My first road bike

So I was just browsing craigslist, and I do on occasion, and came across this:


And the memories came flooding back.

That bike, a seafoam green murray ten speed, was my first road bike, way back in probably 1986. Bryan had a blue huffy with blue tires, and I had that Murray. And we'd ride around pretending our bikes were F-15s, and calling each other Maverick and Goose.

It's too bad my bike allocation has been filled. I could really use a crappy Murray that I'd never ride.

someday..

i've looked at having shamrock cycles (site is a piece of crap when viewed on firefox) build me a bike - i like the idea going with these bikes - all day bikes, not super racey, with enough tire clearance for maybe 25s and possibly fenders. all day epic sort of bikes. anyway.. this is a sketch pad for later.

And then I threw a smoke bomb

Yesterday afternoon I took advantage of the rare 40 degree temperatures and took a 40 mile bike ride south of Indianapolis. It was at mile 30 or so when I stopped in at gas station to get a drink, shedding a couple layers before I ventured into the establishment.

While click-clacking my slippery bottomed shoes across the tile floor, a woman turned to look at me with an expression only befitting the appearance of aliens on the front lawn - she actually double and triple took my appearance.

After acquiring my fountain diet pepsi, I returned to my bike outside and began to wonder why the woman was so confused. Was it that she had never been struck with the combination of extreme shrinkage and spandex pants? Perhaps. Or perhaps it was my overall choice of apparel.

You see, I was wearing nothing short of 9 brands of clothing yesterday: A helmet by Giro, and helmet liner by Performance Bike, full fingered gloves by Performance, bike gloves by Specialized, a wind breaker/rain coat from Cannondale, a polyester warming coat from Old Navy, a jersey by Voler, and undershirt by Under Armour, Bib Pants by Performance Bike, wool socks by DeFeet, shoes by Specialized, and shoe covers by Pearl Izumi.

If you're used to seeing cyclists out on the road, you might suspect that every piece of clothing I was wearing was a different color. While that certainly paints an entertaining picture, that wasn't the case at all. Everything (visible) I was wearing was black.

So I'm left to think that the womans confusion laid in the fact that it was cold. Or perhaps she was just confused that a bearded ninja in plastic shoes had appeared in her local gas station, when she could only have been expecting Bozo.

The Dream Is Over, and I'm a failure

I guess I was kinda always hoping I'd hit 3000 miles on my bike this year.

16.5 miles in January 2007
9.43 in February
213.41 in March
138.05 in April
641.92 in May
640.14 in June
495.63 in July
294.43 in August
208.74 in September
54.25 in October
117.66 in November
0 miles in December

That's a total of 2830.16, or 170 miles short of my goal. If I had finished RAIN, I'd only be 22 miles short - 22 miles I'd be sure to ride this week.

To be honest, I could have easily made up those 170 miles - and if I really wanted to to I could get through them in the next four days, but that's not going to happen. Instead I think I'll attempt to ride this Saturday, finishing up somewhere near 2860, and look forward to doing more next year.

Looking at those numbers is encouraging - well all that data except for the weight I started at last year (I'm nine pounds heavier as of this morning) - but it looks like it should be easy to improve upon. We'll see.

hmm hmm

I asked about taking 2 months off work in 2009 for transamerica bike trip today... Boss seemed to be ok with the idea, but he said he wasn't sure what company policy would be there.

So... just gotta keep on it.

2 months for Adventure Cycling's Northern Tier route looks like it wouldn't be enough time - 4295 miles by 60 days would be 71.58 miles per day - completely doable, but when you figure in decompression and travel time to get to a start point, plus the obligatory post ride two day party... we'll...

The Southern Tier, on the other hand, 3159 miles, is 52.65 miles per day at 60 days... which would give a lot more time for doing a lot of loafing around - which would be a lot better, I think.

I like the Northern route better because it hits the North East - I haven't been up there at all. But maybe I can take a couple weeks next year and hit that stuff on a route from Indianapolis - might be a nice litmus test for the transamerica ride. That'd be like 1200 miles over two or so weeks... 85.71 miles per day. Fast paced, but maybe sustainable over two weeks. Dunno.

I wonder what Jon is thinking.

First I'll need a new bike, though.

weekend

This blog is useless as anything other than a personal diary. Anyway.

Friday... oh - I had these restaurants.com certificates that I had acquired using my leftover United air miles, and one of the places on the list was Deano's, which is where we drink all the time. I had never had a full on meal at Deano's because the prices there are a little high, I think, but now, with the help of free money, I thought Gina and I might check that out. Plus I know that at Deano's I'll never have to wait in line to eat, which is something that I just don't like to do.

Anyway, we ate and had a few beers and it was all sort of whatever. Afterwards we headed home we were both asleep by 10 pm.

Saturday we got up nice and early and headed downtown to The City Cafe, for a breakfast using slightly unusual and tastily-fresh ingredients. Breakfast was $25 for the two of us (which is kind of high for breakfast I think), but that place in now my new favorite place ever, and I'll gladly continue to pay that. Every guest at my house is now going there.

I had some pancakes made with I don't know what with some squash butter sweet fruit I dunno awesome. The pancakes were served without syrup and didn't in any was need syrup and yeah it was just great.

Then we jumped in the car, heading north and listening to old This American Life episodes, on our way to Fort Wayne, IN and Warbird for a brewery tour. I'd write about the tour here but that's for the other blog. Afterwards someone put a ding in my car door and I don't want to talk about it. I did my best to stomach that whole thing. I'll probably go get an estimate today - I've got a scratch in my bumper that needed fixed anyway, though for some strange reason that was a lot easier to deal with.

After Warbird was a trip over to Mad Anthony Brewing Co for more beer and food. None of that was very remarkable, and one of our party found a twist tie in his chicken sandwich.

We got home around 8 or so Saturday evening, and we went to Kroger to buy cat food. Then I played FIFA till like 1 am.

Sunday I was awoke by the work pager, and had to make a trip downtown to fix a stupid thing. Then I drove out to Dunkin, watched my tivo'd Fulham match (0-0), and started into eating an endless parade of crap. Three donuts, leftover fried chicken pieces, over to UIndy for SIUE vs. UIndy (a 1-1 tie, entertaining), nachos at the game, over to Key Cinemas for Ten Canoes (um... nah) and a full bucket of popcorn, to Dairy Queen for a post-film ice cream cone, home for couch time and FIFA, Tell Me You Love Me, a bbq sandwich, and then... a full row of Oreos. I think I ate something else unhealthy in there too.

191 this morning. Usually I hover around 185. Lowest was 178, but that was last year.

Back on the wagon today, maybe - I've been saying that for a good month now. I'm gonna run tonight, I had taken a week or so off because of my cold.

Bikes are gaining appeal again, though only in pictures - I'm at 54 miles this month, which is like one and a half day's worth in June. Actually I did 640 miles in both May and June. Talk about falling off...

Thinking about hiring that trainer still.. After the DC trip.

Franeytown + 1

This weekend I'll be headed back to the wonderful and charming Trenton, Illinois area for what is sure to be the second wedding event of the summer, when James and Sarah get married and another Franey is added to the mix. Too many Franeys is never a bad thing - it helps with the Franeytown tax base - soon we will be able to afford my official city Chevy Lumina (the one with the golden hawk riding atop a flaming bear (not a homosexual joke) or whatever).

Then late Saturday evening Gina and I will head back to Indy, because Sunday we're going to a'brewin' (one word) and I've gotta work that around Chelsea/Man U @ 11 AM. Yar.

Went to Brugge last night. Hmm. Nothin' doin' here.

Also, did you know that I run every other day now? It's true. I haven't said much about it because I wasn't sure I'd stick with it, but I'm starting to learn to enjoy it so I think it's safe to mention. I'm on this training program. I'm due to start week 5 today. That may get delayed a bit.

I've got proper fitted shoes and everything. The folks at Gray Goat must love my consistent outpouring of dollars. Hi Jason. I know a lot of Jasons.

I'm using the Nike+ thing (which we've rigged to work with my Asics shoes) and almost every time I get an encouraging post-workout message from someone truly inspirational, such as Lance Armstrong, who says stuff like "way to go you just completed your longest workout yet". Sometimes it's a gal, but I'm not sure who she is because I missed her saying her name. That's not very inspirational at all. Nike + is kinda cool though, because it logs how far I've gone and pace and all of that, and I don't have to bother typing things out like I do when I log bike miles on bikejournal.com (99 rides this year, 2,610.25 miles, 17.29 mph avg).

I'm a bit embarrassed that my mileage and speeds are that low.

So yeah. I'm riding to work as much as my sleep schedule will let me (23 miles round trip), running, and eating a ton of crap and not losing any weight whatsoever (185 seems to be where I'm stuck.)

Wow this was rambling. I'm gonna hire a trainer after the year rolls over, I think. That's expensive. Anyway. I've got what I'd call a "fat jacket" on my torso that I'm trying to destroy. I wonder if I'm sorta getting too old and I'm supposed to have a fat jacket. F you, fat jacket.

Awesome

The results of this year's RAIN ride are now posted at the ride's official site. Although those who don't finish the ride generally don't have their names listed on the results spreadsheets, they made a special entry (by my request) this year... check it out.

So now that RAIN is out...

I've kinda got a new idea, that looks a little something like this.

225/17 mph = 13.23 hours

7 am to 8 pm... hmmm.

This one goes out to Mark, who loves bicycles

So after the extensive damage list (I mean, somehow I even managed to bend a seat rail... the rail that supports the seat... I think I was actually hit with the force of god's hand or something), it became apparent that I'd be better off getting a new bike than to bother fixing my beloved LeMond. Sorry, LeMond.

I'll only buy from Gray Goat Sports in Indy - I've heard so many stories about bad bike shops, and Gray Goat has always been good to me - so my choices were LeMond, Trek, Specialized, Orbea, Scott, and Bianchi.

In my size and price they had LeMond, Trek, Orbea, and Bianchi.

The LeMond was basically the same bike I've been riding, and looking at it I couldn't help but think "here we go again"... I took two years for me to tweak the LeMond I had to where I wanted it, and while the bike really didn't need anything... I just felt like maybe I should let that go.

Trek makes a nice bike, and it's pretty close to the LeMond (they're the same company, actually), but Trek's graphics are a big turn off for me. And Trek is the bike Joe Consumer buys, because Trek is the brand everyone knows - Thanks Lance Armstrong. So no Trek.

The Orbea was a nice bike - made in Spain, great paint, solid as a rock... in fact a little too solid. And it had Campagnolo components (the stuff that shifts the bike) and I'm used to Shimano's stuff.

That left the Bianchi. Bianchi is an Italian company with quite a cycling heritage - they're known for the shade of green the bikes are painted ("Celeste") and I've always liked their bikes - I've got a thing for bikes with a classic look, it's what drew me to my LeMond.

And the Bianchi was a slight step up from the bike I was riding - I figured if I was going to spend the money I should at least get a little joy out of it. And so, tonight I'll pick up this:




I don't have the money for any of this, of course; I'm using the money from my savings account that I had put aside for dental work (because as it turns out I don't need nearly as much money as the original estimate) and I'll take Gina's half of the rent and John's rent money and pay the rest off at the end of the month. Well, almost. Thanks American Express, you freakin' own me.

I just couldn't be without a bike - I've cut my calories down to like 1000 a day since the wreck because, well, I need to lose some more weight, but mostly because I know what happens when I don't exercise. And without a bike to ride I don't know what to do with myself when I get home from work. Anyway.

I'd write something about a change of luck, but who knows. Hopefully.

Before the disaster

someone took video of the RAIN ride start.



that's alot of bikes.

if you pause it at 2:31 you can see me, just barely, a flash of white on my jersey, on the far side of the road. EXCITING.

RAIN RIDE 2007

I've been having a pretty rough couple of months on the bike. Although my average speed has been higher this year than ever, I've had plenty of problems - 6 flats in the last two months (most guys get maybe one a year), a noisy wheel... but going into the RAIN ride I felt like I had everything sorted. I had installed new tubes and tires, the bike was shifting nicely, and I finally had gotten over the burnout that had started to creep into my training rides.

So when my riding partner, Dave, started to worry about this year's ride, I tried to calm him down; we were going to be riding with people that were a bit faster than us, but I felt like we had the training in to stick with the pack. And we did out of the gate - from the start we were moving at 23+, but closer to 25 mph. We rode through Terre Haute with the police escort, and as we made the turn onto Route 40 the pack split up a bit, but the lead pack was within our sights.

We had caught on with a group of cyclists from Nebo Ridge bike shop - about ten of us in a double paceline, me on the back at about mile twelve.... and then the deer ran across the road and collided with my bicycle, breaking my front wheel, twisting my stem, throwing my bicycle across a lane, throwing me onto the pavement, cracking my helmet, and leaving me with road rash across my back, and scabs on my wrist, knee and ankle.

I couldn't really tell you how it happened... I heard someone call out "Deer!", I saw the deer and the
next thing I knew I was trying to pull myself out of the traffic lane. Someone picked up my bike and pulled it to the side of the road, and my riding partners Dave and Dale stopped to make sure I was ok. I told them to go on, thinking that I was hurting but ok, not realizing the extent of the damage... as I gathered my wits I considered trying to get back onto the bike, then realized my wheel was destroyed. I called my support vehicle and sat on the side of the road watching the remaining 80% of the pack go by.

I can't help but wonder what might have been - we were definitely on course for a record time - and although Dave abandoned when he met me at near my house (which is right on the route) at mile 90 due to frustration (and loss of his riding partner), Dale pushed on and finished in 8 hours even - a speed I'd like to think I could have maintained with him.

I guess we'll find out next year.

My bike is now at the bike shop, with a tore up new Specialized Toupe seat (which I bought a month ago), a taco'ed front wheel... something's wrong with the back wheel as well... all in all I'm guessing it's going to be a $500 bill.

In addition my back is stiff, my foot is swollen, I'm scabby... but in good enough spirits anyway. Of course I'm frustrated that I put in all the training and then had the results taken away from me. And I'm pissed that deer don't generally have insurance. I'm anxious to see what the doctor will find.

Oh well...

WRAPUP

You might be wondering what's been happening in the world of Real Salt Lake... well, they haven't won yet, despite firing Steve (SO THAT'S WHAT THAT GETS YOU, YOU DUMB BITCHES), and today they traded Chris Klein, which really means nothing to me since I don't suspect they're ever going to win again. It's like the Cubs goat curse, except with Steve instead. So what I'm saying is STEVE = GOAT. In more ways than one.

Hi Steve.

I guess the trade will be good for the team, except rumors have one of the players coming to Salt Lake going over to Europe, so.. WHOOP-DEE-DOO.

I still watch the games, in a bemused state, while drinking beer and reading from the pile of magazines that gather on my living room table, threatening to grow ever larger, and then eat me.

* * * * *

The Hoosier Beer Geeks were featured in INtake today, and there's a picture featuring Gina and I, and our names were never mentioned. That's fine by me, though it seems sort of strange.

The cycling jersey article, which I linked over at bikeforums.net, caused a 700% increase in site traffic Tuesday. My head is swelling.

* * * * *

Yesterday I spent $300 on my current bicycle, including $85 pedals and a $150 seat. That's right, my seat cost more than your bicycle, probably. But it's white. And it doesn't make my junk numb, which was starting to be an issue with my old seat. You wanted to know about that.

* * * * *

The national team plays Canada tonight, on Fox Soccer Channel, which is no place for a national team game. That should be on ESPN2, at least. Canada might be tough this year? I know, seems funny.

and then...

Last night I also cancelled my Pedal Force purchase. I'm going to throw money at my current bike instead, because it's oh so pretty.

Pedal Force

See the post below where I say I can go back to blowing money? I put in for a groupbuy of one of these this morning...

$500 for a full carbon frame was too good to pass up. Now I'm looking at Ebay for parts.

bike/beer article at hoosier beer geek

Hey!

I put in a lot of work on an article at hoosier beer geek about bike/beer jerseys... check it out when you get the chance.

these people are crazy

Sometime Saturday the first of this year's Race Across America participants should roll through the south side of Indianapolis. RAAM, "The World's Toughest Bike Race", feature competitors either doing the race solo, in teams of two, or teams of four. They are given 12 days to cross the country, which averages out to about 250 miles per day.

This race is of particular interest to me because the route uses quite a few roads that I use regularly, and also goes directly behind my subdivision, onto what is possibly the worst road in the whole city, South Tibbs Avenue. I wish I could be in town to sit roadside and cheer the competitors on, but I'll be in Cincinnati instead. But I might paint something on the road, anyway.

RAAM is something I think I might like to do someday; probably not by myself, but perhaps in a four person relay. The folks who do the route solo average like 4 hours of sleep per day, and are known to fall asleep on the bike... not exactly my idea of a good time. My longest one-day ride is currently RAIN, which is 160 miles... I can't quite imagine doing 250 for 12 straight days. But you never know...

23 skidoo.

A coworker just gave me a box of 24 Clif Bars, which I eat when I'm biking. Yippee skippy.

And there he died

This summer has been particularly hectic due to events beyond my control: Well, they're completely controllable, I suppose, but now it's too late. Last year I was waist deep in bike mileage at this time, and well prepared for the Ride Across Indiana. This year... well, not so much.

Ramping up for the ride is what guarantees that it'll go well. Last year I worked off a schedule that ramped up the weekend mileage gradually, and in the two weeks previous to the ride I put 90 mile rides on both weekends. This year I've attempted to ramp up to those 90 mile rides, but somehow I keep finding myself quitting at mile 50 or so. Well, I guess I did 70 last weekend... but in any case, I'm not really feeling it this year.

That would be fine except I've booked up my next three weekends. This coming weekend I'll be in Cincinnati for a National concert/Red game. The following weekend I'll be at a brewfest in Indianapolis (which is sure to put me out of commission for both Saturday and Sunday), and the week following I'll be back in St. Louis for the wedding to end all weddings.

That leaves the week before RAIN to get where I need to be. Or I can put in a ton of miles after work... which is what I'll end up doing. It just sorta sucks because I end up spending the hours of 6-9 on a bike. And wait, I'm supposed to enjoy this.

And I do, but not as much this year.

how i'm livin

Friday night about midnight I get a call from my bicycling companion, Dave E, who wants to let me know that he's not going to be attending Saturday's scheduled ride, The B&O somethingorother, because he's still wide awake, and drinking.

I didn't know much about this B&O ride, because it wasn't my idea. It was Dave's. We both had looked at CIBA's calendar, saw the ride, thought "hmm, maybe we should join CIBA"... but Dave made the call. I thought I was showing up for just a normal CIBA ride, where a bunch of people just show up, ride a marked course, and then go home. I brought along a $20 bill to join CIBA, because I've been riding courses they've marked all summer, and I thought maybe I should compensate someone for all the work.

When I arrived at the ride, by myself, I found a large crowd, a bunch of tables, and no way to join CIBA. As it turns out, the B&O ride is a charity ride for some sort of trail. And it's $20 to ride. So instead of $20 to CIBA for a year's worth of rides, I paid $20 to ride one day. Oh well.

I jumped on the bike and started a bit early (maybe 15 minutes?) from the scheduled start time, but once on the course I saw plenty of other riders. I pushed the pace quite a bit and ended up riding by myself for the first 30 miles (at around 20 mph, I guess) and then, when rolling into a little town (I have no idea where I was, I was just following marks on the road), I noticed a rest stop (or a SAG - Stop and Go). There were two guys with bikes at the SAG, an old woman, a table with nothing on it...

"We're not set up yet. Sorry."

I had worked my way through one water bottle, but I still had a second full bottle. Whatever. I paid $20 for this?

Back on the bike.

I had food with me, so I wasn't concerned about bonking (in which you burn up all the fuel in your body and end up riding at about 10 mph for 30 miles), but I was a little flustered none-the-less.

Down a hill, across a wooden bridge, up a gravel covered road... dogs. 3 of them, running next to me, barking. They didn't get in front of me, so... phone call.

"Hi Dave. Nice ride choice. Here comes a paceline... I'll call you back."

3 folks ride by - one of them says "Jump in". I do. There are 3 more folks behind him.

We fall into a pretty tight paceline - 7 of us now - all of them on bikes that cost at least twice what mine did. I always enjoy keeping up with people who spent more money than me.

And now we're pushing 25 mph... and I'm with them for about 3 miles, I guess, and then I'm spit out the back. I hadn't planned for 25 mph. I might have eaten first.

Eventually I arrive at the last SAG, and there's a line of people 100 deep (the SAG was for both the short and long routes - these were people doing the short route). I didn't want to wait. Back on the bike.

I do another 15 miles with some other guy who's just out riding around, then 3 into a headwind and I'm dying... and here comes the group that passed me earlier. They must have actually stopped at the SAG.

They go around, say hello again... Stop sign. And now I'm sticking with them. 20+ mph for the last 10 miles (which were about 8 more than I thought we were supposed to be riding).

Anyway. You read all of that? Must be bored.

70 miles, 19.5 average, stops included. Not bad at all.

I didn't ride sunday. I was tired.