Discontinued

All done here.

Grand Finale of the the Farm Tour

For your enjoyment......






It only seems appropriate. Maybe in your head you can insert the words biking for walking and plains or flatland for mountain to customize it to life in West Lafayette

Fog and Foals

This morning I got out early for my ride right at dawn. The first three miles were great, but once I hit the country I rode into a pretty intense fog. I've decided that riding a bike in the fog is scarier than driving in fog. The biggest problem I had was that my glasses don't come equiped with mini windshield wipers. I ended up taking them off, and cutting my ride short since I couldn't ride very fast, I coulnd't see far ahead, and what I could see was a little distorted.

When you ride through a cloud some fun things do happen though. Each one of those little arm hairs everyone has becomes its own rain drop. You don't sweat as much since you can just evaporate the cloud that settles on you, and I don't think that if a man ran across the rode carrying a chain saw and screamed bloody murder it would seem all that strange. It might even make sense in the context of an early morning cloud. (THIS DID NOT HAPPEN)

If that last one had happened, I would have certainly had a better title for this post.

The far animal of the day is the foal. For those who don't yet know much about foals, a foal is a horse less than a year old. According to wiki, male foals are colts and a filly is a female foal. I didn't know that till today either. Anyway I saw two of them with their respective parents. I think that baby cows are way more cute that foals. Foals look so awkward to me. It's amazing that they actually grow into things that don't look like they are actively falling over. There is also this kind of cool white speckled horse that I have seen a few times now, but he doesn't pay much attention to me.

I'm at 264 miles for the month. This post also concludes Nathan's bike tour of West Lafayette farm animals

Worked the kinks out

I got up at 5:30 this morning to say bye to Liz as she was leaving for the hospital. Usually, after she leaves I plop back in bed, but today I managed to stay awake. The trick was to just keep eating. I had two pieces of toast (with home-made black raspberry jam thanks to Liz and mimi) and two small bowls of applesauce. I was out the door on my bike at 6:40! AMAZING!!! there are very few cars on the road at that time so it was pretty easy to get out of town to the country side.

The ride was pretty good. My directions kept me on track for once. I was almost cloudy but really more of a haze. It made the sun look kind of fun, and I think it helped keep the temp cool. I did part of the metric century (100km or 65 miles) route that I'm hoping to do in October. It was flat that roads were pretty nice. I went 23 miles which is pretty good for me. I realized how slow I usually go though. I worked pretty hard just to go 18mph on average.

Once home and cooled off, I went back to bed for 45 minutes. It was glorious.


There were some cute baby cows in a field that I passed. The mom cow would have been cute expect for the drool coming out of her mouth. West Lafayette must have some tasty grass in order to make even the cows drool. The cows all stopped eating and watched me as I went past. I've decided that cows are my best spectators (as in only).



Cows look like this. If you look in their eyes, you can tell what they are thinking. Today's cows were pondering if they could escape from their field and eat my bike.





hmmmmm....tasty bike

Hopelessly Lost

This morning I had a brilliant idea. I wrote the directions of my new route down on a little paper and taped it to my handle bars. Honestly, I haven't been the best at being able to remember my routes from memory, so I figured this would be a sure fix.



fast forward.......





So I ended up a town over and realized that I was the most lost I have ever been. I missed the first turn and never recovered. I new I was in trouble when I crossed over interstate 65 into the town of Battle Ground. This town was nowhere near my original route. I turned around and tried to make a loop back to West Lafayette, but as it turns out I was still a little disoriented. Apparently I continued to ride away from West Lafayette instead of going back towards it. Then God smiled because I pulled of the road into a very small church on a corner for a rest and some water. When I looked at the corner street sign it was actually part of the original route that I had planned, so then I followed my route home. All said and done I added 5 or so miles to my original route, but that's ok because it was an adventure in the truest sense.



Now I'm at 193 miles for the month. I'm cautiously optimistic that I'll make it to 300 without any huge problems.



I think that I'll take tomorrow off so that I'm fresh for Friday and Saturday.

Tuesday is llama day

Went for a bike ride this morning. It was a perfect 64 degrees. Anything less than 60 degrees starts feeling really cold. It was a pretty boring ride without too much excitement. I went a block further on one of my routes to get an extra two miles. I went over a creek and past a pond.

Today's farm animal of note is the llama. I saw three of them walking around. At first I thought they were billy goats, but then one of them raised up their head and exposed their long neck. Don't worry I never got within spitting range. While riding I wrote a llama poem, but have since forgotten it. I can tell you it was funny and I got a good chuckle out of it.

It would be horrible to not reference this given that it is llama day: the llama song (it just keeps retpeating so don't worry if you stop it after the song starts over, but if youa re like me you won't be able to resist listening to it over and over).

Halfway

It's been a pretty good day. I didn't go for a bike ride this morning, but I got at 2:30 after work. I went 19.3 miles (in part because of a wrong turn). This brings my total miles for the month up to 150!!! Halfway done, with half the month to go.

I decided to tilt my seat back 1/8th of a degree. I couldn't believe how much better it felt. I don't feel like I'm always sliding forward on the seat. Also I think it takes a little of the pressure off of my wrists. Such a small change, yet such a huge relief.

During the ride I saw some happy cows. There were standing in a creek bed in the shade. They looked blissful.

Well, that's all for today. Liz and I are going out on the town to celebrate one year of good times.

It is just a bugger of a hill

I went out the same direction this morning in order to take another whack at my hill friend. I got over it a bit quicker, but I'm guessing any onlooker would still have scored the round in the hill's favor. I don't mind though, it give me something to think about.

I left at 8:00am this morning which was just perfect. I think most of the cars were already at work, but the sun still hadn't come out yet. I might have to still bump up the start time if it is going to be super hot or if I'm going to ride longer distances.

I remembered to actually take my water bottle for the first time. Up till now I have been very good at filling it with ice and water and then leaving without it. However, I forgot to drink out of it during the ride. I'm all about baby steps now days anyways.

Here is my post ride snack. No ride no snack. They are exceptionally good, but a bit pricey. I think that there are times when I go for my ride just to get my treat at the end. I drink coffee too, but I usually wait till I stop sweating (so the granola bar is long gone). I don't ration coffee like the granola bars. That just wouldn't work well at all.

I'm at 125 miles for the month so I'm right on track to get to my 300.

Bonked (almost)

I went for a ride this morning (I didn't get up real early like the machine of my wife know as Liz ((4:15 is crazy! I don't care who your are or how much you like to run)), but I did get up) and took a new route. It was around 14 miles, but I missed a turn that I was planning on taking so I'm not entirely sure how far I went.

Mostly the roads were really nice, for awhile I was even on a road that they had just repaved (the machines were still there), and instead of having to ride over the train tracks I rode under them thanks to a fun bridge. There were a few steep hills but they were short. On one of the hills in the middle I found myself only halfway up it and pretty much at a dead stop. I couldn't seem to get the feet turning. I'll go back another day to show it who is the real boss (just not today). Lastly, I saw a bunny and it was cute.

For those of you unfamiliar with bunnies, it looked a lot like this



Yesterday was a traumatic bike day, which ended with me having to change my tire for the 1st time ever and not getting to actually bike. I have to thank the countless you tube clips that probably demonstrated the "simple" technique of changing a tire for me over 20 times on my computer.

I broke the valve on the first one because I slipped and twisted the fragile part of the stem, thus it would no longer hold in the air. I all ended with me and Liz going to the bike shop for a humbling lesson on how to use bike pump (don't laugh until you have tried one of those demonic presta valve mechanisms).

But now, all is right again in the world. My padded bibs came in the mail so my booty doesn't hurt so much while riding. It will take a little time to get used to the spandex part though, but at least I'm not flashing all the oncoming traffic, and I bought biking gloves at the LBS so now my arms don't go numb (an odd sensation, but not an appropriate one while steering a bike).


That hill described from earlier felt biking up this....




but probably was more like this

Summer routine

I think that i've finally found a routine that I'm happy with for the summer. It only took me two months to nail it. Basically it revolves around getting my work done in the mornings and late at night. The afternoon day is for napping, playing tennis with liz, and getting in a bike ride. Dinner. Work. Sleep. Repeat.

On a biking note, I'm really really hope that my bibs come tomorrow. My arse is getting sore not having any padding. I think that I'll soon have to get gloves and a water bottle soon too. I got out for another 16 miles today.By the end, my hands were sweaty and losing grip and I was thristy. We shall see what happens.

You would think that bike pumps would be easy to use, but that is just not the case. That bugger is hard to get onto the valve just right. I almost spend more time getting the thing on than I do having to actually pump air.

I'm at 84 miles of 300 for the month

I beat the rain

So I probably won't post pictures. Maybe I'm just to lazy. When I woke up this morning for my ride it was storming pretty bad, and Liz forbid me from going out and riding. She didn't have to work very hard since the bed was down right comfortable, and I don't like the idea of being struck by lighting. Anyway, by 9:00am (when I was supposed to be at work) it was still storming and I decided to call in and tell them that I wouldn't be coming in on account of the weather. I got enough work doen from home that it wasn't a big deal.

Around noon, I looked out the window and saw that the rain had stopped and the pavement was slowly drying. I looked on the radar and it said that there would be more rain coming (it never did though) in about 2 hours, so I hoped on my bike and set off for some miles.

It turned into a great ride. I went 16 miles (a personal best for me), but had to take a small break halfway through to turn around, let a semi-truck pass, and wipe my glasses clean. I'm going to need a water bottle on the bike soon. I don't think I'd want to go much farther without one. The little hills on the way back were a little more painful, but I got over them slowly.

I'm at 43 miles for the month with a goal of doing 300 miles.

Never trust the phones

Liz and I happened to be near the bike shop so I wanted to stop in and ask when exactly my bike would be ready. To my great surprise they say that the bike has been ready for awhile now, and I probably just missed their call. I can say with great certainty that they didn't ever call me, but it's all a moot point now because I have my bike. I'll post pictures later. I took it on a 5 mile ride it it was glorious (and really really hot out) I also got a helmet to go with the bike. Now all I have to do is get in shape and use the thing as often as possible.

The Apex of Hope for Tomorrow

Whatever, I think we all know the story by now.

A pox damn you, you muddy rascal, is that all the comfort you bring me?

The quote from is from Henry IV Part 2. I had to read it for Professor Cox while at Hope. Anyway, I don't think they are going to call me today either.

A plauge upon their store!!!!!!!

If they aren't careful I'll go animal on them.

Highest hopes for tomorrow?

I mean c'mon already. When a place says we'll call you in the next few days I take that to mean less than a week. The "next" implies that it is right up against the progression of days. Saying that Friday is next to Monday is a bit of a stretch: especially since Fridays are technically closer to the next following Monday. (I don't know know how to punctuate that last sentence.)

Anyway, if they don't call tomorrow. I'll be disappointed again, but I'll be most upset that I won't have a better descriptor for my blog title. I might have to resort to broken English. Highester, or Current Hope = Highest Hope +1 Hope, or Highestest. Maybe I can just put difference emphasis on the word using cap like HIGHEST (or even better HiGhEsT). Hopefully I won't have to resort to these admittedly awful solutions.

It stormed again today, so I'm still pretending that it doesn't matter since I don't think I'll ever go riding in thunder and lighting. I know I'm just trying to decrease my cognitive dissonance, and that takes a little of the pleasure out of it.

Today we go for a Youtube clip.......



I don't even like Lance Armstong that much, but this still made me laugh. I was just thinking some light cardio...

Higher Hopes for Tomorrow?

so I lied. They didn't call me today saying my bike was ready. I guess that's ok since it is storming out and I wouldn't be able to ride it anyway. If they don't call tomorrow, I'll probably have to wait to pick it up until Monday afternoon. I could probably pick it up sooner if they call, but the next few days will be busy with family coming to town.

I get so tired in the afternoons. I don't get it, but I basically end up focusing more on not falling asleep than getting any kind of quality work done. I've been trying to get more sleep at night but that doesn't seem to really help or hurt. Maybe it's just one of those things that comes and goes.

Here is a picture.......

High Hopes for Tomorrow

I have a feeling tomorrow is going to be the day they call, but we shall see.

RSS feed

I added an RSS feed to the left. It's from Velo new which is kind of like sports illustrated for cycling. I'm not sure if I'm going to keep it or not, but I'm going to give it a shot. Not the most exciting post.

Big News

First off, I wrote this long Snazzy entry but the post failed and I lost it all. I even tried to save it once, but now it it gone.

Here is the recap:

West Virginia was fun. The drive wasn't too bad. I read three books. I read the first in the Runelord series and decided it was good enough to go get the second. I read The Godfather and thought it was way better than the movie is. I read Straightman by Rick Russo. It was about second rate English professors at a univeristy. It made me laugh out loud maybe four or five times. Anyone who refers to West Virginia as hilly is lying. Those are some serious mountains. I'm pretty sure that we drove up hills that I wouldn't be able to bike up.

Back to biking:
I finally gave up and called the LBS to see when my bike would get here. They said that they they have it!!!! Hurray. They still have to put it together, so I should have it in a few days.

Dad and Pat are coming next weekend, we are half destination and half hotel. I'm trying to convince Liz to bake up some of those amazing cinnamon rolls that she knows how to make.

Lastly, if anyone knows a good key-lime pie recipie please send it to me.

and a picture I find funny:

Out to the big WV

Today we are leaving for West Virginia! I'll have to take an imaginary break from training from the bike I still don't own. Maybe it will be here when I come back. Take that bike! Who's waiting for who now?

and the West Virgina state song (sounds like a fun place to go biking.... if you like hills)

West Virginia Hills Words

by Mrs. Ellen King,

Music by H. E. Engle

1. Oh, the West Virginia hills! How majestic and how grand,With their summits bathed in glory, Like our Prince Immanuel's Land!Is it any wonder then, That my heart with rapture thrills,As I stand once more with loved ones On those West Virginia hills?

CHORUS:

Oh, the hills, beautiful hills, How I love those West Virginia hills! If o'er sea o'er land I roam, Still I'll think of happy home,And my friends among the West Virginia hills.
2. Oh, the West Virginia hills! Where my childhood hours were passed,Where I often wandered lonely, And the future tried to cast;Many are our visions bright, Which the future ne'er fulfills;But how sunny were my daydreams On those West Virginia hills!

CHORUS

3. Oh, the West Virginia hills! How unchang'd they seem to stand,With their summits pointed skyward To the Great Almighty's Land!Many changes I can see, Which my heart with sadness fills;But no changes can be noticed In those West Virginia hills.

CHORUS

4. Oh, the West Virginia hills! I must bid you now adieu. In my home beyond the mountains I shall ever dream of you;In the evening time of life, If my Father only wills, I shall still behold the vision Of those West Virginia hills.

END

And a picture to spice things up

I guess they really adore their hills, but I guess that isn't so odd. After all Michigan has Lake Michigan, Wisconsin has Bret Farve, and Indiana has...... corn! Oh wait, we don't even have that anymore after it all washed away :(....

Disappointed

For some reason I thought today might be the day I'd get the call, but two hours into the LBS buisness hours and no call. Obviously, the only way to cheer up if a funny picture and a youtube clip..







I don't even know what he's saying (thanks to My Shaved Legs for this gem)

10:00am Jitters

Every day around 10:00 am I start getting a little nervous (I realize the post time is all messed up, but it is really almost 10:00am here). The bike shop opens at ten and I realize that my bike may be silently waiting in the back room; waiting for them to call and for me to come pick it up. All it takes it one phone call and boom! it all begins Usually around 10:05 I give up and start waiting for 3:00pm ( a totally arbitrary guess on when they get their shipments for the day). Hopefully it comes soon, although I'd be in no condition to ride very far today with a tummy ache like I have from drinking all that crack coffee last night.


edit: it's past 10:00am now, so maybe tomorrow will be the day

Up later than usual

It's summer time, and I'm still up working past midnight. This isn't completely unusual especially during the school year. It makes me a little worried about my resolution to ride in the mornings when Liz gets up. I'm not a morning person to begin with even when I get to bed on time. We shall see how this works out. I may have to switch to early evening rides.

The Start

It's not technically a start simply because I don't even have a bike yet. This blog will be a place where I can complain to everyone (yeah I know, I'm probably the only one ever reading this) and a place to track my training. Hurray it's biking time. I'll post a pic and first ride info when I get a bike.