I have burned Zero calories

I was supposed to go riding yesterday but my little girl was sick so I just hung out with her. Not a single calorie burned but the snuggle time was priceless. AND she feels better today. THAT'S the power of daddy. Work today but tomorrow.....

Saddle Sore

After putting a couple hundred miles on the Vintage Leather Saddle, and by "vintage" I mean that the actual saddle is wicked old, it's just not working for me. It's not breaking in. It's making my but uncomfortable and I'm not even sure that it was adjusted right. So I replaced it. I have a"trek" brand saddle that is pretty wide so of course I didn't use that one but a smaller one that I salvaged off of a Shogun 400. It took me a few tries to get it adjusted right but after a while I got the riding position right but it was only slightly more comfortable than the old leather one had been.

But what to do? Why, get a more comfortable one of course! Which one though? How can you pick one? There are all kinds of leather ones, and a billion kinds of synthetic ones. How do I pick one? I have no idea. I guess I'll try the one that's on there again since it IS marginally more comfortable than the other one. But I'm serious. How the heck DOES one pick a descent, comfortable bicycle seat?

My little stumbling block....

This is my daddy-baby rig. I use it to drag this little guy around on Bike Trails like the Rockingham trail or the Bedford trail. He likes it. What I would like to do is take him on the roads in it! That way I could run errands with him or even do some fitness riding with the little guy behind me. I have to tell you, I am very apprehensive about it. I have some pretty busy streets and some pretty steep hills around here and I don't want my little guy to get hurt. Tomorrow I might give it a try. Nothing serious just a little jaunt through the neighborhood back-roads. Sadly, there is no where cool that I can take him, like a park or something, without going down one of those mad steep hills or one of those pretty steep hills. Baby steps I guess (pun intended).

UPDATE: Ok. We DID it! The Bruce and I went out for a little ride around the hood. the thing that I was MOST apprehensive about (going down hills) turned out to not be such a big deal at all and, as I read some where but didn't believe, cars give the trailer a WIDE birth! It was a good ride but peddling that MTB with the trailer behind was more work over natural terrain than it is on a nice level bike path!

My IPO.

So, I have made a decision. I am going to put a link to this blog in the sig line of my BF profile. I have to admit that I am..... apprehensive. I like strangers little, and crowds even less. Now, I am going to invite crowds of strangers to read what I have said and how I have said it. I want to pull a hood up over my head and hide. Of course, I can't be all that apprehensive about it or I wouldn't do it. I suppose it's better to have hundreds of people see it than no one.

So, as I go forward, I hope that others can gain something from my experiences and ramblings. Perhaps there are other people who ride in one of these places between the places where riding is "cool". Perhaps I'll discover that there are more riders in my town that I ever thought. Perhaps it'll be a giant dog pile and I'll hide in some corner of the internet and cry. We will see. Dog pile on!

An Open Letter to Children and Hobos.

Dear Hobos and Children,

I admire you. Here I sit, in a position in life that I actually get to choose how I spend my money and how I spend my free time. I have been back "into" cycling after loosing a few months due to illness, apathy and other hobbies. I have long toyed with the idea of buying a "New Bike", either road or mountain as I enjoy both. However I realize that what I need more than a new bike is more TIME to ride the ones that I already have. With the concerns of work, family and other interests, I have precious little time to peddle my fat arse about. And make no mistake about it, my but is big!

Pushing all this meat around is hard work. It's work that I am not equipped to do for more than about 6 miles at a time and that's a shame. I LIKE riding my bike. I like the fresh air and exercise and the ability to see my town and countryside in a way that is not possible in a car or even on a motorcycle. Sadly, I can't DO it at will! Once a day, five days a week for as long as it takes me to go 6 miles is it. Sure, someday I'll do 12 miles and then maybe even more but I'll never have the all day energy, or the opportunity to develop that.

And I remember! I remember! I remember when the ride was the ends to a means, the way to get TO an event. It was never the event itself. I never had thoughts like "maybe that's all the riding I'm up for today" or "am I hydrated enough"? I just jumped on and went.

So today I look with envy upon those who just jump on and go because that's how they get where they are going. Weather it is because of age, financial status or (especially) by choice. To all of them, and all of you: hat's off and hazzah! I hope you realize how good you have it. Some of us can only dream about having the time to ride whenever we want and to have energy to ride wherever they want to. I am jealous.

Raleigh Marathon

That's my bike. That's what I have decided to ride on the road. It's old. Very old. It's heavy. Very Heavy. But it's paid for, had a lot of family history in it and is, most of all, perfectly functional! And it's beautiful. It has sport touring geometry!
[IMG]http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff57/noreasterDL/Bicycles/Raleigh7-10050.jpg[/IMG]

I don't know what that means. I found a .jpg of an old catalog a while ago and the Marathon is near the top of Raleigh's non-competitive "10-Speed" line from back in the day. "The Day" is the Eighties. This is NOT from the Eighties:


This is from the sixties and it was on every bicycle that my father in law has owned since then. He has never struck me as much as a cyclist, but I guess that was a mistaken preconception on my part.

I rode it a little bit last fall when it first cam into my hands and I liked it. I was riding my Peugeot on the road at the time despite the fact that it really is too small for me, no mater how much I wish that weren't true. For this year I put a little rack on the Marathon. It's designed for a MTB but fits over the top of the 27 inch wheels of the Marathon with very little clearance but it's nice and level. I don't think that a fender would fit in there but I don't have any fenders for it (yet) so that is not an issue (yet). What I DO have is a Triumph 3-Speed with a flat tire. Upon closer inspection I found that the valve stem is ripped away from the body of the tube. No sweat right? Well, it looks like the tire is also "sliced" at another location so now I ahve to source a 26 1 3/8 tire from.......wait a minuet. I bought some 26inch tires last year that did NOT fit my mountain bike..... Hey! they are the right size! They are gum-wall cyclocross looking things but they are on hand and will go on as soon as I get a new tube or two, which isn't on the front burner since I'm going to be riding the Raleigh Marathon exclusevly on the road this year. Right.

Back on the bike

I've done a couple of bike-path and neighborhood rides with friends and family over the summer, but nothing for "fitness". But I started yesterday and today to get back in the game. I've decided to ONLY use the Raleigh Marathon on the road for consistency sake unless I'm just fooling around. My legs hurt.