Frustration

I had some bad luck the past couple days. On Wednesday I was all set to ride. I was heading out the door when I noticed the mail had come. I pulled it out and saw jammed in the bottom of the mail box a bill and netflix dvd I had put out 2 days before. I guess they fell in and then got jammed down by the new mail. I grabbed them and figured I'd just ride to a mail box somewhere. There used to be one around the corner from me, but it got moved when a developer started work on a Lowe's/Condo project. I had seen a mail box at the end of my street, so I rode up that way. But the street was closed off for construction. After looping around I found the mail box at the end of my road wasn't there any more. At that point I really couldn't think of where there was another one close by. I decided to head for a main street and on my way I got a flat tire. Great! So I walked the bike back home and decided someone really didn't want me to mail that stuff. I realized I was kind of short on time and needed to get to a haircut appointment.

On Thursday I finally had time to fix my flat. Everything was going along great. I thought, "Wow, this is going to be my fast change ever" (Kinda like Ralphy's dad in A Christmas Story). But I wasn't being that careful. When I pumped up the tube it must have been pinched between the rim and the tire cuz it popped. Bang! It was very loud. I thought back to the bike shop when I had first gotten this bike. I told the guy I wanted 3 extra tubes. He convinced me I really only need one. I don't know why I listened. I got busy with a few other things and set my wheel aside for a while. My friend Henry went to bike shop with me later (one that would happily sell me 3 tubes). I put the new tube on and got the rear wheel back in place, lined it up and realized for some reason my brakes were super tight. This is the exact problem for which I had just taken the bike to the shop to have fixed. Argh! Well, I just adjusted them myself this time. Finally I was ready to go! Too bad it was dark outside. Some day off! But I'm about to get a ride in today before work. I worked 6 days last week and am working 6 days again this week. They're both part of swaps I worked out. Now someone else will work my Saturday shift so I can be at the Booty for all 24 hours this year. The ride is a week from today and I'm getting pretty excited!

That's just bad luck

Last day in the Alps and another crazy day on the Tour. I can't believe team T-mobile's luck. After the first week they had a rookie rider Mark Cavendish drop out. Then a rider on their team took over the yellow jersey on Saturday and things seemed to be looking up. Not so. The next day their Captain Mic Rogers crashed into a guard rail coming down the mountain, another guy next to him went over it and into the trees! Rogers rode on for about 20 kilometers with a separated shoulder until he couldn't go on any more. I felt terrible for him as he broke down just balling his eyes out. You train for 6 months for one race and then you don't even make it to the last week. The same day their rider Stuart O'Grady touched wheels with someone coming down the mountain at about 45 mph. That's a sure way to fracture vertebrae and ribs and puncture your lung. Ouch! But that's not all. They had another rider crash into a spectator. He broke his cheek and the spectator ended up in a coma. By that point I was thinking they just can't catch a break. 3 riders in 1 day Maybe this is all payback for looking the other way all those year's while Jan Ulrich was doping. But then today things just went too far. A dog walked on to the course and riders jerked and weaved out of the way, except for one poor guy, Marcus Burghardt of T-Mobile. He hit a dog! What the heck? That team is cursed.

Once the coverage wrapped up I grabbed the bike and rode for 90 minutes. Yesterday, I lubed the chain back up after the big rain storm. I took it in to the bike shop and got my brakes adjusted. But my bike was still squeaking. I figured out that my seat post was making all the noise. Well, I put off taking that out and wiping it down and today the noise was gone. I guess whatever moisture that was in there evaporated. I rode out to my favorite park. There's a nice short hill there to get the heart pumping. I'd ride it and be all huffing and puffing by the end, then take a lap around the park nice and easy. I'd work on riding with no hands (a skill I'm still trying to master), then I'd head back up the hill. Around and around I went until it was time to head home and get ready for work. Boy was it hot today. I could not get cool. When I got in the shower I just kept turning the knob more and more toward the cold water. It felt great, but Steve told me he heard your body actually tries to heat up when you're in a cold water. Who knew?

I'm going to try to remember to bring my camera with me more on these rides. There's just so much funny stuff I see.

What a day

I was really pumped by the first really tough climbs on the Tour today. Afterward, I couldn't help but jump on the bike. I grabbed my bag, tossed in some extra clothes for work and went cruising around the hood. It was great. At first I was back on the neighborhood roads. I was seeing more bikes out than cars. But after a while I went uptown so i could ride around some cars. There's something about riding around vehicles that just makes me want to go faster. I don't know if it's because I feel like I need to stay out of their way or if I just want to show how fast I can go. I always kick it up without thinking when cars are around. But traffic was really light and I pretty much had a whole lane to myself today.

I rode past my old place uptown and then swung up to a cemetery. I did about one or two laps before it started sprinkling. I looked at my watch and figured I didn't need to start heading toward work for another 5 minutes. I was hoping the rain wasn't going to be that strong. I was very wrong. It started pouring! I was soaked within 2 minutes. By that point it was pretty pointless to rush to work so I just took my time and was careful not to crash. People were giving me some pretty strange looks but I just laughed. It actually felt really good, I was cooled off in a flash.

Luckily, I had a whole set of clothes in my bag. I rolled into work just about the time Tom rode in. He had a rain jacket on but was pretty well drenched. We walked into the building, making loud squishing sounds with every step. My clothes in my bag had stayed pretty dry. I changed in the bathroom. I took a roll of paper towels back with me and crammed my shoes with wad after wad. This was a tip the guy at the next desk suggested. He's always out biking or running and has been caught in the rain a good bit. For the record, the tip worked pretty well.

It had dried up outside by the time I rode home after work. Tom and I talked more about the Tour on the ride home and about how wide open and crazy it has been this year. Then I got home, grabbed a rag and wiped down my bike chain. Got to take care of my baby. I plan to ride Silver over to the bike shop tomorrow so they can adjust my brakes. They're squeaking really loudly these days and had actually been rubbing the rims they were so tight. I thought about adjusting them myself but remembered I have free lifetime adjustments at the shop since I bought my bike there. Might as well have the pros do it, right? I've been thinking about taking some bike maintenance classes. I know a lot of basic stuff, thanks to Lennard Zinn, but it'd be cool to learn some more complicated things. Then maybe I can build a single speed and join Luke on some one gear rides.

New toys!

My online donations have topped my goal, I'm now at 106 percent! Wooo! Now I just want to see how high it will go. With the goal met, (and some complaints about too much money talk and not enough bike stuff) it's time to get down to business. I busted out the camelbak and gave it a good cleaning tonight. In case your wondering, a camelbak is brand of backpack that holds a water pouch in it. I really like using mine when I'm out for a longer ride. I find I forget to grab my water bottle and stay hydrated sometimes. The camelbak is so easy for me though, just grab the water tube next to my shoulder and drink! Cleaning it out is a pain sometimes, but you can't let it slip because you don't want mold to start growing in there. I'm told a good practice is to clean it out as soon as you're done with your ride and then stick it in the freezer, cuz ain't nothing going to grow in there. My problem is the first batch of water from the pouch after its stay in the freezer always ends up tasting kind of like Stouffer's French Bread Pizzas. And though they are delicious, they do not taste that refreshing. I'm sure I'll get it figured out one day.

On top of the cleaning I also got a new gadget. I bought a heart monitor to wear while I ride. Because as I always say, you're not hardcore unless you live hardcore. This means soon I'll be that guy who is jogging and then gets caught at a red light and keeps running in place to keep his heart rate in the "target zone." Only I'll be doing the equivalent on my bike. I'm not really sure what that looks like, but I bet I find out real soon and that it annoys drivers. I've never trained with a heart monitor before, but it really appeals to me. I love totally geeking out on my bike and fitness stuff, and this is the logical next step in fitness dorkdum.

I was really frazzled on my ride in today. I was running late and forgot my keys. Unfortunately I leave one of my bike locks locked to the rack at work so I don't have to cart it back and forth all the time. (That's bike tip No. 2 of the post) This usually is a good practice, but not when you don't have the key to unlock it and get it off the rack. I wrapped a chain around my bike to make it look like it was locked and then went to pop off my front wheel, after all, what's the point in quick release wheels if you never use them? Only problem was, my brakes were adjusted to be so tight, even when I flipped the quick release switch the brakes were still to close together to let the tire fit through. What a pain! I remember the mechanic bragging to me about how tight he'd adjust my brakes when I had ol' Silver into the shop for a tune up, but dang, I need some breathing room! Steve and Tom took a look with me. Tom chained my bike to his so the wheel operation became moot anyway. But I imagine I'll want that sucker off for reals real one day. Then the whole ride home from work I was convinced that my brakes were rubbing my rim. It was totally distracting.

Hi Again

Sorry for the lag, but I was in Omaha visiting my bud Elfrink over the holiday. And though there was much talk of taking a group run or using Elfrink's Giant for a couple rides, I did almost nothing healthy. Well, unless you count ordering a steak salad instead of a steak as something healthy. It was a great trip and I saw lots of cool things: a German beer house that sold beer in giant glass boots, a really worn-out driving range named Schmidy's, another bar that had kegs of champaign on tap, fireworks, and I even got to go cover a plane crash with Elfrink on the first day of the trip.

So after all that fun I got back to find, holy cow! I'm 95 percent to my goal! And a few of you have told me your sending me checks, so soon I'll be over the goal! Sweet. That coupled with the start of the Tour de France has me flying high these days. I've been in total geek mode since Saturday. I was flying back and trying to learn time trial results on ESPN News in the airport during one of my layovers. I might have been the only person in the airport who cared. The feature they used to introduce the highlights sure made it seem that way. It was all about how no one in Europe even cares about the Tour any more. Then I get home and learn a million people lined the streets of London just to watch the time trial! That was not a part of their report. Oh, well.

I'm so happy to be at my goal already. Last year I hadn't even started fundraising at this point. I'm super excited and I owe you all big time. Thank you!

Gut Check Time

My fundraiser goal is clearly in sight now, 78 percent complete! I'm constantly checking up to see how close I am. I feel so lucky to have family and friends supporting me like this.

With the heat dropping into the 80s and humidity down to the 60s it was a perfect day for a ride. I even busted out a dorky bike jersey. Thanks to it's form fitting design it was pretty clear I could shed a few pounds before the Booty rolls around at the end of the month. I need to look trim for all the ladies. I love reading bike magazines and message boards about the best $2,300 "entry level" bike out there. A lot of that money goes into making the biker super light. It seems like the cheapest way to get faster is to get in better shape. You don't have to pay anything to make yourself lighter.

My most common ride follows a bike route in my neighborhood and I pass this crazy tree. It's been trimmed so that the branches grow around the power lines. Check it out, isn't it goofy looking?

Good News Everyone!

My buddy Luke found an August issue of Bicycling magazine, and yes, I'm in it! It's in the spin section right after Chris Carmichael's feature. It seems appropriately nerdy, so I am pleased. Unfortunately my write up is a magazine exclusive and will not be found online, otherwise I'd have a link for you all.

What I don't understand is why Bicycling is previewing the Tour de France in the August issue. I mean, it starts July 7th and is over before August even begins. I understand that magazines come out early, but wouldn't you still have your July issue preview the Tour? I'm sure there's lots of research that shows planning your August issue around July events and publishing it in July is the way to go.

I'm still trying to decide who to pull for in the tour. I think Vino and the Astana team look the strongest, if only because they have the most doping rumors flying. Of course I'll pull for all the American riders, but I just can't see Levi winning it all. I'd be cool to see Li Fuyu win a stage, just because I don't think there's ever been a Chinese winner at the Tour, but that's a long shot. Any recommendations would be welcome, preferably someone not French, perhaps Belgian.

To get serious for a minute, I wanted to point out that if you're donating with a check, please make it out to 24 Hours of Booty and mail it to me. I'll turn it in at the event July 27th.