Back in the saddle

After a hitch in my giddyup yesterday, I'm back on the road. The new bike I purchased to take up the majority of the miles from here to Dallas is giving me heck. Wthout getting too specific, it begs to be said that road bikes and mountain bikes are less alike than one would surmise. After having my problems addressed, all is well now, but this mornings commute was a little...stiff, I think is the best word to describe it.

The goal was to buy a bike that could be converted into a mountain bike if need be. This road bike has clearance for larger tires (which I've already installed), two water bottles, triathalon 'cowhorn' handlebars, aero bars, a rigid fork, and most importantly, big gears and big wheels. Speed, baby. I'm certain that had my cyclocomputer (on order) been installed, I would've seen myself top 45 mph this morning. That's in a 35 mph zone, people.

Anyhoo, the handlebars and computer arrive next week, and after this morning's nervous ride into work, I'll ride old reliable until I can make the new bike into a lean, mean speed-freakin'-demon machine.

Coming next week: A name for the new bike.

Twofers

Commuting to work can be a pain in the butt, not because it's not fun, but because it is difficult to get more than one day's worth of clothes to the office without being mistaken for a pack mule. Enter twofers.

Just get two of everything.

Two backpacks, two sets of sunglasses, two sets of house keys, many, many jerseys, and two round trips to work in a day. This way, I can pack two sets of clothes for work in each pack on Mondays and not have to worry about being mistaken for a bicycling Sherpa the rest of the week. It also gets me more miles, much needed miles - experience for my legs and lungs. At 14.8 miles each way, this morning's double was easily the best commute I've ever had. Off at 4:00 am sharp, all lights on and 53º. Not a breath of wind and no traffic (not one car passed me all the way to work).

Upon arriving at work I spent all of three minutes checking in, dropping off backpack no. 1, and hopping back on the horse. The ride back home was equally as enjoyable, but with a slight headwind. Bummer, but I cannot expect to ride 750-something miles and never encounter a headwind. Wichita Falls is famous for wind...

The last leg of the morning commute was a fast one - must be something about being warmed up already. That mountain bike really hauls ass, and I'm already suffering seperation anxiety as the new bike is ready for pickup this evening. Since I cannot ride both bikes at once, and the new bike is more suited for the commute and most likely the entire trip to Dallas, I'll need to ride it a lot more. Did I mention that by taking a month to make my decision on the new wheels, I saved myself upwards of $500?

Pictures coming soon.

Rain, rain, go away...or don't

My timing has been terribly off this week. Tuesday was the wicked big hailstorm, Wednesday was promised to be wet and wetter, yet turned out to be perfect riding conditions (I didn't ride). Yesterday was supposed to be nice, but eventually became dark and gloomy, and the ride home was met with an attitude equivalent to that of a shrug.

I don't know why they make rain gear for cyclists, and even more peplexing is why people buy said apparel. If you're going to be out on a bike in the rain, you are going to get wet. Since a shower always follows a ride home, why not get as wet and dirty as one can? Rain shells just keep the sweat inside, and that's wet, is it not?

The kid inside comes out when it rains.

Sleep, speed and other 'S' words

To continue yesterday's final thought, it did not rain. Meh (the sound you make when you shrug). Can't always time the weather right. Now, on to today's thought.

Up at 3:30 this morning - this is because I woke up last evening at 8:34 wondering how I had managed to sleep through my alarm and become late for work. Hey, why is the sun in the west? Yes, early to bed sure makes the early to rise part easier. Thought about doing 60 miles today, but held off and will stick to 35.

One thing I will be doing is upgrading my crankset. There is currently a standard 42-tooth (big ring) installed, and quite frankly, I'm out of gears. It used to be that I could not achieve a speed in excess of 35 mph, but now with the slick tires on, I'm running out of gears on the flats. Must...have...more...speed.

...and boy will I be irked

...if the weather they promise today fails to live up to its full potential. I drove in order to avoid severe weather this afternoon. Just watch - a 20 mph tailwind all the way home and 85º.

Bah.

A dent in training

Yesterday, for the first time ever, I was unable to complete my commuting circuit.

"Why not?", you ask.

I'd say a foot of hail and four feet of water at almost every intersection would warrant calling a friend for a ride! My lawn is eternally grateful. My cycling spirits are not. The silver lining is that I now must plan for such a contingency if I am to encounter the wrath of Mother Nature like this while out in the middle of the Texas panhandle.

What's weird is this is an AP story, yet I cannot find any significant local coverage on the web. Hmph.

The suspens(ion) is killing me!

Holy smokes.

First ride in today with the rigid forks, and the difference was stunning. Each ride begins with a quarter-mile uphill climb, not too bad, but enough to get the blood pumping at 5:30 am. This morning it was almost like riding up a flat incline, which, I know, is a severe contradiction in terms. The flats and downhill portions of the ride were a bit bumpier - suspension forks really do absorb a lot of vibration, but I'll soon have this for that.

Picked up a really good pair of stiff-soled shoes (clearance) as a backup, some skewers on sale for the extra wheeelset (skewers never go on sale), and some reflective tape for the rims.

Gettin' there, people.

Wristbands redux

Today I feel blessed. Last night, my friends almost bought me out of all of the wristbands I had made for the trip, donating $3 apiece, sometimes in multiples, to support the cause. One of my best friends even pledged up to $200 in tips made from her first football Sunday serving the masses of gridiron fans at the best sports bar in town. I love her.

I also have the best friends.

So, in the interest of raising more money, I have ordered several hundred more wristbands to sell (remember, all money goes to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research).

No commute today as the bike is in the shop having new forks installed. The rigid forks will help in getting me places more efficiently. The mechanic saw my rig and whistled his approval, so I'm feeling good about that.

Decisions, decisions

The Steel Horse has been a little ill lately. On Saturday I hit an unusually large and sharp object (still not sure what it was), thusly tweaking my rim, puncturing my tire and taking me down to one wheelset. On Monday I ordered a pair of rigid forks to replace the suspension forks currently installed on the bike. Every last ounce of energy will count on this excursion, and suspension forks are not made for long, flat roads.

All this made me realize that I need a back up, so Monday I went out and gave a couple other bikes a test ride. My current rig weighs about 30 lbs, which is pretty heavy for a tour of this magnitude. It's a good thing I don't know the difference :-)

Well, now I do.

Ten pounds lighter, larger wheels and thinner tires make for a heckuva lot of speed, which is addicting. The problem I have is that I'm also addicted to the durability and stability of my Giant Rainier. If I were to've struck this object using thinner tires (also inflated to twice the PSI of my mountain wheels), I might be in orbit right now.

Lastly, once you go to disc brakes, you'll never want to go back to conventional bicycle braking systems. No Road bikes come with discs, and only some Cyclocross bikes have them. Looks like I may be shopping for a lighter, rigid-forked mountain bike.

Insanity

When people find out I plan on riding seven and a half centuries in a row (stopping at night), they think I'm nuts. Try this on for insanity.

Everyone knows it's Windy

Yesterday, I was most certainly not skipping down the streets of this city. First of all, I'm not a girl, and second of all, I'm not Carson Kressley.

Last night's two-wheeled commute home was brutal. I had essentially become a windsock in reverse. Clouds were looming, the rain was spitting, and every direction in which I turned, the wind met me squarely in the face. I'm beginning to believe this is more psychological than physical, but it took my average speed on the way home from 18 mph to 13 mph. Thankfully, today is supposed to be worse, so I'm taking the day off. Training/commuting to resume Monday, if not before.

Weather guessing

This morning's commute hit me in the face with a chilly reminder that winter is never truly over at 6,200 feet altitude. The weather dude always gives the temperature at the airport, which is a couple miles east and about 12 miles south of me. 56º at the Flughafen was more like 36º up by me. Not a problem as my commute begins with a steep quarter mile uphill climb. By the time I get going, I'm warm enough...

I'm also thinking of the best ways to blog while I'm out on the road. I'll have access to a laptop each evening, but was was also eyeballing this little electronic morsel. The two year agreement is almost up with my mobile service provider, and I get $100 off of a new phone. I'm not much for being ahead of the curve in the realm of technology, but this thing looks like it might actually be easy enough to use and continue to be functional for a long period of time, instead of becoming obsolete within a year. How cool would it be to take pictures and post to the blog from Pritchett, Colo. (said township is in a very desolate, yet beautifully so, region of southeastern Colorado)?

Anaerobia

I am in possession of the latest addition to my [much used, often maligned] cycling jersey collection. Now an official Komrade in the Republic of Anaerobia, we share a motto: Veni, Vidi, Vomiti. Doing something halfway makes no sense to me, although my mother would disagree based on my famous dishwashing performance of '76.

Chasing the sunset

As usual, the trip to Texas was one of the great weekends of my life. Twelve hours each direction, seeing America in new and different ways and planning the bicycle trip. As always, one of the highlights is leaving Amarillo around 7:00 pm, chasing the sunset as I drive west.

Most people have an aversion to Southeastern Colorado - everyone wants to see the 'pretty' part of this square-from-the-top, tall-from-the-side state. I've got news for ya - the entire state is beautiful. If all of Colorado looked like Vail, Telluride and Aspen, you may as well just go see Finland. Trouble with Finland is no one wants to go there because it's too effing cold! Can't have it both ways, peoples.

Anyhoo, this journey was about which roads possess the broadest shoulders on which to safely ride a bicycle. I discovered a very lightly travelled road which bypasses a lot of busier highways, but more than half of it is shoulderless. One oddity thought - stupid birds. These poor winged creatures evidently had no idea what an automobile was. They would stand in the middle of the road, almost daring me to hit them I first thought. It turns out they did not know what was happening until they struck the front of my car, poor souls. That then got me to thinking, "I wonder if all roadkill goes to heaven?" If every animal which has ever died ended up in heaven, well, that place is pretty darn big.

Strangely enough, this led me to wonder if armadillos possess an inborn sense of surveying and cartography. While driving back, I noticed a number of dead armadillos, but not one after passing into the Oklahoma panhandle. These varmints must know where the borders lie and refuse to cross them. Not the prettiest creature, but certainly also not the smartest.

Possibly the coolest creature I encountered on the road was the lowly turtle. This little dude is just trying to finish his day by carefully crawling across the interstate. You see them on the approach, and of course try to miss them. They're so funny in that they seem to stop, look around, realize the imminent peril, tuck everything inside and pray.

After driving new routes both ways, the standard route appears to be the safest: Busier interstates with really wide shoulders. I'm thinkin' a jersey with DALLAS OR BUST emblazoned on the back should be enough to inform people to please be careful. It's a long way there.

Heaven

No, not the Bryan Adams slow-dancer from the 80's. This morning's commute. I'm certain that when I die, go to heaven and get a job, the commute will be just like this morning. 53ºF, sunny, a little tailwind, and a brand new yellow jersey. If it weren't for that yellow light at Circle and Venetucci, I'd have made record time. Meh (that's the noise you make when you shrug). It's still the best way to get to work.

The Fog

Boy, I guess I need to get used to riding in humidity again. A typical 'wet' day here in Colorado is 10% humidity. This morning's ride was like riding through the business end of an aquarium. Pleasant, but not used to breathing actual moisture like that.

Should be mid-70's for this afternoon's trip home, which is a nice change from the murky weather this past weekend. Upon my return home tonight, going to go grab some much needed bike-related stuff (at the bike shop) and some snacks (at the next door grocery) for the road trip this weekend (automobile).

Seeya here tomorrow (parentheses used here for no good reason).