did's JDRF ride log

Next Year

2005-12-05T17:17:00.000-06:00

OK, this year is, from the JDRF point of view, over. We had our end-of-the-year group party Saturday evening at the West Michigan chapter director's house, ate too much, looked at pictures from both Asheville and Death Valley, talked about the differences between the two rides, and, most importantly, signed up for 2006.

2006 will be different - we're going to concentrate on getting the biggest possible group to go to Death Valley in late October, so I'll be in the hot, gray-and-tan desert rather than the cool, lush, green Appalachians. I can't very well have a blog called Asheville2005 for a ride in Death Valley in 2006, so the new, more general-purpose blog will be Riding to Cure Diabetes.

We're also going to try to get my wife to come along as a volunteer, with her big camera, to get great pictures and give us water and yell and hoot and help with whatever needs helping with.

The fundraising goal for me is, again, $3500; we'll need to add another few hundred dollars to cover Kirsten coming along as well, so let's call it $4000. For Asheville, I raised $2570, so it seems I've got my work cut out for me. Of course, I didn't really put any effort into fundraising until early September this year, and I'm a lot more pumped now that I understand what I'm raising money for, both in terms of the cause and the ride itself.

Another goal is to have 50 people come along associated with the West Michigan chapter; note that you don't have to live in West Michigan (or in Michigan at all, for that matter) to sign up with our chapter, so if you read this, and you're interested, shoot me an email. From here on out, though, read over at the Riding blog!

Now to just get through winter...

Recollections of Riding

2005-10-20T21:06:00.000-05:00

OK, at long last I've finished writing up the whole Asheville experience, and trying to express what it meant to me, how I felt doing it, and all. Currently, it's all text, but I'm intending to add some pictures eventually. It's supposed to be a rainy weekend, maybe I'll have time to do it then. Look here

Meanwhile, the Death Valley folks are off, out to do their thing. For most of them, it's a first time ride. I envy them!

Back.

2005-10-09T21:58:00.000-05:00

Home. Tired. Elated. Amazed.

My simple, largely unimportant facts:

Completed the 100 mile course in just under 7 hours, with an average speed of 15.1 mph. Climbed. Descended. Climbed some more. Ate. Climbed. Went slow, went fast. Mashed. Spun. Cheered and was cheered. Applauded and was applauded.

More later, I'm tired.

Mo' Money

2005-10-05T10:13:00.000-05:00

Up to $2185, with new donors:

Jerry Lewallen
Brian Collier and Kris Dykstra
Mark and Kristy Vukovich
Donna Phillips
George and Elaine Hopkins
Maggie and Leon Easter
Ken Hawkinson

We fly out tomorrow morning at 6 from Grand Rapids, and should be in Asheville by noon. Weather looks wet for a couple of days, then drying out a bit Saturday for the ride.

Fundraising update...

2005-10-03T07:27:00.000-05:00

Five days before the ride, my total is $2010 - not bad for the all-too-small effort I've put in to it! It's really the first fundraising I've done in my little ol' life, so I was pretty much going in blind. Next year I'll have a better idea of what to do...

Ye Olde Liste of Donors:

Brenda Merrifield
Rosemary Rogalla
Brian Walker
Susan Meisenbach
Kathryn Dykstra
Peggy Wilson
Amber Kippley
Barbara J. Berry
Rosemarie Eppard
Kimbelry and Jeremy Boss
Brian and Ruth Dykstra
Virginia Leonard
Jennifer Wever
Matt and Ruth Quinn
Dick and Peggy Foster
Dennis and Anita Werling
Nancy and Herb Strong
Darrell and Ginger Dykstra
Peggy Essenberg
Allison and Jason Duckworth
Virginia Johnson
Mary White
Sirena White
Stuart and Tia Peterson
Betty and Clarke Hansen
Craig and Julie Williams
Amanda Meehan
Wendy and Craig Stark
Kay and Robert Teadt
Bob and Mary Ellen Kauss
Kent and Mardell Harriss
Lee Brice
Don and Jodi Smith

Great things about a mountain bike...

2005-10-01T14:11:00.000-05:00

A couple of hours riding mostly on roads on the mountain bike - call it 20 miles.

So what's positive about riding a basic mountain bike compared to a high-end road bike? Well, on the road, there isn't much. Having crazy-low gears is kind of fun, and handy when you're consciously trying to avoid stressing your legs grinding up a hill - you feel like your climbing ability is limited not by your legs but by the grip and your ability to balance at like 2 miles an hour. Otherwise, it's slow, clumsy, and lacks the grace you feel on a roadie, even with relatively narrow, high-pressure slick tires front and back.

What was cool, though, was following a little dirt path off the bike trail, buzzing around in the woods for 20 minutes or so, and then coming home. That sort of spontaneity is lacking on a bike that's not intended for anything but a smooth, paved road. Not that really ever choose a mountain ride over a road ride more than a few times a year - for a given amount of effort, I want the most speed and distance as possible.

That's it, then, for real this time

2005-09-26T20:04:00.000-05:00

31 miles at a relaxed pace. Tomorrow Ruby goes to the JDRF West Michigan chapter office to go on the big field trip to Asheville with all the other bikes!

I think I'm anthropomorphizing my bike a bit much. Of course, I've been in rather intimate contact with this machine for almost 2400 miles this year!

Anyway, it's getting chilly out there. A ride ending around 7 p.m. finishes in the mid-50's, which is pretty serious bundling up weather on the bike. In addition to the usual shorts and jersey, today I had fleece-lined leg warmers (basically thigh-high tights) and some heavy lycra arm warmers, and I would have been happy to have another layer on top.

Coming home from The North on the Hart to Montague rail trail, I passed the New Era Canning Company. They'd gone into hard-core Autumn mode, with what appeared to be a pumpkin canning operation set up in one of their parking lots. I could see whole pumpkins going through a wash of some sort, then going through a machine that apparently chopped them up. At then end of that, there were a group of people sorting out the nasty chunks. I don't remember seeing that last fall, but it was a pretty neat operation.

Time to go pack Ruby up...

That's it, then

2005-09-24T14:15:00.000-05:00

75.2 miles - up to Pentwater and back, with, of course, a cinnamon roll stop in Silver Lake. That's my last long ride until Asheville, and after Wednesday I won't have Ruby to ride, either. I've got my mountain bike set up with slick tires so I can keep my legs from atrophying into powerless flabby twigs, but that'll be a short-distance thing.

I've developed a pretty sore lower back, so a couple weeks of easy, short rides should help with that. Our mattress is over 10 years old, so that's probably not doing me any favors. Maybe I should sleep on the floor.

ouchie

2005-09-20T20:19:00.000-05:00

OK, so 218+ miles in a week can leave some muscular debris behind! Despite a day of rest, my 37 miles today were most certainly not a breeze. It was otherwise a nice ride, though; I mostly took it easy.

Annoyingly, my brain was working on a work problem: how to parse a multi-digit part description, determine which of the parsed bits were duplicates, and assign numbers to each of the bits so that duplicate bits have the same number. All in the Pro/PROGRAM "language" which is pathetically limited.

On the plus side, I'm over $1500 collected for my fundraising! That's a long shot from $3400, but given that that's barely two weeks of really working on it, I'm quite encouraged. My (illegal) delivery of letters around my neighborhood wasn't as productive as I'd hoped (only three contributions came back from some 70 letters distributed), but my co-workers have generously laid down the green for me. Now is probably about the right time to start getting returns back from the 60 or so that I mailed out, too - three came in today.

Oooga chaka

2005-09-18T19:37:00.000-05:00

45.7 from Ada Park, with a few decent hills, so that's 218 and change for the week. I'll do 3 or 4 more rides on Ruby, and then she's off to Asheville with all her bike friends on the 28th. Since I'll want to still do a few easy rides between then and the Asheville ride, I've got my mountain bike set up with slick tires for road use. I'll probably tow Dane around a bit, for some 10-15 mile rides.

I think this is roughly what we did today.

I have never, bar none, felt as good as I did this past week! Even today, after a long, fairly hilly, fairly fast ride yesteray, I was happy to charge up hills. I hope I can hold on to that for three more weeks (and I doubly hope I can avoid the inevitable kid-just-started-pre-school cold that Kirsten is snorking her way though). Asheville is one of those life things that's hard to see past; everything is leading up to that, plans are being made, itinerarys are set (assuming Delta's bankruptcy doesn't have too many adverse effects), and my brain is fixated on it. Too bad it also pretty much represents the end of riding season.

This is going to be a long week

2005-09-17T17:44:00.000-05:00

63 miles today, basically the reverse of the route I did last weekend. Horrifyingly, I was too late for a cinnamon roll, and had to settle for a creme-filled long john and a cookie. Next weekend is the last weekend she's open, so I'd best not be late getting up there if I want to have a proper cinnamon roll before the year ends.

I also now have exactly 2200 miles for the year, and assuming we do the planned 50+ miles in our group ride tomorrow, I'll have over 220 miles for the week!

Today's ride map...

Nice weather here...

Nice out there!

2005-09-16T07:33:00.000-05:00

40.3 miles - up to and past Stony Lake on back roads, then East on Stone Road, and eventually back to the bike path just North of New Era for a fast cruise back home. It's nice up there - good roads, lots of apple orchards (many being harvasted right now), and sweet autumny smells.

I pretty much forgot, but even before getting involved with the JDRF ride earlier this year, I'd set a goal of riding two thousand miles this year. My odometer now reads 2137 miles! My other goals were to ride a full century, which will take care of itself in Asheville, and to get my weight down to say 210. That's over 20 pounds away, so that ain't gonna happen (especially given my discovery of the awesome cinnamon rolls at the bakery in Silver Lake - good thing it's a 50 mile ride minimum to get one of those!). Ah well, that's a whole lot better than the 280 I was pushing a couple of years ago.

Breezy!

2005-09-13T19:31:00.000-05:00

40.3 miles, South into a hard wind, from a co-worker's house on the south side of Grand Haven, to Mike's bike shop (see the links, over there), bought and ate a Clif bar, and rode back to my car with a wonderful tailwind.

And typing is barely working, for some reason - text is appearing much, much slower than I am typing, and I'm no rocket on the keyboard. More later; maybe Blogger's on the fritz.

Later...

OK, that's better, but I can't think of anything I was thinking about earlier, when I wa thinking about things. Meh. Gotta go to bed anyway.

Oh, and I...

2005-09-13T14:11:00.000-05:00

shaved my legs. Had to try it.

It's wierd. I can't feel wind on my legs any more. I don't know if I like that. I like feeling wind - it makes me feel like I'm actually moving.

The Posties lay the smack down

2005-09-13T07:40:00.000-05:00

31 miles, around one of my regular loops south of Whitehall. Man, Scenic Drive is a disgrace to Muskegon county - a road right along Lake Michigan shouldn't be a mishmash of patches, holes, and uneven, crumbling pavement.

My neighborhood campaign of dropping pledge material in mailboxes resulted in a nastygram from the local post office pointing out that mailboxes are federal property (even the cow-shaped one you bought off Ebay), and it's a federal crime to put stuff in them unless it's stamped, and have a nice day. Well, my wife said that was the case, but I didn't find anything on the USPS web site regarding that, so being the anarchist I am I went and did it anyway. Fight the Power! Question Authority! Don't let The Man get you down! On the plus side, they did return 10 of the envelopes I'd left in mailboxes, so I could re-use the self-addressed stamped envelopes in them for (legally) mailed pledge forms. Must be the gift card we left our mail carrier last Christmas.

I did get a $20 pledge back from one of the neighborhood letters, on the first day after dropping them off, so that's cool.

Hills, a goat, and a cinnamon roll

2005-09-10T19:07:00.000-05:00

62.4 miles - north on back roads to Silver Lake (topped out at 44.8 mph going downhill into the town!), then east to Hart, south from Hart on country roads to Shelby, then the bike path home.

I rode on roads I hadn't been on yet this year, which was nice, except for a few spots on one road that were in really bad shape, and the inevitable recently-chipsealed roads here and there. Eventually I couldn't avoid getting on a main road, but it was only the last couple of miles of the road that drops into Silver Lake, and those miles are all downhill. I know I saw 45 pop up on my computer, but the Max Speed function only gave me 44.8, so I'll call that my new record. A kid in a Suburban gave me a big grin when I finally sat up and started to coast down.

In Silver Lake, though, I took a quick break and bought a fantastic cinnamon roll at a little bakery/pizza place. There was a mom and two teenage girls in there, who mentioned that they'd seen me earlier; I guess those Herman Miller jerseys are pretty memorable. The bakery shuts down for the winter in two weeks, so I've got to head back in that direction a few times! The last weekend they are open there's an apple festival - don't want to miss that. The dry weather should give us small but really flavorfull apples.

I followed the main city street South out of Hart, and climbed, and climbed, and went around a bend and climbed some more. You can see the topography here; the road I was on is the one that curves to the west as it heads south from near the top of the image. Looooots of contour lines in there! I'm looking forward to comparing these to the Asheville hills.

There was a goat in a ditch somewhere out there, too, looking at me dully. Goats are funny.

Rain!

2005-09-07T20:47:00.000-05:00

36 miles from work - over the Grand Haven bridge and south, then back. Felt tired - I must have put out more effort than I thought yesterday. Tomorrow will be an off day.

It's raining, although only enough to tease the grass. To be perfectly honest (and possibly insensitive), we need the aftermath of a hurricane to go over us - we're something like ten to twelve inches below normal. The remains of Katrina just teased us; there were clouds visible to the south, but blue sky overhead. If we have a heavy winter, it will go a long way towards replenishing water supplies. But heavy winters are miserable with a 30 mile commute.

Gotta go fold letters and pledge forms.

Monoliths and Pledges!

2005-09-06T20:22:00.000-05:00

29.4 miles - a version of the Stonehenge loop. It's a nice ride - varied terrain, with either quiet country roads or wide shoulders.

And I've got money! Two of my co-workers surprised me with pledges totalling $125! Yee-haw! I've also got 80 pledge forms set up for delivery around my neighborhood; I hope to get those distributed in the next couple of days. I also got 550 envelopes, 550 return envelopes, and a roll of 100 stamps. Release the hounds!

Stoopid bees!

2005-09-04T22:21:00.000-05:00

36.4, with the first 16 including a backpack full of spare clothes to drop off at my folks' place in Twin Lake.

Within a few miles of the end of my ride, a bee bounced off my leg and evidently went stinger-first into my belly. It didn't get me badly enough to leave the stinger behind, but it's nice and red still.

I also managed an hour or so of sailing my dumpy little boat on Twin Lake. Once all the jet skis and skit boats and whatnot have gone in for the evening, the lake is wonderful to just glide around. It's clear enough to see a good 10 feet down, and with no waves to contend with, it only takes the tiniest breath to keep the boat moving. When the breath becomes a blow, the boat moves smoothly, and responds instantly to the slightest twitch of the tiller. Man that's nice.

Bill paying via bike

2005-09-02T19:00:00.000-05:00

With gas at $3.20 and up, I ain't driving to the other side of town to pay for Dane's preschool tuition, so I hopped on the old mountain bike and motored over to Whitehall, then stopped at our hardware store to get a screw for mounting my rack to that bike. Anywhere I stopped, I heard complaints about gas prices, and I finally started to hear people talking about changing travel plans. I guess $3 a gallon is some sort of trigger point.

So I'm giving myself credit for 5 miles. Woot.

did

Pictures from Sunday's ride!

2005-08-31T21:07:00.000-05:00

Available here...

White socks. I'm so ashamed.

2005-08-31T18:26:00.000-05:00

Due to a laundry miscommunication, I was forced to ride my 36.8 miles today in white socks. The horror was almost too much to bear.

On the plus side, it was quite a nice ride. I warmed up by riding up the Hart/Montague trail, then in New Era (11.5 miles into the ride) turned left and ground up the Garfield street hill. Boy, that fat cat sure is popular if he's got streets named after him in small town America!* Anyway, it's a nice hill, with three steep sections separated by relative flats. At the top, I felt good, turned around, and rolled down, intending to coast back in to town. Halfway down, a minivan backed out of a driveway, well ahead of me. First, I was annoyed, but quickly realized it was well clear of me - unless I sped up!

The minivan instantly changed from a vague obstruction to a target of opportunity. Up into the big gears, down on the drops, and off I went in search of a draft. I got within about 15 feet, then saw the driver check his mirror. HIs eyebrows went up, he sped up, and I gave chase. We all got up to 41.5 mph, a new record for Ruby, before we both had to acknowledge the stop sign at the bottom. The driver actually let me pass him on the main street; I'd guess this was his first experience being chased by a big guy in a green, yellow, and white jersey (the 2005 Herman Miller jersey) on a bicycle.

Anyway, back on to the trail I went, for a mile or so, then left again for a different road up the same hill. This was Stony Lake Road, aka M20. This climb was steady and smooth, with a clean shoulder as wide as a traffic lane, and over a mile long! Once back at the top, I coasted down the other side, crossed the highway, and headed back home on a fairly hilly road.

Eventually I ended up going back home past the Old Channel Trail golf course, and then to another familiar, fast hill, so I went for it again, and got even higher this time - 42.5 mph, an all-time, all-bike record for me. Wheeeee!

These are, unfortunately, stubby little Michigan hills. I've gotta wonder how I'll hold up on the roads around Asheville...

*yeah, yeah, yeah, President Garfield, yada yada yada.

A nice long group ride

2005-08-28T20:45:00.000-05:00

55.5 miles with the JDRF group - a record-distance ride for at least four of those present! Until today, our longest group ride had been a rather tepid 41 miles, but today we had hills, headwinds, and mileage that really displayed how much folks have progressed in the last few months of riding. And I think we've just about got Tom convinced to go shopping for a new road bike - his wife Mary broke out an old but capable Schwinn roadie and was promptly comfortable at a couple miles an hour faster than she had been before. Yee hah! Go for it, Tom! Give in to Bike Lust! It's clearance season at VeloCity...

The Junk-o-Matic little digital camera came along for the ride; in general the results were a bit better than last time, but still mediocre (my wife the pro is ready to throw it at a wall, but her patience for mechanical things is highly limited). I've got them on my work machine. This is not that machine. I'll get 'em up as soon as I can.

did

31.8 miles, straight into the doghouse

2005-08-27T21:14:00.000-05:00

31.8 miles, of an intended 50+.

The last time I got a flat tire on my bike was during the Reagan administration. I don't think I had my driver's license; my Dad had to come rescue me in the tornado-diminished town of Fandon, Illinois. Naturally, I got that flat at roughly the turn-around point of that ride, some 13 miles from home.

Today, I again flatted near the turn-around point of a ride, this time in Hart, MI. I swear, I looked over the back tire when I left home and thought it looked fine; by the time I was sitting by the roadside trying to fix the flat, cords were showing and air leaked out all over the place. Oh, I was prepared; I had a spare tube, tire levers, and a CO2 inflator with three cartridges. Well, the tire levers worked nicely, and I suppose the CO2 did it's thing, but the spare tube was a bust - the valve core somehow disappeared, apparently IN to the tube, so it held air about as well as a colander holds water. Going back to the old tube, I had no way to find the leak (I did have a pach kit along), so I bought some Slime tire sealant at a hardware store. It is only barely possible to get Slime through a presta valve (which no one outside the world of bike-shop bikes has heard of, and there's no bike shop in Hart, despite it being an otherwise very nice little town right on a bike path); I got maybe an ounce into the tube, squeezing so hard I actually squeezed it right through the threads on the Slime bottle's cap.

Did I mention that my wife had a wedding to photograph later in the afternoon? She was not pleased to have to pack up the kid and come fetch me. At least it's a straight shot on the highway to get to Hart; I was waiting by the end of the exit ramp, and she had plenty of time to get to the wedding. It actually seemed that the slime did more or less seal the tire, so without a time constraint I probably would have made it home.

Dane and I went to Village bike shop (where I got the bike) for it's last warranty tune-up (including truing up the rear wheel, which had a couple-millimeter wobble), a new tire, and a couple of new tubes.

And to think, tomorrow, Coach Mike is going to give us tire-changing lessons. Snort.

Piccies from August 21...

2005-08-25T18:39:00.000-05:00

Available here!

Next group ride is August 28, and promises to be a pretty good-sized group, possibly with the occasional hill. My legs are pleased to have today and tomorrow to catch up with the week's mileage - I'm already up to 138 miles for the week, with Saturday left to add to the total.

I finally got my last paperwork in to the JDRF today, so I'm totally committed!

(Feel free to make jokes about me being committed at your leisure...)

A quick non-bike related note...

2005-08-24T20:24:00.000-05:00

Hey, all y'all out there who set up wireless home networks - take a few minutes and learn how to secure them! I brought home a wireless-enables laptop last night, and was able to connect to at least one home wireless network. I'm nowhere near mean enough (or, for that matter, savvy enough) to go in and do damage, but jeez, there were no barriers as far as I could tell. From what I can tell, it's a simple process to turn on some basic encryption to at least keep out the less motivated naughtyspawn out of your personal digital life.

We have a wired network and Macs. That's about as secure as it gets...

A bit of recovery

2005-08-24T20:05:00.000-05:00

32 miles, up the bike path to Shelby and back. No hills, sheltered from the light wind, minimal effort expended.

It was a day to just spin some life back in to my legs, after the oh-so-satisfying abuse they took yesterday. I forgot to grab water on my way out, so I stopped at the Wesco station in New Era (about 11 miles up the trail) for bottled water. Ya know, for all the sturm und drang (apologies to anyone out there who actually speaks German; who knows, maybe this blog is a huge hit in Bavaria) about gas prices, bottled water still costs more. The king-sized Nutrageous bar went down well, too, in any case.

So it's really, really time to get serious about fund-raising. I think I'm going to drop letters in all the neighborhood mailboxes, as well as some emails and letters to folks further afield. I find it so much harder to ask people for money, even for a worthy cause and a worthy charity, than to just ride my keister off on the bike. Feh.

It's hard to draft behind skinny people

2005-08-23T20:13:00.000-05:00

34 miles with the Herman Miller Tuesday Afternoon group. Average speed: 20.2 mph.

That's a good 2 miles per hour faster than I've ever averaged for any significant distance. That may have something to do with having been in a line cruising at 22-25 mph while we were going upwind, and adding a few more to that speed once we turned back downwind. Any hills we encountered did me in after the first 15 miles; I managed to claw back to the group on the downhills and flats for the next 8 miles or so, and that was it, until one of the guys dropped back and pulled me and the other big guy (who held his own on the hills far better than I did) back to the pack. Once they had a straight shot back to where we started, though, that was it, we two clydesdales were staring at five skinny butts receding in the distance. We paced each other back at what I would normally consider a very fast pace, but today going 18-23 felt like a crawl.

The pace obviously got to be too much for me, particularly on any significant hills, but ultimately I was quite pleased with myself. I felt like I was able to recover after gutting up hills, and after a bit of coasting down the back of the hill, I'd be able to maintain a good pace by myself, and as long as the group didn't hammer, I could pull back. Of course, at one point, I looked up, and they were all out of the saddle sprinting. "Not us, nuh-uh, we ain't doin' that" said the legs to the brain, and the brain replied "I wasn't going to ask you to, now shut up and pedal!"

I'll do a recovery ride Wednesday, then a couple of days off, then miles this weekend. Should be a big week.

2005-08-22T21:05:00.000-05:00

30.8 miles north of Montague, hilly and windy.

The chipseal on Lamos road is now rideable. W00t! I can get to the lakeshore without cutting 8-10 miles off of a route.

A strong north wind made the outbound leg hard work; it wasn't helped by the hills on Lehman road. Turning for home, though, was a revelation. There's nothing quite as nice as a strong tailwind after working hard for 15 miles!

Tomorrow I ride with the Herman Miller Tuesday group. They have something of a reputation for animalistic, mid-to-upper-20's pacelines. I hope I don't get too brutally dropped...

Group Ride

2005-08-21T20:44:00.000-05:00

41.5 miles south of Holland with some of the JDRF group.

Pictures to follow...

"I'm four years old and I have diabetes!"

2005-08-17T20:46:00.000-05:00

33 miles with hills, 17.2 average.

Heading north, I caught up to a guy who turned out to have basically the same job as me, except at our competitor Knoll. He rides home almost every day, having been dropped off for work by his wife. He must ride 35+ miles every time he does that. I'm fairly jealous!

A more important meeting was with Alyssa, my "ride kid." The title of the post is exactly how she replied when I asked her how old she is - no hiding it for her! She's been on an insulin pump since last December, having done regular shots before that. I can't imagine having to give a 3 year old shots; it's bad enough having to get Dane though his immunization shots. Keeping a pump attached to a four year old must be a heck of a challenge, though. She seems fairly like Dane; she was chatty and confident the whole time I was there, despite my scary bike clothes and less than delightful aroma (when I got home Dane exclaimed "I smell buttness!").

Of course, dumb me forgot that I had my camera stuck in my back pocket. Another time, I guess!

did

It's chipseal season, apparently

2005-08-16T19:25:00.000-05:00

33 flat miles south of Whitehall.

At least two of my regular roads have been rendered off-limits by the ever-popular chipseal resurfacing method. Grrrrrr.

Pics are available from Sunday's big group ride; look here.

Aaand we finally got my kid's 4 year pictures done. That's my monkey, all right...

Downtown Holland invaded by spandex-clad wierdos

2005-08-14T19:52:00.000-05:00

39 miles between Holland and Saugatuck. No vicious bees invaded my jersey this time.

Gaaahhhd, but big group rides are fun! Between the Macatawa Cycling Club and the Rapid Wheelmen from Grand Rapids, we had 75+ riders pulling away from Velo City Cycles in downtown Holland. We rode en masse down 8th street, which was clearly a novelty for the locals; more than a few people were taking pictures. Once clear of downtown traffic, the faster folks took off on a paceline, and the rest of us sort of started grouping up by expected pace. I ended up with a 17 mph average for the ride, which included going over the Oval Beach hill and some slow stretches - at other times, we were puttering along on the high side of 25, and I was loving every minute of it. I don't think I've ever spent so much time on my 53 tooth chainring. Being able to pay attention to other people (either carrying on a conversation or staying in a slipstream) seems to suppress any effort-related discomfort I might otherwise have felt.

I wanna do that again, for a longer ride!

Bee: 2. Me: 1.

2005-08-12T18:21:00.000-05:00

33 miles from the Herman Miller Design Yard to the south side of Saugatuck and back.

So I'm heading for Oval Beach, nearing the steep hill that goes over the dune to the beach. I'm plugging along nicely, looking at the boats, looking at the houses, feeling the wind, feeling the road, feeling OUCH! OWIE! What the...? I start yanking on my jersey near the bottom of my ribcage, where it feels like I'm getting a good sliver. And then YYYYEEEEAAAARRRGGGGHHHH! Right on the spare tire! It's hard braking with one hand while the other hand is fending off a vicious attack from an unknown assailant. Finally I get stopped, yank out my jersey, and see the corpse of a bee fall out. His/her/it's stinger, complete with the back end of the bee, is stick in my belly to the right of my navel, still pumping in venom. Little bugger apparenly got me twice before losing it's stinger and getting somewhat squished by my self defense efforts. Natually, this is about as far from my car as I'll be today, so I ride back to the Design Yard with a sore stomach. It still hurts, a few hours later.

Do bee stings make you sleepy? I dunno. The only other times I've been stung recently I was mowing and stirred up a nest in the ground, and I was happy to sit on the couch for a few hours aferwards anyway. I can barely keep my eyes open now. Admittedly, that my have more to do with a certain lack of sleep in the last week, and missing my morning coffee because of a meeting.

I guess there's a downside to the jerseys that unzip to my navel; in scoop mode, I might get more than air in there!

Yyyyaawwwnnnn

2005-08-09T06:44:00.000-05:00

38 miles yesterday, including going over Muskegon State Park's Blockhouse Hill twice.

Stupid power was out most of the night. No fans. No sweet, sweet white noise to give the brain something to listen to instead of itself. No water pump. No ability to flush, or wash hands, or get a drink. No refrigerator, no air conditioner in the bedroom window, no nothin'. No updating my ride log. And, of course, shortly after I drifted off at about 2:30 in the morning, the juice comes back. All the lights go on, the fans come on, the AC fires up. Awake again. Grrrrr...

Apparently some yutz hit a pole on Old Channel Trail, and knocked the lines down.

Burn Baby Burn!

2005-08-06T23:50:00.000-05:00

31 miles, big pancake breakfast after 14. Gotta love riding with my folks; it's extra cool that my dad can do rides like that despite ongoing cancer treatment.

We just got back from the annual Coast Guard Festival fireworks display in Grand Haven. It's a really good show; I don't think I've ever seen such good coordination between the music (from the inimitable Musical Fountain) and the fireworks themselves, and the colors they create are really intense. It's a great show - generally better than the area Independance Day shows - and the attendance is commensurate. Arriving at 6:30 in the evening, we managed to find a spot to sit that was maybe 10 square feet, and had been a sort of unofficial walkway. The rest of the hill, even under trees, was solid blankets and bodies. And, of course, Carny food. What's fireworks without corn dogs and elephant ears?

This year, though, we were also treated to The Burning of Dewey Hill - falling embers from the display ignited multiple blazes on Dewey Hill, which is across the Grand River from the city and the huge crowds of people eating Fat Balls and ogling each other. By the time the show in the sky was done, the hill was burning brightly in a dozen spots on the side we could see, and there was a rather ominous glow over the top that soon revealed more flames. Whole trees were practically exploding; we're 8-10 inches low on rain this year, and the pre-show dousing from the fire department didn't apparently do much.

The bright spot (har, har) of the fire was that people didn't surge away from the waterfront as they usually do, but instead watched area fire departments do their thing, so we had less trouble than usual getting out of the area and headed homewards. It was kind of hard to leave, though; a big, largely uncontrolled fire at night is really amazing to watch. When a tree would go up, you'd see a sort of whirlwind of fire and embers rise high above it, and you could see the whole blaze marching uphill. Too bad we didn't have a decent camera along...

Ahh, lovely weather again

2005-08-05T22:23:00.000-05:00

31 miles, averaged 18.7 despite some hills.

Temperatures have moderated; it was in the upper 70s instead of the upper 80s. Nothing new to report beyond that, though.

Yeah, hot.

2005-08-02T20:00:00.000-05:00

27 miles, some hills, 90 to 95 degrees according to my 'puter, which I think reads a few degrees high. Yech, nevertheless, but otherwise I felt quite good

I missed Stonehenge! Phooey! Somehow I was looking down, and I missed the almost-full-size Stonehenge replica that sits on a farm east of Spring Lake. I guess an orthopedic surgeon got a hankerin' to have some monoliths in his yard; the blocks are actually stuccoed foam. Scroll down for a picture and more info here.

And watch out, Mr. 7-time-Tour de France winner; your record is officially in jeopardy. Dane got his first "real" bike from his grandparents - yeah, it's a $50 Meijer/Huffy thing, but he's already whipping up and down my parents' road (fully helmeted, of course!). He even had his first crash, with two skinned knees to show for it - it didn't slow him down a bit, not a tear in sight, he was right back on and riding. He's also learning to use a hand brake, as recommended by bike guru Sheldon Brown.

15 years ago today was Kirsten's and my first date. Egads!

Getting hot again

2005-07-31T21:13:00.000-05:00

Well, 34 miles today felt a lot better than 30 did on Friday, so I think getting on the bike more will help. I know I've got a decent base built up; the odometer rolled over 1300 miles today. I did get a "hey, dude, you're number 1!!!" gesture from a guy in a truck, but he used the wrong finger. Maybe he didn't like my spandex, or possibly that I was on HIS road. Numbskull. Angry people suck, until I forget about them...

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Clumsy.

2005-07-30T21:56:00.000-05:00

Friday: 30 miles, a couple of good hills, long headwind heading north.

Do you ever feel clumsy, like the world isn't agreeing with your pitiful attempts at motion? My legs didn't feel like they could generate much power, although I suppose riding into a fairly strong wind will do that, but I also felt like I wasn't quite in tune with the bike. Gotta ride more often, I think, even if it's for relatively short distances. I seem to recall feeling this way last summer after a stretch where I didn't ride much.

Not too much else going on in the world; Kirsten went with Dane to the John Ball zoo in Grand Rapids last Wednesday; pictures are here.

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Vilkommen, bienvenue, welcome, come on in...

2005-07-29T00:35:00.000-05:00

Once I get a decent night's sleep, this will be where I chronicle my training and fundraising efforts for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation's 2005 Asheville, NC Ride for the Cure. Black Ruby (that would be my bike) and I are planning to do the full 105 mile ride, and to raise at least $3500 for the JDRF. Here, expect ramblings about whatever training rides I do, rantings about dogs who chase bikes and cars who don't give me room to ride, miscellaneous musings on whatever I think about during a 5+ hour bike ride, info about diabetes (because I honestly don't know much about it), and, of course, pleadings for donations.

In the meantime, I'm going to bed. I'll make this pretty tomorrow. Get your checkbook out.

did