Franken-rudy

I combined both my broken Rudy Project glasses to form 1 working pair.

Broken Record

I've had enough character building rides to last me the next 10 years! Today's ride started with soaking wet roads and fog. I'm talking about patches of dense fog that made you wonder if drivers could see you. Half way through the ride, the winds picked up (20 - 30 mph winds). Then the rain started. Not drizzle or sprinkles, but rain showers. At least I had the foresight to carry my rain jacket with me. It poured the last 45 minutes of my ride. On the bright side, it was in the low 50's and the rain got rid of all the fog! I haven't ridden so many times in the rain since I can remember (and never in the fall and winter); I guess I really hate the trainer now.

Group Ride

I haven't done a group ride this off season, other than in Hawaii. There is a group ride that starts ~2 miles from my house. Call me lazy, but getting there by 9am has been tough lately. I decided to get my lazy butt out of bed and head on over (our Team ride is on Sunday - they are calling for Thunder Storms tomorrow). I haven't done such a hilly ride in months! There was only 4 of us. I think the Holiday weekend, wet roads, and starting temperature in the low 30s had a lot to do with that. I really feel it and think I'm heading to bed early tonight.

Another Week...

...more crappy weather. I did an hour and a half ride on Wednesday. Guess what? Yep, it rained for the last 1/2 hour. Another rain ride. At least it was warm - 38 degrees!

I have my Christmas beer already picked out...

And so the Three Wise Men set out from the East bearing gifts of Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh. Along the Way, they follwoed a bright light. The Bible neglects to mention if they brought beer or not. Who goes crossing the desert without beer? How smart are we to believe these wise men were? Since Cristmas is the season of gift giving more than receiving so please be a giver and share the Wisdom found in each and every bottle of our Gift of the Magi.

Can't Wait!

I took my Merlin into the shop last week. I can't wait to get it back. I'm getting it 'rebuilt' with;

• Record Cranks
• Record Shifters
• Chorus deraillers
• Easton EC-90 Equip bar
• ITM carbonio stem
• Reynolds Ouzo Pro fork

The Merlin has always been my farvorit bike, but I've been ignoring it the past couple years. I had 9 speed Record converted to 10 speed, and it just didn't seem 'right'. Once I get it back, this will probably be my primary ride vs. the Torelli.

Losing my confidence...

... in Rody Projects. I broke another pair! These snapped when I was putting them on before Saturday's ride. That makes two pairs that snapped in the exact same spot. On the bright side, I snapped the left side this time (the other pair the right side broke). Between the two, I can make a workable set; but it will have 1 blue arm and 1 silver arm!

On the road again...

I couldn't stand it any longer! After sitting on the trainer for my last 7 works outs, I had to get outside. Yesterday would have been perfect as it got up to 50 degrees and the sun came out, but I had kid duty (Alex and I put up our Christmas lights). Today was another one of those character building rides;

• The roads were wet and there were puddles everywhere (it rained all night),
• I hit patches of misty rain and drizzle, and
• The temperatures were in the low 30s.

A few years ago, I wouldn't ride if it was below 35 degrees. Last year I was riding when it was in the low 20s. I wouldn't ride in the rain in the summer and I've already been out in the 'rain' twice with the temperatures below 35 (thankfully only misty and drizzles today). Either I'm getting used to the colder and miserable weather or I'm losing my common sense in my 'old age'.

With showers in the forecast all week, I may be back on the trainer.

Crash Photos

Looking through some older photos, I came across these two. These are a couple of my favorites. They were taken at a race back in 2004. This happened at the very front (I was in about 5th position) of a 70 strong field.



If you look closely, it looks like the racer who started this crash rolled a tire. I'm the rider on the very left (you can see my blue helmet and orange/yellow jersey tucked in behind).








Here is a photo of me using my cat like reflexes to avoid losing some skin. I was heading straight for a big ass curb but was able to bunny hop it.

It started snowing at lunch time today. Four straight days on the trainer and counting!

I watched these 2 movies while on the trainer the last 2 days. The Grudge 2 really sucked and made my trainer ride seem like 6 hours long. At least 1408 was 'watchable'.

It's a good thing today is a scheduled day off. It is windy outside! Sustained winds of 30 mph with gusts over 50 mph!

Trainer Blues

This weekend, I sat on the trainer for the 1st time in months. I actually rode it on both Saturday & Sunday. It's not even winter, I've only ridden on the trainer twice, and I'm already sick of it. Nothing like a 2 hour session on your trainer (at least I watched a couple movies I've been meaning to get to).

This week looks cold. Highs of 36 means ride time highs of low 30s. At least next Sunday looks warm and toasty!

Character Building Ride...

I've been fighting off this cold for the past 3 days. I hate it when I miss a ride, let alone 2 days in a row. This morning, I watched the news for the weather and I checked the weather page at lunch. The forecast was for mid-50s and partly sunny. With this forecast, I wasn't overly concerned when I started my ride and it was overcast and 42 degrees. I even dressed lightly expecting it to warm up as I rode. Guess what happened? At the farthest point in my loop, it starts raining on me. Great. Temperatures drop below 40, I'm still sick, I'm not wearing enough clothes, and I'm at the farthest point from home during today's planned ride. I smile and hammer home (could be worse - I could have not ridden today!).

After showering, I look out the window and there was blue skies and sun as far as I could see...

That's not all I broke...

Unpacking, I found my pair of relatively new Rudy Projects. I forgot that I broke these in Hawaii. Out of all things, I did it getting into the car. So, I actually broke 4 things...

Sharing

The kids decided to share their cold with me. What else is there to say...

Brrr...

What a difference a week makes! Last Saturday I was riding in 85 degree weather. Yesterday's ride started at 32 degreess with a wind chill of 23. Today it was 33 degrees when I started. At least it was sunny. I think I'm heading back to Hawaii for a few months...

In the span of 7 days, I hit a few firsts (first for the season and first ever);

• Last Saturday I broke my 1st frame. That week flew by and hopefully Ben knows what his replacement will be soon.
• Yesterday I wore my tights and winter jacket for the 1st time this off season.

• Today I used those air activated hand warmers in my booties for the 1st time this off season.
• My toes were numb for the 1st time due to the cold this off season.

Counting down the days to spring (and it hasn't even snowed yet!)

Turkey Day

Luckily the weather has been well above normal allowing me to acclimate to the colder temperatures. A few days ago, I was riding and sweating in 85 degree weather. Yesterday and today's rides were done in the low 60's. I think Mr. Reality will come and kick me in the balls tomorrow; the forecasted High is 41 and the Low is 24!
Here is the profile from today's ride. There's about 5 miles missing (the Delorme software I'm using is over 4 years old and the newer streets are missing). No flat roads like I've been riding in Hawaii (and no 5 mile climbs either). Back to the solo riding (the huge daily HACC rides spoiled me!). I rode for 2 hours and posted my fasted MPH and one of my strongest EM power. Gotta slow it down or I'll be peaking for December!

I drank a few Pumpkin beers with dinner tonight. Here's the order I ranked them;

1. Bristol Venetucci Pumpkin Ale (had an interesting Vanilla Cream Soda aspect)
2. Shipyard Pumpkinhead Ale
3. Jacks Pumpkin Spice Ale (typical Busch crap)

For my night cap I had a 10% Double IPA (Nogne Batch 100).

Maui

During our recent trip to Hawaii, we Island hopped to Maui for a week. I brought along my brother's Break-away frame. Thanks a million Mike - I have to buy one of these in my size! I took a relative easy week riding. Only went out 4 times. Where we were staying, I had to do an out and back ride every day. The only other option would be to ride around the Northern part for a ~80mile ride (too long this time of year!).

Here is a picture of the where I would turn around. The climb in the background is relatively short but very steep (19% at the top). I saw other cyclists get off and walk up. I barely made it with the gearing I had! Boy did my arms burn. If you enlarge the picture, you can see a car at the very top and a white dot. That dot is another cyclist making his way up.





Here is the profile of my daily ride. Some of the descents were fun in the rain!

Some random shots from my daily ride.

Hawaii Vacation

I try to get to Hawaii every 1-2 years. In addition to visiting family, I use the opportunity to bring my bicycle along and get in some warm weather training. I owe a big thanks to my cousin Ben and his cycling team HACC for their generosity and for letting me beat up on them!

On the HACC ride on Sunday 11/11, I had the pleasure of breaking a pedal. Luckily this happened when we were 'noodling' along at 15 mph. I was on the down stroke and my foot kept going until it hit the ground. The pedal looks old and beaten up, but it is actually only ~1.5 years old (damn that family curse of having so much power!). On the bright side, this forced me to the Keo Pedals that I've been meaning to switch to.



On Wednesday, 11/14, I had the pleasure of breaking one of my toes. This happened as I was walking to my Grandma's porch. There is a small step down. I slipped on the carpet and landed on all my toes with all my weight. When it first happened, I thought I broke more than one, so I guess I'm lucky! This didn't deter me from doing a 2 hour ride later in the day with the HACC boys. Lucky this was an easy day for them and I pushed through the pain (I was too pissed at myself for the lack of attention that made me slip in the 1st place!).


The family curse of possessing sooo much power hit me again during Saturday's, 11/17, ride. Either that or Ben's bike was a piece of crap! Since Ben rides the same size frame as me, he lent me his bike while riding on Oahu (thanks!). I used Mike's Breakaway bike while on Maui (thanks as well!). While riding with HACC, we had just finished descending Pineapple Hill and moved on to the flat 'race' to Dillingham Air Field. I had just pulled through and had problems pedaling. The rear tire started hitting the frame. After many minutes of unsuccessfully trying to re-align the tire, I noticed the frame had a nice crack in it. Lucky again as this could have happened at one of the 45mph down hill sections!

Here I am riding with the HACC team. Notice my helmet. I was so worried about my broken toe and if I could ride or not, I neglected to bring my helmet with me. Ben called one of his team mates who brought me one of his spare helmets to use. Thanks!!!

Who can forget the beer! One night we headed over to the Kona Brewing Pub. Good beer is few and far between on the islands. I enjoyed their Black Sand Porter and then their IPA.