The Predecessor and the Successor

been riding a lot lately. have done longer and more difficult rides than I have done in some time... on the road bike at least... I have been riding the Peugot Success, which has earned the nick name "Old Betsy", for the fact that she is an old, heavy bike, and the fact that an english co-worker of mine calls many older bikes that he works on by the same name. I had been holding off on a 60 mile, sunday morning ride due to it's length and the fact that most of the guys that do this ride, that I know well enough to know better of their abilities in the saddle, make this ride a difficult one for even the most accomplished riders. This past sunday morning Old Betsy and I accomplished this sunday training ride, despite her hefty 25lbs of steel, and despite all these other thoughts floating through my head. I figure I have been able to keep up with the local 22 mile, morning rides, now I should be able to keep up with these guys. Well I was right... for about 45 miles... I got dropped. The hard part of this whole ride was that I knew I had a new bike being shipped to the shop... I had been waiting for a brand new Cannondale CAAD10 on the previous friday and hoped that it would have been delivered to the Fish prior to my sunday ride, but no such luck. I could have been climbing some hundreds of feet of elevation on top of 17 lbs of pure race developed technology, but I was on 25lbs of steel and rubber that seemed to be doing everything it could to keep me off the back of the group. The whole while reminding myself that I chose to do this ride... knowing that I had not yet received my new super-light, race worthy bike, that may have given me a better chance of keeping up. Well.. I didnt keep up, but I did show up, and I did try. And I am proud of myself for having done so. The day after that ride I did receive that nice, light-weight, expensive road bike... and it is beautiful, lightweight and very fast... but though I am happy to have this new race machine, I am happy to have accomplished some major challenges on Old Betsy that I had previously reserved for her predecessor.

Day dreaming of camping and bicycle touring

These afternoon summer rains have led to cooler mornings around here... cool mornings lead to good tent sleeping. With the training for this triathlon, which will be tomorrow morning, I'm starting to see that my strength to ride a fully loaded touring bike will be more than adequate for a 3 day trip. Ellen has been riding quite a bit lately as well and her bike will be great for taking a nice trip. The important thing now will be to build up something that Caleb will be able to ride for a couple hundred miles. The lure of the trails and tent camping has got me dreaming of the smell of a camp fire and the sounds of the woods at night... this year will be a good one I am imagining. This house is settled and soon we will be able to afford time to get out and explore. I am looking forward to our next family tour, and whatever else I can manage to squeeze out of my schedule.

Riding

I have been riding a lot lately... to work, from work, group rides, fun rides... I have been keeping the triathlon in mind and have lost a bit of weight during the process... my most enjoyable rides lately have been around the neighborhood of the new house and with my family... here are some photos of our recent ride down to Coffee Pot Bayou in St Pete...

New house!

ahhh, its been a while. Over the few weeks I have been focused on moving into the new home. My Fiancee and I have recently purchased a new home and our efforts have been focused on getting things done around here. a few pics to post...
I have a separate garage/man cave, a fenced in yard for the dogs, and a lot of old pavers left behind by the previous owner that I am turning into a base for a raised garden... of course I have to have a garden ;) the barrel will be used as a rain barrel to keep the garden watered.
Ellen and I are excited about our new home and especially that we can do as we please with it. We have been busy finishing the floors, buying up furniture and decor, unpacking boxes, and cleaning things up. We hope to have a party as soon as things are finished and cleaned up as we feel is fit.

Teaser...

Ellens new Cross Check, "light weight touring bike." The new robins egg blue color with mid blade fork rack mounts. Killer light weight racing wheels, Hugi made (now DT Swiss) Coda hubs on Mavic Open Pro rim... spared no expense on this guy. I know I didnt document this one quite like my Giant but I certainly spent the same time getting it up and running. I have been so busy with moving into the house lately that my internet access has been limited... more pics of this bike to come ;)

woOt! new house!!!

Ok... so crazy as hell the last couple weeks. moving into the new house and getting it tented for termites has been nuts. riding has been going, though not as frequently due to moving stress... for sure there will be more to post about... I built up a bike for Ellen so the pictures of her bike will be up as soon as we have more internet access and when I can find my camera after they take the tents down. WooT! new house! ok laters.

Testing the Waters

Wow... so... yeah... I just signed up for my first triathlon. Last night I registered for the Top Gun sprint triathlon at Ft. Desoto Park coming up at the end of July. I have considered doing a triathlon for some time, but finally decided to sign up and do it. I have been on a kick to loose some weight lately as I went from about 160lbs to 210lbs in the last three years. Most of the guys at the shop (flying Fish) do triathlons and their fitness and drive have motivated me to get back in shape, as in my mtb racing days. It was really merely whim that drove me to sign up for this tri as my interest over the last few years has not been geared towards triathlons, but as I have been running a lot lately, and my skill on the bicycle... it just made sense. So the training begins... or rather continues... this tri will be a continuation of my weight loss project but also an adventure in territories yet unexplored by myself. I have competed in many difficult types of racing: XC racing, single speed racing, 6 hour mtb racing, a 13 hour race, several long distance tours, two Trail to Trail Races (in the all MtB Catergory, even one before the all mountain catergory was available) a couple unofficial brevets(120+ miles in a day), and even the Pisgah Mountain Bike Adventure Race which is well renown long distance mountain bike race that takes place in the mountains of Pisgah National Forest in North Carolina(Which I did on a rigid single speed mountain bike). But a triathlon is something that I dont have to explain when bragging of my accomplishments. Everyone knows what a triathlon is, and the difficulties associated with it are known well enough by the lay person that I dont have to go into any great detail over what the acronyms mean, or how much climbing was involved, or how far I went, or how difficult it was on my type of bike. I am excited to test the waters, literally and figuratively, with triathlon racing, and to add it to my repertoire of endurance adventures. I will be looking to this triathlon as the first, but possibly not the last, of my adventures in triathlon racing.