mashby

Since turning in my Jeep last week, our family is now a car short. Since I needed a car to visit a client site this morning, I had to make arragements with my Mom to take her to work and use her car for the day. She leaves for work at 6:45am, so that didn’t leave much time to ride.

I still thought I could squeeze in a quick ride though, so I set the alarm for 5:00am and actually woke up when it went off. After the shock of realizing that I was actually awake wore off, I looked outside and it was still pitch black. I reset the alarm for 5:30am, but found when I awoke that it was still dark. So I reset the alarm for 6:00am and bailed on the ride.

It’s a shame because I really wanted to get in another ride or two before leaving tomorrow. I especially wanted to ride this morning with the full load. I had packed my panniers with everything I’m bringing last night, so I was hoping to get familar with the weight and get at least 10 miles in.

Oh well, it’s just wasn’t meant to be. Maybe my legs needed the rest and tomorrow I’ll find that it’s a piece of cake. 🙂

I didn’t cycle on Monday, which is my usual rest day, but I didn’t ride this morning either. Holly claims the alarm went off at 6:00am, but I never heard it. I naturally woke up at 7:00am and thought I could squeeze in a quick 10 mile ride, but when I went to grab my cycling shorts, I found that our cat, Tiger Lilly, had yacked up all over them. With no cycling shorts, there’s no way I can ride.

So another day of training down the toilet.

For the first time since I started riding again, I woke up before my alarm went off. Mind you I was groggy, but I anticipated the alarm and that must count for something. Of course I didn’t get up. I reset the alarm for another 30 minutes of sleep, but it’s a small step. I ended up only sleeping another 10 minutes before I was fully awake and for the first time I turned off the alarm before it went off again.

I was smothered in cats this morning, so it was a real gymnastic effort to untangle myself out from under them. It was wicked cold, so I turned into their favorite person last night. Since I’m usually 10 degrees hotter than Holly, I must have made for a nice tummy warmer.

By the time I made it downstairs and pull the bike out from the garage I was freezing my tail off. I checked weather.com and it said the temp was 32 degrees with a real feel of 30. That’s the coldest it’s been yet! I bundled up with double shirts, a jacket, my favorite wool cap and my wool gloves. Still don’t have any tights yet, so it was going to be cold no matter what. 😉

The only thing was that the cold wasn’t my problem this morning, it was my route. I didn’t know which way to go. Part of me wanted to do the 20 mile loop, but another part of me wanted to go to Waffle House. Waffle House was closer and thus a shorter course, but I didn’t have any cash on me, so I had to go to an ATM, which was a good distance away. I was kind of tired of going the same way, so the idea of going to the ATM seemed more exciting, so I decided that this was the route I’d take.

Since the weekends are supposed to be my heavy riding days, I felt like I was taking the easy way out by choosing a shorter route. My original goal was to do 30+ miles on the weekend – ideally up to 50 miles. With the NPUG meeting yesterday and Church today, it just didn’t seem to be in the cards. Since I’m entering my last week for training before the Natchez Trace tour, I needed to do something to make it more like it will be starting on Thursday. My solution? Add weight.

Opening the garage and pulling my bike out, I looked for things that were handy and heavy that I could throw into my panniers. Since I had to empty my Jeep before the turn in, I had a bunch of computer stuff that were readily handy. I grabbed a router still in the box with the power supply, a 24 port switch w/ power supply and a big, thick book on Windows Small Business Server. As best as I could tell, this was about all the weight of what I’ll be carrying on the tour.

Instead of going right on Pettus road, I took a left and then another left onto Richards. At the top of a very steep hill, I took a right on Old Franklin Road and made my way towards the Interstate. The path I was taking was the 20 mile loop had I continued on to Mt. View road, however I made a detour to head towards Bell Road and where all the strip malls are.

My tempo was fairly slow and leisurely. I don’t know if that was due to the cold, or just my light-hearted attitude, but I made my way happily up all the hills albeit a little slower than usual. Juliet was riding like I remember her. With all the added weight, she had a thick and rich feel to her. I felt a bit like J-Lo with all that junk in my trunk. 😉 The best part is that I felt great riding like this again and given the hills I climbed, I’d have to say that if I feel this way when the tour begins, I’ll be ready.

After a stop at the ATM, it was time to make my way to the Waffle House. I called my buddy Dan and tried to talk via a headset while I rode with little or no success. My Samsung I-300 is a POS. I eventually made it to the Casa de Waffle and finally sat down for a bite to eat. I love eating at WH. There’s just something down home and simple about it , plus I really like their food. I was a little concerned about my attire, but that’s another story.

After eating and a little typing on the Dana, it was time to head home and get ready for Church. I made it back with little incident, although a full stomach of 2 eggs, 2 orders of hash browns with mushrooms, onions and jalapenos was a little much on the climbs. It would have been better if I could have let that digest a little more before I started all that climbing. When I got to my street, I popped the chain to the granny gear and made my way up to the top. This is getting to be a bit routine now. I like that. 😀

Although my ride wasn’t long, it was a solid ride and the best I’ve felt yet. I only hope that this isn’t wishfull thinking and that I have a rude awakening waiting for me on the Natchez Trace.

Distance: 14.63
Ride Time: 1:34
Avg Speed: 9.36
Max Speed: 38.5

I didn’t get to ride this morning. I was preparing for the NPUG meeting this morning and there simply wasn’t time. After the meeting I was exhausted, as usual, so when I made it home I ordered a pizza. With my fill of bread and cheese, I fell asleep watching Rush Hour. It was dark when I woke up, so that was that.

At least I’ll have plenty of carbs for tomorrow’s ride. 🙂 Yeah, that’s it, I was carbo loading. I wasn’t eating junk food, I was carbo loading. 😉

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Weekly Totals
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Distance: 51.94
Time: 4:57
Avg Speed: 10.53
Max Speed: 36.4

Mornings are still rough. I’m waking up earlier, but not near the time I need to if I’m going to get in a 20 mile ride. I got out the door about 7:30am this morning and figured I’d go the 20 mile loop and bail at the 15 mile point if it looked like time wouldn’t allow me to make the full 20.

It was pretty cold and misty this morning. Normally after the first five miles it’s time to ditch the jacket, but today I kept it on for the whole ride. There was a light mist in the air and coupled with the 35 degree weather, it was noticeably cooler than it’s been in the past. Is it going to be this cold on the trip?

I went longer between resting points this ride. I also made the climbs easier as well. The one thing that didn’t go quite as well is the route itself. Burkitt is pretty busy on a Friday morning and there was a lot of traffic. Not that I mind traffic, but no one likes a two lane road with zero shoulder and a lot of vehicular traffic. I wouldn’t say it was excessive, but it was plenty to keep me on my toes.

When I got to the 15 mile turn it was clear that there was no way I was going to make the 20 mile loop that I had hoped to do, so I turned on Old Hickory and headed home. The nappy eared dog that chased me last time on this road was no where to be found, which I was thankful for.

Once back home, my first order of business was a nice hot shower to warm my bones. Oh man was that nice. 🙂

Distance: 16.04
Ride Time: 1:31
Avg Speed: 10.59
Max Speed: 35.3

I had a rare opportunity today – a chance to ride twice in one day. I had to turn in my Jeep Cherokee today to the leasing company and I needed a way back home. The only option I could come up with was to ride my bicycle back home. It turns out that the place I had to go to was only about 5 miles away from my house.

Before I could drop of the vehicle, I had to get it ready to turn in. Besides the usual cleaning, I also had to re-install the original stereo and remove the bike rack from the roof. The stereo was a piece of cake, but the rack was a nightmare. It seems that I’ve lost my keys to the locks on the rack. This meant that I couldn’t unlock key components so that the rack could be removed. I tried everything I could think of, but in the end, the only option I could come up with was to cut the rack off with a hacksaw.

That’s right, I took a hacksaw to the top of towers which hold the cross bars. Once I sliced through the top piece, I would take pliers and pull back the brace until it broke off in my hands. Once enough of the brace was removed, I could lift the bar out of the way and throw away the towers. It was such a shame to have to destroy the towers like that, but I couldn’t think of any other way. I suppose it wasn’t a total lost, but it doesn’t look like I could re-use the towers on any of the vehicles that I’m looking at.

With the rack removed, I put my bicycle in the back of the truck and drove it to the turn in center. I met the guy that I was turning the vehicle into and then went outside to put my bike back together and wait for him to finish. I was over the mileage to the tune of $500, there was a $300 turn in fee and they said the hood had too many chips and charged me another $100. So close to $1000 lighter, I hoped on my bike and rode home.

It was a fairly straightforward ride with most of it being flat. This was a nice change from my usual hilly rides. I also had a fair amount of traffic which made it more exciting. It didn’t take me long and I was back home. Looks like until I get a new vehicle my bicycle will be my primary means of transportation. Well that and I’ll have to bum rides from my wife. 🙂

Total Distance: 5.53
Ride Time: :30
Avg Speed: 11.08
Max Speed: 27.1

5:00am came and went. So did 5:30am and 6:00am. At 6:30am I finally dragged my lazy butt out of bed. It took me a few minutes to find all my clothes, jacket, gloves, etc., but by 7:00am I was on the road. It was later than I would have liked, but I was riding come hell or high water. High water was possibly an option given that it was very overcast and the threat of rain was immanent.

Given my limited time, I had to do the 10 mile loop which I hadn’t done in about a week. When I reached the big climb on Pettus, just after the half way point, I stopped and jimmied the chain onto the small front sprocket. My front derailleur is still not shifting to the small gear and I knew I’d need it if I had any chance of climbing the hill. I used every low gear I had until I reached my very last on my 21 speed setup, but I made it up the hill! As my body was screaming from the pain, I looked to my left and saw the view that always takes my breath away.

The entire ride went without event until I reach my subdivision on the way back, then it started to rain pretty heavily. School children waiting for the bus went running for cover as the rain, and Juliet approached. All the girls were screaming and laughing as they ran for someone’s house all the while forgetting that they left their books sitting on the curb.

I never shifted out of the front low gear because I knew that my hill was waiting for me. My average speed may have suffered, but it was worth it. With rain dropping like a ball bearings, I turned up the hill, tucked my head down and began pedaling. I had the same weight that I’ve been riding with for the past few rides, so this was the heaviest I’ve been. Not focusing on the steep of the incline, I kept my focus on my front wheel and kept pedaling. At the halfway point, I was surprised at how easy it was going. That’s when it got a little harder and the teeth came out to bite at more air. Even though it became more difficult in the last half, I knew I had it. This time was easier than the last time.

A great ride, I’m only sorry I had to cut it short.

Total Distance: 9.92
Ride Time: 1:01
Avg Speed: 9.71
Max Speed: 36.2