My First Car

The Chase was On.

Got home from work in good time last night and thought I better put some miles on the bike. I haven't heard much from Chad or Clint this week, which is making me nervous. Either they haven't ridden at all, or they are racking up serious mileage that they are going to drop on me Sunday.

With the Lotus back to her rightful owner, I was on the GT again, and it was good. The bike fits, love the clipless pedals, and I was feeling the love. It was about 68 degrees and sunny, so it was perfect for a ride. I set out to do the sixteen mile loop. Everything was going swimmingly. Although I did almost have my first pedal mishap. I was coming up to a stoplight, and it almost slipped my mind. I was worried about securing my place in line amongst the cars, which I did, but then as we all rolled to a complete stop, I was still securely fixed t my bike. Luckily, the panic didn't set in immediately and I was able to get my left foot out, and avoided disaster/embarrassment.

That wasn't the big news of the ride however. I was just around the halfway point when opportunity presented itself. The last half mile before I turn around and head home is a long gradual uphill. The good news there is that after I turn around, not only am I headed home, but I got a nice long, gradual downhill to enjoy. So on this day, I turn around and start coasting down. I look down and see that up to this point, my max speed is 31 miles an hour. Since there's no time like the present, I decide that now is a good time to try and beat that, so I start mashing the pedals. Before long I'm moving, and getting faster. It was about that time, that I see a mid-nineties Cadillac cruising down the hill. Now I keep on going about my business of beating my max speed, but the next time I look down the road, I start to wonder if I'm gaining on this Caddie. In a totally rational and well thought out decision, I decide that instead of a new max speed, my first priority should be passing this car.
I know, very childish, but also very fun.

So here I am, slowly gaining ground on the Cadillac, and pedaling my guts out. It was glorious, my only regret is that I couldn't see the view from the car. I was soon on their bumper and started to slowly pass 'em, luckily the side of the road was in pretty good shape. Also, I chose the right driver to pass, had it been me driving, if some cyclist rolled up on me and started to pass me, I may have sped up and left them in my dust. This driver however, kept up his original pace, and soon the Cadillac was in my rear view mirror, well, if I had one, you know what I mean. Anyway, I was pretty high on myself at this point, however this was also the point where the slight downhill ends, and the flat begins. Now I was having to really work to keep up this pace, but the stop sign was just up ahead, and I really wanted to make it to the intersection before I got re-passed. Good news, I kept it up and made it to the Stop sign, I took my left and I assume the Caddie took a right cause I never saw them again.

It took me a minute to recover, cause I had spent way to much energy on that stupid stunt and I was huffing for sure. On a side note, not only did I pass the car, I also crushed my max speed. My new max speed is 34.6 miles an hour...sweet.

I got my legs and wind back and the rest of the ride home went by pretty much as usual, except for the stupid, ear to ear grin plastered to my face. Gotta love chasing cars.

One Small Clip for a Real Cyclist...

One GIANT Clip for a Non Cyclist.

The clipless adventure has begun, and I'm loving it. Who knew that nike shoes were so bad for cycling. I only rode 16 miles, but what a difference.

Todd got in touch with me early on Thursday and asked if I wanted to ride. My answer of course was yes as you know I needed to tack on some miles for the mileage challenge. I got home from work and got busy putting on the pedals (you got me, I didn't do it the other night after I put up that post that said I was going to do it then) and attaching the cleats to my shoes. It's amazing how much better my bike looks without those clunky pedals with toe clips strapped on. I put on the Look pedals as they did wind up winning the poll by one vote, and they look sharp. Nice and streamlined, but a little intimidating. They're so small, and I started thinking about how they will firmly hold me onto the bike, and how they might not want to let me go. Anyway, on to the cleats.

I screwed the cleats into the Shimano shoes and by this time Todd had showed up and we we pretty much ready to go. After signing up for a 100 mile bike race without owning a bike, riding in 28 degree weather with fingerless gloves on, and riding a 30 year old loaner to get acquainted with the sport, you no doubt have reservations about my level of common sense. I can't convince you otherwise, but I can tell you that I did at least practice getting in and out of these new pedals before we took off. I'm glad I did as they were set way too tight for me. A few turns of the allen wrench and they were less like bear traps and more like pedals so we got started.

I pull out of the driveway and right into near disaster. While I was looking down trying to get my other foot in my pedal, one of my neighbors had turned into the cul-de-sac. By the time I looked up, she was politely trying to navigate her minivan around the idiot in the street who apparently doesn't know how to ride a bike, even though he's wearing bike shorts and sporting biking gloves. I managed to wobble to the edge of the road, and she passed without me toppling over. I finally finagled my other foot in and we were off.

This is better.

From the first few pedal strokes, I could tell how much better this was going to be. The stiffness of the shoes, the connection to the bike, I could get used to this fast. We took off down my now somewhat routine 16 mile down and back route. The wind was so bad it was laughable. We were struggling just to stay in a strait line and make forward progress. The only silver lining was that this was a down and back route, so while this wind would kill us the whole first half of the ride, barring any major atmospheric anomaly, it should be pushing us with the same force the whole way home.

I'm happy to report that we timed most of the streetlights perfectly. We had to pause a few times, but never had to completely stop and unclip. I know, not a true test of the clipless pedals, but I was happy to get lucky the first time using them. I'm sure there will be plenty of opportunities to topple over, unable to unclip, in the future. The second half was much more enjoyable with the wind at our backs. There is one hill on the route, that put us in our place, but other than that we made it back to my house in good order. I made sure to unclip before I even got in my driveway and did so uneventfully. So far I'm loving the Look pedals and will continue to use them. Not to disappoint all you SPD lovers out there, and don't hate me, but if things keep going well with the Look pedals, I'm not sure I'll even give the SPD's a chance. I know, heartless, but if it ain't broke, don't fix it right?

16 Miles On My Own

Longest Solo Ride to Date

In preparation for this mileage challenge that is now going on with my brothers and myself, I spent about 4 hours the other night hooking up my new cycling computer on the new bike. Is that normal? How hard can it be, but the instructions were a bit lacking, and winding the cables around the tubes, blah, blah, blah...it took forever. Anyway, I know that I had said that I wanted to do the farewell ride on the Lotus last night, but I got home from work a bit late and was fighting daylight, and had just put the new computer on. Needless to say, I took out the new bike last night, got in 16 miles, and now I'm totally hooked on the bike computer thing.


So much info, I was having a hard time watching where I was going. I'm sure/hoping that the novelty will wear off soon, cause it can't be safe to ride around looking at your handlebars all the time. But for now, I was flooded with all this new information and was loving it. So far, I'd say I'm addicted to the speedometer and the odometer, and the cadence thing is running a close third.

So my average speed was 16 miles per hour. Slow yes, but I was pleased that I did 16 miles (16.085 to be exact) in exactly one hour (ok, 1 hour and 36 seconds to be exact). Gotta leave room for improvement. The odometer was cool, and kept me going a little while longer. I got to where I thought I would turn around, but I was only at 7.5 miles. I thought that a 16 mile ride would be waaaay more impressive and satisfying than a 15 mile ride, so I found a side street and kept riding until I hit the 8 mile mark, then I turned and headed for home. Loving it.

I have to say, slowly, but surely, I'm starting to feel less like a poser on the bike and that is definitely a good thing. My pedals, shoes and chamois shorts should be in next week, and that should be another step in the right direction as well. After 16 miles in my old lacrosse shorts, the chamois will be a very welcome addition to the team.

That's it for now, from what I've heard, I think I may have just taken a 16 mile lead in the mileage challenge, so bring it on boys, start turning those cranks.

Thanks for reading.