Friday I went out through the Rocky River Reservation along the Valley Parkway with Michael L., and another friend of his named Mike. We rode south along until Eastland Road then turned around and headed back; all told around forty miles for me. On the way back, Michael L. lead us up and over a few hills, including Ruple Rd. to the east side of the valley, back down Cedar Point Rd. and up the other side. After looping up to Columbia Rd. and back down into the valley we headed for home.
Along the way back, two drivers decided to buzz us and generally drive like morons. Thanks to a driver ahead of them who was religiously following the 30 mph speed limit, Michael L. and I were able to time trial up behind the offending parties. We opted not to ride up alongside and salute their fine car handling skills, since neither of us really wanted to get killed.
Saturday I took both the MTB and the road ax over to a friend of mine on the east side. He's recently discovered road biking and wants to buy mine, so he took mine for a test drive. We tooled around the east side around Fairmount, Shaker, South Park and North Park for around 12 miles before heading to Dewey's for dinner. All in all, I think this was a better call than driving three hours south to a race that well could have been in the rain.
Showing posts with label mountain bike. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mountain bike. Show all posts
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Monday, April 28, 2008
Hearts and kidneys are tinker toys! I am talking about the central nervous system!
The El Chameleon lives...sort of. I stopped at Bike Authority and they got my rear derailleur back together. This allowed me to get the chain cut and the bike cabled. I started adjusting the shifting, but the rear wheel wobbles quite a bit. Tomorrow I'll take it down and try tightening the cones, and if that doesn't work I'll give the bearings a shot at a repack. Hopefully Mavic will send me my wheels soon, then the El Chameleon can really be complete!
Sunday, April 27, 2008
It Never Gets Easier, You Just Go Faster
I thought that the LeMond quote was appropriate, since this weekend's exploits didn't happen last year or the year before, and this weekend's races didn't seem any less painful.
The good couple weeks kept getting better today. I bolted on the aero bars for the Hinckley Buzzard Duathlon/Biathlon/5k Run today, opting for the biathlon since running isn't so much my thing. For those who don't know, a biathlon is a run, followed by a bike ride (as opposed to the duathlon which is run/bike/run).
The run went well, and I found myself riding out of the transition area at 21:30. I neglected to mark my transition on my watch, but I would guess that it was about two minutes, yielding a 5k of 19:30 or so. The bike section went even better; I passed an awful lot of black bib numbers (the duathlon participants were wearing red numbers), and cruised into the finish chute with the clock reading 1:02 and change. When I got to the end of the chute, they handed me a Men's Biathlon 2nd Place Overall trophy! The overall winner of the Men's Biathlon was Mike Vanucci, with a winning time of something just under one hour; Mike is way stronger than I'll probably ever be, at least on a bike, and he says he passed me about halfway through the last lap. NCN should have the official results up later today or early tomorrow. Check their site if you're interested.
I, of course, was not alone in SBR blue and orange for the day. Eric, Matt T., Ian H., Angie, and several others were there as well. Rick and Gary were there taking pictures, (Rick's can be found on his Flickr site), and Dan B. was going to race, but the crank on his bike was trashed and he couldn't get a new one in time. Instead, he and the family came out to watch the festivities and cheer on SBR. The team did quite well, and most (if not all?) of the participants got at least a medal in their respective age group.
Overall, a great weekend.
The good couple weeks kept getting better today. I bolted on the aero bars for the Hinckley Buzzard Duathlon/Biathlon/5k Run today, opting for the biathlon since running isn't so much my thing. For those who don't know, a biathlon is a run, followed by a bike ride (as opposed to the duathlon which is run/bike/run).
The run went well, and I found myself riding out of the transition area at 21:30. I neglected to mark my transition on my watch, but I would guess that it was about two minutes, yielding a 5k of 19:30 or so. The bike section went even better; I passed an awful lot of black bib numbers (the duathlon participants were wearing red numbers), and cruised into the finish chute with the clock reading 1:02 and change. When I got to the end of the chute, they handed me a Men's Biathlon 2nd Place Overall trophy! The overall winner of the Men's Biathlon was Mike Vanucci, with a winning time of something just under one hour; Mike is way stronger than I'll probably ever be, at least on a bike, and he says he passed me about halfway through the last lap. NCN should have the official results up later today or early tomorrow. Check their site if you're interested.
I, of course, was not alone in SBR blue and orange for the day. Eric, Matt T., Ian H., Angie, and several others were there as well. Rick and Gary were there taking pictures, (Rick's can be found on his Flickr site), and Dan B. was going to race, but the crank on his bike was trashed and he couldn't get a new one in time. Instead, he and the family came out to watch the festivities and cheer on SBR. The team did quite well, and most (if not all?) of the participants got at least a medal in their respective age group.
Overall, a great weekend.
Saturday, March 15, 2008
We have forty million reasons for failure, but not a single excuse.
Obviously Kipling never met me...
So it's been a while since I posted. I have no excuses other than the usual, "I was working/sleeping/eating/biking." But I have been doing some interesting stuff since my race report two weeks ago.
On Tuesday, Mar. 4, I helped canvas the West Side for the Obama campaign. It's been a long time since I was involved in any type of politics, and the feeling was one I had forgotten. To be surrounded by people who love what they do and are passionate about succeeding is an awe inspiring sensation. To know that they are doing this not for compensation, but simply because they believe it's the right thing to do only adds to that. It would have been better if Obama had won the state, but at least he won the county.
The mountain bike (see this post) is coming along nicely. Now that the order is in from Crank Brothers, I have all the parts I need except the wheels, and those should be into Bike Authority within the next two weeks. Then there shall be a bike building bonanza, with a bevy of beer, broads, and borscht. The Eggbeater pedals are especially nice; they have all the float that a mountain pedal should, but they feel much more solid with better power transfer than the Shimano SPDs that I first started riding.
And finally, last Thursday I took a test ride on a Cervelo Soloist Carbon. Stay tuned for a review tomorrow, since I'm toiling in the University Hospitals salt-mines all weekend, and bed calls. Until then, Happy Riding!
So it's been a while since I posted. I have no excuses other than the usual, "I was working/sleeping/eating/biking." But I have been doing some interesting stuff since my race report two weeks ago.
On Tuesday, Mar. 4, I helped canvas the West Side for the Obama campaign. It's been a long time since I was involved in any type of politics, and the feeling was one I had forgotten. To be surrounded by people who love what they do and are passionate about succeeding is an awe inspiring sensation. To know that they are doing this not for compensation, but simply because they believe it's the right thing to do only adds to that. It would have been better if Obama had won the state, but at least he won the county.
The mountain bike (see this post) is coming along nicely. Now that the order is in from Crank Brothers, I have all the parts I need except the wheels, and those should be into Bike Authority within the next two weeks. Then there shall be a bike building bonanza, with a bevy of beer, broads, and borscht. The Eggbeater pedals are especially nice; they have all the float that a mountain pedal should, but they feel much more solid with better power transfer than the Shimano SPDs that I first started riding.
And finally, last Thursday I took a test ride on a Cervelo Soloist Carbon. Stay tuned for a review tomorrow, since I'm toiling in the University Hospitals salt-mines all weekend, and bed calls. Until then, Happy Riding!
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