This morning’s ride was a touch on the damp side. It rained last night, and I debated swapping the ‘Relli (I’m still looking for a good name for it…) for the Kona, but decided that the dry spots in the driveway were indicative enough of rain-past vs. rain-current that I’d risk it. It wasn’t too bad. A little damper than I’d like, but the spray wasn’t bad, and the frame had only a few spots on it when I was done. A little water and some paper towels took care of it nicely.
Last night’s ride was phenomenal. A slamhammafest, I hit an average of 18 MPH on my long ride home, coming in at 51 minutes and 1 second, beating my previous best by 6 minutes and 4 seconds. Of course, that previous best was on the Kona, so I would expect a much better time on the Torelli, even laden with heavy frame bags and lighting. I was tired when I got home, but nowhere near as tired as I was when I first started this back in November ’07. I’d be so beat after riding almost 8 miles that I didn’t even feel like taking the panniers off the bike and upstairs. Hammering it solid for 50 minutes now has me tired and soaked with perspiration, but a shower and a drink and I’m ready to go.
Chalk one up in the Health->Endurance column under Benefits of Regular Exercising…
There were some interest things coming across the intarwebs this morning, so I thought I’d share some of them. I don’t plan to make linklists a regular thing, but for some reason, it felt right this morning…
Serious injury results from an allegedly improperly assembled Walmart bicycle. The family is suing the retail giant. Story here. On the first ride for the 13-year-old boy, the handlebars “detached from the steering stem, causing Plaintiff to lose control of the bicycle, flip over the handle bars, and strike the ground, hitting his right shoulder on the curb, and causing Plaintiff severe and permanent injuries.” Don’t trust department store bikes. Spend the extra money and go to your LBS. Your health and mobility is just too important.
Noah has some fantastic tips for reducing fuel consumption here. It all boils down to planning ahead, and realizing that most of what you need is within easy biking distance. The comments section on his post led me to the Twike. It ain’t cheap, but how freakishly cool! It reminds me of the go-one3.
Warren-T says he rides because it’s fun. Honestly, it’s really as simple as that, no matter what fancy frilly reasons you lay on top of it. We wouldn’t do it if it wasn’t fun. Someone else, isn’t having nearly as good a time. He’s mad as hell and ain’t gonna take it no mo’. Can’t say I blame him.
Breaking news… people are immature! One of my favorite reads is the Tuscon Bike Lawyer. Today he laments about immature people responding to the natural state of the human body. Ok, maybe it’s not the natural state to be nude on a bicycle, but it is the natural state to be on a bike. Unfortunately, via Recumbum, there are no naked rides for Kansas. However, if you’re of the mind, half naked little people in Australia will pour copious amounts of booze down your gullet. Duder looks a little like a tiny Arnold.
Bike Noob has a new toy. He lost his other bike computer, and picked up one with cadence. He’s having some problems getting the magnet to register with the cadence sensor, and one of the comments has the out-of-the-box idea of putting a rare earth magnet directly in the pedal spindle. It’s tough to see, but that little nubbin sticking out along the axis of the pedal is a magnet. So simple, and yet brilliant.
Tangentially related to cycling, in that cycling makes use of terrain which can, in turn, be mapped, and which also typically takes place in some sort of weather, fans of Google Maps, Map Mashups and weather tracking may appreciate efforts put towards mapping the 2008 US storm season.
On a completely unrelated note, our lead IT tech just sent out an e’mail telling everyone that the Exchange server was down. Seriously.