I now own a ghettoized single speed cross bike. Since my shifter was busted I simply took off the rear derailleur, broke the chain, shortened it and reattached it. I rode it around for about a half an hour today...and I need to shorten the chain again because its not where I want it to be. I'll get to it. Working on bikes is something I'll do...but I'm not particularly good at it nor do I really enjoy it. So I'll have to repeat the chain shortening chore this week. One thing I will say is that the lighter bike with no derailleur feels like you are flying up hills. I might have to lighten up my road bike. I'm from the school of thought where minor fluctuations in weight don't matter...I might change my philosophy now.
Apart from this I've been running. Did 6 miles today. I did 5.4 miles on Friday AM (0530) and a couple other runs last week. Running in the morning kinda sucks, but its kinda good also because I got a ton of shit done - like I was hyper productive. I'm trying to get up to 25 miles this week. I did not get the ten in but I'm hoping to get an 8 mile run in tomorrow. I've started lifting weights too...at the YMCA. Its supposed to help and believe me, I need help with my riding esp. power output. I hope a solid season of weights will help my power output and breakaway/TT type of riding.
I'm really tired of writing papers. Like, really tired of it. Leah and I are going to Not Just Snacks tonight to get Indian food. I love Indian food. It is my favorite.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
The Middleboro that Wasn't
So I rushed all around to get myself to Middleboro. Got lost in Middleboro and in some other town next to it. Found the venue after getting tailgated twice and flipped off once. Took out my bike and rode it around. Rear has a flat - wasn't flat the other day but it's flat now and I haven't ridden it since I got it back. Whatever, easy to fix. I put on my new cross tubular wheel I was going to ride anyway and it felt "fresh."
I'm all psyched to ride and to "attempt" to race this thing. (I'm kinda out of race shape and suck at cross anyway). So then I decide that I'm going to shift. Nothing happens. Hmmm? Why? Well the housing which the cable presses against - from the derailleur itself to the rear stay was not attached? OK. I can fix this - so I reattached it. Now, I haven't ridden this thing since I got it back from the shop on Monday which was a mistake. Shifters still don't work. Lube the hell out of them. Nothing except a pair of lubricated hands (some of the bike lube actually took the glue that was still on my hands from gluing up that tubular last night). Shit. So I can either race tonight in my 36x13 or maybe the 50x13 (yeah, right) or I can sit it out and maybe not risk any injury. I totally could have raced but I really didn't want to at this point - especially in that gear ratio.
So solution number 1 is to buy a new shifter set for my road bike and attach the old road shifters to my cross bike (I don't give a fuck about cross...its just something to do for me). Solution two is to simply create a single speed by breaking the chain. I think this might be the solution. Anyone else have any solutions?
Apart from this I've been running. I did 4.5 miles last PM, easy and I'm not sore. Saturday was one hour - which is a personal record. (you bet I was sore after that). I don't know how people manage to run marathons - I give them credit. Before this winter is over I'm going to do my own personal half ironman w/o the swim (maybe I'll use my rowing machine instead). Lets say a 60 mile ride and then a 13 mile run. Should be possible. On tap this weekend is a 10 mile run. I've taken on a lot of new stuff at work and running fits in way better to my schedule anyway.
Thanks for reading my complaints. Well, maybe some racing next week. The time off thinking about racing has been good for me. I'm starting to think about road again (with excitement) even though its far off.
I'm all psyched to ride and to "attempt" to race this thing. (I'm kinda out of race shape and suck at cross anyway). So then I decide that I'm going to shift. Nothing happens. Hmmm? Why? Well the housing which the cable presses against - from the derailleur itself to the rear stay was not attached? OK. I can fix this - so I reattached it. Now, I haven't ridden this thing since I got it back from the shop on Monday which was a mistake. Shifters still don't work. Lube the hell out of them. Nothing except a pair of lubricated hands (some of the bike lube actually took the glue that was still on my hands from gluing up that tubular last night). Shit. So I can either race tonight in my 36x13 or maybe the 50x13 (yeah, right) or I can sit it out and maybe not risk any injury. I totally could have raced but I really didn't want to at this point - especially in that gear ratio.
So solution number 1 is to buy a new shifter set for my road bike and attach the old road shifters to my cross bike (I don't give a fuck about cross...its just something to do for me). Solution two is to simply create a single speed by breaking the chain. I think this might be the solution. Anyone else have any solutions?
Apart from this I've been running. I did 4.5 miles last PM, easy and I'm not sore. Saturday was one hour - which is a personal record. (you bet I was sore after that). I don't know how people manage to run marathons - I give them credit. Before this winter is over I'm going to do my own personal half ironman w/o the swim (maybe I'll use my rowing machine instead). Lets say a 60 mile ride and then a 13 mile run. Should be possible. On tap this weekend is a 10 mile run. I've taken on a lot of new stuff at work and running fits in way better to my schedule anyway.
Thanks for reading my complaints. Well, maybe some racing next week. The time off thinking about racing has been good for me. I'm starting to think about road again (with excitement) even though its far off.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
NBX
I'm going down to the 'cross series tomorrow night. I have room for one. Lv @530 or within 10 mins of that.
How ashamed would my dog be if a video of him reacting to the bath was posted on the internet. Shaking, whimpering, whining, hiding...all because of the bath.
How ashamed would my dog be if a video of him reacting to the bath was posted on the internet. Shaking, whimpering, whining, hiding...all because of the bath.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
