I guess my primary goal is to get fit and lose weight. I have tried many things and cycling just suits me the best - I am no lightweight so running regularly is out and while I used to swim a ton, it hurt my shoulders and it was just a PIA to do, especially if you have people who have no freaking idea how to swim lanes. That said, I LOVE cycling as it gets me out and about and I really feel like I'm doing something good for my body. Not really a regrets kind of person but I sure wish I'd found cycling 20 years ago....
Actually... the 50 x 11 combo feels almost exactly like a 53 x 12 combo so you're not losing out on the top end either. I toodled along on my cross bike this AM. It has a compact crank on it. I find myself in the big ring longer. Only shifting to the inner when the road points up. After a few weeks of riding only the compact crank, the regular rings on my other bikes felt HUGE!!! M
My goal this year is to ride 100+ miles a week again. Also, I am going to join some friends on their annual July ride to VT from CT. 280 miles or so, mostly uphill!
My wife and I have a baby on the way (due 9/21/11). As such, I would like to get in a couple epic mountain bike camping trips (at least one to Pisgah) before we meet our kid. Right now, I ride twice a week (usually once offroad on my full squish and once onroad on my hartail) and run twice a week. I would like to try to maintain this even after our child arrives. I would also like to continue riding my bike to the bar on Fridays (not included in my "real" rides mentioned earlier). Just because it is fun and it feels good to ride off a couple beers on the way home. Ryan
BTW, great suggestion. I love gear as much as the next dude (hey, are we not men?!), but think you're sending this thread in a good direction. Ryan
That's where I was going with that. I've had Alum & Ti bikes that had CF forks, buzzy as all hell in the hands. The few steels I had with steel forks, never had anywhere near the buzz. Sure, the frame is not as responsive, not as snappy in a sprint, and harder to lug up the 4 flights of stairs.... but.....
Very cool - sounds like a great trip. Congrats to you and your wife! You're in Athens? Do they still run the criterium on the streets downtown? I attended that race several times in the early 80's - nothing better than a nightime win-an-out criterium race!
I just made the call on a new Giant Anthem X 29r. I haven't had a new mountain bike in about eight years. I'm having them switch out he avid brakes that come on it for XT. The Avid's get terrible reviews and switching out the brakes makes the grouppo all XT save the hubs. I'm a little bit numb. I've got three mountain bike races on my schedule...one regular XC at about 30 miles, then a metric century and the Gunnison Growler at 64 miles. I'm thinking the bigger wheels will be welcome. I'll post a photo when I can. Might not pick it up for a few weeks. I rode today in the wind for about an hour and fifteen minutes. Second time on the bike this year as most of my training is at a Crossfit gym and XC skiing. I was surprised how much my ass hurt.
One of my buddies send me a PM telling me to shut up and reveal my goal. OK - gotdammit..... I like have a big touch of obsessive compulsive disorder and a bit of ADHD. For some people, it actually works well. I might be one of those people since having a goal forces me to focus my otherwise severe lack of attention. I got back into cycling last year but suffered a setback with the passing of my father. Mentally, I just didn't give a rat's ass about anything. Now, I'm probably days away from the passing of my mother and expect that phone call any day/any minute now. That last event cost me an entire year last year and I am not going to repeat that behavior again this year. Oh, I still went the gym and worked out but that was it. No major trips, no big goals, no big dreams. Touring was one of my great loves in the late 70's and 80's. I have no great desire to tour but I do want to ride far. I did multiple centuries years ago and even a couple of double-centuries but that was well over 26 years ago. One thing I learned recently was that with my previous neck injuries, a diamond-frame wasn't going to work now. I get cramps down in my neck & back after about 25 miles. Legs are fine but I need something more comfortable. I purchased <s>the Goldwing of Bicycles elchulopadre</s> a recumbent and want to develop my skills as a long-distance rider. This year will be spent working towards longer goals and I should be able to easily handle a 200-km ride after the Ragbra event with Bill the Duck. Ragbrai will be the like riding 7 metric centuries, all back-to-back. If that goes well and there are no major issues, the goal will be the Super Randonneur brevet series in 2012. That a series of 200-, 300-, 400-, and 600-kilometer time-limited events. If there are issues and I have to work up in a slower fashion, that's fine. I ain't no spring chicken anymore and that will likely well impact me. The goal is to work towards the larger brevets in the US in 2014 and then, the ultimate goal is the 2015 Paris-Brest-Paris brevet. I'll be well north of 55 and hopefully, with age, comes wisdom meaning I'll have to train smarter - pay more attention to other factors such as nutrition, technique and the mental aspects. It's a huge goal and one that MrsK7 supports. Given that, it'll be interesting to see if I can accomplish it. There - I said it. Wish me luck - I'm gonna need it on my <s>Goldwing</s> recumbent.
Congrats. I demoed an Anthem X and loved it. Good move on swapping out the Avids as some units do squeal worse than a Deliverance piggy scene.:eek1 My Avid Juicy 3s are giving me fits, but the upside is I've learned to brake less and go faster. The Fizik Tundra saddle does suck if not set up properly for the rider. Bring your allen keys to the trail and you'll be able to get it right after some experimentation. My first ride on it was taint-tastically painful. Its a keeper, now that its adjusted correctly.
We (wife and I) have a few longer rides planned. The first is the new bike path from Canmore to Lake Louise. Then it's the local 2 day MS fundraiser tour. Later in the summer or early fall we'll head back to Canmore for a Goat Creek to Banff and back. The goal is to do these rides without feeling like a bag of crap at the end. I've gotta get set up with some different rims so we can run road tires on our Kona Hoss mtbs. Silly things came with rims too wide to run anything under 2" wide.
A little video I ran across this afternoon. Uhm.....mucho grande huevos <iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/9970489" width="400" height="225" frameborder="0"></iframe><p><a href="http://vimeo.com/9970489">VCA 2010 RACE RUN</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user1803052">changoman</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>
You need a winter shoe; those without venting. Get a 1/2 size larger, to allow thicker socks. If you cram a thick sock into your normal size, it'll inhibit bloodflow to your feet. Plastic sacks over your feet, then slid into your shoes will help stop airflow to your skin. A good ski sock, like those made by Craft work better than any cycling sock. Be careful about subjecting frozen body parts to hot water. The numbness will mask you being burned by hot water. Also, the shock, from frozen to hot, is not good for the nerves. You should start out with your shoes a bit loose, on any ride. As you progress, your feet will naturally swell. On long rides, this is crucial. Something else I do is pull up on the pedals and skip pressure on the downstroke, for 10 rotations or so. This, too, helps blood to begin recirculating. If I don't do that periodically, I get hot spots. Anything one can do to encourage bloodflow is good. My friend Adam lives in your neck of the woods. He said he's ridden with you, on motorcycles, in the past. He and I have been conversing about him getting a MTB. I couldn't believe he didn't already have one, given the killer riding you guys have. Speaking of our affinity for orange bikes, didn't you promise pics of that new Trek? Let's see that ride! Short-term is: to rid myself of the 20lbs I gained post-surgery, last spring. That laid me up nearly 6 months; ride the 3 State 3 Mountain Challenge with my friend, Adam. Not sure if we're doing the 62 or 100. I opined that we should just ride whatever we feel. I've already started working on getting back to fitness. Rode 30mi MTB, century on the road bike, 2 day break, 20mi more on the MTB, and finished with another 20mi on the road bike, last week, in Florida. R/R and pics to come. My work schedule has drastically changed, since last year. So, I'm reserving my overall 2011 ambitions a bit. Long-term is to do some longer distance stuff. I want to do a double-century. I'd really like to ride to the west coast. I'm slowly acquiring gear to make that a reality. I should be debt-free in two years and that'll further stimulate my desire. That's why I swapped out the 53/39 crankset for a compact, on my TT bike. I'm no Cancellara, so there was no need to have gears I couldn't push. You should do the Smuggler's Notch Loop, outside Burlington. That's a gorgeous ride. Oh yeah, bring some climbing legs. Congrats! That bike has gotten great reviews. Continental, Vittoria, and Schwalbe offer several different road/trekking tires that'll fit the standard rims. The extra width allows one to run lower pressure, which improves the ride. Nearly all the round-the-world cyclists run 26" wheels, for tire availability in foreign countries. Furthermore, you don't want to limit the terrain you can ride by going to skinny tires.
You should do the Smuggler's Notch Loop, outside Burlington. That's a gorgeous ride. Oh yeah, bring some climbing legs. I've ridden through there many times on the Triumph in the last few years. I can see how much fun it would be on a bicycle!!! I don't know if we will get that far up. A lot of bicycle racing teams train up by Jay Peak, and I have had some close calls with crazy Canadians doing uey's in front of me at 80+ MPH! I love those roads!!
Thanks! Yeah, we went to the last Twilight Criterium. Very fun stuff! Drinking beer on the streets of Athens, watching bicycling, is an event not to be missed! If I am remembering correctly, there was a Honda ST1300 and a Ducati Hypermotard leading the pack. Liked the sound of that Duc going around each turn. Ryan
To have fun! This is what I LOVE to do! <iframe title="YouTube video player" width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/OxfyI5bEIXY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Yeah, congrats rmi03 on your coming addition. If you can still do the bar ride on Fridays during your kids first year or 2, then your wife is awesome! Somehow things seem to change a bit after the kids...
