Saturday, February 14, 2009
Thursday, February 12, 2009
72 Miles
This is why I left Facebook. Thank you Angela Kalo for this link!!!
Yesterday's ride was a monster. 72 miles of hills and wind. My plan was to try and simulate a Triple Hump-like ride in the triangle and I pretty much succeeded. I conquered Lystra, Pea Ridge and the Superman Hill all in one - long ass - ride. Lystra was as easy as it's ever been (half a mile at an average of 14 per cent) but once I came down Jack Bennett and hung a right on Big Woods, the wind really tried to keep me from reaching US64E. I used the inherent slower pace to eat a meal I had stuffed into my back pocket, but after the joy of the meal had passed I still had 5 rolly miles of Big Woods with the wind right in my face to get past. After I topped off my drinks in Wilsonville I headed down to Pea Ridge on my way to old US1. Then it was up US1N and then a right to go past Shearon Harris Nuclear Power Plant. Finally I enjoyed a tailwind up the Superman Hill, but was so tired from having fought just to get there I was relatively slow. Slow or not it's what I needed and I'm proud of the effort. I'll do some 100k's and a century or two in prep for Mount Mitchell as time and work allow. I think Mount Mitchell is going to be tough mentally and physically.
Yesterday's ride was a monster. 72 miles of hills and wind. My plan was to try and simulate a Triple Hump-like ride in the triangle and I pretty much succeeded. I conquered Lystra, Pea Ridge and the Superman Hill all in one - long ass - ride. Lystra was as easy as it's ever been (half a mile at an average of 14 per cent) but once I came down Jack Bennett and hung a right on Big Woods, the wind really tried to keep me from reaching US64E. I used the inherent slower pace to eat a meal I had stuffed into my back pocket, but after the joy of the meal had passed I still had 5 rolly miles of Big Woods with the wind right in my face to get past. After I topped off my drinks in Wilsonville I headed down to Pea Ridge on my way to old US1. Then it was up US1N and then a right to go past Shearon Harris Nuclear Power Plant. Finally I enjoyed a tailwind up the Superman Hill, but was so tired from having fought just to get there I was relatively slow. Slow or not it's what I needed and I'm proud of the effort. I'll do some 100k's and a century or two in prep for Mount Mitchell as time and work allow. I think Mount Mitchell is going to be tough mentally and physically.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Cycling, Living, Loving
Hello to all once again. As I sit here in the recliner enjoying some very rare discretionary time, I thought I'd give you a Jim update.
Over a period of about three weeks a stomach virus took no prisoners at 608 Gravel Brook Court. For the kids and Karen it was some vomiting and some lower GI irritation. For the genius that's writing this he thought he could kiss everyone's ills away. He was wrong. Jim enjoyed about 6 straight hours of vomiting and the shits. It has literally taken a week plus for all to get back to be able to say with a straight face, we're OK. The truth is I still had some nausea this morning, but I'm not less than 93% as it were.
As you may recall from the last entry, I had to order new wheels as my old Mavics had a bad spoke that was pulling out of the rear hub. Normally one doesn't buy new wheels for one bad spoke, but these wheels have about 20k miles on them and other spokes are starting to exhibit similar issues. I bought some wheels from William's Cycling and after a sample size of one ride, so far so good. They're pretty fast for not being ultra light, they came true, they're quiet and I couldn't feel any windup. The thing that is nice about these is they came to my front door for $500. While that ain't monopoly money, it isn't what you'd pay for brand name a la Mavic, Fulcrum etc.. So, again, so far so good. Stay tuned..
Today' ride was tough. It was my first ride back in the group since about January 14th. I'd done an evening or two worth of workouts in the garage, but being in the pack is sooo much different. I suffered. I might have been top 5ish. I finished third in the last sprint, but honestly, the guy that took the win did it at about 36MPH and I struggled to get to 33.5. I'll need to work on my go. I had even teamed up with Jen (super-nice, super-strong cycling chick) for a strategy on the last sprint, but we waited too late and had to catch; we should have spent our energy winding up into the low 30's and then sprinting. There's always next week. :-)
OK if you've made it this far, I'll throw you a bone. About a month ago, David and I went to our favorite train watching spot; a switching yard. Our family are regulars at this particular yard. We take nylon chairs and just go and sit and watch the freight cars come into the yard, couple, uncouple, buffer and shunt and cheer the whole while. What happened on this day was nothing short of amazing. As two engines entered the yard pushing a consist of about four tankers, we waved at the kind woman on the front tanker that was navigating back to the engineer in the engine via radio. She waved back with a kind and gentle smile of familiarity. David was like a piece of popcorn in a pot on the stove; he simply could not sit still as we watched as they brought the train in and seemed to park it. After having disappeared around the end of a train between us and the one we were watching for a moment, suddenly the woman popped her head around the end of the train and signaled for David (and I) to come over. We dropped everything in our hands (I actually dropped the car keys and David's bottle ON THE TRACKS) and went as summoned. When we got to the lady, we were at the end of the train, but that is where the engines were. She picked up David and put him up on the stairs which he ascended and I was close in tow. Once at the top of the stairs, we made our way to the engineers compartment where we were greeted by the engineer who opened the door and let us in. The engineer introduced himself - let's just call him God - and asked David if he'd like to sit in the engineer's seat. David's ass found that seat like iron filings to a rare earth magnet. God then asked David if he'd like to blow the horn and once again David executed like Lightnin' Hopkins. God looked down at David and asked if he'd also like to ring the bell and after showing David how to depress the brass button, David was all over it. Then God made all of David's dreams come true when he asked, "David, would you like to move these two tanker cars into position?" David said with an unusual confidence, 'Yes, sir'. God showed David how to slide the handle forward which spun up the engine and then drove the motors which in turn propelled us forward with an authority of power I've never experienced before. As David calmly and confidently slid the handle forward, the train moved forward and shunted the two tankers into position. David got a commendation for a job well done from God and we talked briefly for a few minutes about David's now certain future career as an engineer and then as quickly as it had started, it was over. I hope I didn't offend anyone by calling the engineer God, but right, wrong or indifferent it was in fact God that made that day happen. So I ask for a little tolerance as the reference is meant as an indirect metaphor. David recalls this day weekly and it always brings a smile to our faces. It always will. I can remember clearly about 20 days of my forty years and this one's in the top ten; maybe top five. Thanks God.
Over a period of about three weeks a stomach virus took no prisoners at 608 Gravel Brook Court. For the kids and Karen it was some vomiting and some lower GI irritation. For the genius that's writing this he thought he could kiss everyone's ills away. He was wrong. Jim enjoyed about 6 straight hours of vomiting and the shits. It has literally taken a week plus for all to get back to be able to say with a straight face, we're OK. The truth is I still had some nausea this morning, but I'm not less than 93% as it were.
As you may recall from the last entry, I had to order new wheels as my old Mavics had a bad spoke that was pulling out of the rear hub. Normally one doesn't buy new wheels for one bad spoke, but these wheels have about 20k miles on them and other spokes are starting to exhibit similar issues. I bought some wheels from William's Cycling and after a sample size of one ride, so far so good. They're pretty fast for not being ultra light, they came true, they're quiet and I couldn't feel any windup. The thing that is nice about these is they came to my front door for $500. While that ain't monopoly money, it isn't what you'd pay for brand name a la Mavic, Fulcrum etc.. So, again, so far so good. Stay tuned..
Today' ride was tough. It was my first ride back in the group since about January 14th. I'd done an evening or two worth of workouts in the garage, but being in the pack is sooo much different. I suffered. I might have been top 5ish. I finished third in the last sprint, but honestly, the guy that took the win did it at about 36MPH and I struggled to get to 33.5. I'll need to work on my go. I had even teamed up with Jen (super-nice, super-strong cycling chick) for a strategy on the last sprint, but we waited too late and had to catch; we should have spent our energy winding up into the low 30's and then sprinting. There's always next week. :-)
OK if you've made it this far, I'll throw you a bone. About a month ago, David and I went to our favorite train watching spot; a switching yard. Our family are regulars at this particular yard. We take nylon chairs and just go and sit and watch the freight cars come into the yard, couple, uncouple, buffer and shunt and cheer the whole while. What happened on this day was nothing short of amazing. As two engines entered the yard pushing a consist of about four tankers, we waved at the kind woman on the front tanker that was navigating back to the engineer in the engine via radio. She waved back with a kind and gentle smile of familiarity. David was like a piece of popcorn in a pot on the stove; he simply could not sit still as we watched as they brought the train in and seemed to park it. After having disappeared around the end of a train between us and the one we were watching for a moment, suddenly the woman popped her head around the end of the train and signaled for David (and I) to come over. We dropped everything in our hands (I actually dropped the car keys and David's bottle ON THE TRACKS) and went as summoned. When we got to the lady, we were at the end of the train, but that is where the engines were. She picked up David and put him up on the stairs which he ascended and I was close in tow. Once at the top of the stairs, we made our way to the engineers compartment where we were greeted by the engineer who opened the door and let us in. The engineer introduced himself - let's just call him God - and asked David if he'd like to sit in the engineer's seat. David's ass found that seat like iron filings to a rare earth magnet. God then asked David if he'd like to blow the horn and once again David executed like Lightnin' Hopkins. God looked down at David and asked if he'd also like to ring the bell and after showing David how to depress the brass button, David was all over it. Then God made all of David's dreams come true when he asked, "David, would you like to move these two tanker cars into position?" David said with an unusual confidence, 'Yes, sir'. God showed David how to slide the handle forward which spun up the engine and then drove the motors which in turn propelled us forward with an authority of power I've never experienced before. As David calmly and confidently slid the handle forward, the train moved forward and shunted the two tankers into position. David got a commendation for a job well done from God and we talked briefly for a few minutes about David's now certain future career as an engineer and then as quickly as it had started, it was over. I hope I didn't offend anyone by calling the engineer God, but right, wrong or indifferent it was in fact God that made that day happen. So I ask for a little tolerance as the reference is meant as an indirect metaphor. David recalls this day weekly and it always brings a smile to our faces. It always will. I can remember clearly about 20 days of my forty years and this one's in the top ten; maybe top five. Thanks God.
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