Category: Biking

Just in case you don't know, I spent most of the week sick.  I didn't get to ride for 4 days.  When I rode on Friday, I felt very sluggish.  Wallace and I agreed we'd keep it simple, short, and just keep it easy this morning.

When I left the house, I felt terrible.  On roads where I was keeping up 18-20mph, today I was struggling to do 15-17mph.  I thought today would be horrible.  Was I bummed.  The temperature was great (perhaos a bit chilly).  Wallace met me and we started riding.  When we got to our turn point, he wanted to do more and I didn't have anything wrong with that.  We experimented with a new road.  This took us out into the country…it was excelent.

On the way back, I finally "hit the groove" so to speak.  I was feeling great and the miles were churning away under the tires.

If you want to see the stats, look at my August 2006 Bike Stats page.  If you want to see the route, click here for the map of our Aug. 12, 2006 ride into the country around Richmond, VA.

I have a summer cold.  I woke up Saturday for my ride feeling great, rode 50+ miles, then started feeling bad in the afternoon.  Sunday, I stayed home from visitation at church and took a nap (unheard of).  Last night, I woke up about every 2 hours because of a sore throat.  So, I decided to drive to work today and tomorrow to let my body heal.

I finished up the week over 100 miles, again. I went out and did 53 on Sat. to get my total up; however, that distance work is good preperation for the 2006 Missions Century.

Wallace and I did another Saturday Ride.  If you want to see the route, click here.  We rode the Riverside Trail in Richmond, VA.  That was a great ride.  Nice hills, no traffic, and there are signs to boot showing you where to go.  The worst part of the ride was riding down Cary St. to cross the Robert. E. Lee Bridge….I didn't care for that too much once we got to Carytown.

We got lost a few times, but still ended up and made good time.  My overall avg. speed was lower than I wanted, but we were pulling up some hills and taking it easy.

Well, I wrecked my bike today.  I was riding home, saw this person getting ready to make a left across my path, I kept going, she made a u turn, when I slowed down to avoid hitting her then accelerated, my chain slipped, I got off balance, and fell.  No real damage to my bike.  I skinned up my left elbow.  My pedal (yes, my new pedal!) broke….I've got to come up with a way to replace the strap on my clip.

Anyway, I was very worried I was going to get ran over, but I didn't.  I wasn't even seriously hurt.

God was watching out for me, and I am truly thankful!

Yesterday a coworker and I road from an office we have outside of Richmond back to the main office (well, he peeled off and went home).  It was so so hot yesterday.  Officially the temp in Richmond never broke 100 (it got to 98); however, it felt like 105-110.

When riding while it was this hot, my water in my bottle got very hot very fast (imagine nice warm bath water and you get the idea).  Any ideas on how to keep it cool?

When more than one person asked me about my Roady 2 PAS, I realized I had never posted followup on my article about purchasing the PAS.  So, here it is:

I don't use the stock headphones that came with the Roady 2 PAS.  They have foam coverings on the ear pieces, and I was worried that they would get clogged with sweat.  Nevermind the fact that VA law doesn't allow both ears to be covered while riding a bicycle (except in certain circumstances).

I went to Wal Mart and bought the cheapest pair of earbuds.  I split the cord so I can leave one in the pocket of my pack and put the other in my ear.

For an antenna, I use the vehicle antenna that came with my Roady 2.  I just purchased a big washer so I could magnent mount it to my pack.  Reception is good.  I only have a few (3-5) places where I drop out for 1-3 seconds.  I think that is because of trees.  Overall, this yields good reception.

I had to turn the volume up way louder than I thought to compensate for the wind noise.  I tried listening to Fox News on XM, but decided music was better.  I usually spend my ride time listening to "The Message" XM32 (Christian "Pop" is what they call it).

Battery life is good.  I have spent 3.5 hours on my bike and it was still going.  As the battery gets weaker, I think reception gets a bit poorer, but I haven't tested it enough to be sure.

Overall, I think this is a very good solution.  I only wish the battery pack were lighter and lasted longer and that it had a belt clip so I could use it without having to carry it while I'm off my bike.

Well, this week I did a horrible job tracking my bike stats.  As close as I can figure, I did 123.9 miles.  That included a 61 (almost 62) mile ride on Saturday.  Here is the route for the Saturday ride around Richmond.

Arg…another almost.  If I had gone another .6 km, I would have done a metric century.  ARG!

Well, I did it again! I managed to get in 100+ miles on my bicycle again this week. I was really worried as the week went on, but I pulled it off with a 50.5 mile ride Saturday. Overall, it was a good ride….it looked like it was going to rain all morning, but it held off.

I had another 100+ mile week last week.  I haven't ran the numbers yet, but it is looking like I went 105 miles.  Not as good as I wanted, but on the last day, I had a spoke break on my rear wheel.  That cut my ride short by 7 miles….what a bummer  🙁

I don't know if I'll get 100+ this week.  The weather is supposed to be very HOT and humid so I don't know what I'll do….probably play every afternoon by ear.