Continue reading »]]>

Headed down the backside of Westnedge hill this morning all suited up and raring to go on my morning commute. I got to my big scary downhill run and began riding the brakes to slow down before the descent. I unfortunately immediately locked out and slid on to the side of my bike and then proceeded to slide all the way down the hill on my side. It felt sort of cool actually like a dirt track racer, skidding down the entire hill on my side. After all the rain we had yesterday, and then the following cold temperatures, I decided that today it was ok to drive. If you crash less than a mile from your home on ice on Dec 12th, I’d say you toughed it out right. Or am I a giant weenie for driving?

Problem is- Westnedge hill is indeed a hill at all four points of the compass in Kalamazoo. You have to descend the hill at some point to get anywhere. The streets to use off the hill where there is little traffic ironically also have the issue of no salt, and no traffic to keep them clear. So my morning commute in winter consists of a white knuckled descent into a hairpin turn onto Burdick. In summer it’s sweet. I cruise down the hill, hit the turn at full speed; balls out to the wind, slow for traffic and then high tail it to work. In winter it’s a technical descent on a sheet of ice. Once you make it off the hill the streets are usually clear. I suppose I could *walk* my bike to the bottom. But that just seems silly.

Continue reading »]]>

Jill Homer plans to ride the Iditarod by Bike! I like the way this woman thinks!
Riding this legendary trail typically run by dog sleds seems like an epic ride. She plans to do 350 miles of the trail. She is training now, but is really going to up her miles now that the race is drawing near.

I would love to Cross Country Ski this trail, or bike it!

Good Luck Jill

Check out “Jill’s NPR Audio Story”:http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=16314506

You can also check out Jill’s Blog “Arctic Glass”:http://arcticglass.blogspot.com/

Also on a usability note, NPR *finally* went to a flash player for their stories. No more crappy real audio. Next is the embed object copy and paste option for NPR content, then their official web 2.0 status can be invoked.

Continue reading »]]>

I picked up a new bike on Thursday from Loose Spokes.
The Bianchi San Jose is technically a cyclocross bike. It is a steel frame bike with top tube routed brakes. The bike is excellent, it is crisp and smooth on the pedal and seems to be very tough. I wanted a single speed steel bike for my daily Michigan commute in the off-season. I essentially went through every drive train component on my Felt F1X last winter. And while Ultegra is not Campagnolo it wasn’t cheap either. So I decided to go all out and buy a complete bike. The idea of a Surly single speed was very appealing, but a frame plus all the components I needed would be almost double what I paid for the San Jose.

I swapped out the stock drop bars for the Nitto moustache bars. I dug in and figured out how the brake levers come off, and then how to apply handlebar tape. Not really that hard. But I think I could’ve done a better job.

I think the bars are pretty sweet. Nice hand position. I just need to get my lights on it and maybe a new saddle.

Continue reading »]]>

As some may have guessed I did buy a new cyclocross bike. I’ve been bike commuting to work since february. I got a wild hair in my butt to get an effecient, do it all bike. And ended up buying a Felt FX1.

I headed out to Ft. Custer with Mobley for the first time on Sunday We biked a series of woop-di-woop trails and up and down trails for an hour or two yesterday.

Heading downhill on a lightning quick cyclocross bike at top speed over unknown trails, with lumpy rocks and loose stones really revs up that primal pit of fear in the reptile part of my brain.

All my mind’s eye sees is trees smacking my forehead while I ride the brakes and put my butt way over the rear tire. It is fun. But a different sort of fun than surfing, that’s for sure. I have fear while heading downwave, but it is entirely managed with a sense of joy. Trail riding while clipped in to bike pedals can be quite technical, but I am not really very competent right now.

Riding up hill on loose dirt was a challenge and I had to dismount, throw the bike over my shoulder and run up hill on a couple of steep slopes where I misjudged how much speed it would take to summit. But I managed to do the dismount quickly and without wiping out, that was an accomplishment in and of itself.

Now the only problem is I have a bunch of sand caught in the pedal arm that is making a lot of noise.

I am thinking about doing some cyclocross races this fall, or “A” cross race, but I will see how the summer goes for training.

On a training and weight related note, I had a deep moment of satisfaction this morning when I discovered I accidentally packed an old belt. There were no notches near my current waist line, so I had to take a pocket knife to my belt and make a hole about 4-5 inches over. Nothing like that sort of activity to make you feel like maybe you haven’t slipped that much in your training routine.