Thanks for the hat Pat!

Thats more like it!

Most people start riding bikes because it is fun. Most people keep riding bikes because it is fun. How many reasons could you come up with to NOT ride? Its peculiar how pain and suffering is NOT on my list. Misery is on it. The misery is not caused by the pain and suffering as most non-bike riders would assume. Most avid cyclist learn to deal with a certain amount of pain, and even learn to embrace it. We embrace it with the knowledge that if we push ourselves to the edge, it may be further than we thought. How can that limit be discovered without searching? Some people do not enjoy pushing themselves, and therefore will never enjoy the rewards. Sounds sad doesn't it? That's the beauty of this country, people can decide their own fate. Like Rush says in the song "Free Will", "If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice!"
What causes the miserable ride like I had last Saturday? The correct question would be: why was I miserable on the ride last Saturday? The answer is not clear to me, if some one has a idea, fill me in. I would like to avoid it, if at all possible. It wasn't the wind blowing furiously in my face, or getting dropped (several times), or the pain in my legs, or lungs. None of this was new. Thankfully my next ride would be better.
I had a lot of fun on the Thursday night ride as I usually do. The vibe is competitive, but fun. One minute everyone is riding 3 or 4 wide, laughing and talking, the next minute is a frantic sprint to the next stop sign. This usually is followed by more laughing and talking about what just happened, then another sprint. Interval training at its best, try to keep up with guys faster than you, then joke about how you can't, while trying to catch your breath. Good clean fun.

My newest addition

My first foray into vintage bikes, something that interest me more and more. Old bikes are cool. This is a 1978 McLean. The frame was hand built to custom specifications in North Carolina. Outfitted with only the best parts for its time, the bike was sold in Norfolk. Only ridden a few times, then stored in a attic for 20 odd years. It now resides in my garage, hopefully to soon be displayed on a wall like the piece of art that it is. Will it be ridden?

My most miserable ride in a long time

Very rarely am I sorry I went for a bike ride, but today, I should have slept in! The wind was blowing so hard, I just couldn't keep up. Its a bad feeling when people wait for you, you know they could be getting a better workout. What doesn't kill you, will make you stronger... right? Champions channel this frustration into motivation. That's what I need to do. Hopefully after the holidays, the gym, better eating, and more riding will be the norm. Hopefully these post will be more uplifting!

Night ride @ New Quarter Park

The EVMA has permission from New Quarter to ride the trail on Thursday nights, as long as we are done by 8pm. I would normally not be able to get to NQ until 7 on a week night, but we were on vacation this week! 11 days off in a row! Since alot of people get off work alot earlier than I do, I let alot of people know that I wanted to do this ride. Its hard to keep LD up past 8:30 on a weekday, but he agreed to go, if he could borrow a light. Carlos had to work, and Nick couldn't go that early, but we still had 8 people show. Mike and Joan Bennton, and another Mike do this ride alot. Craig does the All About Bikes ride with me on thursdays, and Big Al was already working in Hampton that day. This was R. J. 's first night ride, he seemed to enjoy it. The trail was in good shape, and the weather was good. We had time to do 2 laps.

Tuesday morning?

Not many entries to this blog will be about me riding on a weekday morning. Hanging out at the Bikebeat the other day, Rick mentioned getting back on the mountain bike with a ride to Ipswich. Mentioning my vacation this week, and being available to join him and Carlos, I accepted their invitation. Sheri had no problem with me riding some on our vacation, she is cool like that.
The temperature at 7am froze at 28degs. Not thinking about the extra time to defrost my windshield, I was worried about running late. The cell phone buzzed about 7:20, Rick was running a little behind too. Arriving 5 minutes late, Rick pulls up right behind me. "Do you think Carlos will show?" Rick asks. "Lets call , you know he is still asleep!" I say with a devilish grin. Rick leaves a message on his voice mail, and soon Carlos calls back with groggy, just woken voice. He will meet us at the trail with Jerry. We head out.
It may have warmed a few degrees by 7:45, but my arms felt the wind chill despite having 2 long sleeve jerseys on. "Start out cold" I always tell myself, but how cold? Rick immediately informs me of the lack of computer on his mountain bike, which still is not a excuse to jump right into 20 miles an hour, as I was yelling from behind, " That's 20... that's 21!..." The traffic was heavier than I was used to. "Oh yeah, this is a weekday" I had to keep telling myself. These poor saps were going to work with heaters blowing like mad. I could only imagine what they must have thought of us. What could be better? Riding my bike, sun shining, tongue hanging out trying to keep up.
With no vehicular bike carrying devices waiting for us at the park, we decided to do a quick lap. The leaves still had frost on them, and were very slippery. Not a blistering lap, but successful anyway. Rick handled the transition back to off road well. Completing our first lap, we found 2 cars with empty bike racks. Lets go find them, but where? Those that have tried to navigate the many criss crossing and branching trails at Ipswich know this is easier said than done. Figuring them to be trying the newest creation, a ladder over a tree with a 6-7 foot drop, we short-cutted there. Silence filled the air. More short-cutting and long-cutting later, we found them back at the cars. I had my camera handy for some stunt photography. Even though we were trying to go directly to the first stunt, I wasn't ready for Jerry to fall as he broke his chain. Fortunately for him, I keep a chain tool in my pack. With the efficiency of a expert bike mechanic, Carlos had the chain whole in no time. It was after 9 at this point and Rick had to shower up and get smelling pretty by 10. We headed back. Fortunately for me the trip back is only 4 miles, I didn't even bother calling out speeds at this point. I was able to catch the draft most of the way.
Inside the shop, we basked in its relative warmth. Peeling layers, only to find how wet the inner most were. Carlos and Jerry soon arrived and Rick smelled good again. A bike test riding session soon ensued around the inside of the shop, until I dumped Jerry's bike and me on the floor. My bikes tires were nice and clean after the road ride back to the shop, therefore sticking nicely to the smooth floor that circles around the front desk. His bike, however, still had sand on the tires from its comfy ride back on top of a suv. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. Remember the scene from "Home Alone" when the criminals slipped on all the marbles on the floor? You get the idea. Apologizing to Jerry, he was unfazed. This was not the first time this bike had hit the deck and would not be the last. We shot the proverbial bull for a while, until hunger drove me to drive home.

SS @ NQ

Single Speed at New Quarter.

Carlos has bike parts laying around like I have car parts, enough to build 3! He has been teasing me with some SS wheels, but wanted to keep the tires. Not having extra tires laying around, he generously agreed to let me use them this weekend. He failed to mention neither of the tubes hold air. I did have tubes.

New-to-me wheels installed, I pack up this morning to head for the EVMA group ride at NQ. Just in case I really hate this SS thing, the trusty Trek gets loaded too. Arriving about 9:45, the temperature was about 47deg., which is about right. Good riding weather. More people show up and we are a group. Kirk claims "I'm not leading this freight train!" So I railroad him by goofing around until he takes off, then I follow. Don't let his talk of Asthma and being old fool you, this guy can keep a good pace. We had a good lap with Kirk and I pulling away from the group. The trail was in excellent shape! The leaves are being ground into the trail nicely by all the traffic this park gets. With some moisture in the ground, the corners were quite tacky. With the trail in such good shape, I pulled out my geared bike and did 3 more laps. One of the laps was with Tim from New York. He visits family in the area from time to time, and comes out to ride when he can, nice guy. I think I was too slow for him. He was all over my wheel until he fell trying to avoid hitting me. I slipped in a corner as the trail was drying out. My last lap was a cool-down until "The Hulk" came up behind me. I let him go by since he caught me, then try to stay with him just as the rain starts. We finish the lap in a light drizzle. With chocolate milk on the mind, I head to Wawa.
So... how did I like the single speed? I cant say I fell in love, but it will certainly teach me alot. The two bikes are so different. The rim brakes are either on or off, no modulation, this will teach me some finesse on the brakes. With no gearing to keep cadence up, all climbs are done standing, this will teach my legs more power. With a lower cadence and more torque going through the cranks, the rear wheel spins out easier, especially on roots. This will teach me more finesse on pedaling. Keeping up momentum might be the biggest lesson, 'mo is your friend. Yes I have been spoiled by disc brakes, gears, Carbonfiber, and air filled suspension forks. I like being spoiled, but I like a challenge. I didn't fall love, maybe just interested in exploring this relationship further.

Wednesday night ride

Nick and I did a night ride on the road bikes last night. We did laps around a business park in Greenbrier. Almost no traffic, wide, well lit streets, but the wind! The wind was blowing! When your going around a 1 mile circle, the wind pushes you part of the way. Somehow it seems to blow in your face 3 quarters of the way around. Makes for a good workout. We did 20 or so miles with at least 4 stand up laps. This is something we may do more this winter.

North Cack-a-lackey bound

Darn it! They saw me with the camera. "Okay, suck it in!" I yelled. Thats my favorite thing to say when taking a picture. Then we rolled out on this beautiful 50 degree day.

My legs were still slightly sore from yesterdays ride. A high cadence warm up should get the lactic acid out. As we rolled along the farm splitting roads of southern Chesapeake picking up the pace, I started to realize just how bad I felt. Crossing a wide open section about 8 miles into the ride, several forces converged against me. A strong cross wind hit us, the accelerations at the back of the group seemed particularly bad, and my legs were not recovered. Pulling over to let Greg go by, turning around entered my thoughts. My pride could not hurt as bad as my legs did. The group slowed after a discussion I was too far behind to hear. They came to a stop and I told them to forge on without me. I was informed my torture would not come to such a quick conclusion. We would stay a group. Friends hurt friends, that's the way it is in the world of cycling.

Once we got rolling again, the legs felt better. Coach Simmet informed us of our marching orders, both in route and routine. 5 minute pulls ending with 30 standing pedal strokes! Rick must have practiced his math, counting cookies the night before, as he handled the chore proficiently. The bike nazi barked time splits. Everything was good.

We took a few new turns, and just as I was thinking about what good shape this road was in, a sign came into view. "Welcome to North Carolina" was the main heading. Just as my mind comprehended what it just read, the fresh blacktop ended. The long sight lines down straight roads and across farmers fields gave way to a rough, winding road. Weaving around the rocks strewn out from the dirt side roads, I felt like we had entered a new country without a passport. The woods were dark and burned-out with cows laying around. As we passed they gave us a "are you sure you should be here?" look. The odor of cow and freshly dug dirt entered my nostrils. There was a man blowing leaves from the base of his trailer. Try not to make eye contact my grandmother used to tell me. If I would have heard a banjo playing then, I would have freaked out. At least there is safety in numbers.

After teasing me with talk about stopping for several miles, we pulled into a small parking lot after a hour and 15 minutes of riding. This was a clearing in a tangled patch of woods just big enough for our bikes without cars. In the back was a half grown over path leading to somewhere I'd rather not go. How did Steve know about this place? Is this where he hides the bodies of those who call him the "Bike Nazi" on their blogs? Or just those that cant keep up? Finishing my Cliff Bar while catching up to the pack, I could tell we were heading towards civilization again.

We had a tail-wind alot of the way back, helping me to stay with the pack. Rick decided to pull 26mph on the next to last stretch of road. Even in the draft, my legs were at the limit. Then Greg pulled out of line to sprint! Without hesitation I stood and tried to suck his wheel. We passed the hard workers at the front as Steve yelled "Aww, you suck!" Reality soon kicked in and I slowed from 30mph to a reasonable pace. James went off in chase of Greg. Soon the whole pack passed, but I was close enough to coast in.

Cooling down on the last couple of miles, my blog came to mind. How would I put today's ride into words? Would I spend hours typing while my wonderful wife does laundry? Maybe I should go help her out now.

Old bike, new ride.

Picked up the old Gary Fisher today, it is now a singelspeed! No gears, no computer, just fun. Have not ridden it too much yet, maybe a night ride Tuesday... Carlos? Nick? Larry?

Good ride...

Having been sidelined last week with a head cold, I was riding the fence about riding my bike this morning. When the devil-cat woke me demanding to be fed at 6:30, I took this as a sign. A sign that we need to figure a way to sleep in! The electronic mercury said 45degrees, not too bad, maybe the guys wont mind the mucus running down my face!
Coach Simmet was in full effect, 5 minute pulls, last 1o seconds standing. Now Rick, pay attention... 123456789, 10! Rick got a math lesson, Dave got over his jet-lag (pulling at 26mph), Greg made the BIG mistake of telling us about a new girl. Steve went into his Hitler impersonation, then tried to get fresh with me! I think he liked my 10, Rick pay attention, 10 strokes of the crank.
Would this be a improvment over last week? Would I be dropped like a ____ at _____ ? The pace varied alot from 20-26mph. The sun came out and it warmed up nice. Felt good making several pulls at the front, then sucking a wheel until recovery kicked in. I must have done better with a 20.5mph average, .5 better than last week, and I didnt get dropped! Ready to do the Hickory route tomorrow.

The 20th Annual Tidewater Mountainbike Challenge , October 28th 2007

Sick leave

Well I got it now too! Something is going around, hopfully I can do my part and pass it on! Mostly a stuffy nose, the nose spray is my friend. I missed the Thursday night ride because of this funk. I should ride my trainer tonight right? Maybe...

On a good note my freewheel is fixed on my mtb, and the kit is in to turn my old Gary Fisher Marlin into a singlespeed! Maybe I will get it back from Bikebeat this weekend. I look forward to getting some use from this bike again. The theme of this bike will be keep it simple, no gears, no Carbonfiber, no computer, just fun. Maybe a rigid fork and a singlespeed crank later on.

The Tour de Cure

I have signed up to do the Tour de Cure with team Bikebeat. This is a 100 mile bike ride from Chesapeake Va. to Manteo N.C. to raise money for Diabetes research. The ride is on April 19th 2008. Please help our cause with a donation. Click on the link at the right of this page. Thanks for your help!! Or click http://main.diabetes.org/goto/briankunz

Hurt and dropped

I really enjoy the country roads around my house in southern Chesapeake. They have less traffic and are in better shape than roads in Pungo. When Rick invited me to join in on a ride starting a few miles from my house, I was in like Flin. Maybe I can pull some today?
By 8:30 it was a balmy 42 degrees, nicer than yesterday. Having not ridden this exact loop, the theme of late has been: not shure what I am in for. The pace early on was a leisurely 18-20mph, with us riding double file. Eventually the 5 of us got a pace line going. Steve barked "5 minute pulls, last 10 seconds standing!" Just what I like to do, watch my computer when I am suffering on the front. Fortunately Steve does like to watch his computer, and announced each persons warnings at 2 minutes and 10 seconds to go. We climbed the Pungo Ferry Bridge with a few downshifts, and I was keeping up. We stopped for a potty break at a little country store. The cashier gave us the "are you gonna buy anything?" eye. I entertained the idea of a granola bar, then decided against it. I did down a Gu gel and some H2o, but it turns out that this would not be enough.
I did my 5 minute pulls as ordered by the bike Nazi, and was enjoying it all. The pace was mostly 21-23mph depending on the wind. Steve picked up the pace claiming he had a tail-wind, the jury is still out. Now us skinny guys cant usually ride more than 2 hours without eating something with more substance than a energy gel, and I was right on time. My pull came up again, and I plead my case, "I dont think I can pull 5 minutes!" "Yes you can!" came the orders. Slowing the pace to a crawl, I managed my suffering, tying not to think about how hungry I was. Everybody passes me offering congratulations for a good effort, while riding off into the distance. I was bonking hard. They did look back once in a while to see if the Turkey Vultures had found me yet. What is the minimum speed to appear alive? Or do they go by smell?
Luckily this was only 2 or 3 miles from the end. "Is there steaks in the freezer?" I thought as I arrived. A Oatmeal- Raisin Cliff Bar would have to do for now. Everyone told me I did good, which helped bandage my pride a little. 43 miles and a 20.5mph average, not too bad. Looking forward to next weekend, who can I get to ride this week after work?

Back in the (roadbike) saddle again

Since the road bike was purchased in April, most of my rides on it so far have been in mild weather. The temp. was 34 when I left the house at 7:10 this morning. I soon realized how different cold weather riding is on the road compared to the woods. I was not prepared for the constant wind chill. The new gloves and ear-covering headband was nice, but more investments in cold weather gear must be made!
Five brave souls show up at the Bikebeat in Kempsville for the 7:30 am ride. Rick, Dave, and Greg are on time trial bikes, now I'm nervous about keeping up. This is my first ride on the road in a month, and I feel out of shape. Rick is coming back from a broken back, and they are supposed to be taking it easy in the off season anyway. These guys dont know how to take it easy.
We pull out on the road and warm up with a high cadence, 19- 21 mph. Staying in the draft was not a problem. 21-23mph was the norm. I hung in until about 30 miles in, Dave decides to pull us to 26mph! I sucked Gregs' wheel as long as I could. A quarter mile or so from our next turn off, I lost the draft. They didnt get too far ahead. As the pace slowed I caught back up. Luckly everyone was heads up when a dear jumped out right in front of us! We slammed on the brakes, scattering all over the place. Everything was good for the next 10 miles back to the shop.
Upon returning to the shop, I promptly bought hand and toe warmers, and a windbreaking vest. The half price vest was too good to pass up! Total of 40.5 miles with a average of 20.0mph! Not a bad comeback ride! Hopefully I can pull at the front some next time.