he was anxious to ride her and I was anxious to ride outside [no more three hour trainer rides. The Wire or not, that was a long time to sit inside]. I put down the wine, started drinking water, and went to bed [relatively] early.
we met at a park in howard co. at 8:45 [I got lost. I know you all are shocked] and got on the road around 9 .. after taking these goofy pictures:
[me and bluebird.]
[it's hard to take pictures of tall people.]
the weather was absolutely beautiful - mid 70s and sunny. [I woke up to rain and was happy to see that it cleared up so beautifully]. the ride was beautiful too -- rolling, I'd say, with some flat stretches and some fast decents (got up to 40 mph on one!) and a few uphills. it's weird to me that there is so much farmland in an area I think of as totally suburban. we passed quite a few farms and saw horses and cows. moooooo.
oh, and I found some houses I know J would absolutely love, but gov't attorney or not, sweetie, I think 2+ million is out of our price range (for now ;)).
I took two bottles of Infinit and two bottles of water. I need to practice drinking more of the Infinit and getting down a full bottle per hour. Not such a big deal for shorter rides, but I need to get my stomach used to the calories for RI/ Diamondman and esp. IMCOZ.
the ride: 35.20 miles in 2h 11m 51s // 16.02 Mi/hr.then J and I had a graduation party, and I needed a potty break for a 35 min drive [too much water.] -- riding with me is like riding with a toddler -- and then I inhaled as much food as I could get my grubby little hands on.
gets bathed:
apparently there are things that everyone knows about cycling that I do not know.
one is pumping your tires before each ride.
another is cleaning your bike.
I ended up taking a day off [long story] and figured I should clean Bluebird since I haven't cleaned her, um, ever, and AR friend said that I should take better care of it.
[getting ready to clean her]
[scrubbing the chain with degreaser]
[elbow grease]
[smiley]
[clean Bluebird!]
[need to clean these before court tomorrow]
Nice ride!!! It's awesome to enjoy those outside rides after time inside on the trainer. Didn't know you were a gnome like me :)
ReplyDeleteSweet ride!
ReplyDeleteI know how to clean the chain, but I've never done much to the rest of the bike. It's disgusting now! So did you use degreaser everywhere?
Outside rides and a clean bike! Excellent! A tip on the Infinit--concentrate it. Depending upon the size of the bottle, I can put 2-3.5 hours worth of scoops. Then, I don't have to carry as much of it, and I don't have to drink as much volume of it--puts too much in my stomach if I do. I usually take 2-3 good sips every 20 minutes when I ride, and then wash it down with some water. I carry less weight on the bike, and I can consume more water.
ReplyDeleteSweet ride!
ReplyDeleteThere's nothing like a clean bike, especially when you're heading to a race. Now that you know how to do it, you got to clean her before every races ;)
Great ride!! I'm glad Bluebird got to fly free for a change!
ReplyDeleteGreat ride. Howard County is a great place to ride. And for God's sake--Clean the Bird!!!
ReplyDeleteNo excuses Trishie. If you kept up with my blog, you would have read the post about Arnie not pumping his tires up for a month. That is back when I kept up with him (I try to give him important info like keeping air in his tires sparingly).
ReplyDeleteSo you need to read all the important sh*t I put in my blog in between the levity!!
I see you are continuing with the Infinit. I hope it is working for you. The toughest thing is spacing it out so you get the most benefit. I am actually thinking of putting my watch on recurring alarm mode every 60 minutes or so and have a pre determined amount of Infinit to drink. The other option is to do it every 20 miles or so.
I always forget to pump my tires!
ReplyDeletehow much do you charge for your cleaning services? hehe
ReplyDeleteHappy to see the bike getting cleaned. Funny how road grit ends up on the drivetrain . . . when you actually take a road bike on the ROAD!
ReplyDeleteYou're going to appreciate the smoother shifting tomorrow on the hills.
Oh, and I have my pump in my car at all times, so let's not forget tomorrow.
The road bike is very pretty! Sounds like you guys had a nice ride. Glad you are starting to figure out fueling. I think that is one of the hardest things.
ReplyDeleteSweet ride there Trish! can your clean my bike for me please ;-)
ReplyDeleteBluebird looks soooo happy!!!!
ReplyDeleteHAHAHA you look so happy on bluebird....also, bike envious.... I laughed at all the cleaning pictures...Its the same, you get a new toy and baby it for the first few weeks then it gets ridden hard and all is forgotten
ReplyDeleteAnd I hear you about putting down the wine! Friday nights are our couple nights and my friend and his wife drink wine while my fiance and I do the beer route...its hard to put them down when its going down easy haha
Great ride BTW1