This is not me!

I don't know who this is. It is a picture that I ran across on the web. I can say that I can relate to this picture. First of all I want to say that what ever the intentions of this person are, he is on the bike and he is giving some level of effort. Beyond that, we are unsure of the nature of this photo. I sometimes feel just like this when I ride or more so when I have taking some time off from riding. I don't want to have that feeling anymore. I am exposing myself as being lazy. I am in no way to far beyond a level of achievement that should inhibit me from reaching my goals. I don't want to be rail thin, I don't even know that I could be. I do want to be in the best shape that I can achieve and maintain it for the rest of my life. I do know that winters are hard for me. I seem tired more often and it zaps the energy right out of me. I don't like that. I am further back of where I was just eight months ago. I want to reach new levels and push beyond and harder than I can even imagine. I have it in me, I just haven't believed it yet. Good luck to every one that believes in their selves and aim to push beyond where they are.

dead of winter

Well, I just put some thought into the fact that I haven't posted anything lately. It has been quite cold here in the North East and I don't have all the gear that I would really like to have to push through the frigid temperatures. I will be prepared for next winter a lot better. I still have my goals that I will be working on. I will not give up on getting the most out of this that I can.




In other news, I got a spin bike from the local gym. It was an incredible deal so I thought that I would add it to my collection. I rode it today. I tell you what, there is nothing quite like a work out on a spin bike. Next to it is my Fuji set up on my trainer. (sorry about the bad picture, it is a little dark in the basement.) I am going to be training quite diligently for next season.

I have a bike that I am stripping down and redoing for my friends wife. She is graduating from college to become a doctor. We had been thinking of building a bike for her. We found a candidate and I will be posting the progress here over the coming months.

first winter (snowy) commute

Wednesday I did my bike commute. Let me start by saying my commute by bike is partially done by bus. I live about 35 miles away from where I work. Sometimes I take the bus because it is slightly cheaper than driving. It is not faster, though. It takes about twice as long than driving myself. Anyways, I ride my bike a couple of miles to the bus stop. I then throw my bike on the rack and relax until I get to Burlington. Then I get on my bike and ride the rest of the way to my shop. It is about six miles each way of riding on a direct route. Therefore, if I commute two days a week, I will get 24 miles a week. In 12.5 weeks I will hit 300 miles. That is my goal for this winter. Quick math suggests that I will be into Spring before then so I have to supplement my riding on weekends around town. I really want to achieve this goal.

Back to the ride. I got into Burlington and we had a steady moderate snowfall going on. I was a little anxious yet excited. I love riding and this was going to be a unique experience. I was very impressed and pleased with the performance of the studded tires. They have an aggressive enough tread on them to do a good job when there is a bunch of crud on the road. I had quite a range of conditions to deal with. I traveled main roads as well as some secondary roads and the tires seemed to adapt to each very well. I found myself in only a couple of predicaments with the coffins on wheels. Mostly, they seemed to be courteous and cautious of my presence. I got blasted with some crud at one point when a car passed me. I realized that there was no malicious intent nor was there anything that I could of done about it. I looked down and saw my legs covered in muck with the consistency of pancake batter. Winter battle wounds!

Another observation I made was that I need to go to a 19 or 20 tooth rear cog, (I am riding fixie if you didn't know) because the 17t is a little tall for foul weather. I have to get out of the saddle on some of the climbs and then I easily loose traction in the snow. I still haven't done anything about switching to flat bars and I still want to give it a try. Hopefully I can give it a shot here soon. I would like to get some better winter gear, but winter riding gloves are going to be a must. Better luck next year! Get out there, you will be glad you did.

Happy New Year! It is 2009

Finally the craziness of work schedules have past. I will now be able to start commuting by bike a couple days a week. I hope that I can get myself use to the idea of riding a bike in weather that is in the teens. I am still wanting to switch my bars over to flat from drop, but I will have to do that in a couple of weeks. I will try to write on the days that I ride to share my experiences. I have to remember that I made a personal goal to ride 300 miles this winter. I am sure that I can do it. I also want to take some spin classes this winter to keep my endurance up as well as ride my trainer down stairs. I don't want to be a fat cyclist this year. Maybe I can earn an "s" this winter and put it in the "fat" and make it "fast". :) Don't be evil. Be nice and ride often!

Happy Holidays

I rode my bike last night up and down my street about four times. I was trying to get the feel of what to expect from the bike so I don't get myself into trouble with some traffic. Once I get through these next two weeks, I am going to bike commute twice a week. It has not been feasible with the holiday hours as of late. I am really looking forward to riding a lot this winter. It is a whole different experience to say the least. I got my "manvan" on the road and plan on making a rack system that goes in the back area with the seats removed. I am hoping that there is height clearance to make this possible. Enough jib jab for now. I will post some pictures of our wintry conditions soon.

Best Wishes!

TEST RUN!

Here is the winter rig!

It is complete, except I am going to put flat bars on it in a couple of weeks. I am looking forward to the rides this off season. Like I said previously, my goal is to do 300 miles before next season begins. I am hoping to trim down significantly. I will have to say that I didn't know what to expect my first time on studded tires. I was instantly impressed how well they work. I have to be careful not to become over confident with them and get myself into some trouble. At any rate, I buzzed around the neighborhood a couple of times to get use to them. Below is a few more pictures. Just because.

Winter riding

I got some studded tires for my fixie yesterday. I ordered them from Peter White Cycles in NH. I will be putting them on the bike this weekend and start riding on them monday, so I don't have any input on them yet. I will say that there was a plethora of information on his website to make it quite clear what choice of tire would best suit your needs. I highly recommend anyone to check out his website. http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/

700c Nokian Hakkapeliitta W106 35mm

I will post my opinion about this tire later. We haven't seen any real inclimate weather yet. Inclimate weather? Dictionary.com says that there is no such word as inclimate. Maybe there ought to be, though. Inclimate could become a new word to describe our current lack of inclemence (is that a word?). This is Vermont and it is Dec. 6th with little to no action with winter storms yet. Oh well, some would say, "careful what you wish for!" (of course I am wishing for inclimate weather because I just got some new tires for winter commuting.)

When it is dark and cold it is hard to be motivated to get out and ride. Some days are better than others, but it is still something I look forward to doing. I hope to log some where around 300 miles this winter. That is my goal. I would like to be in better physical condition at the start of next riding season so that I can kick some ass. My wife and I are planning on doing the Vermont 50 next year. It is a mountain bike race that my friend Bob has done and in his own special way has encouraged me to do it. I then in turn, in my own special way, encouraged my wife to do it. Long story short, I have a lot of training to do to prepare me for the demands that that ride will have on me. I will do as much winter riding as I can paired with some indoor bike training and any other winter cross training. This will be just what I need. More on this as it unfolds.

So, if nothing else, I hope that I have been inspiring to get out and ride a little this winter. These months ahead are sometimes depressing enough on there own. With a little effort, it is easy to lessen the burden.

Be nice, ride often!