Sometimes I gets the bear, and sometimes the bear gets me. Happily, tonight I got the bear! The usual suspects showed up for the 'fast' Wednesday nite ride. The wind was just enough to be obnoxious - 10-15 mph from the NNW. By halfway through the ride, the main pack had been whittled down from 20 to 12, with my buddy and I on recumbents alternately shooting ahead then letting them reel us back in. I hung with them on all the hills where they usually drop me, including at the front on the climb out from the river; and although they managed to gap me a time or two, too; for once I was right with them down the home stretch. As 5 of them (all that was left at that point) shuffled for good position before the final sign sprint, I offered to lead out. :) I squirted off the front and fanned the 53/12. They put their heads down, but I was gone. Game Over. I love doing that!!!

7/1
32 miles today. Still playing with the camera mount. Below are some photos from today's ride as seen through the eyes of my bike. I had to take a pix of the guy on the trike (that may be my next ride if I can get the wife's permission:rolleyes:) I generally get off of the trail and ride about a 3 mile section through an area called Heathrow. Pretty upscale neighborhood and way beyond my pocketbook.

32 miles this month
3511 miles this year
112 ride days TY vs 114 ride days LY
3988 miles needed to hit 2010 goal (7500 miles)
I am @ 46% of my goal. I need to be @ 66.6% (5000 miles) by the end of August

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284 miles ahead of this date last year

Nice pics kjc! That trike rider looks like he has a joystick in his lap, which would make that a Windcheetah. They are the coolest (IMHO) trikes made, with some allowances made for exotic materials in other trikes.

After going 8 days without riding (vacation trip), I rode to and from work today in Perfect Weather - a little chilly this AM and a little bit hot this PM but minimal humidity. Sunshine, too! If only the land of the Hoosiers were always this pleasant in summer.

Thirty miles, and 3,000 feet in Los Angeles this afternoon. First, a thousand feet up to Summit Drive, above Beverly Hills (and above Pickfair, May Pickford's former estate, in Beverly Hills). Then up through the Franklin Canyon National Recreation Area - it's grounds and its network of trails almost deserted this afternoon - to Mulholland Drive. Finally east, up and down the old highway, to Nichols Canyon before dropping down to home.

40 minutes @ Z1 = 18.7 mph ave. Recovery week has been very, very good to me! Sunday's race against 55-59 year old men is gonna be fun. It will be the first race against dinosaurs as old as me.

51.5 miles this beautiful morning. Forecast for tomorrow is about the same so I'll be on the bike one more day before the storms.

I didn't really notice that until I looked @ the photo when I posted it. It does look like a joy stick, and if I see him again I am going to stop him and get some info. I have been looking at trikes for some time and would really like to go in that direction. My daughter and I went to the cat trike plant earlier this year and I really liked them.

Rode 20 miles into the wind. Then I stopped at a casino to eat at their buffet. Buffet didn't open for 15 minutes, so I played a slot machine. Turned $20 into $47.25. Ate. Left big tip. Rode back to truck with a good tailwind. On the way home bought peaches and blackberries with remaining winnings.

9.3 miles to work, then 12.5 miles home - took the scenic route.

36 miles with yet another rear flat around the 15 mile mark. These rear flats are getting old. The weather was great.
I did use my new mini pump to repair it and only the pump this time. Last time I topped it off with a co2 bottle.
There is a chance I may stop co2 and just use the mini.

53 miles today. Left around 1pm, windy and 74 degrees. No particular plan, just put in miles. On the way back did 8 miles at 24.4 mph, topped out at 30.0 mph as i looked at my max speed. Went to Seal Beach. On the way back 10 mph tailwind, on flat SGRT. Going early tomorrow and plan to ride on Monday.

47 miles today. 62 degrees when i left at 8:30am, overcast did not clear up until i returned. Did a few sprints, a few short climbs, one 7 mile all out on return trip. For some reason people were cheering me on, waving, other roadies were saying hi, nice morning. Went up to Santa Fe Dam, over it because needed a potty stop in the park area, then returned. Lots of people, clubs, families, teens, bikes of all sizes, makes and colors. All and all a very nice trip.

Yesterday I completed a solo & unsupported 200k. I left my home on the Northside of Chicago and traveled along the Chicago shoreline to the south side of the city. I really enjoy the Lakefront bike-path at dawn, mostly because the traffic is manageable at that hour.

I turned around and headed to the far northern suburbs. I exited Chicago after 40 miles and reached route 176 with 90 miles on my computer. Cool weather and a slight tailwind help me finish this part of the route in 5 hours. The last 35 miles included 80f+ and 15 mph headwinds. I covered 124 miles in 7 hours, 35 minutes.

52 miles to Texas City. Cut short because of rain.

Total of about 30 mi / 50 km, mostly on the Bianchi, which felt fast and fun after riding only the mountain bike and the Peugeot during the past few months.

I need to repair a puncture right now to get the red white and blue Schwinn mountain bike ready for tomorrow's annual Neptune Ave. 4th of July parade.

Last night I had a rear flat and replaced it with a new tube and pumped it up with my mini and rode home. This morning I decided to look at just how much pressure was in there. Not much, around 60lbs. So I pumped up the tube with the floor pump to 100. KABOOM!!!! Sidewall had a small tear it it and I guess the tube blew when I put that extra air in there. New tire (Conti 4000s) went on and tube. All this before I headed out for golf.

Okay I know long winded just to say 37 miles after golf on a out and back on the local MUP which is also the Indianhead Rail Trail. I just took it easy and enjoyed the day. Saw a wild turkey and her baby, two deer and several squirrels. Beautiful day. I sure like riding on brand new tires!

Nice 63 mile ride on a new combination of some familiar local roads. I'll post a thread with details and photos later. Now that I have showered and eaten, I'm enjoying a cold Ranger IPA and watching the TdF prologue replay.

26 miles this afternoon, mostly rural. The corn in Central Indiana fields is finally tall enough for pit stops.

Did my usual Stone Mtn ride today. Started good but wasn't fun half way home. :o
I just turned onto the bike path from a side street. A group of 5 BMXers (aged 12-14??) came speeding up behind me, spread out across the path. I saw them in my mirror and tried to move over to the right as much as possible. I guess I got a little too close to the edge of the path and was too busy watching them rather than watching where I was going. Now mind you I've ridden on that stretch of bike path a thousand times, just never that close to the edge. Anyway, my front wheel dropped off into the 1" wide rut between the path surface and the grass. Then BAM!!! Faster than David Copperfield can make a 747 disappear, I was down on the ground. :notamused:
Did the BMXers stop to see if I was ok? Are you kidding?
Anyway, after I realized what had happened and got up, I noticed that my right knee was scraped and my shoulder burned (under the jersey from sliding on the grass). My neck had a scratch/scrape on it (I'm guessing from where the jersey collar slide around my neck when I was sliding on the grass. After about a mile of riding I noticed that my right side hurt (rib area).
Luckily the bike is ok. The handlebars got twisted a few degrees off center but that's all. :beer:
I guess I won't be riding tomorrow. :(
Thank goodness for Aleve. :)

So, interesting week past.

Before describing this week, the week before I did my first time trial using my triathlon bike. It was great. I was worried about being able to get in and out of aero quickly if I needed to and it went fine.

1) Saturday June 26th. Cypress Hill Climb race. 12.5K in 48:40 I was beat by one 70 year old, several 60 year olds. etc. (I'm 55 August 3rd) I can see that the triathlon training is good for overall fitness, but a bit weaker on climbs. Then again, I've been riding for only 2 years. I weigh 170 at 5'10"
2) Wednesday June 30: Club workout bike/run transitions. Felt good on the sections where we had to go strong on bike, almost all in aerobars.
3) Thursday July 1: Canada Day. 204K in rain, with lots of hills Sunshine Coast. Ouch.
4) Today: Easy 57K to Deep Cove. Legs felt good.

One thing I can see that is missing is the hard pace line type rides that roadies do. We do intense but shorter stuff. I might have to incorporate at least one ride with roadies a week.

Love it!

30 miles at Z2 with several burst up to race speed, as a warmup to tomorrow's race.

That describes what happens when you pinch the tube. The tube gets caught under the bead when the tire is mounted, so it's not fully inside the tire. Eventually, enough of it works its way outside of the tire, and ... you know the rest! To avoid, I always pump the tire up to 10-15 pounds, then go around the tire on both sides, pushing the tire in away from the rim. If the tube is caught, it'll pull back in where it belongs. Also, as it's most common to happen near the valve stem, push the stem in all the way, then pull it back out. That'll get the reinforced area of the tube out from under the bead.

I have recently been riding on the road, but I got tired cleaning out all the sand - which can't do my gears any good so I decided to start riding around the plantation. The one we live on which I call the hobby farm (70 acres) is quebrada - in English, broken land. Very steep in some areas, so I have been working a route up. Nothing is level, which is great for riding a mountain bike - but I need to be thinner to do it better, but getting there quickly.

Rode 30 minutes today on a route, can in toasted. It was a lot of fun though. The faithful dog figured out what I was doing, and instead of following me, picked a vantage point from where he could and just kept an eye on me - I guess in case I fell over he could link my face or something. :rolleyes:

The horses had various rude comments to say, but I ignored them. Who listens to young fillies, anyway? :lol: