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.