Troll

I've had no real action on the Troll- yes, a few interested buyers but none who pulled the trigger- so I'm taking the Troll off the market and am rebuilding it, to do what I'm not sure. I don't know whether I want to build it back as a commuted commuter, front rack it and try touring on it again, or keep it as a simple un-sprung mtbike (Fall/Winter is a good time for trails).

If anyone reads the blog and is suddenly inspired, I'll still sell you frame/fork, with headset this time to avoid labor charge on its removal. Or perhaps I'll ride it around enough to take a re-liking to it. It *is* a fun ride, just not quite the ride I need.

Commutes

Yesterday was  very efficient day going car-mostly-free. Allow me to explain:

• To and from work for a total of 14.5 miles. The temps are absurdly warm, so in the morning I only needed a light jacket and in the afternoon it as downright warm.
• The dauphin had his first day of club soccer practice- let's hope it's a more productive experience than his non-season with his high school team- so I needed to drive him the 8m or so to the site. Also, the car has been emitting this buzzing sound the past 2-3 weeks, so I needed to get it into the shop while under warranty. Fortunately the soccer fields and dealer (under warranty, remember?) are quite close, so I dropped off, dropped the car off, and then had some time to do a lazy, meandering return leg through Seneca and home. 
• Bonus: I picked up a 4-pack of Dogfish Head 90min IPA on the way home. Expensive as hell, but I think that's the single best bottled beer I can think of.
• The wife and #2 had to pick #1 up from practice in the car, so on the way home they stopped at the pizza parlor near the house. I jumped back on the bike for round 3 of my car-mostly-free day.

29 miles/5 legs/1 bike- Sogn with dyno made the morning and evening legs all the easier. I am always on record as loving dyno lights.

Waverly

I dragged Dave out of his slumber on onto his Fargo for a mountain bike ride this morning. I wish I could do a play-by-play and capably paint the experience in images and words, but I can't. We had a great time carving the Waverly trails, which were designed like many in the Midwest to celebrate the concept of "flow". They're never too terribly hard, technical or assaultive, so the truly cool kids tend to grumble a bit at their sedate nature. But this "flow" also allows we mortals to grip it and rip it through the many banks, swoops, turns, bridges, berms and generally fun runs.

Waverly has three basic trails, Fresh Air which takes in the front portion of the park and includes a fun downhill as well as the toughest climb, Clinic Loop which is a varied trail with downhills, some roots and effectively links front and back, and Twisty Bends at the back, which as its name suggests is twisty with more technical features.
We took in part of Fresh Air, leaving out the more technical creek crossings and climb, bombed down the Clinic downhill, did TwistyBends, back up through Clinic and to the parking lot for a breather- I did another FreshAir segment- and then we bombed another ClinicLoop descent to finish out our day. I thoroughly enjoyed myself and think Dave did too. It was worth the extra drive (20min) and worth the change in scenary from the usual Cherokee/Seneca rooty, twisty routes.

cycLOUvia

Louisville's first cycLOUvia went off Sunday afternoon. Like the original in Bogota and with subsequent versions, a 3-mile section of local thoroughfare Bardstown Rd.was closed for Sunday afternoon to motorized traffic. The younger son and I carved a bit of time to take a gander, mostly after waiting out some potential rain that never quite happened.

 The event itself was fun and unique, with two immediate observations. First, it was some of the most dangerous cycling I've done. I liken it to riding a bike on pinballs or while being shot at by Nerf guns. I don't know if the pics best depict the number of children, walkers, skateboarders or whatnot, all running willy-nilly to and fro in all directions. I felt for sure that I would either hit or be hit at any moment. Given his cycling experience, the Younger did a great job on the Crosscheck negotiating things. Secondly, it was fun for its unique quality. I wouldn't want that to define my cycling experience, but every now and then I think it's worth spicing things up and bringing attention to non-cars for a change.

 Here is a local newsprint article and a TV package. L and I came by a videoreporter filming the street but we didn't get in the footage.

Cellphone image pretty crappy. Grey skies didn't help. North from "beer zone" in front of Cumberland Brews.

North from EasternPkwy. 

Some of L's images below:

Unicycle man

Sunday Training

A few of the boys and I went for a training ride yesterday morning. Nothing much more to it other than waiting for the skies to open on such a blustery day, but they never did. I would imagine our day felt like one of those standard 30mph "breezes" they feel in the Midwest, with lots of swirling headwind, but, boy, when you get going downwind like we did on Southern Parkway, it surely is fun at 22mph. Made me feel like a racer.

 Dave and Asher were game for a 47m loop which eventually became a 33m one due to a variety of factors, but that's alright. I make note here-10/14/12- I finally had a strong ride for the first time in forever. Well, I've had some other recent rides where I could stomp a bit. Yesterday I felt like I could attack the climbs a bit more. The fitness is slowly creeping back after a pretty anonymous Nov'11-Aug'12 run when I *never* felt strong and sometimes rather peaked. We'll see where it goes, but better than whining.

 

Cherokee

Life has been rather busy this week with soccer and meetings, so I spent no time on 2 wheels T or W unfortunately. Yesterday afternoon we had a brief window post-work and pre-meal, so while the wife ran an errand, I jumped on the mtbike and sprinted through a Cherokee loop, pushing myself at times and almost ending up in a 4-ft creek. Strava, as many of our cycling brethren now know, is what is it. I'm too "grounded" to the earth (i.e. fat) to set any speed records, what with all the anorexic whippet boys and girls, but I find that the site does a nice job of motivating myself against myself, especially on the Seneca/Cherokee mtbike trails. Last night I rode pretty hard and my results reflected that effort- 4 new PRs for me. Interesting, though, that some previous trail rides this past Spring or in '11, rides without the impetus of "ride hard for Strava!".  were within seconds of these groveled PRs.

I guess blithe fitness will do that for you. A good 50 minutes it was amid the flurry of family.

 

Riding

Mycyclinglog.com doesn't seem to be revving up tonight, so I need to keep my mileage here to transfer later.

Sunday:

• Douglass Loop- 2m- For coffee. Actually I drove the first time but rode up the 2nd. It was that kind of morning.
• Douglass Loop-3m- In the afternoon to meet M.Robinson to sell him the used Kinesis fork and headset. I threw in a 1" stem for good measure.

Monday:

• morning commute- 6m- Straightforward
• afternoon commute- 7m- almost as straighforward. I was heading for a bit of mileage in the parks or on Beargrass Trail but I was tired and turned for home.
• MVSC ride- 12.7m-'L' has practice on Mondays at 6, so as I've done a few other times, I rode for about 50min. Other nights I took the IF out for a 1hr time-trial. Tonight I used the BR and its dynolight to ride a steady, good tempo, ending with a 15.8avg, which is good for me. The Garmin wouldn't lock on at the start of the ride, so I estimate it at around 13m.

NSEW

Just another sunny breezy day in the Louisville basin. After a decent warm-up I raised the tempo a bit on the IF and found that every which way I turned I faced a headwind, not a Midwestern 40mph gale, mind you, but enough to keep me from really amping up the speed. I had kicked around a 50 on Friday, but finally came down to a 7-mile ride with 'L', with him on the Crosscheck. Yes, he fits on the CC. That was fun and I'd love to do it every day but it wasn't very fitness-based. This morning I had more designs for 50 but it ended up being half that, a breezy tempo road ride on the fancy bike under blue skies, enough exercise to slow me down and let me watch a little Real Madrid sans hyperactivity.