YELLING!!!

wow, ok so its been over a month, so feel free to jab at me with all kinds of how come no posts comments. I also hate to be a HATER on my first post back..

But I'm gonna!
What the hell is with all the Douchy Drivers out there that can see a vividly colored person with blinkig lights in front of them??
Today alone, I got Bus Fucked - where the bus races in front of you to stop at the next stop, then had on 2 seperate occasions cars turn IMMEDIATELY in front of me.
Come on man, put down the crackberry or the iMaxipad, and pay attention!

I realize there are a lot of people on 2 wheels that have no regard for pedistrians or traffic, but even with that in the picture, what kind of driver and PERSON needs to use a 3500 lb vehicle to threaten someone. If you wanna make a point with me, step out of your vehicle and say something. Punch me if you gotta, but dont hide behind the steel and 4 wheels as you fondle your electronic device then make me out as the scapegoat!

Peace!

Changing seasons...

2 weeks ago it was a BEAUTIFUL friday, then the temps dropped about 30 degrees and we had an up and down week. Got a Chilly Chickenride in last week, but not much else to write home about.

This week is looking GOOD. Supposed to be in the 70's later this week, so I sacked up and pedaled into a chilly AM today, looking forward to a much milder ride home.

More to come

Sunny and warm.. with a chance of snow

A quick recap of the last week or so...
The Midwest if FINALLY starting to escape the grip of winter. Last weekend i got out for a solo Sunday pedal, chilly but i rocked out the knickers. Have i mentioned I LOVE knickers?
Monday i got a good commute in, warm in the morning, and not too shabby at all for the PM ride. Tuesday i was off work and had Daddy duty, so i did spend some time outside, albeit not on the bike. Wednesday = Chickenride - first one of the year. Good to see the crew, MTB Matt proved WAAAAAYYY to strong as usual and put in about 98% of the work. Today i dragged myself out of bed and got the ride to work in, and i am currently looking at warm temps, appx 60; but a stark headwind of about 24mph to greet me in an hour or so.

No for the bad news... Its supposed to snow again Saturday - BLAH.

the bright side is that temps will be seasonable for next week, so i hope for the best there.

Ciao!

Late Nite assault

So I grumbled all afternoon yesterday, after being tricked by some early rain into NOT riding in and taking the train, the skies cleared and produced a 60 degree day with lots of SUN. I was pretty bent that I could not get on the bike.

The wife had some super yummy burgers that we threw on the grill so that always makes my happy, but fatter.

Around 8:30pm once it all quieted down, I cranked through some emails, and noticed it was still 55 degrees outside. I looked at Sarah and said 'screw it.. I'm going!'
she said "downstairs to ride?" - NOPE strapping on the lights and heading out.

My original target was the zoo path, but the recently melted snow left it UBER wet and slimy in most sections. I quickly U-Turned and began my side street assault.
It was SUPER warm, and I was feelin pretty good. It was fun to have to NAV on the fly to get a route going that kept me off many of the usual main roads. Motorola Training Camp Rules were in effect, and aside from a grimy 50m of Prairie Path, i was able to not use any roads twice. I had a blast. No numbers, no intervals, just out cruising in the night.

I had about 600 lumens courtesy of Light in Motion, and as always the SKS Race Blade Fenders kept me dry!

I think I'm gonna throw out the suggestion to get a regular night cruise going, see if I can attract any night owls.

A MUST view

For all of you out there that are on the back side of clothing orders, if you have been 'the clothing guy" for your team, or just plain like you tube spoofs...

March!

So with a little help from my neighbor Jay, i have managed not only a good handful of early morning rides, but a couple of evening sessions of some good intervals as well. I had hoped to be ahead of where i am now, but March is here, i think we may be seeing just enough of a warm up to start riding to work. Now i know good and well it can snow for 3 more months still, but I think mother nature is in my favor now. I sacked up and piled on a ton of lycra both Thursday and Friday for the commute to work. It was slow, but went well. Its always a bit bizarre riding through the city in the dark, but its pretty mellow at least.

Looking forward to getting it done next week as well!

Starting over.. again

this one kinda goes like this..

Blah Blah

Blah Blah Blah

Been sick, got better.. Got some good days in on the trainer so far, hoping to get agood streak started and get some good work in

Thats about all for now

Strapped down

winter in the midwest = indoor trainer season.
There are a few hardmen that ride yearround; I am NOT one of them
i would hesitate to call it a streak yet, but i have several indoor rides for the year already.

woo hoo.

Cross training...

If you count slugging up the sled hill with sleds and munchkins cross training, then i am money!

Brrrrrrr

Westchester, Illinois

10:51 AM on Thursday 10 Dec 2009 (Local Time)

Few Clouds 5°F
Feels Like
-16° Station: KMDW
Humidity: 63%
Wind: 22mph
Dew Point: -5°
Visibility: 10mi

For some reason...

I dig this Bike.

And Tyler Wren rides Pactimo

Missing...

Getting your stuff stolen sucks. But this kid had a VERY funny sign to post!!

Cheers

Must be Friday

Its definitely better in the mornings with the time change. I guess thats the optimistic side of it being dark at 4:30pm. Now i have a good am mount of light for 90% of my ride in. That helps. I noticed on SEVERAL occasions today the wafting of some serious ganja smoking going on while I was pedaling in today. Must be a wake and bake Friday for the residents on my route. The legs were groggy and the SSE wind wasn't helping my motivation. I decided to let the legs dictate the pace and made it a leisurely ride in today. The cycle center was almost empty today, always a welcome event. Attendance has been dropping in relation to the falling temps, but there is a SERIOUS group of die hards that go all year round. I wimp out when the snow flies or it drops below 32.
It is supposed to be a warm evening, which i look forward to already today, and the weekend should be sublime.

Fat Kid - OUT

Off Day pedal

Wrapped up October and looking to ramp up November and get it going early.
I had a day off tuesday, and set out for a 3 hour cross ride. The prairie path was pretty dry and smooth, and the weather was nice for November - high 40's. There was a slight cross headwind going out, I added some extra time to the normal triangle loop, and got a nice tailwind back home down the Great Western Trail.

3 hrs, just over 1900kj, including the second hour where I pumped out 735kj in the hour, and about 75km in the books. Needless to say, the legs were sore tues night, as well as sluggish wednesday AM for the early morning pedal.

Cheers

DPR cross ride

I finally got a chance to get out and join the Alberto's crew for a great CX ride on the DPR trail. Francine said that I like the epic rides, and this one did not disappoint. It was brisk, low 40's with a stout wind; but the woods provided some good shelter. The rains had the path laden with puddles throughout, and several crossings that were impassable making for some fun hike-a-bike sections. The train tracks underpass juts before Adler park was a pretty deep and wide lake, but Brian decided to try it out, only to end up BB deep and with a pretty wet foot / leg!
I decided to try the high road and go up and over the tracks, so after getting our group of 12 riders up there, we scouted for an opening in the fence to get back thru.
Stathy and I had a great flashback from Stand By Me, and rode a ways down the tracks looking for an opening. Wendy finally found our winner, and we were back on the bikes. Brian and Francine led some great skill building for the crew to work on, and a few hot laps at Adler got the heart rate pumping. Brian was victim of a hazard under e leave pile, and got his wheel stuck in a curb, and catapulted himself onto the pavement. I sure hope B's boxer chin heals up quick!

The ride back was incident free and we did a nice combo of trail and road to avoid any more hike-a-bike sections. I took advantage of the bike wash area in the new Alberto's shop to get most of the gunk off the rig, before heading home for final cleaning.

The ride got me up to 32 hours for the month, so a solid recovery from having a week of being sick. Hopefully good things to come for November!

Cheers!

Is this London??

Seems like the rain spell we had back from late spring early summer has re-appeared!
I am usually pretty keen on reading a radar report, but in the last 2 weeks - I have rode in the rain 3 times in the last 7 days.

The good news is that it looked pretty bleak 2 weeks ago to get to 30 hours, and right now I am sitting at 28.5 with a group ride planned for tomorrow morning to end the month off right.

For those of you that have been enjoying the off season, its time to get serious in November. Start lifting ( if you haven't already) and starting logging the hours.

Cheers!

Character.

weather.com said only a 10% chance of rain. rich.com disagrees. full chicken and bluff loop. 3hrs. 80km.
solo. rain. character.

Fenders....

I had a super sweet ride into work today. Despite the rain overnight that left the roads wet and full of puddles, I stayed dry. It was warm, high 50's for the roll in.
If you have ever had a day like I had this am where I looked out the window and though: hmm, I dunno. BUY FENDERS!
There are several bloggers that some of my links have links to that rave about them more than me. I picked up my SKS race blade fenders a few years ago. They were about $50 bucks at the time, and i thought - Man, $50 bucks for once or twice a year?? Let me tell you - that $50 was worth way more than that to - 1 - allow me to ride in instead of HOPING i could get on the trainer later today and 2 - keep me dry and have a great ride despite the weather.

If you dont know where to find them -
Call Albertos - 847-432-0015 or
Call Joe at Columbus Cyclery - 812-372-7486

Cheers

It can't rain all the time...

It can't rain all the time... - Sarah, The Crow

In a fine twist of coincidence, it stopped raining in Chicago finally, and i finally got over being sick. After a week of semi feverish, achy, congested, blah blah blah; I am back in the game.
Rolled the cross bike in today, as its supposed to be a good sunny fall day. First time on the bike in over a week, so everything felt flat. Hopefully the roll home will go better!
Hoping to get back into eating lean, and back to dropping some pounds.
With only 10 hours for the month, its gonna be a tough second half, but trying to re-align and finish off with about 25 hrs of pedaling.

VDB - gone

Breaking news that Frank Vandenbroucke was found dead of a blood clot.
VDB - above winning the 1999 Leige-Bastogne-Liege, had a turbulent career and has most notably been recognized for his off the bike issues more than his performance recently.

Doper or not, they guy made racing interesting, and hats off to his all or none style.