Bicycling

Another Dusk Ride

Donna’s new seat came in the mail today, a Terry Liberator X Gel, so I mounted it up and off we went. I didn’t have time to adjust the beam down to compensate for the 1/2 taller saddle and Donna noticed it before we got to the end of the driveway. I figured we’d take a little ride and when we got back I’d adjust it.

We ended up doing 10 miles and arriving home just as darkness set in. I asked how the seat felt and she liked it. “Do I need to lower it?” I asked. To which she replied, “Nope.”

We’ll do another ride this weekend and see…

Started up, went down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 275

Bicyling, Bills and Bagels

Another little 10 mile tandem trip, we did the monthly pay some bills thing. Because the power company and the water works are downtown we decided to eat some breakfast there too. Lucky for us our favorite breakfast place is downtown too. Mmmmm, Raspberry Sour Cream Muffin. Donna snagged a bagel for today and we picked up an extra pair of Yankee Doughnuts for Sunday’s breakfast.

Thank Goodness For The Mountains

Ceremonial start.
Early attack by lower GC riders.
Breakaway gains huge time on peloton.
Non breakaway’s teams come to the front.
The breakaway is caught in the final kilometers.
Mass sprint finish.

Except for the two time trials, that is pretty much how the first half of this year’s Tour de France has gone, but tomorrow we separate the mere men from the supermen as the ride enters the Pyrenees. Who will emerge as the tour leader? Hard to say with all the big guns silenced,
Lance Armstrong – retired
Jan Ullrich – suspended for doping connections
Ivan Basso – suspended for doping connections
Alejandro Valverde- crashed, broken collar bone
Alexandre Vinokourov – team suspended for doping
Bobby Julich – crashed, broken wrist
Maybe it will one-hip Flyod Landis?

Donna and I went for a dusk ride on the tandem this evening. A little less than 10 miles, but we averaged 14-1/2 MPH, which is a few more MPH’s than we’ve been doing and coincidentally, about half the average speed of the peloton in today’s 105 mile stage from Bordeaux to Dax.

Started down, went up, back down, up again, down again, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 260

Just Brian Being Brian

We went for another tandem ride this morning. We did the old Aiken Bicycle Club pre-meeting loop of out Rushton and back in Wright’s Mill, a nice 12 miler of smooth roads, little traffic and a nice variety of elevation changes.

The FRS were on TV last night on ESPN and this afternoon on FOX, so I’ve been glued to the TV so far this weekend. The announcers on ESPN are less annoying than the yutzes on FOX, but in both cases I would rather listen to the Red Sox radio guys call the game. The only problem is I can’t do it, the radio broadcast on MLB.com is about a pitch and a half behind the TV. I don’t know what the reason for the delay, it is not like it is the MTV Music Awards or the Super Bowl halftime show…

Part of today’s non play by play chat has concerned the fact that the American League’s top vote getter will not be appearing in the All Star game this coming Tuesday. Boston’s Manny Ramirez has begged off because of a right knee soreness. Tim McCarver felt that maybe even if he wasn’t going to play, he should at least make an appearance at the game. But Manny is going home to spend three days resting, this being attributed to “Many Being Manny.” This phrase is used quite often to explain his erratic or odd behavior both on and off the field. Because he is such a great hitter he gets cut a lot of slack. I thought, cool saying, it’d make a nice T-shirt, maybe I would add it to my CafePress shop, but somebody had beat me to it.

Well I paraphrased a Lance Armstrong T-shirt for myself by substituting Brian for Lance, why not do it for Manny? Look for a Brian Being Brian T-shirt on CafePress soon.

Started up, went down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 254

10 Miles

In honor of the 4th of July we rode 4 miles on the tandem, 2-1/2 times this morning. And as always in the summer, we did a dawn launch to avoid the heat of the day, plus it is always nice to be out on the roads when traffic is light too.

Another meandering thru subdivision ride, but I think we are getting ready to start extending the miles and routes into the surrounding countryside. Donna is getting stronger by the day and now the only hold up on doing slightly longer rides is our posteriors. Donna has been using the seat that came on the bike and because she has the softride beam as a shock absorber hasn’t really complained, but after today’s ride she asked about a different seat. Guess we will be going shopping…

TDSHM

That Damn Super Hero Movie

Well it has happened again. As I mentioned the other day we have access to the Starz/Encore families of movie channels and as I feared, I have lost a major chunk of my life to watching a movie too many times. In the span of 36 hours I have seen most of “The Incredibles” three times.

In between all this movie watching I did manage to sneak in watching the FRS beat the Philles 5 to 3 on Saturday afternoon and most of the Bourne Supremacy today.

We actually got out of the house a couple times this weekend too. We took an early morning Miata drive of a couple hours on Saturday before the heat hit. We went out and did the weekly grocery shopping late yesterday afternoon after the heat subsided some. We beat the heat again this morning, but went out on the tandem for about 11 miles of neighborhood and local road cruising instead of Miataing.

Lucius: Honey?
Honey: What?
Lucius: Where’s my super suit?
Honey: What?
Lucius: Where – is – my – super – suit?

Started up, went down, back up, down again, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 220

I’m a Dork

Donna and I got up early this morning and took a tandem ride. It was a very unsummer-like 65 degrees around sun up, perfect for a bit of exercise. I even wore a light jacket for the first part of the ride. As we rounded the next to the last turn on the way home Donna called out from the back that we had been 9.25 miles. I replied, “I can take a hint.” and turned right instead of left and made a little extra loop to put us over into double digits mileage-wise. Tomorrow the morning is supposed to be cool again, so we have a walk in Hitchcock Woods planned.

Dork

I’ve petitioned the Encyclopedia Britannica to place the above picture next to dork in it’s next edition. That’s me on the right. And I guess that it goes without saying, poor John Nichols, must be one too by association. The photo was taken just inside the festival grounds at the Ridge Peach Festival in Trenton, SC just after we had driven in the parade. I think I’m a bigger dork, because John doesn’t have Vampire Teeth on his car.

Started up, went down, back up, down again, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 210