Drive time

Tapping the brakes in bumper to bumper traffic on the drive home with the AC on high. The feckless act of driving north instead of riding is bothering me slightly. My thoughts are I'm squandering a bright and beautiful afternoon stuck in traffic. I'd like to think that my legs could commute all week AND ride the Mohican! Oh, that's what Harlan means with his rant with Adam ant...

It's at this moment I need to evaluate what I'm doing with my cycling obsession. Like that's not apparent by the sight of my recently shaved legs. I don't know if shaved is the best way to describe them..Got a little carried away with the sheers last week. Anyway..Jeff and I will start our 12 hour driving adventure tomorrow night. Meeting up somewhere 'round Schenectady NY to get a head-start on our 775 mile journey to Columbus.
Is it really necessary to drive to Ohio to ride a hundred mile race?..of coarse not! This obsession can't be understood...Once again a fraternity of riders will converge from near and far on a field in the middle of nowhere to celebrate life with the ability to torture one's self.
It's the freedom and ability to attend that can't be taken lightly as I say goodbye to a good friend going off to war. Justin Ello is preparing to leave and go to a place of hell and death as we go and party for the weekend. You'll be on my mind for this week and all the weeks till you return bro.
Justin's competitive spirit and incredible strength as an athlete rubbed off on me as I supported him and Brad B in the sea to summit triathlon three years in a row. And later as I trained along side the same guys to run the Vermont 50...not to mention some good fun at the topsfield Highland Games!
Your the best Justin, come home safe. You'll be foremost in my mind when things get tough during this event and others that will follow till you return. Peace out bro.

felt like summer today

Out of work early Thursday for a coastal cruise from bean town to points north. 82 degrees with a cool and salty north easterly wind for 5 hours, sweet. Hugged the shore from Shirley point Winthrop to Nahant, Marblehead, and points north. Got in with some roadies somewhere in between and chatted it up with some strangers along the back roads of Mah'blehead. Turns out we knew some of the same people, small world shit.
May have even gotten some sun to cover up all the bruises on my sticks left from this week's batterings in Lynn with George, Nate and Jeff W. Good to see Jeff W on trail in not the most perfect of setting for his fully rigid rocket, but that brother rocked the house!

Got home in time to register for the VT50! yeah yeah! This race sells out in mere minutes every damn year and for the past few I've missed the cut...not this year. I registered at 7:01 and by 7:25 the race was filled. 800 mtb'ers at their computers punching the keys for 25 minutes...so that works out to someone registering every 1.8 seconds for 25 minutes to fill the race...Undoubtedly New England's most popular race. Maybe I'll be pushing one gear by then...

(this from Harvey)-

According to Clarke, Americans who participated in Bike to Work Day last Friday . . .

---saved more than 56 tanker trucks of gasoline
---saved $5.7 million in driving costs
---prevented 4,580 tons of carbon dioxide and 230 tons of carbon monoxide from entering the atmosphere
---burned 410 million calories

You did it for real-does it count that I was biking while I was supposed to be working?

(I'm sure you were thinking about work!)

Got to pedal to work, Later!

Heavy breathing with Dr Fib

Sunday was a repeat of Saturday in the weather dept. and the rocks were slick in Lynn. Keep it straight, feather that brake - and no twitching on the line or suffer the smack down! The conditions kept us honest and there was no way of disguising botched maneuvers. As Barry said it best, "Greasy as a butcher's _____." <- fill in the blank with the appropriate noun.
This is George and I near the end of the ride, tempting fate one last time. In dry conditions this would be a walk in the park...I almost passed on this one till Dr fibrillator showed me up. Walking down would have been near imposable anyway.

45 and rainy...yup this is spring.

What little hair I've got on my lower legs was standing on end as I rolled from Howard street earlier this morning. Goose bumps galore and smatterings of mud and filth covered much of me as I ripped solo 'round the local loop. Got charged on three espresso shots and a few cookies before I left. I didn't touch the two bottles of H20 on board my steel rocket, the air was soaked with 98% humidity, the simple act of breathing provided all the water I needed for a short 1 hour jaunt over the hills of BP.
It's going to be a 3 shower day, in my bathroom I mean. I took one to wake up, one after the morning loop and now I'm contemplating going back for another helping of mud. Lesli is at the gym, I should nap on the couch (which sounds great about now) but think I'll go and enjoy getting filthy again.
I met Reenie and Tom at Igleheart's shop this afternoon for a fit session for Reenie's La Ruta bike!! Hats off to Reenie and Tom for taking on the challenge of three days from hell in Costa Rica. You guys rock. After Reenie was squared away with her fit session I had one of my own. A 29 SS is in my near future. Chris and I played with some angles and measurements on the calfee sizecycle and came up with a winner. 72 degree ht, 73.5 seatangle and a 23.5 effective tt should do me just right. Thanks Christopher - You 'da man.

postponed ?

Not enough support or planning for the Montreal-Boston Tour and it's been Postponed till '08?

I was looking forward to that event, would have been a blast to group ride to Boston and watch the pros circle the metro area all day long. Just not enough support and planning this year. Rubbish!

A bikes best friend...

Anti seize lubricant!

Lots of biking leads to LOTS of bike maintenance, of which I have preformed Nada. My road bike had a rhythmic tapping noise that has grown to a loud crack emitting from the BB and the rear brake cable hasn't retracted for a few weeks. I have ignored the problems for a while but need to address them soon before I'm walking home from work. A sampling of noises my Remedy produces are; Creaking, cracking, rubbing, squeaking, thumping, and Scraping. I bent the rear rotor last weekend, and the pivots need a turn of the wrench, nothing too serious. My new bikes from early season are now the beat-up bikes that need some lov'in but the Igleheart hard tail is still running strong and quiet.

in the zone

Bill speaking body english

time suck

Lesli and I have been wrapped up with small town politics this week.. We thought it would be a good idea to attend the annual town meeting, vote on the school override and be there to hear the "hot button" debate that has everyones panties in a bunch...weather to allow senior housing in Hamilton! OMG! Not that. Well, worry not people of Hamilton...No affordable senior housing in our fair neighborhood. Let'm retire somewhere else.
I should have got a clip of the debate and youtubed it.. Tempers flared when the amendment needed a 2/3rds vote to pass. 118 to 190 was the count. The nay's had the vote. Things almost got interesting when a selectman called for a vote to reconsider AFTER 50 people left the high school auditorium. Police were on hand, people shouting, some good old excitement for sure.

The past week has been FILLED with quality rides. The ride with Daren and Christopher started it off last Thursday. George rolled up from town and joined Barry and I for a solid 4.5 hour technical singletrack blast on Saturday. Then Bev trekked down from the north with his Salsa 29'er on Sunday and we were out till our legs nearly exploded.
Good stuff people! Hoping to get out with Glenn and Jeff later today...Man I hope the ride schedule stays like this all summer.

Stay tuned for a small video. Creating it has sucked hours of my time and crashed my computer more times than I can remember.

bring it on home

sleep is soo overrated

I didn't think that I'd ever say there are benefits to working the 4am shift, but...
1, there's no traffic on rt1 south at the butt crack of dawn so it's a breeze getting here.
(there is a down side...) I don't have the guts to RIDE to work at 3 am. Probably too many drunks still on the road in Lynn and Saugus at that time of the morning.
2, I've got plenty of time AFTER work to ride! Got a good one in yesterday with Daren and Christopher. Fast loop around BP. Started on the full rigid Igle bike, as did Chris. Daren on my dually, half way into the ride Big D decided to try out the hardtial and didn't give it back for the remainder of our ride. He kept saying, "this thing lets you lay down the power!"
Yes it does, on those trails anyhow...gotz ta respect the rigid fork when on technical terrain but for cross country ya can't beat it!
I find myself drinking entirely too much coffee when waking up at 3am though...just got back from another trip to the men's room.
I should mention that I got my ass handed to me on the ccb wed night smack down. Not exactly the impression that I wanted to leave with Mr Pete Smith but what can ya do...was delivered a large slice of humble pie. I think it's beneficial to get pummeled, i mean humbled once in a while.
Gotz some work to do in the smack down dept. Got to find a way to avoid oxygen deprivation with a heart rate of 191...is that possible? Had to shut down the engine when I almost blacked out...That was a better option than going down at 30 mph.

chris' loop

Following a man that's near double my age on a fixed gear road cycle is quite amusing. This guys has been riding fixies since I was two years old and it's apparent.
I mimic his ride style of simplicity and constant velocity until we encroach traffic, then I chicken out. Christopher rolls slowly into the intersection and makes eye contact with the person belted in what is essentially a steel cage. Hesitation leaves me in the intersection as Christopher makes a move with all his weight on the front pedal. He is through, I'm waiting while freewheeling backward. If I were on the fixey I would have certainly dabbed.
The sun had sunk below the trees and still 20 minutes from home. This ride had started out to be an hour spin but now we were working close to two. I with no blinky light or reflective clothing. Christopher had a blinky (and all black clothing) so he was behind acting as the warning light for on coming cars as we rolled along rt133 in Essex. On a long downhill we caught a couple of 20 year old guys on downhill bikes with dual crown forks. They were on the side walk and we were on the street. They were give'in it their all to keep with us, their 7 inch travel dual squishies bouncing and weaving, we exchanged greetings and all had a good laugh. They stayed with us for a minute laughing the entire time.
This week has been a non structured bike week in terms of training. I haven't kept a log of miles, just a casual hour or two a day. My thinking is the next three weeks are going to be sheer pain.