Remember This Friends:

Hello friends, remember this. You cannot ride away from the rain. It will attack you every time.

It has rained almost everyday last week, which really put a damper on my riding. So Saturday I pull out the old weather.com guide, it says 15% chance of rain. So I’m good to go. Ten minutes out, it starts sprinkling. I look at the sky to change direction to try to ride away from the rain, well it doesn’t work. After 30 minutes of drenching myself, I give up. I park at a CVS and wait for my brother-in-law to come pick me up. Sucked too because I only went half as far as I wanted to. The rain didn’t ease up until another hour later, so I guess I made the right choice.

I hopped on the trainer last night, but my computer battery died. I accidentally left it on yesterday. Oh well.

Two Rides for the 4th

YEAH! I got in 2 rides this weekend (long weekend for me). The first one was after 1.5 weeks off the bike due to rain and other things. It was bad. I was huffing and puffing and hurting and feeling like throwing up and trying to eat something and failing…but still got in a decent amount of miles. Just a few miles became really really slow. Had a hard time riding above 10mph for a stretch, but did alright.  The second ride I did much better, but still went down a road which I hate. There’s this one road that for some reason if you ride in this area everyone feels it’s a must have part of the ride. I don’t know why this is, but it’s horrible.

This road is a steady uphill run on a chip-seal surface that hasn’t been resurfaced in decades. Oh, some of the pot holes have been sealed, but we (as in fellow cyclists) all know what sealing a pot hole means…either a bump or it’s settled and is still sort of a pot hole. The start of this road also contain a nebulous vortex that creates a low pressure system guaranteeing that the wind will be in your face no matter when you ride this road…or what the weather is doing elsewhere.  So after that road, I felt pretty spent and so the trek back wasn’t as fast as I had hoped but, I did feel better.

Thanks for all you guys support…I’m feeling good. I feel as though I’ve stagnated in my weight loss. (Only 1 lb over that past few weeks.) I might be at the point where I’m building some leg muscles but not sure. I hope I can kick this hump and shoot for my way down to my goal weight.

The One Where Mark Does All The Work

So I had a nice ride this evening with my friend, Mark. He wanted to ensure that we had an average speed higher than 17mph, so set out at a blistering pace. What happened was that he moved up front and I rode behind him almost the whole time. I tried to pull when I felt like I could keep the fast pace up but that was probably only 10% of the time. So I followed Mark most of the way. But it still was a fast pace and I think my bib shorts are done, because my sit bones sting! Good ride though.

Remember you can only see the details when you view the page on the site, it won’t show in the Dashboard.

Great Ride, Great Legs

I had a great ride today. 37.7 miles and a really good pace, about 1 mph faster than normal. I felt really good, dropped a little around 2 hours in but was able get my legs back and rejoin. Then we hit this small ~1 mile loop, where most everyone took a single lap, but myself and 3 others went around a second. The weather was awesome and just a little wind. I pushed it hard in 3 areas and was able to pull the group through a couple of places.

Then the ride was over. Now I’m sitting here with an upset stomach and allergies acting crazy. The stomach issue doesn’t seem ride related, but upsetting none the less. See you later.

Are you digging the way I found out how to embed my rides? You can’t see it from the Dashboard, but you can when you click through.

Windhaven Hill, You Suck

Dear Hill on Windhaven,

I hate you. That’s right, I completely loath your existence and what you did to me yesterday. Riding towards the end of my run, and there you were. Staring at me like a mafia boss who knows I cannot pay him. Standing there like Drago staring at Rocky saying “I will break you”. What you did I can never have back.

So as I attempted to ride up you, I found my heart beating so fast I knew a heart-attack was imminent. Heart beating fast, legs aching, head swimming. I knew my day was done when as I was pumping heart, in hopes of moving, a 100lb woman came peddling past me. Passing me with nice speed, she rode off with my balls and whatever testosterone they had left went with them. So sucked it up and did what I knew I had to do…I stop. Panting so heart, I simply had to drop my heart rate for a minute or two. You did this Windhaven Hill, yes you. You stripped me of my manhood.

After gaining my breath, I finished you…feeling better. Climbed to the top sore muscles, achy head, and a heart that was cursing me…I finally beat you. Then spat on your crest…that’s how much I hate you. I hate you. But you had the last laugh, hill…as you smugly grinned when I realized at you high peak that I had chosen a route that pitted me against the wind the entire ride back. I saw you gloat…and it didn’t phase me.

Until next time. I will be ready then. I will know what I need to do prior to our meeting. I will be prepared…and when that day comes. You watch yourself Hill…you watch it long, and watch it hard. Because I coming after you…and you…will…not…defeat me. Fear me, Hill…fear me.

I love cycling…

(This hill really kicked my butt, as you can see in the image with my low speed, low cadence, and massively high heart rate.)