks under my favorite "shoes." It's interesting cause I think if I had worn cycling shoes to clip in, my feet would've gotten cold. But somehow, using flat pedals and comfy shoes keeps my tootsies warm. It could be that 20 minutes of riding isn't long enough for my feet to get cold no matter what, but I'll have to try the clipped in thing one day to test it out.

I was sweaty by the time I got to my building. But there's one caveat - after struggling into the wind to get to Leavenworth, I had a tailwind the rest of the way heading East. So windchill was no longer a factor with 2/3rds of my ride left. In fact I was traveling at almost the same speed as the wind by then end. My breath, which I could see of course, would lift up in front of me and I'd follow it.

I'm not looking forward to the ride home though. According to the Nation Weather Service, the wind is supposed to die down after 5pm. I won't be heading home till 8pm, so hopefully it'll be easier going by then.

This single speed is kinda getting to me. I may have to add some gears to make the hills more bearable. I know I could just replace the rear cog with a higher tooth count one, but then the downhills would be way more boring than they are right now. Maybe if I found a 3 speed rear hub. Hmmmmmm.....

Shabbos +1

Sunday

Noon (leave at noon - I'll be there by 11:40 or so for coffee)

Trek Store 72nd/Jones

3 hours or so of steady base miles

That is all. Questions? Objections?

Short commute cold weather clothing.

The temps are dropping. People who bike are all discussing what they should wear and at what temps. As Mod so eloquently put it, "Dressing for the cold is like the black arts." I have a case in point for this very suggestion.

But first, a disclaimer. My discussion is for my own ride type and acclimation. Anyone who knows Bryan knows that he can ride in bike shorts and a jersey only down to 40 degrees or something ridiculous like that. Well, that's an exaggeration, but still, cold doesn't bother him much. I also know some aren't bothered by cold if their hands and toes are properly warmed. Others have to wear Goretex everything from head to foot in 50 degrees. It's all about acclimation.

The other caveat I have in my discussion is that I'm riding my bike a whopping 3 miles to work in plain-ish looking clothes. I have a couple hills and I ride a single speed. So if the ride you're thinking of dressing for is drastically different than this, my input will not be helpful. I made the mistake last year of suggesting that a low pressure slick road tire is all you need for bad weather riding and good buddy Mr. Steel Cut tried my tactic on a crazy gravel road ride. At least I think that's where he got the idea to run a road tire on a gravel ride. I'm truly sorry, Brady, if my random tidbits of "knowledge" came across as gospel. I may act like I know a lot, but I'm still learning every day. Since we're talking, by the way, (we are talking right?) I wanted to thank you for your tidbit of knowledge about using a blinky light mounted on your fork shining on your front wheel's spokes. This simple setup is highly visible from all all 180° in front of you. Ever since using that and my dynamo hub powered front light on steady, I've had cars wait a block or so for me to pass before they turn in my path. In other words, they really see me coming.

So, on to the clothing discussion. I mentioned that I dress in plainish looking clothes. I do this since I want to encourage anyone and everyone to hop on a bike to get where they want to go. To the rest of the non-biking world, dressing up like superman really is not appealing. But if they see someone day in, day out riding in a button down shirt and shorts or pants, maybe they could dust off their bike and give it a go. I can dream, can't I?

So for 60°+ I wear short sleeve button down shirt, made of a polyester/cotton blend since cotton doesn't breath at all once soaked in sweat. For shorts, I wear, um, shorts also made of a polyester/cotton blend. I used to always wear bike shorts under them, but what's the point for 3 miles? Less wear and tear on the expensive bike stuff is a good thing. Now I just wear some boxer briefs

For 50-60° I may add a cycling cap under the helmet or a long sleeve button down, but it generally has to be a North wind and cloudy.

Now in the 40s is when you start adding layers. Upper 40s means a short sleeve base layer under a long sleeve button down shirt. For the legs, I'll generally wear some knickers that cover the knees until it gets down to the 30s - then I go with some light cotton pants that look kinda like tan scrubs. Lower 40s and below is what I consider cold requires the black arts that Mark had mentioned. It mostly comes down to your core at this point so what you wear between your knees and your neck is vital.

My example of the black arts is as follows: yesterday when I rode into work at 10:30am it was 38° with a 5-10 mph North wind and lots of clouds/no sun. I left my cycling cap off and I wore a lighter weight short sleeve base layer under my long sleeve button down since hey, it was near 40°. I was FROZEN by the time I got to work. My wool glove covered hands could barely move since my core was desperately hoarding heat. After that experience, I over compensated this morning. It was 34° so I dressed much warmer with a long sleeve wool base layer under my long sleeve button down and a cycling cap to keep my head toasty. I was purdy schweaty when I pulled up to my building since the sun was out and there was a light South wind. So even though I could see my breath this morning at 34° unlike yesterday's 38°, it was much colder yesterday. Again, it's all in the black arts. I probably would have been perfect both days had I just swapped layering setups.

I haven't gotten to the low 30s and into the 20s, but it's coming. Plus this post is already stretching it, even from Munson rambling perspective.

In other news - Things I'm going to miss that I'm really not happy about - this evening's 6:30pm neighborhood association meeting discussing the lane diet on Leavenworth. I work till 8pm, but would love to support the lane diet all up and down Leavenworth. Also, this weekend is the Lincoln cyclocross races. I'm going to miss the shenanigans on Hooligan hill. If you can make it, racing or just watching, I'd highly recommend it. I'm also going to miss the Ladies' and Gentlemens' ride on Sunday. It ends right by my house. But I'll be with my family having lunch with my piano teacher who's in her mid 90's.

I'm now saving $600 a year.

Well, scratch that, $480 a year.

I just cut out my cable. I had the basic channels 1-68, but at $50 a month for about 25 watchable channels(for me anyway), that's pretty pricey. I still have internet and I added Netflix, which is where that extra $120 will go, but still $480 is a good chunk o' change. It's a weird coincidence because I cancel cable one day, then this article comes out the next. It basically asks if the decline in cable subscriptions is an economy thing or technological shift thing. I'm guessing it'll play out as both. Our generation and a few before it just assumed cable was standard. Well, now that the younger generations have nearly no experience with land lines, which also used to be standard, I'm guessing they'll view Netflix and online sites as standard boob tube time. That way they can watch Hulu, flip over to a new tab on their browser, and update their twitter page and/or facebook page as one of the single commercials play. And for us older folks, does it really make sense to pay $130 for a gabillion channels of which you only really watch half? That's nearing a car payment. Or after a year, a new bike.

I don't really have any where else to trim the budget, aside from changing our eating habits. I know it would be wise and probably healthier, but the wife and I both like to eat, so that would be a last resort type thing.

On the bike front, I'm still riding the single speed to/from work. I have a couple hills that kinda get to me, but it's working fine otherwise. Not looking forward to the time change. I think I need to move to Belize. Tropical weather year round sounds nice.

Single speed it is.

The true test of riding single speed for commuting came yesterday. It was a laundry day, so I had a messenger bag full of clothes. I was also heading straight West up Leavenworth, so I had that lovely wind to battle.

At first, the hill didn't seem so bad near the cemetery. It could have been all the houses and trees blocking the wind, since by the top, near the Masonic Manor, I struggled to keep moving forward. That tall building has a way of funneling wind directly at you no matter which direction the air is moving. Kinda weird.

But after passing 52nd St, I coasted downhill almost all the way home. It's a fun bike, for sure, but we'll see how it handles the winter weather. Or rather, how I handle the bike in winter weather.

Edit for day later experience: The wind was WAY worse on yesterday's commute home. Going up that Leavenworth hill, I seriously almost got off to walk. It was bad enough I hopped onto the sidewalk just so I wasn't at crawling speed in traffic. But yesterday was probably the one of the 5 or so worst wind conditions we'll get during the year. Other horribly windy days are usually straight from the North or South, so Westbound on Leavenworth isn't so bad. One bad part about the single speed though, even though I made it up the hill, I think I tweaked a back muscle just to make it those last 2 blocks. It's not bad, just a little annoying.

So I'm still a go for keeping it simple on the SS, but the toughest days of winter are yet ahead.

Mid October update.

Why haven't I done this sooner?

My commute to work is 3-ish miles and I ride it unless there's really really bad snow out there. Last year, my bike got so encrusted with road grime/salt that shifting became troublesome. So, how bout I just take that part out of the equation?

This was my commuter for a while that I had planned to sell. It was a 1x9 that I never got around to putting on Craigslist. Now I'm kinda glad I didn't. It has semi-horizontal dropouts so I have about 1-2cms to play with in chain tension. The main thing my last frankenbike commuter had going for it was a rear disc brake, which was quite nice with last years horrid conditions. I could've filled a sandbox with the amount of grime on my rims/wheels/seatstays/chainstays. I have forgotten how crappy my v-brakes are. Maybe I can scrounge up some old nicer V's that won't fail on me half way through winter.

I could go fixed though and not even have a rear brake....

In other news, Randell and I have done some weekend rides. No, that doesn't mean we're on a rampage to get back into racing. I need to ride more since I have the dreaded winter padding, even before winter. So hopefully we can continue the weekend rides and maybe I'll add a couple rides during the week. It would be nice to join some hammerhead group rides next year, but I need to buildup to even that in my current state.

Good luck to all you crazy crossers heading to Lincoln this weekend. Or where ever else you plan to run, jump, bunny hop, and generally beat up on yourself.

But it IS October!

I got sore.

Like leg sore.

Went out with Roxy, Ryan, and Todd yesterday for a fun 70-ish miles. Headed South to Glennwood, then rode back on the hilly highway. Roxy turned off early since she is still coming back from a fractured scapula. Roxy, heal quickly.

Ryan, Todd, and I kept a great rotation going at a decent pace. I'm still amazed that, without training or many long rides in the legs, I can go out there for 3-4 hrs. 4 hrs was about my limit though. Toward the end, I just wanted to be OFF my bike. Mainly saddle induced pain on the sit bones. I don't know if I'll ever find the perfect saddle. My guess is that if I rode more consistently, I'd develop more tolerance, but still, it's frustrating to have tried at least 8 types of saddles and never fully being comfy on any.

I'd like to keep up on the weekend rides. Now that I'm not building bikes anymore, I got some free time. So if you're not racing, post up a ride so we can turn some pedals in anger.

But it's almost October!

I got burned.

As in sun burned.

Went out for a couple hour ride with Mr. Miles and Jeremy. It was spirited. And fun.

Then I went out for another almost hour with the wife on a ride. She loves her new Pure bike. She calls it "heavenly." See, she's as tall as I am but with crazy long legs. So normal women's bikes with regular seat tube angles just don't work for her. Seriously, her knee-over-spindle measurement is almost dead on with the Pure. That's how long her femurs are. Of course, the bike shop guys gave me a hard time about picking up that bike. I guess it didn't help that I ordered a road handlebar at the same time and I've been known to make a franken bike here and there. But fit was the main factor in getting the Pure. After our ride together, she was no where near as beat up as when she would ride her older bike. So that was a wise decision. Anyone need an 18.5" Trek 7200 WSD?

This next weekend is cross time in Omaha. I'll probably be around to do some heckling. Hopefully my sun burn will be gone so I can start a fresh new one if the weather cooperates. However, if the cross gods deem it so, maybe it'll rain and the temp will drop. That would make it a true cross race.

Bacon Sunday

You know the drill
6:30 am
wohlners
10$=Bacon
Know your escape routes bacon doesn't wait... for anyone

Where the heck am I?

So I haven't been around much. No weekend group rides in about a month, and no evening group rides in about...um....a year? Maybe 2.

Ugh.

No, I'm not in some musty cave obsessing over a ring, although I am kinda obsessed about something else shiny and hopefully very long lasting(more on that later). In case you didn't know and to cram it down everyone's throat yet again, I'm in deep doggy debt. It's not the average, run of the mill household debt of $8k. It's a few multiples of that. Not to mention my car loan. And my student loan. Those last 2 are, I guess, what people expect to have most their lives. But the first needs to change. And I'm working on it. I'm doing overtime at my main job when I can and building bikes pretty regularly. If I'm really moving, I can do 2 bikes an hour which equals a $16 an hour wage. Not too shabby since I can build any time I want and don't have a boss telling me what to do. Well, I guess Miah and Bryan sometimes ask me to build a certain kind of bike, but in my mind, I'm telling myself I was gonna build that anyway. So there.

So since there's no race report, epic ride details, or anything else of huge interest, my blog has become pretty stale. Sorry about that. I can't promise that's going to change in the near future either. I definitely won't pull a Fred and post some partial brilliant story, then leave everyone hanging to curse my name. Actually no, Fred, we aren't cursing your name. We just want to know how the Proudest Moment is going to tie in with part one and two?

Now on to shiny bits. Through bike building, you get to see different bikes. Mostly it's just cruisers, low-end mtbs, "hybrids," and kids bikes. Sometimes you'll get a few high end road, TT, and full squish bikes. Those are all good with their complicated builds and fancy parts that don't impress me much. Mostly because they're difficult to work with - in a mechanic sort of way, and so far beyond my reach economically, it's not even funny.

But my eyes have been opened to a wondrous thing. I have recently built up a few bikes with some tasty bits. Quality, ease of use, durability(if it's standard holds true) and good looks. I'm speaking of the newly released Shimano 105 group.

Shimano got this one right. Well, for my tastes anyway. Dura-Ace, aside from being purdy costly, doesn't look good, especially the crank, and is a serious pain to install. Again, this is all my mechanic induced opinions. 105, on the other hand, is affordable, hopefully durable, sets up easily, and is silvery shiny. The cranks are a little ho-hum, but I have a 7800 crankset that's near perfection to me. And the front shifting is B U T T E R. Like seriously, I've never felt anything shift this smooth. Very impressive.

I may or may not save up the money to buy most of this groupset. What I have right now works, but just so. It's a pretty messy hodge-podge of Campy and Shimano, but I like what it offers compared to everything else. That is, until 105 came out. What I use now is an 11-28 eight speed cassette which works surprisingly well with Campy 10 speed shifters. With 10 speed, I was always chunking 2 gears at a time to get where I wanted to be. That's what happens with single tooth cog increments on a 12-23 cassette. With the 8 speed wide range cassette, I have11, 13, 15, 17, etc which is single click heaven to get where I want to be. There was only a couple times in the past year where I wished I had a gear between the 2 available. That was usually on a slight incline into the wind, and guess what? It's never going to be easy. Just pedal harder or spin more. But with the new 105 having an 11-28 cassette, I think I'll get the best of everything. Gear range, shifting precision, good looks, and ease of setup.

So that's my post of the month. I'm not sure many will read this as it seems most people mainly follow Twitter and Facebook now. Just can't seem to cram all my thoughts into short, few sentence postings. I guess I could try it:

In bad debt. Too busy working, no riding. Fred, finish story. Building bikes fun. New Shimano 105 the shiznit. Facebook and Twitter too sho

See. Even highly condensed I can't say everything.

12045

That's how many days ago I was born. I should say, minus a few since there' s leap years in there, but I'm too lazy to figure out how many. I coded a mini program in college that told you how may days were in a year that you entered. It wasn't easy since it's not just every 4 years. I think you skip centuries and years that are multiples of 10? Google it if you must.

So I'm 33. Kinda weird. I feel pretty young, but time is starting to move faster as it does when you age.

Today has already started out pretty nice. I woke up at 5:15am, rode to the bike warehouse to build some bikes. Got a few done while listening to great music - a couple No Doubt albums and a couple Prokofiev Violin Concertos. Good stuff. I pushed the pace hard to get from the bike building job to UNMC. Felt great in the cooler weather. I was sweaty by the end, but I just stood outside in the shade for a bit and dried off quickly. Love the lack of humidity.

I'm in great spirits now, but that's probably the 3 cups of coffee talking. I'm here at UNMC till 7pm, then I'll ride home, eat some dinner, veg for a bit, then come back to UNMC to run camera for a late night event - 10pm to 11pm. So a total of 13 hours of working today. Yay.

Happy coffee-induced feelings already seeping away...

Oh, thanks to all who wished me a happy b-day on Facebook. Not sure if my response got through to everyone. I guess if I used it more, I'd understand it better. I have a hard time compacting my thoughts into short blurbs. So Facebook, and to a worse extent, Twitter, are not my cups of tea. Or rather coffee since I like that better - which reminds me, I should drink some more. But anywho, it's probably just my long windedness that's to blame.

Corporate Cycling Championship

The race ride starts tomorrow morning at 8.

Rallying point: downtown Starbucks (by the library) at 7:15.

Have a coffee, roll over there, start a block ahead of everybody else so the doorknob on the TT bike (probably Shim) doesn't kill us.

That is all.

Mills County Gravel

Hey PCL worlds are right around the corner. I have been of bike for about 2 weeks so in order to get some time in saddle I will be riding mills county gravel roads. This Saturday meet around 7:00 am meet at scooters downtown.

The case for following traffic rules.

There are some cyclists who feel bending or out right breaking traffic laws are just fine since, while riding a bike, you are not an automobile. I heard from fellow bike builder CT Thongklin that last Saturday night's OWL ride was a good time, but saw a few motorists frustration as some cyclists blew past them at stop lights. You could say the owl ride brought out a lot of new cyclists, but I'm sure if you ask around among the more experienced cyclists, there's a few scofflaws out there.

Yesterday, I was reminded of why us cyclists need to follow traffic laws both out of safety and wholesome courtesy. I just left the bike warehouse which is located in Papillion. It was dusk, so I wanted to hurry home to avoid the dark. I rode through the neighborhoods like I always do. This one particular stretch involved taking a wide swooping right hander, descending down a smooth road to a stop sign at the bottom of the hill. As I descended, I did hear a car coming up to me, so I sped up slightly since I was a block from the stop sign and didn't want the "impatient car swerving around me to get to the next stop" scenario.

Like every time I come to this stop sign, I come to a complete stop and look both ways. The car that was following me came to a lurching stop behind me. I did a slight glance back just to let them know I knew they were there and impatient, however, I didn't actually see that car. I continued on around the bend of the road and signaled the left hand turn I was going to make since the car was following me, but not right on my tail. I started the climb out of this little valley, still wary of the car that was a block behind me. This was a narrow road with cars parked along one side, so at least this car was nice enough to wait till I could get over before it passed me.

As it passed, I found out why it was on my tail at the stop sign - it was a police car. Had I not come to a stop at that stop sign, my guess is he would have ran the lights and whooped his siren to pull me over. And I would have deserved the ticket for blatantly ignoring the law.

So to all you who are on the fence about whether bikes should follow traffic laws or not, I would highly recommend it.

Shabbos + X

where ((X > 1) && (X <= 6) && (rain == 0)); // Hey, it compiles.

Start Time 4:45 A.M.
Starting point: My driveway

End Time 6:15 A.M.
Ending point: My driveway

Route: Whatever. Rosenblatt is often in the mix.