big daddy g's small world

keeping warm in style

2011-12-09T16:43:00.002-05:00

hey there, hope you all are well. as a commuter, i can tell you the weather is different on a daily basis. i have been working the wool since october at times but full time now at least on one layer or another. that said, have a look at this design for an NC Randonneurs woolie..

i think it looks great! project coordinator Branson says we need a few more interested to hit the minimum. get on board! Baaaa-aaaa!!

the skinny:Pricing will be Short Sleeve $95, Long Sleeve $105, plus $8 shipping each (if needed.) If you want to wear one, drop me (branson) an email at NCRandOrder AT gmail DOT com with:

1- SS or LS or both

2- Size

3- Shipping or pick-up

full story over at research trailer park-link in the right hand column :)

stay tuned for some more gear reviews coming soon.

geof

Taste of Carolina 1200K

2011-09-14T00:56:00.001-04:00

continuing with the 'checklist' driven summer I managed to knock off two more perms I hadn't ridden before: the Yanceyville Ramble. cool route! Wes called this one as a final NC trainer before moving abroad and riding PBP. it's not really hilly, but does have a nice triple hump near the end that is for real. give it a shot. nice perk: breakfast at the cracker barrel where the meet up takes place :o) #2 is Dr.A's ham and yam: raleigh to smithfield and back for 100K. Lynn, Mike D, and Dr.A joined me on this one. other than traffic on lake wheeler road, it's a quick easy spin out and back. all ya need sometimes..

after these rides my august was a whirlwind with travel to new york for the duchess county fair. hurricane Irene ruined the end and sent us scrambling. after a side trip to syracuse, i finally got on a plane in albany and made it home..48 hrs later it's time to ride a 1200K, soo, without further ado....Taste. of. Carolina. chapter one.

I actually enjoyed my first 1200K back in may, why not do another? I prepped for texas, I just showed up for this one. packing was different:3 bags instead of 1. did it all the night before. not enough sleep and already tired. traffic was bad. Bryan and I got to greensboro about 7. a few peeps hanging around. checked in. ate a little. went inside and Tony let us nap in the common room. got up around 230 for a 4am launch. 21 riders on the 1200, 2 on 1000k and 7 or so on a 200k to send us off. good friends too: mike, jerry, john fresh off PBP and maria and glenn. we hit a drive-thru for a sandwich and coffee before the ride.

bike-thru b'fast

time to roll, about half of us from NC, the rest from far and wide, this day was a grand loop into the mountains. having ridden it in july, I knew what to expect. I came up with this nearly universal truth:the more scenic the ride, the more challenging the route. the start was nice and smooth. we made the controle 1 by day break. Tony was there to sign cards and short stopping was on: riders were gone in no time. I scrambled out on my own, and before catching the front came upon Mary in the foothills. no wearer of the Adrian Hands' spirit award leaves a gal alone in the hills, so I pulled the big climb up hwy 89 to sparta. at controle 2 in twin oaks we had a snack and found the others' finishing up. 2 were also icing their knees after the early climbing. the next set was cool, with lots of christmas trees and small farms with friendly curious animals..

hillside goats

I had my one and only flat, and Mary and I made controle 3 where we filled bottles and sat a minute out of the heat. we were joined by Joel Lawrence here. riding well after breaking bones in a crash this summer! off we go to laurel springs. I ride just a little ahead, and they meet me as i'm leaving. Mary says "go ahead, Joel is right behind me." the climb from here is brutal at this point of the day, and I flirt with cramps, ugh..150miles in, 50 to next controle, 50 more after that.. after a terrific descent to low gap, it's back to sparta, and on to salem fork to retour to greensboro. i grab a V8 in sparta and work out the hamstring. John Morris is signing cards in salem fork and it's good to see a familiar face. the 'trio' (mary, joel, and curt) show up soon after me, and into the dark we ride. i zoom off, wanting a better time than july, and max sleep time. I make it in about 1:50, and sleep from 3-6. the leaders left about 3:30...

I goof a bit in the morning and head out about 7:30 by myself. it's still hilly after getting out of town, but very pretty too. the trio catches me at a store, and at the 2nd one Bryan shows up. we ride together to Ellerbe and have lunch at a funky sub shop. it's the taste of carolina 1200. onward, it's hot out. the trees are diminishing, as is the road quality. the wind is increasing. rockingham motor speedway. we have made the flats..my legs feel good and I hit the gas all the way to laurinburg. Tony is here, and I throw my feet up before changing to a thin sock. Bryan goes the other way and pulls on wool. the trio, and Micah show up. he's jamming a single speed bike. after leaving together, Micah and I ramp it up a bit, we roll into Rowland, funkytown! out of here we ride very steady to fairbluff, where Henk and Chuck are caught. Henk is suffering a bit and we give them a wheel. we roll on to Tabor City-Funkytown! after a quick stop it's 37 endless miles to Ocean Isle. i'm up front and delerious. 19hrs of bike, 21 overall, 'interface' issues, ready to get there! i see a light ahead, it's Don on the retour! allez! I'm fantasizing about a park bench when a swing and adirondak chairs are spotted in front of a warehouse. we pull in and take 5. yes. now I can make it. refreshed enough to finish, we roll on to the beach via a very windy causeway. jerry and beth are at the cottage with lots of food. I eat one of every thing :) 3 riders ahead of us are there too, planning to leave about 3. It's nice to see Lynn for a few minutes, I give her some encouragement, and see them off. the trio shows up along with bryan, and we all go up to sleep a few..after about 2.5 hrs sleep I get up. I said if I rode back to back 400's to the beach, i was going to see it! I walked out to the ocean alone right at sunrise-so tranquil and soul stirring. it made the pain melt away..

atlantic daybreak

800k down, and time in the bank now. this ride was front loaded like texas. relax..
Henk was ready and left. Micah and I left in search of coffee: a bagel place was found and we stopped. terrific pumpernickel and lox! yum. so-so coffee :( I was looking out the window and Vance roll by-happy to see him make it to the beach! also here a young couple said they knew a gal who rode RAAM. so do I, and she's on this ride. they knew Mary! small world indeed. we enjoyed clouds, and light rain back to tabor city. still funky, we sat a minute and got ready for a long 100k back to laurinburg.

we took 2 little breaks on this part which included lying on the river in fairbluffs under the spanish moss, and that wacky town of rowland. after 30 miles of highway rushing with myrtle beach folks, we needed to de-stress. as usual the others showed up right behind us. when we all got to laurinburg, the talk turned to weather. it just wouldn't be a taste of carolina without a hurricane. tropical storm Lee rose from the gulf and was hanging over the greensboro area, and a hurricane was approching in the atlantic. Yay! after a break and a shower I donned a 2nd pair of shorts, and a wool base layer. somehow a flask had oozed gel all over my front bag, the vols quickly helped me clean up and away we went in groups. the trio and bryan were ahead, we were about 10 min behind. the plan, with 90 miles to go at 630 or so, was make it to the hope mills controle at mile 45, and look at the weather, continue if safe. all seemed fine, so after a snack we rolled. the roads were mellow, but starting to roll. getting sleepy. need an energy drink and a minute off the bike. about halfway in arabia, we came upon this store, a good one, with hand dipped ice cream and hand blown pipes and bongs. really..


B says"good energy"

we get back to pedaling and somehow stay awake as we climb to Aberdeen and on into southern pines. after getting cards signed and talking jibberish we get 2 rooms down the street. I let Tim L know where we are and invite him and anyone else he sees to come by. we sleep from 4-7 while a big storm blows thru. perfect. chuck and joan are in the lobby sleeping when we wake up. Tim is on the road.

Bryan gets the jump and Micha and I, well, we want coffee. turns out starbucks is less than a mile off course. we sit down and quaff a latte. I called Lynn and find out they finished at 1am. Bravo! we go about 9, as we pass by the controle, we see bill olson asleep outside. the rando life. today is going to be hilly and very scenic. and stormy too. only 85 miles tho. Tim rings and says he found a subway, I hit the gas and we meet for an early lunch. off we go into some goood rollers, Tim zooms by on the bumper of sandford and sons' truck! hilarious! we chase and enjoy the views. after a short storm, we make the penultimate controle. 33 to go, and according to facebook, Bryan is 40 minutes ahead. Micah and I dig the fast city descents out of asheboro, and fly thru the countryside before seeing tony outside greensboro. 3-6 inches of rain expected in the area. the sky is black over town and we get nailed with about 5 miles to go. I fire up every light I have and ride behind Micah to cover us. we pedal hard to the end and finish around 3:30. biker Bob greets us at the door. 83.5 hrs. a fitting, crazy finale to a pretty good ride!

singin' in the rain

we had time to clean up and wait for the rest to arrive about 1.5 hrs later. the trio were joined by tim, chuck, joan, and the olson bros.. great job by all to finish with time to spare..we all headed across the street later for a nice sit down recovery/victory dinner.

thanks to Tony and the volunteers who made this ride possible. it was scenic, challenging, and fun, as it was run in true low-key, minimalist brevet style..let's do it again.

there were 5(!) domestic 1200's this year. AND of course, it was a PBP year. it was cool to bookend the grand randonees' with Texas in may and this ride over labor day with fellow NC rando buddy Tim Lucas. we became the first NC randos to get the ARC award- the American Randonneuer Challenge- riding 2 U.S. 1200's in the same year. chappeau Timbo!

checklists

2011-07-08T11:40:00.002-04:00

well, it's been a busy few weeks since returning/recovering from the Tejas 1200..
writing has been on my mind, but working and riding have been the order of the day.
the heat is on too, and rides have been challenging, which leads to part one of this entries title. the first two times out (both 200k's),I managed to leave home without my endurolytes. On one ride I really suffered late in the day, and the checklist was reborn :)

Part two is riding new rides. I seemed to be riding the same 'ol perms again and again..
So, a small wish was to do some of the many perms in the area I had not yet ridden.
First up, Byron's Triple L. I was amazed I had not yet done this route as B and I are great friends and have ridden 1000's of miles together. It was a super nice day with Tim, Bryan, and David (who completed his first 200k!). I recommend this route! All the stores have covered seating, very nice on hot summer days. Next week was the Black Creek Showdown. this flat route goes down east. rain cooled us off on the way down, but the heat was real on the way back. I needed an extra stop coming back for more water. the tempo was strong from the front and a long cooldown was in order at mickey d's at the end.


turning around in black creek

gotta take a dam picture

I did a nice social 100k with the team CBC folks on memorial day. I spent the time telling tales from texas as i moved about the pack on a vintage '87 cannondale team comp..fun!
the next 100k was Deans' Benson Mule Pull-quick and fun. gotta love populaires. stay tuned as the newest one is Dr.A's Ham 'n Yam and the start is just blocks from my job. I can ride it after work! will report on this one soon, raleigh to smithfield and back. yeehaw..

Late Nite with Tony G.....
this past weekend a suprisingly large contingency showed up in Salisbury for a midnight start-time to a smorgasbord of brevets in the hills and mountains in NW Nawth Cackalacky.
4 folks chose 200, about a dozen the 300, 7 the 4, and at least 4 were on the 600.
the tempo was brisk for the opening stretch, Branson rockin' the fixie up front. all routes went out together, and the 200 split off (around 100k)and Tony was there with refreshments.
we donned warmers and headed for the first and heaviest climbs. the trip up stone mtn. was easily 5 miles up two roads and took almost an hour! the "kick" on oklahoma rd was the real deal, with some riders walking. ouch. Lynn and I were joined at the top by Mike and Taylor (a strong young rider from Ohio) the real suprise was getting passed by Branson on the descent to Sparta! wow, he's dialed in on that fixie. We had cheese omeletts and coffee at the cafe in twin oaks and bid adieu to the 300k riders. Tim and I soft pedaled hoping Bryan would catch and he did at the next controle. the scenery was terrific, lots of christmas tree farms, and cows and big blue skies. yard sales, too. still in warmers, tho. downhills were nippy, and unpaved in one spot. the afternoon was nice and warm and full of climbs and big views going down. Tony sent us to Laurel Springs for lunch with the Harley crowd, a cluster of biker bars by the blue ridge parkway! we marched on over more grinders all day 'til we were back in Sparta, completing the century loop in the western hills. a july 4th parade held us up, so Bryan and I grabbed a frozen coffee to cool off. Tim was up the road as I had pulled a flat repair back a ways, but we caught up later at another little store. from about 4:30 on, the 3 of us stayed together, this route never let up! the climbing was relentless to the end, all tolled, nearly 17,000ft.
We arrived at the bike shop at 11:25. whew! 23.5 hrs., longest stretch I'd done in one shot. day 2 in texas was almost 22 hrs., but a 'little more dramatic'..just the same, a great training ride for France OR the 1st day of Taste of Carolina.

into the nite

sunrise descent to sparta

christmas trees

40 to go!

Yippee Ki Yay! Tall Tales from the 1st Texas Rando Stampede

2011-05-20T09:44:00.005-04:00

A 1200k is a big event. to ride, and to organize and put on. The folks in Texas from three different regional clubs were involved in this one-Lone Star Randonneurs of the DFW area, Hill Country Randonneurs (Austin), and the Houston Randonneurs. LSR George Evans was at the helm and LSR RBA ( K-Hound crazy) Dan Driscoll cracked a mean whip too. dozens of others came into play as the ride unfolded and I think they did an admirable job all around.

the assembly took place in Waxahachie, Tx just a bit south of Dallas on tues may 10. the talk leading up to ride was weather-a blender full of wind, rain, hot, cold, thunder, you name it. mostly to start tho, was the wind. opening day was gonna be gusty southerlies 20-30 mph.
after a check-in and bike inspections, we had a meeting with final info and went to eat and meet our fellow riders. the talk was fun. great folks. NC pal Tim and I went to the store for a couple things and I introduced him to blue bell ice cream-a Texas favorite! we gobbled it up on the way back to the hotel and tucked in for the last good nap before the ride. I managed about 5.5 hrs sleep. I hopped up at 3:30 and prepped for the 5am start. i rolled the bike and my drop bag downstairs, cyclers everywhere already. a little food to go and i was ready to head outside. it was kinda balmy. and 'breezy'..a few words from george and at 5 sharp we rolled. off to marble falls-224miles to 'overnite controle #1'

ready to rando!

Stage 1-Waxahachie to Marble Falls-224miles
Tim and I were right by the driveway. when the gun fired, 3 or 4 bikes zoomed out the drive and just took off. the rest of the field did not follow suit. the plan was to ride in a group to work the wind today. of course there would be some sorting out, but at first it was fairly big and easy going. after all the short moves downtown we were on a long stretch and opened up a little. I put in a pull on a mile long grinder and dropped off to shoot a video and see who was around. it was about half the field-


lookin' back

that's Dan right on my wheel keepin' me in check. good thing, cuz there's more to come..
I fade to the back and ride with Tim into the daylight. I meet a bunch of riders and see some cool bikes. the night before was mostly modern fast stuff but today I see a Riv Homer Hilson, a Gunnar, a Waterford, a Custom Riv, Ti from habanero, serotta, lightspeed, Dean, and Leonard Zinn! of course, Claire is getting noticed too :o)

with the winds coming at us good now, we start to share the work and get down the road.
16-17 is about the best we can do and keep the peace. Dan rules the peloton with an iron fist and we make our 1st store intact. we keep it to about 15min and roll on to controle at mile 73. this stop lasts about 20min and away we go into the wind. unrelenting, all we can do is push. the rollers are big and soft but not painless. I keep pushing and double D uses his big lasso to reel me in. we get some texas dirt today too as a section is under construction. we pass it without problems and head onto the jailbird. part of a local perm route.


all smiles on the dirt

following instructions to not pick up hitch hikers, we make our way onto higher ground. the views coming down toward Lampasas are great. Rugged. Raw. Scruffy. one can see for miles, but just in front i s a little dog. a very confused, scared dog. middle of the lane, miraculously we miss him at 30mph going down hill! by now i've found the climbers and some are the hill country guys. they know the way over the mountains tonight and out tomorrow. I'm wanting to go with them in the morning maybe. one perk today is clouds. less sun and heat, but rain maybe? we'll see. into Lampasas and there is George and the sag team-Charlie and Patricia. these people were just fantastic. thanks for helping out! between stops they dug thru the mountain of drop bags, found mine and had it for me to dig thru ( I needed a bar and my supplements).a few guys were at this stop already and looking like they worked hard to get there. it was no fun out in that wind alone and I had no allusions about making a go for the front. turns out there were only about 2-3 bikes up the road. our group of 26 or so soon turned to 40 as weather reports abound on all types of mobile devices. they weren't good and a group decision was made to wait..

dan and george think we should wait

yeah, it rained pretty good, but if we knew what was to come, I think we'd have rode. the hour+ at that store was one hour we weren't going to sleep later on...the next section was full of cool roads and as we headed for the hills we wondered what the stray riders had ridden thru up ahead of us. sunset was nice. i grabbed a shot and then flatted on a roller that had me thinking 'oh well, let's have one now and get it over with'..

jeff and mike stayed with me and we jammed up to group at the next store. it was only about 5min for me to stay with the group as we went into the night. it seemed like the miles went quickly and by 9:30 or so we were in jonestown at mi 194 with just 30 to go.
the local police thought otherwise. after explaining to them what a bunch of cyclists were doing on the road at night, they said it was too dangerous and consented to us passing if they escorted us to the edge of town. we let some more arrive, reload, and we left together. prob'ly more that 30 of us. it was up and over a mountain pass to get to marble falls. the first climb was big and headed into lightning and high winds. I had company at the top:catherine, peter, and dave. the blue lights were a mile back. we'd strung it out good. down a whooptee and back up and storm time. we stopped for 120 seconds to don rain gear and off we went. another fasty and i was fishtailing. flat #2!! see ya! i watched a dozen bikes fly by. someone lit me with a helmet light. i changed the rear in a hail storm. down the mountain with ZERO visability, and NO Brakes! "on your left!!" I yelled as we swept to the right and back uphill again, thank you gravity..the dude with me lost his lights, so we stopped and he got 'em lit right away. off we went again and another big climb was on. I saw blinkies ahead and pushed hard. after catching this trio I continued my march. i caught the herd, then two lone riders. I arrive in marble falls about 9 mins behind the other members of my future. the volunteers are cheerful and quick to check us in and get us upstairs. i remove all the wet gear, clean up, and go eat. other riders are coming in, and I look around to see what's up. I find Catherine and ask 'what time tomorrow?' "4" she says..'who's coming?' 'David' 'cool...'
at that moment I played the most important card of the ride..I went to bed at 1 and got back up at 3. I was downstairs by 4. there was hot food in the lobby. and vols with water and bananas.

Stage 2-Marble Falls to Sealy-242miles

4:15 we gather and roll. myself, Catherine, David, Peter, and Hamid. after 2 blocks I jet back for my bottles, damn. I chase for a few miles into the sticks before I see the red taillights. By the time I rejoin it's mountainbike time-a few miles of dirt road that is mushy after the rains. we take our time navigating this stuff and finally hit solid road again. we begin a descent and cross a low bridge and hook back, straight up! when the road levels we are split up. we encounter a lost rider and bring him along to find the next road Dave and I have a 'word' with a motorist who insists we yield to him because its the law. whatev... we hang at the turn to regroup and i flat! damn! while changing the front, Ann comes along and is freaking out. some guy has threatened to get his gun! she had been hiding in the brush. she won't wait and rolls on. off we go to dripping springs, 1st controle of the day. here we find Ann. Don too. I beg Ann to ride with us, but she leaves before we do. On the road it's really kinda dark out for almost 8 in the morn..I know these skies and it's sprinkling. I spot a little yellow jersey ahead and we catch Ann. now she asks-'can I ride with you guys?' please do. we stop and put on rain gear, john has joined in and rides without any. it's very dark and lightning picks up and rain is falling at about a 45deg. angle. shit.
clouds are moving around like stalking lions and Catherine says- '2 miles'. 'what?' 'the lightning, it's 2 miles from us' 'cool, let's just keep pedaling'..the wind picks up more and as we zoom down a hill toward a bridge, I can see it coming down the riverbed across the bridge sideways..gusts were said to have hit 70mph in that area that day. this may have been 40-50mph. oh, it was frozen too. like tiny ice needles on the face. I led the way and watched the mirror for 4 more bikes. we forged on and the blasts eased to plain ol' big rain. I can tell some of you this: Yo A! was on this part of trip. I could not have been in better company, tho. amazingly cool, brave riders all..the 15 miles of hell gave way to Canyon Lake. there was a store and we all grabbed something hot, collected ourselves and got back out there. reports were- when the cell passes us, it will clear and we'll be OK. Peter flatted on a hill a mile up the road. on the restart I was freezing. my teeth chattered like I was at a playoff game at Lambeau Field! gimme a climb so I can slow down and warm up. we got that climb and made our way to river road. as in the Guadalupe River...

foul weather aside, everyone loved this part of the ride. just wonderful winding roads peppered with funky tube ride/rafting places and cottages. half-way thru I had another flat and made yet another fix. we made our way thru another groovy village and were about 12 miles from controle at new braunfels. Ann got tangled up in some train tracks but was fine. (other reports tell of falls here, these tracks collected a half dozen or more riders) we made the controle and refueled. it was dry now and a bit of sun was peeking out too! the 'herd' rolled in as we were leaving, the one and only time we saw them. the next 10-15 miles could have been fast but the wind was back, the roads were rough as hell and of course I had to flat again. i put a new tire on this time and it went the rest of the trip. I told the crew, 'when we hit a nice stretch, I'll pull you all at 20mph..' "til you flat again!" Dave interjected. we needed that laugh :)

we made the first whataburger controle in Lockhart at 4. everybody munched. a fresh burger and tangy pineapple shake hit the spot! we had picked up Ian from Seattle along the way. Also here was Don and John..those 2 left and our original 5+1 remained intact for part 2 of this day. yes, after all that riding and adventure we were at 128 of 244 miles. just lovely country roads all the way to La Grange, Tx. lie ahead including some fast, hardpack sections..

Colorado Cate and Canadian Dave

rearview crew

this was a fast, fun 100k that went by in no time! the approach to La Grange was sweet too..we finally got a big ol' Texas Sky..


road to La Grange

I was hoping for a quick stop here. there was almost another 100k to go. the whataburger controle was adjacent to a big c-store. we split up, and it took a bit of time. john and don showed up too. hamid had wobbly lights which I fixed while everyone ate and got ready. finally we took off all together. 8 riders in the night. there were some long stretches of 7,8,9 miles and long climbs too. we stayed together. after this insane day, no one was getting left behind now. we kept it light until about 20 to go. it just felt right to run some brisk steady tempo. Catherine and Don were going strong and we zipped along thru the middle of nowhere. with only a few turns left, John made a move. As much as I wanted to stay together, i marked him. Peter came along too. we we moving fast, probly 20mph at 1 in the morning, 21hrs after departing! we had a friendly 'race' to the finish and found the holiday inn express. upon check-in we learned we were first in behind the lone wolf, chris!
I quickly ran outside to greet the rest of the crew waved them in. everyone was glad to be there and stunned to find out they were in the lead group. in minutes we were all gone upstairs and off to napville. we slept just over 2 hrs and were on the road around 5am..

my apologies for no updates coming thru on this day. your thoughts were much appreciated! we needed them sometimes :)

Stage 3-Sealy to Crockett-155miles

It's nice out. 60's. gonna be hot. but roads are supposed to be flatter, and less wind.
hmmm. the roads were still rough, the wind had shifted and was still pushing at us. it was kinda flat tho.. I left with John and Hamid. the girls were up the road. Dave left early on his own. Ian was nearby too. halfway to the 1st controle in magnolia we were all together.
Dave stayed up the road all day. I left magnolia with Ann, Catherine, and Don. John caught on later. we started the slog thru the Sam Houston forest. really nice area. but a hearty 50 mile stretch that was hot (95) and windy with long hills that took their toll. glad we out early. we crossed a track on the way and I lost a gel flask. the train was right there! the gate came down on us..

choo choo

we were in the woods and it was going to be tough. a little more than halfway tho, we came upon a sight for sore eyes-the city hall cafe. an oasis in the middle of nowhere. we stopped and filled and chilled. after 20 min or so we all headed out one by one, but would be back together in a few miles before the huntsville controle. a logger truck buzzed us all one-by-one and we were glad to be alive and back together again. don flatted on this stretch and my front was soft upon arrival. i changed the tube while the rest ate at the truck stop. the next few roads were busy as hell. huntsville is the justice center for texas and jails are everywhere. there's even a jail museum. finally on a mellow road again, Don and Catherine pull Ann and me for some hard miles in the wind. we pedal down hills that should coast 20+mph at maybe 15mph...we do this for 15 miles until I do a nice pull with everyone in an echelon to a tiny store in weldon. we drink and snack and cool off. i never saw a tumble weed, but Ann found a furball in the street.

Peter showed up here too, with Ian not far back. we marched off to Crockett. hard to believe just 25 left on this stage, we'd finish in daylight. not without more climbing tho. the last road to Crockett was cruel-a ribbon that went up about 300ft per roller, dropped back a little, and did it again. in a mile or two, we'd put another 600ft on the ticker.
finally there was the Crockett Inn. we pulled in and let Catherine go in first. the stampede's first 1000k finisher! yay Colorado Cate! superb riding!

Don, Ann, Catherine, Peter, Me

Dave was there to greet us, and we checked in, cleaned up and talked departure. early was on tap but we opted for a little more rest, and got 3.5 hrs...

Stage 4-Crockett to Waxahachie-147miles

It's 3am. Off into the dark we go. A tick less than 3 miles and turn right, go 23.6.. yep, some of the longest ques' ever on this ride. the sheet could have said-'turn right and pedal til you need to shave', or 'go 'til teeth rattle out' today..and later today would be a doozy. this opener tho, was a super roller and plenty of fun in the dark. 'Critter!!' 'Possum!' don't know how we missed him going downhill in the dark but we did. Dave was driving up front for a good ways. there were a million stars in the sky. This was good cycling. the time passed quickly, and the chill in the air kept us working toward mile 40 and Palestine, where the first controle store was closed. 'McDonalds has good pancakes' said Ann. A smile greeted us at the door as they opened at 6 and served 8 cyclist a hot breakfast. Warm and happy we roll away to rural areas on 'roads' that were cart paths with asphalt poured over them. Wow, where are we, lumpyville? Great scenery, tho..for about 30 miles..

Add caption

we stopped at very friendly little store in Tennessee Colony, and began the slog to Corsicana. left turn into the wind and 19 miles on hwy 287. then straight 15 more. THIRTY FIVE MILES on this one highway. super rough, bumpy ass highway 287. I thought it wouldn't end. my knees were tender but my friends helped out. we stopped. Peter was offering advice and Catherine rolled up, removed her knee bands, gave them to me and off we went. I felt better. Corsicana finally arrived. there were choices to eat and Taco Bell was it. after chow, we got it together and headed out. a last farewell from super SAG Pat and Charlie, and thru downtown we go all together. another 13mi que and off goes John. Of course there is no chase today, pure group. bon route! a sign seen on this road perks up the gang:


no barn has ever smelled sweeter..

yep, we've checked off another 200k, and are closing in. we stop and finally take off the last thin layers remaining and enjoy the sun. lots of chat, we're not even trying to go fast, we got this thing. It was like the last day of the tour, a parade now. support rolls by as I grab a sunflower pic of the group, cheering loudly and making sure we're OK.

lookin' good, group!

we are joking on the last road about how many water towers we see and how far off some of them are. we roll into town and line-up on the last road all together. finish as a unit.
82 hrs and 34 minutes. john ahead at 82:12, and lone wolf chris at 79:43. congrats to all!!!

if any day were gonna kill tires, this was it. somehow I'd snuck thru today. 'til picture time. my front was flat in the lobby! I rounded up my spent tubes and made it a memory:


me, claire, and lots of butyl

We had time to clean up and relax before we got to welcome the next wave of finishers and finally see some folks again. the herd was lookin good too! still a big group, that is Spencer behind Jeff. he conquered this beast on a fixie. a tip of the stetson there, Spence..

with all that ensued over 4 days and 766 punishing miles, the real gift of this ride was people. all the ones who put it together and ran it. and mostly the ones I shared the road with. I met so many the first day , it was a little sad to not see them after that. But the company I chose and was blessed with was incredible-the unflappable Catherine the Great, calm cool David, Ann, Peter, Don, Ian, Hamid, and roomie/sparring partner John. what an honor to conquer my first 1200K with you all. thanks for all the wisdom and experience you generously shared with us all. this group was rich too. PBP's, mille miglias', gold rush, last chance, cascades, shenandoah..whew, now the Stampede. Truly EPIC..

ps: I can't say enough good stuff about all the texas people who threw this event. they were great from start to finish. if and when they do it again, count me in!

rearin' to go

2011-05-10T13:33:00.000-04:00

i'm going to write a tick more before the big ride. i'm sitting on an old friends porch in a quaint old neighborhood in Dallas. it's really mellow, but just minutes from chaos. just as this day may seem right now, before the rando begins. I'm in denial of nerves before we get under way. all the well wishes and followers really help, though. I do appreciate it very much.

the bike went together pretty good. just a little fussing with fender placement, not much else. I hand pumped the tires and went out a few times 'til I felt dialed in. a flat(!) this morn kept me from revisiting White Rock Lake for a 10 mile lap. that (10mi) used to be a big deal 25yrs. ago.. and to do 2-3 laps was studly! hopefully Tim and I can go out for a spin in Waxahachie after check-in. maybe get some others to ride too..

altho cloudy now it was hot, a bit muggy, and windy as hell yesterday. it shall continue I'm sure. I sat outside last night tho, and it was really nice. the evening riding looks to be great after the wind settles down some. I had a 20oz bottle for the front, but the heat had me buying a big polar with a big ol' texas on it at a well stocked shop up the street.
if ever in this area, Richardson bike mart has what you need. good guys there..

stay tuned!

morrisville 400k

2011-05-10T12:38:00.000-04:00

well, the time had arrived for a 'dress rehearsal' for texas. straight out 400 km's of 'are you ready?'...the bike was up to the task. loaded and tuned. I tried to rest some, but it's not so easy. I rose at 4:15 and rolled out about 5:15. had an easy trip to morrisville where 28 other riders were assembling. it was on the cool side-vests and warmers were in sight on most.

a few words and we were off with an easy pace for the first hour. the glorious morning made for great cycling and story telling. the rush was on at the controls. snow camp was 5min. max..small groups hurried onto the road and good chase ensued for the next 5-6 miles to bring it back together. at siler city our clan of a dozen or more motored off for seagrove. more good, steady tempo kept us moving (along with good BS'ing) and seagrove arrived in no time-11:42 is my FB post. a bit of snacking, and into the hills. flynt hill rd..Joe Ray made a break and I went with him. we had a great time playing out there! we chilled out but were the first to troy at 1:50. pretty strong 1st 200k. as the others rolled in there was talk of a crash. john morris hit a small dog on a descent. he was banged up but bravely soldiering on. back on the road, joe, branson, and lynn were ahead and I joined them. the rest were not far behind, and met us in seagrove. again I rode with Lynn and Branson to siler. we were going well-Branson on his fixie! and Lynn steady as ever.

Ian awaits in siler city with welcome refreshments. loaded, we may have left but pizza arrived along with the other riders! oh well,a hot slice was really good.
at snow camp, the others showed in 5 min. cards signed, warmers out, reflective stuff on, lights running, let's do this thing! Mike D asks why are we still here? there is a record o be broken! over the rollers, and onto old switchboard- little Joe had made another break. lots of push-pull tempo and no closing the gap. just chill. steady riding across chicken bridge and there was Frosty's. and little red blink up the road.
hamlet chapel is a toughy at the end of a long day and today was long. ..

finally to andrews store, branson and jimmy stopped for water. wes, cap'n, lynn, and me chased the little red dot. I opened up on jack bennet, and by farrington it was a welcome downhill to the lake and martha's chapel. I rocked a steady 17-18 all the wasy to the berry patch and finally reeled him in! so funny, Joe looked at me and simply said "good evening".

we rode in together, my garmin showed time of 10:48. it was only moments 'til branson, wes, & jimmy, then a bit later mike, tim, and purple chainring winner john morris rolled in. ALL before midnight!

a fantastic 400K! congrats to all. 100% finishers, no DNFs.

now I just have to do it for a few days in a row :o)

May is Bike Month! - The Official City of Raleigh Portal

2011-05-05T08:11:00.000-04:00

May is Bike Month! - The Official City of Raleigh Portal

Climb every mountain

2011-05-03T00:19:00.001-04:00

Hot Springs 200K-

Soo, with major rides on the horizon, Bryan and I decided to go to the mountains again between brevet weekends. no triple hump, this was the real deal. with bonus miles over a bonus mountain (twice) we tipped the counter at almost 14,000 feet in 150 miles.

I had another reason to ride: i'd climbed the mountain of sobriety to year number 3..

the adventure really began friday with the car trip out. rainy, rainy, twisty roads. running late. we got to the campground and pitched tents and crawled in about 1am..up at 5, and on the way about 10 min. to 7..tony was waiting for us, along with about 8 other riders-mostly locals, including Ashvilleians' Annette and Chris Kamm.

Still foggy and cool, we headed out and into the mist. literally. in just a few hundred yards the road heads upward. for a little over two miles. ya see, hot springs is in a hole. the only way in or out is over the mountains. we would climb one out, and return by coming down the other. here I am on the way up:


up, up, and away...

that is Bryan and the Kamm's behind me, and up ahead,two young guys, Luke and Lee.
at the top, Tony waited and said-"last chance to turn back!" no thanks, T..
Downhill! whee! 40mph in seconds. look: headlights! it's Team Lantiseptis! Mike, Cap'n, Branson, and Spencer, climbing the last miles of their challenging fleche route that started on Mt. Mitchell! awesome riding, boys. onto the brakes and make a left, let the scenery begin. there are plenty of great views up here: river roads galore, farms, horses, and rocky cliffsides, big valleys. spectacular cycling for sure, but be prepared to work, too..

not long onto the course, in the middle of a 10 mile stretch we came to a T. the next turn was a right, so that's what we did. oops. a major climb ensued, and after nearly 3 miles we were on another screaming descent in the fog. I started soft pedaling hoping someone would come along, and finally Bryan and Kamms rolled up. we had a chat and B manged to get a map on his phone and we turned back-all the way back. over walnut mountain again!
a common thing out in country: the side road has a sign, but, no sign for the road you are on. makes navigating a little frustrating at times..those extra miles and climbing put us on the bubble for the first control. we jammed along another terrific river road and soon we were there. we kept it brief to get back in the game. and climbed some more. on the descent we saw the youngsters climbing to the control. they caught us in short order, strong boys. a bit more confusion nipped us in Asheville. thanks to local knowledge, we only blew a couple miles this time! the Kamm's and other riders were at the store. jumping their wheel would have been good here, as they seemed to know the next couple hours up the road! we had another mix up between 'new/old' leicester rd. but again kept it to 2-3 miles :o) next came a few miles on newfound rd..then about 3 miles up newfound rd... this was a looong climb finished by a tenacious hound and his gun wielding owner! at least this descent was civil- almost straight, smooth and wiide open. we arrived in town and found a store and waited for bryan and hopefully rick to show up. everyone enjoyed the break and off we went.

B chillin'

with navi probs behind us, the next several miles were a non-event. a bit of wind and a grind up to iron duff. plenty of fun sightings today, including this horse and buggy man.

last control. it's pretty hot out. I was enjoying the first use of a new mini camelbak. we still had 3 climbs to go in the final stretch: the first looked like a desert road. long, straight and deceptive. i was headed to low gear and we weren't on the hill yet. damn! the descent was the same too, looong and smooth. I flew by the turn to Betsy's Gap. took about 200 yards to slow and turn back. Luke and I headed to the big climb of the day, Bryan up the road about 10 min..this one hurt a little-4.5 miles of continuous ascent with turns and cliffsides. unrelenting and beautiful at the same time, and another attention getting descent with plenty of switchbacks and fast runs.


up to betsy's gap

the final climb is not too bad. has a couple breaks. lovely hairpin descent down to the creekside road that takes you along to Hot Springs. fantastic approach! I want to come do this route around Halloween with fall colors (hear that, Tony?) we arrive about 7:30. looong 200. seriously rides like 300k. just sayin'..

a couple notes if you go:
-the campground is very mellow, I left my keys on the cars' roof! and everything was still there! $30 a night is a good deal, and the french broad river will sing you to sleep..

-it's in the middle of nowhere. make sure you have fuel in your car and supplies as it's about 15 miles back to marshall where you can get stuff.

morrisville 300K

2011-04-22T00:38:00.001-04:00

by now everyone is aware of the wicked weather that ripped thru the area last saturday afternoon. quite a few randos' are glad the call was made to move the 300K event to sunday, too. we missed some of our friends who could not stay around to do the ride, but 21 randonneurs lined up to roll out at 7am sunday morning.. with just a slight chill in the air, Alan dropped the flag and off we went. the pace was easy going and the group was together through the 'new' roads in miles 3-4 and we all missed a turn together! back on the route, we started motoring a bit more, out to chatham co. where Bryan pulled a cheeky snag of the county line. things remained calm and together, Mike told me about the neil young gig he'd just seen (jealous). we were on to lystra and jack bennet, before the climb finally broke us up. annette pleaded for an easy go up the hill, umm, OK? plenty of hills thoughout the day anyway...

from here on to snow camp it was a pretty run with 10 riders sharing the fun. the first control in snow camp was a quickee. the Kamms ran, Tim too, fearin a leaky front tire, he hoped to buy a few minutes to work on it in siler city, 11 miles up the road and control#2.. we were there in no time, and another short stop ensued. the first 100k was done in 3 1/2 hours. nice.. once again, chris & annette were off and Tom jetted after them. Tim finished his tire fix and we were all together on the road in a couple minutes. in three miles, it's country roads again, and coleridge rd. goes on for about 9 miles. the rollers begin too. they come and go in near perfect weather; at the half we're in the mid-fifties.
the turn-around is busy. the store is rocking with patrons. after church folks and the like. the little Hardee's stops taking orders! I get my card signed, put ice in my bottles, and scarf down a bar, banana, and get prepared to go. Ian and Mary show up with refreshments, and Tim is there. the lead couples invite me to join, but I hang back for Tim. after just a few miles back on the road he sends me on, his legs not wanting to go too fast. solo time. I start my march, and things go pretty well back to siler c.. this stretch has been a thorn in my side on prior attempts, not today. back in town, Joel has an oasis set up in the lot. he recommends the navel oranges and I oblige him. after a fig newton too, mike and john show up. I wait for them, and Tim shows! he settles in for a PB&J and off we go. It's only 3:10, but the front quartet is about 20 min ahead, forget it..I do some pulling to snow camp, and john is chillin' due to cramping. i jet ahead to do some housekeeping before they arrive. just as we are about to leave, Bryan pulls up! he didn't even snack at joel's drive-thru, he saw us leave and made chase. in minutes the 4 of us are on the road, but within a mile or two, it's bryan and i on the rollers, and by lindley mills I'm alone again. i'm fine with soloing as it's important training right now. getting my nutrition routine dialed in, and tempo making on the new bike is key. hopefully everyone is coming along fine behind me. I kept up the rhythm across old switchboard and castlerock, turned on a blinky for the hwy 87 stretch ( and left it on), and motored on..

given the super temps, I felt I could make it home from snow camp (50 mi) on two full bottles. worked out just right. I also knew I'd make my original soft goal-finish without needing lights. I was smelling my hard goal-finish in 12 hours. with so much riding, and 1 very tough 1200K only 20 something days away, I couldn't senselessly push too hard. still, it was going to be close. if not for stopping to take a photo, and catching a light on the last road, it was a reality. Alan's watch says-7:02. I can live with that. 12:02. pretty good.
I ate some pizza and waited. bryan, mike, and john were along before 8. way to go, fellas.
just one minute off their goal of beating the official sunset..Tim should have been close by but a missed turn in the new part gave him a few bonus miles. an extra post ride treat was a birthday cake for john. happy birthday!

next up- 200K around Hot Springs 10,000 ft climbing. yay! we'll be in before the fleche teams arrive, can't wait!!

a little follow-up on my spring gear break-in/testing:
-finally got a fender to rattle (fixed it)
-rode with the front boxy bag on the rack-really like the access to stuff! bike handles well too..
-took the M/L bag off the back and switched to the medium/banana style bag. basically it acted as a big, fancy tool bag with room to stuff my vest into after the sun was out for good around 125k.
-wool. I chose my joneswares Eddy again. super comfy allllllldayyy..

three great rides=one great bike test=rando time

2011-04-13T02:08:00.001-04:00

Yo, A! rides

Yo, A! Miles of smiles :o)

on sunday, march 13, NC cyclers gathered from near and far to remember our beloved Adrian Hands. known for not driving (my kinda guy) and pedaling to events, most rode to the start of this mini-Fleche, which began in Hillsboro, on the Eno River.. 3 friends-Bryan R, Bryan H, and David S met at my place and off we went into the dark around 6am. I delivered them right on time to Jerry P, at 7am, so we could head to chapel hill. we arrived at Adrian and Padmini's place in no time where we exchanged pleasantries, and watched A's son Ian prep his bike.

Now we were 6 riders with special guest Adrians' ashes in Ian's pannier! the sun was coming out and we had a good time rolling on up to H'boro..at the weaver st. market we met Branson, Jack, Rich, and some others I didn't know. A hearty breakfast ensued and off we went to the courthouse. wowzer. the crowd was BIG. bikes everywhere, and lots of folks. After a few words, the men put A's ashes in the river. A's brother spoke, and Padmini too, who told us to get on the road! Ian said he hadn't been to many funerals, but this was the coolest one ever :) we got the bikes together and off we went- lot's of reminders of Adrian out there, license plates etc. but I loved the pics hanging on the velos...

a few hands

we just couldn't have had a prettier day. amazing! around mile 10 we missed a turn, who cared? Branson knew all the roads and had us back on route in short order. winging it and enjoying the ride was A's style, so bonus miles were de rigueur. riders came and went as we made our way through parts of Durham, RTP, and into Cary. we filled bottles and stopped for indian food (of course!) before making it to the Buddhist Center. here's Jerry's bike cinnamon girl, stocked to party:

it took a bit for everyone to arrive, and more socializing took place, and we had a little parade, led by the illustrious ( and dear friend of A's) Gilbert Anderson.


mr funky bike

the cermony was touching, funny, emotional, but more than anything, filled with love.
it was great to see everyone and share our love of Adrian and cycling together. a very special day indeed. a frequent comment was that regarding Adrian's unselfishness on and off the bike. I too, was shepherded by him, on my first 300k, with that amazing coolness only he possessed. he made it seem OK, all the way, into the night, following me on his fixie with a small light stuck in blink mode. i'll never forget it. nor will I forget him..


3 amigos after the Yo A! day...

brevet #1 on the Boulder-

after one more shakedown ride, it was time to kick-off Al's series in morrisville..
200K. this used to be the "season opener' , but thanks to Tony's winter action, this ride was a sprint before we settle into the longer rides of the series.. I'll say this now- I was humbled and impressed. a lot of folks are riding strong. NC is on the rando map!
we rolled at 7am. there was a change to the route, but not today, a bridge was closed so we headed out the old way. Bryan H and I pulled quite a bit to mt. Lystra where some little bitty climbers took the points. we were all together for the next major sections and again the Ti and Carbon quartet took the rollers into snow camp. short stops ensued, and our gang met them as they were leaving Joel's oasis in siler city. card signing formalities, reloading bottles, and gobbling fig newtons broke the crew a bit more. Tim and Annette jetted ahead with us in pursuit. it was Bryan's first 200, and I didn't want him to think it was all run-and-gun, but we were hustling. back at snow camp, tim was scooting out, as we arrived. another short stop and off we went.

most storytellers on this day will say it was the big winds causing all the hustle and bustle to catch some push for the retour. whatev... they were swirling! another element was a fairly big temp range-I left at 6 and it was 39 deg. it was about 45 at the start, and slowly crept to the low 60's. peeling layers was the game. Bagless Bryan had a funky look going on late in the ride! (if he comes to the 300, I'll loan him a bag) I chose bare legs lathered in Mad Alchemy's uber secret coffee Embrocation. worked great. arm warmers and a vest over a JonesWares wool Eddy jersey and their sprint base. perfecto.
back to biking. I basically led bryan (when not grabbing a little wheel) point to point back to nc hwy 87, where we both were stuffing warmers and along comes bryan r, jerry and chris, and a few others. we jumped the wheels and rode chicken bridge with the tri-types and stayed with 'em to parker herndon. the warmth had me drinking a bit so we filled real quick at andrew's store. we hammered jack bennett, and battled winds on the lake. cruised across lewter shop and fought serious traffic down thru carpenter to morrisville.

the front folks were 10-15 min ahead of us. good job! we chilled out a bit, and in no time others were tumbling in. our time was 7:30. i'd say another dozen showed over the next hour, that puts about 2 doz., or half, back in 8.5 or less. really impressive on a rolly course with bitchin' headwinds. note to self..drink more (but not Al's homebrew)

so far, I lloooove the new bike. very fast, responsive, and comfortable.
*also of note were two other new bikes ready to travel. chris' blue gunnar w/S&S, and
Keith's (doc on a bike) surly traveller's check. very cool and rando-centric!

Variations on the Triple Hump-

with hilly brevets looming and the 1200 on the horizon (it opens with back-to-back 400k's w/12,000 ft of climbing each day!) it was time for some real climbing. new rando david was camping at hanging rock over the weekend, so Bryan R came up with a nice lil' 50-something mile loop from there. we headed out at 6 to meet dave on the hilltop and roll 'bout 9:30..

climbing hanging rock-by car..

the weather was foggy but clearing and heading to the eighties. groovy. it was chilly and I forgot my arm warmers, but had some non-warming goop for my legs. i put some on my arms too. the opening descent was nippy! we all got shiver induced shimmys as we hit 40+ in spots. a quick left onto moore springs just outside the gate and the road mellowed out. there is a country store here. with a hammer nutrition banner above the ice machine. interesting.. we roll a bit, and warm up some. in short order we find markings on the road for '3 mountain madness'. time to head up sauratown. the first 100 ft of this road is straight up. we all settle into our rhythms and grind away into the fog. dew is covering our bikes, arms, and all things around us. i catch bryan in the rear-view about 2 miles up.

sauratown fog

just after this shot we ride into a turn, then head on to the top where the sun is shining. and the road ends. and cell towers abound. we all snack, update our friends and begin the descent. back into the fog and going fast! thanks to the organized rides, the road is marked with S-L-O-W painted across it. on the brakes and into the turn. cool. no, not cool. i'm flat in back. ease it down to the edge. the challenge tires are rideable flat because they kept the rim off the pavement. no puncture found, I just cooked the tube. the hole was inside and I patched it. i washed up in the little brook rushing down hillside and off we went. no prob. from here. the blackburn frame pump was good at filling the big tire to nearly 90 lbs or so. i'm on a full blown dress rehearsal at this point trying out all my new stuff!
still foggy, we meander over rollers and quiet roads for a half hour before the blue skies show up on approach to pilot mountain. the boys roll ahead toward the entrance and i steal a nature break. i'll catch 'em, right? a sign by the road (one of those pewter historical landmark types) says the summit is 3 miles west. shortly beyond the visitor's center, i see david and finally overtake him. he's already spinning his granny gear (1st time since crossing the rockies last summer, BTW). it takes me a bit longer to spot bryan-he's spinning up a switch above me and looking good! i'm feeling it a tad because i'm pushing a 50/23. the chain won't stay on the 26, some cable stretch has me in a spot of bother! I stop for 45 sec or so and proceed. this baby alpe d'huez is tough to clean out of the saddle. be prepared. the view on top is worth the effort! spectacular. take it in and eat something as your heartrate comes back down, but nature takes your breath away at over 2400 feet of elevation.

pinnacle overlook

once again, time to descend. this one is technical. the very first right hander is a decreasing radius scorcher that will put you head-on into the far lane so watch it! it's very switchy and takes just seconds to hit 30+ heading into turns and yours truly cooked the tube again after wondering if the smell was me, bryan, or cars. no joke. the stench of burning brake pads and transmission fluid is in the air..I did another mountainside repair and off we went. the plan was fill bottles at the visitor center. I put a new tube in there too. yes, flat #3..store-brand tubes are not up to the high heat challenge. use good ones!

we left pilot behind and made our way to pinnacle where we bought snacks and drinks for the final stretch. the roads and views were great. you get a couple of different looks at pilot as you leave the area. this one is after a grinder, before the only busy stretch we rode: hwy 66..


D & B catch me..

the road gets quiet again and really fun for the return to hanging rock, we loved it! great rollers, banked turns, and whoopdees' kept us energized. so did the store I spoke of at the beginning. I just had to see what they had inside for cyclists. score! look at the full row of gels, bars, blocks, from Hammer, Gu, honey stinger, and Clif. also on the end were tubes, and helmets! if ya go to hanging rock and forget stuff, fear not, it's here..


damn gooey!

from here all we had to do was climb hanging rock. after splitting points with bryan I was ready to go. no 26 cog, and I hit the 23 about a mile into the almost 2.5 miler. I cleaned it no prob, but there is a good little kick about .5K from the end! yowza! burn!

this was a really nice day, and we want to do it again soon. maybe a bit longer, too, including a southern return by danbury. watch the list. makes a fun day trip from RTP.

since it was Paris-Roubaix day, here's my dirty legs at the end. most of it, believe it or not, is brake dust..crazy!

dirty boy

time to rest for the 300. I've made adjustments to the bike and have everything running smooth. hope to see you all this weekend! Tailwinds!!

Prepping for Hors Categorie Tours

2011-04-09T09:09:00.001-04:00

i've only 4 more weekends to ride and prepare for my first 1200K. a little thing called life must go on during the week so the schedule is full: mountain trainers, 300k, mountain 200k (w/10,000 feet of climbing!), 400k/200k back to back weekend, and nearly 200k's of commuting each and every week. yep, spring is in the air..

here's a quick look at some ordinary riders (yeah, the Rapha Boys are ordinary) pre riding this year's Paris-Roubaix course:

Hors Course from RAPHA on Vimeo.

myself and a couple cycing friends will be doing a variation of the famous 'triple hump' ride from hanging rock to sauratown mntn., pilot mntn., and finally back up to hanging rock. looking forward to it! should be a good test to see how the new bike will do on Tony's 200k in Hot Springs in 2 weeks.

so get out there and ride something tough. then relax and enjoy the queen of the classics.
you'll feel so much better knowing you left a little out there on the road..Allez!!

Rollei ActionCam 100

2011-04-08T12:15:00.000-04:00

hoping to get some of these in the store to try out!
looks to be about the size of a headlight, nice!

Rollei ActionCam 100

fresh rando ride

2011-04-07T02:42:00.000-04:00

for the past couple of years, i've been developing my randonneuring chops on a 'vintage' turn of the century Serotta Colorado III w/campy daytona. It's been a wonderful bike. But..no eyelets, and geometry not intended for bags and excess weight. I've done the other bikes too; cyclocross, touring, even a moulton, for pete's sake. All bikes people like to say work. All compromises. With all the bikes I own and enjoy, I really wanted a brevet bike. made to rando! So, I decided to get it done. Chuck extinguished his torch, so no Coho. Boutique was too much $$ and too much time. I really wanted American, and the list quickly narrowed to just a few choices. Also, as much as I enjoy the view and the ride, I wanted sporty too. Rene Herse is a legend in french randonneuring. Frames start north of four grand..Mike Kone, herse expert and the US agent for their products knows not everyone can afford those stunning bikes, so, he designed one we can: the Boulder Bicycles Randonneur!

The frame is avail. in 700c or 650b versions, I went with 700. What grabbed my attention was this-"The reality is that many bicycle producers equate randonneur riding with "take your time and smell the flowers." We love that attitude - but it isn't for everyone. Some randonneurs are very concerned with speed as well; for those riders, compromises in design that detract from the performance of the bicycle are unacceptable. Boulder Bicycle makes bicycles that are a tool for the performance oriented randonneur and a treat for those more casually minded." I knew I'd met my match when I read that. a series of emails commenced and when he put a special up on his blog, I made the deposit. Let me say that the whole deal with boulder was pleasant and easy going. Mike is friendly and really knows his stuff. while I knew what I wanted, he offered solid advice and gently persuaded me on a couple items that turned out to be the right choices..so, without further ado, here's how it all worked out...

a collection of bits..

If one looks at Boulders' kit offerings they will find some of the stuff I used, and I got those parts from Mike. He offers good deals to those getting a bike from his shop. If ya know me, a road bike of mine will have Campy. So I scoured ebay for record and chorus 10sp. ders and brifters. I found the record headset in sweden. the white time pedals aren't avail here, so they came from england. I had planned on a nitto cockpit, post and rack all along and that stuff came from boulder, along with the killer sugino 'mighty tour' crank, SKF german BB, both hubs, edelux headlight, and the challenge tires. I called peter white for the cages, and neat little spaninga 'pixeo' taillight. Rivendell had the nitto barend plugs. Velo Orange for the hammered fenders and 'Grand Cru' canti brakes. Wallingford Bike had the Electric blue B17.

Mike sent the hubs, a white industries H3 hi-low Ti cassette, and schmidt's new SON Delux, along with spokes, so I could lace 'em up to mavic open pros' beforehand. both are laced 3X-the front with wheelsmith XL's, and the rear with XL on the non-drive and 14/15 db's on the drive. they both rock! the new dynohub, with almost no drag and less weight, is really cool. it's only meant to run LED lights, but can spin either way. nice for wire routing flexibility..

SON Delux


braze-on wire guides

the bike came on a monday, and I hoped to ride it by the weekend. ha. with so many complications and steps, I planned out the week and got after it. the steer tube was a mile long, so I installed the headset, did some figuring, put spacers on it, and pondered the cut. I installed the BB and crank, and both derailleurs. I decided it would be better to get the tube cut (by a pro), so I put the fork in my moultons' bag and rode to Matt's shop and had him do it. easy breezy. I made the stack, put on the nitto stem and noodle bar, and chorus brifters.

the Cycle Surgeon

leaning tower of velo orange hanger, bell, and fancy spacers

from here it looked like mount the brakes, run cable, and then onto the tedious detail work.

simple! yeah, look at these brakes, for starters. mega adjustable! cantis' are always fun. meh.

special nitto bolts. for rack mounting.

the cool little straddle hangers are already gone. I replaced them with Paul Moon Units.

the paul's are wider and more trustworthy. the front hanger slipped on the first ride. they also give better clearance by the pad bolt. otherwise I like the brakes. next came the front rack, a nitto M12, and the velo orange fenders. i put the edelux headlight on too.. 3 hours and a few expletives later I was done with that, and isn't it lovely? :o)

fender mt drilling..

mike's trick light bracket

note there are no 'L' brackets on the fenders. the front is suspended from the rack and under the fork crown with a daruma bolt. the rear is drilled and bolted to the two bridges on the stays. super clean and rock solid too. leather washers keep things quiet. at 2 in the morning it's really quiet, but I took it down the street and back just because I had to! even with ice-cold unwrapped bars I knew it was going to be good. relieved and tired I called it a night.

of course it had to pour rain all day sunday, so I stayed in and made photographs..

the bike's made for lighting, note this cool detail on the back: a small braze-on on the left stay, and a neat little arm off the brake cable bridge. as soon as the new turbo superflash comes out, it will hang there. I put a tall cateye on the lower braze-on..


spaninga pixeo xb

with the superflash under the rear bag i'll avoid the dreaded water problems. i'll have a spare in the bag and it can go the bag giving me plenty of redundancy/back-up!

so I finally got out on it the next day with Hoff, 'the fast Bryan' ;) good times..

first impressions were: relief! joy! holy cow, it rides sharp. responsive and light. secure.

comfortable. Hoff shot video, and I had set the saddle a tick low. up a couple mils and viola!

I really love it. I think another part of the great ride is those incredibly supple challenge parigi-roubaix tires-700x28, like big, puffy tubulars. climbs nice, but we'll see on 4/23 on Tony's hot springs 200k, if the 13-26 cassette is enough. by the way, with the rear bag (empty) the weight is 25 lbs. the TIG'd True Temper OX platinum frame is light at about 4 lbs.

if you read all this, you're a bike geek too. you understand what a labor of love this bike was/is to me. I put more time into this build than any I have done before..I plan on riding the bejezus out of it too. see ya on the road!

good winter fun

2011-04-01T06:35:00.000-04:00

this is not your ordinary CX race...

bilenky junk yard CX

some days my commute feels like this!

a couple of fun rides

2011-03-25T00:24:00.001-04:00

The Whirligig-

several riders lined up for this 100k populaire put on by Tim. it departs from nashville, and rambles about the area, but the highlight is the namesake: acid park- home of vollis simpson's amazing whirligig sculptures. we cyclists don't like the wind, but it's what makes the sculptures come to life. enjoy the breeze! dogs make the only climb a goody too :)

Carthage Coffee Run-
Branson's trek for java is tougher that it looks on paper. bryan and I broke this one in last fall and I rode it again with jerry and branson in feb days after Adrian's passing. we had a great time. the roads were good, the sun shined, but the coffee shop in carthage was closed :( we controlled at a C-store and headed back. the grilled cheese was fine at the diner but in the spirit of Yo-A! we had fried pickles too! another neat option on this ride is the american tobacco trail. we passed this day, but bryan and I indulged on the retour of our ride in the fall. it's a great way to dodge cars, and beat the wind too. you can do it on a road bike as long as you're on sturdy tires :)

you really should eat at the fairview dairy bar. friendly and fun, perfect on a 200k..

happy birthride

2011-03-24T23:48:00.005-04:00

just a few days after the last post I headed to lumberton to ride the 400k out of 2,3,4,600, and 1000k brevets happening under the watchful eye of tony goodnight. how one guy throws 4 or 5 rides is amazing!! I felt it (400) would be a good distance to see how I was fairing this winter. fri. feb.18 was a non-event birthday, and rando-pal Bryan R. came over about midnight so we could leave from here 'bout 5am. running just a tick behind we loaded my car and headed out and got to the start about 15min 'til. precision!!

the start was a little chilly, probly about 40, but looking like a fine day ahead overall. lots (50?) of riders at start and off we went. all was well with a big bunch up front zipping along and: squish! rear tire going down. see ya everyone. the tire was cut by a big piece of glass, and thanks to brother rob for the tire boot. into the wind I finally solo'd. passing a few small crews, Alan and MikeO threw b'day salutations. biker bob and dean too. two guys from baltimore! caught me and I had a little help to the 1st controle. Tony gave me a tire to carry, and off we went. at 100k controle, I found Ian and Tim and john o too. yay! I came to enjoy, not do a solo soul searcher, so I felt much better.

ouch! that's a glass shark tooth..

the route rolled some from here and we cruised along peeling off the warmers as we warmed up nicely. it was off and on with other riders, but tim and I stayed together for 300k to the end. tony had a suprise truckload of subs and sodas in the middle of nowhere before we reached golfland (pinehurst) and army territory. we filled bottles and got cards signed again around the base, then Erwin. here the sun was dropping and out came reflective wear. just after dark, the rear tire finally gave up. tim stayed with me as Ian and crew went up the road. three rounds of pumping and pulling the stem out of the valve, arghhhhh! let's go! into fayetteville and we found more riders, felt like a good thing, 'cause it was a little funky 'round there. I jumped on the wheel of the recumbent, he had the route in his GPS. we stuck together and jammed all the way to lumberton. the temp fell 20degrees when we left the city and I was freezing. the warm room felt good, so did the hot pizza! also bryan and colonel mike were waiting for us.

everyone looked like eskimos heading out for the final 100. except me. I had no top layer and we were heading back into the 30's. about a mile out, tim said he had a shell in his pack and i tried it on. bingo. now to stay awake! one more quick stop for a jolt. pedal pedal, riders on retour. pedal pedal, bryan and mike. four again. good. dogs. bad. shouting rednecks, very bad. more retours. stay awake! finally in clarkton. coffee. let's get back.
the pace is not too brisk and I have to make a few bursts up the road to get some heartrate going. I barely keep my eyes open the last few k's..I am so glad to get back. 5hrs sleep is not enough for rides this long. that's all. it was a 20hr ride. thanks tony and fellow riders for a great (long)day!

note: I gave tony the loaner tire back, and haven't ridden the serotta since then.

bike plans for 2011

2011-03-24T23:47:00.001-04:00

i've decided to ride the new Texas Rando Stamped 1200k in may. pal Tim Lucas, and Mark Thomas from WA (yes RUSA guy) will be there too. looks like a great time and challenging route! I'll be riding a new bike too, stay tuned for deets on that.

let's train! see ya on the road.

more anger management

2011-02-15T20:03:00.001-05:00

hello folks,

From this day forward, I hope to write more often. much more. not only about cycling, although it will be at the core of course. for I have been denied the right to drive for another year. the NC DMV has no love for me. as easily as I could go tie one on, like most people would, I'm thinking about going for a ride. it's 8 o'clock at night. just got home and went to the box, opened the letter, and almost fainted. I'm still in my bike clothes. I am going to need some more chocolate to get thru this night! maybe a cigar too...

one thing is certain-there will be a little anger in my legs for a while. just shout me out if I go storming off on a ride. it'll take a bit to leave it all out there, but I look forward to the K's we'll cover together this year. the NC rando's are some of the best folks I know, and I'm glad to call you my friends :)

fellow cyclers are welcome to come drive my car too. i'd like to pitch-in as much as I can.

gotta call the boss now, break the news, and see if I can have saturday off to go ride a 400K!!

peace and love,

big daddy

ps: Yo Adrian, you'll be on the road with us forever.....

Anger Management

2010-10-02T20:44:00.000-04:00

I had a close call today going to work. A white SUV rushed me from behind very closely.
The driver and passenger flipped the bird too. What the hell!?!?! I met them at the next intersection where they continued the language, showed me the sidewalk, and acted like punks. They were in fact, maybe 15-16 yrs old. The little 120 lb'r near me wanted to gang bang me. Amazing. I phoned it in to raleigh PD after getting to work. I thought about it on the ride home and came up with this:

I am not a freak. I am a cyclist.
Not a weekend warrior, or 'enthusiast', I ride everyday,
not just sunny days above 50 with friends. Rain or shine, often alone.

My bikes are not toys, they are tools. A mode of transportation. Vehicles.
Bicycles have the legal right to be on the road. Period.

I will not be bullied, or verbally or physically assaulted by narrow-minded motorists who take it upon themselves to teach me a lesson or find amusement in scaring me with honks, words, tossing drinks, spitting, or worse. I will be an ambassador for cycling by abiding by the laws of the road.

I will not ride nor live in fear. I will ride until I die. It is the lifestyle I have chosen, and one of the reasons I am alive and healthy today.

I AM A CYCLIST...

National MS Society - Bike Event:

2010-08-16T22:13:00.001-04:00

hi everyone. latest ride on the calendar: the Bike MS!

being a rando, i'll do the longest option, of course. back to back 100 milers. should be a fun weekend of bikes, camping, and of course, friends..

the real reason to ride though is to raise $$$!!!! but, with my fast teammates, i'm sure it'll be a record century for me. one can't spell fundraising without fun!

if you'd like to help out, just click below. the link takes you right to my page where you can buzz right thru and make a donation. click on 'donate to geof' above the thermometer, easy!

National MS Society - Bike Event:

june transitions

2010-07-27T00:13:00.003-04:00

hello friends!
I hope summer is finding you all well. One thing as certain as time flying is the heat this summer season. above normal with no end in sight! of course, a little heat is not going to stop serious bike riders from getting in the saddle time. we just convince ourselves that we'll go early, late, whenever.

and so it was in june. the series had ended and we celebrated with a fast running of Jerrys' howlin' grits populaire the following weekend. 7 of us met early and ran it in just over 4hrs with a nice breakfast stop in pittsboro. good times! it's a fun loop you all should give a go..

I 'only' do epic lake loops-

several of us-mike d, jerry, wes, john o., tim, bryan, and myself decided to get our 200 for june "out of the way, before it gets 'hot'" the following weekend. hmm. is 95 hot? a good warmup ensued and we were putting down good tempo on our way to kerr lake. a triathlon was underway and the first bikes were coming down the road at us. Capt. Dayton says:"look sharp boys!" hehe, no prob as our 22mph train was ticking quite smoothly, thank you, without aero bars... about a mile up the road we waited as the rest of the racers poured out of a side-road. from there it was off to the dam for the picture, on to boyton where the store was not yet open, then skipwith for relief by way of the soda machines. jerry told cinnamon girl to giddy-up and soft pedal to clarkesville for lunch. we rendezvous at subway, drink copious amounts, and roll on.
by stovall the heat is for real! the boys do a number on a bag of ice, gallons of liquid, and stick their heads and helmets in the ice box! we climb the little mountain, head for oxford-last control..at the final regrouping it's frozen treats all 'round and mike rolls in coasting-he started the day fixed. cramps brought on the bright idea to flip the wheel over and viola! less cramps! the last 25 miles are insanely windy as the four '600 1st timers' go off the front and paceline our way to the firehouse. 7am start, in at 4:25. a scorcher in the books...

between 'loops' I rode my 1st 'fast' group ride of the summer: team CBC 72 mile trainer. a fun bunch of 14 went out and ripped a cool course called the bunn level beer run. it leaves the brewery in holly springs and goes south and comes back on familiar roads found on both the tarheel and 600k routes. also hot, the pace was high, avg 25-6 in some early stretches, but calming later and finishing around 20 for the day. they also run 50 milers with A and B groups and it's a good social at the end with pizza and brew. good folks.

hot ride two(o): with the firecracker 100k looming on july 4th, and a 'new' route, i decided to recon on june 20, father's day.. i had a shoot that morning so i didn't head out til 11.
damn, hot. i drank a bottle first. and left with two cold ones. i went out hard and at mile 25 was averaging 21.5mph. there were more climbs than the old route, yay! i carried 2 gel flasks, 2 bananas, e-caps, a fig bar, and cash. at mile 40 i stopped, drank two more bottles and refilled 'em. my avg faded a bit over the next 10 miles but I pushed hard. at 50 mi. the rollers from hell start and go for about 7 miles right to my driveway. i cramped a little on the first climb, and basically consumed the rest of what i had, save for some water. the next big hill bit the other leg and I was force to spin some. (small ring!) I recovered in apex and finished with a 20 mph avg., but very dehydrated. my scale showed a loss of about 8lbs! only cramps this summer and only weight loss like that. took two days but I got it back. I also knew what I was going to do on the 4th...run 4 bottles.

full moon rising: started by Byron, the full moon lake loop is a great way to get your perm on in the summer! ride it overnite by lunar light, baby! myself, byron, jerry, bryan, john o, mary and tom, martin, and brother rob showed up for this one on june 26. we rode a nice opening pace to make a store or two before a long stretch would ensue without supplies. i decided in advance a hydration pack was in order- it could be 50-60 miles between open stores and even tho dark, it would be warm...
jerry flatted and we waited, i fixed a wire, folks communed with nature, and back to pedaling we went. tom and I fought for the polka dots on the opening climbs and we stocked up and left gallons of water for the return behind the store in oxford. logistics..
the following miles were nothing short of wonderful! the moon rose like a fireball as we rolled along. i dropped back to try a pic and marveled at the sea of blinkies ahead. intense. as the moon peeked above the trees, we descended to a small lake and the bridge was lined with the lumieres of fishermen. pleasantries exchanged between us and them and the whir of derailleurs and boom boxes. very cool memory. a long grind ensues off the pond and we regrouped at the end of road before rolling on. a little store i'd never stopped at before was open late and all grabbed a drink real quick. the hope for cooler air later in the eve by the lake just wasn't happening. the humidity climbed and glasses fogged. on the dam, everyone was drenched. the flags were flying high and after the pic we're off again. the group broke in two within a few miles again and remained so for a while. boydton was the first of the post card controls: we dropped post cards addressed to byron at a few mailboxes along the way since stores were not open overnite..

once again, it was survive the steep little rollers to skipwith just to feed coins to the soda machines. post cards across the street. lets go to clarkesville! the big store there is 24 hrs and we took a load off and refueled. the grill was even open! another post card downtown and journey to stovall to drop another card, climb the mountain (hill), and head to oxford. bryan and I caught up with jerry, byron and john here. we filled from our stash, gathered our wits, and headed off for the final 25. it was a smooth run and jerry and I deulled the last climb at an insane 18mph! did I mention he was single speeding and rode his 100k route 24hrs earlier sat morning?! amazing and inspiring that Jerry...we finished up the last 3-4 miles at the same tempo, john o on our wheel now too. back at the firehouse we turned in our cards to byron and said farewell still in the dark. it was just before 5. had a donut at sunrise on the way home.
not only does a route seem completely different, it keeps your night riding chops in shape too...give it a try sometime!

Long, loonger, looongest: an SR series in 5 chapters

2010-05-25T05:30:00.006-04:00

flashback-2009

it's been nearly a year without a drink and I feel i'm ready to go at the series.
off we go on the 200k with nary a problem. take a nice lunch, and still cruise in at 5 o'clock.
great! feels good, can't wait for the 300. start a tick late, chase the group, catch 'em in snow camp. problem-hydration-behind-90 degrees-ouch. off the back to siler, limp to seagrove. drink 2 of everything Dean has, eat one of everything. fade to zero on way back to siler. quit..don't even think about the 4 or 600. back to permanents and a better nutritional lifestyle. no HFCS, fried food, red meat, ice cream (damn!), carbs! yada yada yada....
FYI-my weight on those rides was 230lbs..

spring-2010

200K-04/10/2010
i'm ready, the serotta's ready, and those who only see me on these rides wonder where I went! Al drops the flag and off we go. all the usual suspects are there but now at 176lbs the hills are mine. riding 40+lb single speeds to work has paid off. it's a fun romp to the turn-around, and for the 1st time ever for me, i'm not seeing riders coming back before I get there. they were almost ready, so I hurried to join the 2nd wave heading back. this was a huge boost for me. the Kamm's and the tandem powered by chet and cindy stayed away.

pleasure and pain ensued as I rode with a belgian named paschal and his friend at hard tempo to old switchboard rd. I had to settle down for a bit and solo'd across chicken bridge to frosty's. buddy John Olmstead showed up and off we motored to andrew's store. every time I stopped a bike flashed by. as luck would have it Paschal was human and stopped for
water too..off we go, screaming down jack bennet, across the marsh at about 28mph, and up lystra. more riders! we pick up motorin' Mike D, Joe Ray, and Wes (who snapped a crank arm in snow camp, BTW). holy smokes hang on! avg. 20 up martha's and no time for berries at Jean's Berry Patch, it's 22-3mph across lewter shop. madness. what a hot finale! we raced the climbs, timed the lights, and came in around 2:30ish I believe. I know Mike's best time was safe! (extra controle) :o)

all in all a great time with some killer riders. fuel was good, all I bought was water and a juice at 100k. traveled pretty light on this one.

we also welcomed 2nd generation rando Ian Hands. yup, yo!Adrian's son. signed up for the whole series. stay tuned, 'cuz he's a chip off the old block..

kudo's to Mike D for hitting 100 months of 100 milers! you are an inspirational force Mikey..

300K-04/24/2010

prep for this was easy: ride Dean's tarheel 200K with Bryan,Tim, John, and Maria on the weekend prior.

it was my first ride with a new camelbak i got from super-buddy Byron who was missing the rides because of a battle with pneumonia. (glad to report he's better and back on the road)
love the pack and won't leave home without it on the 300k 'n up stuff. also discovered on this ride that my specialized tires were about done after a year of brevets. the rear had a spot worn through and went down outside steadman coming back. bought two fresh specialized all-condition pro roubaixs'-great tires! rode the old mondo pro's over 3000 miles without a flat! amazing tires! did I say that already? also was digging the wood fenders on jerry's cinnamon girl. look at this cool dude I got for mine from Cody of woody's fenders.

OK, gear is in line, let's ride! it's really a non-event for the first 100k. the normal routine the first 60-70k before a group of a dozen or so pull away just a bit on the rollers to snow camp. Bryan is on his first 300k and right on my wheel after helping annette zip-tie a rack.
we roll into control 1 as the big group leaves and control 2 5 minutes after they've left.
off to seagrove. 50k. bucolic and challenging terrain. my buddies fall off and I catch Chet and Cindy on the tandem and play tag with them and later the mighty Kamm's-Chris and Annette, for the trip to the epicenter of NC pottery. here we find the front runners gobbling hardee's and cutting up, ready to jam back. little did i know Mike D. had a moment of clarity and figured if they got goin' they could pull this brevet off in under 12hrs. they did. awesome job fellas. after sneaking my 'health food' into hardees, I talked books and tunes with Jerry for a few miles,then it was more rambling with the dynamic duo on the 2 seater for me. By 200k they'd left me but here comes John O..let's go. my goal was finish without lights in the 7 o'clock hour. we mixed up perpeteum and snacked in snow camp for the 50 miles left to go. i like catching that store-you're 11 miles closer and they have benches to sit on. we had a really nice run in and just missed the light. 8:15 finish. whew. mike d. was still there with Alan. super day after last year's DNF!

seriously. good. company- Mike D, Jerry, and Branson...

huge turnout! nearly 50 rando's for the 300..

Chet and Cindy
'two for one, and twice the fun!'

many reports spoke of cows frolicking out here. they do. but this is a rugged stretch to ride a bicycle through. ask anyone whose done it. keep drinking and pedaling steady..

notes: my fuel was moving towards a 50/50 liquid/solid method by this ride.
a flask of gel for each 100k (=packet ea. 15 mi.), a packet of clif blocks and gu chomps (really like the blueberry pomegranate), 2 bananas, and a tiny tuna sandwich at the halfway. i saved biker bob's cookies (thanks bob!) for a treat after lunch and late in the day with a starbucks drink. besides the coffee i bought a V8, ran about 10L of H2O thru my pack, and 3 heeds in a bottle and 1 perpeteum for the last leg. I felt strong all the way, rode home, and wasn't hungry ever. ate a light supper around 9, got up at 8 and rode a 100k with a friend. sunday night i finally ate ice cream for the first time this year. yummerz.....

400K-05/08/2010

if one goes back just a few years you'll find 300 and 400K's with less than 20 finishers here.
2007 is up because it's a PBP year, but still only in the 20's. there were 40 at this one. wow!
most would finish. big wow!

weather was looking good. short sleeves. 80's in the afternoon. in the mountains the numerical value would simply become HOT. WINDY. something in air. honeysuckle and other flora. burned the throat with a strange fieryness. keep sipping, randos...

same drill going out for me except for one little fact: i'd never ridden more than 300K..
can't think about that. just stick to the script. pedal, drink, eat, repeat.
somewhere between 40-50 miles the front half was starting to splinter. as mike D quoted in his write-up: one interesting thing about riding brevets is the way groups and alliances shift and reform as the day rolls on. this is not soley due to riding speed. short stops! the swiftys' are quick, organized, and all biz at all but feed controls. they skip stores. what?
yup. not sure how they do it. one thing I knew was i would go thru a LOT of fluid today.
without the pack I could not pass stores. with it I knew I was safe to push and drink too.
everyone finds their way to do this crazy sport. i'm just sharing what has turned it into a doable thing for me. sure, i still suffer at times, but not like I used too. oh wait. we aren't on the 600 yet ;-) I digress...

I share a moment or two with Bryan at snow camp, Branson and Joel leaving siler city, and then I'm alone to seagrove. every few miles there are other soloists: doc on a bike, keith, was one I remember. Amy, suffering from an injury that caused her to turn around in seagrove and RIDE back (tough girl!). Mike and the monsters were fueled and saddling up when i got there. I hated to turn down the invite, but needed to sit a few. off they went. tim, and someone else swore they'd be soft pedaling and I'd catch 'em. uh, no. I took Bryan with me into no-man's land. we rode together until the roads really headed upwards. as much as I like company, I got up and charged the climbs a bit. NOT like I did on the express a month earlier, this was different: 150k in the legs already, 250 more to go, and 20 more degrees on the thermometer. still, part of me wanted to get to troy without seeing returning riders. about 3-4 miles out, mike, annette, chris, and wes roll by looking good.
then jerry looking crisp followed by tim and Kim. I catch a couple at the store and take a good break. slurpee and a creme horn. shoes off. everyone's talking heat. wind. hills.

off we go. me and the tandem. again. i get away in the big hills. flynt hill road takes no prisoners on the way back. some get off and push. as I was returning to an acceptable heart rate I pass some riders coming in. the heat is showing but we smile and wave as we encourage each other on. This I love about randonneuring! mutual admiration. before the tough part I see on the roadside Kim. snapped a derailleur cable. glenn replaced it with one he was carrying. good stuff. she was having a stellar ride and still came in very good.

back in seagrove, it is obvious what everyone has endured. the mountain roads treated themselves to a buffet of hardcore cyclists. took a bite out each rider, one way or another: cramps, dehydration, the "mystery pollen", plain old pain..eat, drink, and be crazy. only 150k to go! the tandem and I have another go at it, but 4 legs put it to me. the duo was shoeless in Mike O's pizzaria outside the siler city control. I joined in for a slice and stopped worrying about making snow camp by 9. thanks, Mike!

arm warmers, sash, lights on. into the abyss. 100k alone in the dark. biker bob is in snow camp! cookies, pretzels, water. see ya later. I rolled straight to andrews store, save for a quick stop to check my headlight whick flickered right before frosty's. the young guy working was sad to inform me he had just closed, but i was cool. he said I could have a fountain drink if I wanted, so I had a Dr.Pepper. he sat down and I just couldn't slam it and run. that was a nice gesture on his part that lifted my spirits. I flew on in like I was on the 200! I gave away my goal of the midnight hour, but felt strong in the home stretch. Al met me, I sat a couple minutes, then rode on home. 19 hrs for my first 400k. i'll take it.

same nutrition as before. a few solid snacks. a chicken sandwich in seagrove going out.
4 flasks of gel, 4 bananas, 3 cliff bars, 5 asst. drinks in stores, 4+gallons of water, 4 bottles sport drink, 1 bottle perpeteum, dozen endurolytes.

*"they" say the 400k is the tuffy. all in one shot, where most sleep on the 600k. are "they" right? we'll see....

before this ride Bryan and I did a night trainer. i had built a new schmidt wheel, put on a rack up front and discovered a cracked stem! needed a shakeout for sure. keep an eye on your stuff so you can keep an eye on yourself when riding the brevet. "an ounce of prevention..."

the wheel spins great, and I really like the light right out front. it's a B&M IQ Fly+
got it from gilbert at north road bicycle co..

late night trial run...

nothing like sunrise on bikes over the lake.

or late afternoon shadows out in the rolling hills.

600K-05/22-23/2010

600 kilometers. after going further and further into the west (which means up and up, by the 400 we're climbing over 15,000 feet) it's beach time. flat. whatever. windy. rough and bumpy. exposed. long stretches between stores, and getting out of the saddle. new challenges. new roads I'd only heard about. some of the route at both ends had been revised this year so everyone was on new pave'.

big thanks #1: last weeks pre-riders Mike D, Jerry, Carol, Joel, and RBA Al did some great recon, had a good time, and got Al to his first SR since 2002! good for you, Al, and thanks riders for the notes about detours, clean restrooms, and food.

another record crowd:30 gutsy people gonna ride their bikes for two days. the morning started about 4 for me. I left home about 10 after 5 on my bike. got there and signed in. made a quick adjustment in drop bag strategy. there was an option for white lake (400k) or wilmington (300k). i gave jerry a ziplock with a small jug of hammer gel, and a bar to get me to up the hill out of wilmywood and sent the rest to white lake. he must be a lawyer (not) 'cuz without telling me to chose that route, he told me what a wise idea that was. ALWAYS take the advice of the experienced ones before you..mike and jerry then announced to Al and the group that they were covering him on the medal set for his SR..
fuzzy crackberry documentation of the ceremony:

we're off. most everyone knows the way since the first 10 miles or so are the same. and right around mile 7 or 8 the usual divide has occured. it's all good, everyone's got somebody to ride with. the new way out is nice, and I've ridden these roads for years. must be around 20-25 miles it begins to rain. lightly. feels good. looks like this:

it's all good as we march on, and soon enough it stops. as we dry and warm the tempo comes on and this is a ride. the first control is stay way off and we go all. the. way..
right by stores. all two of 'em. refill fluids and hit it. some are ahead already. i wait for branson and john p. warm back up, enjoy the chat. roll off those guys and solo till i find chet. solo. no tandem! it's getting hot out and we motor all the way to white lake. for me ( and many others) it's an 18mph 200k with ONE pit stop. the store in WL is a scotchman with a grill and tables. busy place. shoes off, real break. probly 25-30 minutes. major regrouping here and i'm glad. when we roll out it's chet, bryan, mark, branson, john p., and myself. tim and john o are just up the road. as we leave town and begin the 19 mile stretch down 53 chet comes off the front with plan:something he got from tony goodnight a long time ago (this was chet's 9th go at this ride!) pull a mile and get off. with 6 guys you got to sit in for 10-15 mins. and eat, drink, be merry-iserable..great plan. we picked up tim and john o. lost john p. and motored some more. tim put in some wicked turns at the front- 5 milers' at 20mph. dude's an animal. it's all good and sweaty til we're about 15 mi. from rocky point, the next control. on the left of the road are guys standing around, an SUV in a ditch, and glenn standing in the yard, his bike laying in the grass. dude 'swerved to miss him' and wreck his car. we quickly slowed and found glenn fine, shaken of course, just waiting for the sheriff. turns out branson had talked to the sheriffs of all the counties we travelled so they would be aware of our presence. awesome, big B!!

off we rolled. our next scoop was keith, just 6-7 miles out. he gladly joined our train even tho he was rockin' some form that didn't falter to the end of the day! in to rocky point. food, water, cards signed. glenn showed up as we packed and we waited for him to quickly quaff a juice and join-up. he was READY to be on a crew! next, Bryan came off. we found out in wilmington he squared a crater and flatted. adding insult to injury, he ejected a full bottle of his last sport drink and a car hit that. damn.

outside wilmington we saw the three fast 'bents. then the amazing kamm's. the florians were leaving the hotel as we got to it. wow. we were doing good! a 12 1/2 hr. 300k. .

turn-around at 300k: jerry had a nice set-up going with pizza, bananas, strawberries, fig bars, chips, and drinks of course. thanks so much, jerry!! since my stuff was in white lake and it was hot out I jumped in the pool after snacking. really, still in my kit!

that was refreshing. a few more guys rolled in. Bryan, john p., they stayed a bit as we got ready to go. maybe a couple more would show they could head into the night with. they did...

perhaps it was the headwinds, adrenaline, I don't know but it was actually uphill outta town. I pulled a few miles once we were in the dark and on the long drag out. we passed a few riders. cool, our bros at the motel were gonna get some company. next on front was tim, john, and keith! chet rolled up breathing a little heavy and said:'don't people slow down after dark?' no. it was grueling tempo. 18-20 much of the way. rocky point came fairly quick as a result. we saw a bunch of riders there and cheered each other on, answered questions about the turnaround and told them there was still veggie pie there when we left :-) we were back on the road fast and right back at the tempo-making. even in the fabulous night air this is a tough stretch. 40 hard miles. by half-way I think EVERYone was done. I can't remember the last time I wanted to get off a bike so bad. we settled down to 16.5-17 for the last 10 but the damage was done. mike's oasis in white lake was just the ticket. we found the blinkies on his car and pulled in! a sandwich, shower, a catnap.from about 1-3 for me. I looked up and chet was in the window. he and mike were chatting outside. our big squad had done it's work, a combo never to be seen again. a few slept til morn. as did others rolling in about time we leaving:bryan, lin, big john. lil john and tim were gone before 3. mike had espresso! for real espresso..

so we thank mike, thanks mike! super job! and head for the street. keith shows up. we hit the scotchman, ice up. talk to half drunk townies and roll about 4:30ish? it's nothing but pedaling to sunrise. tranquil in the night. love it. except for-wait up! lost something! i go back and find my camera in the road. of course the battery flew out. found. works! back to pedaling. we see a hint of light,then rain. mist. as if it weren't kinda epic already. tired. chet is chanting coffee!coffee!coffee! it is forever to steadman, but that's where we gotta go to see an open store-40 miles. the rain breaks but the skies don't and when we leave steadman it's raining again

we only rode 20-30 min and pulled into the next store. much better store. grill. the two hobbits i was riding with had 2nd breakfast. back on the road. standard issue mileage for a bit then insane rain! jeeze it was hitting hard for a few miles. we passed john o in a church doorway. he was nursing a tender knee. he caught up in erwin. starbucks and a power bar for me. back on the road my head was cold. shoot! my helmet is at the store! 2 bonus miles. let's get to angier. done. mickey d's. john's knee says stop. the boys eat. me? coffee and another bar of some sort. chet yells out the door and it's the kamms! I figured they'd be in already, but they opted for more sleep. there might be something to that.

i was stoked to have a carrot up the road. they had 10mins on us but after one good climb I rolled off the guys that had been my companions for a looooong time. they would be OK. I got stronger, peeled off the arm warmers. and got to it. just shy of wake co. a car rolled up and asked where I got that crazy wood fender, it's jerry! he asks how i'm feeling and scoots on. the bike on his car is sridhar's. sad to see. head down. crankin'..I jam a big hill and find tim sitting on some steps. says his tummy's bad. I say let's go, I know these roads and it's downhill around that corner for a while. i pull us to a store 'cuz my pack is dry, my sport bottle is half full and warm. in and out. off to jean's berry patch. tim says not to wait up and it's back on the old roads of all the routes so it's back to rockin'. he claws back a couple times till the big steepy on yates store. he's a tough dude. i'm on a mission, and out of the saddle as I roll to Al's. there's the kamm's. florians, jim, and iron mike d of course.
there were only a couple DNF's when I got in. what seemed like seconds was maybe 10 minutes and there my looongtime buds-chet and keith! wow! tim was another few mins back. it was raining where I'd just been in the sun! crazy. great riding by those guys.
seen several finishes on facebook. hope everyone else made it!!!

an overall, near out-of-body experience for me. wasn't sure how it would go honestly.
as much as one can prepare, the future really isn't predictable with so many variables and possibilities. the long rides are where cycling really gets interesting. challenging. fun..

lost track of some stuff on this one as it just became an experience of crazy dimensions.

4.5 gals of H20 in pack. 6 bottles heed, 2 perpeteum. 10-12 asst. 'other' drinks.
pizza, chips, tuna, 4-5 cliffs. a jug of hammer gel (about 6 flasks) 3 packets of chews. 4 or 5 bananas. 4 advil on the way back. 2doz endurolytes.
avg heartrate-109. calories burned-nearly 20,000.

weight on sunday night-169. by summer i'll be ready for some of that fit 'n fast stuff i hope!

turkey haze

2010-04-12T12:37:00.002-04:00

so I get up on turkey day with "nothing" to do, and since 3 days have passed since the tarheel 200, I push the bike outside. this is what I see:

cool, it's foggy again. 10 miles later, really foggy...

met a few creatures glad to be on the farm, but not the table.

I wasn't the only person out there enjoying the tranquility of the morning..

by now i'm really digging the fog and have posted to facebook too. i'm 20 miles out to the west and my sister is seeing the posts and inviting me to dinner...
they are 40 miles to the south from where I am by jordan lake. why not? 100k is surely a big dinner qualifier! tally ho!

the awesome views just kept showing up, I couldn't stop shooting. an advantage of riding solo I may ad..I did pack a "holiday meal" too. yummy, but not very traditional...

after a snack the sun broke, i switched lenses and kept venturing south on some new roads for me. stopped for a couple more pics, and rode the last 18 miles to beth and john's place. I even had potatos (3oz?) AND pie! (gasp!) It was worth it, family and friends and food always are...

you'll notice this post begins and ends with the serotta in the photo. this bike is really special to me. we've been on some amazing adventures thus far with some really incredible cyclists who are even more important to me. here's to many more...

allright, let's get caught up!

2010-04-12T11:44:00.001-04:00

hey ev'ry body!
sorry for the long absence. things are good, just been living in a vacuum. work. sleep. ride.

after the rainy lake loop, I enjoyed two trips on Dean's tarheel 200 to round out my brevets for the year. 1st time just before thanksgiving- foggy, fabulous, and in Byron's words: "we finished with the shades on!" it looked something like this

the fog left us dew'y and damp 'til the sun was out a bit. after the steadman control it was nothing short of a perfect ride. well, Tom rolled a tire and fell, but was fine and finished in good shape! I really couldn't wait to ride this route again..

flanderian fantasy?

2009-11-08T18:44:00.008-05:00

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

2009-10-28T09:29:00.002-04:00

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

marching on

2009-10-24T08:02:00.004-04:00

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....

2009-09-21T10:40:00.004-04:00

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

2009-07-24T16:42:00.004-04:00

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..

2009-07-12T19:54:00.000-04:00

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

enjoy! project le tour

ramblings on riding

2009-07-12T18:19:00.004-04:00

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!!

so long

2009-06-22T13:26:00.002-04:00

a milestone in photographic history: kodak retires kodachrome..
bike stuff later this week!

real bike racing

2009-06-07T16:50:00.002-04:00

check out this great urban 'cross race put on by Bilenky Cycle Works in Philly!
the amazing, bilenky junk yard race.

le cirque!

2009-06-03T07:02:00.003-04:00

if you can make it to leesburg VA this weekend, you can ogle a terrific roomful of vintage bikes and memorabilia. always fun for the afficionado and the collector. have look here.

congrats to all who rode the morrisville 600K this past weekend and double nod to those completing a SR!! you cyclers rock!

long strange trip

2009-05-31T21:53:00.002-04:00

just a quick announcement about someting I've been working on for a year:
not drinking. how's it going you ask? well, it's been a year. 4/23/09
35 pounds less of me too. skipping 140 gallons of wine helps alot.. in many ways.
thanks for all the support everybody, lets go for two!!

geof

scorching run to the pottery

2009-05-31T20:10:00.003-04:00

4/25/09 morrisville 300K

after what was a smooth, comfortable 200K, I figured 300K was just another 4-5 hrs. and eating and drinking more... wrong..

we'd been enjoying mild early spring weather and out of nowhere, bam! low 90's..
the heat came early and wasn't playin'. but first, let's take it from the top:

I needed 30min. to get to the ride so with 45 to go I topped off the air in my tires.
HHHIIIIISSSSSSS! damnit, the stem pulled right out of the front tube! no time to change,
tick-tock. I ran to my lightspeed, and pulled the front off it as it has strong mavics and the brakes would line up ok..I used a different pump after throwing the silca out back and headed out. I tried to be cool and not go too hard but it was gonna be close..
nope, empty lot. I checked in and Al said they left about 5 min. ago..i took off and he called me back for my control card. now i'm off. hustling. after 6miles I passed gary and sara who were doing a repair (already!). that's all the riders I saw afor a while.
I hammered to frosty's (30miles)thinking everyone would fill bottles because it was warm already. not! frosty's was closed. onward. 20 more miles to snow camp and there they were! problem-fast, hard start. 50 miles on 2 bottles. I would never recover from this. I drank a couple drinks at the store and chased the dozen riders to siler city. at the control we ate and drank more. off they went (again!) and I was stuck at the light.
i rode with one or two riders to seagrove, stopping for more drinks at the halfway.

the highlight of the ride was Dean's fabulous set-up at the turnaround: ice, cold water, gatorade, bananas, fig bars, sunscreen, tires, tools, and chairs! I took full advantage of this, hoping for some rejuvination to come into me. it never really did..
byron and I left for the return and stopped 10 miles out for more fluid. a gallon jug with "RUSA" scribbled on it rested on the newspaper rack. we topped a bottle and put some in our cyling caps ( this feels good,btw). off we went. the heat was oppressive.
with only 5miles back to siler city i faded and byron rolled on. i simply pulled off the road and sat in the grassy shade. after a minute i got another text from my sister who was worried and I said come on out if you can. chuck rolled up, and off I went, feeling a bit better. back in siler city, byron was hanging and we chilled a bit when bob rolled in and dean drove up. we visited a few and I announced I was done. 200 was all I had on this day. a top three high temp horror story for me and one I won't forget soon.

I did learn some important things about fluid and fuel. need alot!
don't leave anything to the morning: should have pumped those tires night before.

coming next: I'll tell you about the Acorn bags i'm running now (300 was first run).
they rock. i'll get some pictures and post soon!

geof

cycling (among other cool sports) on TV!

2009-04-10T20:09:00.002-04:00

hey, check this out..although my onscreen guide duplicates the line above it (NBCHD), NBCSD is actually NBC Universal Sports..alternative, olympic, cool stuff. this week is the basque tours. they run it midday and 10 at night!! check their schedule here.

off and rolling

2009-04-05T22:46:00.006-04:00

it's that time of year again. yes, pollen!! that also means the brevets start for the NC randonneurs too. also known around here as 'Al's series', Al Johnson is the RBA and has hosted this set for years. for the second week in a row, the weather was crazy (read rainy and stormy) during the week and cleared by ride time on the weekend! blustery winds at times gave way to tailwinds when we needed them. a cool start saw everyone in warmers and vests but a warm afternoon had us peeling layers on the way back and digging the spring rays! it was a beautiful day to be on the bikes. what makes rando'ing so much fun IS the randonneurs. after the main group (30 something!) divided I spent the first half of the day with byron, branson, teddy, and kurt and victoria from charlotte. branson was getting along nicely on a fixed gear after byron "I can fix that witha zip-tie" morton reattached the front fender stay with; well, a zip-tie..

after seeing the leaders go by with a few miles to the control, I felt we were doing OK..
kurt n victoria left ahead of us and branson suggested a lunch stop at Ye old country store. everyone was game, and besides a tasty snack and friendly service it was nice to sit and chill with the cyclers. an hour passed quickly and with about a gallon of tea in EACH of us, we saddled up to get it done. it rolls pretty good out of snow camp, and after the 'three sisters' and a lively tear across chicken bridge road, Branson claimed he could "smell the barn" so we topped off the bottles at frosty's where a bunch of riders were doing the same. i take a bit of ribbing for MY 'style' but "stylin' Sally" had me beat on this one. (i took her photo w/byron) we non-stopped it from here to the finish at Al's where the 'welcoming committee' was enjoying cold beverages and making everybody feel like a champ! mike D was snapping pics. can't wait to do it again in three weeks for 300K! thanks, to riding buddies big and lil'B and teddy! see ya soon!

rando's r smart. see all that reflective stuf?

fuel, southern style..

mooo....transgender steel bovine

"stylin sally" with byron

the end, fabulous

all in a day's work..

2009-03-25T08:09:00.003-04:00

here's an amazingly calm description of a 300kilometer day in the saddle.
thanks, big george. MSR by M Barry

playing catch up!

2009-03-24T21:08:00.009-04:00

i'm back! sorry to be away so long. it's been a bit of a crazy time.

first, I love the serotta bike:it rocks! fabulous ride quality, and the fit may as well be custom. been on some good rides on it and even commuted with it a
few times. had a flat too!

nearly went to Vegas for the PMA convention but, (besides a WEE bit of snow)could not work it out logistically. oh well, photo toys will be there next year in Annaheim!

speaking of toys: Byron and I went to yanceyville last weekend to visit
gilbert,sue, (and moo!) @ north road bicycle. wish they were still in raleigh!
it was a yucky, rainy day and perfect for browsing a bike shop like NR!!

the sunshine was back this week and we managed a nice trainer before a long haul this weekend to get ready for the brevet season which starts next week! 200k on 4/4/9!
here's Byron out on the road near jordan lake:

this sepia toned image was taken with a new canon elph sd780. so far I like it!

you can follow me on twitter: cyclerdood

you'll see some familiar cycling folks i'm following! fun stuf..
got this link from johan:yellow jersey nice lil' story...

see how a pro cycling journalist keeps up with it here:surfing for cycling

been assisting some this past month. shot an amazing house with an impressive photo gallery in it! yes, that is a Sally Mann behind me. wish all jobs were this cool....

whew, that's enough for now. more work, life, n' laughs to come. off to the darkroom.

ps: 11 months and counting, a year without a drink is on the horizon!!

G-

keep on spinning

2009-01-21T22:04:00.005-05:00

hello friends.. happy new year, happy snow day, and happy new prez.!

These are not the best of times in the U S of A.. as we enter a new age of hopeful optimism, we have to deal with the damage already done. The era of mergers and acquisitions has left an incredible amount of carnage in business of all sizes, but small companies have been hit the hardest. Sure, layoffs are going on in big companies but it still could be you or your neighbor and that sucks. Now it's close to home, NOT on TV. Real. We all want a good deal. Service ain't free. Neither is real estate, payroll, payroll taxes, inventory, electricity, advertising.. that small shop wants your business but they have to make a profit to keep it going, and 10% or so isn't much difference. It also apparently can't keep a high volume "bigbox" afloat either as Circuit City is about to close. Is Best Buy next? where we gonna get our cheap electro-toys when all the principal distributors here are gone? amazon? nice showroom..Wallyworld? not me, they started the whole cheap craze and have killed more biz than anyone: both stores AND manufacturers. We want to save now, but a $29 item that is replaced every couple years compared with a $59-69 item that lasts 10 years or much longer cost less after just 2-3 years! The difference also may be made right here: American goods! quality IS worth it.
shop local, buy local: stimulate YOUR economy by parking your bucks in your neighborhood, it's how the great towns were built. Oh, and that sales tax works wonders too. Schools and infrastructure are not supported when we call NY (or CO) or go online..

why the rant? a group of kind bike folks are outta work here..The Spin Cycle is closing..
more than a seller, they were advocates, fans, supporters, enthusiasts, teachers, and friends and neighbors. with lots of room for egos, and gear snobbery in a field like cycling, one never felt judged at this store. they were just fellow cyclists (they still are!).
here's hoping the whole bunch moves on smoothly. this past weekend was emotional as the store had a 'fire sale' which was like a local cycling convention and reunion. the turnout was huge, and I got to go on day two. I was in the store just a few weeks ago and was amazed at how much was gone after just one day. having a tough time myself in the past week,( my bank account was scammed, then my scooter was stolen!) I caved and 'self-medicated' by purchasing the last Serotta Colorado III from their (rental!) fleet. Hey, a handmade American bike with a full campy gruppo (maintained by Matt) for 5 c-notes? no-brainer. 'lucky 21' will live with me now, and will be my ride for many a happy mile.
can't wait to get out there this weekend and jam on it.. I know all my cycle buds are sad to know a great shop is closing. we'll miss ya and the mother of all rides: the july 4th firecracker!!

here's the gang when i picked up my bike. lots of teary smiles 'round there, almost every bike i own has something on it from this shop, and they sent me out in style, thanks!

tick tock

2008-12-31T08:33:00.004-05:00

jeez i've been slack(I mean busy). but crazy oh-8 is almost over!
Freezing temperatures aside, I'm hoping some good friends will show up for a new years ride from local bike shop the spin cycle. the annual 40 miler is a great way to start the new year off right.
of course, I like to ride something "new" so here is this years concoction: a collection of parts gathered since acquiring this vintage trek770 frame/fork from byron in exchange for a roof rack!
hey, i knew i wasn't gonna drive for quite some time! what's another bike? hope to see ya out there and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

happy thanksgiving

2008-11-27T20:01:00.003-05:00

we have so much to be thankful for. lets remember that. family, friends, health, work, life itself.. ahh life, often veiled in painful realities hard to forget or let go of. but, it marches on, never missing a beat, the hands of time tick with a flawless precision that only experience and wisdom can accept and respect. if allowed, new joys come along and overshadow the sorrows. it's why we keep living... now.. maybe tomorrow. yesterday's gone. everything is just a blink of an eye. life is short. enjoy all you can,especially time with family and friends, and don't let anything bring you down. i'm hoping for a happy and joyous holiday season for all of us. i will do my utmost to not be a bummer to any one I care about, shoot, even strangers for that matter, no scrooge this year!
and let's not forget the reason(s) for the season either, it's so easy to forget amidst all the commercial hubbub. enjoy the holidays!!

here's a little gift to start it off- 7 months sober!!

50 years!

2008-11-24T00:29:00.008-05:00

'twas a special day for two amazing people today..my parents celebrated their anniversary today at their little church..50 years together, truly incredible in today's society. a landmark event enjoyed by friends and family, including a few family members who travelled a good way(NY to FLA!!) just to suprise them..

getting ready....corsage

pat and larry did a bunch of work and had fun doing it........

original cake topper.. a lady a couple towns over has a bakery in an old train depot. she matched the color with a wicked cream cheese frosting..great job!

eat some cake!!
cackling with the sisters....

table full of memories..bunch o silly people!

lots of fun was had by all. a fun trip we would not have missed, nor will we forget, just like the folks whos lives together we celebrated!

uber touring

2008-11-22T09:57:00.005-05:00

the day before leaving town I looked out the store window and saw a bike loaded beyond belief..
I needed a closer look! I grabbed a camera and crossed the street... upon arriving I met a very
congenial guy rolling up a tube and tucking it away in a bag. He explained to me his dumpster find: an old mtn. bike, with usable parts. He was pleased to get a tube, tire, and I think he was going back for pedals, as his were squeeking a little and feeling worn out. A self professed "camper", he was totally self contained, with 2 gallons of water and all his possessions, free to go anywhere!
here's Dan showing us the infinite possibilities of human powered travel...

a look at the front end including the ultra marathon hydration system. Dan says out in the desert one may have to go half a day without access to water.

catch your own food with a fishing pole..favorite spot? Chesapeake Bay.

Talking bikes with Dan Friendly..a free spirit riding a what else? a Sears Free Spirit !!

don't honk, I'm peddaling as fast as I can!

2008-11-20T07:33:00.003-05:00

really, thanksgiving is next week, but I've got too much on my plate right now! Little Miss Lins gave me 30 rolls of film to develop and I'm trying to knock it out out before going to florida this weekend.
It's mom and dad's 50th anniversary! mom gave me old photos to copy, and that's why the profotos are seen in this shot. I just shot 'em and they are going in the can now. one more run after that and yippee! some day I'll use this stuff to print some of my own work.....

no jail? photograph something!

2008-11-18T23:02:00.006-05:00

with a reprieve from lock-up I really wanted to be outside..after work on saturday, under cloudy skies I headed to a raleigh picturesque favorite: Oakwood Cemetery. this location is one of those places that nevers fails to show itself to you in a new way every time you visit..enjoy.

on the way home (westward), the mist brought on a huge rainbow, and a flaming sky ensued!

busy, busy 200k

2008-11-18T07:44:00.004-05:00

with so much going on, you keep your head down and gulp air like a swimmer in a race. not really, but that might work! last weekend i joined two rando buddies for my first 200k of the year. although a little apprehensive, it had to be done, and i knew i was in good hands. byron and mike ride at least one (200k) a month called a "permanent", which is what i hope to do from here on...
mike rode one the day before! thanks to that the pace was described as leisurely! i called it hanging on! worried about taking too much stuff i left the camera behind, no time to stop for the amazing fall colors on this beautiful loop up near the VA. line around kerr lake! no worries though, mike grabbed some pics with his phone. catch his story and photos here. 10 hrs. on a bike leaves plenty of time for introspection and wonder, but mostly grooving to the rhythm of your heart, breath, and whatever song is stuck in your head is what keeps you moving..i felt beat a few times but good in the end. ready to do it again after turkey day!

this weekend should have been the last visit to jail, but alas, it was not to be. i was reassigned to a different facility without being notified ahead of time. we found out at check-in and hit the street to catch a cab to the other 'joint'. by the time we arrived, stood around a gate calling in to a speaker box, repeatedly, and finally being told to go to a different part of the building, the voice in the box told us:"sgt. says your too late"! thanks..we'll come back later. maybe. think i'll try to do 'em at the real jail where i've been going. i got friends in there...

thanks for waiting

2008-11-12T08:37:00.006-05:00

just wonderin'.........

all of you wanting some fair pics..here ya go..round one..those fairgoers who waited for a NICE DAY got one one on the final sunday. perfect weather. really. great crowd. fall colors on the way.
food in the air. lots of noise. i spent a couple hours with the lensbaby in the afternoon.

mom!
dad...
okay, come twilight, I stuck with the lensbaby. too pretty!!
hope you don't mind a few carousel pics!!

salisbury street hotel

2008-11-03T08:31:00.002-05:00

hey everyone. it is my hope to get some pics up this week! really. i just got back from another weekend in jail. lot's of thinking, napping, and horrible 'food'. while it is getting a little easier to go, it is also strange to consider it routine. i'm making friends with a couple guys who are doing several weekends themselves. most of us just chill and keep to ourselves, it's really the best way since we are just 'passing through'. some are determined to draw attention, but the group can pay the price when someone acts up. ultimately the the clown will pay when lockdown ends... be cool dude! I just want to get out and eat something I can identify! and go to work, and get some miles in on my bikes. yeah, bikes. photos coming there too on some recent facelifts to a couple favorites, stay tuned!! peace to all....G-

time's flyin'

2008-10-24T07:19:00.005-04:00

wow. SIX months without a drink....let's' do another round! I just spent my first weekend in county,and all i can really say is: THE WORST PART IS THE FOOD! i don't want to do it again but i've got no choice. over soon enough. to the fair! GO! lot's of fun stuff. here's our stand:

and a fun shot from across the way. went on monday with good friend Jeff and saw chef bobby flay.. i'll be out there this weekend shooting a bunch. have some fresh pics up soon. hoping to ride this weekend too! safe times all! talk soon..G

state fair's eve

2008-10-16T06:45:00.004-04:00

well, here we are again. nearing the end of the fair season at the NC State Fair in raleigh! this spot is a veritable plethora of sensory overload. there is little escaping the continuous ballying, hocking, and roar of the carnival. the carnival, is everywhere, more than 100 rides spread all over the lot in 4, no 5 areas. crazy! it is what it is. that said, here is a little map to help find us....we are just outside (east) of dorton arena. it's the main 'flea market area'.see that knife/fork to the right of the ?mark??. we're at the handle of the knife, next to jack's buns. there is a carousel across from us. the joint is a cute red 'n white tent with a rootbeer barrel in it. we do not set up the truck here any longer, as there is not enough room. bummer. it is what it is..

i'll miss ya if you're out there this weekend, as my scooter antics requires a weekend sleep-over with some of my downtown buddies. have fun! don't miss the art show in the scott bldg. there will be photos hanging by people you know, maybe even by yours truly. if i get by 2nite i'll put a pic of the stand here so you'll know what to look for. crazy crowd 2nite, NC State is hosting Florida State next door at carter -finley! glad i'm on a bike! :-)

great frederick fair

2008-10-05T21:58:00.015-04:00

so i did get to go to frederick, and quickly remembered that one doesn't get much free time at gigs like this.. but day one started out raining and baby heffer 'bella' came into the world.
then Beth watched it rain, and I goofed with the camera:

the sunset on sunday was a really nice close to a good weekend!after the weekend I got to venture out and found a flying pig and a cool look at the wheel
with the lensbaby. oh, check out my cool new 'rootbeer man' shirt..

each day Dad makes a run between stands to stock 'em up with his buggy (his concoction)

upon his return, Mom stopped by, and Kathy and Drew showed up for their 'usual':
Two rootbeer floats. Duh.. they come by several times each year, shoot, she sends us photos!

nice batch of antique cars here this year......

what's an Ag. Fair without a little pony racing? lot's of animal stuf at this show. i missed the alpacas' opening weekend. but caught a longhorn on the last day..

all for now, the rootbeer people are in winston-salem thru 10/12..then it's state fair time in raleigh 10/17-10/26.. more pics then!

Mister Nachtway

2008-09-29T10:18:00.003-04:00

one of, if not my favorite photojournalists, James Nachtway is about to do something BIG. James' documentary work is stunning, gut wrenching, and compasionate. he's been afforded a chance to
tell a story he feels we need to see. it is popping on Oct. 3... go here for a little more...

photos from the last fair up this week..see ya then

tryin'

2008-09-16T10:55:00.001-04:00

as soon as i can work my dad's PC i'll try to get pics up. got some fun ones but we need to update his browser so i can do it. no wifi here.. my mac gently weeps ( with me)

i'm OK, new chapter

2008-09-10T06:11:00.003-04:00

as i start this post, i'm not sure about my feelings or what to say. i went to court today and was given "the minimum" sentencing for a 2nd DWI. 4 weekends in jail, $500 fine, $125 costs, no community service, and 24 mos. supervised probation..... supervised. have to see an officer every month and can't leave the state, hell, county really without prior arrangement. i would have gladly fed people in a shelter, or fixed up old bikes for kids, for a couple hundred hours and given to the community instead of this. i may not go to the most important fair of the year for us because of this. this is bad. this happened on a scooter. i wasn't really driving. i wont drive until i'm 50. i will never get a CDL. no rootbeer truck. can't haul it. thanks to a scooter, and booze. i'm done with drinking. i'm sick of sprawl. i'm thinking about living where bikes are an accepted means of transportation. where it's normal to cycle, daily, to the store, work, wherever. not abnormal. where not having a car is OK, not wierd. because i'm OK, not wierd.

"a picture is worth...."

2008-09-07T10:29:00.003-04:00

just came across this blog while combing the reader. amazing photojournalism that shows a completely different take on what was going on at the two recent national conventions. these phojo's work deserves to be seen and respected..you can view it here....

keep on truckin'

2008-09-05T21:16:00.006-04:00

i'm a lucky guy..i have have some sweet friends. hanna (she's a tropical storm) is coming to visit this weekend. those kind of storms only come on weekends around here, darndest thing...anyway, i turned down rides from three different people (one of which i really would have loved to have seen for a few minutes :o) ) this afternoon and rode my moulton APB home after work. kinda silly really but i've gotta be tough to do the big ride and besides, i'd rather save my ride home coupons for later when it's 40 degrees out and dark n' rainy. might be doing a big ride sunday if weather clears.
court is tuesday, good juju is appreciated. we'll see what happens, see ya after that.

back in the saddle and the show goes on

2008-08-29T06:58:00.005-04:00

so ya do what ya gotta do...even when this is the view... on wednesday it was raining, FOR REAL. I wrapped my stuff in shopping bags and headed out. other than my glasses fogging, it wasn't too bad... 'til i got to state's campus. with a bajillion buses, and brolly toting people, that little stretch took forever. If I hadn't needed to be at work I could have perched somewhere and photographed for a while as i really like rainy street scenes.

for years my standard answer to the question "what do you do when it rains?" has been: "I get wet!"

have a great labor day weekend everybody! be safe, and do something fun with those who matter the most to you...

finis

2008-08-25T01:28:00.015-04:00

another amazing, gorgeous day. every one was talking about the weather and how lucky we were since a week-long stretch was not the norm this summer. yay! i think we wound up in pretty good shape. hopefully next year they'll have it really worked out in our area of the grounds and we can start to build up the spot to it's full potential....here's a nice view from below I spotted today before the crowd rolled in

ending sundays typically start slow and grow into strong afternoons. it's a good time to "do stuff", like photography! here's 'mr n mrs rootbeer', me, and 'ritchie'.....

one can see alot out here. the funny shirt of the
day was on this customer:

the people here are really friendly and a pleasure
to work with. makes ya wanna stay a little longer!

here's a test shot of my friend rob. we've known
the butcher boys for twenty years. rob's former
crewmate Todd died a couple years back and i
got the idea to feature this fork in a portrait of rob.
he uses it all the time and never lets go of it. he ate with it during his last meal with Todd. we all miss
him and it will be a cool tribute. we're gonna shoot
it in oct. when he's in raleigh for the state fair.

tear down is always interesting, working late in the night so you can catch a nap before heading to the next spot.

it was fun! i'm ready to go back already!
all for now. wherever you may go, be safe, and we'll see ya soon!
geof

nice day

2008-08-24T00:41:00.008-04:00

with the amazing weather showing no end, the people who "waited for the weekend" were rewarded with a zinger! so were the concessionaires! by mid afternoon it was "straight out" at most of the hot joints. good moods aplenty, the vibe here is sweet as can be when it's buzzing hard. soon, we were all sweating a little from the work tempo:

........but not too much!

i found this neat little view in our neighbor's popcorn wagon

nothing glows like an open air stand on a pretty night!

holy cow, look at that! over 60 gallons of ice cream and nearly 300 gallons of rootbeer! not bad for one day at a county fair.

see ya later.. sleepy time....

humpday growing pains

2008-08-22T00:13:00.006-04:00

three down, three to go. the rootbeer is flowing fine, but the neighbors are restless. they don't like their spot, the fair, blah blah blah. after begging and whining for two days they are moving to the other side of us. whatever. hurry up already it's time to rock!

here's a day shot with mom and john in view taken from the edge of the talent tent.

as i was taking this shot a nice old guy walked up to look at the truck. he had the most

tricked out rolleiflex i think i've ever seen! loaded..said he bought it new in '59! meet richard, antique photogeek!

by the end of the days we're either punchy, goofy, or some kind of mixture. one customer's Tshirt summed it up nicely:"i'm nuttier than a squirrel turd"! had to laugh..

mom and john were goofin' as we were winding down and there i was with the nikon:

all for now. tired and don't know why this is underlined..night night........

and they're off!

2008-08-20T12:46:00.007-04:00

with the first day behind us, we've got the bugs out and we're ready to roll. now if the fair could do the same all would be grand! they rearranged our road to much dismay in the neighborhood. time will tell if it works out OK. positive attitude is all we've got..onward!

here's dad hangin' mid afternoon:

i got to take one quick walk and stretch my legs, and saw a couple cool things thru a

lensbaby. i thought the colors were nice! the weather is simply stunning so far...

all for now, hope everyone is doing well. have a great day!

G-

we're here!

2008-08-18T16:40:00.009-04:00

long day across the catskills, but incredibly beautiful!! this is the kingston rhinecliff bridge. super high and awesome views.

cool way to "land" in the hudson valley.

this lensbaby portrait kinda sums up the way

I feel after riding in a truck all day.....

time to work now, gotta set up the joint by dark cuz this

shindig starts at 10 AM sharp tomorrow!

here's dad and john (brotherinlaw) putting the counters

together. it takes a while to get it right and level. last year

we did it in the rain without electric (or dad, the grand master). fun!

this year the counters are coded with numbers you just match up..

after 50 something years he's getting it figured out ;-)

the day's over, time to eat! and hope for 6 beautiful days!

sunday speedpak sundae!

2008-08-17T06:46:00.003-04:00

fuzzy, hazy, but up and moving. i'm gonna hit the road in little over an hour, and i'm blogging, not packing! let's see if i can do it from scratch that fast and not forget anything. my sister beth will invariably run down a checklist when she picks me up and it's those kind of people that keep me going! see you in NY!

pants and socks

2008-08-13T00:02:00.002-04:00

well it was back to court today and I dressed the part. although I was relaxed and ready it is unnerving just the same. after sitting there for 3 hours my attorney walked in and all hell broke loose. the judge wanted it done and we didn't. finally, the DA caved and we are continued 'til sept. 9.. it will be a done deal next time. whatever happens, happens!

time to get ready for hard working fun..rootbeer floats at the dutchess co.fair in rhinebeck ny. can't wait, leaving sunday. got a new nikon d60 and i'll be posting photos

every couple days.

getting started

2008-08-04T09:14:00.005-04:00

Hey everyone. I'm starting this thing in order to keep everyone up to date with what promises to be a busy one year period.

As many of you know, I'm going through a long court process for a DWI I got on my scooter. It's been over a year and still going, but hopefully will be done soon. The good news is I'm coming to terms with the alcohol by attending group twice a week and looking for a couple good meetings. I have friends who want me to check out their groups and I'm looking forward to it.

The scooter is dead and parked by the way...

And I just passed 100 sober days!

This brings us to one of my favorite things: BICYCLES!

My plan is to go on an epic ride next summer in England.

London-Edinburg-London..

1400 kilometers (thats 869.919 miles) between aug.26 and aug.31 '09! you can learn about it here..

OF COURSE this will require a special new bike ;-) , assorted gear, and 1000's of miles

of training. I'm determined and excited to do this and want to thank everyone in advance for supporting me. Love and hugs too all...

Here's some crazy new bike parts that won't be on my new ride..(thanks Jim)

You'll see it come to life right here if all goes well..hopefully by fall with the help of

rootbeer money! oh, i'll explain that next time....