The New Dream Cycling Trip

I will be a father soon, 1-3 weeks to go is the current estimate.  Fatherhood will change everything from what i have been told.  My free time will now be focused on the kids.  

But i can still dream...

Last year Mark and I went to Belgium for a week to watch the RVV and ride the course.  We had a great time and typical Belgian weather.   When we returned i realized....it could be better.  This time of Europe there are bike races twice a week if not more often.  That means that a short trip of say 10 days could include 3 great Northern classics which would leave 5-6 days to ride bikes on the race courses or other places.  

Here is my idea:

Friday: depart for Belgium

Saturday: arrive, unpack the bike, pick up rental car, go see Tom and Nele, give Tom a bunch of shit for being a Belgian that doesn't like beer or cycling.  Go for a ride to shake off the Jetlag.

Sunday:  RVV  race around the countryside to see the pros suffer in the beautiful flemmish ardennes

Monday:  Ride the RVV, starting in Oudenaarde, follow the signs to ride all of the helligens

Tuesday: Ride part of the route of the Gent Wevelgem  Mostly flat, 4 hills, just to get a feel for the course

Wed: G-W race around the countryside to see the pros (no real suffering here...it's flat afterall)

Thursday:  Trip to the Ardennes  ride part of L-B-L some nice hills, but everything is paved.

Friday:  Ride somewhere else, day trip to holland or Germany, or just hang out and try to sample one of each of the 300+ belgian beers.

Saturday:  Ride Paris Roubaix, come on ....it's flat

Sunday:  Paris Roubaix, watch the pros suffer on cobbles.

Monday:  Go home

Looks like fun,  maybe 2011????  

Wonder if Tom will be in his house by then??? Doubt it. :-)

My Quick Ride Route

Back in Staunton if i only had an hour or so to get a ride in, i would do the Springhill loop.  It was about 21-22 miles long, and i would push myself to see if i could do it in an hour. (the answer is yes, i was successful).  Now that i am in a new town, new home, new roads, i've been looking for a route that i could do in an hour or so.  Below is that route.  It is an out and back route that climbs to the top of Burnt Mountain on RT. 136 and then back home.  It takes about 1:15-1:20 to complete.  I will work towards knocking it out in an hour, but somehow i doubt i can fly up the hill that fast....who knows, maybe someday.

Cycling Fashion Faux-pas: The pain and suffering of limited cycling funds.

I have a rule when buying clothes, my shirts should not cost more than $10.  I try to carry that rule over to pants, shorts, t-shirts, basically any other non-cycling related clothing that i may need to purchase.  Granted, it is not always possible to stick to this rule, sometimes you have to pony up a little more.  The strange thing is, i have no such rule when it comes to cycling apparel. That $15-30 dollar dress shirt, that i will wear to meetings and meet customers in will make me stress about the cost, but dangle a $100 jersey on sale for the low price of $65 at the PI outlet and i'm salivating.  It's all about trying to look good while you are doing one of your favorite activities.  That is the "On the bike" fashion, but what about the "bike fashion"????

Note the pictures below:  the first is my ByStickel travel bike, notice the pretty green michelin tires.  I realize that this green color doesn't really go with anything, but there "was" a certain uniqueness about them a few years ago.  The key was that you had to go with two, you can't run just one colored tire.

The next pic is of my old Litespeed Alum/carbon bike.  Notice the blue bar tape, blue paint, blue tires.  A thing of beauty.  Color coordination is key.  The downside is if the bike breaks.  Like this one did, your new bike is red....you are stuck with extra tires that don't match.  The shame!!!
This third pic is of my cross bike, another fine example of color coordination, yellow sidewalls to match the yellow paint, red tread to match the wheels, this happened by accident actually.  But you know i would have made it happen eventually.
I know what you are thinking...is there any real meaning behind this post, or did i just want to find an excuse to show off some bicycles....mmmm....mmmm....what was the question again??  My point is this:  we are having twins in May, so we are trying to watch our spending.  I have some old tires in the basement, black, blue, gray, red, but no matching sets.  I have decided that before i replace another rear tire on the road bike, that i will wear out the extra tires in the basement.  I know right, how embarassing is that, one gray tire, one blue or two red tires that don't match. WHAT IS THIS WORLD COMING TOOOOOO!!!!  I hope my kids recognize the sacrifices i have made for them.  I hope no one recognizes me when i am on my bike.  I'm sooo embarassed.  Thanks for listening.

The Original SUV - Sweeeet Utility Vehicle

Here is my new ride.  The original utility vehicle.  My in-laws got a new car, so i bought this from them to drive back and forth to work.  Better mileage than the truck, and less wear and tear on the truck.    Pretty sweet huh.  I  think it was the wood paneling that sold me.

My Mac and Cheese Recipe...(kind of like OK Cafe's)

So over the past few years i've been making a Mac and Cheese recipe for all of the pot-lucks and major holiday meals.  It is, in my opinion, the best mac and cheese EVER!!!  I got it off the internet and it is supposed to be the same recipe that is used by OK cafe.

Here is the recipe (with the modifications i have made.

8 ounces of macaroni (i don't use the elbow shaped, i typically use the spirals or coil shaped noodles)

2 eggs

1 cup whole milk

3/4 cup heavy cream

1/4 teaspoon sugar

large pinch of cayenne pepper

3/4 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 tablespoon (heaping) ranch seasoning

10 ounces of sharp cheddar cheese grated

5 ounces of monterey jack cheese grated

6 ounces of parmesan cheese grated 

I typically use the lazy(pre-shredded) cheese

pre-heat oven to 350 degrees, cook macaroni according to package, drain and set aside.  In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs.  Add the milk, heavy cream, sugar, cayenne pepper, salt, ranch seasoning. mix well.  mix in the noodles and stir till they are coated.  Add in the cheese and mix until fully incorporated.  Pour into large baking dish, cover with foil and bake for 30 to 35 minutes.  Remove foil for last 5 minutes.

There ya have it.  And yes, it is as healthy as it sounds.

TENSION - EXPLORATION OF THE LOW TOLERANCES OF CHAINRING

The idea of a single speed bike is that it is supposed to be simple, uncluttered and open up a whole new world of freedom when cycling. None of those pesky gears to make it easier to go up hills or so you can go faster going down hill. Vast expanses of bar space for your squeaky horn or coffee cup holder. Freedom!!! and it's simple.....WHOA, not so fast, is it really simple? Maybe because you don't have to set up a deraileur it may seem simple....BUT IT'S NOT!!. The beauty of a geared set-up is the spring loaded arm on the deraileur that tensions the chain, who cares if the chainring is round...the deraileur will suck it up. Also, a standard mountain bike has vertical drop outs, there shouldn't be any question whether the wheel is straight.
In building, riding, tuning and maintaining my Single Speed bike, i have discovered that some of these items add a whole new degree of frustration to a bike that is supposed to be simple. Tolerance on Chainrings, cranksets is HORRIBLE. My chain will go from super tight to super slack in one rotation. This is even on chainrings manufactured specifically for SS use. come on folks, I'm not asking for a concentricity of .0001...but at least try to get it close so that the tension is consistent through a revoloution. Who knew this would be such an issue, before i read a blurb on the Park Tools website that pointed out that chainring manufacturers do their technical drawings with crayons and no rulers, i was struggling to figure out why the heck the chain tension on my bike fluctuated so much. I switched chainrings, rear sprocket, crankset, bottom bracket, chain....what a pain. The other thing with the SS with sliding dropouts is making sure the wheel is straight. Not really a big deal, but a regular bike doesn't have this problem. I had to break out the builder's square to get it close to centered. Hopefully everything stays put. I guess if i want a truly simple bike, i need one of those "like a bikes".

Finally...a Muddy cross race

Today was the make-up race for the GACX series. I was orginally planning on doing this race because i wasn't making the trip to Savanah, but with my DNF, i still have a big goose egg for points in one race....shucks. Today's race was in Conyers, GA. After a beautiful day on Thanksgiving, and okay weather on Friday, it rained all day saturday. (oh, did i mention Georgia Tech beat Georgia on Saturday!!!!) It was raining this morning as Sara and I drove out to the race, so we knew it would be fun. The course had a bunch of off camber soup, with some real squishy sections, two stream crossings and some slick hills that felt like you turned the pedals twice as much as normal because the back tire was searching for traction. I finished 8th out of 17, so not too bad. I stayed upright the whole race too. :-)

Here i am making it to the top of the slick hill.

A nice after the race shot, with a close up on the muddy bike below. I finally had an excuse to wash the bike.

Oh BTW....Sara is Pregnant with Twins!!!!

GACX races 5 and 6

I feel old and tired. I think i just haven't trained as much as i have in previous years. I need to learn how to train smarter. GACX race 5 was in Blairsville, GA. It was the first hilly race, and for some reason my legs were dead. I ended up finishing 9th out of 12....OUCH. The next race was in Winder, a nice flat race with lots of tight turns on grass. 3 sets of barriers and a beach run....I thought we were only supposed to have two sets of barriers. So what if the third set were trees, if they were placed there to use as barriers, they are man made, if the tree falls across the course then they are a natural obstacle. Below are few pics that Sara took. The bottom pic is of my friend John who is trying out CX for his first time this year. GO BIG JOHN!!!

When in Rome...DNF GACX race 4

I've been pretty lucky with my cyclocross races, i haven't crashed much and i haven't had a flat in a few years...knock on wood. Today made up for lost time. The course in Rome took advantage of the only hill in the area...the Levee along the river. We went up and down the hill several times and even road along the side for some up and down off camber on grass....oh joy. I made it almost through the first lap when i hit one of the sharp down hill grass off-camber turn, rolled my front tire off the rim, the wheel dug in, i flipped over the side of the bike and the guy behind me came crashing into my bike and got tangled up in it. I jumped up to get going and realized their was a bunch of grass and dirt in between the tire and rim where it rolled, my handle bars were about 70 degrees out of wack and my right shifter was messed up. I didn't want to try and force the handlebars straight with my carbon steer tube, so i had to call it a day. Next race i'll carry a multi-tool. Live and learn. I should have some nice bruises on my calves tomorrow.

On a positive note...nothing was broken on the bike.

This is right after the start....i didn't make it this far again, where the guy is re-mounting his bike is right about where i crashed the next time around.


The first time up the hill you could ride it easy, then there was a u-turn back down and another u-turn back up, I opted to run since it was just as fast, and different muscles...litte did i know my race would be over in about 30 seconds. Not finishing sucks!!! I think i might put a mtn bike in the pits next time.

JUST ONCE, I WOULD LIKE THE OPPORTUNITY TO VOTE FOR A CANDIDATE I LIKE,

not just picking what i consider to be the lesser of two evils. It hasn't happened yet, may never happen. The problem is, when a candidate tries to please everybody...they really can't say anything. They speak in generalities and never on specifics. They also make tons of promises that they know they can't deliver on. Kind of like when you interview/accept a new job, they tell you all sorts of great things that you will be doing, and changes the company is in the process of making....only expect 20-30% of that to happen. Even though that may overly optomistic, it is usally about right.

Now we just wait and see what "CHANGES" are made and if they are good ones or bad ones. I wish there had been a candidate pushing the Fair Tax. It just doesn't get any better than that. You get all of your income and only pay taxes on what you spend, plus the government sends you a prebate each month to cover the taxes you would pay on the necessaties. Everybody wins, the poor don't pay taxes and people who don't normally pay taxes would (paying under the table, drug dealers etc) would actually end up paying taxes. Pretty sweet huh? But if we didn't have Taxes to fight about...political races would probably be dull and what would all the lobiest and IRS agents do? Oh well.

GACX Race #3, pushing it to the limit

The third race of the GACX was this past sunday. It was a beautiful day, much warmer than it was the week before. The course was a bit different from last year, they put a HUGE!! spiral of Dumb right next to the start finish, then added a steep climb through the woods, two sets of barriers and one sandy run-up with a log at the bottom. Very long laps, we only did 5 in my race.

After the race i checked my HRM to see what the Heart was doing during the race. For 49 minutes i average 171 bpm with a max of 182 bpm. I would say i was going pretty hard. I finished 7th out of 20. Not too bad, but it sure would be nice to be able to hang with the front guys.

Here are some pics that sara took. I figured Mark would appreciate them since i made an effort to smile for the camera. Also i didn't want to look cooked again.

Getting ready for Cyclocross race 2

It's been a month since the first race of the Georgia series. there was a race two weeks ago, but it was down in Savannah and with the new house, the budget wouldn't allow it. There are 6 more races in the series so my november weekends are full.

I'm excited even though i'm just a mid pack hack, I love to race and push myself really hard. I can never push myself as hard when i am just out for a ride. Bring on the pain.

I was hoping this weekend would be really cold and give me that cyclocross feel, but it looks like the weather is warming up slightly. The masters race rolls off at 10 am so at least it will still be a little cold and maybe even a little slick with dew.

I realized that the UCI world Cyclocross Championships are being held in the one place i have been to watch a pro race before. I went to Belgium in 2003 for work and convinced Luc to take me the 30km to the cyclocross race. It was right at freezing and dry as a bone. But the beer and frites warmed me up.

I took some pics of it, they aren't very good, but maybe they can prove i was there. Look at all those people freezing their butts off to watch cyclocross.

Cyclocross has Begun - Back to my Midpack ways

The Georgia Cross series kicked off yesterday, it looks like i'm right where i left last year. I'm in the no man's land between the really fast guys and everyone else. I did have one guy that i fought with during the race. I dropped my chain during the run-up and he was able to get a good bit of distance on me, I caught back up with 2 laps to go, but he pulled away on the last lap. I guess i was tired from chasing. Oh well, 8th out of 18.
Here are some pics of me sporting the Orange Cartecay kit.

Moving and Training

Friday is the big day, Sara and I become home owners once again. The excitement is building. After 14 months in an apartment we will be free!!! Free to do all of the moving. Free to do Yardwork. Free to repaint the rooms that Sara doesn't like the color. Free.....oh well, it will a nice place to live.

I'm trying to get into shape for cyclo-cross. It's been a strange year for me and i feel like it is Feb. and not September in relation to my fitness. We shall see, maybe all of the fast guys got slower or decided to bail on cross....could happen...

I've talked a few friends into trying cyclocross this year, it should be interesting. Hopefully they will enjoy it as much as i do. they already ride a good bit so it won't be like trying to talk someone who has never even drank to try cocaine, it's more like talking a coke head into stepping up to heroin. Just try it once...come on....everyone else is doing it...next thing you know all you can think about is your dismount and re-mount, tubular vs clincher, Dekonic vs Duvel, trying to remember how to set up Cantis.

The sad thing is there is no re-hab....unless your just a big wuss and stop riding. but that would be crazy talk.

What's it been...like a month or something

Phew...finally back in Georgia and taking the time for a little update:

First...I'm 98% recovered from surgery. A quick note, anytime they have to cut through the skin, don't think of it as minor surgery. (I'm going to try and avoid all types of surgery in the future if i can)

Second...Just got back from a trip to California for my friend Justin's wedding. We stretched it to 10 days and saw basically all of my and sara's family that live in California plus all of my high school friends that i still keep in touch with. Went to Yosemite, Napa, Sanoma, Monterey, Cambria, Orange county. Great trip....now it's time to start training for cyclocross so i can keep my mid pack status.

Third.... we are under contract on a new house in Jasper GA. After Sept. 30th we should have lots of room for people to stay when they come to visit. Make your reservations early.

Fourth....last time i checked my Ferratin level was down to 81...I'm going today to have it checked today. If i'm below 50 i might get to wait until Oct. to bleed again.

I'll aim to try to keep my blog more up to date.

Thunderstorm...where's my guard dog

Clap of thunder...i hear some scraping in the bathroom. For a dog that doesn't like baths, it must be mighty scarry for her to hide in the tub.

Completed 29er

Here are some pics of the complete bike. Now i just have another week or so to recover from surgery before they let me ride "vigorously" again.

Back in the 29er Game

Last year...or maybe the year before, i decided i wanted to try a 29er. I pieced together a frame, fork, tires from ebay and presto...29er. I was never happy with the fork and the aluminum frame always felt harsh. I decided i would sell the parts of the bike and put the money into something else. This year i decided i wanted to give the 29er a good honest chance. Nice Frame, good fork, quality parts. Plus i wanted to run it as a single speed with the option to upgrade to gears. I ended up going with the Voodoo Cycles Dambala, a steel frame with sliding vertical dropouts that will allow me to run one gear or switch to multi gear once i realize how foolish i was for wanting a single speed. I purchased a RockShox Reba Race to go with it, I was leaning towards the Fox, but the price difference was a little much. Plus you need to remember who is riding the bike. Mr. No Skills, like i will be pushing the limits of any fork off road, with the exception of the rider weight limit.

The frame arrived yesterday, and although i haven't had time to put it together, i did take a few minutes to throw some parts on it to make it look like a bike.

Biking to Work - Is it Free?

I've been thinking about this quite a bit lately, and who hasn't. Gas is approaching European prices and we are all looking for ways to save money. I don't know about you, but i have been known to ride a bike from time to time, so i thought that riding my bike might be a good cost saving alternative to driving the truck. (see previous post about MPG) I know i have shared this thought with a few of you, but i thought i'd post about it.

I live 21.5 miles from work. At 14 MPG and $4.79 per gallon that is about $7.35 each way for me to go to work. When i ride my bike to work my computer says that i burn over 2000 calories each way. How much food do i need to eat to get those 2000 calories back? How much does that food cost? If i didn't care about eating healthy (actually i really don't, heck, that's why i ride my bike after all....JUNK FOOD) i could buy 3 "hand spun" milkshakes from chick fil-a and that would cost me almost 10 bucks. I think those would come in aroud 2000 calories. If i want to go healthier it could be as high as 15-20 bucks for that 2000 calories.

I know, I know, i'm going to ride that 40 miles anyway, but that's not the point. What if i didn't "occasionally" jump on a bike and go for a ride? This would be a whole new expense. Plus, if i did eat only cheap food to get the calories back, would that cause digestive problems? produce gas? maybe an equivalent or greater amount than the truck. I don't see a particulate filter on my backside (does underwear count?) Maybe there is something to this "couch potato" lifestyle that i am missing. Think of the money i would save.
Wouldn't only eating 3 meals a day be soooo cool!!