Tonight while patching my flat back tire, i ventured into my saddle bag for my patch kit and found ten bucks. Which was nice. went out and bought myself some donuts.
Earlier today, i spent the $50 gift certificate i got for raising mad money for the MS 150 at Bike Line and bought a pair of insulated neoprene booties. I'm hoping they'll keep the feet from getting frostbit on the chance that the temperature warms up enough to melt the ice on the roads 'round here.
Thursday, December 15, 2005
Wednesday, November 09, 2005
To the Trail Head (almost), 7 p.m., psycho eyes
Work has been maddening. It's the three-week stretch wherein I put the finishing touches on the ginormous CP Choice issue, have a week "off" then have to contend with the mega-work-intensive holiday gift guide. today we had the photo shoot for the gift guide, which invovled lots of early-morning running around to pick up straggler merchandise, then spending an entire day manning the editorial end of the photo-taking. by the end of the day, i was shot, my pupils were little spirals as i walked out of the CP offices. this called for a bike ride. headed out at 7 on the trek and rode out toward conshohocken, figuring i'd turn back if i felt like i was too shot to go all the way to Conshy. made it up the big hills past manayunk and was about to shoot down the hill that leads to the conshy trail head and knew that there wasn't much in the tank (as is often the case during weeks with big issues, i hadn't been sleeping much, or well). turned around before i got too far down the hill and rode the rest of the way back in workman-like fashion. as a side note, my headlight batteries kicked and when i got home i discovered that they'd leaked acid all over the inside of the light (this is not the first time this light has done this), thus ruining three of the four rechargeable batteries contained therein. time for a new light, and some new rechageables.
Stats: 21.37 miles, 1:20:24, avg speed 15.94 mph, top speed 32 mph, non-commute miles year-to-date 1,696.53
Song of the day: The Hold Steady, "The Swish"
Stats: 21.37 miles, 1:20:24, avg speed 15.94 mph, top speed 32 mph, non-commute miles year-to-date 1,696.53
Song of the day: The Hold Steady, "The Swish"
Thursday, November 03, 2005
The Lapse
so i hope you'll forgive the lapse in things.
here's what's happened since separation saturday:
10 more rides
405.4 miles, including the MS 150 (or 157) City-to-Shore jawn
16.43 mph
36 mph top speed
did laps in FDR Park
almost got run over trying to cross kelly drive
hit the velodrome, hung out with some bike geeks, bought some cheap stuff and had a Yocco's dawg on the way home
discovered of the most stunning nighttime vista in the city
zero shoulder separations
much knocking on wood
yeah, people, where'd the last two months go? between the radio show, training for the MS 150 and putting together the CP Choice issue, well, i guess this little exercise in blarghing got a little lost in the shuffle. Since it's bicycle related, i'll elaborate and say that the MS 150 was a smashing success for ye olde Hostile City Rollers. We put in a strong showing and only some technical difficulties kept us from winning the whole thing. (it's not a race, i know.) the ride stirred up much team spirit and spurred spirited discussions on what our team jerseys should look like should we decide to have team jerseys made.
and that's pretty much where it's at now. i stand at 1,675 miles for the season and am gonna push to make it to 2,000 before it gets too cold to ride. not sure if i've got 325 miles in me, but i guess well see. If you've got an opinion on this matter, send it to me here.
and if anyone can offer me pointers on how to post an excel file as a table, i'd much appreciate it.
Song of the Day: Wolf Parade -- Shine a Light
here's what's happened since separation saturday:
10 more rides
405.4 miles, including the MS 150 (or 157) City-to-Shore jawn
16.43 mph
36 mph top speed
did laps in FDR Park
almost got run over trying to cross kelly drive
hit the velodrome, hung out with some bike geeks, bought some cheap stuff and had a Yocco's dawg on the way home
discovered of the most stunning nighttime vista in the city
zero shoulder separations
much knocking on wood
yeah, people, where'd the last two months go? between the radio show, training for the MS 150 and putting together the CP Choice issue, well, i guess this little exercise in blarghing got a little lost in the shuffle. Since it's bicycle related, i'll elaborate and say that the MS 150 was a smashing success for ye olde Hostile City Rollers. We put in a strong showing and only some technical difficulties kept us from winning the whole thing. (it's not a race, i know.) the ride stirred up much team spirit and spurred spirited discussions on what our team jerseys should look like should we decide to have team jerseys made.
and that's pretty much where it's at now. i stand at 1,675 miles for the season and am gonna push to make it to 2,000 before it gets too cold to ride. not sure if i've got 325 miles in me, but i guess well see. If you've got an opinion on this matter, send it to me here.
and if anyone can offer me pointers on how to post an excel file as a table, i'd much appreciate it.
Song of the Day: Wolf Parade -- Shine a Light
Saturday, September 24, 2005
Monday, August 29, 2005
making the most of downtime
Been a while since I rapped at ya. Here's what's gone down:
10 rides
313 miles
16.17 mph
38 mph top speed
1 new biking group started on Yahoo (holler if you want in)
1 ride to Pennypack park
1 ride to the Franklin Mills Mall via the Northeast Airport
1 ride up the "Belmont Wall"
1 grade-1 shoulder separation
Yes folks, I've been enduring the aftermath of my first quasi-serious bike wreck. i was at the end of a 30-mile ride, five blocks from home, riding down Christian Street (wearing a very bright-yellow, high-visibility jersey) when a guy walks out mid-block, from behind a dumpster, doesn't even take a peek to his left, directly in front of me. i had no time to react. i yelled and hit him almost instantaneously. he went down on his ass. i went down on my side -- my left knee and left elbow hit the rain-slicked ground first. i can't remember if i actually then landed on on my shoulder or not, but as soon as i peeled myself off the pavement, i could tell something was wrong with my shoulder. i checked with half-hearted enthusiasm if the other guy was okay ("looks like you got the worst of it," he said), then hopped back on my bike and pedalled gingerly to my apartment where i anguishedly pulled my jersey and shorts off, changed into dry, non-skin-tight clothes, and called justin and char asking for a ride to the ER. couldn't really move my left arm without shooting pain. it felt like a giant knot had formed in my shoulder. my first thought was "fuck! i've broken my collarbone."
after an hour or so at the Pennsylvania Hospital ER, I got poked and prodded by a doctor who said it didn't seem like a break, more likely a strain or separation. which was, as you can imagine, a huge relief. x-rays confirmed this. i was given a sling, a prescription for mega-doses of ibuprofen and orders to take it easy and i should be feeling better in a week. (i was also told i'd be in a lot more pain the next day. thankfully that didn't come to pass.)
(Justin and Char, god bless 'em, sat with me for an hour or so; andy, god bless him, took over when they had to leave, drove me to the CVS and also home.)
so i've been taking things easy. i'm anxious to get back on the bike, but wary to do something that'll set me back. you see, i've got plans to ride the MS 150 on Sept. 24-25. Which reminds me, you should sponsor me to do this. these people already have. be good like them. raising money to cure MS is something i'm very much behind. alright. here's to healing up quick like.
Song of the Day: "Mizel," by Oh Astro
10 rides
313 miles
16.17 mph
38 mph top speed
1 new biking group started on Yahoo (holler if you want in)
1 ride to Pennypack park
1 ride to the Franklin Mills Mall via the Northeast Airport
1 ride up the "Belmont Wall"
1 grade-1 shoulder separation
Yes folks, I've been enduring the aftermath of my first quasi-serious bike wreck. i was at the end of a 30-mile ride, five blocks from home, riding down Christian Street (wearing a very bright-yellow, high-visibility jersey) when a guy walks out mid-block, from behind a dumpster, doesn't even take a peek to his left, directly in front of me. i had no time to react. i yelled and hit him almost instantaneously. he went down on his ass. i went down on my side -- my left knee and left elbow hit the rain-slicked ground first. i can't remember if i actually then landed on on my shoulder or not, but as soon as i peeled myself off the pavement, i could tell something was wrong with my shoulder. i checked with half-hearted enthusiasm if the other guy was okay ("looks like you got the worst of it," he said), then hopped back on my bike and pedalled gingerly to my apartment where i anguishedly pulled my jersey and shorts off, changed into dry, non-skin-tight clothes, and called justin and char asking for a ride to the ER. couldn't really move my left arm without shooting pain. it felt like a giant knot had formed in my shoulder. my first thought was "fuck! i've broken my collarbone."
after an hour or so at the Pennsylvania Hospital ER, I got poked and prodded by a doctor who said it didn't seem like a break, more likely a strain or separation. which was, as you can imagine, a huge relief. x-rays confirmed this. i was given a sling, a prescription for mega-doses of ibuprofen and orders to take it easy and i should be feeling better in a week. (i was also told i'd be in a lot more pain the next day. thankfully that didn't come to pass.)
(Justin and Char, god bless 'em, sat with me for an hour or so; andy, god bless him, took over when they had to leave, drove me to the CVS and also home.)
so i've been taking things easy. i'm anxious to get back on the bike, but wary to do something that'll set me back. you see, i've got plans to ride the MS 150 on Sept. 24-25. Which reminds me, you should sponsor me to do this. these people already have. be good like them. raising money to cure MS is something i'm very much behind. alright. here's to healing up quick like.
Song of the Day: "Mizel," by Oh Astro
Thursday, July 07, 2005
Conshohocken, 6:30 p.m., The Cyclasm
Took the day off from the radio show tonight so I could just kick back and chill... and get a nice long ride in. This was my first serious ride with the new shoes and i was anxious to see how it all shook out. (An aside: this morning I wore the aforementioned shoes riding in to work and, when I stopped at 3rd and Chestnut, didn't manage to get my feet out of the pedals and whoomp, flopped over onto the pavement. ugh).
The weather had cooled off and dried out a bit, so it was a great night for a ride. The big revelation: the shoe/pedal combo, with their superior power transfer, made going up those big hills on the ride out to the Conch much, much faster. I'm usually struggling at around 10 mph at the top of the biggest of these monsters. Today i was clicking along at 14 as i crested it.
Top speed was just 39.5, but i also got up to 30 or so on a more-or-less flat sprint riding back through Schuylkill River Park. It'd been a while since I'd been able to air it out like that; been a while since I'd had a ride that felt this damn good.
Stats: 31.41 miles, 1:49:46, avg speed 17.1 mph, top speed 39.5 mph, non-commute miles year-to-date 956.43
Song of the day: Jay-Z/DJ Danger Mouse, "99 Problems"/"Helter Skelter" mashup
Slurpee of the day: Fanta Pina Colada
The weather had cooled off and dried out a bit, so it was a great night for a ride. The big revelation: the shoe/pedal combo, with their superior power transfer, made going up those big hills on the ride out to the Conch much, much faster. I'm usually struggling at around 10 mph at the top of the biggest of these monsters. Today i was clicking along at 14 as i crested it.
Top speed was just 39.5, but i also got up to 30 or so on a more-or-less flat sprint riding back through Schuylkill River Park. It'd been a while since I'd been able to air it out like that; been a while since I'd had a ride that felt this damn good.
Stats: 31.41 miles, 1:49:46, avg speed 17.1 mph, top speed 39.5 mph, non-commute miles year-to-date 956.43
Song of the day: Jay-Z/DJ Danger Mouse, "99 Problems"/"Helter Skelter" mashup
Slurpee of the day: Fanta Pina Colada
Monday, July 04, 2005
Falls Bridge, 2 p.m., New pair of shoes
Feeling decidedly unsuper physically (must have been the Live 8 galavanting), but particularly super about the new pair of Diadora Geko shoes i'd bought the evening prior, I set out for a quick ride before heading to Jesse's BBQ.
It was a particularly uneventful ride, save for the shoes. My bike came equipped with clipless pedals -- the kind you click into and out of when you stop and start (or, if you don't have the whole process down, the kind you don't click out of and keel right over in). Since it's tantamount that you find a pair of shoes that fit you just right, i'd swapped out the clipless pedals for my old pedals until such a pair of shoes could be found. Well, at Bike Line in Manayunk, i found the aforementioned Gekos on clearance and they fit like gloves... for feet... or something.
The ride was short and, as it was brutally hot out, not particularly invigorating, but there's something about being locked into the pedals that's magic... like you're actually part of the machine. While struggling to get back into my pedal after a stop sign, a guy decked out in race gear rides up next to me and says "Just like Lance the other day," referring to Armstrong's pedal problems in the tour's opening time trial.
The deets: 14.58 miles, 52:02, avg 16.812 mph, top speed 23.50 mph, non-commute miles year-to-date 925.02.
Song of the day: DNTEL, "Don't Get Your Hopes Up"
It was a particularly uneventful ride, save for the shoes. My bike came equipped with clipless pedals -- the kind you click into and out of when you stop and start (or, if you don't have the whole process down, the kind you don't click out of and keel right over in). Since it's tantamount that you find a pair of shoes that fit you just right, i'd swapped out the clipless pedals for my old pedals until such a pair of shoes could be found. Well, at Bike Line in Manayunk, i found the aforementioned Gekos on clearance and they fit like gloves... for feet... or something.
The ride was short and, as it was brutally hot out, not particularly invigorating, but there's something about being locked into the pedals that's magic... like you're actually part of the machine. While struggling to get back into my pedal after a stop sign, a guy decked out in race gear rides up next to me and says "Just like Lance the other day," referring to Armstrong's pedal problems in the tour's opening time trial.
The deets: 14.58 miles, 52:02, avg 16.812 mph, top speed 23.50 mph, non-commute miles year-to-date 925.02.
Song of the day: DNTEL, "Don't Get Your Hopes Up"
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