Monday, May 17, 2010

Bike Omaha Commuter Challenge

This week, the Bike Omaha Commuter Challenge begins. The goal is to ride as many commuter miles as possible between May 14 and Aug 20. No cheating!

A fitting week to start, since the weather will be great this week. I commuted today, and the ride home was great...virtually no wind, low 70's. Haven't yet seen weather this nice for the year.

Last year, I racked up around 800 miles.. enough for second place in our company. However, our total company miles fell way short, and I believe we were ranked toward the bottom in our division. Jeez, I can't do it ALL myself :>)

Heck, it's all just numbers anyway. I think I'm just going to log miles and enjoy riding!
-D

P.S. Get out there!

Sunday, May 9, 2010

The Crud is craptastic!

What is this stuff?

I was feeling pretty draggy and congested a couple of weeks ago, so I went to the doctor. Doctor 1 says, "You have an infection" and prescribed antibiotics. After a weeks worth of antibiotic treatment, I felt marginally better. So I figured this stuff had run it's course.

Thursday night, after my commute ride home I decided to do the infamous Taco Ride. Wife is out of town, why not. Plus, I hadn't been on the Wabash all year. Bought my season pass and hit the trail on my good ol' trusty Quickie Blue Fixie.

I bombed it, man. No one would pass me. I hammered all the way, chugged a smoothie drink, and hammered back. Felt pretty good.

Friday morning. I get up hacking and coughing...what the hell? So I call the doctor's office and get a 9 a.m. appointment. Doctor #2 says "Allergies, go take some Claritin". OK then. I stop by the Walgreens, pick up the Claritin and go to work. We had a team outing that day so we went to an afternoon ball game at Rosenblatt Stadium. Had a couple of beers, enjoyed the Creighton - Wichita State game (Creighton got blasted 8 - 0).

Saturday morning: the MS Spring Ride. Started from Iowa Western CC, through Underwood, Minden, Bentley, back to Underwood and IWCC. Yeah, I did the half-century. The idea though, I was going to get up early, ride to the event, then ride back home to Minden. Done by noon.

However, I got up at 6:30 a.m. and no energy...plus it was thirty freaking five degrees out. Almost the middle of May and we're wearing winter gear? Nope, I decided I'd drive there later and went back to sleep.

Got up about 8:30 and dragged my ass out of bed...just didn't feel all that motivated and a little run down. I figured it was just a bit of weekend pokiness and willed myself into my bike clothes, loaded up the Bleriot, and made it to the 10 a.m. start with no time to spare.

The bike felt like it weighed like a ton...well, it does weigh a ton. I added a kick stand and taillight Friday night. Okay, I'll make it to Minden, rest a bit, change bikes and finish the ride. Which I did, courtesy of my Rambouillet (pretty cool to be able to change mid-ride). But man, I was having a hard time pulling the hills outside of Minden and headed towards Bentley. I felt spent but hammered away anyway and managed to make the finish line. Felt like the hardest half-century I'd ever done.

That night, my eyes were burning and I felt a bit flushed. Took my temperature...101.6 :>( Damn, no wonder I was pooped. So I've spent the remainder of my weekend recovering, hoping I can get rid of this crud soon. The wife has banned me from the bike for the duration until I get back up to speed, hopefully soon -D

Sunday, May 2, 2010

MB Time!

Got back from a trip to KC today, saw my little tater.

After my lawn mowing chore, there was still plenty of light left...plus mid 60's and beautiful outside. Of course, being late afternoon it was a bit late for an epic road bike adventure.

Time to get the mountain bikes out!

It's been a long time since I bombed the backyard with the mountain bikes. It just kind of hit me. I parked the lawn mower and happened to glance at my old Diamondback. It looked pretty forlorn and neglected sitting leaning against the garage wall, so I grabbed the tire pump and gave the tires a quick inflate. I thought maybe I'd just run up and down the street once or twice. I bombed the backyard a few times, then I headed back and grabbed my 29'er. I buzzed the town awhile, hit a few back alleys, the ball field, the community hall parking lot, the park, the basketball court, my niece's steep driveway (left a long black skidmark on the way out...gotta love those disc brakes), jumped a few curbs, hit the town triangle (Minden isn't big enough for a square), zipped down the big town hill, basically just pedaled my ass off.

Felt good :>) -D