Redneck in Spandex

Author: Chad

  • Inaugural kiddie ride of 2012

    First a little math:
    image

    With 50 (ish) weather, the boys and I took the opportunity to meet Mac and E for a Sunday ride out to Eclipse. The kids had a great time, though the got a bit chilly in the shady parts of the bike path. My boys each wore long sleeve shirts and sweat shirts, and could have used full-fingered gloves. While Scalia said it was 48 degrees, Mac and I estimated an 8-10 degree drop in the shade. So next time we should bring an extra layer. Carter seemed cozy in the trailer and even managed a nap on the way back.

    Clay lost his chain about 3 miles from the car. I need to remember to pack a crescent wrench for his wheel, as the Crank Brothers multitool wasn’t made for servicing a fixed wheel. Fortunately I was able to massage the chain back on and we made it back to the car without any other problems.

    I also found I’m a bit out of practice putting together the bike train, as it took me 20 minutes to assemble the rig. It will get easier with more practice, though by summer, Cole should be riding on his own. That should shorten the rig to just a trailer.

    20120226-185009.jpg

    When we got home, we refueled with this:
    image

  • Lunchtime ride on Rockhouse

    Lunchtime ride on Rockhouse

    Managed to squeeze a ride in at lunch on Rockhouse at Sells Park.  Mac was supposed to go as well, but his meeting ran 45 minutes over.  I rode from Grover out to Sells, with a quick out and back on Rockhouse.  I turned around about 100 yards before my usual gotta-be-back-fast turnaround spot.  I would have loved to ridden longer, but it was still great to get some dirt under the tires.

    Temperature was around 37 degrees with full sun.  I was chilly in the wind when starting out, but otherwise comfortable when I got warmed up.  Wore a long sleeve underjersey, a regular jersey, full finger mountain bike gloves (summer weight), shorts, tights, wool socks.  Round trip about 7.5 miles (5.5 miles pavement and 2 miles dirt).

    image
    My buddy and me

  • First Ride of 2012

    20120107-221931.jpg
    Looking down Ervin Road

    Had about an hour, weather was nice, and my wife said “go for a ride.”. So I did.

    Rode a warmup lap around the neighborhood loop, then down 50 to Ervin. Turned around at Radford, and rode back to mentally prepare for the climb up Stagecoach. Stagecoach hurt pretty bad, but I managed to muscle over it. Took me a really long time to return to normal breathing. Some folks on Stagecoach have gotten some new dogs since the last time I rode. They came to the road to greet me, but fortunately I had caught my breath enough to give em the old “get back on the porch this is my road” yell. Rode back down 50, with another hurt-so-good climb up Wonder Hills Drive. I arrived at my house out of breath, and a bit disappointed that I didn’t even clear 10 miles. I was tempted to ride two laps around the neighborhood to get the mileage over 10, but figured I had done enough for the day. Considering I have not ridden since August, making it over those two hills were huge victories. I also took the Jamis instead of the Schwinn, which has a 28 versus the Schwinn’s 32.



  • Quick bike Path ride

    I had to work 12-3 and 5-6 today, so rather than go home during the two-hour break, I took a quick spin on the bike path. I did about 14 miles in the 56 minutes of riding. Before riding, I raised my seat about 1 cm. I had a little frontal knee pain during yesterday’s ride, and raising the seat seems to have helped. I’ll probably keep the seat like it is for a while and see how the body feels on the bike. I do get a little tingling in the hands while riding on the ever-so-flat bike path, so the next adjustment I do may be to angle the nose of my seat up a bit. Nice afternoon ride, with lots of wind due to the front of thunderstorms moving in this evening.

    image
    Next to the Hocking River



  • Early Bike Path Ride

    Chris and I met at Peden Stadium at 6:15 for an early morning ride. We did a quick out and back on the bike path, covering 32 miles in a little over 2 hours. We saw 7 deer, a number of rabbits, a few chipmunks, and a kamikaze squirrel. I was back home by 8:45, just in time for a trip to Bob Evans for breakfast with the family.

    Early start at Peden

    The route: