New Bike Power!!!!

Now i am not as cool as Scott who managed to convince a bike company to put his name on the downtube, but i am VERY pumped up about my new 'Dale. Pictures do not do this rig justice. Its BEEFY everywhere you need it ( kinda like me!) and its pretty damn light too. The SRAM Force group RULES and it really Americanize's the ride. I can not wait to get it out for a shakedown ride ASAP, and then take it down to see The Enmark and let him drag me around the Island of Evansville. New bike power RULES, and i can not say enough good things about the guys at SRAM that make FANTASTIC parts.

Positive

No no.. not a recent urine test, Dr Fuentes makes sure i take all the masking agents necessary...

But the month of March has been pretty positive for me. Granted The Enmark and company logged more hours in the last few days than i have all month, but then again i wrote their program of what to do down there, so they damn well better have done more than me. With that said, i am over 20 hours for the month on the bike, and for me right now, thats pretty good.
I'm rolling better in general outside, my power numbers are climbing, the weight is (slowly) falling, and i feel generally more confident about my ability to finish a race this year.
Granted dropping 20lbs of me arse would most certainly help the cause.
I have also finalized the details about commuting downtown to work. It looks like with my schedule i should be able to ride in 3-4 times a week, and take advantage of the great bike and shower facilities in Millennium park. I definitely looking forward to that to get started next week weather permitting.

Finally i will clue you all in to what will most likely be the next entry here - it involves new bike power..... details to follow....

Bare skin???

ok - no pics from this weekends' bike practice, but i can say that i was able to show some bare skin both days.

Saturday Lenny stopped by on his way home from pickin up his packet for the Shamrock Shuffle...
So i rode him out to his house and returned back to my place solo for a solid 2 hrs on the day. I was comfy in Knickers and a long sleeve, but certainly had the rain cape tucked in tight as the skies looked angry.

Sunday - I sure hoped Lenny enjoyed his 5 mile Run, because i enjoyed just a hair under 3 hours with temps that settled into the mid 70's by the time i returned home. I went with shorts and knee warmers, and a long sleeve with no base layer when i headed out - it was a mild 62 degrees. By the time i got home i wish that long sleeve had been a jersey and arm warmers!!
Needless to say i worked up a good sweat and put the screws to myself again today. I think the Smott "Rudolf" nose is staring to red-end up nicely for the season!

Vaya con Dios Senior Freire!!

Out

Weekend bike practice

Lenny says "no mas!"..
We got out sunday for a sunny and mild day for bike practice. I had to work saturday so no double dip this weekend, but we made the most of sunday. The scenery was nothing special - we did the chicken loop with Bluff road for kickers. I made Lenny do a yellow sign points race, and he had some spirited attacks, but threw in the white flag on bluff road. I won 28-17, with points goin 2 and 1.
It was a solid 3 hours to add to the bank for the bone ride, and i sure hope mother nature cooperates with us again next weekend.
3 hrs - just under 1500kj, 77km in the books.
By the way, as of March 17, Smotty has 16 hours in for the month!

More CHICKEN!

Ok.. so after getting a reprieve to get out of work.. i was PUMPED to go and ride the Chicken... the weather took a nasty turn, and showed rain to us pre ride. Lenny was early as usual, and needed additional clothes as usual. We roiled out with a good size group, and no pedals were turned in Anger. Mile from Orbea was sporting a sweet beard, he reported that would be coming off shortly. Lots of new bike power on the ride, a full fleet of Scott Cr1's as well as a very pimp custom Ridley Noah for Ritzler. Starbucks was good, the manager was mad we made her stay late as she had keys in hand when we rolled in. Hope to see all again soon, and hope mother nature cooperates with us.

CHICKEN!!!!

This will be a two part message.. its too good to pass up on posting all the pics. Great to see everyone again, fun to tease Tawse as he was procrastinating on getting dressed with the rain lurking. The usual pleasantries were exchanged before the ride.

The rest of Sunday's pics

The weekend Narrative...

While i must say i am envious of Enmark for being able to ride in shorts and short sleeves, i was treated to weather here in Chicago that required you to wear less than "all of it".
Saturday was a nice ride with Tawse down the burlington tracks and back. It was a nice shakedown ride for his new rig, and he seemed to be pleased with the performance. Saturday was nice, had some good digs at each other, nice weather, just about 2.5 hours for me.

Sunday - no one could decide on common ground, and since Sarah had to ring the bells at church, i opted out of the 8am ride. Glad i did, as it was about 29 degrees at ride time for them. I went out around noon, and again it was about 52 or so, and i was not required to put it all on, not even a thermal jacket! Now i know good and well warm weather in Chicago is not here to stay until around June, but i will take it while it is here. For Lenny, i snapped a few pics of what looked like it was a sweet back yard hockey setup. 50 degrees doesn't do well for the ice. The Chicken recon showed much progress with the 'lets send 355 farther south' project. Some unfortunate folks down on bluff road will have an exit ramp in their front yard; i guess it will be easier to get home anyway for them. I ended up with just a hair over 3 hours for sunday, and 1600kj. Not too shabby. Here are a few pics, i will have more later

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not quite knackered, but certainly tired after 3 hours! more details to follow

chicken recon....hour 2

a once quiet bluff rd now has an interstate in the backyard

Tawse's new ride

looks soooo sweet

500 fights.. or just 3 hours with 4 crashes

"500 fights, that's the number I figured when I was a kid. 500 street fights and you could consider yourself a legitimate tough guy. You need them for experience. To develop leather skin. So I got started. Of course along the way you stop thinking about being tough and all that. It stops being the point. You get past the silliness of it all. But then, after, you realize that's what you are. " - Taylor Reese - Knockaround Guys

for me, I figured 3 hours in the cold would be good enough to be a legitimate tough guy.
It was cold, real cold, 22 when i left. It was also windy, 18mph from the west with gusts over 30mph. The path was horrible. Bumpy, Icy, slow, slick as snot ( did i mention i crashed 4 times?)
Here are the stats:
Hours - 3
Bottles - 2
iPod - 1
Crashes - 4 ( I jammed the shit out of one of my fingers on one digger)
Layers - PLENTY!
kj's - who knows, the power tap froze
Distance - im guessing about 50km - it took 3 hours to go what is usually a 2 hour cross ride

Glad i had - the ipod - priceless on any solo ride, hot-tronics foot heaters, priceless when you ride in Chicago winters, and finally a HOT shower to melt in when i got back.

here are a few pics...

Saturday STC...

No fancy pics or witty quotes today.
2 hours with 3 x 10 min @ 235
not bad, not great

the plan is to do it again sunday