Archive for May, 2006
Riding, Apr. 29 - Orange Lake
I went back to Orange Lake on Saturday, riding the old Schwinn. The wind was really strong. The wind was at 10 mph, with gusts up to 20. I tried to find a route that would avoid headwinds, but I didn’t do a good job. There were far too many headwinds.
I had replaced the tires and trued the wheels, so the bike rode better, but the wind wore me out. On the way back, I made a detour to add some hills. It was a mistake because we had plans for the evening, and it was beginning to get late. With the wind and the hills, my legs were getting wiped out. I wound up calling for help a few miles from home to avoid being late for our dinner plans.
It was a good ride, but very tiring. At the end, I had to keep stopping because I didn’t have anything left. I hope that there are no heawinds on BRAG.
computer:
3:50:22
49.26 mi.
12.8 mph avg.
27.5 mph max.
HRM:
4:45:18
130 Avg. HR
The max HR was thrown off by radio interference. If it were accurate, I would be dead.
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Riding, Apr. 27 - Thursday night
I rode the Thursday night group ride. At the ride, I got the news that my wheel wasn’t covered uner warrnay and that I would have to buy a new wheel. I was very frustrated. Angry, actually. I wound up taking out my frustration on the ride.
I was riding my old bike, left over from my college days. It is a Schwinn steel frame with downtube friction shifters. I have been using in on the trainer, in order to spare the tires on my regular bike. So, the tires were worn out, and in bad shape. It felt like the rear wheel was slipping during much of the ride.
With my frustration, I rode faster and harder than I should have.
1:37:54
27.58 mi.
16.8 mph avg.
28.0 mph max.
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Riding, Apr. 23 - Lousy Ride
I went riding last Sunday. It was very windy out. I was feeling good early in the ride, but it felt like my rear brake might be rubbing. As I got further north, I had a flat tire. I pulled over and fixed it fairly quickly. I started riding again. I stopped at a convenience store in Orange Lake to refill my bottles. After I refilled and took a quick phone call, I started south to return home. Very quickly, my rear brake began rubbing very badly, like the wheel was out of true. I pulled over again, to check the tire. I didn’t have any spoke wrenches, but started looking any way to see what the problem was. It turns out the hub on my rear wheel had cracked, one of the spokes was flopping around, no longer attached at the hub. There was nothing I could do. I called in the calvary and sat down to wait for help.
The stats of the ride:
computer:
2:13:14
24.23 mi.
12.9 mph avg.
21.2 mph max.
HRM:
2:13:59
138 Avg. HR
164 Max. HR
I dropped the bike off at the bike shop the next day. They called Specialized to check if the wheel was still under warranty. It wasn’t under warranty. Specialized wouldn’t replace the wheel. That stinks.
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Was the Mayflower a Sinners’ Ship?
I was having lunch with a friend the other week and we came upon an interesting discussion. He made the comment that it might be a good thing for all the Christians to move to one state (he recommended Texas) and secede from the Union, allowing the liberals to have the remaining 49. My initial reaction was to think of the old Geoff Moore song, Go to the Moon. You can find the lyrics here.
I told him that wasn’t the right answer to our political situation. We were supposed to be trying to influence the liberals, even though we don’t agree with them. He agreed, but it opened a different conversation:
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