Chubby Super Biker

Optifat is back

2012-02-07T22:47:00.001-06:00

After much deliberation and, well, following my soul I'm starting another optifast liquid fast tomorrow morning. I keep falling and I need a chance to get back up an dust myself off. I need a win, a big win, or even just a little win. It's game three of the series and I need a win to put Hope back in sight.

My thoughts are all over the place on this right now so I won't even pretend to attempt to be concise.

I know now, more clearly than ever, that I can never live my life again this way. I know now I'm being given this second chance to reset, appreciate, and Move.

I don't know anything else besides that. Yet.

Sooo... about that stupid thing...

2012-01-12T07:41:00.002-06:00

Did you know that on paper 40 mile per hour winds look a whole lot different than they do in the real world?

Yeah, I know.

So last night my truck took me home with my bike stranded at work, unable to persuade my "took too much time off" legs from pushing it through the wind storm of Doom. Which is OK, I was pretty sadly disappointed, but I've got 353 more days in the year. If I ride 5 miles each of those days, I'll easily double my 2011 mileage.

So, more days to come. I know early this morning I already miss the power boost that inhaling that cold Nebraska air gives me. The peace of the smooth rolling big steel beast sets in to my soul. And the smile that emerges from my face following the conquer of the first hill.

Tomorrow, or even today, is another day.

I may be stupid

2012-01-11T15:03:00.003-06:00

Right now it's 30 degrees with a NNW wind of 31-45 mph. When one considers riding a bicycle in those conditions, the word "stupid" may be valid. Snow is falling as well. Sitting in front of the bike in the picture is a perfectly good 4x4 pickup truck that is also, not ironically, sitting in front of work. He who has sanity may say "well gosh, maybe you should drive the truck".

Maybe

I thought about a lot over the past hour as the winds continue to pick up. Riding home, which would be a route smack into that horrendous wind using legs that haven't had much cycling conditioning over the past year, may be stupid but it's not miserable. Miserable is what got me here, defeatism at considering options other than the trusted tried and true. Not accepting that there is a easier better way that only on the surface is a lot more difficult.

So I'm riding my bike home. I'll be slow as a turtle, in pain like crazy, wearing completely the wrong clothes for biking or the conditions.

At least I'll be, for another day, alive.

History, part I

2012-01-09T07:37:00.003-06:00

In the middle of my liquid fast, after discovering some healthy new hobbies, I was looking for an alternative to the gym. One thing I couldn't shake was all the memories I had as a teenager on my bicycle and how much fun those memories were. One Saturday I decided to go to my parents' house and see if any bikes were left. Sure enough there was, an old "Mount Shasta" mountain bike that previously I'd had many an adventure on. To say I was thrilled was a gross understatement.

I immediately went and bought new tires and tubes for it, stoked to be riding it. That evening I was already slated to go out transmitter hunting in rural Lancaster county so I threw the bike in the back of my pickup wondering if I'd get a chance to ride.

As I rumbled along those country roads that night in my old, beloved, red 1992 Ford F-150 that bike was calling to me in the back. Literally. Like some sort of siren of the seas, it was just itching for me to get the itch again.

Later in the evening it was the chance of I and another to "hide", and hide we did so in the north west corner of Lancaster county. It was going to be awhile before anyone had a trace of us, so I decided "oh what the hell" and got the bike out of the back.

We were hidden next to a nice gravel road, Ashland road, one that didn't see any traffic. "What the hell" I thought, as I got on the bike and started to pedal. Immediately I was laughing hysterically and smiling, 29 years old and acting like I was 12 again.

6 years ago, that ride up and back down that gravel roller was the spark of something that I've not yet been able to get out of my soul. "It gets in your soul", often you may hear, and it's true. Wearing jeans, tennis shoes, and a sweatshirt I had no idea what I was doing.

But damn if I didn't like it.

An open request to my bike

2012-01-08T15:30:00.001-06:00

Dear Big Blue Truck,
I apologize for the indignity of not only not being ridden for the past 7.5 months, but also of stuffing you in the messiest corner of the garage.

I intend to make both things right, now. Now being when I need you more than ever.

Yours truly,
Ben

Of not going liquid only again

2011-05-19T14:48:00.001-05:00

This blog started six years ago because at the time I was starting a new liquid diet and wanted a public spot to talk about it outside of my other we presences. In other words I was too lazy to setup WordPress.

I came to a crossroads this week, frustrated by weight gain over my last year of inactivity and wanted a jumpstart. I heavily considered going back on said liquid diet, my mind seemingly made up. Then it wasn't.

To Fix This I need to fix the root of the problem. Simply put - every time I get off the bike and eat processed or pre-prepared food I go downhill. Fast. I'm just not like everyone else for better or for worse. Just like alcohol, something inside of me just can't stay in control. So I, after all this time, need to learn.

I also need to remember that the bike is sanity, goodness, saving, and grace wrapped into one.

When I drive to work, even after doing it consistently for a time, it feels weird. When I ride, regardless of pain or what have you, it feels right.

I like that feeling. I need a billboard in front of my face reminding me of it.

Best seat in the house

2011-05-16T20:32:00.001-05:00

I could complain about a lot of things, but the view from my office is not one of them. That's the path that takes me to work every day, and from home I take it the entire way except for four blocks of side streets and a sidewalk. Five miles of smooth bicycle highway, right up to work.

Four out of five commutes last week, and commuted today to start off the week. The LHT is in dire need of maintenance, but I'm liking riding it too much. Maybe I can see if the shop can squeeze me in? New brakes, brake pads, cables, chain, rear hub rebuild, bar tape and new der cables should have her rolling like new. All for about the cost of 2 tanks log fuel.

While writing the check for license plates today I realize they cost 1/4th the price of the Pugsley complete I want, and 1/3rd the cost of my LHT. Hrmmmm...

Spring Training

2011-05-09T08:13:00.003-05:00

Sometimes enough has to hit enough and something gives. That something was me, and my now refusal to drive a car. Or rather, refusal to rely and crutch upon it.

So I rode to work today, and it was good.

That is all... for now

4th LHT year, 401 posts, etc etc

2011-03-03T10:44:00.002-06:00

I didn't even realize it, but my last post was my 400th post. Weird! It seems fitting now that my 401st post will be about the beginning of my 4th year with my LHT. As I alluded to last time, she's gone through some changes. It has been setup almost identically to how it was setup for the first GLGA since 2008, because I dug that setup. Some things were nagging, so I finally got around to changing, or trying different things. Here's how she looks:

Aside from the WTB Pure-V, it's all staying. I got the Pure-V because of one problem with Brooks saddles: they're slippery. During the spring/summer sweat cures that, but in the winter there's a distinct lack of butt sweat. So I slide all over the place, and read some who swap saddles out in the winter and thought I'd try. I'll say this: it's the best non-brooks saddle I've ever had. As good as that sounds, though, it's like saying it's the best Acer computer I ever used. You get the idea. It will work great on my spin bike, though.

Last year I added the big Nitto Noodle bars, and can't say enough good about them. I liked the stock bars, but they were aluminum and I cracked them, so after trying the Nitto Randos, I like these better. Big and wide and comfortable, especially with the cinelli gel tape on them.

First: tires. I liked the original Continentals until I had the Marathon Crosses on there, which I frankly absolutely loved. Amazingly fast for how versatile they are, but I wanted something quiet and more flat resistant for commuting (the Crosses aren't bad - better than the contis - but I got spoiled with a stint with Armadillos on my old bike). Marathon Plusses in 700x38 are what I just threw on and.. I'm done. It's perfection. Not touching it again. Sure they're heavy, and they don't go beyond 85psi.. I don't care. They roll smooth as silk, ride like buttah, and are Schwalbes. They are covered in my second set of fenders, again from Planet Bike. The first set cracked and had mudflaps falling off, but I don't hold that against them - I love what Planet Bike stands for and does for bicycle advocacy. So I bought another set from the folks at Bike Pedalers (I gotta spread my cycling budget around to all the good shops in town).

Second: Rack and pannier. My old rack was, well, "affordable" and lacked length and support for longer panniers. The pannier was impulse, I was at BikePed anyway and stumbled on this new Blackburn EX Deluxe pannier which appeared to be absolutely perfect for what I need. My old Nashbar panniers were great and I DEFINITELY got mileage out of them, I just had issues fitting either my work or personal laptops in them, and they flopped around a lot. This one? Wow. I'm impressed. Very secure mounting, bulletproof construction, and as last week's blizzard proved: water resistant enough that my MacBook and other electronics didn't suffer fates of water death. Plus it's easily and quickly removable (literally just unclips)and has a shoulder strap to use as a makeshift bag. I dig it, big time. One pannier fits my daily load easily - and then some.

After that pannier, I had a couple more instances of pannier and spoke contact, so the rack needed to be upgraded. I debated the Surly Nice Rack quite a bit, then got the suggestion of the Axiom Journey. It's perfect. Very well built, light, and cured my issue. Today, in that picture, the pannier was loaded with a full set of clothes, a Brooks saddle (:)), iPad, Macbook, and some other odds and ends that probably totaled 25+ lbs. It never flopped around or made any fuss. I'm happy.

Whew. So now with all that, I'm done for awile. I'm going to ride, and ride some more hoping that the bike did what it did so many times before. I love this damn bike, I really do.

I hate pharmaceutical companies

2011-03-02T20:05:00.002-06:00

Ever since I quit two medications I was on, I keep gaining weight.. yet I eat next to nothing and am back to cycling. Don't get it. and apparently not alone. Sometimes you've gotta wonder if a short term fix is worth it, even if it helps.

Hard work never goes like this, in my experience.

In other news, new Marathon Plusses are mounted and ++++ awesome, new fenders are mounted and the same, new rack and pannier are absolutely brilliant, and the WTB Pure-V? It's going on the spin bike. Good for there, not my thing for the LHT.

Ice Road Trucker

2011-02-27T10:20:00.002-06:00

Thursday started off not so bad. My legs and body felt good after starting the first week commuting in.. too long. It was cold, really cold, but not so terrible at all. All week long I'd been riding just the standard 5 mile each way commute, making good time, and feeling better every day. Of course in the back of my mind I'm thinking about going further but for now? I'm riding.

Reports, however, were of the snowpocalypse coming that day. Yeah right, I thought to myself. Then in the early afternoon - around 2pm - it started dusting. No worries, I thought to myself, I can handle this. I don't have any snow specific tires on the LHT, it's still running the Schwalbe Marathon Crosses that I've been running for two years. Well, a different set of course - but they're fantastic tires. ANYWAY about 3:30pm I look outside and there's a... whole different story. A blizzard!

Crap

Above you see a weird route, one that almost goes into that creek? Well.. the bike performed flawlessly. Even with 6 inches (or more) of fresh snow on the ground, the Marathons just clawed right through it without much in the way of fuss. Only problem? I couldn't see anything. No - seriously - this is looking ahead (further down the trail):

The problem was that if I looked up, I was blinded pretty fast by the snow. My eyes would snow shut after seconds, and it was just impossible to tell where the trail was by looking. I could generally feel where it was, and would look straight down to make sure I wasn't going in the creek, but it was next to impossible.

After about a mile, that's how I looked. It was actually not that bad - frankly. If I could have seen? That would have been perfect. Problem was I was riding straight into the oncoming snow. So if I looked up, I was blinded. Looking behind, you could tell:

Riding on the path wasn't the brightest idea because, well, you couldn't see the path. I was annoyed, very annoyed, and thought I'd give residential streets a shot

Now that was a good idea, and much easier. I just looked down and followed a rut, and looked up occasionally so as to not die. The route was a bit longer than usual, and I almost bailed - tried to bail in fact - when I turned north again, but made it home. At one point someone pulled up and asked me if I wanted a ride, to which I replied "No, it's ok, I have a 4x4 at home, I'm just an idiot". Sometimes you've just gotta laugh at yourself!

I've ridden through some crazy stuff, but that was up there on the list. Next year I'll be picking up some ski goggles and Nokians for the Long Haul Trucker as it's very clear - it's not going to get stopped easily. And neither am I!

Amazing

2011-02-23T10:10:00.001-06:00

It's just amazing how good 36 degrees feels on the bike. One of those days. One of those very very good days.

Does it really feel like -4?

2011-02-21T08:01:00.001-06:00

Nope, it feels like ++awesome.

Reports of my demise....

2011-02-20T23:21:00.001-06:00

..have been greatly exaggerated :). Thank you for all the prayers, kinds words/emails and words of reality. Tomorrow after a six month hiatus I'm back in the saddle for my first commute of 2011. Having spent my gasoline budget for the remainder of Feb and most of March on bike gear (new chain, tires and fenders) I've set myself up for not having a choice.

I knew I'd be back when I was ready and now is that time. Saturday was six months of sobriety, so with that demon in check, I can focus on.... life.

Plus, I really, really, REALLY missed the bike. If there ever was an instance of distance making the heart grow fonder, ding ding ding... I found it!

Well, that's what I needed

2010-12-01T15:41:00.002-06:00

Just got back from the doctor, and it ain't good. Since March I've gained 22 pounds, and my blood pressure has gone from "OK" to "first stage of high blood pressure". 150 over 96 is what it is, and that isn't good considering that in June of 2008 I was in the "athlete/very healthy" range. It's disconcerting at best, alarming in reality.

I have two weeks to show the doctor that my blood pressure is going down and my weight along with it. I have until January 1 to lose the 22 pounds I gained this year, and hopefully have my blood pressure in the low 140's.

The alternative? I go on blood pressure meds, paying (literally) for my mistakes and losing. I run the very real possibility of never being able to walk little girl down the aisle, or see my sons grow to be men.

I don't like losing, and don't like that alternative. Enough said.

The simplicity of complexity

2010-11-22T13:53:00.000-06:00

First things first - I should clarify something, when I say I'm "back at where I started" I mean when I started riding bike, not back at 567 pounds. I'm a little bit over 400, which sucks royal ass, but I'm trying to put that out of my mind.

This post is an interesting one. I've written probably three posts now, only to delete them all. I get so far, then I get writer's block horribly and terribly. So then I delete everything I wrote and start over, which may seem odd, but basically summarizes my approach to writing.

Here's an odd fact, my posts are all written as one stream of consciousness, at one time, and then posted without any editing whatsoever. In some that may seem to be a bit of a surprise, and in others it's clearly evident. However, it is what it is - I generally try to get my thoughts across unfiltered, in one shot, and don't sweat the small stuff. As part of this, if I hit a block one of two things happen. Either I go back and delete the whole thing, or I continue where I started from. If I can't find a good way to do the latter I do the former - for better or for worse.

I also do my best writing without distractions. When I'm using Blogger I'll do it with the window maximized and playing music. Now I've found a better solution, the past two posts have been written entirely using PlanText on my iPad. It's an amazing device for both distraction, and focus. It's simple, and complex at the same time. It provides a fantastic venue for the creative and scattered mind, I've found.

Which is interesting, because it's much like how I feel about a bicycle. Like my macbook, my pickup is a fantastic vehicle that does everything. It can take me off road across the country comfortably, or on the Interstate across the country comfortably. It's got enough power to do but all the most challenging of jobs and does it well.

Yet, I find myself constantly thinking about my bike. I've got what I consider to be the perfect vehicle, something I've always wanted, yet the bike fills voids that are so much more important. It does things in such a simple, satisfying manner powered by fuel that is seemingly endless.

Be it writing, computing, or transportation - maybe that's just what it is, simplicity. We can try to fill voids with flashy things, but at our hearts we are humans and designed to do simple things. Maybe in complex ways, but simple things.

Maybe that's what it's all about...

A Title?

2010-11-20T12:20:00.000-06:00

It has been some time, again, since my last post. Unfortunately, it has been the same amount of time since I've been on a bike. Finding the time, the motivation, the drive to ride this year has been - at best - something difficult. In other words, it's been a tough year for fitness, and I'm showing the signs of it.

Shirts and pants that fit loosely before are now extremely snug and at times uncomfortable. My back aches at times, my feet hurt, and all other manner of things have reared their ugly head. It is to say that a confluence of events both completely inside and completely outside of my control have come together to take me back. I'm back to the weight I was when I started riding, and feeling like I did before I started riding.

In a group I attend, some refer to this as "your counter going back to 0", and in my case, that's an accurate assumption. Over the course of this journey, and this blog, I've had great triumphs and great setbacks. For the past months I've been dwelling on both, trying to figure out where along the path my journey got so sidetracked, so thrown out of what to let these events come together.

What I found is something I know others have found as well: my journey hadn't even really begun. Instead of building a whole new dam, I had only patched the pieces of the previous one, repairing holes as they came up to hold the water back in. Instead of finding a way to channel the water, it just kept getting pushed back and back for hundreds of different reasons. Small victories (some are very big, I know, but in the course of life as a whole they seem very small) along the way at those patches, even a series of patches that seemed to put the dam at the back of the mind helped push victory after victory.

Yet, what happens when the dam breaks? Everything comes rushing out, in same cases for better and in some for worse, and now it just has to be dealt with. It can't be in the background behind a great wall, no, now it must find a way to be contained, dealt with, accepted, and channeled into a flowing river.

That's the only adage I can find for life. Before there were never really any setbacks, it was just life trying to come out. There was no starting over, for the journey had never even really been started. There was no victory, as life never ends and the occurrences of the past never go away.

With that in mind, I realize now that my journey never really started. Life, God, and the world had to bring me to this point in order for me to truly start, to truly appreciate everything - good AND bad - that's happened to this point.

I've not made any promises to myself or anyone else at this point aside from one I just did - that I will blog three times a week. I will also finally stop avoiding all the other blogs I used to love, and start reading their stories again.

That's it for right now. Soon enough, in time, the rest will come

It's been a long time

2010-10-12T19:25:00.001-05:00

Its been a long time, too long, since my last blog entry and outdoor ride. Been a toug summer with lots of changes, in the end all of them for good. Thhe latest of which is the purchase of a spin bike, which serves as my new "TV Chair",

And tonight, yep, said chair will be getting a Brooks.

That's all I've got for now.

So.

2010-08-12T15:02:00.002-05:00

It's been about a month since I've ridden the bike. I'm not hurt, nothing's wrong with me - I just had some thinking to do. See, for me, cycling-related activities got to the point where they were eating up 4 hours out of my day. 2 hours to shower, change, shave and get ready 3 times a day, the hour each way to work.. yeah it got to me. Leaving home at 6am and getting back at 6pm just was too much with work stress. So I took a break.

I regret it, and I don't. I needed to sort some things out, refocus - and I did. Last night I had a hard time thinking about motivation to get this stuff done, but now I have it. I needed a break to breathe after I finished a hellish couple semesters of school, and I got it.

So tonight I ride. And maybe tomorrow night or early morning too. It really irritates me that I squandered the summer, and am in NO SHAPE to ride the Gravel Worlds at this point. The first year I pushed through pain and finished the thing. The second year (last year) cramps got the best of me and I bailed out after a solid 80 mile effort. This year my longest ride has been about 60 miles, so it's almost delusional to think I'd even have a chance of even hitting checkpoint 2.

Maybe that's what it's about. Go into the thing and get some motivation from just trying.

Maybe. Part of me likes just being the big dude that has the balls to line up on a ridiculously brutal ride next to people in ridiculously good shape.

We'll see.

About the bike

2010-06-29T20:41:00.001-05:00

I've had a couple emails and comments lately asking about what I ride, which is a pretty good question. I'm a big dude who rides hard over lots of miles - finding a bike that stands up to the abuse that a Clydesdale can shell out is a rarity. My Surly Long Haul Trucker, well, it's been my steady companion now going into it's third year of daily service. As of now, it's my only bike... and you know, I'm good with that.

It's a Long Haul Trucker "complete" with a couple minor changes. Schwalbe Marathon Cross tires, Brooks B-17 saddle, Nitto Noodle handlebar, Cinelli Gel tape, a cheap rack and some Nashbar Waterproof panniers. It's pretty simple, it works good, it's fast enough - but best of all - it's stupid comfortable. And durable. I've got over 10,000 miles on it now, and it rides as good as the day I got it.

That's really what it's about, finding what works for you. I just realized that this is my fourth year commuting by bike, and I'm good with that. Someone asked me the other day what I was training for, and I said nothing. Then someone asked me if I was commuting to save money, or to save the planet. My answer? Neither. Maybe both.

It's taken me four years to realize I ride because I ride. I'm good with that.

Just ride

2010-06-28T14:01:00.002-05:00

Some days it doesn't matter if you're wearing work shoes and wool dress pants on a 90 degree day, you just gotta ride. I kind of dig those days where it's the end of the day and I go "I just really want to go home" so I don't change into anything cycling-specific other than a helmet, and pedal home.

Pretty hard to beat.

Father's Day

2010-06-20T11:33:00.003-05:00

Awoke this Father's Day to a house full of cuties, and man that's just the topping for a great week (or couple weeks, even). Bashed through my 100 mile goal for 120 total miles after a really awesome Saturday morning ride with friends out to Elmwood and back. I've missed the mopac, and I've missed long rides - the average speed definitely showed that, ouch. Gotta work up in that respect but it's good to know I have 36 miles in my legs and it doesn't really even phase me.. even if it's at a turtle pace. I'll just channel my inner Mountain Turtle.

Next week I'm going to shoot for 150 miles, and more smiles. Should be pretty easy after what I did this week and a good number to go for every week. I'm not training for anything, I'm riding my bike. I'm not trying to lose lots of weight, I'm just riding my bike. I'm not commuting to save the world, I'm commuting to ride my bike. See a common theme there? Riding my bike is simple, it's pleasure, it's amazing - and it's extended into other parts of my life. Just check out my office makeover that made my favorite geeky blog, Lifehacker.com:

http://lifehacker.com/5566309/the-efficient-office-a-workflow-makeover

Riding is simple, it's amazing, it's what life should be about. Using what God gave us to live and provide for ourselves. I surrounded myself with too much "stuff", too much clutter, too little effort. Now I have one bike, two legs, and it all just comes together. Will I get another bike? Sure, and it'll probably be from Fargo. For now I'm just focusing on what I have, as Dave Ramsey would put it - "gazelle intensity".

Who knows what will happen, I got started a bit late this year due to a comedy of errors and failures, but I'm happy with where I'm at. And that, right there, is what it's all about.

Great start

2010-06-18T13:08:00.004-05:00

I'm back to basics - platform pedals and tenny runners until I can swing another pair of Bonty RL's. Heck, I've been back to my extremely wore out North Face trail runner things just because, well, they were with me for my best "season" to date - 2008. They've got a couple centuries, a gravel century, and some metric centuries in their corner - and they have grooves in the soles where my pedals fit right into. Hah!

The trails have been absolutely gorgeous, and I've taken full advantage of it. Monday through Thursday I racked up 85 miles of commuting.. and taking the wrong way. On purpose. It's great to be free, and the bike just does that. Today I drove because my legs were a little fried after yesterday's winds, and I needed to drop an alternator off at the shop. It probably weighs 40 pounds, and I wasn't sure if that would press my luck on my el-cheapo rack. Man, though, it was hard to trade the view from the driver's seat for this usual view on my commute:
Lincoln's trails have been gorgeous, but not just the trails. Yesterday the wind was howling out of the South and I was itchin', so I headed south. Kept heading south yelling and cussing at the wind on a road south of Lincoln until my legs were howlin' more than the wind.

Called it good and got in a nice solid 26 miles yesterday. Not what I was up to in '08, but I'll take it.. for now. Tomorrow I'm going to hook up with a couple friends in the morning and head out on the Mopac, it's been far too long since I've had a good coating of limestone dust on the LHT. Eagle? Elmwood? Wabash? Don't care, my only goal is to get in a 100 mile week, and I'm easily on track for that.

Sunday? Well, I think these three are up to something...

My bike needs a new, good, awesome home

2010-06-13T11:13:00.006-05:00

EDIT: And.. it's found a new home! Dang that was quick, and exactly the result I was hoping for. What a small, awesome world..

Above is the bike that started it all. Technically, it was my brother's old mid-90's Raleigh mountain bike that started this journey, but the Hardrock is really what got me going. Now it needs a new home.

Why? I'm not getting out of cycling - quite the opposite - it's just that I've known for the past two years, since getting the Long Haul Trucker, that the Hardrock is too small for me. Barends, extended seatposts, nothing I can do makes it comfortable to ride for me. It's the classic case of where I should have gone with my gut instead of what the sales dude told me to go with.

Here's the deal, I have a lot of memories wrapped up in this bike. It's special to me, extremely special to me, and I have kept it around for that reason. For a summer I rode it every day across town to see my then girlfriend, and now wife. It made me realize I could commute by bike to work. I had many adventures around Lancaster county on it, acquiring thousands of miles and some scratches in the process. I have a tendency to be dramatic at times, but I'm being completely serious when I say this bike changed my life. I've been given so much as a result of it, and now I want to give back.

I want this bike to go somewhere that it will continue to make a difference. First, here's what it is:

-2007 Specialized Hardrock Sport "Large" (19in)
-Three sets of tires - 26x2.1 "stock" Specialized Resoultion tires (replacement set, < 500 miles on 'em), 26x1.5 Specialized Nimbus Armadillo street tires (about a thousand miles, and thousands left), 26x1.9 Nokian W160 studded tires (just this winter, maybe 200 miles total on ice and snow)
-Two saddles - stock, and a Specialized Sonoma 155 "Body Geometry"
-New crank/BB - Shimano Alivio -Specialized Barends
-Custom built rear wheel, 36 spoke Sun Mammoth rim on the stock hub, hand built by my man Jared from Cycle Works - with a little bit of extra mojo itself
-SKS Rear fender

Asking price? $100*

What's the star for? Obviously if you know anything about bikes - this is a ridiculous steal. I could also put it on Craigslist for a couple hundred dollars more, and it could go sit in someone's garage for the next ten years gathering dust. This bike doesn't deserve that, it deserves to be ridden. It deserves to ooze some of that good mojo back at someone else, to change someone else's life.

You have to come to Lincoln, Nebraska to pick it up (or preferably already live here), and you gotta email me. bdinger at gmail dot com is the address to use. Maybe you wanna change your own life. Maybe you already did and need a little help along the way. Or maybe you wanna help someone out. Shoot me an email.

It's not about the bike

2010-05-22T14:33:00.003-05:00

I've been pretty bummed for the past coupe of weeks, after a really good roll (literally and figuratively), I got interrupted by a double whammy. First, I broke yet another SRAM chain on the way home from a fantastic ride. Then, two days later, the dog ate my really nice cycling shoes because, apparently, she likes me. I'm not sure I fully understand dog psychology, but she's a great dog and so she's been forgiven.

In the interim I've been stuck with one bike with a busted chain and clipless pedals that I have nothing to clip into them, and another bike that's too small for me and still wearing studded Nokian tires. While waiting for economics to be favorable for another set of those shoes, there are two alternatives:

1.) Put one of the two other sets of tires on said spare bike, which also has platform pedals.

2.) Move platform pedals to the LHT and get a new chain for it.

Somewhere along the line both of those options became too difficult, so I haven't done them. I'm not sure how they're difficult, but lots of other things have been occupying my mind and time lately so - well - they have! I'm reluctant to ride the old mountain bike because, well, this winter was horrible. Riding it layered in clothing with the burdensome Nokians aired up to 25 whopping psi through snow and ice was horrible. Every memory I have in my immediate memory.. "banks".. of that bike is horrible. Which is saddening, considering that just several years ago I couldn't stop riding the thing. Before clipless pedals, before steel framed touring bikes, before myriads of handlebar changes, before Brooks saddles and even before cycling shorts - I rode and rode that bike, loving every mile.

Putting things into perspective, I visited Kent's Bike Blog today and caught up on his recent posts. If you've never visited Kent before, let me summarize it for you: he's basically my hero. He lives simply, hasn't owned a car since 1987, works where he feels like (mostly in bike shops), live in the Pacific Northwest, rides bikes, and is about to ride his bike along the Great Divide from Canada to Mexico. Only after he rides his bike from Seattle to the start in Banff, Canada. When he gets to Mexico, it sounds like he's going to be riding his bike back to Seattle. For a minute, do the calculations of that in your head. You've just ridden your bike pretty much nonstop from Canada to Mexico, and now you're going to essentially ride it the whole way back.

Kent isn't going to be riding a high-end custom mountain bike during this journey, he's riding a single speed Redline Monocog 29er - the one indulgence, it seems, is that it's the "flight" model. No high end racing clothing, or even clipless pedals and cycling specific shoes for that matter, Kent is just going to ride his bike. Across the United States. Probably twice. Probably nonstop.

With that, I'm closing my Macbook and taking the toddler outside, where he'll help me put some non-studded tires on my perfectly good heavy and slow, but operational and fun mountain bike.

Hrm

2010-05-17T08:53:00.003-05:00

I'm having an impossible time finding things to blog about. You'd think with a dog who ate my cycling shoes (no, really), a used-nightly "new" gym in the garage, and everything else I'd have a novel.. but I don't! So how is YOUR cycling season going so far?

Recap of the first annual NSFW ride!

2010-04-30T15:55:00.006-05:00

Last Wednesday I took a PTO day and decided what better to do on your day off than.. you guessed it! Ride bikes! Shane over at NOA organized the ride, which would take us in a big square through Lincoln on our fantastic path system, and it was a great day of ridin'!

Along the way, we got a chance to visit several of our fantastic local bike shops, all who had eats, swag, and stuff for us to drool over. Also gave everyone a chance to talk, regroup, and the like. We eventually made our way up North in Havelock to Pepe's which I've been meaning to visit for about a year, just never seem to make it up that way.

If you can't tell by the line of hungry cyclists, this is a popular place - for darn good reason. Pepe makes everything from scratch, from local produce, and it's all vegetarian. I make good salsa, and i love my salsa - but I think I've found a #2. Talk about fantastic! I knew from that point I had the chips and salsa it would be good - and dang it was, but I also ate too much. Next time I'll go with the sweet potato quesadilla, not the huevos rancheros.. those are just too much food.
After lunch the group set out to head west to the Highlands for more ridin - and a great group it was! The pace was perfect for me, somehow I kept to the front the whole time and had a blast ridin'. Of course, then the full stomach set in, the wind kicked up, and I just settled back a bit and kept up

Discovered a new trail in the Highlands - and a nice one at that - I never knew existed. New being relative, of course, but just another excellent example of what we have here in Lincoln. We headed back south, the last stop before the end being the north Cycle Works, and everyone was having a good time:

Overall a great day, and a great ride. The weather was a little on the miserable side in the morning, but turned out to be about perfect in the afternoon. First long mile day of the year, I'd ballpark with the "long way" to the start and home I put in 55-ish miles, and it felt good to do so. Met some great folks, including a couple readers (I guess I have more than I knew!) and had a awesome time. Gotta do more rides like that!

The eternal beauty of children

2010-04-29T09:51:00.003-05:00

I want to tell you something about my daughter, who is 9 and probably one of the most beautiful people in my life. Yesterday she said to me "I love you, Ben, for who you are right now". I've struggled a bit with faith, with myself, and pretty much everything over the past year - but last night *TWICE* I saw the words of God spoken through the mouth of my little angel. After a tough night, and tough beginning to the morning I came to a stark realization:

I'm not a label, I'm not a definition, I'm not a role, I'm not a symbol, I'm not an icon, I'm not a object, I'm not happy, I'm not sad, I'm not a nice guy, I'm not a bad boy, I'm not a like, I'm not a comment, I'm not a bit, I'm not a byte, I'm not a blog, I'm not a social network, I'm not a Mac, I'm not a PC, I'm not a cyclist, I'm not the music that I listen to, I'm not the food that I eat, I'm not the liquid that I drink, I'm not a pawn, I'm not a piece of a puzzle, I'm not a man, I'm not a 500 pound man, I'm not a employee, I'm not what society wants me to be.

I'm Ben. It's nice to meet you.

Radio Silence - Broken

2010-04-11T11:32:00.002-05:00

I've been neglecting you quite a bit, my favorite creative outlet, but I'm still here and doing well. In fact, I'm doing better than I've ever been in quite some time. Just very, extremely, busy and trying to keep up with the mountain of work and homework that seems unwilling to give me a break. Last week was the first week of pretty much full riding in quite some time and it seems like I waited just long enough to do it. The weather was amazing, the riding was amazing, and overall it's been great.

Ironically the week before I was in SoCal, where the weather wasn't very conducive to riding. Even if it had been the only places i could find that rented rides either were renting full-zoot Ultegra roadies, nice high-end MTB's or beach cruisers. The middle one I could have hung with, but dang were they expensive. I guess not many folks in Laguna Beach roll on Surly bikes, and that's kind of how I roll. Worked out for the best anyway, as I was working so much that I really wouldn't have had time to ride.

Now that I'm back home, though, and the temps are coming up I'm starting to feel it again. Riding, riding, and riding some more - just enjoying every minute I get on the bike. There's no more time limits and no more goals, I just ride as far as I want to and go with it. I've found a bit of peace in life lately (which is more complicated than I can get into here), part of which is removing internal stresses and pressures I put on myself. Once you remove your own guilt, and can just enjoy something - that's where it's at.

It's been a long winter, pounds gained thanks to a tough time, hurt back, and this thing called Prednisone but now it's all coming back together. This past week solidified that, Friday in particular. I just pounded the cranks with all I had and found that you know what? It's good. Could I go ride the GLGA right now? Oh heck no.

But I will. When I'm ready.

There are reasons we get overweight, and it's not all about biology, marketing or poor food choices. Once you nail those down, and get blessed with an amazing support system (my wife is literally my angel, and my kids are my small blessings that make it all worthwhile), it comes together. The rebounding will stop, and that's where it's at.

Ride the Bike

2010-03-09T08:54:00.002-06:00

Man, all kinds of stuff coming up in the Lincoln cycling scene shortly. This weekend the PCL is going to be hosting the Lincoln-?-Lincoln ride, which sounds like a blast. I'd be there, but I have prior commitments this weekend.. d'oh! If you - the reader - can make it, do it. Great way to get some Vitamin G and enjoy what looks to be a rather very decent day weather-wise.

Next up, April 21 is the First Annual NSFW ride, hosted by Shane/Nebraska Outdoor Addict which I will indeed be taking a vacation day for. Sounds like an awesome ride on just about all of my favorite trails in town and stopping at all of my favorite shops - then lunch at Pepe's! So there, in volumes.

Seems like, finally, winter is over and you know what? I'm good with forgetting the winter of '09/'10. It was tough, terrible, and rough all put together between back problems, snow, ice, and just plain lack of motivation. I've lived in Lincoln for 28 years, and I've never seen a winter like that - ever. So here's hoping this winter is a bit more mild, and the summer is enough to get something going.

Those astute may note that I'm not listed on the GLGA/Gravel Worlds roster. I put off, then put off some more mailing in my card - and it seems to have caught me. I'm OK with that, it gives me time to focus on if I can actually pull it off this year instead of signing up then putting in a lackluster effort (see 2009).

More talk about riding soon, as the LHT should be either finished up, or about to be finished up by the fine folks at the south Cycle Works this afternoon. p.s. - thanks for putting a shop in a mile away from home, guys, sooo conveinent - but I miss the folks at the North store!

I hate to be a broken record...

2010-02-19T08:44:00.003-06:00

Seriously, will this winter ever end? I honestly don't remember a winter like this since I've lived in Nebraska, which has been 28 of my 33 years. Usually in the winter I get bummed at seeing the yellow, dead grass all winter - this winter that has happened. I haven't seen even the yellow grass since November! We've been buried, buried! underneath this crap for too long, and it's worn on me. Usually about this time of the year it's warming up, heck over a year ago (Feb 10th, to be exact) I was basking in a glorious 61 freaking degrees! Now it's cold! And I'm grumpy! With lots of exclamation!

Heck, looking at the weather outlook is depressing. Yesterday my brother commented that we haven't been over 45 degrees in two months and I laughed. Then I hit up weatherunderground, and.. he's right! The last day we had above 45 was December 1, when it was about 60 degrees... wow. It's not so much the temperature that's a problem (okay, it is..), but the snow and ice that just refuse to go away. I hate ice, and I hate riding a heavy mountain bike with heavy studded tires almost as much - but as it looks, I don't think that's going to change anytime soon. Maybe not until May at the rate we're going.

Not to beat a point to death, but this winter has been tough. It's been the brutal end to a brutal year. I'm ready to be done with 2009 completely, the year, the winter, all of it. I'm ready for 2010 to be decent, not great, just decent. Right now I'd take decent, I'd take 50 degrees, and I'd take the LHT on a long lost ride somewhere to reset my brain. That'd be all-right, as they say.

Today I have a lot to say about something.

2010-02-12T08:57:00.003-06:00

If you ever wonder, yes, sometimes it's very difficult to compose thoughts into a blog post. But.. not today. Today I'm furious, annoyed, and just.. opinionated. I watched this, but I'm not furious at it, kind of.. sort of.. well not at the little English dude. Just watch:

Done watching? Okay. Why am I furious? We live in the greatest society, arguably, to ever grace planet Earth. Our impoverished citizens live in more comfort than most nobility in the middle ages, hell let's make no mistake, than most other country in the world. We have beautiful homes, amazing technology, and have reached - to this point - the pinnacle of humanity.

But we're all dying. Fast.

We're dying because we have a healthcare system that is failing us. We have a healthcare system run by the robber barons of the 21st century, men and women who will stop at nothing to ensure their million dollar bonuses are safe, that the profits to their shareholders stay intact. They don't give a damn about you and me. We're customers, we're items on a balance sheet, and they have been posting record profits while we're all dying.

We're dying because we are fed food that isn't even food anymore. It's sustenance designed and chemically altered to make us want to buy more of it. Food grown on land no longer owned by the farmer, but owned by huge corporations, with seed that carries NDA's to even use it, genetically altered so that a plant - God's creation - somehow became owned by Man. Restaurants that have become corporations, no longer concerned about what's healthy but rather what tastes best, and what gets the consumer to come back.. until they too die.

We see television shows, pills, supplements, devices and gadgets all designed to help us lose weight, but they don't. Our hope plummets because society tells us these fancy gadgets and devices and supplements and fad diets are the only way to lose weight. We become derailed and do what everyone else does. We listen to the talking heads on TV who tell us healthcare reform is bad for America.

Dammit, STOP LISTENING! Jamie talks about angels walking the street, what concerns me isn't the angels walking the streets of earth. No, today the streets of heaven are crowded by angels, angels who gave up hope or just couldn't change. Angels who were denied care, who couldn't afford to go to the doctor, who couldn't afford to cook healthy meals, who didn't think change was possible. Today the streets of heaven are crowded, and I'm sick of it.

I've given up. I've fallen off the wagon. I've thought it's too hard. I've succumbed to the ease, convenience and "affordability" of fast food all in the past month. I'm sure I'll do it again, or maybe I won't. That's why I do this, that's why I write this. That's why I tell you when I fall off the wagon. I'm not superman, I'm far from it, I struggle with the same thing as everyone else does.

The only way that is going to change is if we change us, and the only way the world will change is if we change us. Healthcare companies stop making record profits if we stop having to go to the doctor every day. You'll start seeing healthy food at restaurants (real, truly healthy food) when that's what we as the consumer demand. We do live in the greatest country in the world, and we can all change this. Maybe we won't change it in time for our generation, but we can for our kids.

That is the one truly special thing we an do.

Rockin' in the snow-world

2010-02-10T20:24:00.002-06:00

You know, it's weird to say, but I think I really truly enjoy winter commute via bike over the commute via car. Maybe.. crazy is a better term but! Seriously! How awesome are the early morning commutes on a little bit of fresh snow, flyin' down the MUP (Multi-Use Path, aka "bike path" or "jogger path" or "ninja dog leash path") and jamming to some good tunes? So awesome they hurt.. kind of sort of literally sometimes.

Looks like this week will, finally, be a full week of bike commuting. I think my last full week was sometime in October of 2009, maybe November, but it's been a really long time. It's easy to forget how enjoyable it is, how enjoyable that hour every day to reset the brain is. Even if it's cold as Antarctica and ice so gnarly that even the studs slip - it's awesome. It will be more awesome in the summer, of course, but I'll take what I can get for now.

In other news, for the record, it never ceases to amaze me how much different 60psi than 25psi. Please, please, please mother nature no more crazy ice blasts. I can get used to the nice roll.. on studded tires. Wonder what it's goona be like when I can jam on regular tires @ 85 pounds? Probably awesome. Until then, I can handle the view, I think..

6 more weeks of winter, huh?

2010-02-08T20:22:00.003-06:00

Punxsutawney Phil, you and I are goona have words, amigo.

I've lived in Nebraska for 28 years now, and I honestly can't remember a winter with this much snow, and this much cold. Saying it has been trying puts it mildly, it's been downright disheartening. I've not been on the LHT since November, which feels more like a hundred years that over three months. I walk by it every day, running my hand across the brooks saddle, or stopping to just look at it. To think about the sweaty summer days grinding up some hill somewhere that is more like nowhere. Grabbing the bottle to take a swig of water, and getting a little bonus Vitamin G with it.

You know it's bad when thoughts of slugging off a water bottle covered with gravel dust are downright glorious.

Coming back to the land of reality, the Nokians got their first real workout today and man oh man - they passed with shining colors. Above is a sight that will make any winter commuter cringe, or soil the pants - wet glare ice. Heck, you can barely walk on this stuff but those Finns sure can make a tire - didn't phase 'em. Like, not at all, it was like I was on dry pavement. Seriously, the last time I had this big of a revelation on the bike was when I got the LHT, or more like the Brooks saddle. It's that big.

Next winter I think I'll pick up a pair of Schwalbe Marathon Winters for the LHT, and just throw 'em on at the first snow then leave them on until April. Only thing that has been stopping me from riding the LHT is the lack of studs, last winter all of my falls were slow speed ones on ice that just "snuck up" on me. The Nokians, well, at one point I was standing up a hill, and they didn't slip. When I was traversing some icy ruts on a side street they slipped, but it was weird, kind of like what you get with a 4wd, or with anti-lock brakes. They slip for a second or two, then grab and you're back in business. Really strange, and really awesome.

I have a lot more on my mind but for now I'll have to stick with the thoughts of a certain rodent out east, and how him and I are going to have a meeting by the bike racks.

First Ride

2010-01-25T08:09:00.004-06:00

I stood outside my house watching my breath come up in front of my face, a warm haze of vapor in a climate dominated by cold. My heart was racing nearly as fast as my brain, and my stomach felt something akin to a first date. Snow slowly fell from the sky, occasionally, enough to remind me that it's still winter, and I'm still a bit crazy.

Walking over to the bike I was running through the checklist in my mind: does my back hurt? Nope. Is my leg numb? Nope. Is my leg cramping? Nope, is that a cramp? Nope, don't think so. You sure - it might be! Nope no cramps. Walking over to the bike any number of scenarios ran through my head. My favorites:

I would immediately find that my legs are no longer able to pedal, and the world would end
I would start down the street only to find that the bike is falling apart under me due to neglect, and the world would end
I would fall spectacularly on ice even with the new Nokians, and I'd have something to blog about
It would be a normal, good, and slow ride to work

Lifting my leg over the bike I realized I probably should have stretched, but that's just fine - regardless of (constant) warning I never do. One foot on the pedal, hands on the handlebars I took a deep breath and pushed off... about as awkwardly as I did the first time I was ever on a bike, I'd imagine.

My first patch of ice greeted me about 15 seconds into the ride and all I could think was "oh awesome now I'm going to fall and never be able to bike again and break my bike all at the same time!" Problem is.. it didn't happen.

In fact, the whole way there, while painfully slow (~12-13mph average for the 5.5 mile trip) was completely and entirely uneventful. Nokians are fantastic, if terribly slow and heavy and 40psi under a guy who never runs less than 80 - but - I'll take it. Glare ice came up out of nowhere and I positioned myself for the fall, only to feel the occasional slip-n-catch of the studs. I'm a convert, and am goona ride these things until May (or.. Mid-April) even if it is slow, slow, slow going. If you want to simulate riding on gravel on.. pavement.. then pick up a set of Nokians and air 'em up to about 40psi. That will give a pretty good approximation of sound and resistance, and ya know? Kinda fun!

Anyway, great commute in, and now the car is where it should be - at the back of the parking lot at work just kind of hangin' out. Where it shall stay as a backup for the bike, rather than the opposite way around. All I can think of on this cold, dreary, wintry day is that life is good. Very, very, very good.

I've got to break free

2010-01-19T08:59:00.002-06:00

It's going to be this week, I can feel it. As long as I'm pain free for another day or two, and numb-free.. I'm supposedly pretty much in the clear... for now. Which means cycling is back, watching everything is back, and making sure this never, ever, ever happens again is back. Or.. something?

My back injury has been a major wake-up call. Let's, you know, leave it at that without delving dark into the recesses of everything that happened before and as a result of it. It's really been a first time an injury has been caused by my weight since I was big, and made me realize I don't want to play this game. Quietly I've taken mental inventory, used the month off the bike to think, and to appreciate the times on the bike. Suffice to say, in the end, it was good. During, it was horrible.

A good reminder of why it's worth it came this past weekend. I needed some new dress shirts for work after a, ummm, "dryer mishap" ruined three. So on Sunday while out of town I hit up a retail store or two and picked up some new clothes. While driving back to my in-laws' I thought about how much of a chore it used to be to get clothes, you know, when I was Big.

Clothes are one of my guilty pleasures, I'll admit it. When I was younger, I actually shopping for clothes and being well dressed. As I got Bigger, the options narrowed and narrowed until they were limited to the Big and Tall store(s). Which meant basically I got bland looking gigantic clothes that cost a lot of money. At my biggest I was wearing a size 62 pant that barely fit (my belly flopped over the waist of them), and a 6XL or 7XL shirt - you know, limited options and stuff that essentially looks like a tent come to mind. I hated buying clothes, absolutely hated it. I'd wear stuff until it was falling apart just so I didn't have to go through the experience of going to the Big and Tall again (albeit, I'll admit, at least the staff there was nice).

Now it's nice to be able to buy off the rack in a normal store, at low prices. I bought a pair of khakis on clearance at Cabelas on Sunday, and mused to myself about how much I used to pay for khakis - Dockers fit best at size 62, and at that size 5 years ago they were $75 normally, or $65 on sale. Bland, plain, cheap polo shirts were anywhere from $40-55. If you want some hidden costs of obesity, there it is.

Really, it's all about quality of life. I've struggled with one question in my mind over the past three weeks, and it's a simple one. A simple question, but with so much behind it that defies anything I could continue to post. "Has all this been worth it?"

This morning I sat down, looked out into the gray icy, cold, snowy scape that's outside of my window and asked it once again. A smile crept up my face and the answer finally hit. However many setbacks, challenges, see-saws, "fudges" and utter failures have occurred during this journey. As many times as I've made a post saying "I'M BACK ON TRACK!!" only to fall off a day/week/month later. Or even as many times as the willpower has been utterly and completely lost. No matter how many pounds have been lost, or gained, or lost again.

Yes, yes it has. It absolutely has.

It's hard to write when you don't ride

2010-01-16T08:07:00.002-06:00

I just realized that it's been now over a month since I've been on a bike. It's been over a month since I've been on the bike! I'd have to look back to confirm, but I'm pretty sure that since I've started this journey that's - by far - the longest stretch I've gone without even getting a recreational ride in. It's not driving me crazy. At all.

Let's face it, this winter has sucked. First Lincoln got hit with snow in volumes that I've not seen in my lifetime, then the cold to keep it here. That's cool, but I was unprepared bike wise - until the Nokians showed up. Put off putting them off for a week due to the craziness of Christmas. The day after I put 'em on.. my back screws up.

Last night my wife and I went on an impromptu date night, and whilst walking to Barnes and Noble from another store after dinner I went from feeling just normal to, well, by the time I was in B&N I needed to sit down as the whole front of my knee was completely numb. Not just that, another complication has emerged - my thigh muscle is completely devoid of any "power". Muscle flexes, looks like it's working, but there's just nothing there - I'm dragging around dead weight.

My PT says it's due to the inflamed disc pressing differently on the nerve - it's good that the pain is gone but obviously not so good that this is going on. It's not like we walked a couple miles either, more like 2 - at the most 3 - blocks. Still no bike for me, they want to consistently build space between the nerve and the disc and for now whilst the bike won't hurt, when I go back to a normal position that disc is goona bulge and start pressing on stuff.

So I'm stuck not being able to do, well, anything and really not knowing when I can. I'm almost completely off the medication and as far as I'm concerned, that's the last damn time I take any. I can't stand meds to begin with, and this has just furthered it. Prednisone made a world of difference in my back, but threw my moods off and make me puff up overnight. The Hydrocodone sure made my back feel great, but it was like being in a sea of fog. Skelaxin, I'm not sure what you did - but you DID make me loopy as heck and drool on myself.

What's next? I'm not sure. Lots of scenarios are running through my head, for the first time last night I seriously considered - in my head - what would happen if I couldn't ride again. Unfortunately after much consideration, that's not an option. I then considered the pit of self pity that I've been building on lately and realized that damn, it's gotten pretty deep. Really deep.

So now, what's next? I'm focusing on ancillary factors that are negatively impacting my life. Lookit that, it's almost a big person sentence! Anyway - I'm focusing this morning on what needs to be done so that when I do get back on the bike I can feel like I accomplished something as those first pedal strokes feel like I'm going uphill against a 50mph headwind. Maybe it's not building up miles, speed, endurance or even losing weight, but at least it's something positive that can be taken during a time where I just can't do anything.

Most of all, though, I'm formulating a plan of life in which something like this never, ever happens again.

Collateral Damage

2010-01-08T11:03:00.003-06:00

There are so many risks to being obese that, at this point, it's really hard to quantify all of them. Yet most, myself included at one point, look at the list and go "yeah I know I'm going to die if I keep doing this". See, though, it's not just about that - you run the risk of dying no matter what you do. Obese smokers could, theoretically, live to 90 while a triathlete can drop dead tomorrow at their peak from some unknown cause. So yes, obesity will kill you - and will kill you faster than being healthy, most of the time.

But that's not what this is about.

This is about that magical quality of life. I can tell you without hesitation that my quality of life now is higher than it was when I didn't care about what I did. Sure, riding a bike a bunch is "tough", not eating crappy food is "tough", and not doing all kinds of "fun" stuff our society deems fun is "tough". However, the pleasure I get from thinking about my on-bike exploits is far beyond anything an unhealthy habit can provide.

That's still not what this is about, but we're getting closer.

My last post hit on, briefly, what's going on with me right now. Moreso what's going on is that I have a disc in my back that's inflamed and pressing on a nerve that goes down to my leg. Last weekend and most of this week, that resulted in cramping pain in my right thigh every time I walked or stood up - and boy howdy did it hurt. Not just that, but I had to sleep basically sitting up with my legs elevated, on the couch, or it hurt like that when I attempted to sleep. So for four days I was on the couch in the living room, not in my bed, attempting to get some rest. And popping pills from three different pill bottles to deal with the pain, inflammation, and cramping.

What caused all this? Repetitive minor injury to one of the discs over time caused minor ruptures in the disc, which healed themselves with scar tissue. Over time, though, there was a lot of scar tissue - and now whatever I did made it mad, essentially, to where it was inflamed and bulging from those previous injuries and pressing against that nerve. Which was, and still basically is, hugely painful.

Pain I can deal with, but the thoughts of what might happen were worse. You know, am I ever going to ride a bike again? Heck, is this that injury where I never WALK again? Add in a side order, super-sized, of guilt for doing it to myself - and you have quite the combo. It was a rough couple days.

Today, almost a week later, I'm probably 50% better. The cramps are mostly gone, but there's still some pain, and now I have numbness in that leg this morning. I'm going to Physical Therapy three times a week to get it addressed, as well as being on Prednisone and a special back pill thing. I was on hydrocodone for the pain, but it left me feeling foggy headed and not myself, so I'm done with it (took one last night, no mas).

Outside, right now, it's about 5 degrees below zero with a -20 windchill, but all I can think about is riding my bike. Or, moreso, trying not to think that maybe the last time I rode was the last time I'll ever ride. Trying not to think what other ailments are lurking and ready to strike, sins of the past that will now catch up to me in painful, debilitating ways.

Obesity will kill you, and it will kill you in extremely painful ways. It doesn't just kill you, but it kills your soul. The next time you go to McDonald's just think, is that cheeseburger worth never being able to walk again? Is that alfredo sauce really worth golden years spent in a wheelchair? I know that's all I think about, and I hope by sharing this, it will help someone else.

The pain spent to get healthy is good pain, I look fondly upon even the most painful memory of cycling while the pain I have now will be remembered as a very dark, desolate time. Does that make sense? I'm sure it doesn't because five years ago it wouldn't to me, or maybe even a month ago. Now the only thing I can think about are long gravel rides, and the peace that comes with them. Sure there's pain, but it's sure better than this.

Disc issues welcome me to 2010

2010-01-03T15:16:00.004-06:00

Just as I was gearing up mentally for some awesome snow and ice riding on the new Nokians, yesterday a strange pain develops. My right thigh started to cramp up whenever I would be standing or walking. Sit down, went away. Keep standing - gets worse. WTH? Figured I needed to hydrate and sleep (not nearly enough of that lately).

Yeah, not much sleep last night due to loads and loads of pain, I basically found one "spot" where I could sleep but that worked long enough for me to doze off, then wake back up shortly in lots of pain. This morning I gave in and went to a local clinic that was open today, and lo and behold it's a disc issue in my back. Fun times.

Somebody's trying to send me a message. They've been trying real hard lately, and I finally get it. Time to take it easy for a couple days and hope for the best with the back (if it gets better, I'm good, if not.. let's not think about that), then get back in gear so I don't have to deal with this crap anymore.

Hakkallelujah

2009-12-18T19:18:00.003-06:00

For two winters I attempted to commute on regular mountain bike tires. This winter, you may note, I thought I was going to do something new. Brilliant idea, it really was, but it has really one fatal flaw:

I don't like being inside

Which, of course, I realize every winter right about this time. Then I tried to ride on regular old mountain bike tires - let's just say, that don't work so well. Falling on ice, well, it ain't fun folks. So this year about the time all that comes together I decide to order some Nokians.

In December.

Who else wants Nokians in December? Gee, maybe just about every other guy or gal on a bike in the upper 40. So I had to do some digging, but I found some W160's and hopefully they won't be shipped via carrier pigeon. Want good Nokian info? I read Peter White's entire page, and it's fantastic.

Gym is out, bike is back in. So hopefully a post or two from the bike will happen soon enough. Until then, have a Merry Christmas - ride your bike, and rock it.

(As a sidenote, I'm not blogging not because I haven't been on the bike, but because - man, I forgot how challenging of a time sucker school is. Expect a flurry of blog posts during the next two weeks about all kinds of stuff because, well, school's out)

Winter

2009-12-07T09:42:00.003-06:00

During the summer, that courtyard is an awesome place to sit and read a book over the lunch hour. Now, well, it's an awesome place to sit and read a book if you're a Eskimo. Winter's tough on many for about a billion reasons. It's cold out, so exercising outside is pretty much out unless you're a little nuts. The cold weather makes you want to eat more warm foods, and drink more. Lack of outdoor exposure makes everyone just a widdle bit on edge. And, you know, it's cold.

Every. Single. Year. Winter has been tough for me, and I've inevitably put on pounds - this year I've vowed (LIKE I'VE DONE EVERY YEAR OF COURSE) ((LOUD NOISES)) not to put on weight over the winter and - ideally - to lose some. I've got lots of error on the books, so I'm trying to learn from it. Here's some things I've done wrong:

Pushed too hard to keep riding through the butt of winter using poor/incorrect equipment
Pushed too hard to get in x number of hours at the gym
Either completely deprived myself during the holidays, or completely went off the damn reservation
Took a hiatus from calorie tracking because of the above
Took a hiatus from weekly weigh-ins because all of the above
Been a wuss

On the first count let's face it: getting cold stinks. It stinks, arguably, worse than getting overheated in the summer. You know what's worse than that? Falling on ice. So this year I'm just taking it easy on that stuff until I get studded tires - I'm not repeating the mistake of pushing too hard through too crappy conditions only to get discouraged and not do it at all. Similar goes with the gym, I'm not going to do the whole "well I ride outside for two hours a day, so I should workout indoors for two hours a day". Yeah, that gets old quick - the inside of a gym isn't as appealing as mama nature.

So here's where it all comes to play. Weight loss on paper is brilliantly simple: it's all intake vs burn. Track everything for a couple weeks, and you'll know pretty quickly what you are burning for what effort. Saturday and Sunday I didn't workout at all but that's OK - I also didn't eat as much as I do on days when I'm working out (and wasn't nearly as hungry). If you eat 2500 calories/day on a summer day when you're riding two hours a day, you could dump it down to half that on a sedentary day.

Full circle, just track. Track even on bad days. Track even on those days where willpower goes completely the hell out the window and you hit up the fast food joint like a sailor with his first paycheck on shore leave. Why? It keeps you accountable and it lets you look back and see exactly what went wrong where. So you had three pieces of pumpkin pie and half a turkey - you'll know in the future what that goes for. Either that, or just avoid it entirely if you have that willpower - and can move beyond the whole "I'm being denied" thing. It's up to what works for YOU.

So anyway, my plan for the winter is to just keep at it. I want to lose 10% of my body weight before March 1, which is pretty conservative but you know what? It's better than what I've done every. single. winter. up until now.

More ride pics as soon as either I get some studded tires, or the snow goes south for the winter.

Tracking (aka The Dark Side)

2009-11-29T20:07:00.004-06:00

Okay, I caved. The proof is above, the LHT now has - after two years of service - a bike computer. I vowed two years ago that she wouldn't, and she's done great this long without - but - I cave. I want to keep track of miles, I want to know how long it took me to ride those miles, and sometimes I might even pay attention to the speed.

In other words, I'm a geek. And for those of you who I mocked for keeping track of stats and miles, you may now unleash the mockery train upon me.

Second up, I'm religiously tracking calories again via The Daily Plate/Livestrong.com after a bit of a hiatus. Here's what's funny, when I track calories - I lose weight. When I don't track calories - I don't. Amazing how that works isn't it? Shock and Awe. Etc.

Their iPhone app is, really, about the best thing ever. I think I've blogged about that App before, but seriously - above is today, and today's done at about 2100 calories (TDP thinks I should have 2800, I think they crazy). The thing is in my pocket, so I can update what I eat as I'm eating it. None of the "oh crap I forgot to enter it", the thing is in my pocket ready to rock and roll - anywhere. This and other apps are lifesavers when eating out, but I'll have more on that later.

Today has been a day of rest, literally, as I prep stuff for the week ahead. I'm about to drive my week's worth of clothes into work, then call it a night a bit early. Going to be a dark cold morning - great for riding a bike.

An instant cure for the "blehs"

2009-11-28T11:33:00.002-06:00

Have a case of the "blehs"? Wanna turn that frown upside down? Then Doc CSB orders qty 1 dose Vitamin G, applied daily to the affected area. More doses = more smiles.

That's just how it is.

Today was some Vitamin G-lite for me (does it qualify for Vitamin G status? I'll wait for the gavel overlords to chime in on that one), about an hour and a half of it. Man, just man oh man what the hell have I been thinking the past month? No gravel goodness? Jeez louise...

You know what though? It's just grand. Just right on, pure and simple, thumbs up goodness. A lunch of steamed rice, flatbread, sauteed mushrooms, bell peppers and hummus are cookin', gotta be my most favorite combo ever.

Have a great weekend - I know I am.

A lot to be thankful for

2009-11-26T20:15:00.002-06:00

Today it is not lost on me how much I have to be thankful for. For this year alone, the list could be a thousand miles long (almost literally, depending on font size of course..) so I won't go deep into it. What I will say is that one of the things that I'm most thankful for is you, that is, everyone who reads this blog. Everyone who emails, comments, and otherwise is part of this.

For that support that you give to me, thank you.

Paying Back, or Forward, or just doing some good

2009-11-19T18:11:00.003-06:00

I've had a fortunate life, I'll be the first to admit. Sure I've had my struggles, things have been hard but at the same time, things have always just seemed to fall into place. Along the way I've met some people who have done things for me that have just been, you know, awesome.

I have a class right now that requires some community service. So I've always been quietly impressed with Habitat for Humanity, and decided you know what? Why not. What have I found? An amazing group of people. Seriously. SERIOUSLY.

Today I took a vacation day to see how it was during the week. Today's task was pouring a basement, putting that big ole beam in, and some other tasks getting the foundation ready for the floor to be put in, and framing to start this weekend. There's this core group of guys who are retired, and have been doing this forever. One is 80, and he's been doing it for around 20 years - 3 days a week of hard work. Another, a guy from Iraq who's hoping for his own Habitat home, was one of the hardest workers I've ever met (I thought he was going to try to move that beam on his own - seriously). None of em, not a one, are getting a paycheck - they're all there out of the goodness of their hearts. Which is a whole lot of goodness, folks.

We were done by 1:30-ish, and I felt tired but good afterward, and am planning to go back to the same house on Saturday. After that, I'm planning on once a month (at least) volunteering. It's pretty easy to do, you just show up to the jobsite and start working. Good old fashioned hard work, nice people, and enough good karma to fill up memorial stadium.

By sheer accident, really, I came upon Mission Bean Coffee recently. This company is owned and operated by the People's City Mission of Lincoln, which itself is a simply fantastic organization focused on helping those most in need with everything they can. I first met Pastor Tom several weeks ago, then met with a guy named Sasha who's running the Mission Bean part of the mission. Both are just amazing people with the best outlook on life you could imagine.

Mission Bean's brews are right on great, I like good coffee and it's up there on the top of my list. I dig the Dark Roast and my wife digs the Hazlenut Cream. Best part? The profits and revenue go directly to the mission - each bag sold provides two meals (you out-of-Lincolnites can order them online). And these are Charles Dickens'-esque soup lines at the mission, they hire professional chefs to make high-quality meals. Pastor Tom said they aim for "Village Inn quality or better" because, in his words (summarized a bit) people come in there with nothing - no home, no food, and many times little dignity left - why not do everything you can to give them a great meal right off the bat to start some good feelings? Awesome. Just.. awesome. Walking through the mission they had commons areas with nice looking couches, big ole LCD TV's, computers and - really - all the amenities you'd find in a nice hotel. Amazing.

Both of these organizations have left their mark on me. Often we race to see how much we can make off everything, forgetting that sometimes making nothing can feel better than a million bucks.

Priorities

2009-11-11T07:54:00.002-06:00

I've been working hard on this subject lately, I won't kid you, right now I'm busy. Work plus school plus family plus exercise = spinning head syndrome. Obviously blogging has fallen to the wayside, and that just stinks because there's been so much good out there. Good weather, good folks, good rides - just downright good.

Exercise has become a priority, which is awesome, I've been at the gym over my lunch hour 4 days out of 5 for the past two weeks during the work week. I've bike commuted every day but one for the past three weeks (I give myself a optional day every week), and man, it's been kinda nice. Weather? Gorgeous. Rides? Perfect. I've been doing this wacky thing - I ride to ride, no other reason. It's awesome.

The gym, however, is where I go to die. I don't have a lot of time so, you know, gotta make it count right? 30 minutes on the elliptical, then jogging on the treadmill at 5mph for 6.. and working up. That wacky treadmill was done on a whim one day and ya know what? It ain't bad. And I'm never going to make fun of joggers again. It's challenging as hell, with that in mind, I set a personal goal to jog a 12 minute mile by the end of November. I know that's snail pace, folks, but man it sure doesn't feel like it!

Yesterday I told my wife that as I was leaving the gym I became obsessed with Chipotle. I was goona do it, I was out of "lunch stuff" at work so I was going to hit Chipotle on the way home. The obsession became almost sick, one track mind focused solely on those ginormous burritos and those oh so crunchy... yeah you get the idea. Pulling into the parking lot for a second I stopped, then fired up the Daily Plate/Livestrong app on the fruitphone. Snapping that obsession out was a simple check of how many calories are in that thing.

Yikes!

So my advice of the day? Get a cal counter or app and look at it. Man oh man. Not to mention financial impact - I got lunch stuff for a week+ for fifteen bones at the store, Chipotle would have probably been 50-75% of that cost - for "one" meal. Dang! Multiply that by 5 days and... uggh.

I might actually weigh myself one of these days, but everything is fitting better and I feel good. That's pretty awesome, let me tell you.

So to wrap everything up, my one piece of advice? Make your weight loss of the highest priority, and it will happen. It's really that easy.

Sometimes you get what you need

2009-10-31T15:18:00.003-05:00

I've been deep in thought (again) about things, and mainly the state of our society (notice the our, I'm including myself here). A while back I was speaking with someone at work who I deeply respect, and he noted the stark difference between his generation and mine. "Back in my day" he said "we would buy a dump of a house that we could easily afford, then we'd put sweat and real equity in the thing to make it our own little mansion. Your generation seems to prefer to max themselves out buying something that they can barely afford, but don't have to do anything to. When it comes time to fix it, they just sell it."

And you know, that's so freaking true.

I know people who lease cars because "I don't want to worry about maintenance costs", nevermind the loss you take by constantly, essentially, renting a vehicle. Or those who I've seen with a computer that needs a little work, instead they decide to just replace it with a new one. We go to college and instantly expect a high-paying job that gives us lots of stuff, and when we can't really afford it, we leverage ourselves to the roof. What's with that?

We (notice the self-inclusion here) have forgotten that whole "hard work" mantra. I like Dave Ramsey, and one of the things I like best about him is his emphasis on how hard work shows results. When I've put my mind to something, and work my tail off, it has results. When I kind of amble along and hope for something to happen.. guess what? It doesn't.

Several years ago I sat around hoping for some sort of miracle that would bust me out of my lonely 500 pound prison. Some sort of miracle cure that would instantly give me the life I'd always wanted. It, obviously, didn't happen. Rather I put some hard effort forward, and now I've got most of the things I've always wanted and needed. There's one last push to get through, today I realized, that final mindset change to really push forward. I haven't done it yet, others have (like LFoaB), so I know it's possible.

Slowly but surely I'm realizing what I have that I need, and that the rest that isn't there, just requires some dang hard work on my part. I've come so close, but I always stop when the end is close. Today I caught myself wanting to stop carrying bags of wet leaves to the pickup, going "oh there's only three left, they can wait". Why? Why can they wait? Why can all of this wait? They can't! They've waited long enough, damnit!

The wants, however, they can wait.

Winter Plans (Or how I'm going to learn to lose weight when everyone is gaining)

2009-10-24T11:40:00.002-05:00

Fall and Winter have always been tough for me, or rather, mostly winter. It seems like after a tough summer, by late August/early September I run out of gas (proverbially) and take some time off from the bike, gain some weight, then re-focus sometime in late September. This year has been no exception, right there right now, etc etc. Winter is the problem, once it starts getting really cold all I want to do is eat, drink, and stay warm.

Which is, you know, the perfect opposite of what needs to be done to lose weight/stay fit.

So this year, after three years of cold season errors, I'm putting everything together. Finally. Step 1 is that yes, I'm planning to continue bicycle commuting all year round. I rode in some pretty dang cold and slick conditions last winter, so I know what it takes to Not get hypothermia or break bones. I'm not going to even try for long commutes, and there's a complex answer to why not, but it simply breaks down to time. So my rides will amount to about 12 miles a day, which I'm going to use for the mental health benefit, when I ride at a reasonable pace (like I did yesterday) I just feel damn good afterward.

What about exercise? The other day I renewed my Y membership for that. This is where making time comes in to play, I'm blocking off 90 minutes on M-W-F to go over my "lunch hour" and hit the elliptical hardcore. Tuesdays and Thursdays are pretty crazy for me, so I generally work through lunch on those days anyway (well, right now EVERY day, but I'm working this out..). It's not the 6 hours a day they talk about on the biggest loser, but it's better than 0.. right?

Yesterday was also the first day on the elliptical and.. there's work to be done :). I keep reminding myself that I'll get there (I think I can I think I can I think I can..).. which is where it's at every year it seems like, when I first get back on those horrid awful machines. That I love. We have an odd relationship, that's for sure. I'm thinkin this year, that I won't suspend that membership over the summer.

Thank You for the support via comments, tweets, and emails after my last post - as my wife commented, it means a LOT to me. It's been a tough couple months, but my head is up, and man are those leaves gorgeous on the bike path. Go check 'em out, fall only happens once a year.

The Right to Bare Arms

2009-10-19T20:52:00.005-05:00

I have this sinking suspicion that this will be the last image like this for some time to come now, our winter has come early and come with a vengeance. So awesome, right? Notice I said "winter" and didn't mention "fall", seems we've skipped right over the whole fall thing into winter. But, enough about the weather.

Where have I been? Today I got stopped by a reader on the bike path, noticed by my record-holding amount of headset spacers, and it's not the first time today that I've been reminded that I've not blogged for some time. Yeah, about that, oops. Been over a month, actually. Yeesh. So what's happened? Where have I been? I refer to it as the quad-fecta: I'm back in school, the kids are back in school, work is busier than ever, and we have this toddler guy in the mix. I do lots of typing for work and school, so blogging has fallen by the wayside in a terrible way. And so has my cycling, and my health overall.

That photo was taken last week on a particularly miserable day - it was 40 degrees, raining steadily with a wind blowing right in my face, and I wasn't at all prepared for it clothing-wise. I lucked out and had a rain jacket in the car, and my light windproof gloves kept the cold at bay a little bit, but man.. it was wretched. It wasn't just that, though, my self-discipline has been particularly terrible lately with regard to the old intake thing, and terrible with regard to the whole exercise thing, that day it was wearing hard on my head as I realized I couldn't just hammer it home in 10 minutes like I used to be able to pull off. The cold muscles managed to get me there in 20, with a 5 minute stop to get out of the rain and convince myself to keep riding.

I'm human, it's becoming all too evident, but man I'm getting tired of falling off the wagon, then having to write about it. I've written a lot about it, but thing is, getting back on is tough as nails - but you can still get back on. I figure that I'm still ahead in the getting back on vs falling off score, which in the end is all that matters - but at some point you've got to just man the hell up and do it. I can find more excuses not to do something than I can find to do it, and I can find all kinds of excuses why I chose not to do it - or I could just use all that energy and freaking do it.

Did that little thought rollercoaster make any sense? Still on board? Hah

Anyway, someone said something today that really hit me - "baby steps are just procrastination", ya know, so true. I'm a huge fan of Dave Ramsey, and he continually emphasizes this magical concept of "hard work", and the benefits thereof. I'm still adding them together in my brain, and waiting for the output.

So how many times have I made one of these "I'm back on the wagon" posts? Hell, I don't even know at this point, and even I am sick of reading 'em, but I'm hoping that maybe someone reading goes "well crap, happens to someone else, guess there is a way out after all". That's it.

But man, I'm really sick of writing them. Maybe just sick enough for once to do some size 14 steps.

The most wonderful time of the year

2009-09-01T21:07:00.005-05:00

For the past three years this tree has been my indicator that fall is coming, for whatever reason (likely some very scientific one regarding what kind of tree it is, but my science is with this silicon-based things..). When I was up north on saturday during the GLGA EPICNESS 2.0 I noticed a couple trees on MMR's that were startin to color up, and man, it's nice to see it happening here. The weather has been phenomenal, in the afternoons on the ride home it's been in the 70s with the morning being ever so chilly in the 40s. But that's nothing a little wool-n-argyle style can't fix...

I'm seriously ordeirng 7 pairs of these things. They are comfy beyond words. Wore my other Sock Guy socks today, and it just wan't the same. The style just wasn't there.

This morning was one of those where I both wished that I had woken up earlier, and that I had taken the day off. Something about it the second I got on the saddle.. just perfect. Added to that, had a chance meeting on the trail with a reader, and a LJS employee who helped make my story possible, Peter. Great to meet you, Peter, hope I catch you out there again! To say Lincoln has a awesome cycling community is putting it mildly. Much like saying it has an awesome trail system.

More like an absolutely awesome trail system. Seriously, go find out. Go lose yourself for 15, 20, or 30 minutes on a trail. Forget about life for a bit and spin the cranks - or maybe just walk. Whatever you do, just have a blast doing it.

Every time I ride a bike I feel better inside. It's not science, nope, it's just plain stinkin' rotten fun - something I think the world forgot how to do for awhile during the recession, wars, and all the nonsense that's been going on for too dang long. Smile, and the rest will follow.

That's all I've got for today. Shaping up to be a great week, I've got a feeling..

New Gear I've been digging

2009-08-31T10:12:00.006-05:00

This weekend on the GLGA I finally got to try out some new gear on a long gravel grinder, which is more like saying, it's the first time I've really tried some of it... heh :). When I started out, I dug real reviews of stuff from real folks, espescially bigger folks, so when I find something that works I like to give my spiel on it. Here goes!

Bontrager RL MTB Shoe:

Let me summarize this real quick - the GLGA was the first really long ride with clipless shoes/pedals, and it's also the first really long ride that I've not had foot numbness or pain on. In fact, my feet were downright dang comfy the whole ride, and afterwards, something that I couldn't say was entirely true last year when I was still on my sneakers and platforms kick. I have big, wide feet that are next to impossible to find comfy shoes for, but these things fit me as good, or maybe even better, than my work shoes - which I bought at an actual shoe shop, and weren't what we call cheap (I got sick of hurting feet all day). I like these shoes so much that I'm wanting to pick up another pair, just in case Bontrager got a wild hair and decided to discontinue them. Maybe two more pairs.

I'm only partially kidding.

Next: Aerotech Designs Jersey

Disclosure: Aerotech Designs sent me this jersey and a pair of shorts as a thank you for allowing them to use my previous review of my favorite shorts ever on their website. Which was awesome, and worked out well because I've been wanting try a jersey for some time.. but anyway, here's the deal - for $35 bones, this is a pretty dang good piece of clothing. I've been using it a couple times a week since I got it, and about the only sign of wear is the reflective strip across the butt/pockets, which is coming off thanks to washing.. or probably forgetting to not-dry. The fit is excellent, and the pockets are awesome, I really appreciated having them on the GLGA for the cue sheet and nutrition. Most of all, it was comfy for the entire ride.

My only gripe? I wish the fabric was a "smooth" type, like Under Armor shirts. So next year I'll probably go the route of a "smoother" fabric, but I'll pick another one or two of these up. Oh, and I wish they came in black.

Planet Bike Blaze 1W CREE headlamp:

Last year I found the limits of my cheapo Bell Luxeon-based LED headlamp. It was OK, but not even good and certainly not great. With winter coming a little while ago I figured it was time for a new headlamp, so I picked this up. Now has been the first chance I've really had to use it.. and...

It's awesome. Seriously.

I got into light geeking a couple years ago, and I have a nice little stock of a couple really nice SureFires, Innova (tacticals), and some Streamlights. So I judge lights on that level, which bike lights - unless you spend a ton - haven't been able to compete with. Until now.

This light is awesome, simply awesome. When I bought the LHT I picked up a Planet Bike Superflash taillamp, and that thing is killer, this is no exception. Way to go Planet bike, this thing has awesome throw, spill, runs on AA's, and is cheap. You can't go wrong. Want more light? Get two. This winter is going to be SOOO much easier with this light.

Yeah, I'm about to review socks: Twin Six Argyle sock:

Here's the deal: I wouldn't review something like, you know, socks unless I thought they were really good, and had a impact on my comfort on the bike. Well, they are really dang good, and they are really comfortable on the bike. I didn't buy them because of that, I bought them because I was at Cycle Works picking up some spare tubes, saw 'em and had a little laugh at the geekiness factor. I'd been meaning to try out some wool cycling socks, and I dig the good stuff Twin Six does for the cancer fight - so I grabbed 'em. And I'm glad I did.

Just like my Smartwool socks that I use for hiking/winter cycling, they're immensely comfortable while also keeping the feet from getting that "clammy" sweaty feeling. Sock Guy socks seem to do a great job in both, but after 4 or 5 hours they start to feel kind of damp. I don't like that feeling. These, at no point, got to there - and I sweat a LOT.

So I was comfortable, and stylin'. I'd like to drop some more pounds so I can sport the matching jersey next season. Yes, I'm totally serious.

That's all I've got for today, folks. Lookin' forward to a nice spin home.. awe yeah!

The Good Life Gravel Epicness

2009-08-30T21:58:00.004-05:00

I don't think "adventure" sums it up, for the second year in a row it's more like "epic". First things first, I DNF'd this year at checkpoint 3/Mile 81. Or, about mile 87 for me for the day. I learned lots of lessons, did pretty good on applying ones from last year, met some awesome folks I was hoping to see again, and some awesome new ones. Summary: It was epic. Again.

Now, why the DNF? Cramps. Again. For the past 24 hours (give or take) I've been searching for a reason why they crept up again. Did I hydrate? Heck yes I did, thanks to the Kansas Guys I had my gigantic Gatorade bottles (seriously, thanks again, and it was good to see you again), plus my third bottle, PLUS two reserves. In the first 4 hours I went through 96 ounces of regular old water and 48 ounces of Smart Water. I started taking salt tabs two hours in, and took 3 per hour. Chewed 3 shot blocks every hour. But, at mile 30 when I was really startin to rock it, they reared their ugly head. Why?

Branched Oak Road. It's my nemesis.

I'm not entirely joking.

This year Corey put Branched Oak and the tough stuff right at the beginning/middle, which I thought was awesome. Looking at the layout of the route, I figured once I made it to Malcom it'd be a nice roll into Denton with a couple rollers, then a little bit of elevation to Cortland, and a nice roll up North from Cortland to Lincoln that I've taken most of before. So I had a very simple strategy from the beginning: the Tortise still finished the race. I was going to be the tortise, so once we hit Branched Oak I let the group split off ahead and I grannied up the hills. I'm not kidding, I put the front der in the little ring for the first time ever (aside from making sure I could after buying the bike), and I spun. On a couple of the biggies I swore grasshoppers passed me, I just dug in and listened to the tunes, and rode through it.

Then, well, something happened. I decided to push it harder so I geared up and did that. I forgot to drink for some time, probably a half hour, while I did my little attack, convinced I needed to close the distance to the rest of the group I was ridin' with. So I did that. Then I turned on to Northwest 30th street - closing in on Valpraiso - and saw it was pretty mild, so I hit it again. Then the hills started to come, and I didn't give 'em respect. I saw someone in the distance on the top of a particularly gnarly lookin' roller bent over by his bike, and was like yeah, I'd better hit it.

At the top of the hill a few minutes later I was too bent over by my bike, with full lockup leg cramps. At mile 32-ish. Or maybe it was 36. Whatever it was, I was fully in panic mode. So I took a break, ate, hydrated (slugged 24oz of smart water, and my reserve bottle), shot block..ed, and I might have yelled.

A lot.

Over an hour later I made it the last 10 or 11 miles into Valpraiso, where Guitar Ted and Oly were about to head out, and I arrived with leg cramps and a flat front tire. They were awesome and repaired the flat while I picked up some junk food and more water. After a little rest I felt awesome again, and was ready to rock it. I had been riding with Oly and Guitar Ted for quite a while until Branched Oak, where I turned into the Turtle, and they got some good distance on me. At one point during my ill-fated rally I'm sure I saw them a couple of rollers ahead of me, obviously that didn't hold up.. :).

Anyway, we rolled out of Valpraiso with the promise that soon that semi-gnarly wind out of the North would turn into a wonderful and glorious tailwind to push us the 60 miles South. That's some inspiration right there. I took it conservative, convinced that I'd catch back up to them after a little bit.

Then, some cramps.

Dale from Omaha, great guy who I met and rode with last year for a bit, met up with me just as I had turned on to Ashland Road, where I was in the grips of some cramps, and trying to (but thankfully not able to) post a rather dark Facebook status update. Told him to go on, I knew at that point I didn't have much of a choice, I had to get to civilization.

Not pride, but because the two cellphones I had with me were a AT&T and a Sprint phone. So you can be guaranteed when you absolutely need to use 'em, they won't be there.

Some time passed, probably almost two hours, and I made it to Malcom, NE where I saw Dale sitting in front of the store, and where I had my first clipless fall. Haha, looking back I still laugh as I was thinking of myself laying there with a skinned up arm (I do clipless falls GOOD, folks), laughing at the ridiculousness of my luck. At that point I knew finishing wasn't in the cards unless something seriously changed, I was getting to that point where every other hill was bringing cramps, even in the granniest of granny gears. In retrospect I should have just jumped on the highway and headed back to Lincoln, hung out at the trailhead to see the fast group finish (the fastest of which finished the thing in 8hrs 25 mins, I'm in awe, yo), but fueled with some really mediocre/bordering on terrible food from the Snack Stop (or whatever it is) I had a little rally again.

Climbing the little hill on gravel outside of Malcom, my chain snapped. I had to stop and just, you know, laugh. Hard.

Thankfully I had the foresight when replacing a chain this spring to put the old SRAM PowerLink from that chain into my flat repair kit, so 20 minutes later I was rolling again (I'm not exactly fast at the chain replacing thing, but big thanks to Jim and Matt W last year for showing me how to do it), and laughing. That waas it, at that point I knew it - the signals were loud and clear, this year a finish just wasn't in any cards. I was going for Cortland, a nice gravel century, and figured it was there.

Right about here I knew it wasn't. The cramps were back, and I just wasn't going to finish like last year, destroyed and in pain. I rode a bit further, then called my wife and told her to meet me in Denton.

In the end I know the reason for the cramps, it's really simple: Lots of tissue, not enough miles. I've learned all kinds of stuff, again, and it's time to apply it. And, again, I met a ton of simply awesome people there. I'm not kidding, it's a totally different group that rides these things, and I'm glad I was there.

Will I do it again next year?

Yup.

Tomorrow

2009-08-28T20:53:00.002-05:00

Can't wait for it, I'm ready and raring to go - the only possible problem could be my still-sore anke/heel/tendon. I'm hoping the slight pain/stiffness is going to work itself out quickly tomorrow, or won't even show up on the bike - but I'll deal with it if it does. The course this year is 140 miles, but it looks rockin'. Weather looks to be perfect - high of 74, winds out of the North at 10-15mph. *awesome*

I'll be updating my facebook and twitter accounts enroute, just because that's how I roll - geeky. With two smartphones. Heh.

On a not completely unrelated note, inside something has been missing for me lately. I'm hoping tomorrow brings some time for me to work that out inside, and walk inside the house afterward tomorrow evening bringing something new with me.

The Good Life Gravel Adventure

2009-08-22T20:35:00.002-05:00

Next weekend it's 135(ish) miles of gravel insanity, ready and caling. Am I in? Oh hell yes. It looks like right now (or sometime today) the PCL crew was out testing the route in prep for next weekend. Last year the route was tough, real tough, and if I were to think it's going to be easier - I'd be foolish. It's goona be tough, real tough - but full of glory.

What's my strategy? I have little. Next week I'm riding to work every day but Friday, no long rides, just 20 miles a day. Goona eat right, keep hydrated, and take good care of my body. During the ride I'm going to turn the bike into a camel, and carry as much water as I can. I'm gunning for six bottles between the three cages and the rack trunk. Heck, maybe even 7 or 8. Last year that was one of my two critical errors - not enough water - and I'm NOT repeating it this year. I'll carry 8 extra pounds of water to avoid a repeat of those cramps. Seriously.

Second folly last year was pushing too hard during the first half and running completely out of steam. To avoid that this year I'm going to wear a heart rate monitor and keep close religious eye on my heart rate/effort. If I spin up a hill in a granny gear, I spin up a hill in a granny gear. It's better to do than blow up late in the ride.

Finally, I'm just going to ride until I can't ride any more. If that's at the end, at the mopac trailhead - awesome. If it's somewhere in the middle, right on. But, I don't like giving up. I'm also going to take regular smal breaks instead of a couple realy long ones - I'm shooting for 10 minutes every two hours, maybe more, maybe less.

I've not ridden much at all this month, but I'm not worried about that. In fact, ironicaly enough, I'm not worried about anything. I'm going to enjoy myself, and I plan on completing the ride with a smile on my face. That's how I roll.

More soon, I'm planning on running Google Latitude during the ride and possibly doing some twitter updates with location enroute. There's a lot else on my mind, if you can't tell, of which I'll likely post soon. Spin the cranks, lots of hugs, enjoy life.

Voltage

2009-08-15T17:05:00.003-05:00

The Chevy Volt has done three things that are somewhat amazing for me: 1.) It makes me want a Hybrid, real bad, 2.) It makes me want a GM PRODUCT real bad, and the biggest one - breaking a personal cardinal rule - 3.) it makes me want a brand new vehicle. See, I'll admit it, I'm a car geek. I can rattle off horsepower and displacement numbers for anything built between 1962 and 1971. I love horsepower almost as much as I love my bikes. Seriously.

Volt, however, is a game changer on a level which I never previously realized. At first glance I went "eh, whatever, big deal - another hybrid" - I personally don't dig hybrids because, simply, the batteries are an environmental disaster waiting to happen - and most can achieve the same thing by just buying a small, small car - but I digress. Then I read about the thing and realized - wow, GM got it. This car is always powered by it's electric motors - the gas motor is only there as a generator for when the charge runs out. Other hybrids act completely opposite - the electric motor supplements the gas motor, which turns a tiny gas motor into something with some uumph and that gets great mileage.

Then it hit me - 40 miles on a charge. A charge acquired by plugging the thing in to your electric outlet. A charge that will cost you around a quarter in off-peak energy. For me, there's rarely - very rarely - a day when I drive more than 40 miles - heck, most WEEKS I don't drive more than 40 miles. Let's put it this way, for me, one of these things might mean weeks, or months without using a drop of petroleum products for my driving. Suddenly, that appeals to me. Big time.

Of course, this is GM and as such they have to screw it up somehow - and that somehow is price. This thing is goona be starting at forty grand, forty grand for a glorified Cavalier. Uggh, I get it guys, but if you made the thing 20, or even 25 grand you'd sell 'em as fast as you can make 'em - which might be the problem right there. Maybe they figure there's enough folks out there who will pay 40 grand for the first round of 'em (they're absolutely right, I know I'm not the only one who remembers the first round of Prius buyers who were paying $10k OVER sticker just to get one - which is right up there at 40k in today dollars), they'll be able to pay off development costs and ramp up production (helloo Prius).

Anyway, I can't blame them at all, and when this thing comes into reach of mere mortals, I hope they sell a ton of 'em. This, and the Honda FCX Clarity (which is Hydrogen powered, and also a complete game-changer of vehicles that need to be.. uhh.. filled, and for those who travel over 40 miles) are making me really like the future. I hope these are more signs of what are to come, and that things such as the Escalade ESV are on their way out.

Satruday Gravel

2009-08-08T13:41:00.004-05:00

There really is nothing like a sunrise when you're out on gravel. It's simply amazing, seriously. And there's nothing like a gravel ride. Just ask Oly, he seemed to be enjoying it:

We headed out north bound from Casa Oliver, destination was Branched Oak Road and 98th, then Cultiva Coffee at 15th and South. Yeah, kind of a convoluted way of getting there, but whaddya get, right? I was nervous, real nervous and out of sorts - see the last time I was on Branched Oak Road it tried to kill me about a dozen times. There was an amusing moment when we pulled up to Branched Oak and Highway 77, and I pointed out that I had sat on the site of the road with fig newtons and water bottles. "Oh so this was the spot" (where I almost gave up) Oliver mentioned, "This was ONE of the spots.. there's plenty more". Heh. Anyway, Branched Oak was a mental hurdle because, well, it wasn't pleasant at all the last time.

Don't ever let anyone tell you Nebraska is flat...

When we turned onto Branched Oak I had to throw the headphones on, I needed some tunes to get me through the next 7 miles. I was going to go for Led Zeppelin II, but I hit "shuffle" on a whim and the iphonepod threw out some irony - Ozzy's "Road to Nowhere". Hah, so. freaking. appropriate. So I rolled out behind Oly and suffered up and down the hills that almost beat me last year.

There's a strange, sadistic allure of gravel to me. You go up, you come down, you go up, you come down. Branched Oak has some hellacious hills, but the nice thing about it is that it gives you a break on the downhills. Pella Road ain't havin that, you go down, you go right back up. The hills you see in this pic are nice and gradual.. not the mini mountains of Pella.

My memory, of course, could be a bit tainted.

Weather was.. honestly? Kinda brutal! There was/is a 25 mph wind out of the south/southwest today and the temps when we left were already over 80. By the time we hit Cultiva Coffee at around 9:45am, we were at 93 with a heat index of 105. Whew! Heat, Headwinds, Humidity, and Hills.. rock it.

Took Branched Oak to 14th, then decided to take the pavement back into town. Some dang nice views at that time of the morning

The headwind made us pay for every mile of the pavement, I'm tellin' ya. It was hilly, lots of traffic, and lots of wind. But still good. I still cussed, because I said I was going to and I couldn't let Oly down. Seemed like forever, but eventually we were back in town - and shortly after, at Cultiva. Had a cappuccino, which was.. I don't know how to describe it. Phenomenal. Amazing. Etc.

Big thanks to Oly and a guy at work for telling me - repeatedly - to check out Cultiva. I'm not a coffee nut, but I dig a good cup, and this was simply amazing. I bought a thermal mug (which fits perfectly in a bottle cage, btw), and filled it with some of their brewed.. goodness. Man, amazing stuff.

I started out today feeling pretty apprehensive about the upcoming GLGA but now I'm cool. I've got a lot of work to do over the next two weeks, but you know what? It'll be awesome, regardless of the outcome, but I'm goona work on my fist pumps. You know, just in case.

Today was, of course, definitely aided by excellent company. I know many struggle to find riding partners of equal, or even close, capability and route/terrain interest. I lucked out big time in that respect.

That's all I've got. Heck of a great day of riding - and a good week of it coming up, too. GLGA, here I come.

Snap

2009-08-06T08:46:00.002-05:00

http://www.fatcyclist.com/2009/08/05/dont-say-she-lost

I've been following Elden and Susan's fight for as long as I've been cycling, about three years now. In fact, I think it's one of the first sites that pulled up on one of my first Googles for information back then. Simply, reading this is downright heart wrenching. Like many I'm sure, I kept hoping the story would have a happy ending - that in the end it'd be like Lance's book, where somehow the chemo took and it had a happy ending.

Tonight I'm going to hug my kids a little tighter, and tell my wife I love her more.

And I'm going to hit the weights. And that awful, evil, vile stair stepper. Tomorrow I'm going to ride my bike, a lot. I'm goona suffer through ever mile of the GLGA.

I'm never, ever, ever again going to have a cigarette. Or McDonald's. Or Burger King. Or.. you get the idea. After two instances like this in the past two years, two mothers ripped from the planet before their time - I get the message.

She definitely didn't lose.

Cash for Clunkers

2009-08-06T07:47:00.002-05:00

I generally try to avoid getting political, or anything like it in this blog, but this one really annoys me. I'm sure you're aware of the Cash for Clunkers program the government is spearheading right now. On paper, it's a great idea - get your "clunker" and trade it in for a mroe fuel efficent vehicle, then the .gov gives you $3500 or $4500. Not bad! Here's my problems with it:

1.) MPG Requirements: Your old vehicle must get less than 18MPG combined to qualify, and your new vehicle needs to get a combined total of 4MPG more than the old one to qualify for the $3500 - or over 10 than the old to get the $4500. Here's where that's ridiculous, let's say you have a '92 Chevy 4x4 pickup, your combined is 13mpg. You can get $3500 for just finding something that gets 17mpg combined - not too hard, right? Hell, you could probably stay in a pickup, and find something that gets 23mpg combined, and still get the $4500. To add to this ridiculousness, and the thing that really torques some off - the EPA "revised" it's numbers on July 24th. Many found their gas guzzler to magically have new EPA numbers.. yet it never previously got that mileage. Tin foil hat, anymore?

2.) Old vehicle destruction: This one really gets me going. In the name of the environment we're going to.. throw away the old vehicle, brilliant! Wait what? So your old car got 15MPG and your new one gets 19.. we're goona throw the old one away? Let it rot in a scrap yard? I'm lost on this, why not do something smart like take those vehicles, and give them to those in need? I know there's probably plenty of construction workers or contractors who could use a newer pickup, why not give it to them? Why not use them for public works projects? I know Lincoln's parks and rec folks still drive around in OLD pickup trucks.. why not give it to them?

3.) New car requirement: Here's the rub, you HAVE to buy a new car. On average, that tax credit means nothing, your new car is going to depreciate more than $4500 (unless you buy a niche vehicle, or something like a Prius) the second you pull off the lot. Why not extend it to all cars? I mean seriously, the $8,000 tax credit on home purchases was made available to every home, and it's been working brilliantly - why not do the same thing with CARS?

Why? This is nothing more than a stimulus for the auto industry, not the consumer. The auto industry hates used cars, in america we sell - every year - 4 to 5 used cars for every new car sold. Destroying old cars, I can't fathom how that's good for our environment. Like I said previously, the $8,000 stimulus on home purchases has worked, why? Because there's very few loopholes attached, and it directly benefits US. It benefits the person selling the home, and it benefits the home buyer. Sure it benefits the economy as well, I'm sure Lowe's wants to give the government a big old hug this year - but really, it's good.

Here's my idea for a "Cash for Clunkers" stimulus - make it extend to every car that gets over 25MPG combined, and make the max be $4500 if the vehicle purchase is over $10,000. Then take the old vehicles and put them up for auction, an auction only open to people below the poverty line, charities, and cities - cap the auction price at $2,000.

In a perfect world, let's really make it work. If you take your "clunker" and trade it in on a bicycle, give 'em the $4500. You want your environment savings, there you go. Otherwise, this is ridiculous, and I hope it comes to an end quickly.

In other news, recently I started smoking again. I'm not sure why, rather I know why but I don't know why it continues. Smoking is a horrible habit that, anyone who has been a smoker can tell you, also is one that you never truly break. I think 3 weeks of it is enough to break me again - I feel like crap, I'm hacking up lungs, and I'm washing my hands all the time to get rid of the smell. I've also been barely riding my bike. Working things out in my head, so to speak, and trying to get back in the "zone" which has eluded me for several months now.

It'll happen. Better damn well be soon, too, the GLGA is three weeks away...

Perfection in Blogging Syndrome

2009-08-03T08:42:00.002-05:00

I've apparently been afflicted with some new disorder where I can only post to this blog when I think the post is "perfect". Which has led me, of the course of the past couple weeks, to start a post only to stop 1/3rd to 2/3rds of the way through, abandon it, and then 10 minutes later realize how ridiculous that was.. only to not have the time at that point to restart it. It's a seriously strange disorder, I tell ya.

Been a slow month for riding, I've been, honestly, focusing on a lot of other things rather than cycling. Glad I did, too, I've now got a relatively clear mind and my focus is quickly coming back 100%. I'm not worried about the mileage, I've got three weeks until the GLGA, and I can't wait. Gravel Goodness. That's what I'm talking about.

Weight thankfully has remained stable. I've been watching the intake as closely as possible, so it really shows how you can maintain - or lose - if you don't have a chance to get much exercise in. My new favorite thing in the world - seriously - is the Livestrong Daily Plate iPhone App. I can't summarize how nice that thing is to have around, both for tracking and looking up foods when we go out. Going out is STILL my weakness as it's so painfully easy to fall so far off the wagon.. but with this, it's not so tough.

Bike has been put back into great order thanks to the guys and gals over at Cycle Works, the LHT had a loose rear hub and needed a wheel true - they had it back to me the next day. So happy that they opened up a south location a mile from my house featuring a service area - go visit 'em up at 70th and Pioneers! My daughter recently has been mastering the cycling art, so to celebrate a couple weeks ago I decided she deserved a new ride. We took a trip up to CW after much box store searching (don't. ask.) and on the first shot they had the perfect ride for her:

She really digs her new Giant Taffy and I predict it's only a matter of time before she drops me. If you knew her, you'd realize that once she saw it and the color scheme I had no choice but to get it for her. The smile is worth it, lemme tell you, one of the greatest gifts as a Dad is the smile. I'll admit in advance it's also my biggest weakness. LOL.

That's all I've got today. I'm around, I'm doing better than ever and I'm looking forward to the next couple weeks. I've got about 18 pounds to go before October 1 to beat my lowest on October 1 2008 and that's cool with me. After that.. well.. the big "300 lost" is looming closer and closer. I'd really like to see that. REALLY.

Saturdays are for Epic Gravel

2009-07-11T13:45:00.007-05:00

Which way is the beach? THAAAT way!

Sometimes I have problems summarizing a killer ride, and today is one of those. 55 miles of gravel, pavement, bike path, highways, byways and amazing views. South Lincoln to Branched Oak via gravel, Branched Oak to Malcom to Lincoln via highway on two heavy, comfortable bikes with enough water for the 5th army. Mocha in downtown Lincoln. Epic epic epic.

I think that hits it.

It's amazing how awesome a ride on gravel can be, seriously. It's just you, the bike, the road, and nature. Every once in awile you'll come upon a person, a dog, or a house - but not much. No dodging pedestrians, cars, or ninja dog leashes. Just.. the road. I'm glad I discovered it, my cycling drug that is known as gravel. Highways are OK, paths are good, limestone is awesome - but gravel, well, that's where it's at. The hills, they look painful, horrible and downright discouraging but when you beat 'em you can let out a HAH!

Yeah, it was a good ride. Conditions were perfect, it was overcast and probably in the mid 70's or lower. A tailwind would have been nice as the headwind on the way out was a bit of a bummer, but it kept the pace moderate and the legs fresh. I say this, of course, to attempt to break the Curse of the Double Headwind. We will never again refer to this.

On that note, I somehow manged to put TWO big holes right through the tread (and Kevlar!) on my rear Marathon cross. Only thing I can figure is that I rolled over one of those police spike strips or something.. heh.. but yeah, kinda a bummer. Oly, however, being my hero (hah, told you I'd do it!) let me know that he had just ordered a new Marathon Cross that was waiting at MWC, and I could have it if I wanted. Sweet! No having to ride around for a week with a duck taped tire, got a new one in the garage right now, ready to go. Right on!

Like I said, something about this ride today. Had a mocha at Crescent Moon, probably the best one I've ever had - ever. Seriously.

Anyway, rockin' way to start the weekend - gotta love it. I recently picked up an iPhone and have been playing with some of the apps that use the internal GPS for tracking - they're awesome! Downside is that they suck the battery hardcore - all of them. Here's the track to Malcom:

It is, of course, pretty overkill to use a iPhone to track a ride. But I also clipped that pic using 64bit Photoshop CS4. I kinda like my overkill.

Great ride, great day so far. If the rest of the week is anything like today.. well.. I can't wait.

Lincoln to Omaha Express

2009-06-30T20:37:00.000-05:00

(edit: This post was originally done Monday, thought I lost it - really just had a d'oh moment and set it to the wrong date. here it is for those who didn't RSS it.. :))

ARRRRGGGHH I screamed at the top of my lungs as I was pushing up the hill, the wind seemingly pushing back twice as hard as every ounce of effort I could muster I AM SO SICK OF THIS (*!#$@@#!! WIND, ENOUGH ALREADY! It was all I could think to yell at the top of my lungs. 60 miles in, I'd been fighting a headwind and hills for the past 17 miles, and was just about beat by both of them. That's when I saw it, and let out a A HA HA HA HA!! worthy of Jack Black as I saw this sign:

That was it, finally the brutal climb out of the Platte River valley with a headwind that should have been a tailwind, it finally paid off - the NNW wind would give a nice westward push as I cruised across Omaha.

Of course rides like this start innocently enough. "How about a early Wabash ride on Saturday?" Oliver asked on Thursday, heck yes - I was in. I love the ride out to Wabash, and Saturday was looking to be a nice mild morning. In talking to my wife, she was thinking of heading to visit her folks in Council Bluffs, Iowa on Saturday as well. Somewhere during the conversation it was brought up - why don't I just ride my bike there and meet 'em there? 76 miles, lots of gravel, lots of pavement - all goodness - the route was planned out into the wee hours of Friday. As direct a route as possible - home to the Mopac, Mopac to Wabash, gravel to Highway 50, Highway 50 to 370, then 370 to S36th street, finally L street to the South Omaha bridge. Cross the bridge, 7 miles later I'd roll into their driveway. Cake.

Saturday morning I woke up and the winds were PERFECT, out of the SW in Lincoln from 10-20mph, in Louisville, NE they were due South 10-20, and in Omaha SSW - perfect as I'd be heading in a West/North/West/Northwest direction all morning.

The ride to Wabash was awesome, and pretty fast - that wind was letting us hold a great pace with no effort. Of course I was loving it, but Oliver and Cory P weren't fans thinking of the long ride back into it. I laughed and ribbed them a bit. In retrospect.. probably not the best idea :).

Bid 'em farewell in Wabash then headed solo on gravel for a couple miles. Amazing views on gravel:

And then on the one MMR of the trip:

(which was outstanding, btw) I wondered why it seemed like there was a headwind. "Must be the wind whipping around in the trees" I told myself. Sure. Whops.

After a couple miles on Highway 50 pushing into what continued to be more and more of a headwind I had to stop, and pulled up weather.com on the smartphone. Why I do this, I don't know - it's the cycling equivalent of watching a trainwreck. Seriously. Yup, fears had been confirmed - she'd switched on me to a NNW wind - ouch.

Stopped in Louisville after fighting with it for not long enough, but needed fuel. The gas station was closed, but the Subway was open - had the best tasting six inch subway club I've had in a LONG time, and met some of the nicest employees - who all were wondering of my sanity when I told them of my route. Hah.

After Louisville, NE I remember it being a constant uphill. I'm sure it wasn't, I'm sure there were downhills - but I don't remember them. From the west I could see a storm rolling in, and looking at my watch I realized my wife was probably on I-80 pretty darn close to me at that point, I came pretty close to pulling the plug. I was climbing forever, it seemed like, and it also seemed like I wasn't moving (I averaged - maybe - 12mph between Louisville and 370). Every time I'd either muster some extra energy or get out of the saddle, the wind would throw it right back at me. Close to the end (I had no idea it was the end) the iPod was playing Guns 'N Roses' "Estranged" and I couldn't help but listen to the lyrics as I ground up the hill:

An now that you've been broken down
Got your head out of the clouds
You're back down on the ground
And you don't talk so loud
An you don't walk so proud
Any more

Ironies, eh? :) After all that, the yelling - the screaming - I turned on to 370 and got a nice shot of tailwind then felt the drizzle. Put the phone(s) and iPod into the waterproof bag and headed out at a radpid pace across Papillion and Bellevue on 370. That part was completely epic, the drizzle enough to cool me off and the tailwind enough to keep me flying down the road. Stopped at S36th and 370 for a Cherry Coke (no idea why, sounded good, tasted even better), bananna and a final bottle refill.

Called the wife, found out the bridge I was planning on taking (South Omaha Bridge) was construction riddled and impassable-by-sane-folk on a bike. My alternate route - the Bob Kerrey Bridge - I hadn't researched enough on the Iowa side, so it'd be a crapshoot at best, and with my Sprint Navigation broken thanks to a "software update", Google Maps not being much help - I stopped attempting to reroute after trying for 15 minutes and just told her to wait about 20 minutes, then come the opposite way that I'd be coming - and we'd probably meet right before the bridge.

The climb on S36th into Omaha was fun, espescially in Bellevue. Two lane road, little traffic but one pretty decent climb in the Swanson area (considered just stopping there and trying a lap on the LHT.. sanity crept back), then into the urban jungle. Rode sidewalks when it came to be Omaha as the traffic was pickin' up, then L street surprised me, and I headed West again (with that glorious tailwind). Crested the hill before 25th & L, saw the family truckster headed the opposite direction so I pulled into the Walgreens parking lot and unclipped. Ride over, smiles from the wife and 14 month old, Mission Accomplished.

Driving back, yup, glad I didn't attempt the South Omaha Bridge - it and the 13th and L area were a mess. Yesterday after lots of looking I have a route using the Kerrey bridge, but it isn't ideal - going to have to research it more. Overall, awesome ride - 4h 45min (ish) of riding time with around 70 miles. You can go anywhere on a bike, just have to do it.

My "oops" moment came when I realized I forgot to give my wife a different set of shoes for me when off-bike. I won't lie, after pushing all morning my feet had started to get a bit sore (alleviated by spinning on 370/in Omaha) and while they're comfortable on the bike, the Bontrager RL's get a little uncomfy off-bike. By 3pm I had enough, and my daughter and I made a trip to Bass Pro Shops to pick up some mocs (and some DQ for her). With the LHT all loaded up, later in the evening we headed back:

All in all, an awesome trip. Here's the crazy part, for the first time in.. ever I think after a long tough ride I wasn't zombied post-ride. After a shower and some food, along with about an hour of lounging around I felt just fine - albeit my legs weren't full of jazz anymore. Pretty awesome.

That's all I've got. Novel over.. :)

Randomness

2009-06-24T08:14:00.003-05:00

Lots of randomness for today. First, my favorite thing ever (almost) is The Daily Plate (dot com), or rather, the daily plate when I actually use the thing. See I was annoyed last week and going "okay, I managed to lose a bunch consistently last summer, what the heck was I doing differently?" Thankfully one thing was tracking my weight, intake, and exercise religiously through TDP. So now I'm back to eating almost exactly what I was then (I just ran out of oatmeal packets, so I'll need to make a store run to pick up some old-fashioned oats again), and riding about as much as I was then.

It's really a great tool, just gotta use it. I try not to get too terribly hung up on stats, but they do help to consistently track what's going on - lately I've been also tracking my heart rate during rides, as well as the duration of the ride. Mileage? Once or twice, just to make sure my average speed is where it was a year ago (it's a little higher, whee).

Next up is heat. We've been inundated with rain lately, and right after it stops the sun comes out and shoots the heat up into the mid/high 90's. Pretty brutal, but what I've noticed is just like in winter, I quickly acclimate to it. Yeah, it's going to suck royally for the first couple rides out there - no doubt about that - but keep rolling. It gets better to the point of tolerable. For an hour. Maybe two. :)

Speaking of ride stats, I've been doing good about posting them to facebook and Twitter, as that's all I seem to have time for anymore. Here are linky-dinks:

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/bdinger/

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/bdinger/

Having a "unique" last name helps, yaknow.

Finally, the heart rate monitor is the best training tool, ever. Hands down. It helps me in every cycling situation to evaluate better what I should and shouldn't be doing. "Rabbitt" up ahead that I really want to go after, but my HR is already at a 160? Probably should hang back. Hill coming up and I'm lounging around listening to Seger at a 120? Select a new playlist and rock it. Previously I alternated between running at a 11 and running at a 5 all the time - which makes little sense in the grand scheme of things. I'd attack things when I was already at a 10, then push way too far.

Now I've got it figured out. My favorite zone for an hour long ride where I want to get a good workout in is 145-155. Above that, I'm pushing it too hard and it takes too long to recover from. I can go from 160 to 180 pretty quickly (within a couple minutes), with not much to benefit from it, and it takes forever to recover. When I'm in the 145-155 range I can drop down to 125, which I've deemed my ideal "attack" rate, then dial it up reasonably and for a long period of time. I've only been doing this for about two weeks, but in that time I feel better about getting a more reasonable ride in.

One last thought, finally have gotten back to my "summer schedule" for sleeping, I think. I like sleeping 10p-6a, then being at work by 7 - so I can leave around 4:30. It's been a struggle to get back into it, but I think I finally have it down. Those nice cool 6:30am rides are something in the summer.

That was dumb

2009-06-22T08:21:00.002-05:00

Wife to me as I'm leaving "Be careful, severe thunderstorm warning in Northern Lancaster county". Me to myself "Psh, that's up north, I'm fine - I'll take the short route".

Sometimes, in my line of work, we refer to things as a ID 10 T error. This is case in point. Particularly considering I'm a trained storm spotter, which of COURSE kicked in halfway to work when I looked west and went "oh... !@#!"

15 minutes later I arrived at work, completely drenched to the laughter of my other early-arriving co-workers. It was, as they say, amusing in volumes :).

Haven't had much time to blog lately, unfortunately, as I've been inundated with work and whilst home, I've been enjoying a computer-lite existence. I of course have about 8 blog posts in my head, but every time I sit down to write one I end up grabbing my book of the day and reading, or chasing the Tasmanian Terrorist Toddler around. Last week I rode every day aside from Monday, which was the day I stayed home from work with back pain, and enjoyed nearly all of them. Except for Tuesday which would be the day where I was terribly dehydrated as I'm not yet used to 90+ degree days with 90+% humidity. Or.. just another in a series of "how does he constantly get dehydrated!"

Today a high of 97, and after the two feet of rain we just got, I'm betting 97% humidity. I'll sweat the pounds off, if nothing else. Weigh in day is Thursday, and a good day it'll be.

DL

2009-06-14T10:15:00.003-05:00

Ouch, Thursday night I did some free weights, calisthenics and the stair stepper for the first time since we moved into the new place and got everything set back up. Did I overdo it? Course I did. So now it's Sunday morning and I'm STILL pretty sore after trying just about everything (lots of protein, lots of water, lots of ibuprofen) to get the sore out. Legs are the most sore, particularly my quads on the outer side of my legs.

I rode into work on Friday, and I was a snail. Legs were really sore on the way in, and even worse on the way home - I looked like a marathon runner going up and down stairs. So nope, no awesome weekend rides to report as I didn't ride yesterday but I'm goona try to get out today and tour some bike shops in search of a rack trunk. The panniers are awesome when hauling loads, like say clothes to and from work, but with just small items in them they flop all over the place including the spokes. Yikes. No more cheap panniers.

Anyway, lessons learned. Even my back injury from a couple years ago has flared up, so I'm basically a hobbling old man right now. I'll admint, it's pretty dang amusing. Note to everyone: don't overdo it on the workouts, days of pain aren't worth it. Moderate weights for lots of reps. Whatever you do, also, don't set the stair stepper to a level "9" the first time you get on it.

Fear is the mind killer

2009-06-10T21:03:00.005-05:00

Definitive proof that my favorite wheelbuilder at Cycle Works wins the Internet, he'd be the one who penned it on the rim tape after building up the new wheel for the MTB this winter. I'm going to let it speak for itself, kinda, but man isn't it so true? To live in fear is to live a really horrible existence - our country is there right now. Buck the fear, and you live the good life. Think about it. I had completely forgotten about this picture after taking it in late april, first time I changed a tube on the mountain bike after the new wheel was built up for it.

I've been riding with a heart rate monitor on lately, and you know what? I think it's a better tool for on-bike fitness than the bike computer. I don't have a bike computer on my LHT because I'm my own worst enemy in that respect, I'm constantly chasing a faster number for now real good reason. "Why the heck am I only pulling 15mph on this trail today, yesterday I was cooking at almost 20!" Gee, maybe it has something to do with the fact that you've put in a ton of miles this week and your legs are cooked, or there's a slight headwind, or or.. yeah. You get the idea.

Anyway, the HRM is awesome because it keeps me in check. There's times I think I'm working good, then I look down at it and realize my heart rate is only at like, 105 or 110. Other times I'm like yeah, I'm rockin' hard now! Above, look down and realize I'm pushing it a little bit (or a lotta bit) too hard. Last week I found that if I kept it in the 135-150 range during my rides I could ride all day long and not get too tired, or feel fried and ravenous afterwards. Shorter rides, like today I'll push it up a notch. Works great for me.

Now I just have to figure out how to get the weight numbers to start their summer free fall. Rode an absolute ton last week (around 15 hours according to the HRM for something like 13k calories burned), and lost.. a half a pound... haha. Love it when that happens! I'm sure it'll shoot down next week, I've come to expect this when I make a drastic change in either nutrition or exercise - either the weight will fly off that week, or it will be some kind of oddball number that makes no sense.. until the next week (ever watch The Biggest Loser? Yeah..). Half a pound is still half a pound.. I'll take it.

EDIT: My wife sent me this link: http://www.scientificpsychic.com/health/cron1.html and it appears to be very interesting. When I plugged in weight and activity levels in the past, it was spot on accurate. For every 3500 calories, you lose 1 pound - so go have fun with it! :)

Tomorrow, gotta drive so I'm thinking about attempting a 0600 wake up to give me an hour to loop memorial stadium.. that would be a great way to start the morning. Not a Husker fan, but something about it is pretty sweet.

Ride lots, enjoy the dreary weather, and man oh man - keep lovin' it. It's a good life when it involves a bike.

It's goona be hard to go back to work...

2009-06-07T21:38:00.005-05:00

Saturday afternoon I joined up with Oliver for a trip out on the Mopac. Man.. this week has been awesome. Gravel, wabash, ride around town with Cindy from the LJS then on to Eagle, evening ride, then capped off with a sweaty muggy ride out to Elmwood. Last week I spent about 15 hours on the bike over 5 days, most of it on gravel or limestone, and all of it awesome.

I'm looking forward to being back at work, but man, it's goona be tough getting used to not just running off and spending 3 hours on the bike in the afternoon. Most notably, getting lost out past Eagle where it's only you and the tractors.

The emails keep coming in, and they keep getting more awesome. I've added a couple blogs off to the right, and will keep adding 'em as they come in. Lots of common questions, one of which is what bike I ride. I'll answer that one right now, thought about a seperate post, but I don't need one. Here she is:

It's a Surly Long Haul Trucker Complete, which has proven to be the Best Bike Ever over the past year, and probably 5,000 miles I've put on 'er. Mods for my weight? The stock rear wheel was taken apart and rebuilt (new spokes, etc) by hand over at Cycle Works, and it's been rock solid. Other mods are Schwalbe Marathon Cross tires (roll great on pavement, are comfy like whoa, and just rock on gravel), a Nitto Noodle 48cm Handlebar (I've got a wide shoulder span, this cured my constant shoulder pain on long rides), Brooks B-17 saddle (I'll never ride anything else, I've never had butt comfort problems since going Brooks), and some Shimano PD-M520 pedals. There's been three saddles, three handlebars, three sets of pedals and two different kinds of tire on this bike since I purchased it, and this is how it's staying. It's rock solid and it can go anywhere, setup like this I've taken it on long road rides, through wilderness park, and on gravel centuries.

I'll have more on clothing in another post, and other common questions that seem to come up - but the summary is to just find something and ride. When I started out I was wearing a baseball cap, sneakers, gym shorts and a t-shirt on a mid-90's Raleigh mountain bike that was a size or two too small for me. But you know what? I still had a blast.

Remember, 1 pound a week is still 52 pounds a year. 5 miles a day is still 35 a week. Both of those numbers are better than zero. Dig it, smile, ride and the rest comes later. The long ride is always the best one.

Whoa..

2009-06-04T22:12:00.005-05:00

Went for an awesome evening ride tonight, just spun the cranks and had no idea where I was going until I got there. Along the way, had several encounters where folks would smile, or wave, to the point where I was surprised. Funniest one was a van who passed me close to campus, slowed way down, turned around in the middle of the street, then waved. haha, that was awesome!

Today has been amazing, I've gotten some of the most amazing emails from people considering making the leap, in the process of leaping, who have already done it and are glad that someone else has been there, or who just dig reading what I've written. Just awesome, and I'm working on a couple posts/pages with the stuff I use, and answers to some of the common questions I've received since the start, and links to some posts (like this one - the report on the 135 miler I did last summer, and am doin' again this summer) that have been most popular or that I like best.

Of course it's funny to see my personal blog suddenly approaching the daily traffic numbers that my two work sites receive (thanks to some linkage from MSNBC), but I'm goona answer something quick: this isn't for fame and fortune, and you aren't suddenly/ever going to see a bunch - or any for that matter - ads on this blog. I don't think that's good web design for a personal blog, and that's not what this blog is about.

What this is about is sharing goodness, and paying back the goodness sent my way when I started. It's awesome to see that's happening, and it warms my heart greatly. Email me. IM me. What I found is that there are support groups for everything, and excellent ones at that (like the Livestrong foundation), but for obesity you really don't have anywhere to turn. I'm working on some ideas on that front, but for now - I've got email and I know how to use it.

This is also about lots and lots of ride reports, and pics. Even taken on a cameraphone, this picture still brings about the feelings from tonight's ride:

Even a cameraphone captures how awesome an evening ride can be, gliding down the bike trail with an hour to kill, and nowhere specific to go.

This weekend: more gravel, limestone, and fun. Man, this little vacation has rocked.

p.s. I'm finally catching up on emails and blog comments - sorry it's taking so long, didn't expect 'em to come in this fast!! :)

Smile

2009-06-03T22:38:00.006-05:00

Left the house at 11:30am, and got back from ridin' at 4pm. It was, as they say, another epic day on the bike. At noon I met with a reporter from the Lincoln Journal Star who's writing an article about me, to be published in tomorrow's edition. So.. for everyone coming here from there, welcome :).

What's cool was that she wasn't just a reporter, but a fellow cyclist and a fellow bicycle commuter. Had a blast riding with her around town and chatting about cyclering things (yeah, that isn't a word), then headed to Cycle Works to get a couple things - most notably a Jandd top tube bag. So now I can take pics constantly. Sweet! After that, headed out on the mopac, destination unknown - perfect weather fueling a perfect ride.

This week has been amazing, needed, and just amazing. I'm humbled that something is being written about me, and just amazed at what has come from something as simple as finally finding some good. The good, the hope, and now finally - the smiles.

Reflectivity

2009-06-02T16:19:00.002-05:00

I've been thinking a lot over the past couple days about how much my life has changed, and it's really awesome. If you read back through this blog, the person I was in 2005 isn't anything like the person I am today, back then I just had nothing - no hope for anything to happen that was good. Now I know it's finally happening, my life is finally being lived, I just have to continue on the ride. The ride inevitably takes the wrong trail here and there, and you fall off a bunch, but you just gotta keep going because you will hit the good part. You can't beat yourself up, you can't get sucked down into the depths of despair - you have to focus on the good that surrounds you even in the darkest of hours.

I keep trying to type more here, but it's already there. Hope. More words would just cloud it.

If you are sitting on your computer right now, without hope, trying to find the motivation to do something - man, I've been there. I've been to the depths of the ocean you're in, and I know the way out. Smile. Walk. Ride. Live.

One odd Truck and more awesome gravel

2009-06-01T19:16:00.007-05:00

So I've had my LHT for just about a year now and it's finally to the point where it's absolutely perfect for the riding I do. The list of stuff I've changed isn't too long: Saddle (new B17), pedals (Shimano PD-M520), bars (Nitto Noodle), tape (Cinelli Cork), tires (Schwalbe Marathon Cross) but it's all come together in sort of the "perfect storm" of amazing bike comfort. Here's how she looked today, headin' back from Wabash. That stem angle is ridiculous, I've got more spacers on my bike than some shops stock, but man is it ever comfortable. The rack is on it's way out (more on that in another post), but this is how it's goona stay.

Some day I will get more than a cameraphone, BUT! Today was also amazing. Headed out to the mopac with three hours to kill, hoping to make it to Wabash and back. I haven't been out there for.. I don't know how long, but too long. It was just a great dang ride, with one exception.

My hydration issues reared their ugly head again. The ride out was great, kept hydrated, but man did I sweat a lot - it was pretty warm with lots of humidity and not a lot of wind. I was making killer time, then midway between Elmwood and Eagle I started feeing it. I almost, at this point, made a really stupid decision - I was down to my last bottle of water and it was nearing the halfway point. "I can make it back to Walton, no problem, on a half bottle of water". Yeah no.

I came back to my senses as I approached Eagle, and picked up a bottle of water and bottle of Propel at the general store. Slammed the Propel, refilled the bottle on the bike with the bottle, and headed out. This would be known, forevermore, as the beginning of the perfect storm.

See.. right about then the iPod turned itself in to "mind reading" mode. The Cliff Bar and Propel hit my system fast and I restarted, basically, feeling like I did on mile 5. Now I'm not a Green Day fan by any means, but something about "Holiday" gets me amped up to level 2349203829 - and of course the iPod dished it up right as the rush hit my system and BLAMO I was off. I stood up as the song started and began to quietly sing, when I realized, seriously, I'm the only one out here I started yelling the lyrics. Grabbed the second biggest gear I've got and spun my legs off.

Standing up, AND spinning ON THE SAME RIDE? Yeah. It was good.

I arrived at my truck in Walton in 19 minutes, I don't think my heart rate dipped below 170 the entire time. It was awesome.

This vacation is freaking awesome. Seriously.

Amazing

2009-05-31T22:23:00.001-05:00

Well I started out down a dirty road

Started out all alone

And the sun went down as I crossed the hill

Well some say life will beat you down
Break your heart, steal your crown
So I started out for God knows where
But I guess Ill know when I get there

Im learning to fly but I aint got wings
Comin down is the hardest thing

Truth be told, inside, I've had a lot of guilt since I dropped out of Kanza. I knew it was the right thing to do, but me, well I'm my own worst enemy. Yesterday I had to get out and ride - so I told my wife I'm headin' out, and I'll be back in a couple hours. "I'll just ride downtown and back", or "I'll do some laps on the bike path". "Maybe I'll head out to Walton". Next thing I knew I was veering on to gravel, smiling, sweating and loving every second. When I got closer to town I turned away, and headed further out. The roads got steeper, tougher, rougher and the smile got bigger.

Those hills, they're something else, but every time you go up one you can catch your breath and say inside "yeah, i just kicked that hill's ass". And that's just bueno. Simply put, today's ride where I visited downtown Lincoln, downtown Walton, and waved at Bennett as I turned home - it was exactly what I needed but never knew I needed.

Some amazing things have happened the past several weeks, and something else amazing in the works (MG, seriously, thank you - I'm honored). I'm going to write about it all, but I've got to sit back and digest it all first. My week off, it starts now, and oh man there's goona be a lot of riding in store. And blogging. And smiles.

One point today while I was griding up a particularly beastly hill, with the sun beating down on me, the awful PowerBar Gel (the only bad part of today's ride) gurgling in my stomach I thought "is this really better than my life was before?" Then I thoought aboout even the best day being 567 pounds, even the brightest part. Simple answer: no.

Some days you ride and it's tough. Some days you ride and it's good. And some days it's downright spiritual. Today was one of those... just.. damn.

Lemons: 1 Me: 0

2009-05-17T11:44:00.006-05:00

Today's post was going to be awesome, you see, as yesterday we had an awesome gravel grinderI mean, you know, on an awesome scale of 1-10 I'm pretty sure we dialed it up to 11. Great group, laughs, toughness of wind and hills and 30 psi tires and first metric of the year.. yeah. 11. But that has to wait until tomorrow, or maybe the next day.

Above, it's hard to tell, is a Turdus Tire. See the smooth surface? It's not supposed to be like that. And the cracking/peeling? Not supposed to be like that either. It's supposed to have tread, lots of it, but that apparently isn't on the books today. That all really doesn't matter, what does matter is that it sealed the deal: I'm pulling out of the Dirty Kanza 200.

That was really hard to type.

Truth be told I'd basically made my mind up last night. As a family, we've gotten hit pretty hard lately with stuff in the "unexpected expenses" category. Van decided it no longer liked it's transmission about a month ago. Unexpected trip well out of town for my wife. Now, of course, this.

It's a real letdown on more levels than one, espescially considering yesterday really went dang well. I'm going to make something of it, definitely will get a nice gravel grinder in that day, and definitely am still in for GLGA.

It's also a real letdown knowing how many people were looking - from the outside - at this. To the Kansas Guys, commenters on this blog, Cycle Works guys, and all those who send support: Thank You. I'm not done cycling, this event just isn't in the works. My wife and I have already begun thinking/planning for Dk200/2010 but we'll see what happens in January.

Also, if you know someone who'd like a DK spot, I'm giving mine up for free*.

The asterisk means: 1.) you gotta actually ride it, 2.) You can't be a douchebag, and 3.) You gotta smile during it. If you, or someone you know fits these criteria and wants to ride Kanza, shoot an email to bdinger at gmail.com, and I'll somehow pass it on to the race folks. I also have a hotel reservation I'm going to cancel this week, unless someone wants it - it's on the inside of the Guesthouse Inn (Where DK is starting) - but you gotta pay for your own room, amigo.

Really, I hope there's some lemonade to be made here, and I know there is, I just gotta work to find it.

Bike to work week part II

2009-05-13T08:11:00.003-05:00

Today I woke up - late - at 7:15. Generally this means I scramble around and drive to work, and am "off" the rest of the day. Today I ambled around getting ready like usual and got on the bike. I didn't even take the short route - I didn't feel like it. I didn't put it in a tough gear, at all, just spun. And I got to work at 8:10.

It was liberating in ways I can't summarize into words, but the smile on my face as I sit here in my cycling clothes at my desk probably gives it away.

In the future, note to self, it's never "too late to ride". You just think it's too late to ride.

Life is good. More good when I ride my bike. I've GOT to remember that.

p.s. Dear "Kansas Guys" - Thank You. That definitely significantly helped one of my big Kanza problems, and cool to see someone actually reads this thing. Hope to meet you, whoever you are, in a couple weeks.

Bike to work week

2009-05-12T15:45:00.004-05:00

Of course, to honor it, I drove to work today. :)

Really, though, on Tuesdays and Thursdays I set up my "out of the office" appointments, and generally I just leave the Great White Turdus at work all week instead of driving in. This week there's some work I need to do to the Great White Turd(us) to get it in better running order, along with removal of some electronics and replacement of factory Ford electronics, so I can just leave it at work all the time. Truth be told, that'd be better all around, and would again eliminate the crutch of having it at home. Or maybe I'll do something different. Who knows.

What I do know, however, is that I can't summarize how good commuting via bike makes me feel. Menatlly, physically, just all over I'm positively affected by commuting via bicycle as opposed to vehicle. Today I'm off, find it hard to concentrate, my positive mood is eroding, my mellow harsh. Your results, of course, may vary but for me that's just how it is.

I guess, you know, I could be driving that thing. It even had a "fartpipe". I was really impressed, but wondered - seriously - about the sanity of the driver. I mean come on now.

Tomorrow I shall ride, Thursday I shall drive. There's a lot of things on my mind right now that I can't summarize.. maybe I'll go ride tonight to clear 'em up. I know after a nice ride everything just seems more.. real.

Ride your bike, it's good for your head.

Aerotech Designs Shorts - my review

2009-05-11T08:06:00.002-05:00

Otherwise known as "HAPPY NEW BIKE SHORTS DAY!!" Or.. "HAPPY TMI DAY!" Or... I'll stop there.

Here's the deal: if you are a cyclist, you realize the benefit of padded lycra shorts for riding. Enough so that you're probably willing to sacrifice dignity - in my case I write it off to "psh, I'm married already, they can eat their hearts out" - in the name of pure cycling comfort. However, if you are a big fella/lady your options can be a bit limited - that's where aerotech designs (DOT COM) comes in to play.

Three years ago shortly after I started cycling someone on the Internet turned me their way as I was seeking a way to ease my (somewhat extreme) discomfort. I ordered the "Pro Bike Short" in 5XL, and in the mail came the "Top Shelf Bike Short" as apparently at the time they were way backordered on the Pro but someone there forgot to take it off their website so they honored the order and sent me something that cost twice as much. You can see now this is going to be more of a love story than a review, right?

Anyway, here's the deal, I've ridden those shorts through everything for the past three years. For the past three years they are the only pair of cycling shorts I've owned that I've ridden more than 10 miles. I'll note, for the record, I did warn about TMI at the outset of this thing so kissamahass. See I'm one of those who likes to buy something quality, then use it up until the point it has nothing left to give. In this case, they still have something left, I just bought another pair because: a.) they're getting comically too big for me (yes, lycra CAN get "too big", not kidding), b.) I'd like to not have to do laundry every night.

There's my review. I've ridden one pair of cycling shorts on all kinds of bikes, over all kinds of terrain, and well over 10,000 miles in the past three years. Never once have they been a source of discomfort, in fact they alleviated some serious issues I was having with skivvies and gym shorts before switching. I've used them as a liner for pants/other shorts, and ridden them on their own. As long as you wash them after every use, they'll provide bacteria-free padded gloriousness. Pair them with a Brooks and you have cycling Nirvana. Seriously.

Anyway, can you see I can't say enough good? But in reality, here's the deal, being a bigger folk and riding a bicycle you are at a lack of.. everything. Clothing being a big (no pun intended.. kinda) one, and when you do find stuff it can be lacking in quality (I had a brief stint with some Nashbar shorts, never again. Ever.), or sized really really wrong (helloooo Pearl Izumi). These are neither of those, my only reccomendation on 'em is to pick the size that is about 4 inches smaller than your waist size. You'll be happy. I am. If they weren't 80 bones a pair (which in the grand scheme of cycling shorts isn't so bad), I'd probably have a dozen pair.

Or, you know, more than one.

Kanza

2009-05-07T08:30:00.003-05:00

It's 23 days away, and to be honest, I'm in a quandary. I'm 40 pounds away from the weight that I "easily" thought I'd be at on that day. This week, my "hell week", I'm at work due to a workload that just won't quit. My base miles have sucked, well I mean, they've been great but nothing compared to what I need. Essentially, mentally, I'm nowhere near prepared. Physically I could probably pull it off, but if my mind isn't there.. it's all over.

So here are my options:

1.) Destroy myself for the next 20 days and hope it's enough, then go to Kansas and give it my best. Hope that life and work don't throw any more curveballs so I can actually destroy myself.

2.) Don't even try it. Realize that epic failure will really screw up my thoughts for any future ones.

3.) Go for 100 miles, and give that my all. This is pretty much 2 with a consolation to my ego.

4.) Lean back, say "screw it", and give it my best shot. Don't sweat training - it's too late for any real impact anyway - and just give it everything I've got.

Right now 2 and 4 are the options I'm most seriously considering. However, here's the problem with 'em. This is 200 flippin' miles of gravel in the middle of nowhere, not a ride out to Cortland, it's not really to be toyed with. If I screw up out there, or the Leg Cramps From Hell's Own Heart come back, it's on me.

Thing about 2 is, I can lick my wounds, learn from my (ample, abundant, constant) mistakes from this winter/spring and really put effort toward the 2009 GLGA AWESOMENESS and really finishing this life change.

Other part of me goes well hell, you've done a great job getting this far by avoiding the real tough stuff so either keep putting it off, or man the hell up and ride. There's always going to be excuses. There's always going to be something in the way. But if.. just if.. I man up and finish the thing it will erase the need to lick those wounds. It will just wipe 'em the hell away, and really bring about the Next Level I've been working so hard for.

See.. my wife said something that snapped me out of it. Do you watch the Biggest Loser? I think I've vented about it once or twice but the last episode.. man. Let me put it this way, it takes a whole hell of a lot for a show to tear me up - and I can't recall "reality" TV ever doing it - but the last ep sure did. Ron - aka the Godfather - dug deeper than.. anything I've seen and finished a marathon. With a cane. And a bad knee. And EMT's telling him to stop. Walking for 13 hours he did it.

The more I type, the more I know my mind is already made up.

Ride Lots

2009-04-15T21:30:00.002-05:00

Eddy said it best, but in my case it's Ride Lots of hills into the wind. Whatever your weakness the only way to cure it is to face it - over, and over, and over and over again. My two weaknesses with riding are, and have been, wind and hills. So I gotta face 'em, two days in a row I have and don't have any intention of letting up. Riding one of the favorite local roadie routes - Highway 2 to Bennett - yesterday was pretty fun but today the way out was pretty dang difficult. 20+ mph headwinds the whole way out, good lord did it hurt, but man did it feel good on the way back. I picked a big gear on the way back and pushed hard.

But man, that's what you've gotta do. It hurts, it really does, some days the hurt tries to beat out the good. The good is always there, some days you've gotta dig really deep to find it - but it's there. Yesterday the good was the way back, that mean headwind made for a big gear spin on the way back, wow did I pick up some speed.

Hell week - Kanza is now a month and a half away, and yeah I'm nervous. The first week of May I'm taking as a "furlough" week, so I've been thinking to myself that I really need to do something good and difficult that week to really prep mentally for Kanza. Physically I'm not going to get much better in 45 days, but mentally I can go some ways. The idea now is to do a (metric) "century a day" that week. 62+ miles/day for the 5 weekdays. If it doesn't hurt I'll push the mileage to where it does - but I have a feelin' it will. That will be some good mental prep, I think, to really make it so I know I can do it come May 30.

See, that's just it - it's really all mental. I mean there are points where physically you just can't go on anymore - a la the GLGA cramps that wouldn't let up enough for me to actually spin the cranks - but most of the time the muscles are sore yet still poppin' out the miles. Those days you just have to dig down, find it, and run with it. If this thing was easy, I'd be done already, but I'm not. I'm still struggling to lose weight, still struggling to find the motivation and still trying to just crest that one last hill before I get home.

So don't feel bad when you can't - because you can, it's just really tough. Dig a little deeper, reach for the apple instead of the burger, and know that in the end it's really goona be good. Like me, it might take you a couple years of repeated failure, but it's good.

Lemonade

2009-04-07T08:27:00.002-05:00

Bad luck comes in multiples, but it's how you define bad that determines how it's going to impact.. am I right?

Sunday we're off to my folks' house for dinner, and about a mile from home I'm slowing down from a turn and the van does a big "THUNK" from the front end. Like, not good really bad probably terrible thunk. I limp it around the turn and off to the side of the highway and get out. Look underneath, sure enough, a geyser of transmission fluid is making it's way to the pavement. Managed to get home, thank everything, as neither my wife or I brought cellphones with us - how ironic, right? Of course I was a little bit stressed, I mean, being kind of a car geek it doesn't take much to figure that thunking plus a geyser of tranny fluid /= good.

This was particularly annoying, of course, because I spend time and money to maintain vehicles well so they don't fail. All our vehicles are full of Mobil 1, have K&N filters, quality (Goodyear) tires, etc etc - I'm pretty anal about keeping vehicles running well. However, front wheel drive vehicles, Chrysler products in particular, are well known for transmission failures no matter what you do.

Came to work yesterday, and sure enough the LHT had two flat tires. One theory is that it was mad I left it here all weekend. The other is that, well, the Jamaica Me Crazy trail eats tires. Last night went to replace 'em, and realized I'm out of spare tubes. Crap.

Today I hear that yesterday there was a cyclist killed in a vehicle/cycle accident downtown in the morning, and a elderly woman died after a horrible accident about a half mile from my home. My little annoyances are nothing, but rather just minor setbacks.

These turn of events certainly are not missed on me. I got a second chance a couple years ago, I shouldn't have, but I did. Is it highly likely that I'm going to have to pay a couple grand for a new transmission? Sure. Does it suck that I'm not going to get to ride my bike a lot this week? Yup. You know what doesn't suck? Sunshine and being able to appreciate it another day.

Like I said, lemonade in a half-full glass. That's how I roll.

Gave up

2009-04-04T20:27:00.002-05:00

Sometime on April 1, I gave up on cycling. Seriously, it was all over, I was done with it - as evidenced by a twitter tweet I made. I wasn't feeling hot, legs were sore, just overall it wasn't good and I blamed it on cycling - but I was wrong.

It's not the first time I was wrong. Ironically, two days over 3 years before that, I almost died in a car accident - truth be told I probably should be dead, but for some reason live to tell the tale. Short story, full ton dually pickup pulled out in front of me, was traveling at 45mph, passenger and I weren't wearing seatbelts. Aside from a messed up back (to this day), a pretty good concussion, and one scary ambulance ride (midway through someone saw something, or I did something that prompted that ambulance to HAUL), I made it out OK. My passenger, on the other hand, was hurt pretty bad. She has some permanent damage, and got banged up bad.

Of course after the accident, the slimeball who pulled out in front of me changed his story, witnesses were lacking, and his insurance company did a great job of playing not-nice to both my passenger and I. Lawyers had to be brought in, the fault of the accident was brought into question, and my back started hurting pretty bad/weight started coming back on. To boot, I was pissed at the guy, spending about 18 months of my life obsessing over the damn thing. Sometime in the late summer of 2007 the word from my lawyer finally came, the guy caved and they offered a settlement, but no full admission of guilt. A big weight came off my chest, I smiled, and I used the funds to pick up a full olympic bench/weight set, along with some powerblocks and other stuff for our house. I wanted the money gone, gone to something good to have positive effects on our life.

Today I was at the annual county storm spotter training, and saw the passenger from that day. She first showed me pictures of her newly-born grandson (which since having kids of my own, such things melt my heart), then when I asked her how things were going I got a big smile followed by stories of her new car, and the trip she took to Jamaica last year with her daughter. "He finally admitted he pulled out in front of it, that it was all her fault" I got back with a smile, and that little bit of weight flew away - and I smiled a big genuine smile. See a year and a half ago I realized that I was finally somewhat right, but not completely. Now I knew that I was, and that she was OK. Knowing, finally, you 100% werent responsible for harm to another human being is a feeling of peace.

But that's not why I almost gave up cycling.

I realized, finally, the reason I almost gave up cycling had nothing to do with cycling. I have a lot of stress in my life, right now my job is a good 90% of that, and that stress was looking for something to give. Something to buy a little more time, give a little, to make the sanity flow a little more. I gained 5 pounds last week, which hurt after a week where I lost 10 doing exactly the same thing I had done when I gained 5. Then my wife sent me an article about some hormone your body exerts under stress that causes.. some reaction that can make you gain weight even though you are working hard. And it all just clicked.

It clicked yesterday as I was riding to Cortland, pushing hard into one heck of a headwind. That has to be my favorite kind of ride, pushing hard into a brutal headwind the whole way out, because then you know the ride back is going to be nothing short of phenomenal. The pain of the legs - and there was pain, covering the 20 miles to Cortland took probably an hour and 40 minutes. The last miles from Princeton to Cortland were particularly brutal, it's all open trail on open prairie with nothing to stop the wind from blasting into your face. I cussed, yelled out loud at it and reminded myself that it would be good, real good on the way back.

It was.

My mind was clear, I thought nothing of my inbox, to do list, projects, or the flipping economy as I found the biggest gear I have and just spun effortlessly as the wind pushed me at it's velocity - over 20 mph - home.

Now I get it, the stress we all live in, it pushes us to everything that isn't good. We don't have time, so we eat junk and eat lots of it because - let's be honest here - whilst eating it, it makes us feel good. We buy big cars and houses because they make us feel good, and feel like that money is going to something, money earned under constant stress to continue to produce so as to continue to earn to continue to buy and continue to eat. In the end we feel empty, so we find things that "take too much time" or "hurt too much" and get rid of 'em, so we can work more and buy more things. And we get more empty. I know I was.

We forget how pure, how great it feels to look to the sky as the legs just blur beneath you, the accomplishment of pushing yourself further than you've pushed before and man the feeling of that is better than anything money can buy.

Linkback lovin'

2009-03-30T12:13:00.003-05:00

Do you read this blog and lurk in the shadows? Do you have your own blog? Shoot a comment with your blog's addy, and I'll throw you some linkage lovin.

Today's ridin was great, real great. A little chilly but man oh man the second I turned west I got a BLAST of tailwind. Was one of those where I just grabbed a meaty gear and spun easily whilst flying at a rapid pace towards work. Saw Cornbread on the way in, fightin the wind I wanted to hug, but he still had a smile on his face. Amazing, isn't that? It isn't often I see a regular cyclist who isn't smiling, or able to make a big ole genuine toothy smile on command. It can be rainin', cold, with a headwind in your face and even then - if you are on a bike - you can probably find something to smile about.

That's really, just how it is. And it's good. For sure, by far, better than anything else.

Extra Value Meal

2009-03-27T07:53:00.002-05:00

It's a blurry pic thanks to cameraphone + NONSTOP SHAKING FROM THE COLD, but the summary is me and the little guy made the monthly "work food" run to Sam's last night. And then I loaded it up on the Big Blue Truck and headed in. Only things missing are soups and pita, but those I get from the store a block away from work because, well, Pita is best fresh and I'm not carrying a month's worth of soup on the truck. But here's the real deal, I did some math while me and Nick were making our way back south - to feed me, for a day, costs just about $3.22/day. I shouldn't say "for a day" because that's not counting dinner - but that's breakfast and lunch for a day - $3.22. I'm definitely not sufferin', nope I'm eating good granola bars, hummus, Boca burgers, soups, and oatmeal. All real good stuff.

So then I got thinkin' on the ride in today, I used to eat at Mc D's or other fast food places for lunch because "it was cheaper than going home or making something". Yeah, I totally see that logic now, seriously. It, however, was marketed beautifully in a manner where it seemed to make sense that 4 bucks for a soda, meat sandwich of some sort, and fries were a "bargain". Wonky.

What's even more wonky is how good all this stuff is, how filling it is for low calories, and how good I feel afterward. Not to be on a pedestal or anything but seriously, once you ditch that junk, this junk is even better.. and it's good junk. Nitro powered rocket cycling fuel. That's what it is, and that's where it's at.

Hello big numbers

2009-03-25T20:45:00.003-05:00

Dropped a big 10 this week, which honestly, I needed to see. Now I'm only 25 away from my lowest, and 60 away from one of my big goals.. both of which will be nice to see. I'm hoping, crossing fingers, that like what has happened in the past will ring true again - the "winter weight" seems to fall off, then the slowdown kicks in on the rest of the weight. if it doesn't, I'm cool, I'm really happy just seeing something less than what I previously saw each time I step on the scale.

It's all coming back to being natural, you know, the whole thing. Riding feels good, real good every day. Eating good feels even better than it did, espescially now that I'm really getting to the point where I have a system. I tried to lunch on Lean Pockets for about three weeks, yeah, that didn't work at all. I was left feeling hungry about an hour after lunch every day, consistently, and about ready to resort to cannibalism by the time I got home from work. Calories were within limits, but they obviously provided nothing to actually fill. So I tried something different and just dig it in volumes I can't summarize. One piece of pita bread, one boca original vegan, little bit o hummus, and a can of progresso light. 440-ish calories and I was FULL, and stayed that way. Before I left on my ride I had a granola bar to add some fuel because I wanted to hammer, and hammer I did, arrived home starting to feel the beginnings of hunger - by the time I sat down to eat I was hungry.

So that works for me, and works good. Still love Oatmeal in the morning, don't think that'll ever change. I'm a creature of habit, so if I can figure out a good system again - life'll be good.

The ride, the ride was the bomb. I've had now two solid weeks of commuting (well, still Th-Fri left this week, but yaknow) with lots of added miles in, and I feel good. Real, real, real good. I hammered it pretty hard and focused on making the most of the clipless situation, which also has worked out dang well. I'm really starting to figure out how to pedal with 'em, and man when I do I fly. Best thing is that it's leaving some muscles burnin and sore that don't usually get that - definitely a win. Shoes? Wonderful. Love 'em. Pedals? Wonderful. Love 'em.

Got to thinkin' a bit about the bike today, I'm getting close to finishing my 3rd year on it, it all started back in '06 on a whim. I thought "huh, that'd be cool", so I threw my brother's old Raleigh MTB in the back of my pickup and drove out to the Mopac. I'm trying to remember the distance, but basically I did a Walton to 34 and back ride - and couldn't stop smiling. I was hooked, it was all over, started riding that old Raleigh everywhere until kept breaking it, so I picked up the Specialized. The rest is how it is, and it's good. Real good.

Lacking Clips

2009-03-18T10:20:00.004-05:00

So far so good. Feels a little strange, definitely, but good at the same time. Goona get a longer shakedown ride in after work to finalize my opinion, but I think they're here to stay. I don't notice any speed or "omg so fast" gain like I've heard, but I do like the fact that my feet don't slide around. And then there's the shoes...

..are EXCELLENT. I'm really happy with 'em, they're the Bontrager Mountain RL's, I tried the "Race" and yeah they didn't work out for me. Fit good, dang good, but there was a issue with the sole that didn't work with my foot. But these, boy oh boy, they're good. I wouldn't ride them with platforms, but they'll work. Nice and stiff, fit roomy even on my ginormous feet, and run about a size or two too small.

And yes, they have carbon soles. Only the "Bronze" series, wonder what gold is? Okay whatever, mock away at my carbon footsies... :P

Training Day

2009-03-17T08:53:00.002-05:00

You know what yesterday was? 72 degrees. Seventy Two Degrees. Seven. Two. Two words that amount to "amazing". One of those days where I left work and didn't know where I was going, but was sure it would be good.. real real good. And it was. 20 miles of goodness, even the part riding straight into a blast of wind. That part was great, in fact, because the blast of wind was warm and refreshing not attempting to murder me with it's coldness.

So I thought a lot, and figured out that I need to ride a lot in the next two months to prep for Dirty Kanza. My legs are awesome, which I was honestly a bit worried about yesterday - the 20 mile sprint didn't phase me at all. What worries me a bit is my mass, weight, chub, superchub, fat, etc. It's painfully obvious that the problems I have on longer rides with hydration is because of said mass, and I'm not sure how to keep from fighting the dehydration monster yet again. I am most certainly going to try out some products recommended a while back, but the big thing is ridding myself of the mass. Trial, error, etc will be preformed to re-lose some of the 30 (uggh) pounds gained over winter and add a little more to it.

Winter sucks, that much is very clear to me now, but what sucks more is losing rythmm. For three years in a row now I've had awesome summer weight losses followed by winter gains that negate half of the loss. Every year it starts at Thanksgiving with a little too much food, which throws nutrition off but I seem to keep moving with exercise so it's a plateu of weight loss. Then it goes out the door by the time New Year's is over as the nutrition has gone out the window, and by then the winter has worn on me enough that exercise is "meh". Come spring, I make a post like this, vow not to do it again and..

Yeah.

Nuff said, basically. I've got a plan, I've got momentum, and that's how I roll.

Two interesting things. First, I've developed what has to be the tastiest lunch wrap ever. 1 whole wheat tortilla (120 cals), 1/2 Boca burger (50 cals), 1 dollup hummus (uhh.. 20 for arguments sake, much less probably), and some lettuce. 190 calories of pure tastiness erupt when consumed, seriously. Two of those and I was pretty full and fueled up, amazing how that works. Also is hummus the best thing ever or what? On lettuce, on a sandwich, on anything.. it's the new salsa.

Second, more deep, it's painfully obvious to me that unless you find peace in yourself you can't find peace anywhere else. Think about that for a bit. When I was big, really big, I was a judgemental, critical, prick. Now parts of those things exist, but for the most part I see the best in everything and everyone. It's nice, really, to have that peace and see that good. Maybe not the weight thing, but maybe more the cycling thing did it. Seriously, reaching those points where life is amazing on a bike, and life is tough, and life is downright impossible gives a new appreciation to life itself. Gives a whole new realization that life is, really, too short to care, to judge, and to be anything but peaceful and happy.

Spring = best. thing. ever.

Wanderlust

2009-03-11T12:51:00.003-05:00

I haven't posted much lately, and this one won't be very long due to time constraints (I have about 8 minutes to finish, ya see). However the other day I met up with Oly and got to see his Fargo in person for the first time. See the shorts? 60 degrees that day.

Today I was driving around doing half-lunch-hour errands when it really hit me. I've been in a funk, a.. zombiefied existence if you will. tense. edgy. grumpy.

I need to ride. I need a couple hours just to get lost, to focus, to come back to reality. A warm day, a warm breeze, a long road.

Then, I imagine, the smiles will come back.

Rough Winter

2009-03-04T08:34:00.003-06:00

This winter has been long, and honestly, pretty rough. It's worn on everyone, I think, even Nick who I'm sure is sick of the dumb hats and dumb coats he has to wear all the time. It started out tolerable, I think only because it was new and I could still remember warmth. Then it became a novelty. Now it's just.. suckage. I've not been doing so good on riding since January, for the first time in a LONG time my drives to work have begun to outnumber my rides to work. Suck.

Maybe not a total loss. Two years in a row I've had rough winters, and after analyzing it a bit I think I know why. It's all about focus. 100%. I was thinking at the dentist the other day, while I was yet again getting a tooth drilled on, if I focused on something other than the drilling it didn't drive me crazy. I mean it didn't hurt at all, but that sound is the worst if you've ever experienced it. When I focused on the ceiling and just thought about things, though, it went away. Same with ridin' and the life change thing.

For the past two, no three years I've fallen off around Thanksgiving time then didn't get back up again until spring. This year I fell pretty hard, but got right back up in December and started to make some things happen. Moving happened, and that just threw me right off again - now it's March and I'm sitting here saying "oh shit" and looking at an extra 20 pounds on the scale. Suckage.

What happened? I lost my focus. I let it slip just for a little bit, and it all went to hell. I let it slip, nobody else, not Mc Donalds, not New Belgium brewing, not the economy - me. I lost focus for just a second and it all went to hell. Old habits are hard to break, but you can break 'em.

Anyway, that's what happened. Now I'm sitting here with 20 extra pounds, a sore ankle (some myseterious injury that I can't quite put my finger on), and motivation that's slowly building back up. I've finally ditched soda - again - and ditched booze - again. It became apparent to me that drinking diet soda isn't condusive to weight loss, nor is drinking a bunch of booze every (other) night. I'm back to coffee, water, and the occasional Lipton Diet Citrus Tea. Slowly resetting the diet, it's been good so far (I've dropped 2 pounds in the past week just by intake changes) but the focus has to stay.

On the cycling front, I need to get back into it with a vengeance. Thursday new shoes arrive to address the issues I had with the lower end pair, which is suckage because they fit soo good. New SPD pedals are sitting at home waiting for a home, and after it became obvious to me the seatpost on the MTB was too short I ordered a longer one for that ride. It's all starting to shape up, the forecast for today is 56 degrees by the time I head out this afternoon, and I can dig that. Temps for the 10-day forecast all are over freezing - that's all I care about. March has promise, I know April is goona be wet, then May is where it's at. 200 miles in Kansas. I'm either goona do it, or die trying.

All I know is I'm really, really, really tired of "Big and Tall".

Cured

2009-02-18T09:29:00.002-06:00

Ingredients:
1 part surly long haul trucker
1 gloomy, cold, and windy day
1 decently steep hill
30 spare minutes before work
1 grumpy and gloomy chubby dude

Mix together, bake at 28 deg F for 20 minutes.

Amazing what a ride can do for the mind. Simply amazing. Yesterday's ride home wasn't great, in fact it might not even have been good, but this morning was 5 miles of pure wonderfulness.

In other news, stopped by the bike shop on the way back from a meeting yesterday morning to talk about shoes, and looks like I might have a plan in place. I'll blog about everything next week after I've gotten it all straightened out, but I'm still pleased with the Bontrager shoes, and still REALLY pleased with my shop. The folks at Cycle Works are awesome, consistently and evenly. Or something? Heh.

Interesting note, on the way there I noticed that the bridge over 27th street that will connect the mopac trail to the rock island (essentially) is almost complete! That would rock, and would mean that I could basically go from my house to wabash and back all on multi-use paths, with only about 5 blocks of side streets to go to/from the paths. So, so, so, so awesome. It's not hard for me to get there now, just hodge-podge and kinda annoying - annoying enough that I started to prefer the Jamaica just for ease of access. But the mopac, I like the mopac's scenery oh so much better, espescially past Eagle.

Now all I need is for the bridge to be completed, and spring to arrive. I've got good feelings about both, I'm tellin ya.

The "wagon"

2009-02-17T14:42:00.002-06:00

I'm tiring of having to make the same "I screwed up" posts over and over again. If there is a common theme in this blog over the past two years, it's those, coupled with the "this ride rocked" posts. It's, in a word, shameful. I keep making great leaps forward, then great leaps back, which essentially amount to baby steps forward.

I could say all kinds of things to sugar coat it, but I'm not going that route this time. I fell off, and it sucks worse than anything I could summarize.

There's light at the end, I see it, the sun is coming around and heating things up again. Clipless pedals are on the way. Shoes are coming around. I've just gotta, gotta, gotta stop screwing up.

Two great moments...

2009-02-16T08:44:00.005-06:00

1 - My little girl turns 8 today. It hit me pretty hard this morning a little bit ago, rolling in (a car..) to work. Hard in the "holy crap she's growing up and I'm totally missing it" way, and hard in the "I really finally need to change something if I want to make it to see her kids turn 8". This time it wasn't a moment where you'd need to cue the Coldplay for some hardcore emo time. It was different.

2 - Whilst walking through the store yesterday, being my usual dork self with the now almost 10 month old Nick, I leaned forward (as I had been doing) and said "MISTER CHEESE!" to which he replied "DADDY!" No, ain't the first word, that was "KIGGY!" a while back, kid sure like the kitties.

1 + 2 = Not sure yet. Just not sure. Something's gotta move in one direction or the other, because I'll tell you, I sure like 1 + 2 better than any beer or cheeseburger or chinese foooood or nachos or or... you get the idea.

It hath frozen over..

2009-02-15T10:14:00.002-06:00

Order Information
Items:
QTY Product Name Item# Size Color Price Total

1 Shimano M520L MTB Pedal $35.99 $35.99

It is, most certainly, the end of the world. Or rather, "I discovered how amazing stiff-soled cycling shoes are for efficency, so now I'm going to jump completely off the reservation and try clipless out to see if I'm missing out on that, too".

p.s. Nashbar.com is having a crazy 20% off everything that's already on sale right now

p.p.s.s. Bontrager shoes are good, real good, with one minor exception. I think I'm missing something, or they missed something HUGE when making nearly the most comfortable shoes I've ever worn on my gigantizoid feet. More on that later.

Peace

2009-02-10T19:53:00.003-06:00

You know what 61 degrees feels like? No? I do, it's summarized with: Good. Dang good. It feels like gliding, laughter, hammering, and singing out loud "Yellow Submarine" whilst blazing a path down the multi-use path.

Sometimes I don't even have any idea - myself - that I have seasonal depression until I realize that I do. Dat be proper english. You get the idea.

Stepped on the scale yesterday - cringing - and it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I haven't lost a pound since before the moving fiesta, nor have I gained a pound. I hugged the scale. Repeatedly. My wife was right, thankfully, I might not have been cycling but my constant running around moving helped keep me from turning into a gigantic beer and chinese food filled balloon.

Back to the cycling. Yesterday I left work and didn't really know where I wanted to go. It was 61 out, so I could go anywhere (!!!) and not worry about frostbite, ice, snow, etc etc. In the end I opted to head north to the shop, the rear der has been skipping a bit lately and I wanted to look at shoes. Man, am I glad I did. Here's why:

So yeah get this - Bontrager (Trek) makes shoes. I know, I know! But also, get this - they feel good. First pair I tried (a 48cm/13.5 US) didn't, my toes were cramped and I went "eh, I'll pass". I have big feet, gigantic feet, I wear a 13 or 14 US and they run a little wide (shocking, I know!), so finding shoes for me is always a challenge, and finding ones that fit me well nearly impossible. Looked at Shimanos and Pearl Izumis, neither floated my boat.

Right before I left I said "oh what the hell" and tried the size 14.5. I stood talking to my favorite mechanic there about the LHT, and kept thinking "dang, these feel good, really good". Standing up being different than cycling, of course, but it gives you a good idea how they'll feel regardless. Stiff sole, comfy fit.. wow. I passed at the moment thinking "jeez lousie, next thing you do, you'll be going clipless and walking around sounding like a mix between a horse and a hooker as the cleats click on the floor".

Riding home in my trusty North Face hiker/tennies, I couldn't help but constantly think about how good those felt. The North Faces have felt good, great, for three years of cycling and exercise at the gym, but now they felt weird. Small. Odd. Foreign almost. Thousands of miles, several centuries, but now they just didn't feel right. Kind of how the Trek FX felt after the first time I rode a LHT.

And, you know, that was good. That change was one of the best I ever did for cycling. So baby steps, goona go pick 'em up and try them out with the platforms and just enjoy a sturdier pedaling platform, and comfier fit. The writing, however, is on the wall.

"Thou shalt sound like a tramp whilst walking, and smile as thy feet are clipped sturdily to thy pedals whilst riding."

Or, you know, something like that.

It's in the air..

2009-02-09T21:12:00.003-06:00

Spring, that is. This morning threw me off, I looked at my smartphone bleary eyed at 6:30am, and the weather app said 48 degrees. Must be wrong, so I refreshed. And again. And again. No, sure enough, it was almost 50 degrees by the time I walked out the door. Humid, and 50 degrees. It was crazy enough that I wore nearly normal clothes. No Gore Tex, no Thinsulate, no fleece.. just normal stuff. Not even wool!

It was just what was needed this morning. Utterly amazing. Were it not for the wind on the way home, I would have gotten myself lost in the nearly 60 degree wonderfulness. As it were, I fought the wind, smiled, fought some more, sweated, and fought. It was... glorious.

And now for a confession: My beer fast has been blown completely out the window. No excuses, just an admission. I love beer, and I'm a weak, weak man.

That and, well, watching me in the rum and or wine aisles is a completely and utterly comical experience. If I could just grab something and go, I'd be fine, but I'm the ultimate comparison shopper. Which is great if I know something about what I'm buying, but this is similar to putting me in charge of buying, say, nuclear weapons:

"So uhh, what's the difference between those two?"

"Sir, that one has a triple thermonuclear bloopity bloo flux capacitor with ultra super turbo nuke power. That one is your standard 3,000 megajule bliggity bloop eight trillion flux power unit"

"Umm.." (I start thinking) (pull out smartphone and go for Google)

"Sir, should I have my wife cancel christmas for the next three years?"

"probably a good idea"

You get the idea. Of course the easy solution would be to find a more productive outlet for my stress, but where's the fun in that?

Anyway, life is good. We're moved, and absolutely love our new home. The new commute is awesome in ways I can't really summarize, so the year holds promise.

Now all I've got to do is get back in my groove. Somewhere it is, I just gotta find it.

New Commute

2009-02-02T22:21:00.003-06:00

Fantastic. Wonderful. Great. Awesome.

Amazing what even a move a mile away can make, am I right? Used to be 90% bike path with lots of road crossings, 5% residential streets, and 5% sidewalk. Problem with it was the street crossings (Normal and 40th being the two I hated most) and sidewalk, sidewalk on a really busy street to boot.

New one? Long way is 95% bike path with a couple annoying street crossings, and 5% residential streets. It's pretty much, you know, awesome.

Either that or, you know, I completely forgot how peaceful a bike ride after a long day of work can be. Could be. Just maybe.

The best weight of all lost

2009-01-31T21:23:00.003-06:00

I've had a lot of points in the past couple of years that have made me really, really happy/proud/overjoyous. Friday, well, it was probably one of the best. One by one I called revolving creditors and said "I'd like to pay and close this account.." "...no, I mean payment in FULL". When the final one called me it felt like all the weight was gone, after I hung up that phone. Knowing that now the only debt I have is my mortgage, and trying to figure out which savings account to put which amount of savings in.. I'm not sure how to describe it.

See we as americans, in particular my generation, are slaves to credit. I'm dead serious, we really are, and really have no idea how it affects us. We recently bought a house, and opted to take the $7500 tax credit the government is offering to first time home buyers. For us it wasn't even a thought, we knew exactly what we were going to do with it - pay off everything. And it felt good.

I'll be the first to admit, I've got a shiny problem. Where shiny is anything new and shiny, I just happen to be addicted to it. As such I got myself into a little - not a lot - of trouble debt wise and slowly learned my lesson. Like many my age it wasn't the size of your savings account that was the status symbol, it was what color your card was and the size of your TV. Folks, seriously, I'm tellin' you it's bad. It's probably as bad, I'm serious here, as the obesity problem. Seriously. Just think about it. Think about how it feels to be a slave to a credit card company, the calls the second you are late on a payment.. etc.

The past week has been spent moving, getting rid of stuff, moving some more, getting rid of more stuff, etc. During it I've been listening to Dave Ramsey's show on AM radio and it's just amazing how nobody really realizes the problem until someone points it out to them. Elementary crap, you know, like the guy who charged his meals out on a credit card because "it gets points", but "forgot" to pay it off for a couple of months, and got into trouble when they jacked his rate up. Or the guy who put a ton of stuff on his visa that was "locked" at a 2.9% APR for life, but suddenly the CC company decided to triple his minimum payment out of nowhere because - guess what - you're their slave.

Anyway, summary is, I'd recommend everyone else do it. You really have no idea how good to feels to be free aside from the mortgage, and truth be told, that one I don't mind much. I beat the bank on that - kind of - as the traditional appreciation in our real estate market approaches the 5% interest rate I got on the thing.

Now I've just got to stop being lazy and ride my bike. Monday is the first commute from the new place.

I can't wait.

2009-01-17T08:17:00.000-06:00

Enough!

2009-01-16T22:16:00.002-06:00

I've officially had enough of winter. Enough of snow, ice, sub-zero temps, pain when breathing, feet that feel like frozen rocks, and discovering how wind can find every microscopic hole in clothing. Enough of "bundling up". Enough of planning rides not on how long I can push, but on how long I can stay warm enough to avoid freezing.

I've. Had. Enough. Mr winter. ENOUGH.

I now dream, lust, lay awake at night thinking of the days when I can just ride. When I don't have to think about how many pairs of socks, or layers to wear. I dream about waking up at 6am on a Sunday and just riding for a couple hours, not having to consider the 20 degree variant of temps below freezing it might be. I dream about a time when sweating is good, not life-threatening.

Can you tell I only rode once this past calendar week? You think? :)

On a good turn, I'm now a homeowner! I absolutely dig my new house, big time, the neighborhood seems great, the house itself is nice, and you know.. it's mine. Or rather, a corner of the backyard is mine, the rest belongs to the great and powerful Wells Fargo. Very stoked to move in late next week, but must do some work first.

And VERY stoked for spring.

Confirmed

2009-01-12T08:38:00.002-06:00

===============================================
Name - Ben Dinger xxx@gmail.com
Event Name - Dirty Kanza 200
-- Event Date - 5/30/2009
---- Category - Open Men
Conf # -
===============================================

It's official, paid the entry, got on the list - I'm there. Called and got the hotel booked yesterday too, nice and cheap lodging for the two nights. Travel plans are firming up. Yup, it's goona happen, 4 months (!!!) away, which is so crazy I can't summarize. I'd be nervous, but I think I've got a pretty good plan in place, and as long as I take it easy/avoid the leg cramps (see plan, or rather, water) I should be just fine.

Plan is pretty simple, for the next month I'm working hardcore on weight loss/cardio. Maybe even the next two. I ride my 7 miles in the AM, then every M-W-F I hit the Y for an hour on the elliptical. 1 painful glorious hour where I try as hard as I can to destroy myself. I've done it for two weeks now, and you know, it's gettin' easier. Then the long way home, etc etc. When it starts to warm, I'll start adding some miles in, and by April 31 I want to have gotten a gravel century (100 miles) in so I can assess what needs work. I'm pretty sure I know (weight, hydration), but it's all good.

For gear, it's also simple. I'm riding the LHT in the same basic config that I did for the GLGA, only minor changes are planned. The Nitto Rando bars are great, but to be honest, I think I need something wider. Crap. But oh well, not expensive, shoulda listened to Butch, chalk one up for experience right? Wide shouldered guy needs wide bars. Who'd have thunk it?

Second, I'd like to go clipless. I need new summer shoes anways, so I might as well buy cycling shoes (I looked, Shimano MT31's are about what I paid for my last set of North Face speed hikers) and some pedals. I hear you gain a bit of efficency, but mostly I'm looking to stop wearing out regular shoes. This will be the second pair in so many years that I've worn out (literally) with platforms. If I can't do clipless, well, then I still have a new pair of stiff-soled shoes so it works out.

Finally, on the GLGA I took a pannier with stuff in it (big emphasis on STUFF). This time, I'm going to switch to a rack trunk because it will be lighter and hold less. I'm sure the second is a bit of a head scratcher, but I've always erred ont he side of taking too much with me, and any extra pound I carry is an extra pound I need to carry up every hill. With a offical resupply at 100 miles, I'm going to plan to take whatever I'd need for 100 miles and call it good. No more whole box of granola bars, a change of clothes, and half the tools I own madness (I'm Not. Joking.), nope I'm hoping to carry some very simple items with an emphasis on water/nutrition (which is where I always have problems on long rides).

The only thing about this that has me nervous is the leg cramps. That's it. I know my bike works, and works amazingly for long gravel grinders. I know endurance wise that I can do it, I've done it before, and I'm as strong as I was in September. I know my clothing is perfect for long gravel grinders. I know.. everything is fine except for those awful leg cramps. I'm really not sure what to do to cure that, I suspect much of the problem was due to the lack of water from Wilber to Denton, in fact I'm almost sure of it. If I can plan for N+1 with my water supply, I'll be fine.

Anyway, here goes. I know it's goona be epic, and I know I'm going to have a blast. Now just to make sure that I give everything I've got to make sure that the finish line and me are friends in under 20 hours.

Birthday ride - Me: 1, Weather: 0

2009-01-10T23:18:00.004-06:00

As expected, the wind came. I headed south after putting in a full day that started far too early, feeling good in ways I can't explain, driven by happiness and one of "those days" the iPod seemed to read my mind. Then it clicked. I was moving fast, real fast, even on soggy half-frozen limestone. I stopped, sure enough, there was a phenomenal (that's the best word I can use to describe) wind pushing me from the North. At that point I was just outside of Lincoln, close enough that slugging through a couple of miles of frigid headwind wouldn't have been too bad.

But I kept going South.

It became more cumbersome as the trail became more secluded. It seemed as if the trail softened enough to take the benefit out of the substantial tailwind, or rather, the softened trail plus the seclusion that is offered on the Jamaica once you get south of Roca, and a slight incline, makes things interesting. Tough, and I wondered if I should abandon right there, content with a long ride.

But I kept going South..

I stopped at the bridge just shy of Stagecoach Road, which was my planned turnaround spot due to time constraints (with the headwind, I knew I wouldn't make it back in a reasonable time had I continued the extra 4 miles to Princeton). The wind, at that point in that unshielded area was so substantial that I took a couple minutes to have my not-so-smart and powered by the evil empire phone take a video, which I need to pull off and edit.

Anyway

At that point I had one choice: Ride. There was thought of going the quarter mile over and grabbing the paved highway so I had only one demon to battle, the wind, rather that wind + limestone/gravel but I chose the more evil. I could go on with some bravado and chest thumping, but I chose it because I knew I had to. I chose it because I knew that a frigid headwind for an hour (turned out to be almost 90 minutes) was something I'd need to push through physically and mentally if I am going to push through the rest of the challenges this year. And, well, I didn't want to call my wife and have her come pick me up ;).

Mother nature took me up on my previous post, she threw it at me. When the wind wouldn't stop me, and it hit full bore once the trail straightened by Roca, she threw in the ice pellets and snow. Those hurt, they really did, but I yelled at the top of my lungs at her, the iPod read my mind and found a little Rammstein, and the cranks kept spinning.

Riding across the train tracks at the city limits of Lincoln (see Oliver, I can do it!! ;)) a new Toyota FJ Cruiser SUV turned around and the driver said "do you need help?" "Nope, my bike is fine, thank you!" is all I could think to answer. I'm sure he wondered about the rest as the snow started to really come down, and now nothing was between the wind and I.

At 14th and Pine Lake Road I had a decision to make. I could bail out east, head toward work which was just 2 miles away. Warm up in my office as the El Taurumino warmed up in the parking lot to take me home. The trail to work would be shielded, and mostly east anyway, so it'd be an easy 2 miles. Or I could head south, back into the wind, the snow, and the ice pellets.

Again, I went South. The ride to 14th and Old Cheney took about twice the usual time it takes me, I'm sure, and the iPod kept up the concert. Mother Nature now wasn't having it anymore, she threw down the gauntlet. As I approached old cheney my front wheel, still clad with the all-season Conti Contact, was pretty sketchy. Snow was falling at a more rapid rate. I stopped and there wasn't much of a decision to make. I could continue South, where home was about 5 miles away even with the best shortcut, or I could head east where work was only a mile and a half away.

I turned east, and smiled.

Of course the smile was followed by moments of terror as the front wheel did everything it could to remind me that I should ride such a tire in snow, but it was still something I could smile about. "Here I am", I said to myself, "32 years old and riding my bicycle in sub-freezing temperatures with the snow falling.. some day I might grow up!" The smile was back.

I slowly made my way down the final hill on Old Cheney until the multi-use trail which work backs up to came into sight. I turned South and..

All I can say is sheer beatuy of mother nature. Orbital's "Halcyon" was playing (iPod reading minds.. hello?), the wind was back at my back, and the snow was falling. I was moving at about the pace of the wind so the silence aside from the music was amazing, the tires moving through the snow on the path as the flakes flickered in my headlight. The smile was pretty much beyond measure at that point. I had fought, hard, against her for nearly 90 mintues so she rewarded me with one of the most beautiful scenes I'd ever been privy to.

I rolled into the parking lot at work, smile now hard to shake, as Son Volt's "Medication" (one of my favorite "bleed off anything" songs) clicked on. I sat on my bike, next to the El T as the snow came down, and thought.. it doesn't get any better than this, literally.

If growing up requires me to quit this, then I guess I'll be a eternal kid.

p.s. Mother nature - nice try, fool!

Happy Birtday to me!

2009-01-09T08:52:00.002-06:00

...WIND ADVISORY TODAY WEST AND CENTRAL...

.TODAY...WINDY AND TURNING COLDER. A CHANCE OF SNOW...SLEET AND
RAIN. HIGHS IN THE MID 20S TO MID 30S NORTH...MID 30S TO MID 40S
SOUTH. MOST TEMPERATURES FALLING DURING THE AFTERNOON.
.TONIGHT...A CHANCE OF LIGHT SNOW EAST...MAINLY BEFORE MIDNIGHT.
THEN MOSTLY CLOUDY. BECOMING PARTLY CLOUDY WEST. LOWS MOSTLY IN
THE TEENS WITH SOME SINGLE DIGITS NORTHEAST.

Uhm Mr Weather? Yeah, kissamahass. I'm riding to Princeton, goona smile, and you better throw everything you got at me if you think that's goona change.

Kthxbye.

Reality

2009-01-08T14:26:00.002-06:00

A confession: I'm a huge fan of The Biggest Loser. And by huge fan, I don't just mean in physical size, but no rather, in mental addiction kind of ways. In, I can't get enough of it. In, I love it enough that I don't mind the shameless product placement, or pimpage of the contestants for said products, ratings, or whatever floats the boat of the producer on that given day. I simply can't get enough of it, and find myself longing when it's not on. Some nights while it's away, I even cry.

But.

That's starting to dwindle. Why? It isn't real. On every single episode, you see someone in tears going "but what do I do when I get home! I can't do this on my own!" Essentially they are backing up what everyone else in America thinks: You can only lose weight if someone else helps you, but you can't do it by yourself.

And you know, that's just not the message I want to send.

How about, instead, NBC, you follow around Neil in Pennsylvania who has several physical ailments, is a real guy, and who really will ride his bike in crappy weather and Overcome. Or how about following around Tom in Ohio, who dropped from the 500's to the 199's by getting a gastro bypass and then actually working his tail off to make the best of it. Or Scott in Portland. Or Scott in Seattle who wasn't really that fat, but who got a bike and slimmed down, then discovered how happy it could make him. Or 10 Wheels in Texas, a retired guy who pedaled to over 10,000 miles last year. Or or or..

..you see? How about you show that you can do it on your own, without Bob or Jillian, but damn does it take some work. It ain't goona stay off going to "The Ranch"with a hundid-thousands carrots above your head, when those carrots go away, you still have the underlying problem. I've heard lots of those contestants just gain it right back, and I'm sure they do. This has been botherin me for the past couple days, because it's not about health, it's about money. It's about competition. Which you know, that just ain't right.

So while I still enjoy it, I've become soured. It's not about health, even though they put on a big guise, in the end it's all about money. Money for the contestants, money for NBC, money for Subway. And that, that just ain't right.

In reality there should be one prize at the end, and that's the biggest one: Life.

Because you know I thought this morning, riding in sub-freezing temps again, it really doesn't get much better than this. A sub-freezing ride to work is better than any day I had before I did all this. Every day I have now is worth the time spent to get another one. I mean it. Every cold ride, every hour of pain on the elliptical, I wouldn't trade it for another day without.

That, that is reality. Life.