june 26, 2006

all its done for the past 3 days is rain. ive just riden to work and back and that was it. got my first flat on the kona though but was able to save the tube. the real bad news is that i found another lump 'you know where'. :( im thinking its the same kind that happened 2 years ago when i was riding alot. that time it was just an infection of a gland and amoxicillin(sp?) cleared it up within a week. but now, no insurance so this one may have to wait to get checked. shitty.

june 24, 2006

rain rain rain. rode bike on the trainer for 23 minutes. my legs felt dead. rain for sunday as well but at least i will ride to and from work. sigh....

june 22, 2006

today was the day i went from just riding my bike to racing it. eric asked found a riding club that races every thursday and asked me to join up. figuring it would be a good time we went. the night before they held a time trial to place people in groups according to their ability. we werent there last night so we were placed in the lowest level group which started first. each group after that started 6 minutes later making the last group go around 21 minutes after we started. sadly eric had to drop out due to his chain popping off but from the fortune of being classed in the lowest group i ended up winning the race! the true feeling of winning isnt really with me though due to the handicap but hey, i will take it! in addition to now being bumped up to a higher ranked group, i was awarded a medal, and also won a sweet team jersey!

not to split hairs about my time, average speed and all that stuff. but i had plenty of things that made my time slower that it should have been. not being told about 2 turns and having to stop to turn around, stopping to give another rider a spare tube, and allowing my group to catch up to me on numerous accounts. i feel my time could have been better by almost 10 minutes had these events not happened. but all in all i am VERY satisfied and enjoyed it a lot. got to meat new cyclists, learned how to ride in a pace line, and just having a great exercise. today;

d-26.00
t-1:22:21
as-18.9mph
ms-34.6mph

june 21, 2006

had a very fast ride today in prep for tomorrow. towards the end though my bad luck with cars continued :(
coming up to a light the car stopped there had its right blinker going so i went to pass it on the left. they ended up going straight stiking me in the middle of the road. i ended up exchanging words with the driver and then evetually 'tapped' their passanger side mirror. my anger management in these situations needs some help :) up until that point the ride was great;

d-8.91
t-25:49
as-20.8mph
ms-27.9mph

june 19, 2006

got out in the morning today before all the heat moved in. was able to put up a decent number of miles and would have kept going had work not been calling. ended up taking the cannondale to work and beat my previous time of getting there. 7mins25sec. good day for riding. i also got a massage from the women next door for my back. i hope it loosens up from now on because it has become really uncomfortable. todays riding;

d-20.21
t-1:02:45
as-19.3mph
ms-34.8mph

june 17, 2006

my back wheel finally let out and a spoke broke off. thankfully i was within walking distance from a bike shop and was able to have it repaired within an hour. but the cost! $38!! any time i let a shop touch my bike i feel cheated now. the machine to do the repair costs around $50! anyway the bike is fixed and i was able to ride back home. ride went well from there;

d-8.69*
t-?
as-?
ms-?

* broke 800 mile mark.

june 15, 2006

got to ride with eric today. eric and i met on the 'hops to hops tour' down in lambertville in 2004. we also rode the same tour in 2005. it felt great riding with a partner. wasnt concerned about speed, distance, max speeds, or anything. just took rodes to see where they went and talked about bikes along the way. it looks like we will be hitting the rode often too as he is gearing up to get into a racing circut. who knows, maybe i will too! todays ride;

d-24.30
t-1:34:49
as-15.4mph
ms-31.2mph

june 14, 2006

morning ride was a success. my legs were a little tired and although i didnt get in a full 20 miles my ride was nice. went to the park, around once, and back home. the clicking noise in the back tire will have to be looked at soon. also, both wheels need to be trued. oh well, comes with having a 3 year old bike i guess. ride;

d-16.86
t-51:57
as-19.5mph
ms-31.4mph

had a spare zip tie so i was able to remount the odometer :)

june 13, 2006

rode today after ride home from work. took a regular route that was only about 11 miles. not having my odometer is a bit of a pain. took me a little while to figure out my milage using google earth :)

i was shooting up climbs today that 2 years ago took some moderate effort. i also have been using much higher gears on flats. anyway, i plan on waking early tomorrow to get in miles before work. numbers;

d-10.9
t-?
as-fast?
ms-?

june 10, 2006 (tour de cure)

did the 30 mile diabetes tour this morning. like all other tours something on my bike didnt work! the odometer crapped out this time. not having the odometer made it a little difficult to know exactly where i was and how much longer there was to ride. it went very well though. there were no indications that i was tiring out or hitting any walls. this time last year a tour like this would have knocked me out! even after the tour my legs had enough in them to ride 10 more miles home from the train station then to and from work! big day for cycling. :) my numbers are a sketchy though due to no odometer;

d-46.62
t-couple hours?
as-good?
ms-fast?

oh, i also passed the 700 mile mark :)

june 9, 2006

been doing the usual ride to and from work. had another rain ride the other day that had a lot of wind as well. the waterproof jacket im using it way too large for me when sitting. this thing opens up like a sail while riding and the wind starts to feel like a hurricane! going to start looking into an actual waterproof bike jacket instead of this one which is just a normal shell. also it may be a good idea to get a bike cover. getting the kona wet is just painful each time it happens. rust scares me!

so i rode in prep for my tour tomorrow. hopefully someone get give me a ride there. this is one time a car would be nice. getting to and from by train would take too long and be expensive.

as far as how i feel for this ride; solid. im burning through 20 mile rides lately and i think my legs are the strongest they have been and getting stronger.

ride today;

d-21.24
t-1:07:01
as-19.0mph
ms-30.8mph

june 5, 2006

reached a new top speed today. came down longhill road after climbing zion road, "the mountain". took a new route after that which ended up being very nice. this saturday is the tour de cure which im riding 30 miles in. so most of my rides this week will be focused around that.

d-16.72
t-58:01
as-17.3
ms-45.2mph*


*fast

june 4, 2006

put the new tire on today and went for a short ride. having beer and not sleeping well = having no legs. anyway, the tire felt fine. a little sticky at first but seemed to wear in a little. i want to put some miles on this week before the tour on saturday.

d-7.26
t-23:47
as-18.4mph
ms-30.5

june 2, 2006

had to ride into princeton to pick up some meds today. also wanted to stop by the bike shop there to have the cannondale fork looked at and maybe purchase a new rear tire. instead of taking the normal route, i decided on taking 206 in and then the normal route back. this was a much nicer ride. not as hilly, but made it more like a circle rather and just up and down one road. after getting the meds i made a really stupid mistake. left the bag under my seat unzipped! not realizing it until after getting to the bike shop my initial reaction was "someone stole my money and my credit cards!". not so though. i retracked my route twice and actually found all the money and the two cards! how often does that happen?!

ended up that i got a new tire too. its a continental gp3000. i know that means nothing to some people but its a good tire. has 5 layers and is really light. see..



anyway, here are my numbers(i was going REALLY slow when i was riding around looking for money and cards. affected my average speed a ton);

d-32.08
t-1:54:59
as-16.7mph
ms-36.9mph