My first movie!

http://http//www.xtranormal.com/watch/5744103/
Click the link above to view a short movie I made!

My first Cyclocross race!

Line up.

Not sure where I placed. It doesn't matter, I had fun!

My 100th post!

So, for us poor working stiffs... there comes a time every year when riding gets harder to do. I love coming home from work at 6 or 6:15 in the summer and going for ride! Those of you that work at a bike shop and don't have to be to work until 10am... I'll be nice and just say I envy you. In order to get adequate time to ride during the week, we nightride!
In the past, my nightriding has been mostly in the woods. BikeBeat used to have a good MTB ride to Ipswich, which I have tried recently to resurrect. We have been meeting at 7 at the Kempsville shop. 3 laps in Indian River Park makes the ride about 20 miles total.
My homie Greg and I had a good after work ride schedule going this summer. The rides got shorter and shorter as the light faded earlier. Why should we stop riding just because it's dark? Because its dangerous on the roads with cars! The main reason to take to the woods. There is a few country roads, close to my house, that have very little traffic on them. They go by Fentress Airfield, but have no reason to drive down them unless you live on them. Armed with blinking taillights, and HID headlights, we set out to take advantage of the still mild weather.
Leave my drive way, across Centerville Turnpike, cut through Blooms' lot, ride about 50 feet down Mount Pleasant road, and right onto Schoolhouse Road. That puts us on Blueridge Road, and another side road, which we can make about 16 miles. Do this twice for 36 miles by the time we get back and that makes for a nice ride. Maybe get passed by 4 or 5 cars all night. We even have a " I guarantee you'll sprint" point each lap. I'll tell about that in my 101st post.

Rode the new bike 42 miles this morning! Feels very nimble and responsive. I am very pleased. Brought it home for the first time tonight, I dont think Sheri liked the bike in the bed too much.

15lbs of fun!

Unpacking...
Like a child at Christmas!

Here is a good shot of the carbon stem. Good looking, only I ordered 110mm, and they sent a 100mm. That is the only thing not correct. Trek will take it back and send me the right one. For now I put the right length aluminum stem on.

Thanks for putting my bar tape on Rick!

The scale...
Its all together and ready for a test ride tomorrow! I'll let you know how it goes.

15 years?

Let me give you good examples of what a great wife I have. She puts up with me being stressed out and grumpy all day at work, most of you know we work together. She doesn't complain when I rush home and jump right on my bike, leaving her to fix her own dinner. She often makes dinner for the 2 of us so I can eat when I get back from riding, or offers to make something just for me. She doesn't mind when I get up at 5:30am on weekends to go ride. She comes out to races and watches me go around and around. She puts up with my mood when the race doesn't go well. She comes to the bike shop with me. She puts up with "bike talk" when we go out to dinner. She agreed to me buying the Madone, and now has to deal with my obsessing over it! Will it ever arrive? AAARRRRGGGGG! She delt with me knocking myself out at a MTB race, then going back to watch me race it again the following year.

She could have insisted that this weekend be a "no bike" getaway for our anniversary. She agreed to us going to Harrisonburg early Saturday and spending the day together. Then on Sunday I can ride the Shenandoah Valley Century!

There are many other examples also, (like washing my clothes) but I try to keep this blog mostly bike related. So on our 15th anniversary I thought it fitting to say (or to blog) thanks for being my best friend, taking care of me, and being there for me. I love you!

Updates...

No bike yet, AARRGGGHH! It's been 30 days since I ordered it. Didn't make the 2nd practice crit. Started this one at 6:15. Hard to make it that early. All signed up for the Shenandoah Valley Century on the 13th. Looking forward to that... would be nice to have a new bike! Dont make me drive to Wisconsin. Starting the Bikebeat Saturday shop ride back up. Some newbies want to come out and ride, we'll do a B pace for now. How about a Ipswich night ride? Who's in?

Practice Crits...

Whizzing around the Sportsplex at 28mph with 39 other dudes is fun! I mostly sat on the back, but did move up some. Need to work on moving up in the pack, and being further up on the last lap. Did better tonight, glad I went. There will be 4 more Wednesday night crits, I want to see you there!

Cyclist killed

Yesterday a guy riding his bike on Johnstown Rd. was killed by a drunk driver. I did not recognize his name, Charles "Jay" McCarty. Not sure if he was a avid rider or not but it sucks just the same.

Do I still have a Blog?

Woah! I had to try a few times before remembering my password! How long has it been? Maybe I can get some time to try this blogging thing again.

Here is a crappy scan of a picture downloaded from Treks' Project One website. This is the bike I ordered 2 weeks ago. Still have 2-4 weeks waiting for it. AARRGGGG!

The model is a 6.9, with the Sram Red group. Trek allows you to pick stock colors, or custom paint jobs. This is the "Team" paint scheme. It can be had with different color combinations. The cable housings, rim decals, bar tape, seat trim, stem, seat mast, can all be made to match. As I obviously have done! You can bet I'll be taking lots of pictures when this bad boy comes in. Don't be hate'n suckas!

Plastered!

First, on this Memorial Day, thanks to everyone who has served this country. Thank you for my freedom. May God bless America.

The bathrooms are plastered! What a mess! We went with a smooth finish plaster instead of just a skim coat. Hopefully that will be more durable. Tomorrow we get paint! Should get vanities and tops this week. The tile is here, along with mirrors, light fixtures, doors, knobs, etc... Lets get to work!

Had a good ride today from Allaboutbikes. Maybe 30 people. Eventually, we split into a faster group of 10 guys. About mile 35, 3 split off to go home. Ended up with 57 miles and a 21.7 mph avg. Very fun ride. Finally getting some time on the bike, starting to get back into shape.

Rated ZZ

These guys rocked! They played almost all the hits, plus a few others. Their version of "Hey Joe" by Jimmy Hendricks was cool.

They seemed to have a good time the whole show.

Several different guitars.

We had a good time! Even though these guys are getting older they still sound good. Go see them if you get the chance.

Greg talked me into doing the Knotts Island Century the next day. I really have not been riding, so I wasn't ready for 100 miles, but we got it done. Do not like the route this year, and the rest stops could have been better. It rained some, but no torrential downpours. The last 20 miles were tuff. Thanks to the Tripower guys and girls that waited for me at the top of that last bridge. It was nice to draft back in, I was hurting!

Happy Mothers Day!

I hope all you moms had a good day. I took my parents and grand parents to eat at McCormick and Schmicks Seafood in the Va Bch. Town Center. Seafood has to be fresh for me to eat. The food, service, and atmosphere were excellent. I recommend it if you have a little coin to drop for a special occasion.

On the homefront, glad to have a shower operational at the house! This remodeling thing sure is inconvenient. It will be worth it in the end. Thanks to Greg, Charles and Tina, Bikebeat, and Gold's Gym for letting me bum a shower last week. Still got a ways to go on these bathrooms...

C M Ducks

These ducks had a nest in our yard for the last several months. Didnt seem to mind the construction too much. This morning was the first time we saw the chicks. Didn't want to get too close.

Also snapped some pics in the yard. This is a Dogwood flower.

Back into this whole blogging thing...

Alot has happened in the last month. Really, really looking forward my first Jefferson Cup. Spent this years race in the parking lot putting on a alternator. At least I wasn't on the side of the interstate! What do you expect for a truck with 225,000 miles? Hopefully I'll have a new whip before next year.

The Casey Crit was fun. I felt good sitting in the back to middle of the pack. This race has some cool turns, unfortunately, not everyone agrees. I was trying to move up on the last lap, when about 5 dudes go down in front of me. Almost ran over 1 guy! I still can see the look on his face as our eyes locked for a instant as he tumbled in front of me. A combination of "this hurts" and "please don't run over me". 20th sucks, but at least I wasn't on the side of track! I felt good, and it looked like alot of people were hurting worse than me.

The last week would have been nice riding weather. I did not partake. We have been waiting for the city to bring us water and sewer for years. We have been waiting for almost as long to renovate our bathrooms. I wanted to do both at the same time. Today the demolition started! The last week has been crazy busy after work, making room to tear down walls and such. What a mess. Its going to get worse before it gets better. How many days will we have to bum a shower?

Something good happened!

The time changed last week, and we had a few warm days. Did I get to take advantage of it? No! Well today it was in the 60's, and I was determined to ride. When the normal schedule gets me home about 6-6:30, that leaves a hour until dark. A 20 mile ride outside is light years better than a hour on the trainer. As sunset gets later, the ride time will increase.
This was the first ride with my Cat Eye V3 Computer. Having one sensor on the chainstay to read cadence and wheel speed is cool. The heart rate monitor works good, and the display is sufficient, but bigger would be better. Although all the info is displayed at the same time, the cadence is on the small side. That is my one minor complaint so far. The V3 records up to 14 files with avg. and max speed, cadence, heart rate, etc. The user can start and stop when to record this data, then go back later and access it. This ride my averages were : speed-20mph, hr-167bpm, cadence-91. Max : speed-23, hr-180, cadence-123? Hmm... not sure about 123! Total mileage 20.93, total time 1:02:46. Lots of info. Will this help my training? We shall see!

Slack

Slack on the posting as of late. The Snowball Crits sucked! Not up to speed literally. Got to get on the ball! If anything good happens, I'll let you know.
Movies I watched on the trainer this winter: Kill Bill #1 (did not like #2), Dodge Ball, Starsky and Hutch, 40 Year Old Virgin, Reservoir Dogs, Planet Terror, Kill proof, and training DVDs'. Not in that order. Also watched the bloppers and gag reels, and watched them all a second time with directors commentary. Just remembered Super Bad, watched that too. What will I watch tonight? Got any suggestions?

Thursday night ride

Good to see Baker and Mark holding down the ride Thursday nights from All About Bikes. 17 people showed up and I had a blast! Thankfully the lights charged up and worked good. I'll be back for this ride more now that the weather should be a little milder.

Heaven and Hell

Base miles is what I need! Riding the trainer and going to the gym are great in the winter months, but there is no substitute for a good fitness base. Not ready to turn up the intensity too much too soon, Gregory and I decide to do a easy but longer ride. Turns out its hard to do a easy ride when the wind is blowing 20 mph!
Leaving the house around 9:15 the temperature was already around 50. It was not long before the arm warmers and knee warmers had to come off. Some how Greg rode with his arm and knee warmers on all day, what a freak! We decided to go see the cows. Winding our way around Saint Brides Prison, then past Northwest River Park, we were able to catch a tailwind a lot of the way. I called these "free miles" when it seemed like there was no wind, but 25 mph was effortless. This was the "heaven" part of the ride. Knowing there would be hell to pay on the way back, we headed to Creeds. Homie Greg pulled up the Pungo Ferry Bridge at 20 mph. What a freak! Pulled into the store at Creeds for some Gatorade and a Powerbar. Greg comes out with a Snickers, 2 Slim Jim's, and a Coke! What a freak! Not staying long, we head back for the bridge. Freaky Greg drops me really hard on the bridge, and I work hard to catch back up. This the real start to the head winds. "The wind is my friend!" Super-Rick is fond of saying.
It seems as though we have mostly head and cross winds on the way back. Take it easy base miles was the theme, but you have to work in those winds. Any less effort and we would have been going backwards. Finally pull in the driveway with 55 miles in 3 hours ride time.
The ride was layed back and fun. We talked, and joked, and enjoyed ourselves. Riding with 1 other person is alot different than a big group. Its alot easier to hide from the wind in a big pack, and you might not pull at all. Today, we tried to split the pulls up 50/50.

Waller Mill Meltdown

55 miles of rolling hills in Williamsburg. Most of the JRVS/Casey Auto team lives on the peninsula and regularly do this ride from the Waller Mill parking lot. Looking for a change of pace, Greg and I head up Sunday morning. Rick, Steve, Dave and maybe 10 others show before 9 am. "Super-Rick" tries to find a phone booth to change into his "Super-Kit", but settles for the bathrooms. After emerging in his white gloves, we rolled out. Picking up another 6 or so people in the first few miles, we made a good sized pack of about 20.
We on the southside, although cursed with flat land, are definitely blessed with well paved roads. W'burg has hills, but the road surfaces leave much to be desired. I see now how spoiled I am with the riding in southern Chesapeake and Va. Bch. We have good roads here for the most part.
Being my first ride in W'burg on a roadbike, I was a little concerned how I would handle the hilly terrain. Turns out its not that much harder than flatland. In the flats you pedal constantly, because there are no hills to coast down, no recovery. The hills are harder to climb, but you can coast down the other side and recover!
I hung with the pack for the first 30 miles, rotating up and taking a pull, I felt good. Did I mention the wind was blowing 30 mph.? The pack hit a stretch of open fields and a crosswind started to split us up. I let a gap open and I was done. Greg waited for me and we pulled out the map. Did I mention we didn't know where we were? We traded pulls back in, consulting the map a few times.
It was different and alot of fun. Next time staying with the pack will be a priority. Not wanting to blow myself up actually made it worse by working harder out by myself. Lesson learned. When we going back?

Challenge withdrawn!

I hereby withdraw my challenge to Greg. The Jefferson Cup road race is the same date. This has priority over anything with running, and is a easy out for both of us. I am all about easy outs.
Now I have to get ready to ride and its 27 deg.! Meeting Rick, Dave, and Steve at Carols. This is my punishment for not riding yesterday. The radar showed rain very close and coming fast, and it was 47 deg. While 47 is quite balmy I will admit, the prospects of wet and 47 turned me off. I took the easy out and rode the trainer. Turned out sunny and warm, and everyone I encountered had to tell me how nice their ride was. How dare they enjoy themselves and tell me about it! I would rather hear how miserable you were from now on please.

Does this work?

Trying out my mobile blogging.
Sent from my BlackBerry Smartphone provided by Alltel

New Challenge?

The running is just for winter cross training right? Well, Greg and I went to watch the duathalon at the VB sportsplex Sunday. Looked like my kind of pain. Run 3 miles, bike 20?, run 3 more. It was cold! The sleet and rain held off until the race just finished. The race was made that much more exciting by a friendly challenge. Dave and Chris' combined times against Rick and Simmet. Greg and I ran around(walked) and took pictures. Rick and Simmet were victorious, so the losers buy lunch. Looked like fun.

So I have challenged myself, and hereby also challenge Greg, to do the Duathalon coming up in March! This is in Surrey, about a hour and half from Chesapeake. Will we be ready? Better get running.

Running sucks!

Whose bright idea was this? It has been a long time since I did any running, but I wanted to do some type of cross training. Sunday, Sheri and I headed for the gym. She goes all year long, but my membership gets neglected with good riding weather. Warming up on the cross-trainer for 10 minutes, I was ready to switch to the treadmill. What speed? for how long? I started with the pace at a 10 minute mile. The first 3 or 4 minutes were torture! After working through the shin splints and various little pains, I settled in. The Quads started hurting about 10 minutes in, so I slowed it to a walk for 5 minutes. Feeling better than expected, 10 more minutes at a 10 minute mile pace should hurt really good. When my form got sloppy, I slowed. I could hardly stand! The lungs and heart felt good, but the legs felt like rubber. We finished with some stretching and Abdominal workouts.
The next day, walking was a little difficult. A easy spin on the trainer for a hour watching "Death Proof" seemed to help. Funny how different muscles feel sore on different days. I think I finally walked normal today. Hopefully I'll be back on the treadmill tomorrow. I would like to pick up the pace some, but we will see.

Black Ice

Leaving the house at 6:50am its 36 deg. I notice the streets are wet from the rain the day before. The drive to Bikebeat is uneventful, and we roll out at 7:30. The streets are still wet, signaling this will be a sloppy ride. Rick, Dave, and I meet up with Steve "is my back wheel still on?" Simmet in the first few miles. Greg "the squirrel mamer" was not to be found. We round the corner at Elbow Road and Salem and my rear wheel spins out! "What the? That was ice!" I called out. Rick had slipped too. Thinking this was a fluke, we pedaled on. A few miles later, in a shady corner, I start slipping sideways! At the same time Rick is behind me sliding. The above pic shows a car that was not in the ditch the first time we passed this point. Very cautiously we made it back to the shop with out any falls.
Congratulations to Carlos and Anja! Oliver was born on December 22nd. What a cute kid! Obviously got his moms looks.