Monkey on a Bike (Inactive)

Please move along...

2008-01-23T13:09:00.000-08:00

There's nothing to see here folks. The bike theme is nice, but so limiting. If anything good and bikey happens, it can be found in my bikejournal entries or on my new, broader blog, Magic Pants Jones is the Present. I'll see you over there.

Thanks,
Sean

Big Summer Bike Weekend #1

2007-08-06T08:10:00.000-07:00

Saturday started off without a hitch. After four hours of sleep, our MS 150 training ride rolled out with a lot of our Monday regulars. The route was good, and the riding was good. A few people went off on their own, to work, to ride faster, or to ride slower, 'but that's okay, you all go ahead, we'll ride together.' The only hitch came from riding with a young girl who didn't have all her bike skills down. Someone needs to teach that girl about shifting! I showed her a little, but she needs more skills. Also, she needs to learn about food and drink on a ride. I saw her on another ride, a coooold, windy ride last winter, wearing shorts and a jersey. Did wolves buy her her bike? Are they waiting for her to die on the road so they can eat her carcass? Thanks to the 4R's for helping out with her on the route!

Sunday was Paul's birthday, and to celebrate, he got two flats. This resulted in a mini team time trial to catch back on. Bill's long pulls killed me, and I must admit, I complained a bit. In my defense, though, riding that fast, for that long, with wind always makes my back hurt. After hitting Buddy Boy's, I had it back. My speed, back, and attitude were all back to normal.

This week would be the week of bikes now, two night rides, two or three morning rides, and Friday, Fred & I head up to the mountains for me to do two things:
1. Groan slowly up mountainsides, with my coastal Florida flatland legs whimpering.

2. White-knuckle it down mountain sides, trying not to die.

I said I wanted to spend more time on my bike!

2007-08-02T10:02:00.000-07:00

And now it's coming.
This weekend I'm doing a group ride from the shop for people getting ready to do the MS 150. I've got a 50 mile course planned out on pretty roads. It should be fun, I just wish we had a van following along.

Sunday is the monthly World Golf Village ride, 50 hot, speedy miles. I'm looking forward to that!

I've got all next week off, so I should be able to get some good riding in if the weather cooperates. I'm sitting inside typing on a day off right now because of the rain. Poop.

Then comes the news from Fred. He's moving out of town soon, so he and I are doing the mountains weekend we've always talked about. Next weekend, we're loading up the bikes and heading to greater Greenville, SC for a stay at his dad's place and two days of riding. I'm considering picking up a climbing cassette for the occasion, as it's not often I get to do real climbs here in Florida.

I need more miles!

2007-07-31T04:55:00.000-07:00

What is the internet for if it isn't for people to sit and twiddle their navels, whining, hoping people are listening? Oh yeah, that's right it's really about commerce, nekkid people, and google maps.

I have a spoiled, selfish complaint this summer. It's annoying of me to complain, though and here, for perspective, is why:
-I'm thankful to have the summer off from teaching so that I'm able to work at the bike shop.
-I'm thankful that said job has gotten me my dream bike.
-If I really was committed to getting rides in, I could get up earlier and ride before work.

Now, the whining. I wish that the shop I work at wasn't thirty miles away. With all of the drive time, dog walking, and laziness in my soul, I've had a tough enough time getting to work by 10. If only I could start at noon every day, I'm sure I'd be riding more.
Well. Next week, there're no excuses. I've got a week off with no school stuff, and no bike shop stuff. Ride, ride, ride, movie, movie, movie, straighten out the apartment. That'll be my life for a week until I go back to school.

Even then, I'm gonna ride each morning before I go to work on my class, and when school starts, my bike will be parked in my classroom each day so I can ride when the kids leave.

More miles are on their way, dear bike, I promise!

An inevitable comment, and a promise

2007-07-24T13:11:00.000-07:00

Doping notwithstanding, bicycle racing is fun to watch. I wish I were more disappointed by the prospect of Vino's blood doping, but this just feels like another shoe I've been waiting on to drop. He didn't show up for one of the controls in last year's Vuelta. As much as I hate to ask, is it possible to be surprised anymore?

Promises, promises:
I will update with a photo of the new bike soon. Suffice to say, my Scott is a joy to ride. It likes to go fast, and makes doing so easy.

Isn't it ironic? Doncha think?

2007-07-14T03:32:00.000-07:00

So this post, like the situations in Alanis Morissette's 'Ironic', is actually a well placed bummer rather than a piece of irony.

I spend the whole summer working at a bike shop, a job I usually like. It's very different from teaching 3rd grade, so it's almost occupational tourism. Why am I here though? One reason: to buy a ridiculously expensive bike. Seriously, the prices are outrageous, and the employee discount is nowhere near as great as I had hoped because the margin on bikes is a lot smaller than the margin on other stuff. But still, I wanted a bike that felt stable and fast. I also wanted a bike that looks pretty. I found it, I ordered it, and I'm done paying for it on Tuesday. (NOTE: Actually, my next payday is Friday, but I'm loaning myself the money for 3 days.)

I've been so excited, and doubly so because I have this Wednesday off. That means I can do the ride out at the beach that's ridiculously fast. Sounds fun!

But no, that option's drizzling away, as I see that that ride has been dropped from the schedule due to lawlessness. Seems that the ride leader was fed up with blokes being over the white line, and also with all the stop sign running. Poop. Not ironic, except to note that it was the Wednesday beach ride that got me realizing I would like a faster bike. Now I have one, and I need to find a new fast ride.

In which I chicken out due to rain.

2007-07-08T12:02:00.000-07:00

I'm sure it was just about a week ago that I decided that doing a quick 20 miles after work was a good idea. Getting those miles in would be a great way to keep from having short weeks, I determined. Here's the past week:
Monday - I was ride leader(and sweep) on the shop ride, so I got 22 miles in, but being sweep slowed my average way down.
Tuesday - Due to rain threats, no ride.
Wednesday - Skipped a club ride due to rain, got half the distance in on a post lunch ride later on. 23 miles.
Thursday - More rain, no ride.
Friday - More rain, no ride.
Saturday - Should've ridden, don't know why I didn't.
Sunday - today - I'm gonna get at least 25 miles in this evening before going to watch the Tour at Bill's house.

I'm going to start keeping my bike at the shop just to guarantee that I get a ride in. This is getting lame of me!

On a happier note, Robbie Mac scored me some points for my fantasy TdF team today. I never understood why fantasy sports leagues were so much fun until I found one for a sport I liked.

In Which I COnquer OCD

2007-07-01T10:10:00.000-07:00

I keep my miles logged on Bikejournal.com. A lot of people log their miles, right? They set their goals for the year, the month, even the week, and then they ride, ride, ride.

So on Friday night, after a post-work ride, I realized that I had 499.75 miles for the month. A quarter mile, that's all that separated me from a nice round 500 for the month of June. I mentioned it to a friend last night. He said I'd better get on the bike and ride around the block before bed.

But I couldn't. I thought it would just be giving in to a level of record-keeping pettiness that I just don't want to dive into. So, I went to bed, and July rolled around, and it's all the same. La di da. La di da, la la.

Sellin' Bikes

2007-06-28T20:50:00.000-07:00

Our shop has some nice deals. This month, buying a new bike nets you about 20% back to buy goods in the shop. I had gotten this guy on a cool racing bike, and he had about $400 to spend in the store. How sweet is that? You buy a bike, and you get totally outfitted as part of the deal.

We're walking around the shop, looking what to spend on, and he says to me, "I'm sorry, I'm taking up your whole morning here." What? Dang man, what would I be doing if you weren't here? I could be working on that mountain bike in the back that I'm not familiar with. That would mean stopping a dozen times to ask the guy next to me how to do whatever (being a noob is a pain sometimes). I could be straightening merch, but that's dull. "No way, man," I said, "I'm getting paid to walk around the store with a dude while he picks my brain, and picks out bike gear." Isn't this like the bike geek dream job?

I'm really thankful that my teaching job allows me to take a bit of time to learn about bikes, and get paid to do so. After two months of working here, I'll have my sweet bike, too.

Cheap bikes are hard to fix

2007-06-19T11:40:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, I took my pop for a father's day treat to the shop where I work. I did a proper fitting on him, and found out that he was riding his bike with the saddle a bit low. That explains why he was always crooked on his saddle with one knee jutting sideways. We got a Jamba Juice run in to test the new position, then I bought him some new tires, and got him a deal on new road shoes. We finished up the day with pizza and American Flyers. It was certainly a good time.

On Monday, I was working on a department store bike from hell. It was truly the worst bike I've ever worked on. The materials they used to build it seemed to be designed to fail. Even though it was dual suspension, it had a sticker on the seat tube stating: "This bike is not intended for off-road use." Nice to hide that where the user won't see it!

This is what I've learned from working on bikes for a few weeks: the better your bike, the easier it is to fix if something wears out.

Of new bikes, butt kickings, and bread bowls

2007-06-14T20:38:00.000-07:00

My bike arrived at the shop. Am I sharing my bed with it? Not yet, first I have to build it. I'm okay with fine tuning a Navigator 2.0, but a DuraAce drive train and Mavic bladed spoke wheels make me nervous. This is too nice for a new guy like me. I want someone with more experience to work on it. ALSO: It's not completely paid for yet. I still owe almost two grand. Work, work, work, bebbah.

Last night, I took out the shop rental bike (my new bike's kid brother) on the Wednesday night shop ride with my manager and his friends. They had to stop four or five times to wait for me. They acted like it was no big deal, but I'm not used to that. I usually keep up pretty well. I think that the inclusion of the Accosta Bridge killed a lot of my game. I was riding up, and singing the Fat Cyclist Blues. I think I need this jersey:

Devil and I rode to Panera today in Jax Beach. After last night's ride, I wasn't up to pushing fast into the wind, so when we got there, our average was only 15.3 mph. On the way back, the wind kicked in, and it was much better. I got my usual - soup in a bread bowl. I was excited to see that they had a mushroom based vegetarian soup, but it turned out to be not so amazing. Please, please, please, Panera, you need to start making Gazpacho!

Life is swell!

2007-06-12T04:38:00.001-07:00

After Sunday's wickedly hot (but fun) ride, it was time to start my six days of work week. What's up with that? Six in a row? Dag.

'Sokay, tho, I likes me job.

I'm starting to just be slow at working on bikes instead of just painfully slow. I was looking for spaces that needed to be filled in amongst the bikes, and found we needed an entry level mountain bike, and I built it (my second build) faster than the last one, and there were only a few things that I needed to fix - minor stuff that I won't forget next time.

Speaking of painful, though, my back hurts a bit from lifting bikes above my head while standing on a ladder. The storage system in this place is not my favorite thing at all.

And at Park Tool class last night, I learned how to do a few things, and that was pretty great.

I know, though, that I'll have to ask a million questions again today. Better than when I started, when I had to ask ten million questions a day.

Blog Bankruptcy!

2007-06-09T03:39:00.001-07:00

So much has happened since my last post that I've been dreading catching up. The response? Just a little about my life since then. I've started working at one of the local bike shops, and I'm loving it. I'm getting paid to talk to people about bikes. It's pretty great. Also: I'm getting paid to learn to work on bikes. Not bad, right? There are occasionally some dreadful customers. Here's the most common:

A guy comes in with an old bike with a rusty, hanging chain. The cables are hanging off to the side, the wheels have a serious wobble. The tires are dry rotted and flat. "Hey, I've had this thing in the garage for the last five years, and I was wondering what it would cost to get it rolling. Or if it would be worth it, what can you get a bike for these days. I don't want to race or anything." (Really?!?) So we go over everything that it needs: truing, cables, brake pads, adjustments, tires and tubes, and a chain. We add it all up, and it comes to such an amount that his eyes bug out, and he lets out a bit of a "whoo."
I say, "Well, that's one option. For about $60 more, I can get you on a VERY similar trek with features that would be a big improvement over the current bike." I proceed to tell him his options and the benefits of our entry level comfort bike. They usually go for the rehab. I don't know if it's worth it, but a little work makes his wife's bike look a LOT better. It's a bike that wouldn't be embarrassing to ride, but this is the most common.

Sure, you get a few guys in wanting to talk about distance riding, or Giro d'Italia results, but the majority of the customers want you to take a terrifying wreck and make it look, and ride like new.

It's okay, their money still spends, and if they like what I've done, they may spend more money with me in the future.

That, and it's all out there to help me get this:I ordered the Scott CR1 SL CD this week. I've put $400 down, I have $500 more now, and that means just $1900 left to pay before I get to take it home. I'm putting a smaller cassette on it to compensate for the compact crank. I would've liked the full size crank, but Scott's out of inventory on other models. That's alright, this'll give me options when I want to climb! 16.3 pounds (w/o pedals) means I'll lose about four pounds off of my current bike. Bike shop summer is fun!

Upadate Catch Up: Brasstown Bald

2007-05-04T19:45:00.000-07:00

Ever get so behind that it was daunting to try catching up? Well, here it is. Brief snippets of the last two weeks. The goodness of BikeLife really deserves more faithful reportage.

1. Brasstown Bald.
I left that morning all dressed in warm stuff, and rode to Blairsville Bikes and Boards where Randy tweaked my spokes into true for five bux. Randy was a really nice guy, and told us about life in north Georgia while he worked. The damage was done, though, even with the newly trued wheel, I didn't really trust my bike on the downhills.

I started riding through Blairsville, then out onto Hwy 19. That part of Georgia was so gorgeous that I had to put a limit on photo taking. I would never have made it if I took a picture of everything that was pretty. The bike actually rode downhill pretty well, but I still took it easier on the descents than I could have. The uphills and downhills were canceling each other out for what made out to be a decent average speed for a fun day.

When I turned onto Hwy 180, I knew I was in for more climbing, but I was determined to keep it in the middle ring. I really wanted to save the 30t for the climb. I couldn't believe that I was so intimidated by these climbs before. It was fun. It sure wasn't fast, but it was fun! On the last climb before the Bald, I rode with Winston (of Colorado), on a vintage Pinarello. He had shipped his Cervelo a week ago, but FedEx lost it. A guy at an ATL bike shop took pity on him. We split off when I had to dump the cold weather gear in the car.

When I turned onto the Bald climb, I hit the porta john, and dropped into the 30t ring. I shifted up a bit in back and started. I climbed about a third of the way, and stopped to let my heart rate drop from 190 to 150 before starting again. I repeated the stop two more times. The third time was at The Wall 24%. I made it most of the way up that section but had to stop. Sam from the Sundog ride called out my name, and it snapped me back to reality. We walked about 100m, then mounted our bikes again. I rode away from him, and made it to the top with a guy called Jeff. What an incredible feeling to beat something that's been haunting my bike brain for the past year!

After watching the race, we got ready to go back down. Dad would be walking, & I'd ride it. We had to wait awhile because someone crashed, and needed severe medical attention. Ironically, it was Sam the Sundog who did chest compressions on the crashee that day. It turns out that he died later that week. His dream was to climb the mountain. Very sad, but he did get to accomplish his dream before the end.
I didn't know anything about that at the time, but I had a very quick schooling in how very quickly a bike can go downhill. Considering the issue with the front wheel, my relative inexperience with descending, the steep grade, and the tight corners, it wasn't going well. I nearly overcooked a few turns, and I nearly overcooked my brakes! Realizing that I would kill either myself, or someone else, I walked about half of the distance. It was a little disappointing, but I still made it UP that day.

Now I need to find some downhills to practice on.

NEXT TIME: Jittery Joe's Ride!

Crap.

2007-04-19T18:01:00.000-07:00

After 600 miles on the back of the car, my front wheel is just slightly out of true. I'm not sure I want to ride down mountain roads fast on a wheel with a shimmy.

Option 1: Get it trued in the morning. This would be the best.
Option 2: Use Dad's front wheel, with it's big ol' tire.

Hmmm...

Big ol' Bike Weekend #1 Part 2

2007-04-18T19:11:00.000-07:00

This will be brief.

>Saturday's Sundog ride was as good as usual, but leaving before the end, and especially, before lunch rendered it not great like usual. Lots of fun was had. Unfortunately I won't be back for the standard Saturday ride for a while because of other things.

>Joe's races on Saturday and Sunday were chronicled much more in depth than I could ever imagine going. If yer interested, check out his blog on my link farm.

>The men's pro race was full of excitement. Fast rain riders, crash-fest corners, big splits, and two three-man-breaks. It never got dull, never seemed routine. Big time congrats to Mark Hekman of Abercrombie & Fitch for bridging the two groups and scoring himself a 6th place finish. It's so cool that someone whose blog I've been reading for a while (Wherethehekismarkman: see the link farm for his account) provided real life excitement. It's nice to see people in real life, and not just as lit up pixels.

>On Saturday, Joe and I also hit a couple of bike shops, and I worked hard to be the solution to one shop's summer problem. One of their guys is going away for the summer, and I did a hard sell to pick up summer work at the shop. I start May 6, and with the Tour de Georgia this weekend, and the police memorial ride on the next Saturday, it looks like the Sundog tradition may be out of reach for a while.

>Monday night, I went riding with a slowish group that makes for a nice social/recovery ride. Too bad I didn't have anything to recover from! The only workout on that ride is the Acosta Bridge, and boy, does my heart rate go through the roof on that climb - especially into the wind! The ride was more populous this week, and I got to meet a buddy from Bike Journal (again, link farm, the line forms to the right). Chad's a cool guy. Fun to ride with, and he was fun to hang with at Al's Pizza afterward.

>Tonight? Packing. Pops and I leave for the Tour de Georgia tomorrow morning. We'll ride around Blairsville tomorrow evening, then we'll recon Brasstown Bald. I'm already whimpering, and I haven't even started the climb. Jittery Joe's ride before the race on Saturday, and who knows in Atlanta on Sunday. This week, the Monday night ride will be a recovery ride, and the Acosta will seem small.

It's an update farm!

2007-04-17T02:40:00.000-07:00

It's been a busy week or so since my last bike post.

> Joe and I discovered a Monday night ride that was fun. It was an easy pace, definitely mellower than my Wednesday night ride. In the middle of the out and back route was downtown Jacksonville's steepest bridge, allowing a workout in the middle of the ride. That night, I planted a seed with the ride leader that I want to work at a bike shop this summer. The good news? He's heading to Europe this summer, and they'll need someone. Good!

> Wednesday night was another attack fest all the way home. I hung in with the front until the time the speed got up to 29 just after my pull. I turned it up to catch back on, and although they didn't pull away any further, I didn't get back on until they got to Stop Sign Land.

> Friday was bike night! No riding, but 3 of the big shops in town had events. At the first, which hosted Monday's ride, I talked to the manager about summer work, and he seemed really receptive. Joe agreed that he sounded interested. Mushroom and garlic pizza at Al's made the afternoon even nicer. At the second shop, we met a guy who travels around doing Specialized demos with his sweet greyhound mix in tow. I picked up some socks for a friend. Our last stop of the night was the new Trek store, where Bob Roll was supposed to be in attendance. He couldn't make it(snow), but they threw out a pretty good discount, and I picked up some gear I'd been meaning to buy. After, Joe & I drove into Jax to check out parking options for him the next day.

Next Post: Weekend rides, Jax Races, Job Prospects, New bike friends are always a good thing

Kurt Vonnegut

2007-04-12T02:36:00.000-07:00

Kurt Vonnegut's peephole on the world has closed.
So it goes.

*Sigh*

I know it's colder everywhere, but...

2007-04-08T17:24:00.001-07:00

this is Florida, dammit. What's up with this? Two mornings in a row, our roll-out temperature is 40F with a heavy NW wind.

I had more clothes on than ever before for a bike ride. I even bought toe-covers.
Normally, if I had been planning 56 miles with the Saturday group, and the weather hit 40 overnight, I'd blow it off. I paid for this ride, though, and that's the thing: when you pay in advance, you end up riding in conditions you'd normally bail on.

I was going to write a lot more about the ride, but that would make for dull reading. So, fun was had. High speeds were achieved. Laughter, smiles, hard work, and progress were all evident. It was a totally ace day. But: cold.

So what do we do for an encore? We went out and busted out 28 miles in the 'cold' again this morning, and stopped at a cafe for Easter-y hash browns. Yum.

I need to start bringing my camera with me. Maybe just when I'm solo, though. Don't want to annoy my ride partners with, "Hey, wait, I wanna get a picture."

Bad Driver Photo #1

2007-04-05T18:27:00.000-07:00

Funny story.
You're in a 6000 pound, high speed exoskeleton. I'm on a 21 pound piece of plastic (well, carbon fiber) and aluminum. I'm the one who's endangering you?

If you ever have the great pleasure of riding your bike on Heckscher drive in Jacksonville, you'll find a great road with a mostly great shoulder. Occasionally, there are bridges, and the bike lane leading up to each bridge is crowded out with reflectors. I'm big on the whole share the road thing, but I'm not going to ride in a dangerous spot, so I have to ride to the left of the white line once in a while. I don't like it any more than the drivers. They're held up, I feel like I'm gonna get slammed by an SUV driver with a bad attitude.

Overall, though, Heckscher is a pretty great ride.

The woman in the picture above was apparently running late, so she sat on her horn for the entire length of the bridge. She pulled into a driveway ahead, and I thought, "Is the driver gonna run me over? Are they gonna try to mess with me?" I pulled up as she got out to get the mail.

"Is there a problem?" I asked.

She replied that I should be on the (nonexistent) sidewalk, or over the white line on the bridge's (nonexistent) shoulder.

I tried to tell her that's not possible on the bridge, but that's not her problem.

I tried to tell her that Florida law says she needs to give me three feet when passing. She told me that her law was for me to get off of her property (I wasn't on it). She told me to stop threatening her (I wasn't), or she'd call the police.

I took her picture (and tried, but screwed up (rats!)) to take a picture of her license plate. I took down her phone number from the For Sale By Owner sign in the yard. Unfortunately, the reverse phone lookup thing didn't work with her number.

I've decided not to do anything more. I don't want to add to the negativity in the world. She's doing enough of that.

Still Bike Shopping

2007-04-04T06:40:00.000-07:00

For the record:

Bike shopping wasn't as productive as hoped...
The shop with Felts had nothing in the right size to even test. I rode a Specialized Tarmac Comp (105), and loved the ride, but blanch at $2200 for a 105 equipped bike. I'd love to try the Felt F4C - it's ultegra and DA, all carbon, and I've seen it on sale for $1500. Unfortunately, I'd have to find one first.

I'd also have to find the money! I've got a gajillion dollars worth of dental work coming up, and the Wes keeps having vet bills. My car's old, and there's a paycheck-less two weeks this summer because school's starting later. It doesn't make sense to fret over a new bike right now. Maybe if I get a summer job...

Feeling a little guilty.

2007-04-04T05:50:00.000-07:00

I've been neglecting my singlespeed a bit lately.

Here's the story of my Centurion LeMans:

I was driving home from work, and saw a wheel-less bike in the trash.
I brought it home, but I knew I had enough bikes already. I'd rehabilitate it and find it a good home.

Well, you know the story. You spend enough time taking care of something, and you can't give it away. Since finding the LeMans, I've added a new chain, wheels, spacers on the hub to make it a single(originally, I cut Coke cans to make the spacers, but I've opted for something more permanent), a new(old) saddle, stem, brakes, and bar tape. It's a spirited ride: it loves to accelerate, and it's comfortable for the long haul. It's fast, too, with a 42x15, it keeps up on all but the fastest A rides.

Lately, though, I've been spending more time on my Trek (in the profile picture). It's an easier climber, and some of the sprints get a little tough in a 42x15.

I promise, though, I'll be back on it next week, at least two days after work.

Going shopping

2007-04-02T06:41:00.000-07:00

I don't have the money to buy a new bike yet, and I probably don't really need one, but I want something a little faster, a little lighter, with a little better shifting.

So I'm going shopping.

I'm looking for a bike to put on my fridge. Well, not the bike, but a picture, a goal, an incentive to add to my savings.

Coaches of all kinds say to visualize success. Here I am, that's what I aim to do.

I'm thinking FELT right now, maybe a Z65 or an F75. Who knows? Time to hit the shops. I'm bringing my pedals, shoes, and helmets, let's do some test rides, bebbah.