Rain, rain...

The prediction is warmer temps with more rain until Thursday. Is going to be single speed with fenders tonight on the bike path. Just the hardy souls will come out to play this evening so the bike path should be all mine.  Yesterday I thought about riding for an hr or 2 after church but decided instead to take appart and box the Jamis 29er for the trip down with the ToadKing to Florida Wednesday morning since it was, what else, raining. Ride Fl trails wed-Friday morning then head up to Mullberry Gap in Georgia, ride there Fri afternoon and Sat morning then head to Asheville which is only a 3hr drive from there and ride maybe Sat afternoon and Sunday morning. Ride the dirt for as many miles as we can, who knows when we are going to be able to ride the local trails. I know I'm not going to ride them until they are fairly dry, one: I don't want to damage the trails, two: I don't like riding in muddy trails, 3: I don't want to be cleaning my bike after every ride, 4: it leads to broken/damaged parts and money spent, and 5: I'm not going to get hurt this year again riding on wet trails and possibly falling and hurting myself again this year. I've been hurt the last 3 summers and I'll like to at least do a few races this year.  I'll wait until the trails dry aroung here.
Florida here we come.

Great ride

Met with the depends gang and a bunch of diaper babies at the train station in Brecksville for a 3 hr ride. I parked at the top of Ridge and the parkway for a few extra miles.
The sky didn't look good for a 10am ride.

I rode at an easy pace to warm up since a lot of young tri guys from Team Fresh Start/ Eddies were going to drive the pace. Took off south on Riverview which was closed due to flooding but not to high for the bikes to ride through. We rode at a good pace but not as fast as I thought we were going to move. The pack split off at the covered bridge race course with the tri guys going their way and the depends gang plus a diaper baby going south. We hit Sand Run and a few other roads, climbed a few hills and back to Riverview and up Snowville. On Brecksville rd I bid adieu and headed back to my car. Close to 60 miles and a little over 3  hrs. Good riding and climbing today. Tried about 10 times to get a couple of good riding pics but my angles were all wrong except for the bottom two pics.One of the guys (which will remain nameless) had to make a

pit stop at the Bruggels bagel shop at the end of Riverview. I didn't know what he was doing in there and went in after him and I think my lungs are damaged. When he wants to stop again on another ride, he's going to have to hit the weeds, you better bring wipes the next time, "Henry" or you are going to ride by yourself the next time. I'm short of breath right about now.

Dead legs

Rode the usual valley loop last night and I had no snap and my legs felt very tired. One of those days where you start wishing you never went out. Maybe it was the hard ride I did on my" fixie that's not fixed" Wednesday night...hmmm. Rode 30 miles going north on the pkwy. Great evening to ride the path, cold and damp. Only a few souls out. Anyway, I was able to hold a decent pace going up the climbs but couldn't accelerate at all. Oh well, I finished the loop and that's what it's important to me.
With the week as wet and cold as it has been I rode the "fixie that's not fixed" twice and I'll probably ride it again today.

I changed to a flat bar instead of the drop bar. You get better leverage going up hills when you stsnd up. Without brake levers yu get no leverage with the drop bars. It's agreat ride and I really enjoy riding it, gives you a good workout.

The river Wednesday night was flowing fast and high, one of the few times I've seen it that high

Even the fords were closed which was nice because the park closes the roads in between the fords.

In other news, vote for John so he can get in the Pisgah MTB race 

It is a contest about bloggies, John, no offense, you are competing against some tough bloggers but you got my vote. I think Dickie my take it but then again, he may not get it just because.

Global Intelligence

Q: Copper Canyon in Chihuahua, Mexico is nearly half as large as the Grand Canyon.
         TRUE or FALSE

Soccer season

Haven't had much time to write or simply, I didn't feel like it. Soccer season started last week which means, setting up goals for the 4-6 year olds. This is basically my part time job since I get paid $50 every saturday for putting them up and taking them down for 8 Saturdays in the spring and fall. Cycling needs money. Not bad you'll say, well, is not as easy or simple as it sounds. It takes me at least 4-5 hrs of the day with 10 fields to set up. Why don't we leave them up for the season? These are small goals and at $500 a pop I don't want them to dissapear overnight, sad to say but the truth. I used to ref youth leagues and High School and it was good cycling money but I like this gig better. It pays good and the goals don't yell at you if you don't stake them or the nets are a liitle bit crooked. I was able to drive the car on the fileds and drop off the bags and that made it easier than last week when I had to carry everything in.

Funny thing I heard today, this guy drives in with his 3 kids and proceeds to tell his 4-5 year olds to stay out of the mud.; what  car is he driving, a 40k Lexus to a muddy soccer field, good luck with that. I wanted to say something but I bit my tongue and held back instead.
Had a good week of riding with almost 11 hrs. Not that many hrs but the efforts were good. This year I'm not even writing anything I do like I've done most of my competitive life. I've been hurt for the last 3 summers and only done a handful of races so I decided to train hard as I feel and just have fun. My first off road race is coming in fast, May 14th in Michigan, a 6 hrs race part of the Michigan endurance cup.
At the end of the month I'm flying down to Florida with the Toad King to drive back his car from his vacation home there. We are taking our bikes and hitting the trails there for a couple of days then heading up to Ellijay in Georgia, riding there and then our last stop in Asheville, NC to hit Bent Creek again. Good training before my first race.
Well time to peel off the carpet from the family room, Monday the floor man is coming to install the same flooring we have in our kitchen / breakfast area and I'm to cheap to pay $100 to have him do it.

Have a great weekend whatever you are doing.

80's, really?

80's and dry for one day, I'll take it. What a beautiful weekend it was. Saturday was a little cool but I'll take it just as well. Yesterday started with overcast skies but the sun came out for a few hrs and it felt great. I hope there was no accidemts on the roads yesterday. Too many cyclists in shorts after a long weekend with the sun shinning of our legs is dangerous.  Did the Valley city looop after two days of valley riding and climbing hillls: I wanted a big ring easy flat roads ride. It turned out to be more work than I anticipated with the wind blowing at tropical storm force at times. After 50 miles in a little under 3 hrs, I felt like I had done a climbing workout, oh well. This week it doesn't look too bad temps wise but we are supposed to have a few thunderstorms roll in.
Did see another rider on the road yesterday after 12pm dressed like it was 35 degrees outside including booties and wearing a balaclava. I was sweating in short sleeves and shorts and I couldn't believe it, maybe he was expecting the temps to plummet during the ride or something, it was upper 70's when I saw him. Taking the day off after 4 good days of riding to finish a painting a room in the house I started a "few" weeks ago. And oh yes, finish the spanish soap my wife got me hooked on it ends tonight with a two hr. finale (yes, I'm blaming her). And there's even hardly any cleavage showing in this soap which is a surprise because spanish soaps are known for that. I'm just glad is over, I can't take another hr.
Well, we spent a few good hrs watching it and speculating what would happen.



 Thursday, bundled up, to Sunday shorts

 Ho, you need to shave your legs, you look like a caveman.

Well, we spent a few good hrs watching it and speculating what would happen.

The power of words with a pen

Wine, Beer versus water

No need to thank me for this useful information!

To my friends who enjoy a glass of wine...

And those who don't and are always

seen with a bottle of water in their hand.



As Ben Franklin said:

In wine there is wisdom,

In beer there is freedom,

In water there is bacteria.



In a number of carefully controlled trials,

Scientists have demonstrated that if we drink

one litre of water each day,

At the end of the year we would have absorbed

More than 1 kilo of Escherichia coli, (E. Coli) - bacteria

found in feces.

In other words, we are consuming 1 kilo of poo..



However,

We do NOT run that risk when drinking wine & beer

(or tequila, rum, whiskey or other liquor) ,

because alcohol has to go through a purification process

of boiling, filtering and/or fermenting.



Remember:

Water = Poo,

Wine = Health.

Therefore, it's better to drink wine and talk stupid,

than to drink water and be full of shit.



There is no need to thank me for this valuable information:

I'm doing it as a public service!

Sunday

The "Depends" gang got together on Sunday for an easy ride on the Bike and Hike doing the Akron loop.
This is a great loop for an easy ride after a good week of training. The ride takes you through Silver lake in Stow which is a great area (sorry, no pictures, next time) and a few other neighborhoods. It is best done in the early morning because many sections get a lot of foot traffic later in the day.