Things got a little crazy this morning. I was up late last night, but I still managed to get out of the house at about 6:30. I adjusted my brakes on Friday, and I was newly equipped with a saddle and stretchy pants. This would be the longest ride to date, but I was feeling up to the challenge. I also downloaded an app for my phone to track the statistics of the ride [its called imapmyride+].
Lucas and I set out at 6:30. I noticed immediately that it was much cooler than it has been [I will probably break out some sleeves if it is like this next weekend]. By the time we got to Hwy. 51, I didn't think it was going to be good. I was struggling to keep pace, but it got better a couple miles down the road. Moving along, somewhere around Ruddock we hit a gnarly rain storm. The driving rain wasn't enough to stop us, we were bound and determine to reach our goal, which was to make it to the Manchac bridge. After the rain subsided there was a portion of the road washed over. We rode through the water slowly, careful not to kick up to much water as my cell phone was stowed in a bag strapped under my seat. It seemed like it took forever to get there, but finally we made it to the beacon bar, located at the base of the Manchac bridge. Halfway to our goal without a smoke break. That was all about to change because Lucas bought a pack of cigarettes at the bar. For the record, some people have asked, I do not smoke. I am not sure what time we got there, but there were about 6 people sitting at the bar. I am told they are called the breakfast club, and every Saturday and Sunday, they are all there at 6 in the morning. I think they sit and drink coffee, which turns into beers at around the time we got there, and talk about LSU and Saints football. I am a big fan of this, if I could I would become a fan of these guys on Facebook. They were amazing. By the look on there faces when we walked in, I thought we were going to have to pick a new bar to stop at when we ride to Manchac. They were great. They asked where we were riding from, and made a little small talk. We walked outside [to keep an eye on the bikes], and talked to the owner of the bar. I could smell a boil about to happen. I asked him what time the crabs would be ready, and he said he was steaming lobster [I was kind of hoping for an invite. I would have canceled the rest of my ride]. He told us about how slow the crabs have been because the price took a dive, but the price has been high, in fact the highest it has been in a long time. He also told us about his bar business being slow with the new DWI laws discouraging passers by from stopping on there way home to grab a few beers. It was very refreshing talking to this guy. He had a lot to say. I enjoyed it. But with no invite for lobster, and after smoking a few heaters, we had to get on our way. "On the road again" would be a fitting tune, partly because we were riding through the middle of the swamp and a willie song would be fitting and the obvious point that we were on the road again.
It seemed as though the way home didn't take as long. It was later in the morning, and now there are a bunch of people fishing on side of the road. I don't know why because everyone we passed I asked if they were catching and they weren't. One guy we were riding up on I could see moving around in the bushes, and when we passed he was taking a shit. I wasn't overly surprised, but I immediately thought that it would be funny in the blog. In fact I told Lucas that there was nothing that guy could do to save himself from being in the blog. It is funny that he did this because about a mile down the road he passed us up in his truck, leading me to wonder why he didn't just drive to the gas station ten minutes earlier when he felt it necessary to shit on the side of the road. Anyway we passed back threw the water on our way back, again careful not to get my phone wet. After the high water, we passed another biker. He was AWESOME. He was riding a recumbent, which is a different style of bike. Instead of sitting vertically like you would do on my bike, you would recline a little and your body is positioned at about a 45 degree angle. The pedals on this bike are on about the same plane as the seat, and they are located under the handle bars, kind of. This guy had an American flag shirt on, and he was as excited to be out on the bike as I was to see him. He gave us a big hello, and I told him I liked his shirt.
We rode a little longer then took another smoke break. Continuing down the road not to much happened between here and the interstate. We stopped at the gas station to pick up a Poweraide, and kept on going. About a quarter mile down the road we decided to stop at Bully's Halfway House. This place is awesome, it is not new to me like the Beacon Bar, but it is an outstanding place. Pulling into the gravel parking lot presented an unexpected problem, given we were going kind of fast because I was excited to pick up a bloody mary to go. The combination of the width of the tires on our bikes and the loose gravel was not good. I think everyone knows where this is headed. I hit the gravel and it almost took me down. I made it in by the skin of my teeth. I turned around just in time to see Lucas go down. The bike went flying. It was a spectacular fall. Plus he had a wicked awesome scrape on his elbow. The first war wound. We took a look at the bike, and it seemed to be OK. Lucas was OK, aside from the blood running down his arm. He took it like a man though. He was more worried about the bike than any bodily injury. We went inside. I got my bloody mary to go, and Lucas went to clean up a little. Who ever designed the bottle cages that I bought is definitely my kind of guy/girl. My to go cup fits perfectly in my bottle cage [for anyone not familiar with our awesomeness in Louisiana you can leave bars with booze so long as its in a to go cup, which is usually just a foam cup that doesn't have any markings on it]. The remaining 5 miles were easy. We made it home with no problem. 38.17 miles complete. I felt great. I will probably get another ride in tomorrow, but not a long ride like this one. We will see how I feel in the morning.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Friday, September 24, 2010
The First Week
First things first I have to thank my cousin Jamie for turning me on to this because it was her idea. Thank you Jamie Jones. Next order of business, I have been thinking about the direction of this blog, and I've decided that I will keep you updated on the cost and evolution of my bike. That being said, I am into this bike for $285. The bike was free, and given its age I would say that I could buy it for around $300. The $285 got me a chain, rim tape, tubes, tires, derailer cables, bottle cages, a helmet, gloves, a saddle [I found out this is what I am to call the seat], stretchy pants [very important I will discuss later], and a pump. To finish covering old business the initial repairs also included tightening the spokes to balance the rims [which aren't perfectly balanced], and some brake adjustments [which still need adjusting]. Now back to the overall direction of this thing, I will cover all my rides, the cost and evolution of the bike, and my goal is to lose a little weight and complete the ultimate man test [which is a really long ride along the coast, my own creation] which we will talk more about later.
Since Sunday, there has been a lot of tomfoolery. When we left off, Lucas' bike was not in good shape.
MONDAY:
He brought it to the bike shop after work for a quick fix, and then the plan was to ride. Lucas got home from the bike shop with a new derailer on his bike, only he somehow forgot his front wheel in the parking lot at the bike shop. He realized this when he got home. He was not happy. While he went back to the bike shop to find out that it was closed and the wheel wasn't there, I went for a ride. Before I went ride, I had to fix a flat tire. Flat tire fixed, and I am on my way. I rode a few miles, we can call it 4 miles. The bike performed well. The saddle, which is what used to call a seat, still has to go.
TUESDAY:
Lucas called the bike shop trying to find his missing wheel, and as it turns out, someone from the bike shop picked it up. He lucked out, and went to pick it up. When he came back from picking up his wheel, we went for a ride. On my way out of the driveway, I blew out my rear tire coming off the curb. I was out of commission. Lucas went for a short ride, I'm not sure how long.
WEDNESDAY:
Back to the bike shop. I am not believing that I am at this damn bike shop again. The bike shop was about to close, so I had to make it quick. I ran in grabbed a saddle and a pair of stretchy pants then I walked over to check out. Now I will explain the magical powers of stretchy pants. I used to think that bikers wore these because they were weird, but this is just one more thing that I didn't know about cycling. The stretchy pants actually have a huge pad that pretty much reflects the shape of the saddle. So, not only does it keep your skin from getting raw, but there is added padding to keep you happy and on the bike [which is the most important part] The awesome girl who works at the bike shop also told me that there are different saddles for men and women [she told me this because I walked to the counter with a girls saddle]. This makes perfect sense to me because of the difference in equipment. I just picked the one that looked the softest, but the bike shop girl cleared it all up for me. I also bought a bike pump [which is awesome, its the best pump ever], a new tube, and a patch kit. Once I got home, I changed the tube on my tire, and I was ready to rock. 10 miles, which really isn't much, but it was kind of late.
Thursday:
Lucas and I went for a ride, and I broke a brake cable. My head is about to explode. I made the ride with no rear brakes. Not really a big deal except intersections become problematic, but only if cars are involved. After the ride, I checked out the brake, and it looks like I will be able to fix it. Good News.
Friday:
Lucas rode for 40 minutes. I didn't go. I'm kind of pissed off that I didn't ride, but I did put my saddle on and fix my brake. I am all set to go for tomorrow morning.
So far I am alive, which is good. No serious falls yet. I had some soreness during the week, which i guess is a good thing. Tomorrow is going to be huge. I hope to get 20 miles in. We will see though. I think the stretchy pants and the saddle will enable me to stay on the bike for as long as possible. I will let you know.
Since Sunday, there has been a lot of tomfoolery. When we left off, Lucas' bike was not in good shape.
MONDAY:
He brought it to the bike shop after work for a quick fix, and then the plan was to ride. Lucas got home from the bike shop with a new derailer on his bike, only he somehow forgot his front wheel in the parking lot at the bike shop. He realized this when he got home. He was not happy. While he went back to the bike shop to find out that it was closed and the wheel wasn't there, I went for a ride. Before I went ride, I had to fix a flat tire. Flat tire fixed, and I am on my way. I rode a few miles, we can call it 4 miles. The bike performed well. The saddle, which is what used to call a seat, still has to go.
TUESDAY:
Lucas called the bike shop trying to find his missing wheel, and as it turns out, someone from the bike shop picked it up. He lucked out, and went to pick it up. When he came back from picking up his wheel, we went for a ride. On my way out of the driveway, I blew out my rear tire coming off the curb. I was out of commission. Lucas went for a short ride, I'm not sure how long.
WEDNESDAY:
Back to the bike shop. I am not believing that I am at this damn bike shop again. The bike shop was about to close, so I had to make it quick. I ran in grabbed a saddle and a pair of stretchy pants then I walked over to check out. Now I will explain the magical powers of stretchy pants. I used to think that bikers wore these because they were weird, but this is just one more thing that I didn't know about cycling. The stretchy pants actually have a huge pad that pretty much reflects the shape of the saddle. So, not only does it keep your skin from getting raw, but there is added padding to keep you happy and on the bike [which is the most important part] The awesome girl who works at the bike shop also told me that there are different saddles for men and women [she told me this because I walked to the counter with a girls saddle]. This makes perfect sense to me because of the difference in equipment. I just picked the one that looked the softest, but the bike shop girl cleared it all up for me. I also bought a bike pump [which is awesome, its the best pump ever], a new tube, and a patch kit. Once I got home, I changed the tube on my tire, and I was ready to rock. 10 miles, which really isn't much, but it was kind of late.
Thursday:
Lucas and I went for a ride, and I broke a brake cable. My head is about to explode. I made the ride with no rear brakes. Not really a big deal except intersections become problematic, but only if cars are involved. After the ride, I checked out the brake, and it looks like I will be able to fix it. Good News.
Friday:
Lucas rode for 40 minutes. I didn't go. I'm kind of pissed off that I didn't ride, but I did put my saddle on and fix my brake. I am all set to go for tomorrow morning.
So far I am alive, which is good. No serious falls yet. I had some soreness during the week, which i guess is a good thing. Tomorrow is going to be huge. I hope to get 20 miles in. We will see though. I think the stretchy pants and the saddle will enable me to stay on the bike for as long as possible. I will let you know.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Getting Started
The reason that I started this blog is to capture my adventures on this bike, and I think it will give me a reason to keep going ride.
There is a little back story to cover before I get into the actual first ride, so here goes. About two months ago, my buddy Lucas started talking about getting a bike. Around the same time another friend, Joe who lives in another state, got a bike and started riding. Because Joe got this bike and was riding pretty often, we had to get bikes.
The next couple weeks there was a bunch a talk about getting bikes, and some research online. But no move toward actually getting a bike. We discussed starting a biker gang over some beers, but I am not sure. A part of me thinks that I would be crazy not to start a biker gang, but there are added responsibilities involved with having a gang like the expense and headache of having an offical gang jersey, other gang members to worry about, turf to defend, etc I am staying open minded about it, so if I stick with it we will have a meeting at the headquaters [our local bar]. Then yesterday, Lucas pulled the trigger. He walked in and said, "I've had enough. I am going to get a bike. You want to take a ride?" So, we went, and he bought. He decided on a Specialized Sirrus. I don't know anything about bikes at this point, but it seems to be a nice bike. I, on the other hand, took a different approach.
My dad used to ride, and he had his old Nashbar hanging in the garage. Following Lucas' purchase, I went to pick up some components (rim wrap, tubes, tires, chain, derailer cables) from a bike store in New Orleans, and after about 2 hours my dad's bike was semi-repaired. [I figure it is good enough to start, and I plan on making improvments as we go.]
Initial repairs accomplished on my newly aquired bike [dad isn't getting the bike back], I wanted to give it a test ride. Lucas broke out his bike, and we started down the street. Lucas was riding close behind me, and I started to slow down. Faced with the option of wrecking his new bike into me and eating pavement or crashing in some dudes front yard, he chose the yard. He swerved to miss me, hit the curb and simultaneously jumped the bike X-games style. I looked back expecting the worse, neither of us had helmets on, but to my surprise he was fine [Raybans resting on his head and Iphone firmly in hand].
The new bike was another story. The derailer was bent inward toward his spokes. The spokes were actually hitting the derailer as the wheel spun. We decided that I should ride to my truck and pick him up. We took a look at it in the garage, and it seemed to be ok as long as he stayed away from his high gears. The higher the gear the closer the derailer gets to the spokes. So, if he stays in lower gears, which means its harder to peddal, the derailer would stay farther away from the spokes.
Despite our set backs the previous day, this morning at 6 a.m. we left for our first ride. We made it about 9 miles before we had to stop for a smoke break. Here we are standing on the side of the road, next to the bikes, helmet on, smoking cigarettes. I wish I had a picture of the smoke break to post. I was relieved that we were taking a break, the seat on this bike is a beast. My anatomy [this is what they call your package in the bike magazine I thought it was funny] was killing me. Next purchase = new seat. I felt violated. To make matters worse, another biker (I've decided biker sounds cooler than cyclist) passes by us going in the opposite direction. I can only imagine what he was thinking, but he gave us a fist bump and was on his way. Smoke break accomplished, we resumed. Next thing I knew, I heard a noise, again I turn to see Lucas stopped. I whipped my rig around to check on the situation, and discoverd Lucas' derailer had snapped off of his frame. I couldn't believe it. I was thinking that if it would have been me I may have thrown the damn thing in the swamp and walked to a bar. He took it well though. We then decided to walk a mile back toward my house and stop at a bar at 7:15. I am not sure why, but it was closed. Lucas suggested I ride to get my truck, and come back to pick him up. My grandparents live near by so I rode there instead, and returned to pick him up as he lounged under a Quality Inn sign. The incident ended our ride, but it makes the story a little more entertaining. I do not have exact times or distances, but I'm going to say that we rode 9 miles and walked a mile in about 1 1/4 hrs. It was a tough walk so it counts.
Lucas brought his bike to the bike shop, and they are supposed to repair it and we will live to ride another day.
There is a little back story to cover before I get into the actual first ride, so here goes. About two months ago, my buddy Lucas started talking about getting a bike. Around the same time another friend, Joe who lives in another state, got a bike and started riding. Because Joe got this bike and was riding pretty often, we had to get bikes.
The next couple weeks there was a bunch a talk about getting bikes, and some research online. But no move toward actually getting a bike. We discussed starting a biker gang over some beers, but I am not sure. A part of me thinks that I would be crazy not to start a biker gang, but there are added responsibilities involved with having a gang like the expense and headache of having an offical gang jersey, other gang members to worry about, turf to defend, etc I am staying open minded about it, so if I stick with it we will have a meeting at the headquaters [our local bar]. Then yesterday, Lucas pulled the trigger. He walked in and said, "I've had enough. I am going to get a bike. You want to take a ride?" So, we went, and he bought. He decided on a Specialized Sirrus. I don't know anything about bikes at this point, but it seems to be a nice bike. I, on the other hand, took a different approach.
My dad used to ride, and he had his old Nashbar hanging in the garage. Following Lucas' purchase, I went to pick up some components (rim wrap, tubes, tires, chain, derailer cables) from a bike store in New Orleans, and after about 2 hours my dad's bike was semi-repaired. [I figure it is good enough to start, and I plan on making improvments as we go.]
Initial repairs accomplished on my newly aquired bike [dad isn't getting the bike back], I wanted to give it a test ride. Lucas broke out his bike, and we started down the street. Lucas was riding close behind me, and I started to slow down. Faced with the option of wrecking his new bike into me and eating pavement or crashing in some dudes front yard, he chose the yard. He swerved to miss me, hit the curb and simultaneously jumped the bike X-games style. I looked back expecting the worse, neither of us had helmets on, but to my surprise he was fine [Raybans resting on his head and Iphone firmly in hand].
The new bike was another story. The derailer was bent inward toward his spokes. The spokes were actually hitting the derailer as the wheel spun. We decided that I should ride to my truck and pick him up. We took a look at it in the garage, and it seemed to be ok as long as he stayed away from his high gears. The higher the gear the closer the derailer gets to the spokes. So, if he stays in lower gears, which means its harder to peddal, the derailer would stay farther away from the spokes.
Despite our set backs the previous day, this morning at 6 a.m. we left for our first ride. We made it about 9 miles before we had to stop for a smoke break. Here we are standing on the side of the road, next to the bikes, helmet on, smoking cigarettes. I wish I had a picture of the smoke break to post. I was relieved that we were taking a break, the seat on this bike is a beast. My anatomy [this is what they call your package in the bike magazine I thought it was funny] was killing me. Next purchase = new seat. I felt violated. To make matters worse, another biker (I've decided biker sounds cooler than cyclist) passes by us going in the opposite direction. I can only imagine what he was thinking, but he gave us a fist bump and was on his way. Smoke break accomplished, we resumed. Next thing I knew, I heard a noise, again I turn to see Lucas stopped. I whipped my rig around to check on the situation, and discoverd Lucas' derailer had snapped off of his frame. I couldn't believe it. I was thinking that if it would have been me I may have thrown the damn thing in the swamp and walked to a bar. He took it well though. We then decided to walk a mile back toward my house and stop at a bar at 7:15. I am not sure why, but it was closed. Lucas suggested I ride to get my truck, and come back to pick him up. My grandparents live near by so I rode there instead, and returned to pick him up as he lounged under a Quality Inn sign. The incident ended our ride, but it makes the story a little more entertaining. I do not have exact times or distances, but I'm going to say that we rode 9 miles and walked a mile in about 1 1/4 hrs. It was a tough walk so it counts.
Lucas brought his bike to the bike shop, and they are supposed to repair it and we will live to ride another day.
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