Getting Ready

I'm on a mission to do better this year in the Dakota 5-0. I made the mistake of buying a different, heavier bike before the race but if I spend enough time peddling, I should do alright. So, for the last 2 mornings I have gotten up early and went for about an hour ride. I push myself pretty hard and try to do plenty of climbing. Yesterday I rode on Skyline which is not alot of tough climbing, but plenty of rolling peddle sections. Today, I went on M-hill where there is about 1000 feet of pure climbing and then down. I would say between the two days I have about 20 miles of pure mountain biking.

I was going to ride to work, but Angie and Oli convinced me otherwise. Oli is just so darn cute and I like to see him off in the morning. Tomorrow, I will be riding to work. More bike time.

I really need to figure out how to get more bike time without sacrificing family time.

First Ride

I went for the first ride of my new/used Coilair this morning. It was really everything I had hoped it would be. I do need to set up the suspension a little better. It's pretty tight for my taste. I'd like it to be a little more plush. But, it cornered well, climbed relatively well for a 40 pound bike and it just felt dang nice. I wish I could ride it on the Gut Check. My teammates would probably kill me for being so slow.

I was very surprised last night when I got to the bike shop to start exchanging parts. The guy (Kelly) who I am bought the bike from also bought a new Stinky and a new Dawg Delux. I thought he was going to buy the Stinky frame and move everything from his Coilair to his Stinky. Well, to my delight, this wasn't the case. He purchased it fully loaded. However, he only bought the Dawg frame but in the end, he decided to upgrade many of those parts. So basically, I got a crank, bottom bracket, seat post, front wheel with a 20mm thru axle, and a kick ass fork for the same price as just the frame. That made me very very happy as I wanted to upgrade the fork and front wheel anyway, and now I don't have to.

It is a great bike. I can tell my legs are a bit tired from peddling, but I haven't been able to ride in about 6 days so it's hard to stay in shape with such sporadic riding. I think morning rides are in order.

Oh, one last note, the Rapid City dirt jump park has it's ribbon cutting tonight. I think Oli and I will go check it out.

Konaworld

It's official. I am going to be replacing my old Kona Dawg frame with an old Kona Coilair frame. I'm pretty excited about it. I like the geometry much better on the Coilair than the Dawg. Don't get me wrong, I really like the Dawg, but I think I will like the Coilair better. Plus, it's a far sexier color... green!

Here is a picture from konaworld



It's definatly not going to have the same parts as I'm taking all off the Dawg to put on the Coilair. But, it'll be a nice change.

Doing it tonight.

Oh, and Oli is getting his second tooth. That kid is growing up so fast. It makes me a little bit sad.

Weekend

My weekend was full. Angie's brother and family was out camping, Angie had a bridal shower and bachelorette party and there was cleaning to do. Friday we both took half of a day off work so we could meet her brother and we could clean up the house. Angie's festivities were to be at our house so it needed to be presentable. Saturday morning Oli and I sat and watched the time-trial in the tour. It was great... then we proceeded on to Sturgis to meet Angie's brother and family. Then what, hmmm drew a blank.

Sunday we bought a kid carrier that attaches to the bike. I thought Oli would be big enough by now but I think he may need a couple more months. I need to find him a smaller helmet I guess. I really want to get him going on that though. So, since we couldn't bike, I put him in the baby backpack and we went for a hike on Skyline. It was hot, but nice.

I have some freelance work I need to do.

Oh, I may have purchased a new bike frame. 2006 Kona Coilair. I am going to take all the parts off my Dawg and put them on the Coilair, then sell my Dawg. The dude who I am possibly buying it from will allow me to sell my frame even while I will already have the other in my possession. I hope it works out.

That's it for now.

Tagged

I wasn't exactly tagged, but I read a blog everyday "Fat Cyclist" and he said if you want to be tagged, so be it. So I am taking his questions he made up about cycling and I will answer them to the best of my ability. I then will choose 3 random bloggers to be tagged as well. They then have to post on their blog, otherwise they're fingers will turn to worms.

If you could have any one — and only one — bike in the world, what would it be? I would say right now it would be my old yet newly converted single-speed Schwinn Moab. 1997 model. It is and has been a great bike with nearly 0 problems. I have upgraded nearly nothing and it cruises along the road just as nicely as the dirt. It looks sleek and nimble, like me!

Do you already have that coveted dream bike? If so, is it everything you hoped it would be? If not, are you working toward getting it? If you’re not working toward getting it, why not? I would say that I do have the dream bike. Although, I can't say for certain that it will always be my dream bike. In a way, I like all of my bikes and I always want more bikes. Mainly because each has it's own individual characteristics that I enjoy. Some are fat and heavy and go slow and others are very lightweight and quick. It all depends upon my mood.

If you had to choose one — and only one — bike route to do every day for the rest of your life, what would it be, and why? I would definitely say the Centennial Trail in the Black Hills. It is over 112 miles of single track and it differs greatly from the Northern hills to the Southern. It would be the perfect variety of lazy singletrack to the most demanding technical riding. And I could do it every day.

What kind of sick person would force another person to ride one and only one bike ride to to do for the rest of her / his life? I'm not sure, but it's a great question and I feel I've come up with the perfect answer.

Do you ride both road and mountain bikes? If both, which do you prefer and why? If only one or the other, why are you so narrowminded? I do ride both. I enjoy mountain biking more because it's better with friends. I enjoy it more because there is more scenery and you end up going where very few people usually go. My road riding usually consists of lunchtime rides when I can't go ride the mountain bike.

Have you ever ridden a recumbent? If so, why? If not, describe the circumstances under which you would ride a recumbent. I have never ridden a recumbent. I really can't say I want to either.

Have you ever raced a triathlon? If so, have you also ever tried strangling yourself with dental floss? Nope, but I want to.

Suppose you were forced to either give up ice cream or bicycles for the rest of your life. Which would you give up, and why? I would have to say ice cream. I think about bicycles every day. I only think about ice cream every other day. I can't sit and look at ice cream and wish I was ridding it, but I can do that with bikes.

What is a question you think this questionnaire should have asked, but has not? Also, answer it. What size of shoes do you wear? 13 US or 47 or 48 European

You’re riding your bike in the wilderness (if you’re a roadie, you’re on a road, but otherwise the surroundings are quite wilderness-like) and you see a bear. The bear sees you. What do you do? I freeze.

Now, tag three biking bloggers. List them below. I don't even know if anyone reads this blog. But, what the hell.

Biking Brady
Snakebite
Minuscar

Run Ride

I went for a ride yesterday while my friend ran. We went up M-hill and we went up the side I usually come down. It is very steep and very rocky. Needless to say he beat me to the top pretty easily. I think he was averaging 7:15 miles where I wasn't anywhere near that going up. It actually made me a little sad to think that I am so far out of shape that I can't climb better than that. I actually thought my fitness was coming around. All that means is that I have to step it up in training here for the next few weeks. More climbing and push harder when I do it. Right now I fall into a comfort zone and I don't push too hard nor not enough. But it is just the right amount so I won't get any faster or better. It was good that I went with him cuz now I know.

I must push on.

Longish

I went for a relatively long ride today over lunch. 34 miles. I know to some of you that is nothing, but i actually think I only have 1 other ride this year that is over 30 miles. So, it's a pretty big deal to me. The worst part is, I felt like crap for the last 10 miles. There are many factors. 1. I only ate a little bit of oatmeal for breakfast 2. it was 90 degrees 3. It was my second ride over 30 miles 4. My water was about 90 degrees as well so it wasn't real quenching.

Those are my excuses and I'm sticking to them. I realize I am out of shape as well, but I thought I would feel better than that. It's only 30 miles for crying out loud.

On another note, my weight loss is still going well. I was 185 this morning which brings my average down to 185 for the last week and a half. I should be close to 179 by the weekend if I play my cards right, and if I stay on the bike everyday this week and get some exercise.

I'm heading back to Miller this weekend to help my parents combine wheat. I know I should be able to get a 60 mile ride in before work. It'll be fun. I've never ridden there and there is a perfect 60 mile loop. I'm pretty excited about it.

Shorty

I don't have much to comment on today. I am down to 183 lbs this morning. I feel pretty good about that. Now my main challenge will be to keep it up during the weekend. We had to have 2 new tires put on the front of our car today. They were in really bad shape. We haven't been able to drive it for 2 days because one of the tires was flat and I didn't have the ambition to get it fixed. Today I finally did. I wish we didn't need a car or a pickup. We could go with out the pickup but we'd need a vehicle of some sort.

I'm rambling. I'm ready for the weekend. Hopefully I will get one long ride in. 50 miles or so would be swell!

Have a great weekend.

Single Speed World

Oli got me a gift certificate to my LBS for single speed parts for father's day. I went there a couple of times and they finally figured that they will have to order me the conversion kit for the freewheel. It came in 2 days ago and Angie and i went and picked it up yesterday. I got it all put together last night and made a little cruise with it. I know I need to change the gearing. Right now I am running a 32x18 which is pretty tough for mountain riding. It wouldn't make a bad city cruiser but that really isn't my intension. I need to get a 30x20 or 30x22 for the hills out here. I also need new breaks (the whole shebang) and I need some handle bar grips. Then it'll be ready to roll.

I'm really pretty excited about it. I've been wanting to try the single speed thing for quite a while but never had the opportunity. Not many people ride single... I only know of a handful.

I need to take some pictures so everyone can see my creation. I would like to strip the frame down and have it powder coated a green color but I'm not sure if it's really worth it.

A friend and I are doing the Catron, Sheridan Lake Road, Skyline loop again today over lunch. It should be a good time and a nice workout.

Weather

I didn't ride M-hill yesterday. That trip has been postponed until Friday. Instead I rode a little loop that incorporated both downhill road skills and some serious uphill mountain bike skills. I left work, got on Catron and rode down the hill to Sheridan Lake Road, then I rode to the cemetery and turned on Floorman where I could meet up with the Skyline wilderness trail system. I can tell that it doesn't get much use in the summer because it was really overgrown in spots. I almost lost the trail. It is a very tough climb at the beginning then it switchbacks the rest of the way up the hill. I think it's a little over 1000 feet of vertical climbing by the time I get to the top. It ended up being a 10.2 mile ride. I'm not sure how long it took, I would guess about an hour or so.

I still need to do some more maintenance on the Dawg. I realized that the rear derailleur is shifting kinda sucky. But I did put more air in my front shock which helped out alot.

Dawg

My Dawg (Kona) is in dire need of some tender loving care. I'm pretty sure it needs a new chain and if not a chain right now, it needs to be lubed. The front fork needs some air, the front wheels needs to be trued (or replaced). I actually bought a wheel off ebay for $15 that I need rim tape for. The brakes need some help, possibly even new pads. I'd like to clean and re-grease the headset and bottom bracket. I could use some new grips and I need to change the peddles and put on the clipless ones again.

My road bike is pretty much ready to go for the Gut Check though. I might do some minor maintenance to it but nothing serious. It doesn't get nearly the abuse as the mountain bike so everything seems to last a bit longer.

I'm riding M-hill today. Should be good climbing practice and good heat stroke weather.

Back in the Saddle

Wagner was tons of fun. There was no bike riding at all. I did repair a bike for my nephew which made me very happy. It was an easy fix. We hung out at the river, we ate food and we had a merry time.

Today begins a new quest for myself. It's really nothing new, but something I want to do before the Gut Check and before the Dakota 5-0. Since I've heard that losing 2 pounds per week is the most healthy way, that is what I plan to do. I have 5 weeks until the Gut Check and I think 7 until the 5-0. I hover around 186 right now. (Although I weighed 191 this morning) So, my goal is to lose 2 pounds per week which will put me at 176 for the Gut check and about 172 for the 5-0. It is my goal and I will meet it. I know losing weight isn't a great idea when training but I figure that if I eat right and get my exercise in, I should be able to lose the weight pretty easy.

I'm excited.

More stuff

Today is now the day the NAU web site will go live. Probably within the next couple hours. There are many changes left to be done, but it is a dramatic improvement.

We are heading to Wagner still. It's extremely windy out so I do not think I will be riding the motorcycle. I would now really like to take my bicycle so I can get some riding in. Even if it's just one ride. I guess Sunday evening 2 of my teammates will be setting out for a 25 mile ride. Hopefully I can join in but it all depends upon the time we return.

I'm very frustrated with the online Tour de France coverage this year. I'm looking for online video and it's difficult to find something. Especially in English. If anyone who reads this crappy blog knows of a live streaming video source for TdF coverage, let me know.

New Happenings

I'm pretty sure Oli has the crawling thing figured out. He is just starting to make forward progress. It is so wonderful watching him grow and become more and more "human".

I signed up for the Gut Check today. We are having another leap frog team this year. It consists of 4 people instead of 5 like last year. I really would like to do it solo, but I haven't had nearly enough training time to go at it, so I opted to join my fellows for another team try. I also need to sign up for the Dakota 5-0 as well.

Another new item on the list is the NAU Web site will be changing either today or tomorrow. I have been working non-stop on the new site since May and it was on hold for about 6 months, so after almost a year, it will finally come to fruition. I'm excited and very nervous as well. I have many new responsibilities regarding the site and it has been called "my baby" by our network administrator. So, I guess if something happens to it, it's my fault. Also, once it goes public, everyone will know about it if something goes wrong and it will be my door they beat down.

We're heading to Wagner this weekend for Angie's family reunion. I am riding the motorcycle and Angie, her sister and the 2 kids will be in our car. I would love to take the bicycle but there is just not enough room and I haven't the money to finish the roof rack on top. If anyone out there has any bicycle mounts for a Yakima rack that they want to sell, let me know. It should be nice weekend of hanging at the river, eating food and enjoying good company.

I will do better at posting.

Go Garmin Chipotle!

4th

The wife and I took off this week so we could be home with Oli. We have no daycare so we thought this was the best. A little mini vacation.

I have gone for a mtn ride 2 days in a row. Skyline yesterday and the new Buzzard's Roost today. So fun! I love bicycles. You see new adventures, ride nice trail, spend time in the woods and getting some movement.

I've been lacking in my postings quite a bit. Forgive me, I've been spending little time on the computer. I'll try and get back to a more regular schedule next week.

On another note, I'm pretty sure I'm up for a new challenge next year. I'm going to sign up for the Leadville 100 (100 mile mountain bike race in Colorado). Angie gave me authorization to do it. I'll need to drop a few pounds and get in much better shape. I'm sure I can do it, I just wonder how fast I'll be able to. It's a random draw so there is no guarantee that I will get in. I can only hope. If not, I might have to try something else.