My Riding Buddy














About a month and a half ago, Maria told me what she wanted for her birthday: a bike. I think I was just as excited to hear that as she was when we went and picked out the bike she wanted. We have gone on a few rides, going north and south on the DPR, and we even realized that The Shanty is right off the trail (but I forgot my chainlock...). We haven't had a lot of free time lately to get out on the trail again, but once we settled in up north, things will change. We are a short distance from Woodmans, Maria's parents, and a slew of other fun places. I am glad Maria has rediscovered biking, and as she likes it! Riding the trails with her has been nothing short of my favorite thing ever.

~My Picks, TDF 2009~

Jaune: Contador

Vert: Cavendish

Polka dot: Moncoutié

Blanc: A. Schleck

Final team rosters: http://tour-de-france.velonews.com/article/93739/2009-tour-de-france-start-list

ID'ed

I picked up a RoadID wristband. Should you be injured while riding, it gives responders information they can use (name, emergency contact, other medical info). A really simple concept, like military "dogtags" but with whatever you want as far as text. They have the standard metal plate with etched info (this stuff lasts a long time) or something new called the "Road ID Interactive." Interesting concept - this incorporates the standard etched metal plate with contact/emergency info stored online. Lots of other options as well. Check 'em out:
Road ID options

you can replace the metal plate too - kind of nice once phone number change, etc.
anyone interested can save a buck by using this coupon: ThanksJosh491409
I get nothing out of it - and I think they create these for anyone who orders.

Chet Baker and the Death of Cycling in Italy as We Know It.

For the past two days, I have nursed a nagging cold. You know, the kind that greets you in the morning with eye-headaches and clogged everythings? Maria currently suffers through the same bug right now, but she had it worse than me.

So as I sat down this morning and fired up the idiotbox v2, I read a little blurb about a velodrome in Italy.
The comment:
"The tradition and culture of cycling don't mean anything any more in this country."
(thanks to Kyle at TrackosaurusRex for that little tidbit)
At first, I thought about all the companies that churn out shirts with catchy little champion stripes or pictures of Eddie Merckx/Tom Simpson/insert famous old cyclist here wrapped around a current piece of culture - you know, taking something old making it "new" via a social reference of common time, and then sell it. Something that I always question: what are these 'companies' that take imagery and pieces of cycling heritage and use it for profit doing for cycling as a whole? Does it matter to them? Anyone can give away free t-shirts to alleycats, but what about throwing down some dollars to the cycling community? Give back a little bit of what you take. But I guess it would be hypocritical of me to say this while wearing a shirt carrying the silhouette of a Italian stove-top coffee maker. By my philosophy, said owners of that logo should be giving moeny to the coffee industry (fear not, I do give to the coffee industry three to four times a day). But I have detoured largely here. I forgot about the fun involved in cycling that sometimes stems from a $25 t-shirt. Or that when I buy a $15-20 'zine, it goes to help produce the next (or feed the author a bit of java) or what have you. It beats a $100 Misfits t-shirt anyday.
So, what the hell is my point? I guess it is the exact opposite of the quoted statement above. The tradition and culture of cycling is not dead; it is changing. It would be great to save every old velodrome, wool jersey, and toe-clipped 20th century steel road bike. Some may feel it would be great to live in the days of tweed and penny-farthings. Those are nice memories, but the facts are such:

11-speed horizon
cable-less shifting
hollowed out everything
synthetic clothing
compressed styrofoam helmets
sealed cartridge bearing HS/BB/etc

these are just building upon the leather hairnets, wool "diaper" shorts (if you ever rode in the rain with wool shorts, you'll know...), and 6-7-8 speed drivetrains.
The other things change over time to make way for lighter/easier to maintain options, and little by little the grouch recedes. Maybe as cycling dies in Italy, the States go through a rennaisance of our own. Everything, past and present has its role. Cheers to that.

oh, Chet Baker. Had "Let's Get Lost" on while reading the article. Defintely good times. And of course, the cold medication. Who could ramble so eloquently without such over-the-counter wonders?

Saturday, O-dark-thirty...

...it goes a little something like this:

(friday night, tapas, paella, dark Spanish beer, Maria, friends, get home at 1230am, try to grab necessities...lay down in bed, fall asleep around 230am, set alarm clock for 430am)

sleep through alarm,
miss one text,
phone rings next to bed.

(a brief conversation with one the of guys I was supposed to meet, I am still in lala-land...his parting words are "goodnight" and he heads out for the ride. I walk back to the bedroom, and crawl into bed)

Outside, as I tried to go back to sleep, I could hear the rain tapping on the window and the wind running across the roof of the apartment. I kept feeling this sense of guilt for not going. It was like someone was poking me in the chest saying:

Get up, get on your bike!!!!!

I tried a few times to roll off the bed, with absolutely no luck. My body dug into the mattress in a last ditch effort to hold the line of sleep. And I won this one.

When I got to work Monday, my boss told me I made the right choice. He dropped out of the ride early as I guess it was not the gentlemen's ride I had assumed - so good for him on the recon. I am more into LSDs right now, and I don think I need a 45 mile hammerfest quite yet. 60-90 minutes on the trainer has me riding better, but the distance is the biggest challenge for me still. But who rides a 100 mile cross race? Someone who is lost...

As of last Friday, I have a riding buddy! I got Maria an early b-day gift bike! I kind of see it as a b-day gift for me as well - I am really stoked that she wants to ride again. We rode around the complex on Friday after work making sure everything clicked the way it should, and then we rode to her Grandparents house on Sunday - and to the bakery! She wanted to make the 17mile trek from our home to her parents, and that is a great sign! We already have Sunday rides mapped out to her P's for cards, BBQ, and pooltime. The summer is off to a GREAT start!

My bike training this week...
(if I were a plane)











A full week of CCNA training has put me back as far as intervals, endurance, LTs - whatever BCS had planned for me. I leave the apartment at 6-630am and get home 730-8pm, with about 1-2hrs of lab work. No time for bike until Saturday. I am getting some very helpful/useful training and I do enjoy the tech/nerd aspects of this week, it has been really hard to not get on the bike at 10pm and ride. Sadly, our apartment has "Quiet Hours" from 10pm to 6am...soon, this will not matter at all. By the way, we bought a house because we want a dog. Good enough reason, right?

Just a friendly reminder...

This Saturday the team hosts the Leland Kermesse
(click the ad below for race info)

A recent interview with Ted Burger of Flatlandia on the Leland Kermesse (<-- click for good readin') This should be a great first race for the team, as well as a new race for Illinois as a whole.

Maria and I would be there, but with my family in town to spend time with her family, priorities shift and for great reasons in this case!

For those of you attending the Leland Kermesse: Get out there and get ready to fight hard for every meter of this course. Good luck, riders!