Friday, November 30, 2012

Done

Hit my metrics a day early



Suppose I'll have to go for a little extra credit before work today.

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

One Down

The two metric goals for this week are 6000 miles and 500 hours.

Yesterday Mrs. CB2 went to NYC for her birthday with her favorite sister.
That meant driving to work as to be home as early as possible to crack that whip.  Every time I drive to work I'm reminded how fortunate I am to be able to commute by bicycle.

That left me 4 days to ride 13 miles and 7 hours.
The mileage would be inevitable.  Pull the bike out one day and that would be done.

The hours might be a little tougher.  Friday is Benidorm's Holiday party (see how I made that all PC?).  I'll probably have to drive in so I can make myself all pretty beforehand.

So we have (had) Today, Wednesday, Thursday, and before work on Friday.

Today is (was) my day off.  
Knowing it was going to snow had me waking up like a kid on Christmas morning.

Once everyone was out the door, I loaded up and headed East.


Snow can be fun to ride in.  A light snow adds dramatic effect, a little challenge, and some make believe badassitude.

The Inuit people have something like 400 different words for snow.  The stuff falling on Case MT could be called Mid Atlantic Sticky Snow.




It coated the trails enough to obscure lines, while leaving the "peaks" sticking through for the aforementioned dramatic effect.

Amazing how something so slippery could be so sticky.
Crank Brothers pedals are some of the best in Wintry conditions, but they were no match for the Atlantic Sticky Snow.  A foot down was met with a few good bangs before the cleats would engage.

Then my rear brake stopped functioning.

Case in snow without a rear brake...

Not exactly ideal.

Carrying an extra 15 pounds of snow, ice and leaves isn't either.



But it got me over 6K, and down to only 4 hours left to ride before Saturday.

If I ride to work the next two days, bleed my brake and ride before work on Friday, it should be in the bag.



Monday, November 26, 2012

Numbers

I love numbers and math.
I remember old phone numbers and often easily do the same with new ones.
There is logic to numbers.
Symmetry.
When riding I'm constantly doing calculations in my head, often eschewing the fact that all this information is available to me at the push of a button on my handlebar.

Numbers can become goals.
Riding yesterday it became apparent two numbers might be within my reach.  Mini milestones if you will.
Distance and elevation gain.
Many years ago I remember riding around the block to accomplish my first 50 mile road ride.
I wasn't going to go to that extreme,  but if it looked close, a zig or zag might make the difference.

About half way through the number 1 popped up.
1 flat.

I was solo, so this gave me two options:

  • repair and nurse home
  • repair and say fück it. 
 Option B was more appealing

Things were looking close.
Zigging commenced.


Which puts two more numbers in the cross hairs for November.  One is inevitable, the other will be close.
Will I stoop to riding around the block?

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Yesterday on the ride in a driver in a Saab honked at me.

"Huh? Saab drivers are supposed to be sensitive architects" I thought.

On the ride home I decide to take the bikepath to avoid traffic.  This route gives me about 10 miles of lightly traveled, well lit roads, 8 or so on the bike path and is about 3 miles longer than just riding the road the whole way.
5 miles from home, I approached an intersection that has two choices; right turn only, or left turn only.  I was turning left.  Very little traffic.  As I pull up behind a car turning left a big pickup pulls up behind me.  The road we are turning on to has no traffic so there is no hold up.  When I get up to the stop sign the gentleman in the 4x4 behind me gets on his PA and shouts "Hey Pal you don't own the road", passing me in a  blue cloud of diesel.

My bubble is slightly burst.
I purposely go out of my way to avoid traffic, and run into this fellow.  I had been convinced that things had gotten a lot better with motorist sharing the road.

I hope it was just a bad day and not foreshadowing of things to come.

Friday, November 9, 2012

PEDs

Post Endurance Doughnuts that is








Cycle Matrix Coaching highly recommends the use of PEDs.

Thursday, November 8, 2012

The other day we got a really cool bike into the shop, the Carve SL SS.

M4 alloy frame w/ full carbon fork.

The only thing is I think Specialized might have misread the market.
The singlespeeders I know are not likely to buy a complete bike.  They are going to buy a frameset and build it up with their choice of parts, probably raiding their parts bins and cannibalizing their existing bikes to some extent.

The pricepoint is sort of weird too.  It's a great value, but it ain't cheap ($1300, there are a lot of complete singlespeeds for under 1k).  The weight weenie who is excited about the frame and fork will be put off by the entry level hydraulic brakes and ordinary wheelset.

If the frameset was available separately, for let say $699.99, I think they'd have a winner.

On another note...

IT'S TOO EARLY!!!!!


Monday, November 5, 2012

One Of Those Days

The day started with a  vicious headwind on the ride in.

Somehow it did a 180 to become a headwind for the ride home (all be it lighter).  The temperature had dropped more than I expected as well.  A little uncomfortable yet manageable.
This is just one of the compromises of life I thought.  To have this awesome job I need to save money and that means riding to work.  Most days I love that choice; today it was just one of those things.

As I pulled up to the house the cars had been shuffled.  Mrs. CB2 had decided to drive my car today as her's was out of gas, negating the saving money part of riding to work.  As I entered the house I was greeted with an insurance and prescription issue, a clogged sink, a soaked steam filled bathroom, and no hot water.

Tomorrow's another day.