Wyo---oh, why?

CLMers Mitch, Erich, Chancey, Sirena and myself met up today for a ride out to Wyo road.
Sir Chance-A-Lot with the grimace that says, I will push you up Turbo today..


Erich offering appeasement to Zephyrus


caballero



One the way out Shallowford/Courtney-Huntsville, the wind was battling us to no end. Everyone was okay with that, because the idea of the wind pushing us back was a redeeming factor. We did the backwards loop and headed back to Courtney-Huntsville. We regrouped at the stop sign and headed back in...somehow the wind had shifted and we had a headwind yet again.

Regrouping at the end of Wyo


I anounced my intention of killing it on Turbo Hill. Mistake...but fun. We rolled back to the square and hung out for a bit because there were a ton of other rides coming back at the same time. It's always cool to ride out of the square in Lewisville, because there are always a ton of cyclists either leaving or coming back. Thanks for the ride today guys, good job to everyone!

Caps

Bikesmiths and Pace Sportswear rock. I ordered a couple of new caps the other day and was pumped to see that they came in the mail today.

A white and black to match the new CLM and Pirate Race Productions kits.



And an Italia just for good measure
"Tramuta in lazzi lo spasmo ed il pianto: in una smorfia il singhiozzo il dolor!"

Cycletherapy to Hanging Rock

50 miles, just under 4000 feet of climbing. We ran into a ton of other cyclists as well, including Mark Hekman and Alex Ryan.

Recent Developments

I've spent the better part of two days laid up with the sickness. Something between Motaba Virus and Dengue Fever seems to be affecting me...

Anyways, I talked to Steve a number of times this week and it seems that everything is coming along nicely with my frame. I saw this pic of a fork he worked on this week...looks good.

I'll be getting some pieces and parts in for the frame over the next week or so, and will hopefully be building it up within two weeks.

I've had some consideration of doing a 6 hour race over in the Trianlge on the 13th of March. It will depend upon a number of things falling into place between now and then, not the least of which will be whether Lisa will be working that weekend. She is leaving for her first round of internships in about two weeks, at which point I will be living the life (mostly minus all the debauchery) of a bachelor.

The Paragon sells on ebay tomorrow, and this will be the first time in seven years that I will not have had a mountain bike (or three). This relative discomfort is tempered by the fact that I will, again, be with mtb in two or three weeks.

Weekend looks good, I'm feeling mostly better, who wants to ride Sunday? Hanging Rock? Anyone.....Bueller?

New Experience

I had a new experience today. I feel like a champ now...after a massage. I'd never had a professional massage before today, now I can't wait to go trash my legs so that I can get a good leg massage. That'd be incredible!

Night CL

Sir Chancelot, Sighreeeena, E-Rich, and myself did a CL in the cold tonight. My feet froze. I've been fighting a cold the last two days, and am now hacking nearly uncontrollably as I type. Awesome, thanks, students for being so kind as to share with me!!!

L'Eroica 2009

Looks like a cool event, but I don't know much at all about bikes older than 1987...could be problematic!

Sunrise Snow Ride

Well, the Wolfpack Classic got cancelled this morning, I called Erich at about 5 to let him know. So...what to do? Lisa had gone skiing all day yesterday up in West Virginia with some classmates and was still KO'd in bed. Lorien was up and hyper, so I knew that I couldn't leave her behind and hope that she would allow Lisa to get some much needed rest. I put two and two together and took Lorien for her first mountain bike ride with me. I got changed up, put her jacket on (yeah, I know, a jacket for a dog...she doesn't have much fur) and we took off for some of the local trails. At first, she wasn't sure what to do, but fairly quickly got the hang of it. She does have the attention span of a gnat though, so any smell or anything odd would distract her to the point of me having to stop.

Unsure of what to do with this obstacle...


I would be trucking along and realize that I didn't hear any jangling behind me. The sequence of photos below illustrate one of these circumstances.




There was one section of trail that she kept stopping at the end of. It took me a while to realize that she really enjoyed it. On one of the loops, we had to stop and go back and forth on this section four times. I guess it was because we were actually moving along at a pretty good clip. The trail dips down towards a creek and follows the bed for a while. The funniest thing of the day was her arbitrary skying off the bank and down into the creek about five feet below. There was absolutely no reason for her to do this, she just decided to as we were moving along. She's a strange dog. All in all we got in about five miles, not too bad for her first time on the trail following me. Hopefully by this summer I can take her on some of my longer rides...that'd be awesome!


Drifting to sleep in the truck on the way home.

The Salvation found in Erich's Hindquarters...

Pre-ride ridiculousness. No, my blog world friends, Erichs hindquarters are not the saviour of the world, the halo of light from said hind parts are a blinkie tail light. I, too, was drawn like a moth to a flame...all for nought.

Erich and I made last minute plans to get out for a spin tonight to loosen the legs. I normally have class, but due to the horrendous weather in Boone this week ASU was closed, so no class...excellent! We met up at the old shop and hit the flat parts of the city loop with some extra additions. The route was between 20 and 25 miles, no idea of average speed or real distance, but the goal was to get out and take it easy since we are racing Saturday. Tonight was one of those nights that makes me appreciate the sport of cycling. Just the idea of being out there in the cold with a like minded friend braving less than ideal conditions feels almost transcendent. We got back to the shop feeling the high that can only accompany a good ride, and made plans for Saturday.

My return home was punctuated by a good meal (whole wheat pasta, snap peas, broccoli, carrots and some various spices).

Good Ride and a Muddy Dog

This afternoon, I let Lorien out to play with the neighbors dog. He was loose and running around outside our fence, so I opted to just let her have some fun and chase him around. I didn't even think of the consequences of said actions. Alas, this is what she looked like when she came inside.

She looks very sorry. Anyways....

Erich and I got out for a sufferfest of a ride (it was a sufferfest for me, but a walk in the park for E). Before we left, I made mention to Erich that Lisa was going to make some brownies for us, his response, "Don't take this the wrong way, but, I love your wife (long pause) in a culinary way" HI-larious! We left from my place with the idea of heading out to East Bend and taking some alternate routes home to get about 40 miles in. Our goal was accomplished with an added bonus...we got to check out some gravel/dirt road action. He is prepping to head to Upstate New York in March for the Tour of the Battenkill which includes lenghty sections of dirt.


Our ride was pretty difficult by the suprising amount of wind we had to contend with. Also, we basically chose every single road we could that had pretty hefty climbs. River Ridge, Beroth, Taylor, Baltimore, Bloomtown, and then again in reverse. These climbs added up to almost 3k feet of climbing in about 38 miles, this plus the wind netted us with an average speed of less than 18mph. Not fast by any means. BUT, it was a ridiculous amount of fun, and to top it off, Lisa's brownies were spectacular! Thanks Erich! Thanks Lis!

Early Spring Break

Well, operation shutdown has effectively cut my Spring Break down. School's been out yesterday and today, and word is that tomorrow we'll be out too. I can feel the sand of Spring Break slipping through my fingers. Alas, tomorrow is supposed to breach the 50's, so I'm hoping to get in a ride early in the afternoon depending on road conditions. The Wolfpack Classic is next weekend, and I've been off the bike for a number of days...not ideal! I have been hitting the gym pretty hard, but mostly it's been running and lifting weights, so not exactly transferable to the bike, but hopefully I am staving off the fat my body wants to put on!

So after some consideration on what to do tonight, I hit the treadmill in the basement tonight. running blows.