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.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Don't do this.
Do not leave a pen in your pants pocket when you do laundry. Trust me on this one. Don't do this. Ever.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
The Last Ninigret 2008 and Credit Cards
I've got my motivation to race again - I've got things to settle down in other areas of my life which will free me up to train. The paradox is that the race season is over unless I actually count Jamestown and go to Prospect Park in NY for a 630 AM race. BTW: Next year I'm doing one of those. Well, at least I know I'm not entirely mentally ruined. Ninigret today was a whole lot of fun. It felt great just to be out there. I felt good most of the time too! Except when I did some work - where I felt immediately terrible - what can you expect of an out of shape cyclist.
Great financial news today (sarcastic). Wow. The banks aren't doing well. They fucked up bad. Real bad. I wonder if the bank(s) which hold credit cards will let their lenders off if they fail? Now that would be nice now don't you think?
Great financial news today (sarcastic). Wow. The banks aren't doing well. They fucked up bad. Real bad. I wonder if the bank(s) which hold credit cards will let their lenders off if they fail? Now that would be nice now don't you think?
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
New lame post about being sick
Shit. Lost voice yesterday - last two periods. Lips would move, brain attempted to produce sound yet nothing came out. PS: I'm a high school teacher. Not being able to speak is a problem - I talk loudly too - like so loud the students cannot possibly have sidebar conversations. I actually thought I was getting better but I had a 100 degree fever last night - all night.
OK. So apart from this I'm totally regenerating my love of cycling. Thanks Mr. Cold. Running is cool, but I like riding better. I hope to hit that Ninigret this weekend, sit in and not get dropped! So my last ride was 9/13. So what. My last workout was 9/17. So what. Yeah, last road ride was 8/31 - albeit it was a great ride. I had some slight momentum prior to this downward spiral so hopefully I'll rebuild some fitness. This illness has taken the wind out of my 'cross season plans a bit. Its not really a big deal at all but it might set me back a bit. Oh well, I'll just spend the money I was going to spend on 'cross on next year's road season. I really haven't put togehter a solid training program since the end of July with some bursts in August. I'm going to put things back together. I need to and I am going to.
I think I've used the first person pronoun "I" way too many times in the previous section.
Check out this video:
http://www.pineapplestudios.com/DOTVideosSite/Blackstone.html
It would have bee uploaded it to Youtube and then connected it here. Mozilla has an easy to access cache that can capture flash video. Just rename them w/ a .flv extension and play them. They are used all the time in our classes. Not a problem. However, the video is in Quicktime and being an Apple product - impossible to service without taking the program apart or by buying some Pro edition that is not being purchased by this author because he has better things to spend money on - like bike shit & grad school. Unlike the vast, overwhelming majority of folks, this computer user not really a fan of a lot of Apple products. Some of their stuff is really innovative, it certainly looks better, it gets less viruses (but PC's can stay clean if you stay off bittorrent and *other* types of sites, but its altogether undetermined if it performs any better - unless you have a full suite of Apple compatitible products which ironically can only be brought through Apple. Hmmm? Just try to take the battery out of an Ipod.
Anyway:
Please be aware of the lack of the usage of the first person pronoun in the final part of this lame post about being sick - which is not way too long because without riding I'm way too bored.
OK. So apart from this I'm totally regenerating my love of cycling. Thanks Mr. Cold. Running is cool, but I like riding better. I hope to hit that Ninigret this weekend, sit in and not get dropped! So my last ride was 9/13. So what. My last workout was 9/17. So what. Yeah, last road ride was 8/31 - albeit it was a great ride. I had some slight momentum prior to this downward spiral so hopefully I'll rebuild some fitness. This illness has taken the wind out of my 'cross season plans a bit. Its not really a big deal at all but it might set me back a bit. Oh well, I'll just spend the money I was going to spend on 'cross on next year's road season. I really haven't put togehter a solid training program since the end of July with some bursts in August. I'm going to put things back together. I need to and I am going to.
I think I've used the first person pronoun "I" way too many times in the previous section.
Check out this video:
http://www.pineapplestudios.com/DOTVideosSite/Blackstone.html
It would have bee uploaded it to Youtube and then connected it here. Mozilla has an easy to access cache that can capture flash video. Just rename them w/ a .flv extension and play them. They are used all the time in our classes. Not a problem. However, the video is in Quicktime and being an Apple product - impossible to service without taking the program apart or by buying some Pro edition that is not being purchased by this author because he has better things to spend money on - like bike shit & grad school. Unlike the vast, overwhelming majority of folks, this computer user not really a fan of a lot of Apple products. Some of their stuff is really innovative, it certainly looks better, it gets less viruses (but PC's can stay clean if you stay off bittorrent and *other* types of sites, but its altogether undetermined if it performs any better - unless you have a full suite of Apple compatitible products which ironically can only be brought through Apple. Hmmm? Just try to take the battery out of an Ipod.
Anyway:
Please be aware of the lack of the usage of the first person pronoun in the final part of this lame post about being sick - which is not way too long because without riding I'm way too bored.
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Every Year
I get sick about this time. Every year. Not real sick, just enough to screw up my athletic plans for the weekend. Throat on fire, head clogged with green shit, feel like total crap. Great. Why can't I get the two days of low grade fever during the week instead of Saturday morning? I'll go to work through anything. There is nothing one can do about this either except to wait it out. I've taken some time off the bike anyway because I would have to work really hard to fit it in so I guess the timing of this current sickness isn't bad. I need a break from the bike anyway. I've been running instead- I did 6 miles on Wed. I was brutally sore Thursday and even more sore yesterday but oddly my legs felt great today - relatively speaking.
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