Sand Spur Fun...

So went riding in the Julington Durbin Preserve. That is the place where I was attacked by Killer Bees last time I was in there. So I took a different route! Well this route was far better as far as sand and Killer Bees go. I had a really good time! I saw turkey, armadillos, squirrels & snakes. It was a nice warm ride. Went about 10 miles total and when I got back home I went to the pool and jumped right in with my bike shorts on and did a few laps. Man was that refreshing! But when I got out I noticed that my rear tire was a little flat and the front was pretty low. Then I looked and had about a 100 sand spurs in each tire. By the time I got to my front door they were both flat! At least it wasn't when I was deep in the woods. So when I got the tires off the tubes I had about 7 holes in each tube! So then I had to get needle nose pliers and pull each thorn out of my tire one by one!! Man was that fun! But it was good to get back on the mountain bike!

Solo Foggy Work Ride...

Garmin Route


Ride this morning was very very foggy and muggy. Not what you would expect at almost November!! I rode alone this morning and it was a good ride just wet and nasty after riding through the fog for an hour.

Mornin Ride From Jim's House...

Garmin Route


Met Jim at the back of his complex. Roads were nasty wet from the rain over night. The bikes got really dirty and we got pretty wet as well from road splash. We were a little slower than normal because we had to keep it slow in the turns and merges due to the wet roads. Still a good ride though!

Dark solo morning work ride...

Garmin Route


This morning was a little dark and a little cold. It was almost to cold but warm enough that i didnt have to wear cold weather clothes. Went fast I used the Garmin for the first time in the dark and it was awesome in the dark! I now have a attack time and my new route is 52 minutes. I called the city about the debris and sand on Phillips Hwy in front of the VW dealership. They were out there to clean it up in less than an Hour!!! I was like huh?? Really? I didn't think it would actually get cleaned up i was just calling to complain!

Long Lunch Ride 2.0

Garmin Route


So today we (Jim, Kenny, & I)rode the same route as yesterday and because of my cool new Cycle Computer I can compare all the info. It is sweet!! We went harder and faster today and kept my heart rate lower!!! 12 miles total Avg MPH of 19.8mph!

Long Lunch Loop.. w/ Garmin in tow :)

So here is the link to my Garmin route page.
Garmin Route

The new computer was awesome! The features are great and the computer functions on the PC are amazing. We did a 12 mile Long Lunch Loop. Averaged 18.7 MPH and I can graph everything. The only down fall i see is that i don't have a built in Odometer.

Morning solo ride...

So rode to work this morning, it was a good ride, fast and to the point. It is still really dark and it was really cold 55! I wore nylon jump pants, and a wind breaker but i was still freezing. Ride was 16.5 miles. My new Garmin computer should be here today !!! I cant wait!

Green Cove Springs...

Was a good long windy cold ride! I rode to Jim's house early and we left there for the Shands Bridge area. It was frigging cold. It was so cold I couldn't feel my toes any more. From Jim's house we went all the way down Long Leaf Pine, which dumps me right next to 13. That’s where I left Jim, (he was scared ;) he had plans). So then I had to use the bathroom emergency like :). So my options were pretty limited out in the sticks. So just by chance at the corner was a Chevron!!! Thank heavens. Well now being alone and pretty far from home, at least 20 miles, I decided that I would stand at the threshold of the door and ask if there was a bathroom I could use, I had my bike at my side then with the front wheel about half way in the store :), she said yes and pointed to the back. So me, refusing to leave my bike unattended rolled my bike right in the store and in the bathroom with me :) half way to the bathroom the lady spouted something off along the line of sir...ummm...we ummm... normally don’t let bikes in the store. But I just kept walking since she wasn't very loud spoken and just wheeled it right in with me. So then I was off alone to tackle the dreaded, scary, horrible Shands Bridge. Well it wasn't great but it wasn't that bad either, it was 8:30 ish when I rode it and only 9 cars passed me while riding it. A normal bike lane is 4', and this shoulder / bike lane was only about 2'. So it was small and there was a decent amount of trash and debris but it wasn't all that bad, the grading section was only like 40' and the crest was pretty good as well. The Clay County half of the ride was long, windy, cold, & full of hills. I liked the hills but man throwing in the wind made it terrible. I loved the country roads and morning sun. It took about 2 hours to get to Brian’s house and the ride was right at 40 miles. It was awesome to see Brian, Jessica, & Dillon. I hadn’t seen them in a while and need to do this more often. We ate at O'Charleys on the way to my house, which they gladly took me!! Food was good there I had never eaten there before. I wish Dana could have met us there but it was all the way in Fleming Island and we had a Baby Shower to go to.

Even before the Dr.

Had my Doctors appt with Dr. Romero today. Weighed in at 303lbs. BP was 130/79 and my pulse was 48. Things are getting a lot better. Rode 10 miles this morning, just did the Bartram loop and rode to the ST. Augustine / I-95 overpass and did a loop there. It was a good fast ride. Went home to jump in the pool before my Dr. Appt. and the dang pool was closed i was pissed!!!

Morning Ride...

Met up with Jim @ 6:30 at the back of his complex. I went a little further because he said by accident that it would be until 6:45 but he just was delirious. So the ride went on as planned until his protein shake got ran over by a truck :) that was hilarious! Then we were going down the fast stretch of Southside between Baymeadows and Deerwood Park and we hit 29.2 MPH it was amazing!! Ride was 26 miles for me.

First, Last Monday night Bikes Etc. Ride of the year...

So the ride went really well. Eddie, Kenny, & I went and man did Eddie do great! It was easily his fastest ride to date. He averaged around 18 MPH, and he has only been riding about a month! We went 32 Miles!! We left Eddie's house and rode to Bikes Etc. the ride was good we went down San Jose to the Acosta Bridge, Kenny didn't know that part and didn't like that he wasn't warned ;). He was on the Mountain Bike and did awesome as well.
The new wheels are awesome! They spin up so much faster and my average speeds are higher! I am thoroughly pleased!

New setup...

This afternoon Dana and I went up to Bikes Etc. to pick up my bike. I finally got my replacement rear wheel in which was upgraded from a Race to a Race Lite!! I also upgraded the front wheel to match! I upgraded my saddle to a Race X-Lite due to bending issues, and I love the New SRAM Rival Compact crank. Dana was looking at a 48cm Cannondale but she couldn’t make up her mind. We think we need to do some more testing before we know if she is really going to like road riding. I need to take her out so we can let her get the feel of a ride not just a parking lot test. I am at 950 miles so far and I am down to 307 on the home scale!! My doctors Appt. is Friday and would love to be at 299lbs!!!!! We will see!

Just Lunch even faster...

So this afternoon Jim, Kenny, & I did the lunch loop again which was day 2 for me and day 3 for Kenny! We again tried to beat our previous day and we did. Kenny was on the mountain bike again and we made it in 28 minutes. We could have gone a tad faster but we didn’t want to drop Kenny. He is a beast on the mountain bike! It was hot again @ 100°!! I think that I will take the weekend off and relax. I am planning on riding the Monday night Bikes Etc. ride with Kenny and Eddie.

Lonely Morning & Fast Lunch...

This morning I rode to work and did the short Bartram loop and then to work solo. I went hard and fast. It was dark almost the entire time and the weather was pretty muggy. At lunch Kenny and I rode the lunch loop and tried to break the 30 minute record. We did the loop in 29 minutes and he was on his mountain bike!! It was smoking hot; the temp on my computer was 102°!! So that was about 30 miles for today. Was the first time riding since the MS and I felt great!

MS-150 2009

So we rode the MS-150 and finished it, but not without hiccups! 7 miles into the ride on day one my crank arm decided that it didn’t want to be attached to my bike anymore and stayed on my shoe. I lost out on 19 miles of the ride catching SAG vehicles to the first and second rest stop trying to find a new crank bolt; the old one was stripped completely smooth!! After that we got on the way again. Eddie rode 30 miles and then left so that was his longest ride to date (He has only been riding 1.5 weeks)!! All the rest stops were awesome! Lunch was awesome; we had Firehouse Subs, Myoplex protein shakes, vitamin water, fruit, etc. The end of day one was amazing!! The feeling is unreal! Aaron fell at the finish line that we missed :), sorry Aaron.
Day 2 was far less problematic. Kenny & Eddie didn’t ride, but Jim, Aaron, Kevin, & I all rode with Neal. We rode together for about 3/4 of the day and then Kevin got a flat (Surprise!!!) We then lost Neal. Jim fell at one of the rest stops in the middle of the road. Today was only 65 miles, and day one was 86 miles. No lunch stop today but plenty of food. The finish line was amazing in St. Augustine!!! So many people! Dana was there with Kenny's wife and Aaron's wife, taking video and pictures. Bubba burger was there serving burgers, free beer, sides, and cokes, anything you can imagine! Kenny decided that he didn’t want to be completely left out on Sunday so he rode 2 miles from the finish and met us and rode the last 2 miles with us to the end so he got in the pictures!

Here are the links to the routes.
Day 1 Google Route
Day 2 Google Route

I ended up riding:
133 Miles
17.5 MPH AVG
33 MPH Max
7 Hours & 40 Minutes

Last ride before the MS 150...

So this morning Jim and I rode to work. It was cold as crap this morning! It was 60° this morning and by the time I got to work I couldn’t feel my toes and my hands were numb. I wore my normal shorts and jersey but had an Under Armor long sleeve gear shirt on under it. I will definitely need some warm clothes for the winter. The ride was our normal 24 mile ride from the back of Jims house and we went at a really fast pace today. Averaging 19 MPH total. But we had a 1.5 mile sprint from Baymeadows and Southside to Deerwood Park. We averaged 26 MPH for that 1.5 Mile stretch!!!! It was insane! Ate pasta for lunch the carbing has begun!!!