Breezy

Hey...thanks jetstream! We'd all forgotten what it was to struggle.
Every ride last week was getting kicked in the teeth by the wind.
Saturday & Sunday were both chilly & windy. Felt pretty good Saturday on the trip out around The Swamp.
Speaking of, things are returning to normal out in LR.

This was taken shortly after the 2015 Flood...

The entirety of the lake was drained in short order after the road/dam gave way.
Little more than a year later, it has pretty much returned to normal...

Told you it was a decent day Saturday.
80km fell pretty easily, wind notwithstanding. Returned to an empty Service Course. The Boss was gone for the weekend, & Junior Management was at the LexCo office.
Ate lunch, cleaned the bike, and napped the rest of the afternoon. Rough...

TVH and I rolled out Sunday morning. It seems a few of The Heathens have misplaced their bikes.
The headwind was brutal. Dead out of the West. Of course, once we turned for home, it was like having one of those motors in the BB. 40-60kmh...just rolling...
2.5 more hours.
Back to SC, made BBQ, and napped.
Everyone returned @ 4pm, and may weekend of solitude ended without ceremony.

Press is out about all of the new team bikes. IDC. This is still the best looking bike of the last 5 years or so.

 And please, remember that people rode dirt roads before any of us thought about riding dirt roads. If you don't know, now you know...

A few rides planned this week, then Corpo is headed to the mountains for the weekend.
Enjoy Monday, before it's outlawed.

Winter?

Of course, I've probably just jinxed all of us.
It's been warm, so bike time has been plentiful. Not always dry, but warm. Hey...I'll take 60+ degrees and wet over sunny and 35 every day.
Yes, it does play hell with the drivetrain, but that shit is consumable.
Last week was a little lighter.
Did a long road ride on Tuesday. It was perfect outside. A little climbing, and a little speedwork. Both on the same road. How, you ask?
Well, when a little gray pitbull pops out of the woods, and starts chasing you, you go faster. It's REALLY fun on a 5-6% climb where one is usually just looking for a rhythm.
Big ring, and stomping on uphill @ 40kmh for 500m is FUN. REALLY FUN.
Same section on the way back was taken at 60-65kmh. The little fucker never moved out of the yard.
Had to skip Thursday, as #2 was a little under the weather. No big deal. Lotto-Belisol isn't watching me.
Then, the rain...
Well, let's start with the fog...
Saturday morning was FOGGY. Seemed like a bad idea about 15 minutes into the ride. Visibility was MAYBE 250m in places. The back of the CX bike looked like an alien shuttle craft. Blinking red lights everywhere.

There was a town here when I left...

Out on the PowerStation, it was creepy. Like, "Ruh Roh Raggy", Scooby Doo creepy. Very still. VERY quiet. And foggy.

The road was in good shape though, so I went a bit faster than normal. My inner 8 year old was chatting in my ear.
At the end, I found this...

Come on people! This is why we can't have nice things. There's a reason the gate and barriers are there. Some dumbass decided to ignore it. It's been fixed, but dammit, go play in your big, dumb trucks somewhere else.
I ALMOST made it back to SC before the rain. Almost.
Woke up late Sunday. Watched Hoogerheide. And then the rain stopped.
On the bike.
The Powerstation was HEAVY. And they'd just graded the far end, so it was mush. About 200m into it, I had to make a decision. Stop, put a foot down, thus getting a shoe muddy, and turn around, or keep slogging.
I chose B.

This was AFTER the chunky stuff had fallen off.
Still got back with 2 hours. I'll take that.
Well, 3 hours if one counts the hour spent with the hose, bucket and sponges/brushes.

Little road spin in the wind yesterday. Special thanks to the peckerhead who broke an entire 6-pack of empty Heineken bottles under the 26 overpass. My 2.5 week old Vittoria now has a boot, and a glob of ShoeGoo on it. Pricks....
Yesterday was also the first day in kneewarmers for about 3 weeks. In January. Tell me again how nice it is where you live.

If you cannot identify ALL 3 guys in this photo, well...you know...

Gotta wonder what point The Pirate is making here?

"And remember, disc brakes WILL make you a better descender!" #AlternativeFacts

Gonna be nice this weekend. Go outside and play...

Two weeks in a row

Last week was the second week in a row of 5 days on the bike. And another 4 days in a row.
Tuesday was CRAZY cold in the morning, but as I have the proper clothing hanging about, I kitted up, and went out.
It was 27F when I left. The dirt on the PowerStation was frozen...and were the puddles.
The call for less pressure in the Clements was a good one.
Still got a good 2 hours on the bike. Thanks to Giordana for Roubaix Knickers and a Windtex jacket. The jacket is so good, I only wore a baselayer under it!! And sweat THROUGH the baselayer!!
You can ride outside people! Buying the proper clothing is no more expensive than buying a stupid fucking trainer!
The rest of the week (Th, F, Sa, Su) were all road rides. All in shorts and all ended in short sleeves. Gotta love the weather in SC. Below freezing Tuesday. 80 on Friday. Headache? What headache?
Th/Fri were solo jaunts, as I'm unencumbered by "work".
I had a good roll going Thursday, but when I got to the level crossing @ Dixiana, the train was blocking the road...and had ZERO intention of moving. I turned around, and backtracked, but it was like the flow was gone. Still got 2+ hours, but it felt disrupted.
Made up for it Friday. Felt good. Rolled over the gear. Nearly a no-chain day. 2 hours was no problem.
Probably a bit mental as well. The new Vittoria Corsa G rubber got installed.

On the 23mm wide hoops, the 25c tires measure an honest 27mm. And they're REALLY round. I had to play with the pressure a bit over the course of those two rides, but figured out that 95-98(F) and 100-104(R) is the pocket. They are the standard for clinchers right now. They feel "fast", are crazy comfortable, and turn like a cheetah chasing prey.
I have about 10 hours on the set, so wear is unknown. I'll write a complete review in the coming weeks. Bet you can't WAIT!!
And let's not forget...
The blonde sidewalls just look GOOD!! And run latex tubes in them. Running good tires and shit tubes is just silly.
TVH and I went out Sat/Sun. He was breaking in his new Madone 9 w/SRAM eTap. Pretty cool bike.
His fit was a little off, but we stopped to fiddle with it. Seat still needs to go back @ 5mm and up @ 5mm.
And personally, methinks he needs a longer stem.
After 20+ years of ride Campag, it was fun to watch him reach for the thumb button...over and over and over...
I shouldn't say much. After 20+ years on Shimano, I'm confident I would have blown more than a few (dozen) shifts too. Old dogs must sometimes learn new tricks.
Both days were near perfect. If you didn't show up to ride...well....
No ridey today. I need to source some chainrings for the Ridley, and some pedals for the Salsa. I got some new CX shoes from Diadora, and realized that I don't have any pedals that'll work. D'oh!!
And Junior Management is out of school for MLK Day...
I guess DSS has an issue with leaving 3 children home alone for hours at a time.

Mmmm...bikes...

 Focus. Just clean and simple.

 The new Colnago Aero bike. Yeah...I'd rock that. Change nothing.

 Sagan's "training" bike @ TdU. Where does the subwoofer go?

 And TVH and I talked about these bikes yesterday. Cannondales are just simple and clean. Square frames & two triangles. Sadly, I cannot make a Cannondale fit properly. 56 is too small and 58 is too big. Plus, I'll never buy a bike (or anything else) from the local dealer, even if they started to make a 57 again.

Funnies....

 I thought the second coming would be a bit more...theatrical...

Yeah...this is just funny...

Back to the bike tomorrow. Hopefully we'll see TayTay and JMR this weekend. I think they both still ride...
Now, I need to go to the LexCo office and help hang a giant mirror. The fun never ends.

Testing

So, it's been a year since they cracked open my right knee. Still getting better. I can feel that it was repaired, but there's no pain.
The surgeon said it would take a year for it to get close to "normal". That's about right.
I've been pretty self-preserving. Nothing crazy. No running. No soccer. Careful about twisting and hard lateral movement.
Figured I'd put it to the test this week.
4 days in row on the bike. All good. I even did some lateral strengthening exercises yesterday afternoon while Junior Management ran around on the soccer field.
Seems good this morning. My legs are shot though. No ridey today...nor probably this weekend. Gonna be cold and crappy. That's the actual forecast.
We're being threatened with snow. Not gonna happen, so settle down. Stop rushing the stores for bread and milk. Are you gonna make milk sammiches?

As I said, 4 rides in a row went off. CX/Road/Road/CX.
First days I've ridden the road bike in weeks. Felt light, responsive and fast. Weird.
Rode in the wet Monday.
Same Tuesday. Went out in the drizzle. It stopped shortly thereafter, but the roads were crap. Wet, sandy, and SLICK painted lines. 2.5 hours in it pretty much trashed the bike.

Now, I know a lot of people who would leave it as such, but as I have both mechanical sympathy, and a touch of OCD, It was cleaned and lubed shortly after this pic was taken. And of course, no latex gloves in Service Course. Ick.
Another 2+ on Wednesday. It was a bit breezy out in the country. Felt better as the ride went, and the blood got flowing.
Yesterday was colder, so the Salsa got the call. Having the brainfart of brainfarts, I went out The PowerStation. Yeah dummy, the mudhole is still huge.

As it was too cold to be wet, and I didn't feel like a morning hike-a-bike, I turned around, and headed a different direction. Still got in a good, easy spin. Also watched a big pileated woodpecker doing WORK on a tree out on the dirt. Not a noise other than him jackhammering the tree. Not one around other than him and me. One of the MANY reasons I ride out there.

One last thing...

Canyon will be available in the US very soon. Oh yes...sooooon...

Okay...go get groceries...

First ride since last year...

Derp. #DadJoke
Still doesn't make it not true.
Normally don't ride on Monday, but I missed out yesterday. I looked at the radar, believed it, and screwed myself.
Even so, today was an arguably better day to ride. The rain stopped, and I headed out @ 0845. It was foggy, wet, and 65 degrees. Pretty flipping nice morning to ride a bike. Did the normal morning loop, and came in on a VERY damp PowerStation.

The waterholes are ALL very full, the mudhole is gigantic, and the surface is HEAVY. Much effort was necessary in order to hold a respectable pace. I bapped the dookie out of the paved x-road, and pinched the front tube. Stupid.
It was going down, but pretty slowly. Ride it until you can't...
After understeering through a wet corner, it was time to stop. Quick change, and back on it.
2 hours. 55km. The bike is a mess.

Did a fun ride NYE morning. Juan Solo. It was cold. Too cold for most, as I saw no one else.
Normal CX loop w/an extra dirt loop thrown in. After I'd it the GD downed tree in The Cathedral for the second time, I stopped and moved it off the road. You're welcome.
Seemed like a good spot for a photo op.

Take care of our play area. I know a lot of folks like it out there, so stop, and clear things away if you can. Make it better for everyone!
Probably back out there tomorrow, as it's supposed to rain again...

Got this shirt for #2 for Christmas. You know he 'bout dat life....

 The bridge into Manhattan. Such a great shot.

It was at this moment that Jesse knew he'd fucked up...

I'ma do better this year. More posts...more often...more dumberer.