TT biking club

“I was hoping to get out on some trails with my mountain bike this weekend, but my friend wanted to just ride the dirt roads. I can do that in front of my house. :)
Last year she hurt herself pretty good a couple of times and has kinda lost her nerve for trail riding so I don't blame her.

I'll burn in hell for this I'm sure, but this same friend asked if she could join my other friend and I on our century ride. We said sure. Then she started talking "ride time" and I found I was stressing out about something that's supposed to be fun...

So we changed it to a day she can't go...though my legs really are sore, I'm glad it's back to just two of us...”

“Burn, witch, burn...lol

There's nothing wrong with protecting your good time. You can ride with her some other day.”

“Note to self....keep an eye on Twig's scheduled trips.... :)”

“That is true dhutch - and the way my weekends fill up I hate to fritter them away...plus I'm using a day of vacation time for this trip, just to fit it in!
=D

We actually did change the date because of me being sore, and the weather is supposed to be nicer on Thursday...

However, it's one of those cases where someone invites themself along, then starts rearranging things to suit them...so it's kind of an added benefit that she can't make it...”

“I think my century ride on the coast is gonna turn into a shorter ride locally...between a fast wood delivery and an unexpected 2nd shift work week next week, I've got stuff to do!
:(”

“Hey twig---

A fast wood delivery takes what . . .30 seconds????

Gimme a chance to get up to Maine . ..I could have you on the road with time to spare!”

“Road for the first time in exactly two weeks today.

Bike hangs in my garage . ..literally had tobruch to cobwebs off of it.



the usual circuit. Went a little more slowly today, the fast guy wasn't along. that was fine with me.


I like to bike . .but boy . . finding time is tough.”

“LOL lee, leave it to you!

a "fast wood deliver" ...I called yesterday to order wood and the guy wanted to deliver that night! usually I have to wait a few weeks, but I'm getting my first load tonight.

there, now play with that...
=D”

“It's true, fitting it in is tough...I know I have to train for the Trek, so I make it fit, but after that I really slack off.”

“I know you aren't in today . . .


good luck with the "fast wood" delivery and today's "ride".

I hope you find both profoundly satisfying.”

“the ride was very satisfying, the wood was not - I hate new wood guys!

oh, and let me tell you about this donkey we saw along the ride...

=D”

“Tell me about the donkey if you must. . .


how as the ride?


how far did you end up going?

How's yer wood?”

“We rode 55 miles. Along the way a donkey exposed himself and I teased Charlie by saying, hey come look at this donkey with me..." LOL

It took us 3 hours to go the first 20 miles, we stopped so often. Lookin' at stuff, hanging out by lakes, stopping under nice shade trees, and since we had no planned route, we stopped at many intersections to read the maps and discuss which way to go. The weather was perfect and the scenery was gorgeous.

I got my fastest speed with this bike, 40.8. Fastest I've ever gone is 43.

My wood is better since the guy said he still had another load coming. I thought I was gonna have to flex my muscles.
=D”

“OK, went out and bought my armadillos today, mountain and road. No excuses now. Gonna put them on tonight”

“Those armadillos don't stretch much! It was a fight getting them on my road bike wheels without pinching the tube.”

“anyone have one of these bike racks. I dont have a place to store my bikes since I live in an apt so I thought this would be a good way.

http://www.overstock.com/cgi-bin/d2.cgi?PAGE=PROFRAME&PROD_ID=534046”

“bump, ok where are the bike riders at when you have a question!!”

“I don't have one, but it looks like a pretty good way to store your bikes so they take up less room.”

“Didn't we talk about this already? Oh...that was kayaks. But the same thing can work and is loads less expensive. Those rubber coated hooks anchored in to the wall will hold your bike frame securely. Is it a matter of no holes?

I don't have any experience, however, with the equipment in question.”

“dhutch, some people just don't have a garage they can put all their toys in ;)

Plus I don't want to put holes in all the walls. heck I haven't even hung any pictures yet. There still leaning against a wall.”

“I bought my first road bike this weekend. I get to pick it up today as they didn't have one on the floor for me to take home.
LeMond Nevada City

I also bought a new mountain bike. I had been riding one that a fellow TT'er had let me have. Gary Fisher Tassajara

I have to get use to the clipless pedals I put on them. I rode the mountain bike Sat. and when I stopped I promptly fell over twice. Nothing like getting bruises even before you ride it on the trail.”

“LOL, I have used clipless pedals once in my life. Road about 30 miles of tough single-track without falling. Then in 10 or 12 miles on the road I fell twice.

Mental fatigue, I am pretty sure it was.”

“Cool bikes!

everyone falls over with clipless pedals...even after you get used to them.
=D”

“The Armadillo tires are working great. I've seen the hazards, missed some of them, and no punctures. (knock on wood)”

“Dang Ewker! It took me over a year after my big D to start getting my toys!

You must have come out pretty dang well off! ;-)”

“All right Pathman!!

Glad to see you took the leap. I forgot to warn you about gettin' those things on the wheel. It's a b!tch to get them off, too. So I hope you don't have anything that will puncture the tires from the inside. I'm still flat-free in about 3 years, but need to re-fill every now and then. You'll feel pretty damn excited the first time you collect a bunch of goatheads and don't hear the air fleeing your tubes. Enjoy.”

“mediaman, I've got good wheels, checked em carefully so I'm good.

New gear gets me motivated. I also picked up a much better pair of road shoes and some very lightweight rain gear. I've gotten in several rides in the last few days, so I'm even almost over the "sore butt" stage.

My last motivator is reading Lance Armstrong's books. I'm on my third, this one on training/technique. Looks very good.”

“I managed to get out on the trails last night. First time using the new bike with the new pedals. Dang those rocks hurt when you fall on them. Not sure how many miles we did, I just know we were out there 2 hours. I was beat when I got through.
Going to ride the road bike tonight for a while.

Not sure where I heard this saying but it sounds good.
"If your not bleeding after mountain bike riding, then your not riding hard enough"”

“That's great Ewker! Not the blood part though.

I don't always bleed but bruises and mud are unavoidable.”

“I did pretty good getting out this week. I got in 4 hour long rides on the road bike. I would have gotten in two more but thunderstorms interferred. They may do so again today. :(

My flat route is especially cool in that it starts by the Rio Grande on what used to be my Great Grandparents farm. My Mom rode had a horse and pet goats down there when she was growing up in the 30's and 40's.”

“Pathman = Lance Armstrong !”

“Ha! About like the guys in the ads for the "Ride with Lance Armstrong" sweepstakes. I like the one where the guy is all cool and then nearly falls getting off of his bike.”

“I just realized that my post may be misread, too.

That is I got out on an hour long ride 4 times, not that I did any 4 hour rides.”

“I don't like bikes. I tend to fall off them!”

“I guess I fall off once every 2000 miles. Usually minor, but I did break my radius at the elbow joint once. First ride with toe clips, car pulled out in front of me, I fell over like the the tricyle man in Laugh In. My only real close calls have been with stupid drivers. Eye contact is a must.”

“The tricycle man on Laugh In, LMAO!!! I hope you're alittle faster than that guy, what was his name?

There's an unwritten rule that peeps over 200 pounds should not ride a bike, especially wearing anykind of tight-fitting lycra, yuck!!!

I even had to special order a climbing harness because the largest harness I could find was too small for me. Apparently, big people are not supposed to mountain climb as well.

I'll show you skinny people with 5% body fat!!!!!”

“I know whatcha mean Bobo...when I signed up for my first Trek, I searched the brochure for fat bikers...didn't find any.
I wear spandex just to spite 'em!
:p”

“Are you sure this isn't the Bikini Club thread in disguise?”

“Oh man, I've been riding bikes with my kids lately and I'm hooked. We have a local "greenway" that curves along a creek and through a nature preserve. It's a great break from the fitness center...I've been getting burned out on that place lately.

It's hot here in AL during the day so we've been riding about an hour before the sun goes down and the temp is perfect that time of day. Can't wait for tomorrow!”

“I talked to my favorite bike guy Dave (insert major sarcasm here) about replacing the defective bike rim on my new bike. He claimed that if he ordered me a new one, he couldn't guarantee that it wouldn't have the same problem, and that they had the exact same rim in the shop.
?????

I decided I wasn't messin' with him anymore, and called the owner and said that I didn't understand what Dave said had to do with me, as my bike was still under warranty. He said it wasn't my problem it was theirs, they don't have the exact same rim in the shop, he would order me one, and HE would guarantee it.

I knew Dave was gonna try and pass off an inferior rim to me....”

“I rode my road bike the other day for the first time. What a difference between it and the mountain bike. I can see where you can get hooked on road bikes.”

“Rails to Trails...

There's one not too far from my house. It's 30 miles long and I'm going to take a trip over there when the weather gets cooler. It runs from Anniston, AL to the AL state line. Soon it's suppose to connect with another trail in GA and then it'll be approx. 90 miles long.

WooHoo!!

Have backpack will travel!!

Anyone else out there ride on the "Rails to Trails" trails out there?”

“Twigeater, I'm wondering if Dave was trying to give you the run around because you are a woman. My sister ran into similar problems with some furniture she bought and also with her car at a dealership. Glad to hear the owner will make things right.”

“I dunno Rich...I hate to think that way, but you may be right. No one I know who frequents that shop likes dealing with Dave. He has a way about him that isn't customer friendly...someone said he used to be a school teacher and is just very precise. However, I remember when I told him I was gonna do the Cadillac Challenge and he smirked at me and said what a tough ride it is.

Jim (the owner) is great, and so is one of the other guys, Paul. Paul has a unique personality and is interesting to deal with. I like the place for a bunch of reasons - one, I call and they recognize my voice, even though in "normal" years they only see me twice. And they know all my bikes. Actually on the trek, I was talking with Jim while I was fully decked out in biking garb (i.e, unrecognizable) and he looked at my bike before he called me by name. :)

MDSHiker, we have rail trails. The pieces that are done are short and normally uninteresting to bike on, though they would be great to bike on with kids! maybe I'll take the kidlets one day...”

“"Gear question:

What do folks use for headlights on their bike?


This has to be a real headlight that can throw a beam to seewith while riding (that is, not just a visibility light).

At 5:30 it is pretty dark. When I got underway at 5:15 yesterday is was dangersouly dark. The roads i'm on are not lit. I was pretty uncomfortable. Couldn't see my odmeter to see how fast I was going, couldn see the road for hazards or nothing. Just stuck in the middle and hung on. Thankfully there were no cars (one coming towards me that really blinded me wiht its lights)."”

“I have a Nightsun system with high and low beam. I can't remember the wattage, but it must be around 40 or so. It lasts around 4 hours on low beam. High beam is bright, but can't be used long. Be sure to use a red LED blinking light on your seatpost too. Cars need to see you from behind. For really good vision especially on trails at night I use a handlebar setup like the NightSun and a helmet light. The helmet light lets you look around and shine into dark spots the handlebar light can't reach. It helps off the bike too if you need to fix something or want to look at your computer or heart monitor. For fast hardcore riding on trails a helmet light is must in my opinion. For road riding you can get away with just the handlebar light.”

“I forgot to mention I stuck small reflective tape strips on the inside of my rims and around my cranks. The spinning reflections can really catch a drivers attention.”

“the reflective tape idea is a good one.

i do have the rear facing red flashing LED for the seat post”

“""Gear question:

What do folks use for headlights on their bike?"

HID, the only way to night ride. By Niterider, of course.”

“How appropos!

How do you guys secure your headlamp to your helmet?? I haven't in the past but it seems that it may be in order this evening.”