Tuesday, June 13, 2006
Stupid Rain
Well, I'm sure getting sick of the crappy weather. Between traveling for a few days and some crappy weather, I haven't been riding a whole lot. This morning was a pretty good ride in, I rode the Raleigh in, I didn't feel quite up to riding the singlespeed in, didn't sleep well, the dogs were being freaks all night. I'm to the point where it's warm enough that I will likely begin riding even if it is raining, I just plain need more time in the saddle.
Wednesday, May 31, 2006
On the Road Again
So I haven't ridden in over a month and I'm not feeling too good about it. I rode my single speed today, after getting rid of the chain tensioner that turned out to have a defective spring (that's why it's never worked!). I'm now riding at 40/15 with perfect chainlength, which is cool. Cruising speed is up a little from the higher gearing so that's nice too, though hills provide much more of a workout now. Aesthetically, I love having no tensioner on the chain, it's very clean looking. Well, clean from a design standpoint, the bike itself is filthy and needs a good scrub ;) Anyway, it's good to be riding again. It was a nice cool morning and traffic wasn't bad.
Thursday, April 20, 2006
Dry mouth
Haven't ridden in a few days for stupid mundane reasons. Very windy today. Ride in this morning was good. First morning ride with shorts. I wore my wind shell, but didn't really need it. It was about 50 degrees. Got pretty warm by the time I reached town. I stopped a few miles in to adjust my saddle, this was also my first ride on a new saddle and seatpost combination. I love the seatpost, my first carbon fiber purchase. The saddle is nothing special, but I think will be quite comfortable once I get it in the right place. The combination is 80 grams lighter than before, or roughly equivalent to two sips on a water bottle.
Ride at lunch was pretty good a felt a good pace in my legs, though I seem to have pulled a muscle in my leg and I'm not entirely clear on what the muscle is called. Will probably get to ride tomorrow too.
The ride home was pretty brutal. It wasn't any longer, but it was a lot windier than normal. I got blown off the pavement once and into the freshly graded shoulder. That could have been bad if it weren't for the fact that the wind had already slowed me down so far.
Ride at lunch was pretty good a felt a good pace in my legs, though I seem to have pulled a muscle in my leg and I'm not entirely clear on what the muscle is called. Will probably get to ride tomorrow too.
The ride home was pretty brutal. It wasn't any longer, but it was a lot windier than normal. I got blown off the pavement once and into the freshly graded shoulder. That could have been bad if it weren't for the fact that the wind had already slowed me down so far.
Friday, April 14, 2006
Spring is here, finally.
OK. It's been fairly warm the last few days. On Tuesday, I rode to work, then rode at lunch with Jim. Still a bit nippy in the morning, but I have been able to do without a neck fleece and just a windshell over a jersey. Riding at lunch totals up to about 24-35 miles for the day when added on to the commute. On Wednesday, the commute absolutely sucked once I got close to town because the road crews were out working in the shoulders. The bridge was plain dangerous on the way home because they had swept the sidewalks off into the roadway, thus rendering the bridge shoulderless. It got a little tight near the end of the bridge and I got tapped by a pickup that was crowding me on the edge. Luckily they swept the shoulders overnight and now the roadway should be better than before. The wind has been up the last few days. Yesterday it rained so no riding. I did do some drivetrain cleaning. I can hear the grit in there when I crank it around so I think I'm going to have to disassemble the drivetrain and give it a good deep cleaning. Today's lunch ride was pretty good, sunny, warm, slight breeze. Ordered up a new seatpost and saddle. This should let me get my saddle height up to where it needs to be and we're adding a little bit of cool factor since it's carbon fiber. The saddle is sort of TT style with a wider nose, I think I'll like that. We'll see.
Monday, April 10, 2006
Back in the swing
Another 35° ride this morning. Having to stop to shed layers after a few miles just can't be helped. It's just plain too cold to start out with out the extra insulation, and when the sun comes up it warms up fast. Good rides today though, I can feel a little bit of the power coming back into my legs. Tomorrow begins our lunchtime rides at work. It'll be nice to get out in the full sun and warmth of the day; they're saying it'll be 65° today.
Did a little wrenching tonight. I put my saddle little farther forward to get a little more power out of my position, and raised the handlebar via the stem quill by about an inch. I think this is going to make for a much more aerobically productive combination. When I went to raise my seatpost just a hair, I did discover that I have been riding for years with my seatpost above the minimum insert line, it seems to be a short post. That kind of sucks, but at least I have a valid excuse to get a new one...
Did a little wrenching tonight. I put my saddle little farther forward to get a little more power out of my position, and raised the handlebar via the stem quill by about an inch. I think this is going to make for a much more aerobically productive combination. When I went to raise my seatpost just a hair, I did discover that I have been riding for years with my seatpost above the minimum insert line, it seems to be a short post. That kind of sucks, but at least I have a valid excuse to get a new one...
Thursday, April 6, 2006
Pretty cold
Anticipating one day of decent weather between days of snow/rain/cold I decided to take advantage of one day of just cold. I bundled up with a short and long-sleeve jersey, my , shorts, untights, windjacket, hat, neck fleece and full finger gloves. It was 30 deg F when I left, pretty nippy for a ride. I warmed up after the first hill and by the time I got to Sparrow Farm, I actually stopped to take off my neckwarmer. Crossing the bridge was a little hairball. I was fairly far back in the line of traffic at the light so we were steaming right along by the time I had to make the turn. I probably should have waited for the next cycle.
Ride home was pretty good, it was warmer than on the way in. I met up with my friend the North Wind, for a fairly stiff headwind towards the end, but the highlight was the car that cut me off to cross in front of me to get in her driveway instead of just waiting a moment to let me cross. She realized how stupid it was to turn across me when she saw just exactly how close we were. If I did not jam on the brakes, I would have ridden right into her door. I could see by the look on her face that she would likely not do that again. Le Tour 2005 disc 1 was waiting for me at home. So I finally get to see Robbie McEwan's head butt, Zabrieski's ill-fated crash, Lance passing Jan in the TT, and some of the other priceless moments that happend early in the Tour last year.
Ride home was pretty good, it was warmer than on the way in. I met up with my friend the North Wind, for a fairly stiff headwind towards the end, but the highlight was the car that cut me off to cross in front of me to get in her driveway instead of just waiting a moment to let me cross. She realized how stupid it was to turn across me when she saw just exactly how close we were. If I did not jam on the brakes, I would have ridden right into her door. I could see by the look on her face that she would likely not do that again. Le Tour 2005 disc 1 was waiting for me at home. So I finally get to see Robbie McEwan's head butt, Zabrieski's ill-fated crash, Lance passing Jan in the TT, and some of the other priceless moments that happend early in the Tour last year.
Tuesday, April 4, 2006
Trainer time
Raining cats and dogs. No commute today, 30 minutes on the trainer instead while watching Bertie & Jeeves. Supposed to snow tonight, so it'll probably be the trainer again tomorrow.
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