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?