My New Favorite Blog

Trying to get into cross this year and have been reading several sites all about cross, I came across this site. This is one post that hit home with me as today's ride lacked anything in the well. http://www.belgiumkneewarmers.com/2008/05/well.html

Putting in the Miles

Lots of miles on the road, loving the new frame. At first I thought the new bike was cursed, I had to abort the first two rides. Here is a brief recap of the two rides:

Tuesday, August 4
I didn't have a lot of time so I decided to hit up a short Black Oak loop. This is a 32 mile loop with one climb near the beginning or end depending on direction, CW or CCW. I had just finished the build the night before and failed to attach my saddle bag. No big deal, I won't flat I thought and plus I was really ready to test out the new ride. Well about an hour into the ride, I flatted. Ride aborted, sister called for a ride home.

Wednesday, August 5
This time I had a longer route planned and I made sure I had tubes and tools. Everything was going fine until I made the turn to start heading back to Fayetteville. Dark skies ahead. I knew I was in trouble when a gust of really cold air hit me. The rain started slow but after a couple miles it was a steady, hard rain and I was soaked. The situation quickly turned real bad as the winds picked up and visibility was way down. I couldn't see so I assumed cars would have a tough time seeing me. When the lightning strikes started I knew I needed to get off the road quick. I was able to find a school that provided much needed shelter as the ping-pong sized hail began. Parts of NWA received up to 4" of rain in about an hour. Ride aborted, sister called for a ride home.

Back to back rides unfinished. I finally got a ride completed on Friday, a 35 mile loop down to West Fork and back through Hogeye. Sunday was a solid day in the saddle. 68 miles at an average of 18. For the week, I ended up with 177 miles just over 12 hours in the saddle. This week should see similar numbers, however I am going to push for 200. Gotta get ready for the end of September, my friends added a possible ride the day after the century to the top of Mt. Magazine. That would top the week's mileage up over 400.

Where to start this post, a lot has been going on in my life but nothing all to exciting to anyone but me. I guess I'll try to narrow my topics to what I think a reader of this blog may find interesting, which will most likely turn out to be completely mundane and lame to even those closest to me.

Here I go.

The weekend turned into a total no-go on the riding front. Saturday was spent at the bike shop and then cooking dinner while enjoying a few brews. The weather was awesome, all together it wasn't a bad day. Sunday was supposed to be a killer loop with some friends and co-workers from the shop. I didn't sleep well the night before and woke feeling less than stellar so I pussed on the ride. It turned out to be a good decision. I took a good look at the state of my lawn and landscape and decided the day would be best spent on yard work. Most people hate yardwork, I love it. I worked as a landscaper for most of my career, sometime I miss the physical labor. I put in a solid 8+ hours of mowing, edging, raking, weed pulling, hedge trimming, burning limbs, tree trimming, mulching, etc. I was shelled by the end of the day, really worn out. I used to do this same work five days a week, week in and week out. Man, I am getting soft. I got tons of work done, however it is a bit discouraging to know that I could work like that every week and still have projects to do around the house. The backyard still resembles a jungle despite my best efforts.

One other exciting event this past week is my new road frame and fork. I got a killer deal on a blem from Specialized. The website read: A great condition, 95% of original condition, 09 Roubaix Pro frame, fork, and seatpost. The price was to good to pass up and I have been wanting to upgrade my road bike, as it is the only style of riding I have been doing lately. I was a little worried about the condition of the frame, the price was reduced but I was still spending a good bit of change for a frame. The frame arrived today with a huge hole poked through the side of the box, I got worried. I quickly unwrapped the frame for inspection, fearing the worst. To my surprise and relief the frame was in pristine condition, I couldn't tell that the frame had even been built up. The frame looked brand new. The guys at the shop that have been around for a while told me that when Specialized puts up a blem and says it is in near new condition, it really is in near new condition. It took me all of two hours to transfer parts from the Allez(LC's new frame) to the Roubaix. I did get to ride the 2.5 miles home from the shop, it felt super smooth. This is my first full carbon road bike and I could tell a difference. This bike is going to kick ass in rides of 4+ hrs. Going to try for a ride tomorrow, have to go by the bike shop to get all the hardware torqued to the correct specs.