A random collection of thoughts associated with the sport of cycling, as relayed by one hopelessly devoid of too many competing interests. It's a one track blog I'm afraid. But hey, if you like bikes you might enjoy it. So keep reading and the worst that'll happen is it might rot your brain..

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Oh The Irony

Spring my ass...



The MTB action has been real sparse as of late. The freezing cold road rides, snowshoeing and runs have been fun and all but it's gotta be time for some warmer weather. I saw a familiar case at the liquor store that gave me a flash of hope. The name has changed to Celtic Ale but Harpoon's Hibernian is still a nice harbinger of spring. It's just a matter of time so suck it up and get out there, it'll be time to ride fast soon enough.

Speaking of rides, Lennon Schroeder is hosting the second annual Burlingame Winter Fun Ride. It will be held on February 15th and will feature some really fun trails designed and cut by the man himself (and his crew of trail creating zombie bike slaves) This is all assuming the snow makes a hasty retreat anyways. Be sure to check the RI NEMBA site for updates before the ride to be sure it's a go.

That's all I have for now, stay warm!

Monday, January 12, 2009

Feel the heat

Damn, it's freakin' cold out! It's just going to get colder too.. Before the deluge of pictures from warmer days gone by I need to mention the following: I rode the extension to the Sammy C trail in Burlingame and it is AWESOME!! Lennon is the man!

Be happy, ye olde roadies, that he will most likely never, ever, include such a trail in the King of Burlingame Time Trial. If he did your road seasons would end in early April because you'd either fall completely in love with mountain biking and sell all your road bikes, or die. It's that much fun. OK, you wouldn't die, it's not that hard to ride but it is really technical and lots of fun. It's the sort of trail that you want to go back and ride over and over again. As soon as the snow is gone your mission is to make a trip down to South County and ride that sucker. Here's to hoping Len is up to hosting another February Fun Ride, and the weather feels like cooperating.. Oh yeah, almost forgot, I bought a Bianchi San Jose. It's going to be my on/off road commuter bike to use in the Blue Hills to get to work from Houghton's Pond once my job moves to Quincy. Should be fun putting together a ride incorporating single track and fire roads. It'll cut about 20 miles off the round trip the days I ride in from the park.

OK, random pics. Enjoy the days of single layers.









Monday, January 05, 2009

Happy New Year!!

Yeah, I'm a little late with the sentiment I know.. Not too much has transpired in 2009 as of yet so this will be brief. I did manage to ride on New Years Day down at Bluff Point in CT. Bad Brad and I rode the snowy trails and managed to put together a decent loop considering everything was under 4" of powdery snow. A little ice here and there made it interesting and once the snow groove was acheived it was on, and as it turns out it was a lot of fun. I'll post the pics of two dumbasses freezing out on the bluff tonight. I think we definitely should've brought some warming spirits after seeing the "bar" set up at the point. As it was I think we lost a few brain cells at the Tim Hortons pit stop on the drive home, it wouldn't have killed us to get a jump start courtesy of flasky mcgee.

In other self flagellation related news I made a really dumb mistake and ran for roughly twice my longest recent mileage, and time, on Saturday out on the snowy trails at Lincoln Woods. This was extra stupid seeing as how I've only been running on flat ground. This would explain why walking was seriously hindered by a really screwy right knee on Sunday. Oodles of stretching, and some spinning on the trainer, finally allowed things to get back to normal. At least now I can walk up the stairs. I knew running was coming along too well until now. After 5 runs I was pretty happy with my 3 mile/20:10 run last Tuesday and figured I'd "broken through" that invisible barrier that hampers me when I reintroduce an activity. I wasn't hurting during or after so I must be done easing back into it, right? Well, yeah, not so much. It's been roughly 4 years since I ran regularly and like I meant it. It might be a while to get back to where it once was.

In case you are wondering, Lincoln Woods is fairly rideable right now. It'll be work but you can do it, I know you can. Here's some pics of Brad in the cold.