witches hat

photo courtesy of jim thill

can't say i made it to the highest point in mpls today, but i did go on a bicycle journey. mechanical issues prevented me from fully enjoying the ride. the meister has been in more mechanics stands today than is has seen in the last year. i'm not going to bore you with the details, suffice to say it sucks to be my mechanical support team.

• fitness; nominal.
• saddle time; maybe 2 hours,
• ride time from door to door; 9:45 to 14:00, 4.25 hrs
• weather: glorious, 55-60 F, pt sunny to clear
  
• road conditions: lame, moist in places, loose sand/gravel everywhere else

attendance: 2

great night for a ride, not much distance(45 minutes). trails/bridges in 52nd street almost unridable, at least in the dark, following a good line is tough when you can't see it

weather: 24 F, partly cloudy
roads: some accumulated snow from last week, other wise varied from excellent to fair

training log

cool and fairly clear utterly alone , i'm fine with that. waited for 5 minutes at the corner of 54th and penn at 9:30 pm. went for a ride: no stairs, beard's plaisance run-up, cold toes, 45 minutes

weather: 18 F and clear/hazy
roads: excellent

riding with the ninja cook

met raymond at hurl's coffee. went for a ride , no pictures, so i'm not sure it really happened. the meister performed like a well oiled machine, even if the rear brake cable casing was 3 inches short, aesthetics not performance...

weather: 35 F, cloudy, wind from the west
roads: excellent

stubbs bay

left at 10:15 am, met up with hurl and krewe at 12 left NE mpls for parts unknown. Flat tire on trail at maybe 1 pm, lost contact with group. followed best i could up trail ending on luce line and stubbs bay road at roughly 2:20. tracking skills determined that this was not the course, headed onto paved road where i flagged down an unknown rider and got an escort to wayzata and he dumped me onto mcginty road which lead me to minnetonka blvd, followed trail to hopkins where i headed to blake road and ended up on 44th and upton. at home and safe by 4:30 pm
nothing too scary i had plenty of food and water. rough estimate from google maps leaves me with a 45-55 mile route for the day. thanks for the inspiration and hope the ride was good for you hurl, rumors tell of an 80 mile route

lovely day for it....

left at 12:30 pm arrived home at 3 pm
weather:65 F, sunny
roads: sandy/wet

when the going get's tough...

the tough jump on the fun bike. by some miracle of science i found the extra long seatpost i needed for the bridgestone, it was on the meister. nice to have a little leg room, and the opportunity for some highjinx. I always say it ain't mountain biking unless you take enough chances to dump the bike in the mud, ice, or snow. i'm not thinking distance tonight, that's for tomorrow.
route:
weather: 43F hazy/clear, excellent conditions
roads: the path less taken

dark and muddy

one and one half hours on the beast of burden tonight. I thought i could head down to cold sprints, but i really didn't feel that fresh. i'm not getting that much sleep or having the quality of rides that i require. breaking out of the deep freeze is nice, i haven't been posting much on rides lately cause i'm not that amused with the progress toward my goal of competing at any level in a 105 mile challenge in a little more than a month. hopefully i will feel a little better after i ride this week and put in a passing grade in the 'slick 50' in a week.

weather: 43 and excellent riding conditions
roads: muddy not icy

lost in transmission

the jamis, left home at 2:30 pm returned at 5:30 pm. unusual, yes... first half of the ride was marred by drivetrain issues, water, salt and sand. stooped to pick up ray and visit a mechanic, 10 spot later, problems identified and smoothed out. I am a hack mechanic, and i don't have a stand in my basement, i can replace, i can adjust on the fly, i can call on the professionals. i'll be replacing some casings and cables soon enough.
oh the ride was long but not difficult, i mmm, like gears, they vex me sometimes. route: creek trail, to nokomis, back roads to HC and then to the river road, almost stopped by a ghost bike, back on to green way trail at the railway bridge, greenway to bryant to 36th and of course the kings highway(potholed) to harriet and back onto penn and home. long enough, not many stops. some employee at the midtown freewheel tried to sell me a lock, i bought a snickers.

weather: 40 F and sunny
roads: oatmeal slush on the back alleys, main roads/trails good

news of the coming shitstorm...

the more bikes i have rolling the more it seems i get stuck in the money pit. swapped pedals to the le tour and left the base at ten pm, olbermann was on fire on MSNBC, i couldn't leave when that was going on. i noticed 10 blocks into the ride that i was in for it when the freewheel began acting up, time for an ACS not a dicta. so i soft pedaled to the closest well lit petrol stop for a little investigation, closed ! ...then on to another station up 54th to lyndale. nothing that i could see, except the coffee shop across the street turning out the lights, those fuckers used to be open until 11pm too.

so it goes, i still was out for an hour, got in loop around the lake and didn't loose the forward propulsion mechanism. i should have rode the jamis but i didn't, as soon as the plows hit the sidestreets tomorrow or friday i'll be back in action on the chosen steed....the one that ain't bleeding me for another $20.

weather: 23 degrees and clear
roads: some clear, frozen in spots, black ice abounds

maiden voyage

first ride on the bridgestone tonight. out a 9:45 pm back with-in an hour. Due to a few technical issues with the build and a nagging...ahem... cough, i hadn't made it out before tonight.

first impression, i need a couple more inches of seatpost, at minimum insertion now and it's not feeling right. of course there's the fat tire issue, this is definitely an off-road bicycle. got into the snow a little bit but i'll wait until i can ride in daylight or at least scout my route before i fly headlong into the woods. definitely enough low end with the gearing, felt nice to downshift cause i had the option. liked the pedals too much to leave them on this bike, i'll think i'll put them on a bike that i will ride more often.

weather:35 degrees F, cloudy
roads: greasy, and despite the warm temps seemed like ice was freezing not thawing.

still warm

out at 10:15 back by 11:25, next week attempt to break a personal hour record. schwinn, journey - 2 fer...with a little wind. feel like i'm coming down with a head cold. XO-2 still needs a chain and bar tape, maybe the jamis tomorrow night.

weather: 36 degrees F, overcast but no rain
roads: excellent but sandy

this one we bank...

there will be colder days and longer rides but tonight was kinda special. didn't get out until 10:10 pm, back at 11:45 wet and warm. took in all three lakes and part of the greenway, i was thinking about cedar lake, but i remember a low spot in the trail at about 22nd that i didn't feel like fjording.
still plenty wet but the chain needs a little grit and polish once in a while. of course on the single speed american bike with the french name, and it was a clif bar ride. best moment: wind assisted speed coming into a turn on the path at isles, outside leg up, inside crank at 12 o'clock and hope ya don't slide out. tonight's ride will keep me sated as i endure a few more snow storms and icy conditions until april.

weather: 44 degrees F, intermittent light rain
roads: wet and still a few spots with ice and snow stayed to main drag instead of rutted side streets

the spring campaign

tonight's ride was refreshing, i was expecting poor conditions and they did not materialize. out at 9:30 pm back by 11. at every corner i expected to slide out and i dd not, i was watching for long unridable sections of ice and oatmeal slush and there was none. 2 lakes and no incidents, felt strong on 48X16 and i probably was going fast enough. nothing more to report.

weather: 25 degrees F, clear, bright moon
roads: a little sketchy in places but nothing spectacular,

one thing you can count on.....

is an hour ride in beautiful conditions. out by 9:45pm back at 11pm. sweet water at the lake harriet spring, paths were delightful with 1/2 inch of new snow, silence is golden. i think the mercury actually rose as i was riding. the steed was reliable and the gearing spot on at 48x16.....gonna be a nice weekend.

weather: 16 degrees, light snow, overcast
roads: excellent winter riding conditions

pub crawl with HC family

..nothing special but breaking a sweat at 7 degrees F is kinda interesting. 15 miles according to google maps, between stops i most likely was in the saddle for maybe an hour and one half. not exactly blazing speed, visited an old employer and saw a few people..... i need to hit the anti-inflammatory and water up before the cramps set in.

back in the saddle

out at 9:45 pm....ran into the hardy boys taking pictures of a dead squirrel, a nice thing since today is squirrel appreciation day. first trip on the new build, alright 'cept for my choice in pedals, swap those out tomorrow. nothing special about the handling, 48x16 is manageable but less than ideal at this level, we'll grow into it. skinny(26mm) road tires are alright and 6 atm is a good pressure

weather: clear, 16 degrees at arrival home
roads: good winter riding condition, stuck to well traveled steets, paths are a little bumpy, snow build-up on back streets.

nerves of steel

went out for a ride despite the warnings, 9:45 pm. how many times in december do you get to ride in fog and 40 degrees. hard packed snow turning to slush, ice on the path and nobody to share the pain with. i figured i was gonna be holed up for a few days, so why not. i was doing fine until i hit the northside of lake harriet, glare ice on the path. only went down twice and nothing too hard. we'll see how it feels in the morning i have some aquavit to drink.

weather: 39 degrees, foggy but that cleared by the trip home
roads: better than the path, slush and clean/wet roadway

sorry, jiminy cricket..

moonshiner don't take his bike ride around the nieghborhood when it's below zero

mr. jimmy says....

out at 9:45 in time stop a the store for a little bit of straight kentucky bourbon whiskey. rode too fast to enjoy the soothing glow. same route as always, better dressed and it was warmer. didn't have a chance to put different tires on the jamis so i went with the meister... that pony needs a new bottom bracket. ride was nothing special, fast and light, i should do something to make the next one more painful.

weather: 20 degrees, cloudy
roads: good condition