A long time...no blog!

It's been quite difficult trying to find time to blog lately...but since my last post I have ridden 314 miles. Most of the miles were pretty routine, but they do include 70 at Bikefest and 4 with Madeline (her first extended ride outside of our neighborhood) and one 35 mile ride where I was nearly hit by, not 1 but 2 Wake County School Buses (the second of which I caught at a railroad crossing and gave a piece of my mind).

BikeFest was great! The weather really cooperated in the morning as it was mostly cool and overcast. It didn't start to heat up until very late in the ride, which made it a very nice 70 miles. Rode with my 2 usual riding partners (Gooch, left in Michigan jersey and Adam, right in Carolina jersey). There are a lot of other great pictures linked to the TarWheels site here for those intersted in some great scenery (including some with folks on horses and in horse-drawn carts!). What made the ride even better was that we were able to hold a nice high pace nearly the entire time (as hilly as it is) because there was plenty of paceline riding (we usually were in groups ranging in size from about 6 to 16 riders).

The other highlight of the month was my ride with Madeline. With Cyclocross season only a month away (schedule) I have just begun to take that bike out of the garage and out on the road. Madeline has decided that she would like to race in the youth category (under 10) at the first race in Cary at Bond Park. Here's a nice short video of the course in Cary. She and I went out and did a combination of on and off-road riding (including 2 falls on some rough terrain) and she handled every minute of it fantastically. I think I might be as excited as she is about getting to ride together and her competing in some races.

Before I get to cyclocross season though...I have my biggest ride of the season this weekend! Ride without Limits is this weekend and I am looking forward to the 102 mile Saturday and 101 mile Sunday. Now for the bad news....I brought my bike to the shop for a tune-up and some bar tape on Monday...only to find out that I also need a new chain and rear cassette (why does cycling have to be so expensive)! It will really be nice to ride a freshly tuned bike this weekend though...I am really hoping the weather cooperates. Last year it was cold and windy, this year it will not be cold (the ride is a month earlier) but it might rain (and as most folks know, I really do not like to ride in the rain). I'll be sure to blog the ride early next week!

Fundraising Update:

Thanks to all of you who have already contributed to my fundraising efforts and to those of you who haven't but still want to you still have a chance:

Once again this year I will be participating in the Ride without Limits (http://www.ridewithoutlimits.org/site/PageServer?pagename=homepage) a great ride that raises money for United Cerebral Palsy. Last years event was great (a little cold) (see blog posts below) and I am definitely looking forward to it again.If you are interested in donating, please go to the link below:http://www.ridewithoutlimits.org/site/TR/2009Ride/General?px=1104841&pg=personal&fr_id=1160

• Days to the Ride without Limits: 3
• Total Miles Blogged: 2,161
• Miles in 2009: 829

A Fauna-Filled Ride

A very interesting 40 mile ride on Monday including a number of climbs (to prep for BikeFest). I was able to get a good, challenging ride in between camp dropoff and pickup's, doctor appointments, and Tae Kwon Do! A while ago, I told Catherine that I saw a wild turkey (are there tame/demosticated turkeys?) around the corner from our house...of course she didn't believe me! Well, a few weeks ago I snapped this picture of the turkey (of course I am assuming it is the same one) with my phone. As I turned out of the neighborhood, I saw that turkey again, only this time she also had flock of about 5 or 6 babies with her. They are actually kind of neat looking...not necessarily cute, kind of an awkward looking little bird.

I figured this would be the animal highlight of the ride...but not to be outdone, once again I saw 3 deer not very far from the road. Deer always tend to freak me out a little, I am sure you have seen the damage they can do to a car, so imagine what kind of damage they can do to a person on a bike should they get spooked.

Once again, since it was late morning and quite hot, I figured that would be all of the animal sightings for the day...but wait there's one more...and I hope someone can explain this one to me! On the border of Wake and Granville County, link here, I saw a DEAD FISH on the road! If you look at the map there are a few ponds/lakes in the area...but how exactly does a fish end up on the road? Did someone decide at the last minute they didn't want fish for dinner? Is it illegal to carry fish across county line?

No post is ever complete with the Fundraising Update:

Once again this year I will be participating in the Ride without Limits (http://www.ridewithoutlimits.org/site/PageServer?pagename=homepage) a great ride that raises money for United Cerebral Palsy. Last years event was great (a little cold) (see blog posts below) and I am definitely looking forward to it again.If you are interested in donating, please go to the link below:http://www.ridewithoutlimits.org/site/TR/2009Ride/General?px=1104841&pg=personal&fr_id=1160

Thank You to all of those who have already donated to the cause! It is greatly appreciated! In fact...I have made the honorable mention list (for donations received for individual riders) with 63% of my goal accomplished. It is important to note that my original goal was $250, and I raised it to $500.

• Days to BikeFest: 2
• Weeks to the Ride without Limits training ride: 4
• Weeks to the Ride without Limits: 8
• Total Miles Blogged: 1,847
• Miles in 2009: 515

Dogs & Bikes don't mix!

Well, 3 days of riding to report on...two of the three were very uneventful, 22 miles on Friday and 19 miles on Tuesday without incident. Saturday, however is another story.

What started as a great day of riding quickly changed to fear (a little, followed by a lot of anger) and then exhaustion. I left the house with my neighbor at 7:30 for a "quick" 28 miles and rode almost to Franklinton before turning and heading back to Wake Forest. We rode a few really nice climbs on the way into Franklinton and saw 7 deer (of various sizes and ages) while encountering very light traffic (always a plus, especially in rural North Carolina where they don't always take to lycra clad guys on bikes!). We finished the ride in about 1.5 hours and I swung back by my house to refill one of my water bottles and eat a sandwich before heading out for another 30+ miles on my own.

Unfortunately, all of the "fun" started at around mile 35. While on my way to Youngsville I was riding down Old Wake Forest Rd (a route I routinely ride) and saw a dog out of the corner of my eye. It only took a minute for me to realize he was coming after me, so I tried my usual "SIT!" (story here) but unfortunately it didn't work...not only did the dog not stop, it didn't bark either (usually a really bad sign). I began sprinting as fast as I could and very quickly was riding over 25 mph, but the dog just seemed to be gaining on me (I couldn't belive how fast he was). About 1/3 of the way through the chase I began riding in the middle of the road, 1/2 through the chase I moved to the other side of the road (not recommended as it is really dangerous) and just beyond that a car nearly hit the dog (and to be honest, I was hoping it would). Finally, the car that nearly hit the dog pulled over and started yelling at the dog. At that point I think the owner (who was in the field where the dog came from, I think) caught up to it in a truck finally got it to stop chasing me. I mapped the chase here: http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/331052, in all I sprinted (along with the dog) for 1/2 mile. Not only could I not believe how fast the dog was, but I couldn't believe how far he ran. Once the chase was over, and my arms and legs stopped shaking from the mix of adrenaline and sprinting, I was really angry. I think it is not only irresponsible to leave dogs like that untethered, it is dangerous and illegal. Maybe I need to add a new cycling partner (would a Michael Vick joke be in poor taste here)?

After the chase, I still had about 20 more miles to ride! Thankfully, the rest of the ride was fine, though had it not been for the dog, my legs probably could have handled at least another 10 miles (I need all of the distance and hills I can get to be prepared for BikeFest).

No post is ever complete with the Fundraising Plug:
Once again this year I will be participating in the Ride without Limits (http://www.ridewithoutlimits.org/site/PageServer?pagename=homepage) a great ride that raises money for United Cerebral Palsy. Last years event was great (a little cold) (see blog posts below) and I am definitely looking forward to it again.If you are interested in donating, please go to the link below:http://www.ridewithoutlimits.org/site/TR/2009Ride/General?px=1104841&pg=personal&fr_id=1160

Thank You to all of those who have already donated to the cause! It is greatly appreciated!

• Weeks to BikeFest: 2
• Weeks to the Ride without Limits training ride: 4
• Weeks to the Ride without Limits: 8
• Total Miles Blogged: 1,807
• Miles in 2009: 475
  
  

Lawn Mowers are Dangerous!

I spent Sunday morning cutting the grass (which by the way looks great since we put in the zoysia sod), pulling weeds, and planting two bushes. I didn't really think much of it until I went out for a nice 19 mile ride (normally an easy outing, even though it is about 1000 ft. of climbing on the route) that afternoon. I thought that even after a week off of the bike (vacation) my fitness level would still be pretty high. But what started off as a nice ride turned into what felt like a climb up the Col du Galibier!

Apparently several hours of grass cutting, weed pulling, and bush planting will make your legs tired! I am hoping for a redemption ride during the week and looking forward to a long ride this weekend, maybe the cup n' cone (67 miles, 2750 ft. of climbing), but will shoot for a 50 mile day either way on Saturday.

I am open to suggestions for my grass cutting, weed pulling situation,

I'm thinking one of these two options might be best:

or

The Ever-Present Fundraising Plug:

Once again this year I will be participating in the Ride without Limits (http://www.ridewithoutlimits.org/site/PageServer?pagename=homepage) a great ride that raises money for United Cerebral Palsy. Last years event was great (a little cold) (see blog posts below) and I am definitely looking forward to it again.If you are interested in donating, please go to the link below:http://www.ridewithoutlimits.org/site/TR/2009Ride/General?px=1104841&pg=personal&fr_id=1160

• Days to the cup n cone training ride: 4
• Weeks to BikeFest: 3
• Weeks to the Ride without Limits 9
• Total Miles Blogged: 1,708
• Miles in 2009: 376
  

Firecracker 2009

Fantastic day of riding on Saturday. The weather cooperated, good riding partner, and plenty of paceline riding. A friend from work and I joined 400+ others for the Firecracker ride in Cary NC on a 64 mile ride:

Completed the ride in 3 hr. 45 min (ride time) and averaged just above 18 mph for the ride. This was my first "long" ride in a while and it really felt great to get back out and log some miles.
(I shouldn't forget to mention that I ran 4 miles on Friday!)

Gratuitous Fundraising Plug:
Once again this year I will be participating in the Ride without Limits (http://www.ridewithoutlimits.org/site/PageServer?pagename=homepage) a great ride that raises money for United Cerebral Palsy. Last years event was great (a little cold) (see blog posts below) and I am definitely looking forward to it again.
If you are interested in donating, please go to the link below:
http://www.ridewithoutlimits.org/site/TR/2009Ride/General?px=1104841&pg=personal&fr_id=1160

Of course I am already looking forward to the next long ride! Hopefully, it will be one of the following 2:

• Days to the RWL 102 mile training ride: 18
• Weeks to BikeFest: 5
• Weeks to the Ride without Limits 11
• Total Miles Blogged: 1,689
• Miles to go in 2009: 4,643
  
  

Rim Tape!

Finally a flat-free ride! It seems that my streak of flats was due to the tiniest of holes in the rim tape. They guy at the bike shop had to match the holes in the two tubes I brought him to the space on the wheel where the holes were occurring and found a small spot where a spoke was poking through, popping my tire each time. So after spending about $25+ dollars on tubes it was the $3 rim tape that I really needed. I was able to log 20 miles yesterday so I shouldn't complain too much. Left the house at about 6:00 pm and it was still about 90 degrees, although the wind was much worse than the temperature. The wind was blowing at about 15 mph and gusting at 20, making my uphill climb into the wind slightly difficult (to say the least). Overall, it was a great ride, probably because it was finally flat free, but also the number of maniacs on the road was at a minimum. Ran on Tuesday and am looking forward to another run Friday morning. My legs will determine whether I ride 60 or 30 at the Firecracker.

• Days to the Firecracker 2
• Weeks to the Ride without Limits 12
• Total Miles Blogged: 1,621
• Miles to go in 2009: 4,711

I HATE FLATS!!!!!!!

How many flat tire's can one person endure? I dropped my bike off at the shop (again!) to have my rear wheel looked at after 2 more flats yesterday (in only 11 miles), now bringing my grand total to 7 straight flats!!!!! Fortunately (or unfortunately, I'm not sure which) I also started running, so at least now I still continue to get some exercise when my bike is out of commission, even though I can always ride my cyclocross bike. Over the past two weeks I have run a total of about 15 miles and biked about 29, not quite the ratio I was hoping for! This Saturday will be my first group/supported ride in a while and I am really lookin forward to it. This will be the 3rd or 4th time I have ridden the Firecracker (http://www.capcycling.org/events-fireCracker.php) and have really enjoyed it. We are only planning on riding the 50 k (about 33 miles, 700 feet of climbing) so it should'nt be too tough, although it is supposed to be hot. It will be nice to finally get back to some more serious mileage (as long as my tire's hold out!) and I am looking forward to riding a few metrics (100k rides) before the Ride without Limits in September.

• Days to the Firecracker 4
• Weeks to the Ride without Limits 12
• Total Miles Blogged: 1,598
• Miles to go in 2009: 4,735