sunday outing (wet - again)

pictures from my Feb. century

Left or right? Left this time!

This is my old shop in Jonesville before the move, 6 years ago, to South Burlington

Headed across the bridge on Cochran Rd. I rode route 2 to here and then back into Richmond

To here, On The Rise Bakery for a pick me up

Blueberry scone and some juice

Headed towards the Gap through Huntington

Almost there

This would be a sweet bike shop!

At the top of App Gap

This guy, I forgot his name, was at the top when I got there and gave me water and a granola bar. Its cool to know that there are people in the world like this. I will pay it forward.

This will be interesting with snow and ice and bad payment

Decision

I liberated myself of the pressure of records. I have commuted by the Mayor's Limo (public transportation) two days in a row. Good ones to pick too. It was crappy for the last two days. Not that it won't be ahead of us but it was a nice break. I will be back on the bike Monday and plan to stay there. I can see that your bike legs can quickly leave you. Plus, riding more let's me eat more!

end to one thing - beginning of another - or is it?

 We had a record snowfall. Something like two feet in about 24 hours. It started after my rain ride fell short from a flat (see last post). It turned into snow and fell non stop. Monday was a shut down day. Businesses and schools were closed. I don't play by those rules so I attempted to ride in to the shop right in the middle of all this. It didn't work at all. I didn't get very far before I had to head home and dig out the Durango. I drove to work! DAMN!!! 89 days riding in and back home until this storm took it all away.

So now I am at day 2. I think I don't really care. I had been looking for something to get in the way recently but nothing has. I have been enjoying it but the pressure of keeping it going had taking part of the fun out of it.

So I have decided that there are three ways to deal with this. I have not decided on one of them yet but I think I will soon so I can let go and move on:

1. I didn't ride so time resets and it is what it is!
2. I consider the workday a freebie because most of Vermont took the day off and did nothing because it was a crippling storm. Therefore, my record would still continue unscathed. 
3. I just stop worrying about it and realize that I have already ridden more this calendar year than I have the last two combined. I have almost 1000 miles in just commuting.

I will render a decision on this shortly and post my answer, as if anyone cares. If you do, by the way, feel free to post a comment.

Next post will be a few pictures of my February century turned metric with a gap. I forgot that I took a few in the first half of the ride.

Thanks, Wil

rain day ride

 I went into this knowing that it would be a wet one. Saturday was the better of the two days but Sunday is my ride day. It started out not so bad. I rode into downtown with a light sprinkle and wet roads but it was warm. I met Mike at City Market and then we took off. There was already a strong wind but the temps dropped a good 5 degrees about as soon as we took off.

The weather only got worse from there. We rode out south and the rain picked up. We turned West and the wind was ridiculous. It drove the rain sideways and man did it hurt. We took shelter and a country store and warmed up a bit before riding back towards home base.



As you can see on the map, the end point was not the start point. As the rain turned to sleet and then eventually snow, I hit a pothole and got a pinch flat! DAMN! We pulled in to a strip mall for cover and I attempted to change the tire (of course it was the rear one) but the cold chills were setting in quickly. We pulled the plug on the ride and Mike called his wife for extraction. At this point we sat in a coffee shop warming up and waited for her. Once she got to us, the weather turned to a full on winter storm.

Still, a fun time on the bike regardless the hardship.

Catching up

First things first. I did my century for February on 2/20 but I fell short. It became a metric plus. I did 70 miles plus the App Gap!

The route that I took put me at the middle of this map. To the left is considered baby gap and to the right is considered "the gap". It's the finish of stage 3 of the Green Mountain Stage Race. Wow! That was a climb. It made falling short of 100 miles quite fine. I will still take it as a great effort. I have plans on revisiting it for another go but this time I will do the whole thing and back.

After I came over the gap I stopped for lunch and then rode on north. I found where a friend of mine lives and stopped by for a quick hello. His Name is Dave and he did the TD last year which ultimately prompted me to challenge myself to train for it. He is instrumental in my motivation, as well as some other close friends of mine. I left feeling charged and look forward to a great year of planning and training.

 Sunday 2/27 I met up with Mike B. and we did an out and back to Shelburne Pond. We hit a shit load of bike paths that would be hard pressed to be considered rideable. Oh, wait, Mike has a Pug!

It came in handy for sure but there were still sections that we did that put a hurting on him. It was a great time, great conversation and a great day. The sun was shining and that was awesome. Did I mention that Mike is doing TD 2012? Well, now he has to. I just made it public.

My ever so trustworthy bike!

March is upon us and the weather will eventually get a hell of alot nicer and I can wait. One month or so until the Gravel Grinder and I want to be ready.