After getting back from our trip I added enough miles for that week to total out at just over 200 miles. I've been averaging 30+ miles a day on my Bianchi and working on my touring bike since.
As of a few minutes ago, I have the Habanero rideable and almost ready to tour. After this rebuild, except for the frame and fork, it's virtually a new bike with new rims, spokes, crank, cassette, chain, front derailleurs, handlebar, wrap, brake and shift cables, pedals, and new Avid Shorty Ultimate canti brakes, etc.. What with waiting for parts to arrive, it's taken almost two weeks but it's looking very cool. Raw, brushed Titanium and Red is a killer color combo. I'll post a few pics in a couple of days after I get the rack and fenders on..
Today, I took it to Racers Edge in Boca Raton to have Matt, their mechanic, do a professional tune of the derailleurs and it is now shifting great. I stayed with him to talk about the tune so I could know a bit more as I ride 3,000 miles. Amazingly, they didn't charge me extra to "help!" ;-) Good guys and if you have need of a very professional bike shop in SoFL, check them out!
Tomorrow is the first test ride seeing if something comes loose/needs adjustment. Then I'll bring the Bianchi inside onto my CyclOps trainer for some evening "hill" work.. hahaha, like that's gonna help...
So far, my biggest issue is deciding what to take! After years of touring solo/self supported I am lost when trying to decide what to put in my allowed THREE, up to 30 pounds each, duffel bags! I can't think of enough to fill one much less three! I KNOW! How about a BBQ grill, a Lazy-Boy recliner and a 40" LED TV????
Doug
Tuesday, January 21, 2014
Friday, January 10, 2014
TRAINING LOG... SORTA
So, after claiming that I could post training info to the TRAINING page it turns out that Google, in their infinite wisdom, has decided that a blogger can ONLY make new posts to the home/top page, IE this one... arrgghhhh. As I search for a workaround I'll post a few notes regarding training here:
Last week I did about 128 miles which was less than I'd hoped but then it was Blake's last weekend at home...
This last Monday V and I drove Blake back to UF with his dog with a great plan to use her 4 days off to ride and head to Clearwater/Dunedin to ride the Pinellas Trail (34 miles) a few times then wander over to Winter Garden to ride the West Orange and Minneola Trail (30+ miles) a few times. No fast rides here, just some long time in the saddle stuff.
Well, Tuesday morning in Dunedin dawns and we check the weather...
Can't imagine why but Mrs V elected to stay in bed while I headed out to check my cold weather gear. I told her I'd go ride 30+ miles and be back in an hour and a half or two... hahahaha
I was back about 49 min later... With my tail tucked firmly between my legs...
The wind was out of the north, the direction I was headed, at about 25 mph and the air temp was 31 so the wind chill was reported at 21... I was afraid I was gonna start having parts freeze and fall off... Important parts...
So later that afternoon V and I rode about 20 miles but it was still way too cold for us Florida wimps especially with our limited inventory of cold weather cycling duds (and that's the story we're sticking with).
V had on like SIX layers of UA, Pearl Izumi, Columbia and other cold weather tops and was still freezing. As was "tough guy" me.. so we bailed. CONSOLATION PRIZE: headed to Keegans in Indian Rocks for some outstanding seafood! (a "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives" spot we love).
So Wednesday we did 20 something miles up to Tarpon Springs and back then drove to Winter Garden and did an afternoon ride of 30 miles there. Thursday we did the West Orange Trail both ways for a 63+ mile total.
Didn't ride as many miles as I'd hoped BUT the good news is that I didn't lose any important extremities...
So far this week: 139 miles and I'll try to put in another 30-40 tomorrow AM.
Oh, I also took my wheels in to be rebuilt today at Racer's Edge in Boca so I will now strip and rebuild my Habanero and ride my trusty, antique Bianchi Volpe for training for a week or so.
Last week I did about 128 miles which was less than I'd hoped but then it was Blake's last weekend at home...
This last Monday V and I drove Blake back to UF with his dog with a great plan to use her 4 days off to ride and head to Clearwater/Dunedin to ride the Pinellas Trail (34 miles) a few times then wander over to Winter Garden to ride the West Orange and Minneola Trail (30+ miles) a few times. No fast rides here, just some long time in the saddle stuff.
Well, Tuesday morning in Dunedin dawns and we check the weather...
Can't imagine why but Mrs V elected to stay in bed while I headed out to check my cold weather gear. I told her I'd go ride 30+ miles and be back in an hour and a half or two... hahahaha
I was back about 49 min later... With my tail tucked firmly between my legs...
The wind was out of the north, the direction I was headed, at about 25 mph and the air temp was 31 so the wind chill was reported at 21... I was afraid I was gonna start having parts freeze and fall off... Important parts...
So later that afternoon V and I rode about 20 miles but it was still way too cold for us Florida wimps especially with our limited inventory of cold weather cycling duds (and that's the story we're sticking with).
V had on like SIX layers of UA, Pearl Izumi, Columbia and other cold weather tops and was still freezing. As was "tough guy" me.. so we bailed. CONSOLATION PRIZE: headed to Keegans in Indian Rocks for some outstanding seafood! (a "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives" spot we love).
So Wednesday we did 20 something miles up to Tarpon Springs and back then drove to Winter Garden and did an afternoon ride of 30 miles there. Thursday we did the West Orange Trail both ways for a 63+ mile total.
Didn't ride as many miles as I'd hoped BUT the good news is that I didn't lose any important extremities...
So far this week: 139 miles and I'll try to put in another 30-40 tomorrow AM.
Oh, I also took my wheels in to be rebuilt today at Racer's Edge in Boca so I will now strip and rebuild my Habanero and ride my trusty, antique Bianchi Volpe for training for a week or so.
Tuesday, December 31, 2013
Got to start somewhere...
Well, here goes nothing!
As my entire family and most of my friends know, I have been wanting to ride our beautiful country from coast to coast for a couple of decades now and have always managed to find a way to put it off.
No more!
This year (well technically "next year" because it's still a couple of hours from New Years 2014) I am doing it!
I will be riding with a group which in itself is weird since I almost always ride solo on long rides, like my 2012 and 2013 GAP and C&O rides and my trip to St Augustine from our Ft Lauderdale home.. But those were short trips by comparison. My max ride to date is about 700 miles. So group organization and support it will be.
I'll be riding my custom built, titanium Habanero touring bike but since it will be a supported tour, with all luggage and stuff transported by vehicle, I won't be doing the whole loaded touring bit with front and rear panniers creating a loaded up bike that weighs almost as much as I do.
To try and keep my wife, kids and any interested friends up to date on my whereabouts and doings, I am going to keep this blog during my trip. I'll try to post interesting photos, musings, and miscellaneous fun stuff (and hopefully little whining) whenever and wherever I can and I'll try to keep the mundane and boring stuff at bay.
As computer literate as I like to think I am, please don't expect "nightly builds" from this blog! To avoid as much automobile traffic as humanly possible, the route we will take relies on riding little used roads and passing through and staying in mostly very small towns. This mean the route offers scant cell phone connectivity and even less WiFi so posting might be sporadic, at best. When I do manage to have some time at a decent hotspot I'll try my best to keep it up, but only if I have something interesting to report. I will try to not bore you... too much....
For those of you who are cyclists I'll post a page with a gear/equipment list and gear comments along the way and I'll also try to give each day's posting a title that states that day's destination and mileage, but I'm really not sure if I would post "daily". The truth is, I don't think there will necessarily be anything exciting or worth posting on a daily basis.
This shouldn't be a daily documenting of each of the three thousand poorly maintained asphalt miles between the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans. It is, though, all about the people you meet and the experience of pedaling across our beautiful United States of America using only your own power. And as many times as I have driven across the USA, I really want to do it by bicycle at least once in my life.
So on with the show!
er, uh, maybe that ought to read:
So, on with the slow!
Doug
As my entire family and most of my friends know, I have been wanting to ride our beautiful country from coast to coast for a couple of decades now and have always managed to find a way to put it off.
No more!
This year (well technically "next year" because it's still a couple of hours from New Years 2014) I am doing it!
I will be riding with a group which in itself is weird since I almost always ride solo on long rides, like my 2012 and 2013 GAP and C&O rides and my trip to St Augustine from our Ft Lauderdale home.. But those were short trips by comparison. My max ride to date is about 700 miles. So group organization and support it will be.
 |
| click to enlarge |
Our group will be riding from San Diego CA to St Augustine FL. We plan to depart from Southern California March 8th and arrive in St Augustine about April 25th or so.
I'll be riding my custom built, titanium Habanero touring bike but since it will be a supported tour, with all luggage and stuff transported by vehicle, I won't be doing the whole loaded touring bit with front and rear panniers creating a loaded up bike that weighs almost as much as I do.
To try and keep my wife, kids and any interested friends up to date on my whereabouts and doings, I am going to keep this blog during my trip. I'll try to post interesting photos, musings, and miscellaneous fun stuff (and hopefully little whining) whenever and wherever I can and I'll try to keep the mundane and boring stuff at bay.
As computer literate as I like to think I am, please don't expect "nightly builds" from this blog! To avoid as much automobile traffic as humanly possible, the route we will take relies on riding little used roads and passing through and staying in mostly very small towns. This mean the route offers scant cell phone connectivity and even less WiFi so posting might be sporadic, at best. When I do manage to have some time at a decent hotspot I'll try my best to keep it up, but only if I have something interesting to report. I will try to not bore you... too much....
For those of you who are cyclists I'll post a page with a gear/equipment list and gear comments along the way and I'll also try to give each day's posting a title that states that day's destination and mileage, but I'm really not sure if I would post "daily". The truth is, I don't think there will necessarily be anything exciting or worth posting on a daily basis.
This shouldn't be a daily documenting of each of the three thousand poorly maintained asphalt miles between the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans. It is, though, all about the people you meet and the experience of pedaling across our beautiful United States of America using only your own power. And as many times as I have driven across the USA, I really want to do it by bicycle at least once in my life.
I do like to ride....
So on with the show!
er, uh, maybe that ought to read:
So, on with the slow!
Doug
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