In a word...

SCS demanded that I take one for the team and do the commute plan come hell or high water. I carted some tennis stuff back to school for storage and prepared for an afternoon outside the norm. I needed to pick up awards for our tennis picnic and the awards/trophy center lies about 8m from school but via a brutal, post-apocalyptic suburban hell known as Preston Hwy. After a meeting and a late start I rode the hwy to Hell in 95F temps. The section to the Watterson was fine but the traffic built up from there. Although various traffic-oriented cyclists would scoff at my plan, I was pressed for time so I used a mixture of sidewalks and the rough shoulder to make time, jumping the traffic by leaps. The section from Grade to Outer Loop was pretty damn obnoxious, but I found that it was rideable. I stored my awards box in the larger Ute bag and refilled my water at a Rally's and began my second leg. Instead of a 4-lane nightmare I used back streets and neighborhoods to work myself north toward the house. At about mile 21 at Btown and the Watterson I suddenly ran out of gas and got REALLY hot but I was able to spin my way slowly home.

It wasn't pleasant, but it WAS an excellent 2-wheel manifesto of what can be done, miserable and all. SCS.

JROS

Lithodale rarely JRA, and less so JRAS (just riding around slowly). I sometimes do so, and today more so. Returning from soccer State Cup (let's not discuss results), while the boys headed to the pool opening, I ventured forth on the QB for some JRA, which soon became JRAS. I didn't "have it". I just rode along, boiling in the sudden heat. For those not attuned to the 'Ville weather pattern of late, we've suffered weeks upon weeks of 50s, 60s and rain, and after a trying Saturday, the summer heat broke. And I mean broke. Yesterday and today we have summer-like temps in the low to mid-90s, and today they beat me down. My water bottle got warm quickly and I felt like crap, but I still pedaled.

I looped down into Portland and picked up the Riverwalk for the return. The Belvedere was full of Abbey Road on the River and the spillover moved to the Great Lawn area. The pics below are of fountains, but understand that there are prominent signs saying "NO SWIMMING" and "WATER FILLED WITH NASTY PESTILENCE AND RAW SEWAGE", or something like that. As you can see, there were still lots of folks braving water that isn't fit for your dog. Darwin at work?

Memorial Day flag fest

From downtown I worked my way back towards the house and went by Krogers to see if the pharmacy was open. Alas, but I did find other substances, and they fit perfectly in the Acorn. Perfectly. Heart. SCS moves forward.

SummerCyclingSeason

I could have, or maybe should have, begun my SCS yesterday after returning home from a youth soccer trip to Owensboro. Instead I decompressed a bit and eventually did the 2m commute to mom's for some tomato plants. As tennis season is over, I want this summer to be my SCS and put in the same kind of vigor and energy into myself as I do into some 20 teenagers.  To that end, I want to ride LOTS, and do all kinds of riding: fitness, commuting, beer runs, centuries (yes, plural), gravel, rides with 'L' and 'Z', rides with the wife (you never know!), all. I won't put any dumb goals out there, but every day I have some time I should use some of that time to get on 2 wheels. With my morning 21m ride today, the SCS has officially begun. Vamos!!

Berea + pics

I've done a couple nice rides but haven't had the time to put them to words. Saturday we went to Berea for soccer and I used the 1hr warm-up to take a quick ride out into the C.KY. countryside, and boy what nice countryside it was! I've been waiting to download the pics from my phone, but alas. The stretch along 595 and Moran Summit Rd. were as nice as any I've encountered. The rolling, breezy terrain at hay cutting time is optimum imho. I missed a turn onto JohnBallard and extended my ride a bit -always nice-, but now I was late for game and had to ride hard the way home, and instead I found hillier terrain and then a headwind. I lost a full mph in about 2m worth of rollers on John Ballard and had a tough time of it the last 4 or so. Great, great short day on the bike though.

And Berea even has a nice bike path along Walnut Meadow Rd., a nice bonus!

End is Near

No, not the rapture, but  rather the tennis season, which means the beginning of the summer cycling season. I organized the post-season Regional tournament this past weekend, which in concert with the long-distance soccer weekend created a slew of 15hr days. We did qualify folks for State, which is great, but the tennis end is approaching and that means summer camps, summer trips and summer cycling.

This summer I intend to thin the herd (finally) so I can more adequately store the bikes that I want to keep (and actually ride). And with the thinning comes the mileage. Smile.

Meeting of 3

Dave stole a pic from Pondero's blog of our brief-but-pleasant meeting yesterday. I'm stealing a couple lines from Dave's blog about our brief-but-pleasant meeting.

 "Chris lives in Texas, and I’ve only known him via his blog.  He has a couple of really nice bikes, and some wonderful Texas Prairie roads to ride them on."

I think the combo of Pondero's few pics and Dave's words takes care of the brief content of our meeting. He was/is in town for a conference and the modern "narcissistic" world brought us together. People accuse blogs of being narcissistic, but I contend that days such as these show that blogs can bring people with common interests together. I met Dave through his blog and we've shared many miles together. And if Chris were around, based on his blog, 2-wheel tendencies, and our brief meeting I have a feeling we would also share miles together. Narcissistic and insular? Perhaps. Greater means of connectivity? Depends on the context.

I'd love to take a ride on that Texas prairie some day. It's a long haul, though.

Commute

Please take a close look at the pic and notice the the bulbous object is *not* an extension of the side bag, or maybe it is sort of. I had the good fortune to commute-what day was it?- sometime this week and I did extra duty on the way home. My asst. coach has a small car and didn't want to take the tennis hopper and the cooler, so I tested whether the fatter-but-lighter of the two would fit under the straps of the side bag and it did! My team was rather unbelieving that I could still ride with it on there, but no probs except that the heat had descended for the first time this year so I got sorta hot in the last mile or so and didn't mow the grass like I should've . Now I'm going to have to pull a more epic and ride with the hopper attached to the other side as I had done earlier this Spring. Full commutability, as long as there isn't any water in the cooler; that might break the straps, bike and me.

Tennis post-season starts next week, so the chances of mileage are slim to none. Or maybe I steal a day and load up

Fancy That!

I actually commuted by bike today! I had an after-school PD, so after a casual morning commute, this afternoon my asst. took the tennis team and I rode down to 'L's school to meet him for an dual-modal bike/bus trip home. The bus came later than expected and took longer than expected so I was unable to do the extra mileage to and from the meeting. Oh well. It was 9 nice stolen, unexpected miles in the middle of the busy tennis season.

Regardless of my fancy bikes, it's been a fruitful May on 2 wheels. The upcoming schedule suggests that the end is nigh on that note, but one day summer will come and the road beckons for some interesting adventure. Today, though, was good enough.

SS Ramble

On the bike for the 3rd day in a row. I did a few miles this morning to/from coffee and later in the morning I met up with Dave on the SS for some very relaxed noodling, mostly in the parks. For some reason, he likes to go up steep hills on the SS, so it wasn't an entirely laid-back effort what with 4 hills worth of grunting. At around the same time he got a flat and I needed to come home, but a nice ride it was on the QB.

Route here.

Dawn at the Downs on Derby '11

Owners of a certain local cycling business encouraged participation in a fun early morning ride over the Churchill Downs to take a look at the track action on this Derby Day. I communicated said idea to Dave and we showed up, although the purveyors of the local cycling establishment which I've often visited did not show (they did answer texts).

Dave and I rode over easily; I felt like crap for some reason. Wine? Miles yesterday? Stomach? A bit over everything. We eventually bailed on a trip to the top of Iroquois. No, better said that *I* bailed on a trip to the top. We stopped at the Woodlawn Sunergos, but it wasn't open yet, so we rode a few more miles to the Preston Sunergos where a cup of the good stuff in combo with the fatty, sugary goodness of Nord's quickly improved the day.

After that, again slowly, we wynded through Audobon Pk to Breadworks where I bought scones for the crew and we both had more coffee. More goodness. I think we discussed a full 25 different bike projects which will never happen and generally spent an overly-early Saturday morning in excellent fashion.

Garmin route here and pics below.

Post run bath

Dawn...at the Downs.

Morning sun reflecting off the large Churchill Downs addition. Too bad the spires are dwarfed by both "upgrades" and media platforms.

Mas Amanecer

Lexington Photo Dump

We were in Lexington last weekend for our 20th reunion and I snapped a bit of bike culture while I was there.

Lexington fixie rats rolling around. Some of these hoodlums are prolly in the 'Ville as we speak for Jimmy's Derby Polo party.

blue Trucker. Nice.

Gary Fischer urban rig. Not bad.

Hard to see, by Merckx and Colnago classic stell SS/fixies. Not sure what to think about turning a beaut classic Merckx into a hipster mount, but it is what it is.

Oops. From this morning's ride in the barrio but forgot to load it.

Oaks Day noodle

Tomorrow is the Ky Derby, so that means today is Friday, Oaks Day, when the fillies run and the teachers are out of school. It has finally stopped raining, so the chances of a mega-Friday morning ride were there, but no. no. no. Dithering and waking up were the matters at hand then a ride in due time, which meant leaving around 9.00 on the QB. I had no ambitions other than spinning and eventually brown soothing liquid, nectar. Ademas, my other ambition-lite was to supersede my May '10 mileage, which I did this morning, topping 30m for the month when last May I only did 16m. Below are some images.

Goodyear blimp at Bowman

Goodyear Blimp at Bowman Field peeking through.

Cherokee Pk at its morning sunny best

developed wetlands along Beargrass Creek Trail

Turtles are back along BCT, but that water; that's just not right.

Spring Mileage

2011
January- 326
February- 325
March- 262
April- 318
= 1231

2010
January- 181
February- 206
March- 144
April- 243
= 774

2009
January- 355
February- 156
March-200
April- 115
= 826


I'm not a mileage junkie by any stretch, but I find performance to be interesting, how I apportion my time and energies year in and year out. I'm almost 500 miles up on my '10 mileage and 400 on '09. I've already enjoyed a century and 2 really great long gravel rides. My commuting is down, but obviously I'm getting rides in and it feels good. I'm looking forward to the summer when I can steal away a bit more for some long efforts. My one goal sitting here is to supersede my May '10 mileage when I had a grand total of 26 miles somehow. Today Dave and I met for a noodle ride and it felt really good, quite the contrast with the century effort. We had no plan or purpose; we just rode around, learning more than anything that river flooding remnants smell really bad. It gave me 16m, so all I need is another 11 miles and I outdo last year. I haven't popped off a really big month since July of '09, but I'm pretty motivated to put one in as well amidst the family schedule this summer. A century a month sounds fun right now, but that's more a notion than a goal.

This morning was good, though.