flanderian fantasy?

talk about dedication. or insanity? with gawdawful weather looming for the whole day, most rides in the area were cancelled....most....

since it was the first day of the month, another check mark could go down for the elusive R-12. 5 brave souls showed up to to ride the beautiful (should have been) kerr lake loop.
the bravest was Bryan making his first attempt at a 200k, on a rough day, smiling about his decision here at the start. mike preps his fixie, and byron readies for the inevitable..



i was loaded with optimistic illusions of this "shower" ending and having a fair weather day. NOT.. at the first control 25miles in Mike was there and ready to go when we arrived. a quick signing of the cards and a coffee drink and off we went. and off the "iron fixie twins" went! branson and mike were both on fixies and moving well. by 30 miles out they were gone not to be seen again. we forged ahead at a comfy pace and soon were nearing the lake. this is what stuff was looking like out there: wet and messy..


this was the 5th 200K on the serotta this year, it's a wonderful day-bike. I gotta get some clip on fenders! I've never gunked-up a road bike this bad..the roads were covered with leaves and clay and worms too! really toxic conditions, and the fender'd boys were hurtin' too, just not on their backs like me.. here's the obligatory dam shot:by now we're more in heavy mist, and by 70 miles or so it stopped raining on us. fear not tho, we'd stay wet all day. all the gear was soaked and it was too cold and damp to dry out. naturally, everyone out here was swathed in wool. sox, jerseys, and base layers were nothing but the fluffy sheep by-product. it worked like a charm. we tried bags in the shoes at the start and they were fine 'til full of water. so long baggies. this day really tested all the equipment. my favorite bag set-up: acorns front and back. the front had standing water in it. the rear was pummelled with spray all day. my canon was in a ziplock and still got wet! onward. skipwith, boydton, over the lake at clarksville, subway! a sitdown was in order so we enjoyed sandwiches and a seat.
a few miles down the road and we were in stovall lubing the chains while Bryan aquired pain relief for his knees. long, cold days are tough on the joints as any rider will admit.

after riding many,many rides 200K's (or less) off the back I have a strong connection with anyone suffering out on the road. we kept an eye on bryan to make sure he survived and finished this epic day. we made it to the oxford control and got the lights in order. i had pulled the batteries on a blinky that tried to run all day. byron had one not coming on so we traded. mine was working now and we were all lit. back-ups are good. with 10 to go a familiar voice called out from the roadside: Mikey! he said our lighting was quite good. side-bar: I can attest to byron's write-up on the little flashlight on the helmet: amazing! get one and blink the hell out of people on your commutes and find signs on brevets. make a great high beam for fast descents too...

after a couple dips in the road and the "grinder by the dogs" we were smellin' the barn.
arrival at the firehouse was 6:46. 10.5 hrs after departure. not bad for insane conditions. I had suprisingly good legs all day and had plenty left at the end. only problem was not hydrating enough. common error in the cold and rain. took a day or two to get it back..

mike, branson, byron, and myself all tip our cycling caps to bryan tho...
incredible first brevet! hopefully we didn't scar him permanently and he'll join us again soon, or next spring..really dude. it was fun in strange sort of way wasn't it??

tailwinds,
G-

gotta have it

me thinks this could be theeee saddle for the new bike since I built it to go climbing! whad'ya think?

marching on

hey everyone.

just a quick note to say hi and mention a couple of milestones..

it's now been a year and a half since giving up booze and I feel pretty good! time is flying and hopefully there is no looking back. being sober has not been a cure-all, but it has been huge factor in what has become an overall lifestyle change...

My weight loss now at 50 pounds! problem: none of my clothes fit. problem? let's go shopping! most of it was old and prob'ly stained with red wine anyway. I will miss a few of my trademark 'bright' shirts in the summer but not the fat I used to cover with 'em..
i'm shooting for 20-25 lbs. more off by spring. gonna be tough in winter but I'm determined. anyone for tennis? I'm looking for some variety to keep it interesting.

Thanks to everyone for the positive encouragement. Your support really is invaluable to me! Special thanks to the family and cycling bros. who push me up the road.

speaking of which; I just finished a new bike to coincide with the times: a Trek CarbonRace 2300. a vintage beauty acquired from Byron's archives to help him make room for a baby boy next month. I built it light to go climbing in the mountains.
i'll take pics tonite and tomorrow on the 100K ride. hopefully B- won't show up with that vintage Lemond, the bike loft is full!

finally, the state fair ends tomorrow and i'm going. stay tuned for pics...

peace and love,
G-

laying low....

hello everyone. it's been awhile since writing but not without thinking of you all.
i've been working hard on the bike and my general health and am pleased to report both seem to be progressing at an acceptable pace worthy of a polka dotted lantern rouge..

I did carry that lantern in on a torrid 200K back in august with a great bunch of riders.
7 of us tackled Al's 200 to siler city and back in temps in upper 90's. plenty of stops and great camaraderie got us back to morrisville in good time. nothing's more motivating than trying to hang with tough cyclers when you are the second to youngest on the ride!!
one of the things I like about a whole day on the bike is, due to the adventurous spirit of these brevets, they are like micro vacations. you go somewhere. away from home and work. just for a day. sometimes exhausting, but rejuvinating at the same time.
i'm ready to go again soon. right now rootbeer calls. stay tuned....

NCBC Summer Rally

Hey everybody. This past sunday was a beautiful day on the bikes for 260 cyclists who came out to enjoy the cameraderie and pay tribute to fallen rider Bruce Rosar.
after a moment of silence, the clicking of cleats and the loud squeels of bruce's trademark squeeky toys sent us on our way! we ground our way up to new hill and beyond with a large group of familiar faces: mike d (RUSA VP) al johnson (local RBA) byron, bryan, and bob erwin are hidden in there too:

10 miles after this shot we were good n' warmed up. time to climb the col du lystra!
It's a good climb and I watched mike and byron get away. again.
the next section was really nice as we made our way to frosty's-a familiar stop on the brevets. this day tho we enjoyed the smilin' face face of branson! killa rider and refreshment dispenser. he volunteered as part of his shenandoah 1200 recovery :-)


from here it was familiar roads and riders as bryan and I had rejoined mike and byron.
next up: bynum ridge, the second big climb, after crossing a nice river and picking up my blinky which was knocked off. photo-op!! byron takes a sip and enjoys the view:

from here we cruised a little grinder, then did the real climb which was nice. a little long and steady. in no time we were dumped onto hwy 64 and made our way to the final rest atop jordan lake. strong crosswinds! a quick cookie and off we went. around the choo-choo and back to the start with everybody riding strong! it was great shakedown for mike d who is now in london, ready to tackle LEL. go mikey!!

apart from the somber occasion of losing bruce, this was a nice ride. thanks to david and the NCBC for a beautiful day...

really cool fotos of le tour..

here's a great collection of photography from le tour de france.

enjoy! project le tour

ramblings on riding

so far, summer has been good riding. i chose to ride a single speed to work starting late in may and did so for about four or five weeks. i switched to gears for sundays when the crew would come over for longer training rides. it sure makes the light racing bikes fun after grinding a 40 pounder back and forth all week! i rode my bridgestone XO-1 the week before july 4th so i'd be fresh for the firecracker 100. this annual 100K ride is a tradition around here and my guess is about 650-700 riders showed up this year.

here I am with the stylish bryan hoffman and his colnago:

GO! we launched at eight am, and all was well. the police escort the ride out and close the intersections for about 2 miles. this lets everyone get on the road safely and thru the first big descent and climb. another few miles and we're in holly springs, then out into the country for a SWIFT 12 miles to the first stop at about 19 miles. this only took 45 minutes, we were averaging 23 mph..

1st mistake: not staying on the road. I took a quick break and another fast group went by. now i had to solo a while, about 8 miles worth. after picking up some other guys, i pulled in at half-way to fill the bottles and cop a cookie and banana. 120 seconds later I was on the road again and thought i'd found a train to hook-up with. two guys were up front and pulling good, behind me were 5 or 6 hangin' on..after a road change my pullers got away and now i was the engine. I gave it all i had for a mile or so but couldn't bridge up. i sat up and looked in the mirror and my train just shadowed me. no one else wanted to work, but they sure could suck my wheel! I got some help finally, what a relief as I got to sit in a bit cuz it was windy! oh well, soon enough we were at 40 and filling again. my new friend and I worked together most of the way in and picked up a few others along the way. I finished in just over 3 hrs. at 20.2 mph..
this was a personal best but, would have been hotter if i'd just hung in my original group. I WAS HAPPY with my fuel and fluid management tho..learned a bunch from my rando buddies riding this spring. we'll see how it goes this coming weekend at the summer rally. a tough 100K course. just being out there with friends is always fun.
there's nothing i'd rather be doing this summer! my sundays on the bike are the best!!