Tex's Luavull Cycling

The KHS

2008-07-19T18:39:00.002-04:00

No, it's not a new bike; it was part of my cycling adventure today. After swapping UltraGatorskins and Pasela TGs via the Crosscheck and Blueridge, 'L' got an invite to play at a friend's house in the neighborhood. I suggested a ride and both boys gladly jumped at the chance. On the way back' Z' and I played ping-pong at church. In between, I test rode a new 26"/15" frame KHS mt. bike with slicks and a front fork. It happened to be 'Z's' bike, much to his dismay. I had just put the Gatorskins on the CC and rode that. At Bardstown and Blvd Napolean- 1.3m from the house- I got a massive and noisy rear flat tire. 'L' and 'Z' were on the sidewalk of the busy B'town. I heard what I thought was the Satanic fan belt of someone behind me. I waited for it to pass, but instead felt that non-lovin' feeling. It was the quandry b/c the boys were with me and we were supposed to be going to his friend's house. Plan B ensued. We rode back up to church. I left Z there with the Crosscheck to wait for his mother, who was supposed to come and let us in the play pingpong. I then rode with L to his friend's house, me styling on the small frame mtbike. It didn't ride too badly, but boy that seat was terrible. The tires were quality city tires and I thought the front suspension fork did a nice job smoothing those city bumps. I noticed the cockpit was a bit cramped, and my largeness perhaps created a bit too much rebound in the fork, but I delivered L and returned to church almost exactly at the time when the good wife was arriving. We played pingpong for 45 and then returned home via the Lakeside route, me riding at first and then walking.

En route I ran into 'Tomassini'. He works at the Bike Depot. I ran into him on a ride with 'Alberto' on June 5. He was riding his tricked-out Rivendell custom home from work. That's quite the commuter bike, don't you think? I admired his various shellacked parts, b/c I just shellacked the Bleriot tape today for the first time. We might plan a RivRide sometime for this fall, he on his shiny RBW and me on my shiny Bleriot. Should be a dandy day, don't you think? He had a Baggins bag on his, and I rather liked the color combo, much as I like the general usefulness of the Carradice.

da 'Ville

2008-07-19T15:12:00.001-04:00

Local scene was mentioned in a MSNBC report (see sidebar "infrastructure) with some othe heavy hitters for developing bike infrastructure in these gas-heavy times. Go 'Ville!

H.W.and Be Like 'Sconny

2008-07-19T12:14:00.003-04:00

Since Sunday's long ride I haven't done too much on the bike, only some really short trips herenthere, with a longer herenthere on Tuesday. The fam spent the day at our annual trip to Holiday World yesterday, where much fun was had by all. We followed our usual plan, morning on rides, afternoon in the water park and finishing up in the evening with rides and pizza for supper. I had to drag 'Z' onto the Voyage; he's a slow starter. Once we rode he loved it and rode it again. I got slightly sick going on the slowest ride of all time, the Eagles. It took me a couple hours to settle the stomach down. I just do not spin for any reason whatsoever. The water park was busier than the regular one, but with temps in the 90s, that's no surprise. We rode a few of the big slides and then goofed around in the lazy river and wave pool. While they were in the wave pool, I feel asleep in the shade where I had some of the best sleep of the week. After playing in the new water playground we left for more roller coasters, including another trip on the Voyage. The 3rd trip for me was much better b/c I relaxed, kept the hands up and let the ride take me instead of keeping in control. I found that I flopped around much more comfortably instead of being tense and banging everything. The good wife and 'L' also got one more trip, in the dark and with the lights on, on the Raven. It such a great "little" park, clean, pleasant and friendly and not terribly expensive. I even had thoughts at some point to camp out afterwards and ride home today (at around 85m), but I'm not quite ready for that yet. Tomorrow we go to Maysville for a visit. I won't be able to rdie there (visiting, right?), but I might do an alternative Lou-Frankfort and get picked up again. My break will be getting very busy very soon, so I don't know how many long rides are in the future, but the regular commuting miles will certainly have an uptick.

As usual, I'm the thief who rides trends instead of creating them. In case case, I found a clever little gizmo (widget, as it were) on 'Sconnyboy's blog. It is from Trek, and Trek did seem to screw over my fav LBS, but 'Sconnyboy is wise in pointing out that every little bit does help. "Be the Change" or at least "Model the Change".

Ordenadores

2008-07-16T22:47:00.002-04:00

The family, and specifically myself, went from one seriously wack computer on Monday to 2 computers as of today, both of which are honking fast. Monday afternoon we purchased a new HP at Office Depot. I know. It's lame, gauche, cliche and suburban, but as much as I can turn the thing on and fiddle, I don't know shit about computers, and the family, let's say, less. Henceforth we had to go mainstream. I also giggle(d) at students who preached and preached the merits of Ubuntu. I just say to them, "right, right. we'll all drink the kool-aid soon enough". As much of a contrarian as I am about transportation, you would think I would be the same about computers and drink the Apple drink too, but no. Work stuff is too enmeshed with PCs to take that plunge. I just check and iMacs start at $1199. We bought a 500gig/3meg HP for mid $300s. Granted, we already had the monitor, but that's some difference.

HP further came into my world today at a work PD (Professional Development), what in the old days was "in-service". Through some kind of grant, the school system is providing every teacher in our county his/her own tablet computer, an HP Tablet. It has a swiveling display, tablet-writable surface with writing recognition, lots of ed-friendly capabilities, and plus it's fast to boot. And with it they provided us- those who did not have one- an Epson projector. It's a pretty spectacular setup. I have already used projectors quite a bit in my classes, but I will use it all the time, at least for short spells. I've noticed in education that these bells and whistles can't replace a good teacher/student rapport, but I can certainly open eyes to other parts of the world, and of course use the many web resources out there.

The only difficulty now is getting the personal data from the old, dead computer. The hard drive is viable, provided it's clean, but the monitor/video card is all fubar'ed, so it will be dicey getting it lifted. With the PD today and a late bday party after (for 'L'), I didn't get a chance to ride until the boys and I met wife/mother at Buckheads for a quick bite to eat. That's another 2m commuting, and the boys were very enthusiastic. That's good. I'm planning for long rides for this weekend, but no 250m extravaganzas seem to on the horizon. And NY is around the corner for next week.

New trails

2008-07-15T18:52:00.002-04:00

My 21m errands ride was bisected with a little minor exploration in St. Matthews. While trying to find a back way into the mall- you know how those malls are never bike friendly- I happened upon St. Matthews Park. I knew the ball fields were there; it's Little League is well-known locally. Behind it, though is a a little patch of wilderness with a paved loop and several dirt paths intersected somewhat randomly. I took one of these trails only to bash my open toes (Teva's) on a log. No damage, but I seemed to have partially removed my big toe toenail. Oh well. I followed one path and ended up throug the fence and right next to the Watterson Xpressway, albeit hidden in the trees on the downslope. I was hoping the little path would go somewhere, but it eventually ended in a thicket where I'm sure the local youths light up or drink up well-hidden from their parents. I retreated and explored a bit more before going home. I also took in a bit of a trail in Seneca as well. Just keeping things from being too terribly mundane.

I'm sure I'll get poison ivy again.

Casey mixed loop

2008-07-15T08:50:00.032-04:00

I'm blogging about this ride a solid week later b/c of the computer glitch, err, total malfunction. Last Monday 'Z' had camp in Casey Co., the joint we usually visit during 'family camp' on Labor Day. Because it's such a ripe area of serious rural riding, I made arrangements for me to take 'Z' to camp and then to take an epic ride out in the middle of nowhere, "texture" included. Some out there think blogging is narcissistic and a waste of time, but I've been inspired by others out there to do something different, whether it be "mixed rides" or a S24O. I haven't done the 2nd yet, but I'm looking for ways to do the first. Casey Co., because it's so rural, still has some unpaved roads, and bychance they're centered around long climbs to the tops of the knobs in the area. Really, I had spent alot of time trying to find the right combo of road and route. given my fitness, time and ability to not get myself in trouble. I decided on one that was 49 miles, but one that had flexibility to change the route around a bit.

Long Hollow Loop
Find more Bike Rides in Louisville, Kentucky

I started at Middelsburg Elementary school and headed north to Patsy Riffe Ridge Rd. This became part of the most momentous first 5 miles I've ridden in a while. 2 miles away from my departure I faced a super steep climb. I was on the LHT, so I had lots of low gears to explore, but the road was quite narrow and right in the first steep switchback I heard a car behind me, a red mini-SUV that I would encounter multiple times again. I moved aside the best I could so they could pull through and I completely lost momentum and ended up stopped on the side, on the steepest section possible. I tried to get going but couldn't, so in the first 2 miles I was already walking up a hill. Bummer! The route I chose had several more climbs, so I hoped it didn't forecast my efforts for the rest of the day. I remounted part of the ways up the hill when I could and then heard distant thunder rumblings, but the skies were neutrally gray, so I didn't think anything more of it, "hey, summer humidity, right?". A mile further I felt the first big raindrops, so I stopped and made sure I was watertight. I had my camera, wallet and old-school GPS, none of which I wanted soaked. I proceeded another mile, mile 4, when the heavens opened, and I mean opened wide with great fury. I stopped next to a cemetary, a very isolated cemetary, and put on my rain cape and hat. The red SUV passed me again at this point. I shoved off into the rain and got soaked, feetfullofwater soaked. The rain was further enhanced by the opportunity of descending off Patsy Riffe Rd., which was a super-steep descent down twists, turns and lots of gravel on the road. Frankly, it scared me to death. At the bottom I saw the red SUV waiting, perhaps knowing I was falling off the 'knob', giving me some space. By the time I reached my next turn at the end of 5 miles, I had stopped either 3 or 4 times and had walked partially up a hill. I hoped it would improve.

The next portion of my route took me towards the more isolated areas, and I saw the red SUV again, and again in what I presumed to be their driveway. They waved and I waved back, bringing our brief but humorous relationship to and end. The bucolic scenary on this ridge couldn't have been better. At the end of this road I found this most excellent sign informing me of things to come. Needlesstosay, I descended.

This put me going north on Upper Brush Creek Rd. As is the case, I'm sure, in many rural areas, road signs are often absent, and sometimes road names on local signage and those on googlemaps or yahoomaps disagree, as was the case @ Beech Bottom, where the signs were virtually non-existent. For that reason I prefer to use a map instead of just a cue sheet, especially in the KY boonies. This portion of the route was one of my favorites. It followed up the creek into the hills, so on my left I had occassional views of an attractive creek, but to my right I had the cliffside of the local knobs. Occasionally I encountered a bridge, this one is state of semi-repair.

These "cliffsides" were covered with wild hydrangea, something I've never seen before. As a gardener with 4-5 hydrangeas in various parts of the yard, I really enoyed seeing them in their natural setting.

Occasionally, the terrain opened up to a diversifed blend (oxymoronic?) of wildflowers and grasses needing to be cut. I have no pic of this b/c of some rain, but there were great fields of white Queen Anne's Lace, purple wild phlox, yellow Black Eyed Susan, and brown and green grasses of all heights. My favorite gardening scene is of this native blend of flora, and I wish I had tried to get one pic, but it wouldn't have done it justice. Sometimes I encountered fauna instead of flora.

At the north end of Upper Brush Creek my route became more interesting. I alluded to some map mysteries a few weeks back about a magical road- either Slate Hill Church by some or B. Russell on others. This was to be my cut-through, but also my first batch of "mixed terrain", the reason for which I brought the LHT. I had no real clue if we were talking quaint, refined gravel or rock fit for a 4x4. I turned left on Slate Hill Church Rd. to find that the road was going to be very rocky and difficult. And right off the road it went straight uphill, one fit for the burro and not for me. But I was ready for some "adventure". A few yards up the hill I found a sinister sign.

Beginning of Slate Hill Church Rd. Seems benign enough.

Up the hill into the darkness. With the stones and pitch, I couldn't have ridden this.

Once I saw this, I REALLY couldn't have ridden this. I turned around.

That made the decision quite simple, to bypass my cut-through and going a little further north to link up to Long Hollow Rd. My mystery was solved when I found the back portion of Slate Hill on LH Rd. I was pleased to solve the map mystery. These "Shooting Preserve" signs continued up Long Hollow as well. I guess they like shooting guns.

It would've worked as a cut-through. It would've been adventurous, clambering over the rocks and fighting my way down deserted, dark and scary "roads". But it also would've been stupid and I certainly didn't have the guts for it. Long Hollow was as it sounds, a hollow between knobs.

I love pics of ruins for some reason. I'm fascinated by the history and by the notion of a seemingly functional dweeling that just goes to waste.

My maps told me that at some point the road was going up and going gravel, so I just made steady progress until that happened. And it did. The road conditions here weren't too terribly bad. The climb was quite steep, but the gravel of fine quality and very ridable. I did walk one little portion, but otherwise made it all the way up into a very desolate, or at least isolated area. There weren't any houses nor real sign of human life save the road and a bit of clearing. I think this area is often used for timber. And again, road signs were non-existent, so I used the map to find the appropriate turn onto Shuck's Creek.

Long Hollow Rd.

Mixed terrain begins

Climb with "texture", oh and really steep too.

After a quick downhill I casually descended down Shuck's Creek, the legs all the while tiring out. The combo of hills and rain had sapped my energy a bit more than I had planned. I stopped underneath an unfinished construction of some sort, ate a Clifbar, drank some water and plotted my return. I was a little too tired to loop south to Liberty, so I cut my losses and headed towards my starting point, taking Smith Road instead of returning via my previous route. This proved to be an excellent choice. Smith Road ended up having another steep, "textured" climband 3771 had some of the nicest ridge-top scenary of the ride. This route did have me on the busy 127 for a mile or so, but my return proved safe and without traffic difficulties. When I pulled in I was bushed and soggy, but it was a great day and an excellent adventure deep in the middle of nowhere. I assumed this area wasn't often visited, but at the end I noticed 'Dan Henrys' on the road past Middlesburg. I guess somebody else found Casey Co. to be fun to ride in as well.

Looking down the cut-through atop Shuck's Creek.

Where the texture ends at the top of the Smith Road climb.

I've always liked this old-fashioned bank in Middlesburg. It just seems to be from a passed era.

rides

2008-07-14T19:15:00.004-04:00

Tues 7/8 3m w/ 'L'
Wed 7/9 26m in parks
Thur 7/10 15m w/ los Sprawls in the a.m.
Fri 7/11 20m mtbike ride in Cherokee
Sat 7/12 6.5m w/ 'L' and mom to Farmers' Market, through neighborhood and to Breadworks
Mon 7/14 5.5m w/ boys cruising the 'hood and behind the zoo
3m to Mom's and a beverage run

Virus

2008-07-14T18:00:00.002-04:00

Our computer was infected by a certain, let's say, younger member of the family, rendering everything quite flummoxed. Furthermore, there was a monitor, video card/port etc etc. malfunction, so instead of paying for a the new hardware on a 5 yr-old computer, we bit the bullet and purchased a new one, only the tower mind you. I realized how unfortunately computer dependent I am. Regardless of the blog, that means so internet for anything, weather, Tour, futbol, gardening articles, news, etc. It's really tough, although maybe illustrative of how time can be better used.

I've actually taken several nice rides since last Saturday's 60 miler to Frankfort, and will have update over the next several days.

Breakfast @ The Championships

2008-07-06T11:28:00.002-04:00

I'm bummed. After getting back in from Lex last night at 1.30, I made the plan to get up, get coffee and a danish and sit down at watch Federer win his 6th straight Wimbledon. Instead, the bull Rafa Nadal has taken the first 2 sets and looks to be too powerful, too rock solid for Roger to achieve that. I like Rafa a lot. He's respectful, humble. He plays a great game and he's a real pleasure to watch. That said, I've never seen a more graceful, beautiful tennis player than Federer and I want to see him break Sampras' mark of 14 grand slams. If Roger loses today, I can see him not achieving that. There are SO many examples of tennis "lights" where, when they burn out, they burn out quickly: Borg, McEnroe, Edberg, Courier, Sampras less so b/c he seemed to always win Wimbledon. Rafa is a true beast and perhaps Roger won't be able to eclipse him anymore. Perhaps he will, nonetheless, it bums me out a bit.

Oh, and the Tour started yesterday. 'Balaverde' won. Yippee! Right?

Lou/Frankfort

2008-07-06T08:37:00.013-04:00

Date: July 5 Sat
Mileage: 60 (Bleriot)
July mileage: 152
Year to date: 1136

The plan all worked out very well. We have friends in Lexington we haven't seen in a long time, too long, so we were to visit them Saturday. We weren't going until the afternoon and there were no Sat a.m. plans either, like soccer or tball, so a ride ensued. I copied a portion of my Lou/Lex ride I did many years ago, and added a rural twist to give me a 60-miler from Louisville to Frankfort. I left earlier in the morning and the fam picked me up in Frankfort on the way, just off the interstate at Starbucks. It all worked out really well and I give the ride a solid 'A'.

Bleriot, with rain jacket affixed to Nelson Longflap and Kleen Kanteen extra bottle in side pocket. I stopped here at this church to put on the rain jacket only 6m from home.

Foggy, misty, rainy. You can barely see the "bike lane" sign in this, and a crappy bike lane it is. I rode to the right, where the pavement was cleaner.

Leaving in the a.m. I was confronted with coolish temps- 63F- and lots of fog. Fog quickly begat drizzle, which quickly begat rain. I stopped 6m in to put on my rain jacket, one of those horrendous polypro clear jackets, you know, the shower curtains. I also pulled out the RBW cap for rain purposes too. The first 10 miles was mostly getting through Louisville, but once you hit Rehl Rd. just outside J'town, the ride became a purely rural ride of the best kind. This route also follows the old "farm" ride.

At corner of 148 and Clark Station Rd. I'm sure other places have epic vistas, but central KY is awfully pretty to bike in.

My parents owned a ranchette in Shelby Co. outside the 'Ville. I rode this house-to-farm route several times when they had it. It's 26m or so, and back in the day I made the trip in well under 2hr. Now,.... They divorced and it was sold, but what a piece of heaven: 36 acres, nice house, fields, tractor rides, hiking, biking, mom's garden, solitude, parties, holidays. This place had it all.

Entrance with no improvements, except additional "No Trespassing" signs. I always had problems with this thick gravel, but I was riding 25c tires back then.

At around mile 26 I passed by the gate of the farm. The terrain along this route is pretty indicative of much of my area of the Bluegrass. It's just constant little dips and rollers and creek downhills and uphills. To conserve energy and maintain form I made sure to spin up the hills. It was strange, the setup. Because the fam was scheduled to pick me up at a certain time, I had to manage my time, pace and form differently than normal. I've often bitched, moaned and complained on this blog that I'm a 1-2hr cyclist, much to my dismay. I rarely pop off longer rural rides even though I would like to more. So, I didn't know what kind of form or pace I would have. I didn't like being "under the gun" until I arrived at my store stop. I knew at that point that I was making good time and not taxed. If I need to speed up, I could've, but I didn't.

Creek near 'farm', accessible from the rear corner of the property

The twisty roads around my drink stop in Waddy also displayed some really strange rural art. I saw 7 or 8 of these weird pieces. I really don't have any clue what they are, but it was sort of fun to see them.

Miles 40ish-55ish were my favorite for the new terrain and generally qualities of the ride. The skies cleared up. The roads were very empty, curvy, twisty, shaded, not too steep. I just rolled along. At first I was surprised to see such a (gaudy) manse on S. Benson Rd. in the middle of nowhere, but I then encountered other estates and deduced that, hey, it's near the capital and that lobbyist and road contractor $$ has to go somewhere.

Once I neared Frankfort Evergreen Rd. was a bit busy. I turned on to Lawrenceburg Rd., which is the old road that 127 now replaces. I expected this to be pretty busy, being near civilization and the interstate, but this 2-3 mile stretch was again devoid of traffic and very scenic. The last 2m was along a very busy 127 into fast food alley. I stayed on the shoulder and hoped for no flats. I also had to negotiate the every present death trap of the interstate interchange. These are diabolical, but I didn't hit too much traffic and pulled though. Per plans, I found the Starbucks and obliged myself one of their free tables outside. I listed to the iPod and read a little of of the Best of World Cafe, a compendium of interviews from that excellent NPR music show. And to finish the day, we had a great visit with out good friends.

My own Freedom

2008-07-04T11:57:00.003-04:00

Date: July 4 Fri
Mileage: 34 (Trek400)
July mileage: 92
Year to date: 1076

What a great morning for a comfortable bike ride. With the holiday, the streets and roads were quite empty and this gave me the opportunity to do a loop I rarely try now. The LBC Tuesday night ride for many years left Cherokee, rode out Rudy Ln., then out River Rd. to Prospect and back. Now, not only does the club forgo this ride, but the ever-helpful KyBikeRides doesn't eve have a cue sheet for it. Prospect is one of those suburb/exurb areas that has become unbikable. River Rd., a KY Scenic Byway , is merely a long, straight, flat commuter road between the McMansions of Prospect and downtown. Instead of taking KY42 to the Watterson or 71, they just fill a "scenic byway" with lots of pissy SUVs, with an occasional redneck thrown in for good measure.

The holiday gave me the freedom to do this ride this morning. Now that I think, 'Lance' and I spent a month or 2 doing this route (plus extension) back in '99, so in 10 years it's gone from a prime cycling route to a meta-highway. It rained quite a bit overnight and was still piddling this morning, so I dragged the Trek out for a soaking. The last time I tried the Trek heinous sounds came from the pedal/bb area, so before I left I took off and regreased the pedal axles. It didn't seem to help too much until about 3 miles in when I noticed the noise had gone, so I guess it worked. With the rain, I also had the good fortune to give my new RBW cycling cap a workout, underneath the helmet mind you.

RBW guy, not me. I'm fatter. But my cap is orange.

My route out was straightforward: Seneca/RudyLn./LimeKiln/Prospect. Now that I had a good hour of "cycling" in, I decided I would goof around a little on the return. I have a work friend who lives in Prospect; her husband is a dry-waller, so I assume the construction boom of the '90s/'00s helped them to buy a house with a big lot in "Valhalla", as I call the area when I speak to her. She's a good sport, but flaming Republicans tend to stick out in educational fields. Remember, we're public servants who enjoy the largesse of the welfare state. Enough of that. I rode by her house and then through a table-top flat subdivision that is named for the farm it engulfed. Gotta love it. After that, I passed through Hays-Kennedy park to get to Garvin Brown Nature Preserve. There aren't good web resources for this little preserve, but it's formerly a farm that's right on the river. I've had notions of doing a stealth camping trip there, but at the entrance gate off the city park there is an obvious sign "No Camping" and being a public servant I sort of follow laws sometimes. We'll see. Here is a series of someone else's pics in fall.

Although the morning weather was probably considered inclement by many, I found that the 70F rainy day provided a spectacular opportunity to see the river at the Preserve. It's right at the end of what I believe is called 6 Mile Island, which I just found out is a state nature preserve. It's at a point in the river when you begin to leave some of the industry behind, so you can get very natural views of a great river. From there I came home. A great day, and a great day of freedom to ride without being accosted. Is that such an unreasonable request?

Nats

2008-07-03T20:25:00.002-04:00

Date: July 3 Thurs
Mileage: 5.5(9.2.5.)
July mileage: 58.5
Year to date: 1042.5

The boys and I took a little neighborhood ramble through Seneca Gds to Cherokee para see part of the Masters Nats. We saw a tandem race, one that was sort of confusing b/c there were man/man, woman/woman and man/woman. (I could make comments here, but it's a family blog). The groups were dispersed across the course, so I never knew who was in front, but we were perched on a hill I often ride in Cherokee, so it was nice to see real cyclists climb for a change. After a brief bit of viewing we took on a short section of a mtbike trail, all downhill. I'm pretty sure it was the first time they've been on a "real" trail. They had a good enough time that we'll have to go again. I was on the fixie with 30c tires, so that made for an interesting way down. I had a confrontation with a kid/young man/asshole on the way home. He cut the corner at a stop sign. I yelled. He yelled back. I yelled more and used some colorful language offering him the opportunity to "dialogue". I'm a pretty non-violent guy, but when assholes threaten my kids' safety, I'm ready to bar brawl with the best of them. I should have remained calm and gotten his plate; that would've been the best thing to do to set an example for the boys. Live and learn.

Ride/Commute

2008-07-02T11:09:00.002-04:00

Date: July2 Wed
Mileage: 17.5 (CC)
8 (9.2.5.)
July mileage: 53
Year to date: 1037

Took a ride with los Sprawls again this morning, fortunately at a more reasonable pace. I found out today that R did some racing in his youth, as D has done more recently. D, in addition to doing the 30m club ride last night, did a 40m training ride with a group yesterday morning at 5.30, ending with a 20+mph pace. That's really damn fast. Today was nice and calm and worth getting up for.

Just now I took a ride over to the sleep doctor's office for a follow-up. My numbers look good using the CPAP machine. I'm getting more and better sleep, something which should positively affect the rest of my health. Something he told me today was that when a person gets poor sleep, their metabolism slows, which in turn affects people's weight and calorie consumption. That's about as bad a Catch-22 as I've heard.

LBC Ass-kicking!

2008-07-01T20:39:00.005-04:00

Date: July1 Tues
Mileage: 27 (RB-1)
July mileage: 27
Year to date: 1011 (that's what Excel says, so that's what I'm going with)

I was brutalized on the club ride tonight- the proverbial "Tuesday Night Worlds". Los Sprawls gave the invite. Instead of doing their morning ride they were doing the evening one. This is probably the single largest ride of the week for the club. In fact, it got so big a year or 2 ago that the racy set split off into their own gig; they actually took the "Worlds" mantle with them, but the usual club ride is still quite fast, at least for me. D and R usually take things a bit slower in the mornings, but tonight they wanted to mix it up, so we charged along an aggressive pace until I popped off. I told D that when I was ready to 'pop', I was going to do just that, and did. I got 19m in before I just had to pull of and shorten the trip home. And during those 19m, I constantly rode wheels too. It was fun, though, and good to do every now and then. Although my avg when I pulled was only 16.4, that's deceptive b/c the route is from St. Matthews, through the parks, and downtown, so it's one of constantly start and stops. It seemed like every time I look at my computer I was doing 18-23mph, but the start/stop disrupts the rhythm. It certainly felt fast.

The gear observation of the evening is that I might just be ready to part with the RB-1. I never ride it, and tonight reaffirmed why. It's a racing bike, and I don't race. It's position is quite flung over and forward, quite low. The seat sucks balls. The rear cluster is tiny and the chainrings don't help with a 53/40. After seeing days of 1.75" contis, 30c Grand Bois, or 32 Paselas, the 23c contis on the Bridgestone look a little silly with my big ass teetering on them. I'm sure I could doctor it up and make something useful, but why mess up it's true nature, that of a classic steel racing bike? I'm curious what it might bring in and on the iBob market. I'm not really doing it for the $$; I just have enough bikes and this one needs a rider that it deserves, not some butterball of commuterdom.

Long Hollow Road

2008-06-30T22:04:00.002-04:00

I'm absolutely wasting my time on the computer, but at the same time I found an amazing resource, at least one to use to explore very desolate, outoftheway KY roads. I've been planning a 'mixed-terrain' ride out of Casey Co. when I take Z to camp next week. I've had some trouble b/c the KY state maps don't agree with googlemaps or yahoomaps. The state map shows Slate Hill road as ending before reaching Long Hollow Rd. I need that as the cut through. While beating around state gov't sites I find this interactive map, much like googlemaps, but one that includes so much more territory than googlemaps. I don't know about your homestead, but googlemaps (and yahoomaps) don't include such detail of rural KY areas. This map does. On this enhanced map below, you can see Slate Hill Rd. ending not too many yards before reaching the other. I also seem some dirt/gravel paths that may connect. Will I get mowed down by a 12-gauge? Will I be attached by vicious dogs? Can I make the connection? Aside from this one spot, these rides are in the 40m range, and include 'mixed terrain' and some nasty steep knobs climbs. I may like the mystery of the map more than the suffering of the ride, but the pics afterwards would be fun, wouldn't they?

Las Multiples Espanas

2008-06-30T15:43:00.002-04:00

I alluded in an entry a few weeks ago about Phil Ball's commentary on political problems within the Spanish seleccion. Today Phil presents us with another insightful comment in the aftermath of Spain's big win. Here we have left back/pretty boy Sergio Ramos wearing his tribute up top to Puerta. On the bottom, though, he is proudly wearing the flag of Andalucia (in extreme south of Spain). It's as if I won worlds' road race and decided to wave a Kentucky flag instead of the stars and stripes. It's just sort of a weird gesture. Phil importantly brings up another "what if". What if someone from the Catalan faction, say Puyol, wore the Catalan flag? or Basque Xavi Alonso the ikurrina? we'd be talking, as Phil states it, civil war. Imagine a southern sports player, especially a white one (well, only a white one) breaking out the stars-n-bars at a sporting celebration, a worldwide one at that. It's just strange. I also saw Marcos Senna wearing a flag I assumed that was of Brazilian descent. Again, strange. Would that "traitoress" basketball player break out a US flag if Russia won the Olympics? Again, just strange.

The aftermath

2008-06-30T09:36:00.003-04:00

Date: June 30 Mon
Mileage: 17 (Bleriot)
June mileage: 379
Year to date: 977

got in some quick miles this a.m. before the crew got going. 'L' and the good wife are going to Holiday World today, which leaves me and le dauphin here all alone. it's actually a pretty cold day to be doing water parks- 63F and overcast right now. I wore the Tevas today on the ride and the toes got a little cold here and there. the parks are now festooned with closure signs; the Masters Nationals will be here this weekend, as they were a few years ago. last time i only caught a couple minutes of the road race, but this time i'll take more in. today i got a grin out of a roadie on golf course hill. one passed me to the right, the other to the left (poor form if you ask me). they were in the big ring standing and grinding out the climb. i dropped a sprocket and caught up to them for a while. they had a little talk and semi-sprinted up the rest of the climb. i hope their pride is satisfied.

I was going to provide some links to commentaries of Spain's big win yesterday. Instead I'll just mention Grant Wahl's b/c his entries are always quality. Outside of that, I think I'll just use my time more productively.

Lo Han Hecho

2008-06-29T19:18:00.002-04:00

The picture says it all, San Iker el Capitan holding the Eurocup aloft after a brilliant victory in the final vs. Germany 1-0. And to his right, our left, Sergio Ramos wearing a t-shirt remembering, commemorating his fallen Sevillano Antonio Puerta. I can scarcely believe that I wasn't really a futbol fan until watching the World Cup 2 years ago this summer. I thought it was a great team effort, with El Nino provided the difference, but with Iniesta and Senna controlling the pace in the midfield and Puyol the stopper in the back. Other than Ballack's one feeble attempt, Germany was never really in the attack, understanding that every time the service went in the air, I was mortified of one of those Teutonic giants, especially Mertesacker, swooping in for the equalizer. I thought about ordering a nat'l jersey online, but instead I'm going to wait for my next trip to la peninsula. I'm already excited about World Cup 2010, and why not? The balance of this team is quite young, as long as Puyol can hang on until then. I think La Furia can be a force, with Torres, Fabregas, Casillas and Ramos even better by then. Exciting stuff!! Vamos!!!!

Errands

2008-06-29T12:51:00.003-04:00

Date: June 28 Sat
Mileage: 7 (Bleriot)
June mileage: 362
Year to date: 960

In my haste to do a brief Saturday ride report from the p.m. Crosscheck ride, I forgot about my morning of errand riding with the boys. 'L' and I rode up to Breadworks for coffee and a muffin in the morning. Later I dragged the every-lazy 'Z' to ride to 'L's' baseball game and then home. 2 very simple neighborhood errand rides netted me 7 extra miles, a few or which make up for me driving them to church today. BTW, I had to fill the truck up with gas on the way to church. How much, you ask? $92.75. I like the stories of Doug sans car or Pete who always seems to ride or everybody's fav commuter king Kent. I at least know Doug and Kent use their cars almost never (does Kent ever drive?). I have a big, fat Toyota Tundra, which I love for carrying people, but also which pains me each and every time I get in it. I paid $4.23/gallon, a pretty amazing price if you ask me. Ridiculous! I'm speechless, really, speechless mostly b/c I actually drive it. Mas bicicleta, ?no? It will make that occasional "I'm too lazy this a.m." commute a little easier to pull off this fall, I would imagine. $92.75, I mean, really.

Seran?

2008-06-29T10:19:00.002-04:00

?Seran titulares hoy? Vamos a ver, ?no? !Ojala que si!

Just take a look of Mr. Grumpy Luis Aragones in the center, just underneath blue-shirted St. Iker. Gotta love it.

2008-06-28T19:07:00.002-04:00

Date: June 28 Sat
Mileage: 18 (CC)
June mileage: 355
Year to date: 953

slow and easy
burbling water in Beargrass in Cherokee. Except for the smell, the sound was intoxicating
seeing former students jogging and having a chat. She was running 4 miles to play soccer. The rest were mostly former Manual students. One just got back from Barcelona, another from Madrid, and the first from Venezuela with boyfriend. Pretty amazing, if you ask me.
steady, metronomic cadence on climbs, with a 25yd sprint up the last hill for good measure
a little one in a stroller yelling "doggie!"
a yard party with a ring of chairs and a mound of Bud Light cans in the middle. On the return, the chairs seemed to be facing the house, as thought they were going to put up a screen for a yard movie. or who knows what with all the beer cans

Pisgah Pink Beds

2008-06-27T17:42:00.010-04:00

These are some pics from our Sunday hike in Pisgah Nat'l Forest. This was the private hunting preserve of the Vanderbilts adjoining their massive Biltmore estate. They built a 17-mile long road from the chateaux to a hunting lodge in the mountains, and this land surrounded it. We had never partaken of this country, but a day hike fit in perfectly between our wedding plans and more social plans in Maryville, TN.

Pink Beds in a picnic ground with the 'Pink Beds' Trial leaving the north end.

The terrain on this trail was reminiscent of that on our Pine Mountain trip a couple summers ago- Pine, loamy sand, fern, roots, 2nd and 3rd growth forest. It's all very Appalachian. Both the boys and I felt like we would see Sam and Frodo somewhere along this area.

Tall Pine

Sick Pine.
A beetle is ravaging pines throughout the South. It was even more evident while driving through the Smokies (G.S.M.N.P.), where you could see the green of deciduous contrasted with stands of kindling dotting the hillsides.

Fern Forest. This area was quite enchanting.

The culprit and explanation. There were so many ferns b/c this little valley had been damed up by a beaver. The map we retrieved from the ranger station alluded to this, but the blockage was more substantial. I didn't take a pic of the beaver dam b/c I spent my time trying to find the 'blue' trail that we needed. It was across the beaver pond. We were to take the 'blue' cut-through to give us a 3-mile hike; the 'orange' P.B. route was a 5-mile+ hike. Perhaps it wasn't my first choice, but families are compromises, right? So we turned back and had a very nice return leg.

Dappled trail

Meadow near the end. We would have come back this way. This route is also marked 'hiking/bicycling'. Pisgah is full of logging roads and trails for mt.bikers. That would be fun, no? I sure do love a stand of grass.

(One of these pics was taken with a different camera. See if you can guess which one.)

And that was that. A great little hike and enough to wet my whistle to return to this area. Pisgah is full of options and is found within driving distance to G.S.M.N.P., Nantahala Forsest and that whole outdoorsy area. Great stuff.

Muck

2008-06-27T17:25:00.005-04:00

Date: June 27 Fri
Mileage: 36 (LHT)
June mileage: 337
Year to date: 935

Got out early to do the Riverwalk Loop. Feeling lethargic, fat and glum, so no better way to beat the blues that plod through a ride, and I do mean plod in a good way. I meandered through St. Matthews and found a good little hidden trail, one that took me right into Crescent Hill golf course and right through a patch of poison ivy. Yes, I already have a batch of that to deal with. After that, to the Riverwalk. What I didn't anticipate was, first the mud and second the downed branches. We had some quickie storms, but they obviously hit the West End much harder than where we will. They were large, impassable branches down many, many sticks. I kept going, though, because I just needed to. While going around another impassable branch (on the paved path that is) I ran into an even bigger vine of poison ivy. Then I hit the mud. I kept on going. I stopped several times to clear the brake arms and wheels, but I kept on going. The mud was a very viscous, thick river goo that would be perfect for building an adobe hut. Eventually I cleared the Riverwalk and headed back to total a slow 3-hr+ 36m ride. I'm not riding too fast right now, but the 5lbs of mud clogging the brake arms and wheels didn't help. I did it though, and it was what I needed.

Very dirty front wheel, and this is much cleaner than it was mid-ride.

Unhappy brake arms

Fashion statement. Left foot has poison ivy breakout, so I'm trying to protect the shoes.

Vamos Furia!!

2008-06-26T17:01:00.002-04:00

Spain dominated Russia this afternoon in the Euro '08 semi. Damn, that was a fine 2nd half to watch. It's sort of fun to read all the "underperforming", "monkey on their backs" talk about Spain, all of which is true, of course. They began the tourney as potential favorites and the question was whether they could rise to expectations after no doing so many times. In this semi they certainly did. The first score from Xavi from a pass from Iniesta was one of beauty. Then they took Torres out after he flopped through 5 or 6 legit scoring opportunities. I started gripping b/c Guiza, to me, doesn't even look like he can dribble. 'Z' the elder then said, "dad, you know he'll score in 5 minutes, don't you?". And what happened? Guiza scored a purty volley just 5 minutes later. The back line even looked good. Sergio Ramos certainly played to his abilities and Puyol seemed very industrious. I would say Russia had only 2 or 3 legit scoring chances, and Iker only had to make one real save. Such a satisfying game. Man of the match? It has to be Cesc. He just dominated the entire 2nd half, setting up the 2 goals and controlling the midfield. I know what I'll be doing Sunday afternoon.

And do you think ESPN is happy about their "Championships" coverage, Wimbledon meaning? Roddick out. Blake out. Sharapova out. Davenport injured and out. Djokavic and his attitude out. They almost lost Ivanovic too, but she saved it 10-8 in the 3rd. I just hope we have a Rafa/Roger final, or the men's draw is a total loss. As for the women, as long as there are Williams sisters the American market will have something, but their snippy attitudes turned me off a long time ago.

But, hey, the Tour starts soon.

And I have a massive case of poison ivy on my foot in between my toes. I'm not sure what course of action I can/should take to keep it from spreading.

Blueridge Pkwy

2008-06-26T10:13:00.007-04:00

After our 2nd day of hiking, we drove to the Smokies via the Blueridge Pkwy. As the pics show, it was a stunning day. I should've stopped to take a pic of the orange azaleas that were blooming all over. These pics speak for themselves.

Monday we visited a high school friend of the wife's in Maryville, TN. We had planned to hike in Great Smokey Mts N.P., but time and traffic made it such that we came home. To be fair, we missed a turn trying to find the "back way" in. Short cuts make long delays, right? At that point I couldn't deal with going through Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg, only to have to come back out later in the evening for the 4hr drive home. Instead, we stopped in Pigeon Forge b/c Luke wanted to play putt-putt. So we did. The wife won. The boys tied for 2nd. I was last.