I’ve got a word on me!

There is a lot more to this story – those close to me know the story. Those not – you will be confused. Ignorance is bliss!  There will be more to come as this story unfolds!  What ever you do – do NOT try to put that word on me!

My Neighbor’s House

Broken stuff sucks

My parents gave me a VERY NICE bike computer that I absolutely love when it works – but I’ve owned it since I turned 40 – about 15 months ago and it’s been replaced once already and is broken again.  It has some seriously cool features – but none of them are currently accessible by me.  Why you might ask? The “Mode” button is broken.  That means the only screen I can see is the GPS Accuracy mode.  It’s not a total loss… one of the things I like about it is the record feature, which will work… but looks like another trip back to Garmin.  They have a “Flat Rate Fix” policy I read about – $80 … ugh!  On top of that – I changed my cleats in my shoes last night and stripped one of the screws.  Ooops… at least it’s a front one and there are 2 big strong back ones… It’s holding and you can get a replacement T-nut – but that’s 2 things in 2 days.

Great night at the track the other night – scored a nice 2nd place in the unkown distance.  I had a bit of an issue with less than a lap to go – but hey, that’s bike racing!  Got 4th in a points race that I was ganged up on … but hey – bring on the challenge!  Makes me ride harder/stronger/faster!

Riding home tonight… maybe ride tomorrow or Sunday, but am on call and have homework to do – ewwwwwwww…..

What was I thinking?

So I decided to ride to work today – nothing odd about that!  Just a good thing to do.  Well, I didn’t feel like chasing a PR so I was just rolling along, minding my own business.  A tri-geek passes me, not going much faster than me.  We hit about 3 Silver Comet Trail intersections together.  He yells “CLEAR”…. I say “THANKS”… he knows I am behind him.  We get rolling a bit better and I fall in behind him.  At first I give him a gap… he knows I am back there… as we start to go up a mild rise… he slows a bit and I get closer.  He is riding reasonably smooth – reasonably straight.  I relax my “defenses” a bit and get closer.   Life is good.  I am going to get to work earlier… nice.   All of the sudden out of NO WHERE…. he slams on the brakes.  I crap my chamois and lock up my brakes.  I pull into a nose wheelie… skid a bit… I want to yell WTF!  Alas… I see there was  a squirrel scampering around on the trail that apparently made this guy lose his mind.

Why don’t people STEAR their vehicles in the event of a bad situation?  Brakes are not always the answer.   I had to use mine… as we were going onto a bridge at the time and there was no place to go.  Below is my rear tire… Now to find a ride to a bike shop at lunch – My ride needs some new sneakers.

Oops

The Longest Day (in a long time)

Now, I’ve pulled a bunch of all nighters in my day, but at age 41 – they aren’t quite as easy as they used to be.  Friday my day started off GREAT!  I got to ride to work – which almost always starts my day off well.  This one was great – I went super fast – setting a new to-work PR.  Awesome.  We had free pizza at work – another bonus, then I got to ride home.  The ride home had issues but hey – its better than sitting in traffic.  I bonked hard, lost my mind, went slow… but it was still good.  I got home and mowed the front yard.  At that point, I was thinking – let’s take a CHILL… I went down to the pool and found my family.  About 5 minutes later, my mother-in-law called.  This is where the “extension” to my day started!

Derek was away for the week, hanging with his grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins… good times.  Well, turns out the Aunt he was currently with got sick.    Un-fun, but she had a stomach issue and wasn’t doing so good.  OOPS!  Gracie called and said we should go get Derek.  Off we go!  Marietta – Irmo – Marietta!  In bicycle racing, that would be a stage or something… in this – it was a lesson in sleep deprivation.

The trip there was un-eventful – which is good.  The trip home I started getting REALLY tired.  Sarah had napped a bit so she took the wheel for a little while.  In general, I’m better at pushing myself when I am tired… so but in this case, I was fading fast and at 65+ – that’s not a good thing.

Sarah drove for 30-45 minutes giving me just a little time to re-charge my battery.  We rolled back into our house at 4:10 am.  Saturday – I took a little nap, but never really got all my brain cells firing on all cylinders.  I made it – but kind of a slow day.  Today – things are better.  What a day!

The Fletcher Flyer

First – i’d like to congratulate Sarah for taking on the 50 mile ride @ the Fletcher Flyer.  Given her busy schedule, a bout with a few odd sinus issues and everything else, Sarah rode great!  Her first 25 miles were her finest 25 miles on a bike.  I am sure the next 25 were equally as good! Good job, babe!

I don’t think my Century was my best.  I had some issues… mostly with my brain!  You see, at the third rest stop, you were supposed to go ride 14 more miles and come back to the same rest stop.  I screwed up and missed that, but joined in with one of the front Century groups.  I did ride enough extra miles to cap off the day with 102 miles and that felt good.  It was hot, but I focussed on hydration and it went pretty well.  A good day on the bike.

What I can tell you about the ride is that Asheville, North Carolina is a wonderful place to ride a bike.  I truly enjoyed the back roads around that town.  They have the “Hilly Hellacious” coming up in October and I’m at least pondering making a return trip to the mountains.  A lot will depend on how my quest in VeloLosers is going.  Over doubling the climbing from yesterday could put me in the hurt locker!

One thing that is always fun is the “professional century riders”.  These guys are killing themself to make their PR (and this was a good PR course), but they have no clue how much extra work they are doing.  I can now see how the coaches around the country could definitely help people who want to ride a century a little better.  One guy was yelling at me because people at a rest stop got in his way – dude – let it go!

Now… a special shout out to my buddy, Cici!  You are a rock star!  You came from NOTHING to 100 miles and you did it!  Yes you did, Cici and I am proud of you!  Your riding is only 1/4 of it … your passion, your energy, your love of the cause.  It’s all an inspiration to me!  I am glad I could play a part in your ride, even if it was a small one!  Next year, at Fletcher, when you are a mentor – I’ll come see all the little Cici’s all ready to take on the ride!  Good job!