Rakow Rd Bike Path?

McHenry County plans to widen Rakow Rd to 5 lanes by 2010. Currently, there is a 4-foot wide shoulder that bicyclists use today on this busy road. Once the road is widened, there will be no shoulder and no bike path! At least they're leaving a 10 foot shelf for future MUP creation, but it is needed now. I see bikes riding on the shoulder in the mornings all the time where cars are going by at 55 mph (in a 45 zone). Aside from the 5-lane US-14 going through Crystal Lake, Rakow Rd is the only other east/west route that many people use to get across town or to the McHenry County Prairie Trail, which connects to the Illinois Prairie Path.



The McHenry County Bicycle Advocates have submitted a petition signed by 227 people urging the county board to include the bike path in the construction plans for 2009/10. The county actually asked Crystal Lake and Lake in the Hills to help with the cost of including the bike path but both declined, presumably due to a lack of available budget.

The article appears in the Nov. 23 edition of the Northwest Herald, here.

Climb Data for Skyline Drive

Using some mapping tools from mapmyride.com, I'm able to generate elevation and climb data for my planned trip on the Skyline Drive in VA next summer.



Keep in mind that I'll be traveling from South to North -- or right to left on the above diagram. If I were heading south, there would be almost 20 miles of 5% grades (or higher) of climbing right out of the gate. Since I'm going South to North, there is only one section where I'll be climbing 5% grades. This is what I had expected based on various reading. Its easier (relative) to bike north towards Front Royal.

Prairie Trail North - Nov 2, 2008

This afternoon I took a short ride north on the McHenry County Prarie Trail towards McHenry. I started at home, rode 3 miles to the trail, and then rode north through Crystal Lake. I continued through Sterne's Woods which has a series of extremely steep climbs and descents through the woods. Even in the granny gear this will get your heart beating and your moving at a snail's pace. Past Sterne's woods, I continued north until reaching the Nunda Township garage north of Prairie Grove. This is the same place the the McHenry County Wireless Association has its monthly meetings... and its about 7.75 miles from home via bicycle. I continued just north to the next road where I turned around and headed back home. A few raindrops fell when I first started back, but it never got to the "sprinkling" stage and subsided without much fuss.

No pictures this time -- but I wish I had my camera handy because just south of Sterne's Woods I saw a guy riding on a unicycle! Not only was it a unicycle but it was a BIG wheeled unicycle. The wheel might have been 3 feet in diameter... and I was staring at the guy thinking "woah" and he just said "hi" and kept going. I wonder if he actually rode that thing through Sterne's Woods... it would have been crazy considering the extreme grades of the trail through that stretch.

I wish I knew the actual grade % of those hills. Then I would know if that is comparable to what I would experience riding on the Skyline Drive in Virginia. If this is comparable, then I have a lot of preparation to do to get into shape. On some of those hills, every pedal with my right foot resulted in the front wheel coming off of the ground slightly.

Max speed today was 31.22 mph!! That was going down one of those crazy hills in Sterne's Woods. This thrill didn't last long as i quickly starting going uphill again and around a corner so I had to slow down.

Total distance: 16.54 miles, Ride time: 01:25:59, Avg speed: 11.41 mph

Cold Weather Training

Its not winter yet, but its been below freezing a couple of nights in a row now. Tomorrow should be warm for trick-or-treating, but in a few days it will return to some very cool weather which is not conducive to cycling. Sure, you can get cold-weather riding gear, but what about sweating while wearing layers? Gore-tex and other fancy fabrics are supposed to wick it away from you, but then you need to spend $150 on a cold-weather riding outfit... just to ride a few times when its not snowing or icy out. Nope... not for me. So what's the solution to get my biking fix? I need to get an indoor trainer.

Two options for trainers: a traditional magnetic (or fluid) resistance trainer or a set of rollers. The one type looks like this:



The way it works is you basically connect the rear wheel to the frame of the trainer and the tire is up against the resistance unit. They're usually adjustable (resistance) and some of them are magnetic based and others are fluid based.

The other type of trainer is the roller trainer -- here you have no fixed connection to the trainer and you must balance yourself on it at all times. This is said to help you improve balance in general, but others say its just crazy. I'd like to give it a go, but most people suggest wearing a helmet even while indoors as the risk of falling off is greater than normal riding! Here's what one looks like:



You can probably tell, but the rear wheel balances between the two closer rollers and the front wheel rests against the front roller. You can find bunch of info on roller trainers at the wikipedia site here. Wikipedia describes it this way: "Bicycle rollers are a type of bicycle trainer which makes it possible to ride a bicycle indoors without moving forward. However, unlike other types of bicycle trainers, rollers do not attach to the bicycle frame, and the rider must balance him or herself on the rollers while training. Bicycle rollers normally consist of three cylinders, drums, or "rollers" (two for the rear wheel and one for the front), on top of which the bicycle rides."

I'm hoping that on Black Friday (day after Thanksgiving when the big Christmas sales begin) I will be able to get a great deal on a trainer for my indoor winter biking/training. I will need to keep active in the winter in preparation for my planned tour of the Skyline Drive in 2009. You can read about those plans here.

Random Reading

No big bike rides to report on today. I did take my daughter on a tour around the town a couple of days ago but forgot to log the miles in Bike City. Oh well. Probably 6-8 miles on the Giant pulling the trailer.

I do spend a little time each day on Google Reader following various blogs and other RSS feeds, many of them biking related. Here's just a few of the sites I follow:

• Crazy Guy on a Bike -- Lots of long-distance touring journals, each with a RSS feed. I follow several of these, but there are thousands of journals to read.
  
• Chicago Bike Blog -- Lots of random stuff related to biking and bike-commuting in Chicago!
  
• Bike Commute Tips -- A blog dedicated to bike commuting tips
  
• Cyclelicious -- More of an aggregation of cycling related blog posts than anything else... a one-stop shop for biking news and interesting info!
  
• Bikescape Podcast -- Another aggregation of cycling related info with a west-coast bias.
  

There are more that I follow, but some of those are in-tour journals and their longevity is limited to the length of their tour.

Happy reading!

Skyline Drive Trip Plannnig

I'm beginning to plan a bicycle ride along the entire length of the Skyline Drive in the Shenandoah National Park. Its about 105 miles, all of it through the mountains. Sound crazy? It probably is! ...


View Larger Map

The idea is to take it easy and spend 2.5 days biking the Skyline Drive. I will have to work hard, but it won't be crazy-hard, or at least that's my intention. I may cover 40-50 miles the first day, have a really easy 2nd day and then the 3rd day will be 30-40 miles, but the last 20 miles is mostly downhill.

The Skyline Drive is through a National Park and thus the speed limit is 35 (bike-friendly) and also commercial truck traffic is prohibited (also bike-friendly). I originally wanted to bicycle the Blue Ridge Parkway (which starts where the Skyline Drive ends) but decided that the Skyline Drive would be easier due to its shorter length (105 miles -vs- 469 miles on the BRP) and its also mostly on a plateau, versus the wild and crazy elevation changes found on the BRP.

I'd be staying with the family at a couple of the lodges situation along the Skyline Drive: Big Meadows Lodge and Skyland Lodge. The family will go off and visit several of the Civil War battlefields in the Virginia area and then meet me at the lodge in the afternoons. After the trip ends, we'll all continue to the DC area to do the tourist thing as a family, including catching a couple of baseball games in Baltimore and in DC, part of our quest to visit all of the MLB ballparks.

Ride to Dundee - Oct 18 2008

Today I decided to head south on the McHenry County Prairie Trail and go to the Fox River. When I got to the river I decided to go a little farther.. and farther, until I ended up all the way down in East Dundee at IL-72 (There's a DQ there where the Fox River Trail crosses IL-72. The path becomes the Fox River Trail when you cross into Kane County, just south of Algonquin. I saw many squirrels -- maybe 15 or more, but never had my camera handy to snap a picture. I did take some other pictures.

Just south of Rakow Road in Crystal Lake, there is a large gravel pit operation and I snapped a few pictures of this operation.



Those conveyor belts run for what seems like a few miles, pulling gravel.



There are fancy contraptions to move the gravel from a belt at one height to a belt at another height also.



Must be doing some sort of processing of the gravel in this old building... or the building is just there to look pretty. Not sure.



Above you can see something strange. There are gates across the path and they detour you just around the gates through a crosswalk. Its unclear why they did this, except maybe to force bikes to slow down and/or stop at the road crossing. Maybe bikers were blowing through the stop sign and running in front of cars? Hard to say.



The Fox River Trail follows the Fox River south of Algonquin on its way to Carpentersville.



Another shot of the river above. In Kane County, there are several spillways that run right across the path draining into the river. All but 2 were dry today, and those only had half an inch of water in them running into the river. I suppose on a rainy day the trail would be a little more dangerous. One section of the trail actually went from blacktop to packed dirt as it was very close to the river and perhaps they'd lost the battle with the river flooding year-in and year-out and so they left this 50 yard section of the path unpaved.



As I came into Carpentersville I came across a couple of coffee/snack shops right along the trail. A bit farther south, at the Main Street crossing I saw this strange car in a parking lot next to the trail. It turns out the guy had a grill on the back of the car and was selling drinks, hot dogs and brats to hungry/thirsty trail riders! I only had my debit card, so I could not get anything.



I finally reached IL-72 and the Dairy Queen in East Dundee. Here I sat on one of the many picnic tables for a few minutes drinking some water before heading north on the return leg of my trip. On the way back, I saw the same sights again, including lots of squirrels and other bikers on the trail.

Total distance: 25.13 miles, ride time: 1hr 55 min, avg speed: 13.07 mph

Pondering the next big bike ride

Since I managed to book a flight to Houston on the day of the Udder Century, I won't be riding in that one next year. I'm still considering other options, and one of them that looks interesting is the Tri State Tour, sponsored by Bicycle Illinois. The ride starts in Hammond, IN and ends in Kenosha, WI. You ride on bike paths along Lake Michigan for 75% of the ride, which would be pretty nice, and the route is reported to be "very flat" which is also nice for long distance riding. Its about 85 miles with an optional 15 mile loop up in WI to stretch it to a full century ride.

I've contacted Intern John about the possibility of doing this ride and I've set a countdown timer on the right of this page to countdown to the Tri State Tour instead of the Udder Century! The tour is actually run on two separate days, but its a one-day event. You just have two dates to pick from: July 18th or August 1st.

Today is actually a bit chilly: only 55 degrees currently and a high of 59. It is quite sunny though, and tempting for me to go out on the bike for a ride to the river or something later today. But the grass also needs to be cut and tomorrow is the IL QSO Party, in which I will be operating... so tomorrow is shot for any sort of cycling or grass-cutting activities.

Prairie Trail Touring - Oct 11, 2008

Yesterday Kurt and I rode to the McHenry County Prairie Trail bike path and rode from Crystal Lake to the north side of McHenry and back. Total distance was over 31 miles for the afternoon -- my best ride yet in terms of distance. The terrain was more challenging than the distance itself...

The Prairie Trail goes through Sterne's Woods on the north side of Crystal Lake and you would not believe how hilly that area is. There are some signs suggesting that bikers get off their bikes because it is too steep -- but we carefully rode down those hills. Going up was another story. I am experiencing an issue on my Trek where the smallest chain-ring won't engage (it just goes clickyity-click) so I can't get into the granny gears. That made it a LOT harder to try and pedal up the hills and there were two of them that I made it half way up and then every push on the pedal was lifting the front wheel off the ground! I finally got off and walked up the rest of that hill as it was nearly straight up! Luckily, the hills were not too long -- just too steep! I think we could have easily added another 10 miles to our ride if we didn't have the extreme hills.

Most of the people you see on the trail are moving faster than us on this day as we're just trying to pace ourselves and not get worn out 15 miles away from home! There was one guy that we passed three separate times. The first time we were stopped getting a drink of water and he rode past but did not stop. Instead, he shouted "Is this the way to Ringwood?" I said yeah.... and 50 feet later he shouted the same question to Kurt who was just ahead of me getting a drink from his water bottle. I guess he didn't believe me. A couple of miles later we catch up to this guy who isn't going all that fast. I asked him where he started his ride from.... Ringwood, of course. Then he went on to tell us of the times in the early 80s when he used to ride on this same trail... with his car. That is until he got busted. It gets even more bizarre. He also started telling us about the time when he was in high school and took two girls (at the same time?) and parked his car on the trail to have sex with these girls in the back of his car but the cops showed up. It was an unlikely story to say the least. What made it funny was the way he emphasized that it was GIRLS he was busted with, so we wouldn't make the mistake of thinking he was taking his boyfriends there. After this bit of the story I laughed and then we decided to start pedaling harder and leave this guy and his stories in the dust.

We crossed over IL-120 and wound our way around on the trail and came to Peterson Park in McHenry. Peterson Park is on the shore of McCullom Lake. Its complete with a nice beach and some picnic areas. It also had a Gatorade vending machine that Kurt was interested in, however it did not accept $20 bills, only $1 and that's all we had between us. Kurt would later get a bottle of Gatorade at a gas station on the way back into town and downed the whole thing in about 5 seconds. Quite an accomplishment indeed! As we were riding back south towards IL-120 we once again saw the guy on his bike who for a 3rd time asked us -- "Is this the way to Ringwood?" Lets hope he found his way home eventually. :)

Since I'm writing this the day after the ride, I can report that the only ill effects from yesterday's ride is a little bit of stiffness in my neck -- but otherwise i'm A-OK. Maybe it was thanks in part to the steak dinner and ice cream from Coldstone that we enjoyed last night!

Total distance: 31.03 miles, ride time: 2hr 58 min, avg speed: 10.46

Fall Ride - 9/28/2008

Temps were perfect for an afternoon ride today. After finishing up some other chores such as re-grouting one of the floor tiles and putting up new screen on the sliding screen door, I put on some lightweight biking apparel (is that code?) and hit the road. I traveled around the southern part of Crystal Lake (the lake itself, not the town) and then hit the country roads west of town. There are a bunch of rolling hills on some of the roads (Bard, Ballard, and Haligus Roads) and it was a good workout! I got up to 27.01 mph on one of the downhills, but I wasn't pedaling super fast... just enjoying the ride and preparing for the uphill climb on the other side!

I saw lots of fall leaves - some on trees, and some on the ground. I also had a mishap with a large ledge of blacktop pavement and my big toe on my left foot. I'm thinking that I need some closed-toe sandals for next year so I don't break a toe as I almost did today! I love my Teva sandals and they're very light and comfy for biking, but I think I'll invest in a pair of Teva sandals with toe protection since my toe still hurts!

Total distance: 16.38 miles, ride time: 01:16:35, avg speed: 12.84 mph

Back in the saddle ...

After the Bears blew another one, I decided I'd better get on the bike and ride. There aren't a lot of great riding weekends left before its cold/wet/snowy. Today I rode to the lake, past the Dole mansion and around to the north side of the lake past some houses with nice frontage on the lake. Nothing too exciting, but it was a workout.

As for the Udder Century... I won't be able to make it. After Hurricane Ike wiped out our trip to Houston to see the Cubs, we were forced to reschedule our trip within 7 days in order to save the tickets w/o penalty. We randomly picked a weekend in June to go back to Houston (we couldn't change the destination) since we wouldn't know when the Cubs would be in Houston in 2009. Usually, the next year's schedule is announced during or after the World Series. Well, this year they announced it early.... about 6 hours AFTER we booked our travel to Houston! Bad Luck? Not quite... more like GREAT luck! I randomly picked a time that matched up with when the Cubs would make one of their 2 or 3 trips to Houston in 2009. What are the odds of that?? So the problem is, I leave before the Udder Century and won't be back in time to ride. I picked a great time to be in Houston (Cubs are there) but I picked a crappy time to go (Udder Century weekend). So... I'm 1-for-2, that's a .500 batting average and hall-of-fame material if this were baseball. :)

I'll look for another century next spring to consider preparing for this winter...

Total distance: 7.45 mi, ride time: 40 min, avg speed: 11.14 mph

Udder Century Planning

Now that the summer seems to be coming to an end (rather quickly), its time to start thinking about 2009 rides. One that I'd like to take part in is the 2009 Udder Centry, sponsored by the McHenry County Bicycle Club. Will I have enough ride time in the spring to be in shape for a 100 mile ride by June 7th? That remains to be seen!



I haven't ridden the bike since last Sunday's Harmon Hundred. In fact, yesterday I managed to tweak my back just carrying groceries into the house from the garage. I won't be riding for a day or two due to the weather -- its raining cats and dogs, so the back injury won't have any impact on my riding schedule. Hopefully I can get some more ride time in this fall before the bike gets hung up for the winter. Its only mid-Sept, so there should still be lots of good days to ride left this fall.

Harmon Hundred Day

I got up a little before 6am today and got ready to hit the road for the 2008 Harmon Hundred. I arrived in Wilmot about 7:10am and the high school parking lot was nearly full of cars with bike racks. It seems that many of those heading out for the longer distances (50, 75, 100 miles) wanted to hit the road early. For a 25 mile leg of the ride, getting on the road at 6am was certainly not necessary.

I met John and Katie at the registration desk and after picking up the cue sheets (for both the 25 and the 50 mile routes) we hit the road a little after 8am. Heading south out of Wilmot on the Fox River Rd, we went on some small hills up and down until we turned west just south of the former location of Gander Mountain (retailer). From there, it was unfamiliar territory. The terrain was mostly flat for the first 10 miles, then it was mildly hilly as we went through the small towns of Nippersink and Twin Lakes. The road through Nippersink was freshly paved and very smooth. Overall, the road was good except around mile 15.5 where a large downhill brought us straight into some choppy torn-up pavement that was a bit jolting on the Trek. I didn't see anyone wipe-out, but it was by far the most uncomfortable part of the ride.

Around mile 16 we came upon the one and only rest stop for the 25 mile route. It was well stocked with drinks and some food. As soon as we pulled in there, I ran into a buddy of mine from MCWA, John Dewey. It was nice to see John again and John quickly noticed that the tires on Katie's bike were nearly flat. We got those pumped up to about 90psi (the gauge on that frame pump is apparently not too reliable) and for the rest of the ride, Katie was going faster with less effort. Its amazing what the proper tire inflation will do for your bike!

On the last 10 miles of the ride, there were only two hills worth mentioning. The first one was a good pedal up, but nothing too terrible. Near mile 20 we hit a monster hill. It kept going up and up, and for the first time I thought i needed to shift down into my smallest chain ring up front... but couldn't! Clickity-clack, clickity-clak, but it just wouldn't shift. So i ended up pedaling a lot harder than I should have on that last big hill. However, I was able to take a short break and have a drink while I waited for John and Katie to power their way up the hill a little ways behind me. Once we tackled that, the roads were mostly level or only slightly hilly for the remainder of the ride.

Katie took pictures with her camera and promised to share, so I'll post some pictures from before and after the ride here later. What's next? We talked about trying to do a 50 miler next. Not sure what else will be available this year as the riding season seems to be drawing to a close here in the next month or so.



Katie - Thanks for sending the pictures!

Total distance: 25.79 miles, Ride time: 2:10:48, avg: 11.83, max: 30.07 mph

Final Tune-Up Ride

I topped off the air in the tires of the Trek tonight and took the bike on a short 2 mile ride to make sure everything was working properly for tomorrow morning's ride. Registration begins in almost exactly 11 hours, but I don't plan to arrive until maybe 7:30 or a little earlier.

Total distance: 2.03 miles, ride time: 9 min 38 seconds, avg time: 12.64 mph

T-Minus 1 day

This is it. Sign-in for the Harmon Hundred ride begins in less than 22 hours. If you've been following the blog, I've managed ZERO training rides this week. Today I'll have to do something, if nothing else than pumping up the tires and making sure everything is ready to go for tomorrow morning. I'll be meeting John and Katie sometime after 7:30am up in Wilmot... but I'm not exactly sure where.

I haven't put any thought into what I should eat before the race. In fact, this morning I realized that I'm all out of carrot juice. I've really taken a liking to this sweet-tasting orange-colored juice. Costco sells it in three-packs for pretty cheap, and it tastes as good as a carrot straight out of a juicer. So let's assume I'll pick up some more carrot juice today. What should I eat to have a "full tank" of energy for the ride? I'll have to think about it... I'm not sure a couple of chocolate donuts are the solution. :)



I'll try to get a few miles on the bike today, but nothing serious. Tomorrow is the big day!

Fox River Ride II - Aug 31, 2008

Today Neighbor Jim and I took off in the heat of the afternoon on a 15 mile trek along the McHenry County Prairie Trail system and down to the Fox River. I also stopped at the Crystal Lake Ski & Bike shop as I needed two small screws for my water bottle cage. To my surprise, the screws were given to me free of charge, no questions asked. I didn't buy my bike from them -- but that bit of friendly service might lead me to have the Trek serviced there in the future.

The sun was hot, but after 3 miles we were on the prairie trail system and once we got past the gravel pits, we were under the cover of trees and following the creek down towards the Fox River valley. We saw lots of people biking on the trail today, which was different from my last trip when it was mostly walkers instead of bikers. However, one thing that Neighbor Jim and I both noticed was that most of these people were either very into their ride or just plain unfriendly. We said hello to everyone who biked past, but only a handful of people actually smiled or said hello back.

When we got to the stop light to cross busy Rakow Road, there was a a group of about 6 bikers (kids and their parents). They asked us if we saw the turtle... and we were like, "What turtle?" Apparently about a quarter of a mile back, there was a large turtle on the side of the trail. We'd ridden right past there so perhaps the turtle had moved into the weeds by then.

Just a week to go before the Harmon Hundred... so this might be my last "long" ride before the Harmon! Hopefully I'll get in a few more 5+ mile rides this coming week after work.

Total distance: 15.03 miles, ride time: 1hr 23 min, avg speed 10.86 mph

Biking August 29, 2008

Today I pulled the kiddo in the trailer behind the Giant. We rode to Crystal Lake South HS and saw the cheerleaders practicing and the football players getting ready to head over to the football field for tonight's varsity game. The fresh/soph team was already on the field and they were winning 34-6 when we biked past the grandstands. (sidenote: I'm excited about the start of College football season!) Lots of people were out and about on the streets and sidewalks leading towards CLS and you could hear the marching band playing several blocks away. Of course when we return home tonight we'll be able to see the bright lights of the football field shining in the distance, as we're pretty close to CLS, as the crow flies. Streets here, however, don't go straight. Its like they say... all roads lead home, but none of them are straight. Or something like that.

Today was also Intern John's last day at Motorola. We think. In any event, we'll continue to train for the Harmon Hundred. He says he won't ride if it rains, but I'm thinking I already plopped down $15 for this ride and $10 for the shirt, so I'm gonna have to ride rain or shine... just for the principle of it. Let's hope for good weather. Also of note is the fact that today I talked to HR and it turns out that Intern John is not an intern. In fact, he never has been. He's a contractor. Strange but true. I think we have the OTHER John to thank for that. YOu know, the OTHER John who doesn't own a bike.

Plans are in the works for a Labor Day Cookout. Lets see if Intern John can bicycle the 60+ miles to my house or if he shows up in a car. :)

Total distance: 5.83 mi, ride time 45 mins, avg speed: 7.77 mph

Biking August 26, 2008

Today I rode with Neighbor Jim, my new-found cycling partner. We rode mostly MUP (bike paths) in Crystal Lake and Lake in the Hills. It is possible to stick to the trail from my back yard all the way south nearly to Lowes/Costco... in a roundabout way. The trail is nice and wide and paved for all but one stretch where its gravel. No idea why this one section of about 20 yards is gravel... and today was the first time I braved it on the Trek with its very narrow 700x25c tires!

Neighbor Jim and I talked most of the time so our speed was way down as its hard to carry on a conversation when you're going 15 mph down the road with the wind in your face. I told him about the 15 mile ride to the Fox River and he seemed interested in it -- but I think it would take nearly twice as long as my last time due to our leisurely pace when we ride together.

Total Distance: 5.86 mi, ride time: 41 mins, avg speed: 8.57 mph

Biking August 25, 2008

I spent the weekend camping and paddling the Rock River, so I did not get any riding in. After this brief break from biking, the kiddo and I hit the road this evening to get some miles under the bike tires. With the trailer attached to the Giant, I loaded her up and hit the road. We took a leisurely pace around the neighborhood and some of the parks. We saw several groups of kids in football practice and even some really young kids practicing flag football at one of the parks we rode past. I don't think she's the football type as she showed no interest.

Along the creek by Fetzner Park, we saw a squirrel. That was the highlight of the ride... which isn't saying much. Now its back to Wow Wow Wubbzy, I guess. That or Wonder Pets. :)




Total Distance: 5.16 mi, ride time: 35 mins, avg speed: 8.84 mph

Biking August 20, 2008

Today was another in a long line of uneventful bike rides around town. I could hear lots of loud-speaker noise coming from the high school, so I included a pass of the athletic fields in the ride. It seems the school marching band was out on the field practicing for the first high school football game. As exciting as that was (Sorry, Nick) I keep on going and continued on my ride around the neighborhood.

Total distance: 5.28 miles, ride time: 27 mins, avg speed: 11.73 mph

Biking August 19, 2008

Today was a bike ride at work. Intern John and I rode some of the local roads and also the paths through the Libertyville Youth Soccer Association fields near the office. It was pretty light intensity, but neither of us could remember how far down the road we had to go to pick up the Libertyville bike path system, and we figured we would look it up and ride those next time.


The Libertyville Bike Paths ... Now we know. :)

The ride was uneventful for the most part. The only strange part was John's borrowed trunk rack was very confusing and I'm still not sure he has it hooked up right, but I couldn't figure it out either. It just has too many parts. :)

Total distance: 6.40 miles, ride time: 35 mins, avg speed: 10.97 mph

The Ride That Didn't Happen

Today I was supposed to bring my bike to work and ride during lunch with Intern John. This ride did not happen due to a flat tire! After I mounted the bike rack on the trunk of my car, I noticed that the rear tire of the Trek was flat. And I mean dead flat... not an ounce of air in it. I hooked up the pump and tried to pump some life into that tire but nothing happened. Since I couldn't stay and mess around with the tire, I called John and luckily he hadn't left for work yet, so I was able to tell him to abort the mission and he left his bike at home.

Tonight after dinner, I decided to investigate the tire problem. I removed the rear tire from the bike, removed the tire from the rim, and then I saw the problem: blowout!



The tube had a rip in it about 7 inches long. I wasn't going to be able to patch this one! I pulled out one of my new Forte puncture-resistant tubes and proceeded to mount the new tube on the rim. I re-mounted the wheel on the bike and put the chain back on. I then inflated the tube to 115 psi and topped off the front tire as well as it was down to about 90 psi.



After inflating the tires, I rode the bike across the street and back just to cycle through the gears and make sure everything was working properly. All was good, and now i'm ready to try for the bike ride again tomorrow during lunch. The only question is ... when did this blowout happen? I rode 15 miles yesterday but when I got home, there was still some air in the tire as I certainly would have noticed a dead-flat tire. The mystery remains...

Total distance: 0.01 miles, ride time: 20 seconds. :)

Update: I found a thread on the BikeForums website where others have experienced the same thing with their tube blowing out well after riding...

Bike Ride to the Fox River - 8/17/2008

This morning I decided to step up my training for the Harmon Hundred ride and try to get in a good 10-15 miles. I finally got to ride on the McHenry County Prairie Trail through Crystal Lake, Lake in the Hills, and Algonquin, down to the Fox River. It was a great ride! It was just over 3 miles to meet up with the Prairie Trail (Which, BTW does connect to the Illinois Prairie Path farther south). From there, I had a nice ride of about 4.5 miles down to the river. The path went past the gravel pits and then followed a stream (crossing it several times) through some densely wooded areas, on a bridge over busy Algonquin Road, and then through some more park-like areas until coming to IL-31. After crossing IL-31, it was just a minute's ride until the foot/bike bridge crossing the Fox River. I spent a few minutes stopped on the middle of the bridge (there were not too many people in this stretch of the path so I wasn't creating a traffic jam or anything) and then turned around and headed for home.

What I hadn't realized at the time was that the 4.5 mile ride on the Prairie Trail to the Fox River was mostly downhill. That meant I had to retake that elevation I gave up on the way down. It wasn't bad though, the grade was gentle, rising slowly over 4.5 miles. I could have down-shifted to make it a little easier, but then I would have given up some speed and I wanted to give my legs a good workout. I couldn't maintain the same speed on the way up as I did on the way down, and pedaled about 3-4 mph slower on the return trip.

The stretch of the trail from Rakow Rd south to the parking lot just north of Algonquin Rd had many walkers -- and the path is limited access... in fact, I don't think there is any access between these two points except just north of the parking lot the trail splits off to somewhere. So I was surprised to see 10-15 walkers spread out on this stretch of the path. There were many more walkers than bikers for sure. I'm not sure why -- the path is paved, has a center stripe and goes through some nice senic areas. I also saw the grading work that they're doing for the new Pyott Rd. A portion of the road is being shifted a few hundred feet to the east to make room for runway expansion at the Lake in the Hills airport. I'm not sure if they're going to move the bike path to the east as well... if they don't, the path will cross Pyott Rd twice, which is inconvenient.

I also test-drove my new High Sierra water backpack. I got this at Costco a month or so ago (maybe longer) and hadn't put it to use yet. I ordered a Klean Kanteen water bottle and bottle cage for the bike because right now, I have no water bottle cage on the Trek at all. That's why I had to use the water backpack. I was able to keep ice in the bladder of the pack and the water stayed cold the whole time. The pack did make my back sweat more, so i'm looking forward to getting the Klean Kanteen on the Trek soon... this coming week hopefully.


Total distance: 15.08 miles, ride time: 1hr 6 mins, avg speed: 13.71 mph

Biking August 15, 2008

After taking care of some post-work yard work, I decided to get a quick bike ride in before it got too dark out. I took a direct route to the lake, past the private beaches. Then I went west to the Crystal Lake West Beach, and hung out a little while to watch the activity on the lake. The beach was nearly empty with the last few swimmers packing up to go home. For the ride back home, I took one of the main side roads, with traffic exceeding 35 mph. I managed to keep an 18-20 mph pace on this stretch of road -- just to have enough momentum going forward in case i got rear-ended by a car. :)

Because of the longer stretch of straight road -- it wasn't flat, it went up and then down -- i was able to keep up a pretty good clip of 18-20 mph. I can't really do this on the side streets because cars are always rolling around corners and not stopping, or people are opening car doors without looking. I'm not sure what pace I will need to keep on the Harmon Hundred -- it probably depends on how fact John rides on his Gary Fisher hybrid bike. He's got 700c tires, so its not like he's riding a mountain bike... I suspect he'll be able to keep up and maybe even keep a brisker pace than I can since he bikes in the city, dodging cabs and other road hazards regularly!


Total distance: 5.55 miles, 24min 59 secs, avg speed: 13.33 mph

Biking August 13, 2008

The kiddo decided she wanted to go for a bike ride today after dinner and I'm never one to turn down a bike ride. Well, I was doing the work and she was along for the ride in the trailer. We rode to the lake and back...

At the lake, we saw two ducks on the lake near the shore and then we saw a boat go by with a guy trailing behind water skiing. She had never seen anyone water ski before, so that was something new to her. When we started back towards home, we took a different route through Lakewood and at one point we saw a dog come out of the bushes up ahead and start walking on the road. Then I realized it wasn't a dog, it must be a cat as it had a big bushy tail. Then I realized it was much too large to be a cat.... this was a fox! I stopped on the side of the road and the fox just trotted down the other side like nothing was wrong. Strange, but true. If I had my phone with me I would have taken a picture, but it was nearing dusk and it probably would not have turned out very good anyway under all of the tree cover.

We proceeded home and to make our trip around wild kingdom complete, we saw a bunny rabbit cross the road just in front of our house. Ducks, a fox, and a rabbit. Nothing like a bike ride in suburbia.

Total distance: 5.49 miles, ride time about 35 mins, avg speed about 9.41 mph

Biking August 12, 2008

During lunch today I took a quick ride (35 min) on the Trek around the neighborhood. In fact, I rode into two neighboring towns and past our old house we used to live in. It was a nice ride and I got some good speed on the downside of the hills in the Turnbury Country Club area, but then had to pedal up the other side, which really wasn't that bad with the triple crank-equipped Trek. I did hit a busy road for about a mile (or less) but there was a nice wide shoulder for me to ride on without getting run over by the speeding cars.



Total Distance: 8.40 miles, Ride time: 35 min, Avg speed: 14.4 mph

Sidenote: Intern John, you really should get on FB so you can join the Harmon Hundred 2008 Team and log your training rides. :)

Biking August 11, 2008

I didn't get any rides in over the weekend as I was under the weather. Today, I took the day off from work to recover and by late afternoon I figured I was in good enough shape to hit the road for a few miles. If nothing else, it was to keep some sort of physical activity on my plate for the day. I actually got my new Topeak Road Morph G frame pump today so I mounted it to Trek and hit the road with a few extra grams of weight on the bike. I couldn't tell the difference. However, I also moved the VDO C08 bike computer from the Giant to the Trek today, so today I actually got to see my speed on the Trek in real-time. I rode to the lake, watched a group of girls attempt to back a boat out of the dock and into the lake (it seemed to take them several attempts to figure it out), and then I took the long way home, hitting the Sterling Meadows bike path out west near Huntley Rd.


Topeak Road Morph G


Total distance: 6.22 miles, Ride time: 28 mins, avg speed: 13.33 mph

Harmon Hundred Planning

Since I'll be riding the Harmon Hundred with John (who will no longer be called Intern John by that time), I figured I'd better get my registration form filled out. John registered online and I went to go do the same. However, it turns out that the commemorative t-shirt costs $15 instead of $10 when you register online and John mentioned that there is an extra $3 electronic registration fee. To save $8 I printed out the form from the Wheeling Wheelmen page, wrote out a check, and mailed it in today. Now I'm official. Well, I will be when they receive the form on Monday or Tuesday.

Now for the real planning... that is, training. It was raining about an hour ago, but its not right now. I hope to get a nice bike ride in today on the road bike, but first I need to get air in that rear tire. If I can do that and get 10-15 miles logged, it will be a good step up from my normal 4-6 mile rides. I've done the 10 mile ride around town only once this summer, so maybe I should make 10 miles my goal for today and shoot for another 10 or so miles tomorrow. We'll see how the weather cooperates, and of course if I can get a presta adapter to inflate that rear tire today!

Biking August 8, 2008

Today was just a quick trip down to CVS to pick up more allergy meds for Jake the Dog. I went to grab the Trek and saw that the rear tire was very low, so it needed some pumping. Problem. The pump I have now only works on Schrader valves, not Presta valves, so I can't pump it up. Oops! I'll need to remedy that soon. So I grabbed the Giant (without the trailer for this ride) and make the quick trip down to CVS and back.

Total distance: 2.61 miles, 12.5 minutes ride time, 12.52 mph avg speed.

I talked to John (the intern) at work yesterday about possibly doing the Harmon Hundred bike ride. They offer 25/50/75/100 mile routes through southern Wisconsin, starting from Wilmot Mountain. He said it sounded like it would be fun, but we didn't decide on anything for certain. Today when I saw him he told me that he signed up and that I couldn't back out now. :) So now I'll be riding the Harmon Hundred (25 mile route, I think) on Sunday Sept 7th. My training will need to ramp up a little bit in the next couple of weeks.

Biking August 7, 2008

Went for an after-dinner ride with the kiddo tonight. We made it to the lake, rode past the beach, and then came back home, taking a slightly different route than normal. At the lake, we saw some ducks and of course lots of boats. Nothing else along the way was very interesting today... lots of people watering their lawns.

Total distance: 6.19 miles, 39 mins ride time, 9.52 mph avg

Biking August 5, 2008

It was a little hot and humid today (91 F) but that didn't stop us from going on the almighty bike ride. With the Giant pulling the trailer and the kiddo, we hit the bike path south of the house and stayed on it for about 3 miles before we took the side streets to go back west and then caught another bike path back north towards home. There are actually some good paths for riding around here -- but after 3-4 miles they just stop and you need to ride streets until you can catch the next bike path, and there are few signs (none at all in some cases) indicating the bike path access from the streets. So with the sun beaming down on us, we tallyed almost 6 miles round trip. Good Ride.



Total distance: 5.97 miles, 38 mins, 9.42 mph avg

Biking August 3, 2008

It turns out my neighbor (who is retired) is into biking and he has a Fuji road bike and a Cannondale comfort/mountain bike. He came over today and said he'd like to go riding with me so he doesn't need to ride alone. I was more than willing. He wanted to see the route that I take to get to the lake, so today I disconnected the trailer from the Giant and we took to the streets (and paths) and went cruising to the lake to check out the boats and people at the beach. On a nice warm, sunny day like today it was pretty busy, even for a private beach, which is what I ride past. On the way back we took to the crushed gravel path through a neighborhood and then cut over on a paved path through the woods leading into a golf course community. It was a good ride, but a little slow for me. I brought the Giant because I knew we wouldn't be breaking any land-speed records today, so I was not going to complain about the speed -- I had a riding partner!



Total distance: 5.28 miles, Ride time: 34.0 minutes, Avg speed: 9.31 mph

Biking August 2, 2008

Today I got my new Forte Campus pedals in the mail. These are platform pedals on one side and SPD/clipless on the flip side. I'm just using the platform side for now, but in the future, who knows! The pedals came off the Trek with minimal amount of sweat, and I wore a pair of thin/disposable latex gloves to do the work so I didn't get tons of grease all over my hands. For the new pedals, I used some white lithium grease (the spray type that turns into grease when exposed to air) on the threads and attached them with the 15mm wrench. Of course I only had SAE wrenches, so I had to make a quick run to Lowes to pick up a 15mm wrench. Better than stripping the pedal or using a monkey wrench due to the tight working area. I also picked up a wedge bag (small bag that attaches under the saddle) and some mini bungee cords that I can use to attach small items to the rear rack if necessary. This turned out to be a good idea, and useful sooner than I thought!

With the new pedals installed, I hit the road. I took off in the direction of the lake. When I was nearly to the lake, I got a call on the cell phone asking me to run to CVS and pick up some children's benadryl as my daughter was stung by a bee. I turned around and headed back towards CVS. I quickly picked up the goods and put those mini bungee cords to use strapping the package to the rear rack for the trip home. The rest of the trip home was uneventful.



Total distance: 7.4 miles

Biking July 31, 2008

Today was FUN. Before I get to the biking... here's the fun stuff: I took the day off from work and went to the Cubs game up in Milwaukee with some friends. We did some tailgating, grilling out, tossed the football around, and then got to go see the cubs SWEEP the brewers! It was a great game as Edmunds hit a solo homer early on and then at his next plate appearance he settled for a GRAND SLAM! It was great. That place was at least 50% Cubs fans.... which is why they call it Wrigley North.

Back to biking.... came home and the kiddo was driving my wife nuts so after we had some dinner, the two of us went on a bike ride. Of course i'm pulling her in the trailer using the Giant Sedona. We had time for a little longer cruise than some of our other rides in the past and we got to visit two of the elementary schools in the area. It was still a little hot out (80 F) and so I am hot and tired now. :)

Ride data: 6.1 miles, 36 minutes ride time, 10.16 mph avg speed


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Biking July 29, 2008

Today was another short ride -- just down to CVS and back to pick up a Rx refill. Another 2.56 mile round-trip ride... I didn't keep track of how long it took me, and I still don't have a cycle-computer on the Trek, so I don't have any info on the speed, avg speed, time, or anything fun like that. I was working @ home today and usually when I do that, I keep working and working until its too late to go out riding. Today I went out around 7pm and it was already cloudy as a storm was moving in from the west.

Biking July 28, 2008

Two separate bike trips today after work. The first trip was a quick jaunt on the Trek down to CVS. I had to get a new passport photo. It was a speedy ride and I'm getting more and more comfortable riding the Trek. I did encounter a Hispanic woman walking on the paved MUP alongside of the road who refused to move to one side or the other to allow me to pass. Her kids saw me and kept saying something to her in Spanish... over and over, but she pretended like she could not hear them. Eventually I had to go off-road to pass her -- but the path was 4-5 feet above the surface of the road, so I ended up going down to the shoulder of the road -- a little bumpy ride on the narrow 700c tires. Luckily, there were no flats or anything like that from my cruise down the short grassy hill. Everything else went smoothly, including the photo at CVS. It only took about 5 minutes for the passport photo to be processed. It cost a buck or two more than it would have at Costco, but Costco has no bike rack so it would have cost me gas money to drive down there eating up the savings.

The second trip of the evening was on the Giant, pulling the kiddo in the Schwinn trailer around the neighborhood. This was a slow ride, about 20 minutes at an avg speed of 9.58mph -- a little over 3 miles, but it was getting dark and I didn't want the bugs to chow me up at the stop signs. :)

Road Bike

I've been monitoring (really, 3 times a day or more) craigslist, looking for a good used road bike for about 5 weeks now. My search criteria has been simple: it needed to be a large frame (60-62 cm) for a good fit, it needed to be in ready-to-ride shape, mostly or totally rust-free, and it had to be a good name brand bike such as a Trek, Cannondale, Fuji, or something similar. I was not looking for a hybrid or any of the "new" Schwinn bikes, as they have pretty poor reviews since being taken over by Pacific Cycle.

About 2 weeks ago, I found a match: a used Trek 1000 that was going for $200-something bucks in the northwest side of the city. I emailed the guy about the bike but learned that he had sold it within 15 mins of listing it on craigslist. My response time was about 4 hours after it was posted, so I missed the boat on that one and learned a useful lesson about craigslist: the good stuff sells fast, when priced right.

Yesterday morning, I spotted a fresh (under 30 min old) listing for a 1987 Trek 400T -- its a touring road bike with the triple crank. Reynolds 531 lightweight steel tubing and built in the USA. The bike is older.... vintage, but it looks like its 5 years old or less. Paint job is very nice, only a couple of nicks and no rust. The chain rings and crank look like they've never seen dirt or bad weather. The guy bought it new in 87, rode it a little bit and then decided he would be happier riding a mountain bike and after that the bike sat. This year he replaced the tubes, tires, and put on new bar tape and then decided to sell it. His loss, my gain.

Here's a picture from the 1987 Trek brochure. The only difference is that it now has black bar tape instead of white. It also has a Blackburn rear rack installed, ready to load panniers on.



So this bike is pretty, its light (very light) and rides remarkably well. I'm used to fatty 26" tires on mountain bikes, so it took a couple of trips around the block to get used to these THIN 700x25 road tires. These things are high pressure too... 115 psi !! Anyway, the bike has a very speedy feel to it. Its very responsive to my pedaling and while I don't have the bike computer on this one (its on the Giant), i'm guessing that i'm averaging much higher speeds than I do with the Giant (even when i'm not pulling the trailer with the kiddo in it!)

Things to write about later: pedals (the strap pedals this came with are only half-functional and i'd prefer platform pedals or clipless... or maybe a hybrid that has a platform on one side and SPD connection on the flip side. The other thing is the bike computer. I don't want to move the one from my Giant, so i'm looking for another one for the Trek. I love my VDO on the Giant, so I figure I will get another for the road bike. But can I justify the price of the fancy VDO MC 1.0 with altimeter? :) More on this later...

I'll get some fresh pictures of the bike up here tomorrow or later this week.

Sunday Morning Ride

With the kiddo up early and the house feeling hot and humid, we decided to go for a morning bike ride. Actually it was her idea -- she brought it up -- but I was more than willing to hit the road. This was my 2nd time pulling her in the trailer and we went farther and I increased the avg speed to 8.98 mph for the 45 minute ride. We hit 15 mph once on a slight downhill, but I didn't want to go too fast pulling the trailer as I'm not really sure how fast its meant to go and I'm not sure how comfy the ride is back there at higher speeds. :)

Today we rode to the lake, watched some boats go by and then slowly made our way back home, taking the scenic route through the golf course neighborhood. People were walking and biking and I even saw one couple pulling a big hairy dog in a wagon and the wagon had an umbrella attached to shade the dog. Talking about riding in style! Speaking of dogs, I did see dog poop on the parkway in the golf course community so apparently dog walkers everywhere have no respect for other people's yards...

First Trailer Ride

We took the first ride in the trailer today. Well actually... I rode the bike pulling the trailer and the kiddo rode in the trailer enjoying the scenery while enjoying a cool breeze. It was a good 4 mile ride, which is short, but it was getting dark as we didn't go until about 7 or 7:30pm.



Here she is with her spiffy purple helmet, ready to ride!

Bike Trailering

Yesterday I decided to get a bike trailer so that my daughter could ride along on some of my bike rides. Its not a Burley, as those things are just too expensive and even on craigslist the things go for over $200 bucks in used condition. Instead I got a Schwinn, which we all know is really Pacific Cycle, not the Schwinn of old. But it was either the Schwinn with an aluminum frame and steel spoke wheels, or an in-Step brand (also made by Pacific Cycle) that was a little smaller, had a steel frame, and plastic mag wheels. The Schwinn looks to be much higher quality, and the aluminum frame should make it a little lighter.

I'll put it together today and we'll go on the inaugural ride! Will report back later on the results and opinions. Oh, she also got a nice purple helmet with butterflies or something on it. She picked it out, of course.

BRP Climb Index Data

So one of the websites I referenced yesterday also has a very good mile-by-mile climb data including climb distance, elevation, and climb index for both northbound and southbound routes on the parkway. That data can be found here.

Its now apparent that it would be much easier to ride from US-276 north towards Asheville, at least as far as the NC Arboretum if not a little further. I'll edit the post with some specific climb data later.

Biking the Blue Ridge Parkway

Know what would be cool? To bike the Blue Ridge Parkway. Well, at least part of it. The problem is, its in the mountains. I'm not really that excited about biking up hill... for half of the ride. What I really need to do is figure out a good stretch that can be biked in a single day that is mostly a downhill cruise with limited uphill miles. There has to be some stretch like that, and it would be better if it was somewhere between Asheville and Mt Pisgah, NC.

There are several books out there about biking the BRP such as:

• Bicycling the Blue Ridge, 4th: A Guide to the Skyline Drive and the Blue Ridge Parkway (Paperback) by Elizabeth Skinner and Charlie Skinner

• Backroad Bicycling in the Blue Ridge and Smoky Mountains: 27 Rides for Touring and Mountain Bikes from North Georgia to Southwest Virginia (Paperback)
  by Hiram Rogers
  
  

There is also some info online about biking the BRP, including this bit of info, a mile-by-mile guide to the parkway. After some study, it seems that this shows the climb distance/climb height for various stretches along with climb index numbers, which I haven't yet figured out.

Looking at the area south of Asheville, I think the route from the NC Arboretum near mile marker 394 to US-276 near mile 412 would be a good route for a day trip -- 18 miles on the parkway.



I need to look closer at the climb index data for this route and see what kind of torture this would really be. Is it downhill? I'm thinking that it would be a climb up to Mt Pisgah, but then it drops down as you approach Graveyard Fields. But I really don't know. I need to get my folks to drive up to the parkway (they live nearby) and scope out the route for me. Too bad their car doesn't have an altimeter. :)

Biking July 22, 2008

While not really a long bike trip, we needed to get the dog some allergy meds from CVS as the ones we'd gotten him from walmart were not as good as the old ones. So yes, I made the long haul to CVS (1.3 miles) to pick up some dog allergy meds. For the curious, its the store-brand version of Tavist (but not the D version as dogs can't handle the decongestant... and they might turn the meds into illegal drugs and sell it to other dogs. or something.)

Total distance: 2.56 miles, avg speed 12.56 mph. Max sped reached: 23mph... on Ackman road as I approached the Randall road crossing and rushed to get the tail end of the green light to cross Randall.

A break from biking

Today I'm firing up the weber again and will be smoking some pork. Slow-cooking meat over low heat is the best way to cook beef, pork, or chicken. Since I forgot to apply marinate/rub to the meat last night, I'm using a dry rub recipe that I found online:

INGREDIENTS:

One quarter cup dark brown sugar
Three tablespoons paprika
Two tablespoons ground black pepper
One tablespoon celery salt*
One tablespoon onion powder
Two teaspoons garlic powder
Two teaspoons mustard powder
One teaspoon ground cumin
One teaspoon ground cayenne

* I actually didn't have any celery salt, so I substituted some celery seed. I doubt that I'll be able to tell the difference. Quien sabe?

Biking July 8, 2008

Today after work I went on a short ride before it got dark. I just rode to the Lake and back, with a side trip to a bike path near my subdivision. The Giant Sedona has been working flawlessly and I've only had to add air to the tires once since I bought it earlier in June.

On the bike path through my subdivision, I stopped to pull off a ripe blackberry from a bush alongside the trail. It was sweet and tasty, but I quickly got moving again as an entire army of mosquitoes came out of the bushes to attack me.

Total distance: 5.97 miles, total time 30 mins, 11.94 mph avg speed

Biking July 6, 2008

After my parents left and headed back to NC, I decided to take the Giant out on a little cruise. Most of my riding had been limited to 2 or 3 miles each way and I decided to go for a decade: 10 miles. I hit the road and went north until I was able to head east and cross town headed towards the McHenry County Prairie Trail, a 26 mile bike path running north/south through the county. When I got to the trail, my bike computer registered 4.0 miles so I decided to head back towards the house. I veered north and made my way to the shoreline of Crystal Lake, where i saw many families picnicing, grilling, and drinking beer at a private beach that is part of the homeowners' association on the south shore of the lake. From there, I headed south, through a city park, on a bike path, and then made my way back home.

Total distance: 10.5 miles, 54 minutes, 11.6 mph avg speed

Biking 2008

My old mountain bike was a dept-store special that pretty much sucked. Its heavy, gears don't shift worth a crap, and the thing just rusts hanging upside down in the garage. I decided to get back into riding and decided to visit the LBS to see what they could offer me instead of another crapper from Wal-Mart or something.

What I found, was the Giant Sedona (XL frame). Its not a mountain bike, and its not a hybrid either... its a "comfort mountain bike." That's code-word for a mountain bike for old people, I think. Well, i'm not old, but I must say that the ride on this thing is sweet! The suspension forks, the cushy saddle, and the 26" tires (they're not knobby, but they're wide) make for a smooth ride.

Welcome to the Galaxy!

I start off with a message from our friends at Nintendo. I'm currently addicted to Super Mario Galaxy on the Nintendo Wii console. Every new galaxy has Mario landing on a new galaxy and even though you're about to battle with numerous villains and strange foes, you start off with a happy message, "Welcome to the Galaxy!"