Last night was the first of many cold weather Thursday movie night. It may change days but the idea is the same. Had a few of the Monday Night something crew up to the house which of course some say is in the middle of no where. Just because it's not surrounded by 20,000 other houses doesn't mean it's isolated. We have running water and hydro.
What was interesting is where the mini tour of the house finished and what seemed to be the highlight of the house. My place is pretty cool being a 1930's home, lots of character. So after the normal living area stuff we end up in the basement. Nope, no axes came up and the basement is not creepy. Where do we end up sitting and staring?? At the first project I took on when I moved in last year.
With some friend's it's the sun room that they like, with others it's the fireplace and living room area, but with my cycling friend's it's the bath tub in the basement that had them all staring in awe. With winter coming and and the crap that is on the roads the thought of a salt covered dirty bike and the chore of cleaning it never amused me much. Come in and trying to warm up and you have to head right back outside with buckets of water. Awww the enjoyment of standing out in the sub freezing temperature splashing water on the bike and yourself hoping to get the worst of the grit and salt off. At my old place I resorted to this once or twice. Let's just say that it would not go over to well with most. Some wives, girlfriends, etc would not be to impressed about seeing a bike in the main bathroom.
My suggestion, lose the laundry tub, who uses it??? With the snow coming anytime and those long miles put on slat covered roads means lots of cleaning afterwards. I much prefer to do this in the warmth of the basement while having a beer. I think Jeremy may get lucky since his wife seemed to be drooling over the bike wash tub than he was.
So maybe after showing off my bathtub I can now understand why they have this really pretty washers and dryers. I can now see a few friends standing in the laundry room around a washer going ohh and awww just like we were staring around a dirty bath tub with bike cleaning stuff around it. I guess it's the friends you keep on what you like.
I'll be using the tub for sure when I get back on Sunday. Heading to the great white northish to the lady friend's cottage for a little canoeing, hiking, resting and yes riding. The NRS-1speed will be beaten on this weekend. Hopefully some ;good pictures and a story to tell on Monday. No I will not be racing on Sunday but if timing is right I will be there to cheer on the last race.
The sun is out, need to stare in awe!!!
Friday, November 6, 2009
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Not ready to cave yet
Held off the sick twisted control of Mother Nature and got out for an hour and a half ride last night. I am not ready to ride the trainer yet, I'm going to push that off for as long as possible. That means rain, snow, sleet, hail blah blah blah. It's always better being outside than looking like a caged rodent stuck on a hamster wheel as the world goes by around him.
It was just a mix of paved rail trail and side roads. With it dark so early my amount of trust in peoples driving abilities is a lot lower than during the day. The bike is lite up pretty good but drivers have a hard enough time spotting cyclists during the day. Looking at things with a half glass full attitude, the fact it's dark at just after 5 will give me lots of time with my lights. All practise for this. It's time for Summer Solstice registration already. I will say that riding on the road at night is no where near as fun as in the trails.
It's interesting that my start up for training is only 2 days off from registration date. Yep I'll be back with another kick at the can in the solo division. I'm hoping that the Ruppel's have hooked up with the mob and have plans of kidnapping David Suzuki. They could hold him ransom for some perfect weather conditions for 2010 race season.
I'm hoping so because I'm currently doing the major tear down of both Giant Anthem's for the winter storage cleaning. I'm still finding dirt from the mud fest of Summer Solstice. Unless some miracle bike offer comes along I'll be riding the same bikes for this season. More because I really do love the Anthem's and the 2010 does not have any changes that would make it worth doing the update and I don't need the carbon as much as it would be nice.
More coffee needed, stuck in a training seminar today. Boring, hmmm maybe I should be drinking decaf so I can drift off.
This just came across the screen of my computer. You may want to sit down before reading, You may want to take some sort of medication and possibly look at the pictures from a distance to easy the burn that it will leave in the your brain. Looks like Peter has become the paparazzi. Clicky here
It was just a mix of paved rail trail and side roads. With it dark so early my amount of trust in peoples driving abilities is a lot lower than during the day. The bike is lite up pretty good but drivers have a hard enough time spotting cyclists during the day. Looking at things with a half glass full attitude, the fact it's dark at just after 5 will give me lots of time with my lights. All practise for this. It's time for Summer Solstice registration already. I will say that riding on the road at night is no where near as fun as in the trails.
It's interesting that my start up for training is only 2 days off from registration date. Yep I'll be back with another kick at the can in the solo division. I'm hoping that the Ruppel's have hooked up with the mob and have plans of kidnapping David Suzuki. They could hold him ransom for some perfect weather conditions for 2010 race season.
I'm hoping so because I'm currently doing the major tear down of both Giant Anthem's for the winter storage cleaning. I'm still finding dirt from the mud fest of Summer Solstice. Unless some miracle bike offer comes along I'll be riding the same bikes for this season. More because I really do love the Anthem's and the 2010 does not have any changes that would make it worth doing the update and I don't need the carbon as much as it would be nice.
More coffee needed, stuck in a training seminar today. Boring, hmmm maybe I should be drinking decaf so I can drift off.
This just came across the screen of my computer. You may want to sit down before reading, You may want to take some sort of medication and possibly look at the pictures from a distance to easy the burn that it will leave in the your brain. Looks like Peter has become the paparazzi. Clicky here
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Then and now
With all this extra time in the morning, still waking up at my normal time which just happens to be an hour earlier than what time it really is I've spent more time on my computer than normal. I started to look at what happened at this time last year. What set this off? Well I saw snow for the first time this year yesterday. Snow is better than rain right???
So what all happened. I sold my house, bought a new house, rode my bike in warm sunny weather and went to the Barrie Cyclocross race. Well this year what am I doing at this time of year? I'm not selling my house, I'm working on my house, I'm riding my bike in cold wet crappy conditions and I'm going to try and make it to this year cross race. It's being held at Hardwood Ski and Bike again this season. No I will not be racing, the lady friend and I are off to the cottage but hoping to be back before the last race.
So what all happened. I sold my house, bought a new house, rode my bike in warm sunny weather and went to the Barrie Cyclocross race. Well this year what am I doing at this time of year? I'm not selling my house, I'm working on my house, I'm riding my bike in cold wet crappy conditions and I'm going to try and make it to this year cross race. It's being held at Hardwood Ski and Bike again this season. No I will not be racing, the lady friend and I are off to the cottage but hoping to be back before the last race.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
The perfect night
Well conditions wise it was for my first night back with the Monday night crew. So what are the perfect conditions, cold, rainy, dark, with slippery trails. A few people bailed/forgot/sick so the numbers were down. Mr. Watson and Tristan were the only others to line up with the Molly Monster and myself.
They have, semi slicks, mud tires, dry tires, studded winter tires. Why has a company come up with a tire for fall to deal with leaves. You know that every gear weenie would want a set. You could even have a wet and dry version. Last night there were a few times I would have liked them. Pretty much every time we were going up. The comment of the night "you just have to put the clutch in a little on the slippery climbs" My current response, "I don't have a clutch, I need all the power i have." Just under an hour of excitement, with the small numbers and the perfect conditions there was not much in the line of socializing after. A little to chilly for the normal apres beer.
This is the first step of getting me back in the grove for training. Reminding me how much fun it is to ride in the trails, roads, outside etc. With winter coming I'm going constantly think about these rides during those crappy hours that I'll be spending on the trainer. My road bike and the vomit machine are now setup and ready to roll in the sun room. The surround system is ready to be turned up to the max. My collection of movies has grown all summer. If I can get a few more trail rides in before Mother Nature turns nasty I'll be happy. Everything I need to make life indoor training easier.
The trainer is the toughest place to be, I'm not sure what is worst, intervals or those 3 plus hour endurance times. For now, I'm not going to think about it and get as many outdoor rides in as I can. Of course this will be after more coffee.
Later
They have, semi slicks, mud tires, dry tires, studded winter tires. Why has a company come up with a tire for fall to deal with leaves. You know that every gear weenie would want a set. You could even have a wet and dry version. Last night there were a few times I would have liked them. Pretty much every time we were going up. The comment of the night "you just have to put the clutch in a little on the slippery climbs" My current response, "I don't have a clutch, I need all the power i have." Just under an hour of excitement, with the small numbers and the perfect conditions there was not much in the line of socializing after. A little to chilly for the normal apres beer.
This is the first step of getting me back in the grove for training. Reminding me how much fun it is to ride in the trails, roads, outside etc. With winter coming I'm going constantly think about these rides during those crappy hours that I'll be spending on the trainer. My road bike and the vomit machine are now setup and ready to roll in the sun room. The surround system is ready to be turned up to the max. My collection of movies has grown all summer. If I can get a few more trail rides in before Mother Nature turns nasty I'll be happy. Everything I need to make life indoor training easier.
The trainer is the toughest place to be, I'm not sure what is worst, intervals or those 3 plus hour endurance times. For now, I'm not going to think about it and get as many outdoor rides in as I can. Of course this will be after more coffee.
Later
Monday, November 2, 2009
Getting back on the horse
That's right, time to ride the bike, start training, start planning, wait back to basics start having fun!!! I was happy to turn the cranks 4 hours this weekend and even Mother Nature seemed to cut me a break so I would enjoy it more.
Saturday had me heading out in a crazy wind storm but at least it was dry. Looked at what to ride and debated but with this coming up I thought I had better test the NRS-1speed and make sure I'm not going to break something 5 minutes into the ride. Kept things pretty mellow with a mix of atv and snowmobile trails along with some gravel roads.
It took a few minutes for my legs to start moving again but started to feel good in no time. Even mixed the Vasey line hill where I got to see my heart rate rise a lot higher than anything I've done in the last 2 weeks. I forgot how well the old Giant climbs. A little rip around power line trails and I was heading for home. Big smile on my face. That's all it takes.
Sunday's plan, trails. With snow in the very near future the first thing that goes are the trail rides. Loaded up my still dirty Anthem, I did take the race plate of it, put the dog in the car and headed to Copeland forest. The sun was out and that's all it takes to get people outside. I could see from a distance that the parking lot was packed. Lots of horseback riders and then as I pulled in I spotted my buddy Rob's van. He's still here, no headphones and ipod today!!
A few minutes of conversation and I ask are you ready?, We have to wait for Bill. Awesome!! i haven't ridden with Dr. Bill in a while, it's going to turn into a great day. I know Copeland well but Rob could tell you where each rock, root and stick is in that place. Great tour guide and it meant I just had to pedal not pay attention to where I am going. Their ride plan was basically the same as mine. No lonely ride for me!!
The trails were in great shape, everyone seemed to be taking advantage of the no rain day. Hit a few of the big climbs along with some great single track descents to make the ride a challenge. Again i saw the heart rate creeping up high but it felt good. An hour into the ride like usual my body started to feel really good. Yep, even with rest my body is a slow starter.
Hit the top of the ridge, with all the leaves down the view was amazing. You never realize how high you are in the valley except for this time of the year. Would explain why there are a couple ski resorts on the other side.
Saturday had me heading out in a crazy wind storm but at least it was dry. Looked at what to ride and debated but with this coming up I thought I had better test the NRS-1speed and make sure I'm not going to break something 5 minutes into the ride. Kept things pretty mellow with a mix of atv and snowmobile trails along with some gravel roads.
It took a few minutes for my legs to start moving again but started to feel good in no time. Even mixed the Vasey line hill where I got to see my heart rate rise a lot higher than anything I've done in the last 2 weeks. I forgot how well the old Giant climbs. A little rip around power line trails and I was heading for home. Big smile on my face. That's all it takes.
Sunday's plan, trails. With snow in the very near future the first thing that goes are the trail rides. Loaded up my still dirty Anthem, I did take the race plate of it, put the dog in the car and headed to Copeland forest. The sun was out and that's all it takes to get people outside. I could see from a distance that the parking lot was packed. Lots of horseback riders and then as I pulled in I spotted my buddy Rob's van. He's still here, no headphones and ipod today!!
A few minutes of conversation and I ask are you ready?, We have to wait for Bill. Awesome!! i haven't ridden with Dr. Bill in a while, it's going to turn into a great day. I know Copeland well but Rob could tell you where each rock, root and stick is in that place. Great tour guide and it meant I just had to pedal not pay attention to where I am going. Their ride plan was basically the same as mine. No lonely ride for me!!
The trails were in great shape, everyone seemed to be taking advantage of the no rain day. Hit a few of the big climbs along with some great single track descents to make the ride a challenge. Again i saw the heart rate creeping up high but it felt good. An hour into the ride like usual my body started to feel really good. Yep, even with rest my body is a slow starter.
Hit the top of the ridge, with all the leaves down the view was amazing. You never realize how high you are in the valley except for this time of the year. Would explain why there are a couple ski resorts on the other side.
Two happy riders
One happy tired dog. The focus in her eyes!!!
Finished up at the 2 hour mark with a now dirtier bike than I started with. One more project to deal with when I get home from work tonight. I will be under time restraint because it is the return of, well for me at least, Monday Night Something ride. Rain, shine, snow, sleet etc. Should be a fun night with stories to be told.
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