Wed Night Rides

2008 is Missing...

2008-06-27T09:59:00.004-04:00

it's run of wed night rides.
Our fearless leader is down for the count with some type of alien neck invasion. I just think he has a "C" problem. He doesn't "C" himself riding his bike anymore.

He also, has been hanging out with the VS models at work and thinks that is more important than riding with us. Jetting off to far away lands and organizing 'store fixtures' at least that is his story. I am not buying it for one moment.

Livestrong

2007-11-02T11:31:00.000-04:00

As some of you know, a few weeks back I participated in the Livestrong Challenge in Austin, TX. After Rob read the blog, he came up with a great idea to organize a team next year! Jerseys, all the good stuff... But we need your help! Next year's dates will be announced soon. It's a great weekend, one of the most memorable experiences on a bike. If you're interested let Rob or I know. I'll get a team page set up as soon as they let me.

To hear about my Livestrong Challenge, click here

This will make you squeel like a squid...

2007-07-06T09:40:00.000-04:00

...Said the guy who tried to help James and Rob fix my bike... long story short, I (Julie) had to put the single speed wheel back on for today's ride because my brake cables were not long enough to fit the new wheel... (After the ride, I headed over to Bike Source where I was outfitted with new disc brakes and a bottom bracket, and a bunch of other things that wear out after 2000 miles) It was a perfect day, even after the rain...

but James somehow didn't make the big log...

Now Rob, he had a better idea of how to ride the big logs... Click here

Now me, I stick to the little logs... click here

A little later, I talked James into the big jump... almost an endo, but a great recovery! Click here

I on the other hand met a tree... sort of... Click here

After the loop, Rob had to run home to drink beer and James and I went over to phase 1 which is in great shape. I left to go to Bike Source and then drink beer... James, he went home and his wife had a baby boy! Congrats! James, when are you going to get Bruce an Epic???

1st Ride of 2007 - Balls

2007-05-05T10:34:00.000-04:00

“I guess we’re not in Toto any more,” said Van in a moment of Freudian revelation. And we weren’t.
I promised a ride report, and here I am two days later and after a flurry of emails providing one, completely unnecessarily.
For the record, my Ergobrain claimed we’d covered 33.01 miles at a not-entirely-pitiful-given-the-time-of-year average of 17.3 mph. My own brain claimed farther and faster, but I discount its maunderings.
The ride started as usual, except that my legs insisted there was an unexpected acceleration after we’d turned onto Ulry. For a moment I feared that I would completely conk out by the time we got a mile down the road, but it turned out that this is merely a phenomenon related to my increasing need for extended warm-ups. Which brings me to my next point:
Part of the email chatter concerned age. I think it’s extremely tactless of you to bemoan your two-score years and less, when you know you’re addressing someone poised to celebrate, if that’s the word, half a century of existence. But let it pass.
The body of ride was unremarkable, except of course that I managed to keep up; the only interesting moment came when Glenn encountered the posse of oncoming riders all wearing the same shirt as him, and stuck his arms in the air in what looked like a victory salute. On seeing this, said riders wheeled round and we at the back feared there’d be a rumble; but all was well and the menacing group was assimilated for a while, before losing patience and riding off. Van observed the swollen group and thought he was seeing double, but was relieved to find his perceptions empirically confirmed. Or, at least, confirmed by other witnesses, whose reliability is always up for question. (Incidentally, if you haven’t seen the re-worked 300 promo set to the tune “It’s Raining Men”, I heartily recommend it…like everything else in the world, it’s on YouTube.)
As we spun down Warner a sense of anticipation grew – or was that merely the aroma of sweat? In any case, we turned onto Ulry and I found myself in the odd position of using Bob as my lead-out-man, or super-domestique. I emerged from his wind shadow after Van had made his stately way past, apparently bolt upright and not even breathing hard. As usual I wallowed in the wake of Joel and Farmer and…who was that? I’m terrible with names. Anyway, another faster person; but I did manage to pass Van half way up, ducking to avoid the internal organs that were grenading out of his rapidly collapsing body.
This is only the beginning. We all ended the ride with our balls, not merely attached but in (roughly) the right place, despite Van’s threats and menaces. Mind you, as I remarked toward the end, I was running out of ass as fast as we were running out of daylight, so I was just as happy to plant my Assos in the Audi sooner rather than later.

Now I’m about to go out for a brief spin to see if my scrotum has de-abraded sufficiently to allow me to go on this top of Ohio ride on Sunday.

Best to all,
See you next week.
J

DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME!

2007-05-04T15:36:00.000-04:00

This is what happens when you live out in California, get too much sun and try to put the hair from your legs on your head.

Sorry Nic, I had to share the laughs!

Keep on Crankin on!

Ray's Indoor Mountain Bike Park

2007-02-08T11:11:00.000-05:00

Van drives Mark up to Ray's in his Van. Mark smiles the entire time. Mark and Van spend the last 30 minutes of our indoor fun taking pictures. It made us more tired than we already were. We did pick one of the coldest days of the year to go. We still had a blast. Ray introduced himself to us, thanked us for coming.
My favorite line of the day. Was the kid that said, "hey could you guys move out of the way" - What he really was saying = "hey could you old guys get out of the way"
I must admit when Ray first started building this place, I just had no intention of ever going, saying it's not dirt, what's the point. But I did have a blast and it was quite the workout over the four hours. My favorites: pump track, cross country trail and the trail up to the giant RedBull wall. Van states management may permit another trip soon, before Ray's closes for the season.

What a View

2006-12-18T10:13:00.000-05:00

Mt. Evans, Colorado.
Pict sent to me from Mr. Ogle from atop his work-building in downtown, Denver. Pretty cool.

Damn Kids!

2006-12-13T12:30:00.000-05:00

You would think someone with a high school and partial college education would know that you are not suposed to eat Polylube 1000. This is my little brother at the shop he works at in Rocky River up by Cleveland. Glad to see that he is working hard.

Keep the pedals pedalin! (in circles)

What a Wonderful Wife!

2006-12-11T20:42:00.000-05:00

Check out what Shanna gave me for my birthday present. I went to Great Seal with Decker and John, the guy that never breathes heavy. I have to say is is sooooo much different than the ole' Bianchi. I still need to dial it in a bit and put some better tires on it but that is what the the brother that works for a bike store is for. I am heading up to Ray's to ride 12/22, let me know if anyone else is interested. Great Seal was also a pretty good ride, lots of climbing, yummy on the quads. Keep on spinnin on!

2006-12-03T21:02:00.000-05:00

Found this among some old emails. Look at all the not hair. Like a hair club for men ride or something?
Now who can name all these fine folks?
Some pretty white legs I must say.

Brady + Sarah Gitz Hitched

2006-11-30T21:14:00.000-05:00

Well Brady and Sarah made it official by getting hitched in front of a Judge about two weeks ago at home. There were here the week before thanksgiving to have a get together with their family and friends. Jen and I made the easy drive up to Sarah's rents house and had a great time.
Brady borrowed my road bike, days later to go for a nice ride in the middle of the day with Glen. Brady then took my bike out for a ride the next day and got washed on by a big downpoor and got my bike really dirty. Brady and I even managed to find some time to go for a nice great casual ride the day before they went back home. I put different wheels on my cross bike and rode that, so he could continue making my road bike dirty:) It was certainly nice to see both of them and see the pictures of them at the justice o' piece getting married. Sarah looks as happy as ever and Brady is still bald and fast on a bike. He was telling me his regular weekly ride is about 27 miles with almost 4,000 feet of climbing. Sheesh where can we do that ride in Ohio? uh yeah.

Iceman 2006 - not very icy

2006-11-30T20:35:00.000-05:00

Well,
another catch up here on Iceman for 2006. Tim S. Mark F. and Layne were the only columbusites to head up north for the big race. They lenghened the course by 1.5 miles with the grand race total of 28.5 miles from Kalkaska to Traverse City. Tom D. in the pictures didn't attend as he was attending to Jody and their newish baby = tax break. Ezra didn't go this year either as his new home way way up North is too far and too long of a drive to make it worth while. Amazing part was the Single Speed Class was the largest it has ever been in the history of the race. Tim, Layne and I all managed to ride up together in my new Forester and make a great weekend out of attending the race. Race day, the weather was nice hovering about 39 at our hotel, lake front. Driving to Kalkaska for the start brought the temp down to around 34 or so. Tim and I got a really good warm up in and he was ready to start at 9:30 a.m. My start was 10 min later. Layne had a 9:50 start which meant if Layne caught me I was draggin the wagon. Or if I caught Tim, he must have had a mechanical or something else. Well, I never caught Tim, but I did manage to loose track of time since my computer stopped keeping track of my minutes moving around 45 min in to the race. About the halfway point I was still feeling pretty good driving the big ring around as hard as I could muster. Mile 19 rolls up on a little climb, I crest the top of the climb and click, click what is that? over the top of the hill and snap, my chain comes flying off. Dudes are passing me saying oh bummer man. Yeah bummer is right. I grab the chain, put it into my jersey and start running, hop on the bike coast for as long as I can down and around without the brakes to maintain some type of momentem while I try to figure out what to do, since I left my chain tool in the car "hmmm do I need to carry that, naaaah". I ran up every hill and no chained it down every downhill. I managed to make it to about mile 20 or so and there is a guy working on his chain off the trail at the top of a hill. I ask him if I can borrow his chain tool, he says sure when he's finished....tick tick tick, time rolls by with all the other riders I have worked so hard to pass the last 20 miles. I hear my name, Layne is cruising by and asks what I need, he throws me his under seat back and is gone like the winter wind. I fix my chain in about 3 min, funny the guy there was still working on his chain cursing up a storm at his tool, asks to borrow mine, I am like yeah whatever, "I am gone dude, sorry". My heart is racing as I hammer back into the groove trying to catch Layne and Tim yet. No luck, I get to the finish area and see Tim off to the left hanging out like he's been there for 20 mintues just chilling. My time: 2:21:35 / Tim's Time: 2:24:25 / Layne: 2:03:36 (oh yeah, Layne was on a Single-Speed). Great result for Tim really, we figure with the course being longer he technically improved his time over last year by over 10 minutes. I however added 19 min to my time from last year. I would say I am happy overall with my result, since I basically didn't ride or train for two months because of my herniated disc. So hindsight, I'll take the extra time. As the doc said, "you know Mark, your not 25 anymore". Layne had one of his better finishes on his new custom SS 29" bike. He said he felt great and managed to finish 17th out of almost 100 SS racers. Tim and I returned as quickly as we could post race to our fancy schmancy hotel hot tub/pool for some relaxing and finer beverages. Layne hung out and also had some beverages at the finish and watched the pros roll in later in the afternoon. 1:36:57 was the Pro mens winner time. Can you say freak. All in all a great time, highly suggest this race gets put on your 'do before you die list'.

CycloCross Season

2006-11-30T20:20:00.000-05:00

well, the riding season is almost over. I managed to get in with Layne and Gary W. a few cyclocross races and have some big time fun on my new Gunnar. Too bad I don't have a lighter weight set of wheels and hubs. Oh well, its a great bike and much more comfy to ride than my Surly.

In the days before porcelain

2006-08-24T00:09:00.000-04:00

It wasn't always easy to just jet off to the hills and take a ride... careful planning was a key part of any excursion into the woods. Take this poor hubbard, for instance... miscalculated the strength of his espresso. All of a sudden, in the midst of a strenuous climb, he realizes he's about to increase his power to weight ratio--without increasing power. Yeah, you got it. Luckily for him, there was a rustic commode to help him along in a civilized manner. Unfortunately, the tabloids had an outpost in this very neck of the woods (scouting UFOs with three-nippled aliens), and there you have it. At least he was wearing the Bikesource colors--a sure sign that something's not quite right with him.

Wed Night Dopping Investigation - NEWS ALERT

2006-07-14T09:10:00.000-04:00

It has come to the atttention of several media outlets, many of the regular hosts of these Wed Night Rides are involved in dopping. Rumor has it one of these "hosts" even won some type of bike race in the last two weeks and then took some sort of "break" from regular riding. Word, has it this "break" was to allow the "hosts" accelerated superman state to return to normal levels.
The other "Host" cited personal reasons and his "job" for holding him up most of the summer.

An investigaton is in the midst, "the truth shall come out" states one regular rider, "I am sick of these guys always being in the front and always being in control of where we are going", says another frustrated rider. Another rider, "its those 17 seconds of sprint", I know that one guy is totally, like on the juice".

Press reports from Europe also reveal several others involved in the investigation. Several un-named "associates" of these "Hosts" oddly enough, keep moving out of state. Word is, these "associates" are moving out of fear of being caught. Up to 6 others now are involved in "operata moveoutastata". "this moving out of state thing, just shows how guilty they are" exclaims one regular rider, "these are the ones providing all the go power for our hosts and I am sick of being in the back".

More info to follow.
United Ohio Press Authority

28th June...

2006-06-28T21:59:00.000-04:00

Well, we made it in under the wire. If by "wire" one means streaks of multi-million volt, high-amperage electricity lancing down from big black clouds (or, actually, up from the earth toward the big black clouds). But to start at the beginning:

It was a dodgy afternoon all round, what with big clouds looming and that humid feeling of impending doom (which turned out, in fact, to be something to do with Glen, so we won't dwell on it); but since I hadn't ridden in a couple of weeks (literally), and was relieved to hear that Van was in the same becalmed, swamped, engine-less boat, I figured I'd go come what may.

We convened chez Van -- Joel, Julie, Mark, Marks' team-mate Gary, Glen and myself -- and set off into an increasingly pleasant evening. The air, though a bit humid, felt good as it washed past us. and contrary to expectation my legs neither cramped up immediately nor felt like limp, twisted face flannels. Julie hasn't been on the bike much lately either, but you'd hardly know it. Meanwhile, Glen was cheerfully nattering away about how he'd committed the sin of overtraining -- a sin to which, despite my wholehearted devotion to sinfulness, I've not yet subscribed.

Van did a cloud probability estimation of some sort and led us north, up the eastern flank of that hallowed body of water known as Lake Baika...I mean Alum, sorry. At some point we turned in some other direction and then still another one (I merely follow the cassette &/or buttock in front, truly), at a comfortable but hardly sedate pace. Think of it as a looong warm-up ride.

In Bob's absence we considered gathering a posy of roadside flowers to present to him, but thought better of it.

The roads gave evidence that rain had lately fallen, but it did not fall on us; I felt, quite literally, one single raindrop immediately before the start, and not another afteward.

At a certain point, Julie said to me "I want to do a sprint..." I said, well, I'm sure there's a green sign somewhere out there. She said "no, not to anything, just an unmotivated sprint." Sure enough, the moment arrived -- we'd drifted to the back, and she said "I think I'll do it now" (or words to that effect), and took off like a weasel shot from the greased colon of that moose that works for the place Van no longer works for. She startled the big boys, I can tell you, and Gary and Joel (I think) took off after her. They reeled her in after an impressive distance, but neither of them, I feel sure, knew why they were pursuing her. Hormones, I guess.

Glen, as he will, took us back along County Line Road. Before we crossed the lake a Toyota full of bopping high school students pulled up next to us at the light, and we observed an admittedly rather dishy blonde 16 or 17 year old in the front seat, eating ice cream in what was obviously a deliberately seductive way. Not. So Mark, being Mark, demanded some; the spoon was offered and then the light changed, so Mark didn't get any ice cream (or anything else) and the spoon only just changed hands before the driver zipped off and we headed out onto the pewter-colored windswept expanse of the reservoir. After which we were off up the swooping humps that ascend from the lake toward the intersection with Red Bank, led by Joel and Mark, with me trailing, and the saner riders making their more or less stolid way up the rise; at this point, some 24 miles in, the sky was frowning down on us in a distinctly hostile manner, albeit relieved with some gorgeous sun-rimmed cloudscapes. We seemed to be threading a needle between angry-looking cells of thunderstorm, while in the distance, to the southeast, a simply huge pink mass of storm looked as though whatever cloud was over us would be a better cloud by comparison.

As we approached Ulry I said "oh, I know where we are, it's Ulry up ahead," to which Joel said "no, not for a few more streets," adding various other vague insults and deprecations. We duly passed onto Ulry exactly as I'd foreseen, and I -- motivated by the increasing density of nasty bloody bolts of lightning to our west -- began to push the pace teensy bit. Mark, being Mark, thought I was trying to pull a sneaky move and get away; in two shakes of a lamb's tail (or at least, three calibrations of a heartbeat monitor's span) he was on my wheel like a leech. "Good evening," I said, probably inaudibly, into the wind. "I'm Julian, and I'll be your rabbit tonight." I time-trialed my way across the flat and onto the lower slopes of the Col du Green Sign, at which point I turned and said to Mark, "Well, go on!" And he did. But I did come second, and kept pushing all the way to Haussman.

Off the bike, exchanged shoes for driving-friendly footwear, front wheel off, bike into blanket in trunk, helmet and gloves into bag, wave goodbye to the friendly folk, and into the car. Drive 1/4 mile and KERBLAMMO: raindrops the size of well-fed mice suddenly pounding on the car,
and an abysmal darkness fell. We made it, as I said, under the wire.

31.87 miles, mean speed 17.1 mph, my max 37 flat (though I know Julie broke 40 on one of the downhills), 1 hour and 51 minutes.

Wed. 6/7 Ride

2006-06-05T20:37:00.000-04:00

All right, in the interest of getting ahead of things. I propose another attempt at riding on Wed. Weather looks good and I'm near the end of my career at A&F so the need to impress coworkers is gone.

I will be on vacation next week re-testing my vodka and seafood diet training program, so you can all go to Canal and clobber each other in the hills then.

I'm thinking of a little jaunt over to Johnstown and back.

Since I missed out on riding last week and have been pondering my latest life changing decision over fat filled food, I anticipate being really slow. (compared to my usual regular slow)

Who is in?

2006-06-01T16:22:00.000-04:00

Layne P's new super secret 29" trail blazer. How about that nice paint. Well, this weekend is Layne's big 40th birthday. You would certainly never know it from those Dick Clark pills he's on...I just hope he doesn't fall down soon and break a hip or get a lower back injury like some other old man I know. Hopefully we can all get out on the dirt soon and help Layne get his new bike dirty. Tim can school him on the ability to ride at a speed unknown to mere mortal man at Lake Hope. Layne will school Tim by rolling past him on his super duper rolling machine with one gear. Van will school us all on how to smile while riding.

2006-05-18T14:58:00.000-04:00

Since pictures of Farmer seem to be in abundance......I thouhgt I would add to the pile. This is a picture of our hero punishing the pack at the Croton Criterium. I have a couple of myself but every time I look at them I gag at the ball of fat I have become.

Bike Sailing?

2006-05-18T13:43:00.000-04:00

This is a pretty cool idea saving fuel at some point...
taking a bit of charging technology from the Prius.
Bike Sailing?
would be cooler if it all wasn't attached to such un-cool bikes. But hey, they are making it work across the country.

Where have I gone?

2006-05-16T19:13:00.000-04:00

I imagine sticking this thing somewhere on my helmet. But for the price, one could probably get a 'real' GPS with more functions. Miniaturisation has its appeal, though!

Julian,

Sorry to jump right on your post but in the GPS world, I would love to have the Garmin Edge 305 for myself. It does it all! It is a little bigger but you can download rides from other people and even race them virtually! That means I could get dropped by an invisible person!!!

Van

Five Stages of Getting Dropped
1. DENIAL --- "I'm not getting dropped. It's just a little gap and I can catch up, no problem".
2. ANGER --- "I can't believe they're dropping me! Oh, they're going to pay for this, when I catch them."
3. BARGAINING --- "Please God, give them a head wind or a traffic light to make them stop or slow down, and I promise to spend tomorrow playing with the kids."
4. DEPRESSION --- "I'm not any good at cycling. I should sell my bike and start playing golf. I don't think my cycling buddies like me anymore."
5. ACCEPTANCE --- "Ok. I'm dropped. Guess I had better just enjoy the ride. It would have been fun riding with them, but maybe I'll catch them at the next rest stop or even meet some new friends."

Wed Ride - May 17th

2006-05-16T13:08:00.000-04:00

Well, boys and girls
what is the plan. I am sick of the rain and need to get out and ride.

Side Note: Layne managed to beat some of the rain and ride to Portsmouth (TOSRV) and back without injury, just sadle pain. He did ride his fixie 200 and some miles and over 13 hours. He sucks, you go ahead and tell him, I did.

Are we riding in Canal again? or is it a week to beat Van into the ground? What does everyone feel like? I feel fat, from not riding, eating ice cream and doritos for dinner the last 4 nights.
I think the amount of daylight should allow for a 2.5 hour ride, please.

Someone's 30th Birthday, well almost 30

2006-05-16T13:02:00.000-04:00

Tim S. turned a new number older yesterday.

According to his family Dr. he got up Monday and actually complained of back pain already and was worried about breaking his hip while playing a game of pool.
He will now get to start 30 minutes ahead of the group for an age handicap. I am sure we will see him up the road resting, talking to himself and rambling about.

May 10 Wed Ride - Summary

2006-05-16T12:57:00.000-04:00

Well,
We managed to make the window of no rain and get in a very fast hard ride in Canal this night, contrary to the ladies that didn’t want to join us. You know who you are.
Bob said we only missed one hill in Fairfield Co that he knew of.

Joel wins the “giving all-down a banana” award. He was in his drops almost the whole ride, gritting his teeth and hanging on pretty darn well for as little as he’s been riding this year so far.

Layne wins the “Bettini freak award”, for only getting 2 hours of sleep and riding in Canal with a 11-23 cassette and still managing to push the pace.

Layne also wins the “broken board award” for stepping through Bob’s porch wood, he would have never done that on Brady’s Porch. Layne tried to blame it on Tim’s bike being too heavy. I did overhear Layne say he felt like he had gained a few ounces over the week.

Farmer won the sitting on award according to those in attendance. What do they know, I thought Farmer rode darn strong last night, who says a new bike doesn’t make one go faster.

Tim and Bob managed to stay on the pavement the entire ride. Bob did not however ride with his phone strapped on his stem. Tim did forget his spare tube, but brought along some band aids and snake bike kit, just in case.

Van wins the “good thing you weren’t there award”

We had some good sections where we were hamming along at 25. Good fun. Pace up these hills was about the fastest I can remember ever.

Quote of the ride from Layne, “holly shi*” as we came around the rest of the first hill.

Post Ride Training Tip:
Layne and I tried out the Post-Ride Chocolate milk recovery drink experiment. I was not sore whatsoever. That’s twice now for me, I am positive it works now, just as well as Endurox, but certainly more expensive, bottle to bottle. Drink it slow, it’s a lot to handle immediately post ride. I've heard you can get them on sale for 99 cents sometimes...so you can do the math, a large bottle of Endurox powder certainly will give you more bottle for your buck, but in a pinch, the Choclate Milk is ON.

Moab Trip--Mountain Biking

2006-05-04T12:38:00.000-04:00

Oh yeah, Farmer, Hibbs, Perkins and Sukkow, all just got back from Moab, Utah. A great trip had by all, three solid days of riding, about 15 hours in total. Some of the craziest riding on a mountain bike for me ever. Special thanks to Perkins for the killer bike hookup and for getting us and the condo all together.

Check out the Links:
Slick rock trail 2x.
Kokopelli Trail
Porcupine Rim Trail
Flat Pass Trail

May 3 Ride

2006-05-04T12:08:00.000-04:00

Bob, decides to ride himself into history...Tim has taught Bob well Obi-wan. Tim over the last few summers showed all of us how to steer off the road just a bit into the gravel and then get back on the pavement in a fit of panic. Bob seems to be the only one that has learned well from our master gravel rider, Tim. Congratulations Bob, on the best imitation of Jan Ulrich from the tour.
Our largest group of riders yet for 2006, we had some good fun, with a few good spirited breaks and hill sprints. Now, lets see who is web savvy enough to modify my post and update this with some ride awards?

Well, I'm certainly not Web savvy, but any fool knows that extra grass on one's shoes creates much drag.

Maybe that's why you lost the green sign, Bob. Just something to try next time!(added by Tim)

Van's 2 cents presented in pictures!

Wed. 5/2 Ride Plans

2006-05-02T19:49:00.000-04:00

Well the weather looks REALLY GOOD.

Check out the new online map program I found! This route is the A&F Challenge route but from my house. (as if I'm not there enough for work, I thought I would ride by)

Let me know who is in.

6:00 my house

Wed 4/26 Ride Plan

2006-04-25T21:16:00.000-04:00

Well the weather doesn't look great but it looks good enough.

I'm busy as a you know what but I think I better ride to minimize the ZERO mph readings on Farmers HR monitor

Who is in?

My house 6:00 pm

Decker needs internet lessons

2006-04-21T09:33:00.000-04:00

Well, Tom D. managed to find a way to create his own blog like Joel, but hasn't figured out how to get signed in to our fine blog page here.

At least he doesn't do this with his thumbs when he dances. Those tennis shoes are a nice touch, Matt.
What is that really, Elaine dance? "how about this guy"

Seriously, who rides a tandem?

2006-04-20T22:45:00.000-04:00

I'm sure we've all heard the numerous spoofs of Brokeback Mountain (Julian's favorite movie), what's that? oh, he's just British?...I see. Anyway, I thought I would throw one more in, after all, some of us do look a little iffy in our lycra getups. Just click the title.

Van is still warming up

2006-04-20T09:02:00.000-04:00

Here's the graph. I will just say, Tim is on the "juice" and Julian comes out with his strongest ride of the spring. Another observation, you can't tell when Jason (FJ) is standing up to sprint. Solid ride. Van thanks for working so hard.

Wed. 4/19 Plans and pointless comments

2006-04-17T22:13:00.000-04:00

Let's give this blog thing a whirl as a point of information and to capture all the pointless comments about:

Tim's girl legs
Glen's dog sitting
Joel's mechanical issues

My house 6:00 pm to see if we can knock out 30 ish before night fall.

Maybe Farmer will even tell us what his new bike is.

Let me know who is in.

New Bike for Farmer

2006-04-14T00:12:00.000-04:00

I got a new bike today. It's pretty, got new shifters, new everything and even has Zertz inside the frame.
It even has some of that fancy carbon stuff.

I can't wait to get it out on some riding on saturday. No racing for me in Sugar Grove. I plan on riding later in the day on my new hot rod.

I will soon have a Cannondale Frame, and some 9 Speed Dura Ace stuff for sale, brakes, shifters, derails, and even a new 7800 DA crank and BB. Pass the word.

Farm

Asheville, NC Photos

2006-04-12T17:08:00.000-04:00

Wednesday April 12th

2006-04-10T17:13:00.000-04:00

So, folks, we've created this blog so that the flurry of pointless and uninformative emails will cease. Also, to provide a post ride forum for people to flaunt their many achievements, big or small. That being said, it has been roughly one week since the inaugural Wednesday night ride of 2006, and nary a post has appeared. Come on people, embrace your inner Julian! Stand up and announce to the world how incredible, or how incredibly uneventful your rides are! Be passionate about cycling, even if you don't have the grammatical wherewithall to proclaim it magnificently. Post a blog if only to excercise your constitutionally protected rights! Above all, though, have fun, because that's the purpose of it all anyway.

Ahem....

Where are we riding on Wednesday?

North Carolina-training capital

2006-04-06T18:23:00.000-04:00

Well, here is the pain chart from Sholl/Farmer craziest Tuesday ride EVER! We climbed up Mount Mitchell. It appears to be the tallest mountain east of the Miss. Tim and I both figure it was about 30 degrees at the top with the wind chill. The wind must have been blowing about 30-40 mph. Here's some general info about the mountain. We had about a 12-17 mile downhill sailing along about 25-35 mph the entire time. Pedaling? what is that. Although you can see our average on the way up wasn't so grand...clicking along at 7-11 mph and 5-6 mph in some really steep spots. The top hurt the most, about a 5 mile almost straight up. Oweee.

I have gathered the data for 3 glorious days of sunny warm weather riding as well.

7677 Calories
150 Miles
10 Hours of riding/saddle time
12,375 Feet of Climbing
11,440 Feet of Decent

Now...who's ready for Spring?

The Crying Game

2006-03-31T00:13:00.000-05:00

Well,
all I can say is, it's a good thing we didn't get to see the rest of him with those shaved legs. I gotta say the pony tale is a nice touch Tim.
Hopefully he won't be wearing that shirt on any wed ride soon.

We are not alone....

2006-03-30T22:21:00.000-05:00

Fatcyclist Blog

Apparently we are not all that original with the bloggin' stuff.

This guy writes like Julian but without the accent.

Lieutenant Dan's New Legs

2006-03-30T14:03:00.000-05:00

So, it's official. I've sold out (or is it bought in?) to the idea that shaving my legs will make me a better cyclist. What can I say? I was just so inspired when I saw Joel's legs all shiny and smooth.

Watch out for the berries.

2006-03-29T13:58:00.000-05:00

So, Mark, thanks. I finally got it together enough to use your invite. Now I can post like a guy who posts alot.

It Was My Idea--No pain no gain

2006-03-27T13:29:00.000-05:00

Yeah yeah, it WAS my idea to ride Saturday for 3 hours. And it was MY idea to ride down to Amanda to Tim's folks (my inlaws) house. So, I guess all the pain of getting up this a.m. will be all worth it soon. The un official count for this weekend for Tim and I.

We got in 3 hours Satuday at about 55 plus miles. The weather was warmer, then cold, then windy, then rain, then snow, then sleet, then really hurtful sleet, then by the time we were both wet and frozen, we both took spills on a very nasty RR track crossing into Powell. They run almost diag. across the road, he made it to the third rail of the second set of tracks. I made it to the second rail of the first set. Tim managed to mangle up his seat a bit (40 min repair using the RR crossing arm) and I manged to sprain my hand and wrist and bang my already ugly elbow and my knee. Some captain obvious was nice enough to stop and see if we were ok and tell us how ugly it looked watching us fall and told us how dangerous those tracks were. Yeah uh thanks BUDDY> After a bit of bike repair and overall what else is broken we pressed on for another 2 hours and got back home in one piece.

Sunday we parked in Canal Winchester and decided to take the long hard route up Revenge/Christmas Rock ala Prison hill, (Alpe De Barbed Wire) and ending up with a short stop at the rents house for bananna's, warmth and some stretching, which took us about 2 hours. I again had to remind Tim, to remind me, it was my idea to climb back up the way we came down, which was a long climb back up to the prison. About another 2 hours into the wind all the way from the photo above.

Tim and I figure un-officially we got in over 120 miles in two days. My watch says 2800 feet of climbing total for just Sunday and over 3000 calories. I would say the quote of the ride was me asking Tim "did we pass Lithopolis yet?" ...I am sure if he would have had the energy to laugh outloud, he would have been in the ditch. We were both pretty cooked. Needless to say we had not passed it and still had about 45 back into the car. All in all great ride and I hope this weekend in Asheville, NC, proves to be easier and fun.
Farm

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday

2006-03-23T22:26:00.000-05:00

Sunday ride....
starting around 11 a.m. ish.
anyone interested?
Tim and I are planning a "see how it feels" pace possibly to Amanda from Canal?
anyone got the energy to get off the couch?
Just planning on getting some hours in on the bike and enjoying the semi-nice weather.
Letmeknow

Farm

Sitting On - I hate Windy Wind

2006-03-21T22:04:00.000-05:00

Sunday, March 19, 2006
--43.5 mi.
Riders: Layne, Bob, Decker, Farmer, Tim

Tim took a few moments to drop back and snap these photos whilst munching on a sandy Cliff Bar and sucking down a tasty beverage. This was actually the view for me most of the ride, I was not quite feeling up to the speed of everyone else. Layne lays claim, he was testing out his chain. I think it was to see how much faster his could go than the one on my bike. I would say his chain works pretty good. As you can see from the ride graph, we did a little climbing. We began as four from Decker's fancy driveway, we fought the windy wind over to Canal-W to pick up Bob and we were off like Grape Ape or the Superfriends which ever you prefer. Layne, Bob, Decker and Tim did most of the work while I kept trying to find a nice warm, less windy spot to sit in. There was no such luck, the windy wind kept changing direction every few minutes around every bend. We did manage to climb for over 15 miles (it appears) and once we peaked over Pickerington Road hill (see graph) it was a windy fight, notice I did not say FLIGHT, to the bottom just to maintain 40 mph. Tim was about this big [ * ] in front of me, Decker, Bob and Layne were about this big [ . ] in front of me. When I finally got to the stop sign, they had all had a nap and gotten some vittles from the nearby trough. Oh did I mention the shiney glow thing in the sky was out and felt nice when the windy wind wasn't blowing. Bob tore off to head home and the rest of us pedaled on back to Deckers. I managed to pull the group about 10 feet from the stoplight crossing at Rt 33. and then never saw them until we almost got run over by a Pickerington cop car in Deckers new albany jr. super safe neighborhood.
Tim and I are headed on a location-secret road riding/training mission with George Hincappie at the end of the month for a few days. We hope to be back in town just in time, for the first ride at Van's .

Daylight Savings

2006-03-19T11:57:00.000-05:00

Looks like we'll have a couple extra weeks of Wed. rides next year when daylight savings kicks in early.

Hopefully the weather will play along for our April 5th kick off to the season.

The motto for the first ride is slow and short....

All Twisted UP

2006-03-16T14:06:00.000-05:00

Weekly and daily weather flips have my sinus cavities all twisted up. Headaches every other day. Where is that heat generating, glowing ball in the sky that makes us sweat riding? I think the closest to this would be the heat generated from my furnace in my basement while Tim and I ticked off 1 hour 30 on trainers Tuesday. Everytime my furnace would kick on, we would look at each other like oh no, here it goes agai and the sweat would start to pour. Heat tourture without the sun, no less, while watching a video about a Mt.Everest climb. The easiest ways to tick off 180 min. on a trainer on a regular basis:
1. Rent a movie you have never seen with lots of action
a. I recommend the new Batman, Transporter or any Steve McQueen movie- Bullet works
2. Put a music playlist together that would make the killing in Kill Bill 2 seem tame
a. turn it up as loud as your speakers permit.
b. turn off your cell/cordless telephone
3. Turn up the heat in your workout space so you think you are in a Yoga Hot room.
4. Visually put yourself at the top of every climb you have ever ridden.
a. this would also include being ahead of everyone on that ride.

NY - I can make it anywhere!

2006-03-15T21:07:00.000-05:00

While you all were in central Ohio dodging rain drops over the weekend, I was visiting Gotham. Me, the moose and the new face worked hard at the top of a building overlooking Central Park on Friday, while the wife did the culture thing. (with a record high of 74)

On a sunny (high of 64) Saturday, we attempted to walk through every neighborhood on the island. My best estimate is approx. 12 miles of walking. Unfortunately this great training opportunity was offset by many desserts.

The most amazing thing for the bike geek side of me was the number of HIGH dollar road bikes I saw tooling around. I saw several Trek OCLVs and a Cdale six13. (plus about 1000 single/fixed gears) I also saw a lunatic riding down Madison Ave. in traffic with his kid on a trail a bike. I saw this as our cab nearly clipped him.

Great place to visit but ....you know the rest.

Lets all do our warm weather dance and get ready to ride.

Riding between the storms

2006-03-13T09:02:00.000-05:00

Well, after a long week for me at the Arnold Classic and a following trainer/rest week, Layne and I got out both Sat and Sun for road rides. Saturday we didn't get out till 4:30 post rain storms, but got in some good riding. It was warm and felt great to be out. Yesterday was even a no arm warmer day.

Sunday, yesterday, Layne took me out about 8 miles or so from London, OH from Grandview and back. Someone please find my legs, I left them out on Georgesville/Norton road somewhere on the way home. The second longest ride of the year for me so far. I think I should have eaten more before we left, my body was on roller coaster, bonk, no bonk, bonk, no bonk. Well heck it is still March and I am pretty happy to be out riding so much so early in the spring months. Layne almost had to break out the long chain to pull me home at one point I thought. Good thing I didn't have a flat, I would have fell over and taken a nap :) I gotta say though it was one great scenic ride and some of the state/outside city limits I have never seen. Lots of fun little rolling roads and some great ones on the way home. Fighting with the traffic from Grandview to the west-si-eed is not the most fun thing in the world, riding from Bolton would be best.

Hope you all are getting out or getting in some hours. If you haven't yet explored Podcasts, here is a great one from Austrailia.

Electronic Shimano DA?

2006-03-10T00:40:00.000-05:00

not sure what I think of this stuff yet on a race road bike.
Joel might be pulled over everywhere fixing it.

Post MTB Ride Hair - By Julie

2006-03-10T00:32:00.000-05:00

Joel is no photoshop master

2006-03-10T00:19:00.000-05:00

...but I sure like it that Brady is almost last here.
digging thru old email attachments

Julian is in da house

2006-03-08T17:46:00.000-05:00

OK, people, relax: Lunaji, as you will discover if you give it a moment's thought, is merely an anagram of my name. I chose it because Julian was already in use by some dastardly poseur.

Outside it's...spring-like? Well, wet and relatively mild, anyway. How I long for the days of rapidly moving grit peppering my face and making that lovely ring around the top of my socks...

I agree entirely, this is a better medium than the weekly blizzard of emails, not all of which (how can I put this delicately?) piqued my interest with their content, far less their literary merit. Now I can browse through strings like a string-browsing thing.

See you all soon, except for those who (because they're on some other coast, for instance) I won't.

j

Glen's in too

2006-03-08T09:06:00.000-05:00

2006-03-07T18:48:00.000-05:00

So, here we are off and riding for 3 hours on January 28th. It was a great ride, sponsored by Layne and his fantastic ability to ride a fixie in January and pull our fat asses out and back. Tim, Joel and Farm all contributed in the front when possible. The wind was against us most of the way out west, but our good friend on the way home. This was a real first ride for Tim's new white steed. He even managed to show the bike what the side of the road gravel looks like for a brief moment. Layne was supprise and scared, but Joel and I new Tim was just looking for things in the ditch.

I'm in here now....

2006-03-04T14:15:00.000-05:00

Van

2006-02-28T01:05:00.000-05:00

As spring rolls in and winter out, I am certainly ready for the roads and my bike tires to meet.

Our New cheeky home on the web

2006-02-28T00:46:00.000-05:00

Boys and girls, I think it is soon time.
Jug road and the hills of Fairfield Co. are calling out.
April will be here before you know it. Who's been ridding and who's been hiding? Who got new bikes? Who will be the new additions to the group in 06? Tune em up, get em ready.