Puzzling

After yesterday's soaking I went ahead and lubed the chain - it actually had rust on some of the rollers - and the cables where they pass under the bottom bracket. I also wiped down the braking surfaces of the wheels as they were coated with a layer of very fine grit. When I spun the back wheel, it made a strange clunking noise, vibrated and seemed to bind a little at the same time. I thought something must have gotten flushed into one of the bearings. Rather than risk any further damage (and hoping there wasn't anything seriously damaged already) I took the wheel off and took out the bearings to clean and re grease. The bike has 3200 miles on it, so it was past time, anyway. I carefully counted the balls as I removed them - 12 small ones from the left, 9 larger ones from the right. A few of the small ones fell into the hub as I removed them, so I just pushed them through. I couldn't see any reason for the noise I heard, so I cleaned everything, put fresh Teflon grease in the races and put the balls back in. Nine on the

right and, ummm, 11 on the left. No place for number 12. I usually drop and lose a couple of balls when I do this, now I have too many! Try to put it in, and another one pushes out. So, all I can figure is number 12 had been in the hub since the wheels were made and it had finally migrated to a spot where it was interfering with something. The rear wheel's ready for another 3,000 miles, guess I need to do the front now too.

The rain did stop, but the wind picked up, 20 mph with gusts to 30. It seemed like one of those winds that was always a headwind. I actually was using the small chainring going downhill. I got in another 30 miles at 16.4. Tomorrow - vacation day and Christmas shopping. No ride planned.

Timing is everything

Which, of course, is why I got it wrong.

Saturday morning's fog was some of the thickest I'd seen in a long time, but the forecast said it would clear and get up to about 62 degrees with rain showers late in the day. Sure enough, by 11:00 it was clear, the sun was coming out, and the temp was going up. Figuring it would get better before the showers moved in, I decided to go shopping in Asheboro for Christmas dinner groceries and ride when we got back. Leaving Asheboro to come home, about two hours later, the temp was 67 degrees, and the sun was still peeking through the clouds, by the time we got home it was just starting to rain and the temp was dropping. Perfect.

I went anyway. The temperature dropped to about 58 and stayed there, not much wind, and, once soaked, you can't get any wetter. I was surprised how comfortable I was. I rode 33 miles and pushed a little harder up the hills. It helped my average speed come up a little, to 17.2, so maybe there is some hope.

Any remaining "cleanness" left on my bike after Wednesday's wet ride got washed off, it is filthy, and the shifting was getting a little inconsistent, probably from wet grit getting on the cables.

It is raining now, but it's supposed to clear mid morning and be around 51. Maybe I'll get a dry ride in, although my shoes will still be wet. Maybe oil a few things on the bike before I go, too.

Not 70

Funny how the weather forecast of almost 70 degrees and partly cloudy actually turned out. Foggy. light rain, and a high of 52. I was a little apprehensive about riding in the reduced visibility, but, I had the day off, so I went anyway. It turned out that there wasn't much traffic out there. I got pretty well soaked, but was comfortable, and my clean bike sure isn't clean anymore, but I got in 33.12 miles at 16.7. That puts me at 4003.85 for the year. So both my goals got made (the other was averaging 18 mph), and I still have almost two weeks to go.

I guess it's time to think about next years goals. That Century challenge Sarah is doing sounds like it might be a fun thing to do. I am definitely thinking about it.

Weekend Update

Busy weekend, what with Christmas shopping and car shopping with my daughter. She bought her first car on Saturday, so she's happy, and now I can have my "good" car back, so that's nice too. I did manage to squeeze a ride in Saturday, 33 miles at 16.9, and another on Sunday of 35 miles at 16.8. Since I'm not looking so much for speed I made a point of not checking my average speed during the ride. That was actually kind of nice not thinking I needed to pick up the pace or push harder.

It's supposed to warm up this week, I have Wednesday off and it's supposed to be almost 70, so maybe I can get a nice warm ride in.

Christmas Wish List

Ok, I know it's not a bike. I can't get it anyway. I can wish, can't I? I can explain. Maybe. Later....

Santa????????????????????

GTI MKV, 2008, 4 door -

Did I mention I don't like wind?

Well, that was confirmed today. It was supposed to be 10 to 20 mph today, but I think it was only 20 - no 10 involved. I was using the small chainring in the middle cogs on level ground when I was headed into the wind. I also have figured out that 40 degrees is about the lower limit of my gloves and wool socks. My fingers are cold, but ok; they could be warmer. My toes, however, go very numb. Some sort of booties might be in order. I hate to spend money on cold weather stuff, though, because the cold doesn't last very long.

I went 29. 74 miles and averaged 16.2. Now it's back to the trainer until next weekend.

Parade Season

It's that time of year again - Christmas parades. One of the neat things that come out for them is all the old cars and tractors. Saturday was Liberty's turn, among others, as the owner of this car told me. He had already been in Pleasant Garden's in the morning and was going to be in Ramseur's today (Sunday). He was trying to find out when Staley was having theirs so he could be in that one too. I rode through about an hour and a half before the start, so the participants were just starting to arrive. Watchers, however, were already lining the road, so I had spectators when I rode through. No one cheered, oh. well.

It was a pretty nice day too. It was 39 degrees when I started and about 43 when I finished, not a lot of sun and very little wind. I got in 40.32 miles and averaged 16.8. I am not really trying for speed so much right now, so I go at a somewhat more sedate (old mannish?) speed. Although I do remind myself that a year ago 16.8 would have been fast.

Today is bright and sunny, but it's supposed to be a little colder with 10 to 20 mph winds (have i mentioned I don't like wind?). I have about 138 miles left for my 4000 mile goal, and while meeting it isn't really a priority anymore, getting this close with 3 more weeks of riding makes it look like it'll happen.

I think I'll wait at least until it gets above freezing to go ride.

Spinning

The weather never let up, so I set the trainer up in front of the TV so I could watch the Panthers play while spinning away. I lasted 53 minutes for 15 miles. It just isn't the same as riding outside, it's hard to stay motivated enough to keep going. Still, though, it's riding, sort of. And the Panthers are winning, at the moment.

Five days away from work. Can't say I'm really looking forward to going back. It was so nice to be home.

Rain

It looks unlikely for an outside ride today unless the rain stops. It's only 38 degrees, and that's just a bit too cold for the clothes I have if I'm going to get soaked too.

I was playing around on mapmyride.com this morning, just sort of checking it out and I put one of my longer rides here. It's a little confusing because some of the loop gets ridden more than once. Anyway, it was kind of neat to see the elevation changes.

Beat the rain

I got out around 10:30 this morning, figuring I'd try to beat the rain. It wasn't a problem; it's 5:00 now, and it still hasn't rained. It only got up to 46 today, and there wasn't any sun, so it felt kind of cold. Tomorrows temp is supposed to be the same, so if it does end up raining I may ride the trainer. I really don't have the right stuff to ride in cold rain and be comfortable. We'll see, though.

I ran into Dave, another Liberty cyclist. He was out walking his dog. He told me he had been bitten by a dog last week out on Starmount. He's been riding in Liberty for 30 years and this was the first time he'd been bitten. I rode up Starmount yesterday and had noticed several dogs sleeping in the front yard of one of the houses. Turns out those were the dogs. I am glad they didn't wake up, but I doubt I'll change that route to avoid them.

It was also the first day of firearm deer hunting season. Some people in this house complained about not getting to sleep in late because the gun fire woke them. I was fine, I was up before it started. There is a tiny bit of concern riding through the countryside this time of year, but I think the chances of getting hit by a stray bullet is less than being run over by some teenager texting.

33 and a half mile, 16.3 mph. My 4000 mile goal isn't out of reach, yet.

Day After..

We had a nice Thanksgiving - hope all of you did too. Yesterday's feast supplied a lot of calories that had to be used up, and today's weather made the choices pretty easy. I started out with a couple of hours of leaf removal. Since I couldn't find the rake I was reduced to using the leaf blower. Who invented these things, anyway? They are useless for anything more than a few leaves, for an acre of 3 inch deep leaves, all they are is too much work. On top of that you come away covered with a thin film of foul smelling two stroke oil. Eventually the rake was uncovered (it was propped up against a tree and had fallen over, I had nothing to do with that - honest). I moved more leaves with the rake and a plastic tarp in 15 minutes than I had in the previous hour and a half with the blower.

Once I got bored with the yard work I took off on a bike ride. It's the end of November and the temp was in the mid 60's, so I had to. I got in 36 miles and averaged 16.7. Maybe my fitness can come back. Tomorrow and Sunday are suppose to have highs of 48 with rain, but I am planning on riding, anyway. And there are still plenty of leaves, so I have something else to do, too.

Oh, I washed the bike today. That makes two times in 2,955 miles It needed it.

Vacation Day

Finally took my first vacation day of 2008. This will make for a nice long weekend. Five days away from, well, stuff. It's another one of those typical North Carolina fall days - bright sunshine, and the temp right now at 3:00 is 52. Not bad. I went for my ride at 11:00, it's an early release day from school, and I wanted to be finished before the High School kids hit the roads. Narrow two lane county roads with no shoulder, 16 and 17 year old drivers and bicycles may not be a good traffic mix. I know, because I've been out on early release days before, and it can be scary. I got in 33 miles and got home right at 1:00, right when the schools were letting out, so it worked out perfectly.

Last night I rode the trainer for 10 miles, too. I did a mixture of things I remember from the Spinerval DVD, some one leg workouts and some high intensity intervals (not very many). If I could figure out how to put the DVD on my Mp3 player I wouldn't have to rely on my memory, but then, listening to music is nice too.

Deer

The only excitement on today's ride was supplied by a pair of deer that decided to cross the road just as I arrived where they were, which happened to be at the spot I almost always hit my maximum speed on every ride. Today that was 33.4. I had to brake pretty hard but it wasn't that hard to avoid them. It was a little bit of a surprise to see them out moving around in the middle of the day.

Temperature was 45 at the start and 49 when I finished my 36.31 miles. I'm a little slow, only averaging 16.3. I think I lost a lot of fitness by not riding in September, plus I'm being careful not to push too hard until I'm sure the breathing problems are under control.

The hottest part of the day

That's when I went for my ride. That would have been when the mercury hit 43. Since that was about 2:30, and the sun was already starting it's descent, the temperature sort of went the same way while I was riding. Still, I managed to stay mostly warm, maybe borderline too warm, since my two inner jerseys were somewhat damp when I finished. I even went for the ear warmers today. The only things that got cold were my toes. Kinda numb by the end of my ride. Managed 27.66 miles @16.4. Tomorrow is supposed to be in the lower 50's with no wind. Should be good.

To the guy who pulled out of Quik Chek as I passed, went 25 feet to the next cross street and turned right while I was still along side, be thankful I switched asthma meds yesterday from the one with "aggression" as a side effect (that's the reason for the change, 'cause, it works. Hope this other one does). You only got a yell as I braked to save myself, and not chased down. I'm glad I was taking it easy and only going about 16, usually I'm about 21 or 22 through there. I'd not have missed the car at that speed.

F1 driver Mark Webber hit by car while riding...

Here

To The Dark Side

Ok, I wanted to ride. What was I supposed to do? It's too dark by the time I get out of work, so I really don't have a choice. I pulled out the torture - I mean TRAINER machine. I didn't go see coach Troy for Spinervals, because the TV is gone from my bedroom, it's someplace else, and will never be mentioned again because, well, I'll get in trouble if I say anything about it. The ride wasn't that bad, but if I didn't have the ceiling fan right over me, it might have been. I spent about 45 minutes on it, went about 12 miles, and felt pretty good. Compared to riding on the road, though, it sucked. I dialed up The Killers "Sam's Town" on my mp3 player and spun away.

As far as work goes, who knows. I've managed to avoid going to High Point for over a month now and I don't seem to be missed. Saves on gas, anyway. I have a reason for not going.

Take It Easy

Today's theme. Take it easy. See how it goes. So, alternating The Eagle's version with Jackson Browne's in my head to remind me, I did just that. Starting out was a little rough, but it got better. I even went so far as to force myself to use the small chain ring (gasp) in places that I NEVER use it, but it made a difference. I managed to keep my average heart rate to 146 - low, for me. My intent was to just go for a short ride, but I ended up going 33.5 miles and averaged 16.1. I was pleasantly surprised, after last week's short ride.

The picture shows what kind of day it was. About 47 degrees with a 10 to 20 mph wind. I got out the full finger gloves for the first time.

Industrial Disease (Money for Nuthin')

Not riding much gives me time to think about other things. Too much time. Like most people I am a little concerned with the economy and what our transforming government is doing about it. I was thinking, though, about the auto industry and their claimed "dire straits". They want 25 BILLION dollars. WELL, at an average of $25,000 each, that's one million cars. Why not just buy those cars and keep the auto workers working? Give the cars away, or raffle them off, whatever. Might be a better plan than just handing over the taxpayers money to failed CEO's and bean counters. Whatever people may say about the U.S. auto industry, they do have some pretty decent cars - not great, but good.

Just a thought...

I hope I get to ride tomorrow so I don't have so much to think about. Weather is supposed to be nice. Cool, but nice. My bike looks unhappy hanging in the shed.

Fathead

I saw an ad on TV about these gigantic sports posters you can stick on your wall. They said to check it out - they had one for YOUR sport. I listened. I checked. They lied. Not a bicycle to be found. Not that I'd buy one if they did, although, I looked, so, who knows.

It was fathead.com if ya wanna look.

Don't Know

Well, I did get out today. It was a pretty nice day, around 70 with a 10 to 15 mph wind, partly cloudy. Great, except my body didn't cooperate. I actually ended up calling CJ to come get me after about 8 miles. Pathetic. My breathing wouldn't cooperate, I started my ride on a different route that has a long climb right at the start (it ALSO has a short steep descent on which I hit 40 mph - cool). I got out of breath on the climb and never recovered. It just hurt so much to breathe. I seem to do better with about an hour of moderate riding before tackling anything hard. When I stopped at 8 miles and used my Albuterol inhaler, it was too late. Sucks.

I have a Dr. appointment on Monday - maybe we can figure this out.

I WILL TRY AGAIN TOMORROW! I WANNA RIDE!!