Gut Check

I just realized something this last weekend. The Gut Check is coming up soon. The 7-9th of August. Since I haven't been planning on doing it, the race slipped my mind. Next year I'll be all over it. That is if I have my bicycle (Masi). I'll then try to ride it self supported the whole way. It should be fun.

Are any of you two loyal readers riding the GC212?

If you are, good luck!

New Love

I think I found a couple new loves last night. I've always been a big fan of Masi bikes, but something came over me.

Masi 1

and the other

Masi 2

I really like the CX. It's versatile, has options to throw racks and fenders on it and just plain looks sharp.

I'm trying to decide if getting a commuter bike would be worth it. I've sold 3 of my bikes as I am trying to downsize. Really, I can't ride all six at once anyway.

In my perfect world, I would have my mt bike (Kona Kula Supreme) which is the perfect mt bike for me. It's fast, fun, has good components and will work exactly what I want it for. The other would be a touring/commuter bike. Something I could go and ride long and far and also throw some racks and fenders on for a nice ride to work. 2 bikes. That's it.

I'm in desperate need to clean out my garage and sell some junk. Once all that is accomplished, maybe I can take the money from my sold bikes and the junk I sell and purchase the Masi.

On some Interweb site I found a place where I can determine how much money I will save by riding to work instead of driving. It came up to 700 something per year. I actually thought it would be more than that since I drive a truck. Although, my ride is considerably shorter than my drive. The ride is about 7 miles each way and the drive is closer to 12-15... So, I bet if I punched in those numbers, it would give me a completely different outcome. This of course leads to the bike purchase as being an investment or more of a necessity. Well, not quite a necessity but basically in one year, the bike will have paid for itself and bikes can last for a long time!

hmmm

Mileage

Rode about 22 miles yesterday. Maybe half of those were on the bike trail and the other half was on single track. Tell you what, I need to do some more climbing for leg strength. After that many miles, hills were starting to become quite difficult and I have the Dakota 5-0 coming up in about 5 weeks.

So, I guess I'll be spending alot of the next 5 weeks trying to get some mileage and doing as much climbing as humanly possible.

Sounds like fun, eh?

Kula Supreme Souped up

I got my bike back from the bike shop yesterday. Oh man is it nice. I went from some old Truvativ cranks and bottom bracket to a nice new Shimano SLX crankset and bottom bracket. It is smooth as butter. I really wanted to go XT but didn't want to shell out the extra cash for it. 

They also did a little tune-up. They said my front derailliur was all messed up (I didn't realize cuz I never shift out of the middle ring) and the rear deralliur was falling off the small sprocket. Again, I had no idea since I never shift there. Apparently I should be riding a single speed since I never shift. I suppose that's a good thing.

Cranks

I'm having some serious issues with my cranks on my Kula Supreme. The cranks are off my old Dawg and have seen better days. 

The last few days on my commute they would really start to creak and squeek about 5 minutes into the ride. On Friday, it was horrible. 

Once I got home I assesed the situation. The left crankarm was apparently loose (read: almost ready to fall off). I located my trusty allen wrench to tighten the said crankarm when to no avail, it would not tighten. Well, it would, but not to actually tighten the crankarm itself. The screw would tighten, then I couldn't turn the cranks. As soon as I would loosen the screw, the crank would whoble freely once again.

So, I guess the Kula has to go in for some service. I don't know if I can get away with a spacer or something or if it is more serious. I really don't want it to be serious but if it is, I really have no choice. I can't say I have extra cranks laying around for a spare. 

Also, now that I'm trying to downsize my amount of crap. I don't have a plethora of bicycles to choose and ride each and every day. I still have my Coilair which is also getting sold. I have an interested party so I should probably clean it up and have it ready to head out the door. Which will leave me with my Kula, a Dawg frame and a Schwinn that is torn apart and might as well be just a frame. And that's all my bikes.

I'm thinking I might have to look into buying a good commuter bike. I feel slightly guilty riding my best mt bike to work every day. Seems like it's going to wear out faster than I care for it to. 

Kona Ute... Is it in the future? Maybe that's what the Coilair will turn into. 

I'll then have 2 bikes, my good mt bike and my commuter.

Seems logical.

Words of Advice

From the Tao Te Ching:
<em style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">It is not wise to dash about.<br style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Shortening the breath causes much stress.<br style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Use too much energy, and<br style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">You will soon be exhausted.<br style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">That is not the Natural Way.<br style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Whatever works against this Way<br style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Will not last long.</em>

Weekly Rides

So far this week I've been able to accomplish 55.5 miles of riding. Nothing special, to work and home and a little over lunch. I rode Monday, Tuesday and Friday. I also plan on riding about 20 miles or so tomorrow. I did plan on a long mtb ride but now have decided to get some long endurance on the road in.

I'm hoping to bump up the milage little by little each week until a week or so before the Dakota 5-0. I'm pretty determined to do much better this year. I'm sick of sucking it up in that race. In the 5 or so years I've done it, I have yet to break 7 hours. Yes folks... 7 hours. That sucks by anyone's standards. I'm horrible and this year I will not be.

I have no idea what kind of training I'm going to do. Just ride lots I guess.

Construction

Why is it that road construction puts giant construction signs right at the intersections of highly traveled foot traffic? There is a place I cross every day and they have a giant sign blocking the intersection so pedestrian traffic can't be seen by drivers.&nbsp;

I've almost been hit a few times due to drivers, a. not looking, or b. can't see me. I'm 6'2" and the sign is about twice the size as I am. It just doesn't makes sense to put those in the line of sight of pedestrian traffic.&nbsp;

Test Post

This is a test post from a Blogger widget on my Mac.

Day 2

Today was day 2 of my new commute. It was good but I'm feeling a little tired after my 21 mile ride yesterday. I can tell I haven't ridden for quite a while. It was much more windy today as well. The wind made it feel like I was on a much longer ride than normal. I was definitely pushing it.

The one problem I do notice is that I try to see how fast I can go. I need to learn just to relax and spin my way to work. I can push it going home. I just always feel like I have to get wherever I'm going as fast as I can. That's not good.

My new commute will be a great way to get in shape and ready for the Dakota 5-0.

Have a great day. I'll try and remember my camera to take some pictures of my new route.

Finally

I finally did it. I rode my bike to work from our new location. I was going to make a test run prior to the actual trip but decided that was never going to happen. It's a decent ride. 7.2 miles if I go on the bike path for most of the distance. I have to ride a little on Hwy 44 and on St. Patrick street. Neither was nearly as horrifying as I was expecting.

The ride was relatively easy. There are no real climbs or decents or... mostly rolling. The ride home will be a little more difficult as more is uphill but it still shouldn't be too challenging. Plus, I need to get in shape for the Dakota 5-0 so a little climbing will suite me good.

It took me almost exactly 30 minutes. I can deal with that. When I worked at NAU and only had a 3 mile ride, it took me 27 minutes because of a giant hill. I like this new ride better.

I feel great!!!

Now, get out and ride!

Friday

It's Friday today. It's Angie's birthday today and I have a nice evening planned out. I've already told her the details so I'm sure I can share. We're heading up to Latchstring to spend the night. For those that don't know, it's up Spearfish canyon. It is definitely a beautiful place. Oli is spending the night at his aunt and uncle's house and I'm sure he'll have fun.

It's obvious that the tour is going on. I'm loving every minute of it. However, it's making me want a road bike again. I'll have one someday. Now is not the time.

I'm thinking of de-cluttering my life. There are numerous boxes full of stuff that we've decided that we really don't need. So, my objective is to sell as much stuff as possible and the place will probably be either e-bay or craig's list. Any other ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Have a great weekend.