Gobble, gobble

Even though the weather was, well, gray, 7 intrepid souls rolled out @ 7:30 Thanksgiving morning. Back in the day, we used to have a huge T-day ride, but children and family responsibilities put the kibosh on it years ago. For the last four or five years, I've just gone out on the cross bike and either done a BIG urban assault loop, or banged around in the woods. It was nice to ride with people in the middle of the week!

To say that it was foggy would be the understatement of the month. Visibility was about 100m and the moisture was just settling on arm and kneewarmers.

As it normally happens, the fog and low clouds stayed with us for our entire 3:15 on the bike. Only when I rolled my big ass into the yard did I see blue sky. By the time I'd showered and gotten dressed, it was beautiful outside...

The entire corporation, all four of us, rolled out to the hell hole that is Lexington for a pleasant Thanksgiving lunch at my mom's house. A wonderful smoked turkey, all the fixins and pumpkin pie followed. Sleep came easy shortly thereafter...

Friday, I did a 90 miute spin on the cross bike and came home to an empty house. The H.O. and MTs headed to Chesterfield for a couple of days...sweeeet!

This morning, I chose to sleep in since I knew no one would bother to show up for the group ride. It's been anorexic lately anyway, and the 38 degree temps wouldn't exactly help that situation. The plan was to ride the cross bike again, but I bailed. Instead, I raked, blew, mowed and cursed at the leaves for an hour and a half. Cross training!

On the bike again tomorrow...9:00 at Outspokin'. 60 miles...winter pace...be there...!

Oh, and I have seen the future...his name is Thibaut Nys and he's 6! That's right, Sven Nys' son!

When did we move to Portland?

I'm not one to complain about the weather, especially since we live in SC, where it never really gets too cold...or too anything, for that matter. I am getting a bit weary of the days like we've had since Sunday. 50 degrees and dreary is fine to ride in, but just sucks the life clean out of a brother. I need some sunshine on my face!

I went out last night and rode the cross bike for 2 hours. Dry when I left...light drizzle started 15 minutes in...real drizzle for the next hour...and light rain to finish off the evening. Wonder why my throat hurts this morning? It beat the hell out of riding the trainer though!

I was perusing Ebay last, looking for nothing in particular, and found a guy selling stuff who understands marketing. Eyes on the product baby...make it sell!

Somebody needs to put this guy in their marketing department, 'cuz he's a bright one!

Ride in the morning @ 730 from Outspokin'...be there!

I guess I needed rest...

I rode a whopping three times last week. After a great Tuesday ride, I went downhill in a hurry. The rest of the week, I felt like hammered shit, so I just stayed off the bike until Friday.
Even when I did get back on the bike, I felt bad. I rode the cross bike for 90 minutes Friday morning, doing nothing more than farting around downtown. No efforts, no nothing...just spinning my legs around.
Bond invited me to a double secret Saturday morning ride, so I went, still feeling pretty flat and empty. Gary Smith, of Fox News fame, Bond, NCA (National Champion Aaron) and I went out for a couple of hours. Did I mention we left at 7:30? I'm wired differently than some. I like to ride early, but 7:30 is EARLY! Gary had to do a couple of 30 minute efforts, so we just sat in while he turned himself inside out.
In the middle of his second effort, my urge to stop for a break naturel far outweighed pretty much anything ellse on the planet, so I stopped and watered the flora. I didn't want to disrupt Gary, ot the other guys, so I didn't even bother to yell. I knew they'd sit up after his effort...
I chased, was picked up by Bond and we rode back to NCA and Gary.
It was a good ride, and it was nice to be home by 10am, but I just felt bad when I got home. It didn't get better as the day progressed.
I awoke Sunday and decided that the bike would stay in The ManHole(tm) for the day.
The H.O. and I loaded up the MTs and headed to Ikea in Charlotte instead. Huge place, a lot of cool stuff and quite a good in-house cafe. Felt lucky that we got out only dropping a Franklin!

I'm feeling better today and plan on doing the Tri-City ride again tomorrow night...maybe even do a double tomorrow.
Turkey Day ride @ 7:30 on Thursday. Meet @ Outspokin'. I don't know the route, as it isn't my ride. C'mon out, do 3 hours early and feel no guilt later when you're throwing that 2nd, or 5th, slice of pie down your neck!
Friday ride too, if anyone wants to go out. Probably @ 9 or so...3 hours...no real plan...I'll send an email as well...

Peace...Hope everyone has a good Monday!

Fun, fun, fun

So I did another really fun ride last night.

Tri-City Schwinn is long gone, but the night ride remains. 30+ folks met behind the strip center on 12th Street in Cayce last night @ 6:30. That's right, I said 30+! No racers, no egos, no pretense, no testosterone driven ass-sniffing, just a bunch of folks who like to ride. It about the purity of the ride. Other than being safe, nothing was really taken all that seriously, kinda the way riding should be...

We rode through the Avenues, down to the river trail. The trail wasn't open, per se, but we still, somehow, made it to the end of trail. I won't say that we snuck around a couple of gates, but certain things may, or may not, have occured that allowed us access to parts of the trail...just sayin'! We traversed all of the river trail, went up into Governer's Hill, through downtown, the State House and campus. At this point, I peeled off and headed home. I ended up with 2.5 hours on the bike. Not many miles, but a lot of smiles! Wow, that last statement was borderline...

I did get a good effort last night though. I didn't want to be late, as I was instructed the ride left AT 6:30. I blew out of the house @ 6:02 and made it to the meeting spot @ 6:18. 16 minutes from Rosewood to Cayce/West Cola on 38c tires is no mean feat. If I recall correctly, the dots were blue.

The H.O. is out of town, so I'm forced to ride in the morning. Oh, how I HATE riding in the sunshine...(can you feel the cynicism?)

The weather outside is supposed to be iffy this weekend, but I'll be out anyway. Are you listening Wiseman?



Oh, and if you think your bike is light, it isn't...

11.7 pounds complete...

Yes please....

New body Camaro turned into the iconic Trans-Am...screaming chicken and all! I'll take it!

Ah...that's the weather we've missed!

What a glorious weekend!! As our favorite over-educated hillibilly would say, "It's beautiful!"
Yesterday, we rolled out into LR in 60 degrees and sun. Not much exciting happened on the ride. We rolled around into Eastover and back the normal way. I felt like crap for pretty much the entire ride. The feelings just weren't there after being off the bike for a week, and off the ROAD bike for almost two weeks. No issues with pace or pulling through, just issues with comfort on the bike after a little layoff. The day more than made up for it! 3 hours and 90km in the bright, warm sun was NICE!
The H.O. and I spent the afternoon looking for houses in Blythewood, which led to the revelation that we're probably going to move out there when the time comes. More house for the $, good schools and it's not Lexington! I'd rather take several dozen shots to the nuts than live in that festering shithole.
A nice dinner @ Carabba's and some shopping made sleep come early and easy.
This morning, it was even nicer! Warmer and almost zero wind. The irony? No one bothered to show up for the standing 'Il Prof' ride...other than Il Prof and yours truly. No worries though! We rolled out Bluff, meandered around the long way through the Swamp and back in. Another 3 hours and 90km in 65 degrees and sun. We rode two up for the entire ride and conversations ranged from HDTV to the tenement in Beijing that his son calls home to why people ride their bikes.
I felt much better sitting on the bike today though. It wasn't a totally foreign feeling like Saturday. Back to back long rides on the weekend are goooood, plus...
I REALLY like having fresh tanlines from weekend rides, especially in November!

Off the bike tomorrow, but my cross-training will consist of raking leaves for most of the morning!

The tide is high

I rode outside today! The bad wing got taped up, boxer style, and I got on the cross bike for a tour of downtown and the over-flowing river. No plan today, other than getting some fresh air, trying out the injured wrist and checking out the flooding. And flooding there be...

The dam out at the end of the the canal had just a little bit of overflow! The walkway shown is the end of the fish run. No fishies getting upstream today!

This is part of the trail that goes under the River Drive bridge. I ran into a guy from the USGS down there who was taking flow measurements. In the middle of the river, under the bridge, the flow was 36,000 cu. ft per SECOND!!! You can see the top of a guide sign in the picture. It's @ 4 feet tall and normally about 4-6 above the level of the river, on the side of the trail.

This in on the Cayce side. Believe it or not, this is a high spot on the river trail! The water was right at 3 feet deep on the walkway pictured. By the looks of the water line on the trail where I was standing, the water level had dropped about a foot or so.

This walkway goes over one of the truly low/swampy spots of the trail. I've ridden this part dozens of times and NEVER seen more than a foot of water here. This portion is elevated and approximately 8-10 feet of the dry ground in the spot shown in the picture!

I made an effort to wind around to the far side of the trail to grab some shots of the old locks and the other portion of elevated trail, but the gate was closed and locked. Climbing an 8 foot fence in cycling clothes, while shouldering a cyclocross bike, next to a roaring river didn't seem like a horribly intelligent thing to do, so I headed home. I got a nice 90 minute spin and saw the river higher than I'd seen it in my 20 years in Columbia. I'd be interested in seeing the Swamp, but seeing as I have an aversion to large snakes and alligators, I'll just assume the water is high!

I think I see blue sky and sunshine...weird!