Finally...a bike built in this century!!!!!!

Guess what....You guessed it...new bike for the nanster. I really had to move ahead on this. I couldn't live with the situation, now that Ellie got cleats and clips and oiled her chain and pumped up her tires. I couldn't keep up! Now she's going to be seeing my back! (I love you El)

OK, so my new red bike turns out to have a couple of little butterflies on it...kind of wussey and girly. I didn't notice until I had already decided that it was the bike that fit and felt the best when I rode it. But I'm turning this into a cool biker fashion statement. Anyone know where to get a butterfly tatoo? I'm thinking left calf.

(it's a Specialized - Vita flat bar road bike)

Training Log Entry: Wednesday, April 30

Ok. So this wasn't a completely successful training ride, but it was a "learning experience." The idea was to start at 6p.m. and go to the Blue Hills and back (about 28 miles). This picture at right is a detail from my planned route showing, more or less, the portion that I was able to do.

First off, I didn't get started until 7p.m. (decided not to clip in, due to the fact that I am, in fact, a horrible person who needs help from "y'all" in overcoming my fear of clipping in). Then, I took a warm-up lap of Franklin Park, climbing all the little hills in there easily without having to downshift much at all. Lot's of golfers out, beautiful evening for 9 holes. Thought of Chuck, of course.

From there I meandered over to the Arboretum and made it before sunset, which is when it closes. I didn't exactly follow my map getting there. Entered at the South Street Gate and went up the observation hill with the big (white?) pines at the top. No aging skate punks there last night, sorry to report, though the lilacs are almost in full bloom. This hill was a bit more of an effort, but still not too much huffing and puffing. The descent however was a little chilly.

Then I climbed the bigger/steeper hill at the south end of the park. No problem. However, on my way down, I noticed a full-on phenomenon that I will refer to as "the wind chill factor" (hereafter, WCF). Ok, I was nicely warmed up from the ride thus far, a good 4 or 5 miles to that point. But the WCF of the steep descent made me shiver. Yikes!

Despite the chill, I decided to forge ahead with my plans, now modified to get to Stonybrook Reservation and then get the hell home asap. And I had by now lost almost all of what was left of the daylight, ergo most of my external source of warmth. I was freezing! And I kept thinking, as long as I keep riding, I'll stay warm. (Yeah. My legs and trunk will stay warm, but what about my fingers and my ears and nose!? Brrr.)

I got to Stony and I was still in relatively good spirits. But it was now getting dark and I had completely forgotten how to get to "Bald Knob," the hill I had chosen for it's elevation and aerobic value, blah, blah, blah. By now you see my scientific approach to the task was disintegrating.

Suffice it to say I got home in one piece with a smile on my face and a feeling of accomplishment, but cursing the WCF and very much anticipating more [warmer morning] rides.

Saturday Ride

I just got back from a lovely morning ride: 10.1 miles, averaged 10.8 mph. I think in the grand scheme of things it was a pretty easy route, but not-so-easy for me. I gotta watch my potty mouth when I am going up hills - I may have frightened the golf course greens keeper. I tried using that mapping thing Ellie linked to, but couldn't figure out how to make the return route follow the same roads. If you look at this map and know where I live... I followed Cary route #3 to the Tarbert Loop, to the Three Lakes/MacGregor Loop and then back home. http://www.townofcary.org/depts/dsdept/P&Z/bicycleplan/bicyclemap.pdf. I didn't have to get off and walk even once! That was a first.

Anyway, time to jump in the tub!

And the bucks are rolling in!

Go Team Charlie Go -- we're in the lead again (does anyone else check this every day? it's really addictive) Way to go Ned and Gery for making the leap. It's kind of fun, isn't it?

Sweet Ride

Team Charlie has a new member, people. Found this 53cm aluminum frame beauty on Craigslist ... and she's road ready. Now, I am really looking forward to July 26! Props to David for cutting me a deal and donating the difference to our fundraising efforts.


And now a News Flash: as of this posting, Team Charlie is a mere $65 behind S&W Sports in the chase for top-ranked team! let's kick it into high gear...

mile 100!

Hi all,

Ok, I have to brag for just a wee second. I just logged my 100th mile of training since I started on March 15th. I'm still not up to the 12 mi/hour that we're supposed to be up to but I'm getting there.

This weekend Nancy and I are planning to do a longer (albeit flat) ride of 20 miles or so. Mostly I've been doing 12-15 miles so far so this will be a bit more of a stretch.

Here's a link to one of my standard rides on Map It Pronto. Note the very steep hill at the end!

Have any of you used this tool yet? I found the link on the Memory Ride's site and found it to be a useful tool in planning a ride as well as comparing the mileage and elevation to the 62 mile ride we'll be doing.

What to ride?

So, just fyi. I started (finally!) training today. I put in a half hour on a Cybex trainer bike at Revolution Fitness, which is downstairs from Club Cafe where I work. I guess I have to decide pretty soon if I'm going to overhaul the nice frame Tal found in her basement or go find another road bike for the ride. I'm planning a trip to Bikes Not Bombs to see what they can do with this frame. What do you guys think?