Tuesday, February 24, 2009

The enchiladas I was eating that Jim mentioned were fantastic, but too little too late.

I am pretty sure I hit a wall because 1. I was underdressed for the weather 2. caloric intake was completely eclipsed by hours on the trail.

Breakfast was 1 1/2 scrambled eggs with 1/2 oz feta cheese melted into it, a small muffin and 4 shots of espresso with 4 oz soy milk.  

What I wore was the medium weight long underwear and a pair of knee high smartwool socks, a wicking shirt a long sleeve wicking shirt and a rain coat.  for gloves I wore a pair of synthetic gloves I got from Team Ortho.

I should have worn the heavier long underwear.  I should have had a larger breakfast or mid morning snack before heading out.  I should have worn the wool shirt and mittens I was carrying in the pannier sooner. 

We had a great ride though.  I think Jim liked that I had a map of Scandinavia, and I liked that his phone told us where we were.

I think I need to work on taking longer rides.  Depending on the weather I might ride Frenchie next Monday and try to pull another 44 miles.

This post is particularly whiny.  I blame it on The Biggest Loser.  They rode a stationary bike tonight and keep bitching about how hard the seat is etc.

Monday, February 23, 2009

not quite enough for a century

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2583448

Today I got in my longest single day of riding of the year.  Jim and I left from HC and tried to make it to Carver.  It was my whimpy legs that made us turn around.  The trail got less and less plowed the further we went and my excuse is the single speed lacked the gear ratio necessary for the slipping.

So my legs cramped at mile thirty or so, and by mile 40 I was aching, by the time we got to Humboldt I needed to sit down.

A damn fine ride though.

Shannon got to be the knight in shining Jetta and save my sorry ass at Uncommon Grounds.


Sunday, February 22, 2009

The things they left behind

So I hadn't thought to much of the stuff in the shoulder bag.  Dirty lunch carton, old newspaper, etc.

There was also this water bottle.

For all the rooting around, the person missed a pair of Grobet pliers I had in the bag that cost me a small fortune.  Also a 9 dollar three sided ruler.  But, I am glad to still have these things.

I imagine the person standing at the Jetta finding an Eagan police water bottle and leaving.  I imagine the person power walking away.  

I was helping a repeat customer the other day and her Cannondale had been stolen.  The suburban police had made an honest effort trying to track the ten year old bike down, but some things are hard to find.

Tomorrow I'm thinking I'll bike to the Depot in Hopkins, and I'll use the new chains to secure my ride home.

Saturday, February 21, 2009

getting busy

So work has gotten franticly busy.  More and more of our competition is closing their doors, so their customers become our customers.

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

is this rain, sleet or snow?

The correct answer is D. all of the above.

The ride home was quite pleasant.  I wasn't over or under dressed, the trails were clear of rutted ice.

time riding home: 40 minutes.

I mentioned before that I can't really go faster.  The bike is geared pretty low so I can get up to around 20, but faster than 16 is uncomfortable.  Where I improve is in improving the average speed by not going as slowly on the climbs.  I'll keep piling on weight to keep my time around 45 minutes though.  I am thinking it might be fun to try some of these local races, and I think of this as casual training.

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Linked together

Since the car was broken into I've been thinking about things being stolen. And since Menards was selling their Kryptonite chains for next to nothing (apparently they weren't good sellers???) I have two of them now.

The added 16 pounds of chain didn't slow me down too much though. I made it home in 57 minutes compared to 45 minutes from the night before.

My co-workers think I'm crazy and that I have perpetrated an act of major overkill, but I like my bikes dammit.

Also, the added weight improved traction and momentum riding. Braking suffered on downhills, but when rolling the tires cut right through rotten ice.

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

The golf club

So I've been having a recurring dream since Saturday.

It has me riding my bike south along the River road towards Lock and Dam #1, which is weird because I work in the southern suburbs, and I see the person bust out our window.  Suddenly I have a golf club in my hand and bellow "pedestrian polo!"  the phrase "now I'm gonna take $250 out of your body" creeps in as I break the hand that busted the window.

a disturbing dream made worse by putting it in text...

What irks me is that we had better plans for that money which is now going to replace our window.  The glass is on order, I expected to hear from the Volkswagen dealer that it came in today, but predicting shipping apparently sucks in more than one industry.

Monday, February 2, 2009

Schadenfruede

Because I am the angel of death when it comes to cars.

Saturday I biked most of the way home from work.  But I knew the better half was also out biking so I went through Minnehaha Park to see if I could catch up.  I was about t get onto Ford when I saw our Jetta parked at Lock and Damn 1.  And some people staring at it.

Well this actually:

The ass hole who busted out the window didn't have the courtesy to steal anything.  They pulled my messenger bag out of the trunk and rooted through it...

BUT EVERYTHING WAS STILL THERE!

So now we have to replace the window.  GAAAAAH!