Notes from the road

Greetings from The Capitol!

2009-09-30T18:43:00.006-04:00

Yep, I made it! The energy (all of it sustainable, I might add) and enthusiasm made the last ride down to the Capitol a really amazing experience. It was a lot of fun. I met a lot of interesting people and learned a lot of new things on this ride. Aside from the sheer accomplishment, the experience was certainly memorable.

Now that the Climate Ride 2009 is over, I don't know how much more I'll be posting here in the future. But, who knows what will come next. . . . .

Climate Ride 2010?????

Down Trail

2009-09-30T14:28:00.005-04:00

So after a nice ride down the Capital Crescent Trail . . . .

We are gathering at the Thompson Boat Center, getting ready for our last leg on to the Capitol . . . .

Greetings from Silver Spring MD

2009-09-30T11:51:00.003-04:00

Almost 50 miles in just the morning. Interesting ride through the northern suburbs of DC. Some drivers were a little annoyed that this large group of cyclists were messing up their morning commute. But other than that the ride has been pretty easy going and energizing.
Speaking of energy, I should go find some lunch. Then down the Capital Crescent Trail into DC.

On the road on Day Five

2009-09-30T09:50:00.001-04:00

So we are on the road somewhere southwest of Baltimore. Legs are still going strong and yet my energy is building as we get closer to DC. Forty-four miles to go!

Day four: Holtwood, PA to Reistertown, MD

2009-09-29T17:06:00.017-04:00

So the word for today was HILLS and lots of them. Oh and throw a little wind into the mix and you get a very hard ride for the day. But it was a great ride. Just to give you an idea of the terrain look at these road signs.

Okay, it wasn't so bad. Our photographer, Kip, was always around taking pictures. And when he wasn't laying around in the road taking pictures, he would lend a hand with an extra push over the top of the hill.

But seriously the day was long and hard, and also as rewarding as the previous three. There was a lot of inspiration gained from the shared endeavor. We were even joined by the Embassador to Denmark on our ride today. In the evening he spoke to is about the upcoming COP 15 summit in Copenhagen.
But I also had some inspiration during my ride from the previous evening's talks. In particular Roz Savage spoke about her rowing voyages across both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Something she said really struck a chord with me. She presented the notion that each rowing stroke is a single small effort, but if we all engage in individual efforts that can help our planet then indeed we can cross oceans and bring
about a world that has a sustainable future. If it is possible for me to make one peddle stroke after another, then it is possible to make small
changes in my household's impact on the environment and climate.

Colin Beavan, a.k.a. No Impact Man, spoke about how important it is for each of us who are engaged in conversations about sustainabilty to open up our own minds so that we can find ways to constructively engage the disinterested parties at the local and regional level, because a national movent will not take place unless there is a change in our national culture that also takes place or the regional and local level..

That cultural change starts at home. The last few days have made me miss my home and family, but I am sure that when I get home I will be endeavoring for us to make take some strokes to change the world for the better. And I also want to share that vision with friends and colleagues who just need a small nudge to make a few small strokes of their own.
So today was 57 miles through hill country with the wind in my face. Tomorrow it's 68 miles to the Capitol, the ride is mostly downhill. But there is a lot more work ahead than a downhill ride.

Day three: Phoenixville to Holtwood

2009-09-28T19:47:00.001-04:00

So yesterday it was rain. Today's word is WIND! And lots of it. The calm wake up in the meadow below the Phoenixville YMCA was not at all a predictor of the tempest of wind to hit us once we got out of the Hopewell Furnace Valley. The ride was great, but it was real work just to keep the bike on the road, so I don't have a lot of pictures. I will try to add some when I get to a place with a little better 3G connection.

The ride took us up to St. Peters and then through Morgantown where the wind really kicked in. Down through New Holland on our way to Strasburg. Didn't get a chance to ride on the railroad there, but my Mom did come down to meet me at our water stop. It's nice to have such family support.

As I was pushing hard against the wind today I had time to think about the things that I have been hearing during the evening talks. One of the things that drew me to Climate Ride was that it was billed as a "climate conference on wheels", and sounded intriguing to the scientist in me. Indeed I have not been disappointed. One speaker who stood out last night was Alison Gannett and her method for examining and eventually reducing one's own carbon footprint. I strongly urge people to look into her website at www.alisongannett.com and her method of CROP. Very intersting suggestions.

So after a short rain shower (yep we were still dogged by rain!), I left Mom and Strasburg for the final push to Holtwood.

And so after about 68 more miles today, I can say that my butt is a little sore, my legs are a little stiff, but I am still full of energy and (almost) ready for another day's ride into Maryland.

Day Two: Princeton to Phoenixville, PA

2009-09-27T19:39:00.007-04:00

So today we retraced, in reverse, the path that Washington and the Continental Army took in that winter over 230 years ago. And the word for the day was RAIN. We started out in a steady drizzle, breaking our camp after a steady overnight rain. The ride was damp, but I had strong motivation to keep going, since we were heading to Lambertville where my family was waiting to cheer me on.

Saying goodbye to the family (again) was hard, but it was time to head off across the Delaware River and on to lunch in Doylestown. After lunch, the rain started to clear and we continued west crossing the Schyulkill river eventually heading through Valley Forge.

And just after leaving the park I ran into a heavy downburst and got soaked all over again.
Finally dried out now after setting up camp in Phoenixville.

All told, almost 68 miles. today. Legs still feeling good. Hopefully I can say the same tomorrow!

Day one: NYC to Princeton

2009-09-26T16:36:00.005-04:00

So day one started with a stop at CBS Early show. Yep I think I got my face on national TV. Of course it was 8 AM on a Saturday morning so who knows who saw it. Then we rode down 5th Ave and then cross town to the East River to catch a ferry.

After lunch the real ride began. About 45 miles then to Princeton. Since it was the first day, I has little trouble with the ride. A few hills but nothing strenuous. The best part though has been the sense of common purpose and community that we all have on the ride. And of course it was nice to feel a small sense of accomplishment entering the Princeton campus. One day down, four to go.

Well I'm in NYC

2009-09-25T21:23:00.004-04:00

My family drove me and my bike into the city. Took longer than I had hoped, but the kids were troopers. Walked over to Central Park Zoo and looked around a bit.

The kids liked the polar bears and the seals in particular. But they couldn't stay long and just as soon as we got into the City they had to head home.

I am staying at a place called "The Pod". Not surprisingly the rooms are small. Enough room for me my bags and bike. After the family headed out I rode through Midtown to Central Park to check-in and drop off my bike. It was certainly an intersting experience riding that one mile on my own. Tomorrow morning we ride five through town to catch a ferry, but that will be with a group. And that will be a whole new experience for me as well. For now though I just need to rest up.

Cool picture

2009-09-21T19:53:00.002-04:00

Okay, so there is not much news yet, other than I am packing up my gear while still trying to keep my legs in shape. But I had to share this picture which was taken by Pete Borg who is the photographer for Rider University public relations. It's right by the front entrance and we both thought the play on the word "Rider" was cool too.

One week to go

2009-09-18T19:59:00.002-04:00

And so with one week before I need to report to NYC, I did another round trip to work. Forty miles all told and in under three hours. Still making good time. I am more worried about the endurance thing though. I will try to get a couple of rides in this coming week, just to keep my legs active. I might have one more post before I report for the Climate Ride. But next Friday evening is the kickoff event, so I'll definitely be back at you after that.

Two weeks to go!

2009-09-12T21:06:00.002-04:00

In part because of the start of the semester, my training schedule has really ground down. Did a nice 26 miles today through hill country. There was a bit of drizzle and wind and general unpleasant weather to make the ride interesting. But I have been avoiding riding in bad conditions despite the fact that I need to be ready for the possibility in two weeks. So it was a good ride today. Hopefully, I will be able to get some good riding in next week too before it's off to NYC.

Less than 3 weeks away!

2009-09-06T15:57:00.002-04:00

So the actual 300 mile ride is less than 3 weeks away. Time to make sure I am physically up to the task. So yesterday I did a 60+ mile ride to Doylestown, Carversville, Frenchtown, Stockton, Ringoes and home. Some of my roads were good and some were not so much. I hade some nice flat places along the river and some hills (one looked like it was a 45° incline!!!).

And all than before noon. I was tired. So I had to top it off with a cookout with family in the afternoon.

And just to make sure my stamina is still there, I did 15 more miles this afternoon.

I am close to ready.

Of course, we'll see for real in 3 weeks.

Training partners

2009-09-04T14:57:00.004-04:00

It's always nice to have a helpful training partner when preparing for a long bike ride. Those two extra wheels seem to really help her out. Maybe I'll put a pair on my bike.

Butt in Seat

2009-09-01T22:08:00.002-04:00

It's something I say to my kids all the time at the dinner table. But this past seven days it has taken on a new meaning. . . .

My wife has basically engineered it so that I had my butt in the saddle six out of the last seven days, putting in 125 miles over all those days. Okay so it might be 15 miles here and 20 there. But putting time in the saddle every day has really started to wear on my sit-bones and tell me where those pressure points will be on a 5 day ride.

My wife is so smart.

A view from the slow lane

2009-08-30T21:53:00.004-04:00

Here is a small herd of deer munching on some's lawn on a quiet Saturday evening. It's sometimes fun to see the interesting things as you ride by on a bike

And out again the following morning . . . .

2009-08-27T10:43:00.003-04:00

Since I am still somewhat free before classes started, I figured I should go out for a ride as much as possible. So even though I did 30 miles last night, I decided to do some hills this morning.

Not nearly as long, on 15 miles. But it was just as much of a workout. And the nice thing is that it is getting my body used to the notion of cycling on repeated days. I will have to do more of that in the next two weeks or so.

Back after some time off

2009-08-26T20:40:00.002-04:00

No, I haven't stopped riding. I've just been busy. There was a conference to go to and then a family vacation. And during that time the bike was in the shop getting a tune up. I have done a little riding since my last post, but it's has been almost two weeks since my last ride. So it was nice to just run up the river to Frenchtown and back after dinner. Okay so the last 20 minutes or so were in almost darkness and that wasn't so good.

But it was nice to be able to do 30+ miles in about two hours. Yes, it was flat, but I figured it was better to do that than really push my legs on some hills after being off the bike for a while.

So, for those of you counting at home, it is exactly one month until I start the Climate Ride. So I have some last pushes to do. Final push on the fund raising and the final push on training.

Keep your fingers crossed that both go well.

A good long ride

2009-08-08T20:57:00.003-04:00

Today's ride was the longest yet. 58 miles. A couple of steep hills and some nice easy stuff as well. Not bad for a little less than four and half hours. I plotted a nice route up past Flemington keeping on the plateau NW and then going down to the river. The there was a gentle rise up to Solberg airport and very steep climb back up into Sourland Mountain. Then it was a simple ride along the ridge to get home.

All before lunch time!

And it was a good day to ride too! Not too humid. Not too hot. I am glad a got the ride in because I will be at a conference next weekend and then to a family vacation until the last week of the month.

The nice thing was that, even though I was tired after the ride, my legs were not terribly sore. Of course it will be a couple of days before I get to ride again, so I will have to wait until later this month before I do a couple of long rides back to back to see how that feels.

In the meantime I need to get the bike tuned up. I've taken it over 600 miles so far this summer and about 800 since the last tune up.

Riding when I can

2009-08-04T10:15:00.002-04:00

Got in another 20 miles this morning. 20 miles last Friday morning. With the summer weather and the summer family schedule I get rides in where I can. I hope to really be able to do some longer rides on the weekends in August - well on the weekends I have free. . . . .

RIding long distances

2009-07-26T22:35:00.003-04:00

Okay so 40+ miles is not a long ride for many. Heck the Tour de France is over 2000 miles in a couple of weeks. I have barely done 500 miles this summer. But it is interesting what happens to me when the rides get longer. I get into a zone and just pedal.

And pedal.

Yes, I see the countryside, but I focus on my pedaling more.

Anyway today's ride was good, but not as long as I wanted to go.

At about 20 miles out, I got a bit of gunk in my front derailleur and that threw it out of whack. 30 minutes of fiddling with the adjustments made it useable, but not great for the return home. Fortunately I was able get a better alignment this evening at home.

The bike is definitely in need of a tune up. Hopefully middle August.

Escape from suburbia

2009-07-23T12:47:00.004-04:00

So this morning my wife dropped me off in suburban New Jersey on the way to her parent's house. And then I had to find my way home. Of course the first problem was finding my way out of the parking lot (see pic)

Okay, not such a hard task, but it was definitely a new twist on my training. There were some hills, but it wasn't too strenuous. I found a nice route home. The wrinkle was to get home before the oncoming rain; which I did manage.

I don't know if it was because of fear of rain, good training up to this point or that the route just wasn't that hilly, but I managed an average of 15 mph over the 25 mile run.

Not bad!

Start of a routine?

2009-07-19T21:07:00.002-04:00

Looks like I am starting to get into a good routine of riding on the weekends. The weather has finally been cooperating, which helps.

Today, I was solo, so I didn't have Dave to keep pressing me on. So while I still rode 37 miles in under 3 hours, it actually took me longer because my rest breaks were longer.

Today was a nice ride. I rode out past the South Hunterdon High School and just followed the road as it snaked along the ridge. Soon enough I was 15 miles out. Took a right turn and ended up near Princeton and then it was time to turn around and head home.

Nice ride. I need to do the same again some time soon and maybe extend it.

A nice morning's ride

2009-07-14T10:02:00.003-04:00

After recovering from our Saturday outing, Dave and I did some more hills this morning. Ringoes, Seargentsville, Rosemont and Stockton and then home. Twenty-two miles, but a lot of up and down!

It was a nice ride. Every morning should start out this way. . . . .

A good morning's ride

2009-07-11T13:54:00.003-04:00

Well my friend Dave and I went out to seek back roads and we found a few on our way towards Flemington. Then hung a left to Frenchtown, and then rode along the river (to rest our legs) on the way home. All told 41 miles in just under 3 hours.

Good ride. But, by the time we got back, we were both done! Felt good. Especially after having been on my bike four times this week. I might need a couple of days to let my legs recover from this week. But I am feeling good.

Another ride to work

2009-07-09T21:05:00.002-04:00

The 36+ miles that makes a round trip to work is a half & half ride. The half closest to work is relatively flat and the half closest to home has me climbing up and down the Sourlands. And it really doesn't matter which way I go I will have at least 3 steep hills. Not so bad in the morning, but not so fun late in the afternoon after a day at the office after an 18 mile ride in. I know it's good training, but it's still tiring.

On the plus side I've done over 70 miles this week with another ride planned for Sat. And while my legs are tired, I don't feel like I have been over doing it. In the next few weeks, I need to make sure I start getting one long ride in per week.

Getting into a rhythym

2009-07-07T23:06:00.003-04:00

Hey, third time in five days I was on my bike. The family dropped me off at work this morning with my bike on the roof of the car. And I rode home. Nothing exciting about the ride home save the 40 mile/hr coast I did down Pleasant Valley Rd. When you are beating the speed limit on you bicycle, you know you are going fast.

So where do I sign up for the Tour de France? ;-)

Nice weather brings good riding

2009-07-05T21:08:00.002-04:00

So despite being up late several nights in a row. Especially last night taking the family out for a concert with fireworks. I was still up this morning for a 7 AM bike ride. Nice 17 mile ride of river bed and hills. And home well before 9AM. At which point we needed to get set up for an afternoon picnic at our place. So I am only just now getting a chance to sit down.

All I know is that my legs are tired. But I am not so sure it is from the riding I did over 12 hours ago!

A good day's riding!

2009-07-03T20:12:00.003-04:00

So today I rode my bike to work. With the holiday upon us the back roads were quiet of much of the usual traffic. There were an awful lot of cyclists out though. The morning sunshine on a holiday weekend probably lured them out of hibernation. We finally have a decent weather forecast. There is actually no rain in the forecast for the next week. I don't know what I am going to do with all that sunshine!!

Anyway the ride to work was nice. I took a longer way home though. I had ridden on the Delaware and Raritan Canal Path a number of years back from Lawrenceville back home, so I thought I would try it again. From Lawrenceville north to New Brunswick I have seen that the D & R path is well used. But south to Trenton is another story. My recollection was that there are some parts of the canal in Trenton that are blocked off or paved over, so it it can be hard to follow. This time I found however, that the trail was even worse than I remembered from neglect or poor planning. In a number of places I couldn't follow the canal so I had to ride on potholed city street and in other places it was heavily muddy or overgrown with vegetation. Basically there was little useable trail through out the city limits. Once in Ewing Twp., however, the trail was again passable and a much more pleasant ride.

All told, I did 43 miles today in under three and half hours of total ride time. I did have several hours in the middle where I actually got some work done at school. Even with the rest though, my legs do feel like they've had a long workout for the day. But this was good. I need to do more long miles per day. If keep on schedule to make at least one commute per week by bicycle, with some other long rides on the weekend, I will be in good shape. Hopefully by August I can do two a week. We'll see how it goes. . . .

Back in the saddle

2009-06-30T15:05:00.003-04:00

It is almost July, so I really need to get going on training. Weather cooperated this morning so I went out for a 11 mile ride in hill country. It was good to see that my strength is still there. I made pretty good time (under 50 min). So now I just need to increase the distances and frequency of rides.

Keep your fingers crossed . . . .

Training - sort of

2009-06-26T20:50:00.008-04:00

Well, it turns out that one can train for Climate Ride even on vacation - especially when the vacation is in Atlantic City and there are plenty of bikes to rent on the Boardwalk.

Okay, so it wasn't any hill training, but my wife and I rented cruisers and I had a trailer attached to mine so the kids could come along for the ride. So while the ride was nice and flat, I was hauling an extra 60 pounds!

The ride was nice as was the weather. We spent better than an hour to ride down to Ventnor and back. After checking Mapquest, it turns out we rode 8 miles! So not my normal pace, but definitely a good workout.

Here's a pic from starting out. The kids really don't know about wearing helmets, but we had to have them. So that was entertaining at first.

Here's a picture down in Ventnor. By this time the kids were a little bored, so we knew it was time to turn around.

A quick ride . . .

2009-06-17T19:24:00.002-04:00

This has been a hectic week and a half. Getting appointments taken care of at work. Spending time with family and getting ready for a week-long vacation. Between that and the very uncooperative weather, I feel lucky I was able to get out for a 14 1/2 mile sprint today.

I call it a sprint, since I did it in under an hour. I was kind of pushing myself so I could get home and beat the rain, which started to fall as I got home. And these one hour sprints will be just fine, except I will need to do 20 of them in succession if I am going to get through the Ride in September. It is now a little more than three months away. I am doing fine with the riding I have been doing. But I really need to pick up the training pace.

I am hoping that the time for training will free up after vacation. See you in July I suppose. . . .

And the next morning . . . .

2009-06-07T19:22:00.002-04:00

I went for a nice 21 mile ride with my neighbor, Dave. Dave's got a long history of biking so he likes to get around. Fortunately for me he doesn't have the time to keep in top biking form, so I can almost keep up with him.

But the best part is that after doing 10 miles late yesterday afternoon, I did more than 20 at 7AM. Okay, so it is nothing close to what I'll be doing September. But it good to feel that I can ride one day and then ride again the next.

Baby steps . . . . .

Hopefully I'll get a ride in this week. Although there's rain in the forecast for everyday of the week. I just can't get a break!

Well at least I remember . . . .

2009-06-06T16:46:00.002-04:00

. . . . how to ride a bike. It's been far too long. Between trips for work, family time and crappy weather, I have not ridden in ages. At least I got out today for a quick 10 mile ride. I hope to do more tomorrow morning before the weather gets cruddy again.

I want to thank those of you who have been stopping by the blog. Sorry that I haven't been riding much in May. The pace WILL pick up this month as I have very few excuses!

One more ride before a week off

2009-05-16T20:38:00.002-04:00

I have a business trip coming up so I wanted to get one more ride in before I have almost a week off my bike. I didn't go as far as I wanted to but I felt as if I didn't eat enough today to give me the energy to do a really long distance. Plus it was hot and muggy out.

Okay these sound like excuses, but I will need to get beyond this if I am going to effectively train for this bike ride.

So I have learned today that if I am going to do a longer distance, I need to prepare for it by eating correctly and being physically ready to go.

Ride your bike to work day . . .

2009-05-13T20:32:00.003-04:00

So today was to first of (I hope) a number of days that I just ride my bike to work and back. It's about a 36 mile round trip and takes a bit more than two a half hours total. But it is a good haul, with hills. I get to "rest" while at work for a few hours and then ride home again. Thus, a good workout for the day. If I don't need to carry work in, there's no reason not to do it. I hope that is how my summer works out. So hopefully this will be a standard pattern at least once a week.

Finally a window to ride

2009-05-06T21:56:00.002-04:00

Weather's been awful. And with the end of the semester, my schedule has not allowed me on my bike in the few times it wasn't raining. So this evening after the kids were put to bed, I did a quick run up the river and back.

Emphasis on quick.

I haven't been on my bike for over a week and really needed to keep training - so I was eager.

I wanted to beat the darkness (I didn't)

I wanted to beat the rain (I didn't)

But it is apparent that I have been training because I shaved about 10% off my usual time.

I will probably feel it in the morning.

Well, not actually training. . .

2009-04-30T22:40:00.006-04:00

So today was not a training day, but it was significant. I was part of my first fundraiser. Actually the fundraiser was run by the Rider University chapter of Gamma Sigma Epsilon, the Chemistry Honor Society for which I am the advisor. They decided that a "Pie your Professor" might gain some money for my ride and allow students to blow off some steam as we come into the final exams period. Between me and a couple of other hearty science professors $125 was raised. While it was a nice event for the students I don't know that I will be doing too many more fundraisers like it.

Well, we'll see how the rest of the fundraising goes. Please help contribute to my ride by clicking the link at the right so I do not need to take any more pies to the face. I will be smelling like "vanilla" pudding for at least a week!

And now it's summer . . . .

2009-04-26T20:32:00.005-04:00

So for the third time in 5 days I had a chance to get on my bike – late this afternoon – once the kids were napping. Short ride up to the high school and back – just less than an hour. So in three rides over 5 days I have done more than 45 miles. Pretty good considering it's not even May yet.

Although, it felt like July. The thermometer topped 93 degrees at my house today. For my ride on Wednesday, it was about 55-60. Friday it was about 75. And now 90s? Crazy hot for two more days, but I need to give my legs a rest for a few. And I don't want to overdo it in high heat!

I think my next task will be to take a ride of over 20 miles or about two hours. Need to get to work on my endurance for longer rides.

Return trip

2009-04-24T20:55:00.003-04:00

So today was a much nicer day than Wednesday for me to ride my bike home from work. My route today was much much flatter as well. From campus I rode through Ewing to get to the D & R Canal and rode that straight home. A little longer than the ride in, 18.5 miles, but just about the same time. Although I will say this, having only one day in between these two rides, I definitely felt it on the ride home. I am glad that it was fairly easy going. Indeed, I might have really struggled home had I done the full round trip on Wednesday. So while I continue to feel better about my training, I can still tell I've got some real limitations that I need to overcome as the training becomes more regular.

Earth Day!

2009-04-22T20:15:00.004-04:00

So we had an Earth Day event on campus today. As part of the event I was out talking up Climate Ride to the University community. It was nice to have students and colleagues listen to me explain what I am doing late in September – and why. It was also a nice event for the Energy and Sustainability Steering Committee on campus.

As part of the deal, I rode my bike to work. It was a nice ride - hard at first, though. My route took me over the hills first, so I had two mean climbs within the first 6 miles. But after that it was pretty easy going. The total distance was 17.5 miles and I managed that in under 90 minutes – no mean feat – all things considered.

Didn't manage to ride home, though. Inclement weather postponed my return trip and I got a ride. On Friday, when the weather improves I will be dropped off at work and ride home. Different route and I'll have more to tell then.

A new route. . . .

2009-04-12T19:48:00.002-04:00

Another cold day. When is spring going to arrive?

So I found a new route across and up the river a little bit. It's about 12 miles. Some nice flat riding first to warm up, one SERIOUS hill followed by a few smaller ones. Once you get to the top though, it's a long ride down hill. I topped out at 40 mph going down the steepest grade. But the nice thing is that after the long hill, it is a little up, a little down and some level in between. I certainly got a workout, but it was nice to know that I could do the ride in about an hour.

Did I mention, though, that it was cold? And windy to boot. I can't wait for warmer weather. It's going to make biking so much more enjoyable, especially since I am getting into such good shape!

After a long hiatus. . . .

2009-04-08T21:11:00.003-04:00

Got back on the bike today for a 'quick' run up the river. It was cold and windy, but at least I was back on my bike. Took me a while, but it was good to ride again after the hiatus.

Between the conference, my teaching schedule, family schedule and the rain, it's been 3 weeks since my last ride. I need to get a little better at riding regularly. I am sure that once classes are done and the weather warms up a little more, I'll be able to ride a lot more regularly and hopefully then more frequently. The Climate Ride is 5 1/2 months off, but I have yet to log 70 miles total this year. And I'll be riding close to that in a single day.

So I guess I need a little inspiration. And here it is. Whenever the subject of bicycling comes up, my little girl wants to get out and ride on her 'bike' as well. . . . . Even on the cold days.

Hill Country

2009-03-18T21:56:00.005-04:00

Well, as I planned, I headed for the hills. A simple route up to Mt. Airy and the local high school. I have been doing that ride for years, but there is barely any flat spots on the ten and half mile run and a couple of the hills run a little more than a mile (some up and some down). Took a little under an hour. The run is definitely a muscle builder for short sessions later on in the summer. For now I just wanted to make sure I could still do it in about an hour. When I was in *really* good cycling shape I used to be able to do it in 40-45 minutes. We'll see if that happens again this summer.

At least it was a bit warmer today. I didn't need to bundle up so much. Look at me here. This was last weekend. I don't look that cold, but this is after the ride. And I had just taken off my gloves. It was a lot colder heading out.

It's going to be a little while before I get back on the bike since I have a conference to attend this weekend and when I get back I am going to want to spend time with the family. I am sure the saddle sores will have some time toughen up while I am on a break.

Another cold ride

2009-03-14T21:10:00.004-04:00

Well, the third Saturday in a row and I have been on my bike. Same route, so I am getting used to the 60 minute ride - and so is my butt. It was colder again today - low to mid 40's. Although, after I am going for about 15 minutes I really don't notice the cold too much. Except when I ride against a strong head wind.

I'll have a picture up in a little while to show you how bundled up I get, but this picture an earlier one of me adjusting my front derailleur. I am riding a hybrid which has a 9 speed cassette and 3 chain rings in the front. As I am getting back on the bike, I find I need more combinations. But as I get more accustomed to riding again, I am sure I will settle back into needing fewer.

What I really need to do next is start challenging myself in training with some hills. There's no shortage of those around here.

It does seem easier

2009-03-07T19:27:00.003-05:00

It has been oft said that getting back into the saddle gets easier over time. I think the metaphor is meant for horseback riding, but I think it holds for cycling too. I did another ride up the river again today. Of course, the weather was much nicer than last Saturday. It was a balmy 70 degrees and the only thing that reminded me that it was still winter (sort of) was that I went through a couple of icy patches where snow drifts still remained from Monday.

But the ride itself was a lot easier and I felt a little more confident that 300 miles in 5 days will be quite doable come September. Of course, that is all dependent upon me keeping a regular training schedule and increasing the difficulty and distance.

But for now, my disposition matched today's weather. Mostly sunny with a warm breeze. Hopefully that remains as I train harder.

In Training

2009-03-01T13:13:00.003-05:00

Well, the saddle sores have set in.

Yesterday I did my first ride since last fall. It was a short run up the river and back; mostly flat ride; 14 miles total; took me a little more than an hour. So all of that is not so bad considering how out of shape I am. It was also cold and windy; something I am not used to riding in since my days of riding across frozen lakes in Minnesota.

The hardest part was waking up this morning. I am sure that as I ride more, and get into a better habit of stretching before and after a ride, I will ache less.

At least that is the hope. . . .

My other hope is to get on my bike at least once a week for the next few weeks, just for short trips. Of course, with snow today and tomorrow and temperatures not getting out of the 30's for a while, this could be a little difficult.

The start of something old and new

2009-01-22T21:26:00.004-05:00

I had dabbled in blogging before it was blogging; posting personal comments, photos and information (and lots of humor) on my website from work. I did this in the 90's but grew tired of the constant 'need' to update and was also concerned about the fear of providing too much personal information to people I didn't know. And did I mention the imperative to update? I had people asking for the latest installment of my humor archive - like I didn't have a real job? I just got tired of updated and avoided posting personal information. Servers were closed down and parts of my web space were put into long hibernation.

I have also avoided a lot of the social networking sites where ever possible. The people I socialize with, I talk to on the phone or at least a minimal e-mail. And I have never seen the need to publicize my comments or 'blog' in the last decade.

But two things in the past two days have changed my mind.

The inauguration of Barack Obama and a workshop on electronic teaching tools. In both of these events it was clear that blogging seems to have a utility beyond just posting your thoughts for the world to see - and comment on.

And finally it seems appropriate to me as I start to develop a training schedule for the upcoming Climate Ride in September that it might be interesting for me to keep a journal. And since this is going to be a public endeavor, why not share this endeavor?

The internet is still one big soap box. But for now I think I feel that I can reenter the milieux.