I've been on a number of short 5-10 mile rides on weekends over the past month, but my riding time has definitely decreased. It doesn't mean I'm not already looking forward to next spring though! I often find myself dreaming of rides as I slip off to sleep, and I'm already doing some preparing for keeping in shape this winter. I probably won't spend much time on an indoor trainer, at least until January or February. Instead I've taken my rowing machine out of the mothballs and started cranking out workouts on the ergometer.
I think rowing can have many similarities to cycling in terms of workouts when you're actually on the water, but on the erg it couldn't be more different. Where you can easily spend three hours on a hard training ride just a half hour on the erg can leave you completely destroyed. Even during my peak rowing crew in college anything much over an hour would leave me in a state of exhaustion so complete that I've rarely been there since. I think the only time in recent memory I've felt similar was after the 100k Tour of the Vineyard I did this spring on my mountain bike.
In any case it looks to be a long cold winter, but the promise of spring already has me excited to be back on the bike.
Friday, November 2, 2007
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
Knocked out by a Cold
It was pretty amazing, the poison ivy and then a wicked head cold that has run me down over the last three weeks pretty much ended my riding season. Now that I'm finally starting to feel better a part of me wants to get back out on the road for October before the rough weather sets in but I'm not sure if I'm going too. The TMI version is cycling cooks the family jewels, and if you're looking to start a family it helps to try with uncooked goods.
If I do get out and about on the bike more this year I'll write about it, but only time will tell. In bike maintenance news I removed my wife's clipless pedals and put on her old iron blocks so she can hop and whenever she wants to with her street shoes. It took a little more force than I was expecting and it was plenty greasy, but all together a pretty easy task.
Aside from riding my last big chore of the fall will be to give the bike a good cleaning and fresh set of lube before I store it for the winter, but that's a greasy story for another time. Until then, cheers.
If I do get out and about on the bike more this year I'll write about it, but only time will tell. In bike maintenance news I removed my wife's clipless pedals and put on her old iron blocks so she can hop and whenever she wants to with her street shoes. It took a little more force than I was expecting and it was plenty greasy, but all together a pretty easy task.
Aside from riding my last big chore of the fall will be to give the bike a good cleaning and fresh set of lube before I store it for the winter, but that's a greasy story for another time. Until then, cheers.
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Surreal Ride
Surreal, that's how I would describe today's ride. I haven't been on the bike since the last Landry's group ride thanks to a combo of poison ivy, allergies, and a cold. I felt like I was floating over the bike for most of the ride, and just watching a bike cruise along the road. The air was cool and crisp, and the sun was bright but not overbearing.
The only thing that kept bringing me back down to earth was the amount of glass I had to avoid. The evil side of me would love to force people who throw glass bottle onto the road to pick it up by walking over it with their bare feet. The lawful side of me would love to see them out there with brooms sweeping up the side of the road for all the many miles they've covered in glass shards. The good side of me is depressed that people would do something so maliciously idiotic.
I only went six miles today as a sort of test run to see if everything was still working before riding in to work tomorrow. I'm already certain that it'll be a hard ride, but if I'm going to survive the 110 mile Tour de Landry's on Columbus day then I need to get back out there and get some miles under my belt.
The only thing that kept bringing me back down to earth was the amount of glass I had to avoid. The evil side of me would love to force people who throw glass bottle onto the road to pick it up by walking over it with their bare feet. The lawful side of me would love to see them out there with brooms sweeping up the side of the road for all the many miles they've covered in glass shards. The good side of me is depressed that people would do something so maliciously idiotic.
I only went six miles today as a sort of test run to see if everything was still working before riding in to work tomorrow. I'm already certain that it'll be a hard ride, but if I'm going to survive the 110 mile Tour de Landry's on Columbus day then I need to get back out there and get some miles under my belt.
Saturday, September 1, 2007
Pit Stop
I woke up before the sun came up this morning at 5:45am to give myself time to bandage up my arms before heading down to Norwood for the Landry's group ride. The ride itself showed me just how much having the massive reaction to the Poison Ivy has taken out of me. The whole ride I felt sluggish, and just couldn't get my muscles to go when I needed them too. It was only on the hills that I was able to make up any ground, and I would quickly lose it again once we hit the flats. In other words I spent most of the ride hanging onto the wheel in front of me.
That lead to my first flat during a group ride. Hugging the wheel of the guy in front of you means you can't see much except wheel, ass, and back. You have to trust the people in front of you to tell you if something looks odd, unfortunately for me no one pointed out the big metal lined hole in the pavement that my tire struck square. After the initial jarring blow from hitting the hole I swore, and then about three seconds later I heard the hiss of a blown tire. This was my first pinch flat, the tube tore at the stem. Before I could call out flat the guy next to me did and the ride slowed to a stop ahead and a group of five riders gathered around my bike and went into full on Pit Stop mode. I popped off the tire and handed it to an older gentleman whose name escapes me at the moment, but I think it was Jim. I pulled out my tire levers and handed them to him while getting out the tube and CO2 tire inflater. In all of about five minutes the tire was inflated and we were back on the road.
Still with no spare in my kit and the jar fresh in my mind I spent most of the rest of the ride getting my confidence back so I could draft effectively. If I hadn't been so exhausted I think I would have just hung back and left a gap, but I couldn't afford to. In the end we did 36 miles at a 19.2 mph average. At least according to two different computers in the group. A good workout, and a great way to start the long weekend.
My poison ivy is still weeping, but it doesn't itch much anymore. It only woke me up a couple times last night. Hopefully I'll be able to sleep through the entire night soon.
That lead to my first flat during a group ride. Hugging the wheel of the guy in front of you means you can't see much except wheel, ass, and back. You have to trust the people in front of you to tell you if something looks odd, unfortunately for me no one pointed out the big metal lined hole in the pavement that my tire struck square. After the initial jarring blow from hitting the hole I swore, and then about three seconds later I heard the hiss of a blown tire. This was my first pinch flat, the tube tore at the stem. Before I could call out flat the guy next to me did and the ride slowed to a stop ahead and a group of five riders gathered around my bike and went into full on Pit Stop mode. I popped off the tire and handed it to an older gentleman whose name escapes me at the moment, but I think it was Jim. I pulled out my tire levers and handed them to him while getting out the tube and CO2 tire inflater. In all of about five minutes the tire was inflated and we were back on the road.
Still with no spare in my kit and the jar fresh in my mind I spent most of the rest of the ride getting my confidence back so I could draft effectively. If I hadn't been so exhausted I think I would have just hung back and left a gap, but I couldn't afford to. In the end we did 36 miles at a 19.2 mph average. At least according to two different computers in the group. A good workout, and a great way to start the long weekend.
My poison ivy is still weeping, but it doesn't itch much anymore. It only woke me up a couple times last night. Hopefully I'll be able to sleep through the entire night soon.
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Ruined by a Plant
I'm not sure where I screwed up but I screwed up big time. I haven't been on my bike as the poison ivy really nailed me. I have spots of it everywhere. My wrists are really in a sorry state, as are most of my fingers at this point. It makes riding the bike a daunting proposition. I really want to get back on but I'm also reluctant to ooze all over my handle bars. I may not be riding in the group ride this weekend, or doing any riding for that matter for the near future. All the various creams and such haven't really dulled the itching. Ugh
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Round 3: Poison Ivy Wins
I love our new house, we have a huge yard and a large swath of forest behind us on city land that won't be developed. The downside is there is poison ivy everywhere in the forest. So far Michelle and I have done three rounds of thinning it out the hard way, by pulling up the roots. It would be easier to spray poison on them, but that would be less ecologically sound as the missus says.
On Sunday I helped Michelle pull out two ten gallon bags worth of poison ivy vines, and that only comprised maybe 5-10% of the Poison Ivy we have in our back yard. We had geared up for it with plastic bags covering our arms and then covered with latex gloves. Now everything was going fine and we were moving at a real good clip. Poison Ivy pulls out of the ground really easy as its roots don't seem to go very deep. After about an hour though our gloves and plastic bags were full of water from sweat, and then back to back both of us punctured our gloves on brush (not Poison Ivy itself.) Michelle only had a pin-prick tear so her poison ivy isn't that bad. I, on the other hand, tore a huge gash along my thumb on my right hand. The oil on my glove mixed with the water in the gloves and my arms were quickly covered.
A quick shower seems to have isolated it to the area around my wrist but in my rush to disrobe it looks like I also got some on my left wrist while taking off the glove, though just a smattering. I can already tell from what's shown up that its going to get really bad on my right arm, here's to a couple weeks of itching like mad. Hopefully we'll win in Round 4 like Michelle did in Round 2 where she used the same plastic bag/glove technique but didn't get any holes and as such no poison ivy.
On Sunday I helped Michelle pull out two ten gallon bags worth of poison ivy vines, and that only comprised maybe 5-10% of the Poison Ivy we have in our back yard. We had geared up for it with plastic bags covering our arms and then covered with latex gloves. Now everything was going fine and we were moving at a real good clip. Poison Ivy pulls out of the ground really easy as its roots don't seem to go very deep. After about an hour though our gloves and plastic bags were full of water from sweat, and then back to back both of us punctured our gloves on brush (not Poison Ivy itself.) Michelle only had a pin-prick tear so her poison ivy isn't that bad. I, on the other hand, tore a huge gash along my thumb on my right hand. The oil on my glove mixed with the water in the gloves and my arms were quickly covered.
A quick shower seems to have isolated it to the area around my wrist but in my rush to disrobe it looks like I also got some on my left wrist while taking off the glove, though just a smattering. I can already tell from what's shown up that its going to get really bad on my right arm, here's to a couple weeks of itching like mad. Hopefully we'll win in Round 4 like Michelle did in Round 2 where she used the same plastic bag/glove technique but didn't get any holes and as such no poison ivy.
Monday, August 27, 2007
Harry Potter's Glasses are ROUND!
I made the full circuit to a from work today on the bike, and while the ride in was smooth and uneventful the ride back was full of surprises. The biggest surprise to me was how much energy I actually had to keep pedaling hard up the hills all the way home. Even the big Medway hill didn't phase me as I powered up it without having to down shift or stand up.
Around the middle of the ride I noticed a car full of teenagers ahead of me on my right looking to pull out. The driver never even looked left after she came into my field of vision so I slowed slightly and prepared to slam on my break if she pulled out. She did pull out of course and I timed my stop to bring me right to her car door. She look appropriately shamed, I hope she looks both ways in the future.
Shortly after the I hard a large crunch an saw a big white blur in my peripheral vision that looked to me like my derailleur had flung off the back of my bike or my tire had blown out. I slowed and checked everything out only to see a white plastic cup rolling around in the middle of the road behind me. It was pretty windy today so it must have blown into my back tire as I passed.
Finally the highlight of the ride of follies was at a four way stop. I stopped and signaled a left turn and as I had arrived last waited for my turn. Everyone signaled for me to go so I did, only to have my left foot uncliped as I pulled up on it. I think I slid my foot a little out to the side and that's all it took. This caused my leg to lurch up and me to wobble side to side as I recovered and pedaled with my now clipped in right leg. Displaying all the grace of a drunken circus clown the motor cyclist on my left yelled out, "Smooth moves Harry Potter." To which I replied, "Harry Potter's Glassed are ROUND!" My glasses are not round!
Around the middle of the ride I noticed a car full of teenagers ahead of me on my right looking to pull out. The driver never even looked left after she came into my field of vision so I slowed slightly and prepared to slam on my break if she pulled out. She did pull out of course and I timed my stop to bring me right to her car door. She look appropriately shamed, I hope she looks both ways in the future.
Shortly after the I hard a large crunch an saw a big white blur in my peripheral vision that looked to me like my derailleur had flung off the back of my bike or my tire had blown out. I slowed and checked everything out only to see a white plastic cup rolling around in the middle of the road behind me. It was pretty windy today so it must have blown into my back tire as I passed.
Finally the highlight of the ride of follies was at a four way stop. I stopped and signaled a left turn and as I had arrived last waited for my turn. Everyone signaled for me to go so I did, only to have my left foot uncliped as I pulled up on it. I think I slid my foot a little out to the side and that's all it took. This caused my leg to lurch up and me to wobble side to side as I recovered and pedaled with my now clipped in right leg. Displaying all the grace of a drunken circus clown the motor cyclist on my left yelled out, "Smooth moves Harry Potter." To which I replied, "Harry Potter's Glassed are ROUND!" My glasses are not round!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
