My Security Blanket

Like a child who clutches his blanket when times are tough, I've been relying on my bike a lot lately to get my through some difficult times.  I guess if I'm going to be obsessed with something, it's good for it to be something health and fun.

When I'm out on my bike the world just seems right.  My rides let me rock out to my music, dance on my bike (yes, I'm sure I look like a crazy person) and meet some cool new friends.  This past week I've hit up two weeknight group rides and I'm likely to make it a habit.

We had a major storm on Saturday night.  The torrential rains, almost 7 inches in a few hours, washed out the local trails and made Monday's commute very interesting.  A few of the tunnels were flooded and there was sentiment everywhere.  I even saw a dead fish along the trail from where the creek had overflown and then receded.  There is probably some kind of metaphor for my life in that story.

Wednesday nights are the Crank Arm Brewery rides.  Last summer my friend Steve and I did the ride a few times and I have been wanting to get back to it.  This week I was on my own but I've never been one to shy from meeting new people, especially when they love good beer and bikes.

Thursday night Steve and I hit up the Oak City Cycling Project slow cruise.  They decided try to do a scavenger hunt this week and it was a chaotic scene.  We ended up going around to a few of the spots with some of the group but Steve and I eventually broke off and did our own little ride around Raleigh. 

I love my rides but I do feel bad leaving Libby home alone most of the night.  I may just have to get a kid carrier and bring her along on some of these cruises.  She would be a superstar.
 

I Ride My Bike

Looking at my pictures from this year I came to a realization; I really like taking pictures of my bicycle.   I also really like riding it so I guess it's only natural that it would become my supermodel for all my pictures.

I've had a few great months of riding.  In June, I broke my record for miles in one month with 288.7 miles.  My goal for the year is 2,000 miles and I'm on pace to break it.  I actually have a Google doc where I keep track of my progress and what pace I should be on.  I'm a little obsessed but at least it's a healthy obsession. 

For the Love of Bike

The unusual warm winter weather this year has been great for riding.  On Thursday I was able to commute to work and I love having that opportunity.  It takes around an hour and is a wonderful start to my day.  I'm at just under 400 miles for the year and my bike is in need of a tuneup.  I took it into the shop today and I felt like I was leaving a child at daycare.  "You'll take good care of him, right?"

Fortunately the shop owner seems to like me and since I bought it there I hope to have it back tomorrow.  I'll get a ride in from a coworker and then ride it home. 

Here's a few pics from some of my recent rides. 

The new dome on the Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral being installed on NC State's campus.

January Rides

It's possible that I have never ridden a bicycle in the month of January.  As a kid growing up in Pittsburgh, it's not exactly fun riding your bike while your face freezes up like Jack Nicholson in the Shining.

Pittsburgh winters

However since this year I have set a goal of doubling the thousand miles I put on my bike last year, winter rides are now a necessity.  And, believe it or not, I'm starting to really enjoy them.  Amazing how having the right equipment can make all the difference.

I've got an outer shell to keep the wind out, long johns for underneath my clothes and a face mask to keep me warm, and definitely not to rob a bank.  They all work together nicely to keep me pretty comfortable even when the temperatures are low.  I still have a 45 degree rule.  Anything lower is just too cold with the wind.  Fortunately living here in NC has given me a few chances already to ride this month. 

80 miles down, 1,920 to go.

Not a lot of traffic on the trails fortunately.

  

A Grand Year

2015 was the year of the bike for me.  I really fell in love with cycling this past year and I'm pretty sure it's a love that is going to last a lifetime.  I started the year off with a goal of doing 300 miles in the year and by July I had hit my goal.  So I upped my goal, bought a new bike and put the pedal(s) down.  I ended the year at a total of 1,022 miles!

I started off this year by riding right around my birthday.  March 17 ended up being unseasonably warm, well maybe not unseasonably, since here in NC it's not that unusual for a 70 degree March day.  Steve and I had a great ride through Umstead Park and it was a great way to celebrate my b-day.

Birthday ride

 After my birthday ride, I didn't ride again until May 6th.  I've never been a winter rider.  In fact if the weather was basically perfect I didn't really ride.  This year I'm working on changing that.  I want to be able to ride in any condition.

Crank Arm Group ride

I somehow skipped riding in April and didn't start again until May.  That's when Steve and I did our first Crank Arm Brewery ride.  It was my first group ride and actually a lot of fun.  The rides are on Wednesday in the evening after work and I've got to meet some cool people and hang out at what has become my favorite Raleigh brewery.

A cemetery with a grocery store built around it. Odd.

 Once June hit I really started going down the rabbit hole of biking.  I started riding 3 or 4 times a week and for longer distance.  When I went out to Seattle over the summer I had one thing on my list of things to: bike.

A Seattle rental ride.

 In July I had my first wreck.  Wet trail, a curve and too much speed are a bad combination.  It was a short ride to Lowe's that turned into a bit of a bloody mess.  The people at Lowe's must have been wondering where the hell I came from.  I knew getting into cycling that this was going to happen eventually, especially considering my tendency to be somewhat accident prone.  But even on that day, I wasn't going to let a little blood stop me from my riding.  I kept up the rides, adding in little runs like to the bank, the grocery store or anywhere else I could ride instead of drive.

My first bike crash.

 July also marked my longest ride of the year.  Steve and I did just over 52 miles down to Deep River Brewery in Clayton.  It was an amazing summer day, pretty damn hot too but the long country trails along the Neuse River made for some gorgeous scenery.   

White picket fences and country trails.

 In the last days of July I made a trip up to NYC to see a friend and meet up with Steve.  Once again I was

Tour de Fun

I've been riding my bike a lot this year.  Closing in on 800 now.  Saturday I got to not only ride my bike but I did it for a good cause. 

On a beautiful, crisp fall Saturday, Steve and I headed up to Durham and took part in the Tour de Brew.  It's a bike ride that combines good craft beer, riding your bike and helping get fresh water to needy people.  If I could have just incorporated my dog it would have it all.

We began our ride around noon from Fullsteam Brewery.  From there we made our way slowly through the busy downtown streets of Durham about a mile over to the Durham Bulls Athletic Park.  This season the Bulls actually opened a brewery in the stadium!  How cool is that?  They even have these cool cups where they actually fill the cup from the bottom up.  It produces the perfect pour and is really neat to watch. 

From there Steve and I got antsy and didn't feel like waiting for the others in the group, about 50+ other riders, to finish up drinking and hit the trail on our own.  Our next stop was about 10 miles down the American Tobacco Trial to a taproom called Growler Grlz.  It was a nice place with some really good beers on tap.  Here we ended up joining back up with the group and hanging out. 

But again after a beer we were eager to get to the next stop so we headed out on our own to the next stop.  So up the ATT we went back to Durham to the Ponysaurus Brewery.  They haven't even officially opened but we had a beer there and then made our way to the finish back at Fullsteam.    

We stuck around for a bit and relaxed with another beer and talked to a few people, including one of the organizers of the event.  I was able to raise just over $250 toward the #endthewalk cause, which made me feel pretty good to do something good.  It means 50 people in Central Africa will now have access to clean drinking water for the next year.  What a great day.

Boys Love New Toys

“Give a man a fish and feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime. Teach a man to cycle and he will realize fishing is stupid and boring.” -Archbishop Desmond Tutu

A few weeks ago I started having real trouble with my Fuji bicycle I've been riding for the past six or seven years.  I had bought it used off Craigslist a while back and it served me very well but I knew it's time was coming to an end.

My old Fuji

It's not that my Fuji is a bad bike.  It's just that it's time had come and it was time to move on.  I really enjoyed that bike but after recently riding a few different rental bikes while on vacations, I knew I wanted something different.  And when my crank arm set broke it was the final straw.  I attempted to fix it and  it just didn't work out.

So 2 weeks ago I went shopping for my new best friend.  I knew some things I was looking for, like quick-shifters, and I tried a few bike shops before finding my new ride.  I ended up at Cycle Logic in Raleigh.  It's a shop I had been to while attempting to fix my Fuji and I really liked the people there.  It's a small shop where I really felt like they cared and weren't just out for my wallet.

The bike I found and bought is awesome.  It's a Raleigh Misceo Trail 1.0 and it's just what I wanted.   It's light-weight but solid.  It's got quick-shifters allowing me to get to my upper gears quicker.  And I've outfitted it with a new bag, a kickstand and end bars.

In the two weeks that I've had it I've rode 143 miles.  I've decided to name it Arch, in honor of a great man who has my favorite quote on biking.  I love it so much it even has a special place in my dining room where it's being stored.  No outside for Arch.

I'm not going to get rid of my Fuji just yet either.  I've taken it in to the shop to have it repaired and will probably keep it too so that I have a backup in case someone visits, hint, and wants to go for a ride with me.  I just hope I don't turn into one of those weird bicycle obsessed people who has a stable of bikes and parts all over.  Actually I'm okay with that.

I'm Gonna Need A Bigger Goal

When I started really getting into bicycling this spring I decided I was going to set a goal of doing 300 miles on my bike this year.  After my ride yesterday I am now at 312 miles.  I guess it's time to set a new goal.

Yesterday's ride not only broke my yearly goal, it set a new record for most miles in a day at 52, breaking my previous ride record of 36 miles.  So what made me ride so far?  A brewery of course.  Deep River Brewing Company in Clayton.

Steve and I were riding last week when we ran into some other riders who told us it was doable mostly by trail and it quickly became our next ride.  We left yesterday around 10am and got there just before they opened at 1.  We took a quick trip down to the grocery store for some sandwiches and went back to the brewery for a few pints before our trip back.

The ride was gorgeous.  It was also hot as hell in some spots but what do you expect when riding in the midday sun on roads with no shade.  Most of the trip was on the greenway trails.  We had a few miles in Clayton on the roads to get to the brewery, including a ball busting hill where the climb was almost two miles, there was no shoulder and traffic was going by at 45 mph.  It was intense but good to get used to riding in areas like that.  Most cars give you plenty of space because they tend to not want a bicyclist hood ornament.

I think the beers were extra tasty because we worked so hard to get there.  I swear half the ride I was just thinking how great it was to be out on the trails with my buddy enjoying the day.  At least until the way home when I spent a lot of time cursing the hills and the head wind we were pushing through but it was so worth it.

Crash, Boom, Bang

I knew it was going to happen sooner or later.  I didn't start really getting into bicycling and not expect to have a crash.  I can barely walk around my house without hurting myself so it had to happen.

Saturday morning my first wreck finally happened.  It had rained heavily on Friday night and I was an idiot and was going way too fast for conditions.  The green-way trail was still wet and when I came off a bridge and returned to the asphalt I might as well have been on ice. 

I'm not going to lie, it hurt.  My wheel was turned so I ended up sliding my bike onto my left side.  Pretty much my whole left side has road rash from my shoulder to my ankle.  And fortunately I'm at least smart enough to wear a helmet because otherwise I would have had one hell of a headache. 

The funny thing is I was on a short ride over to Lowe's hardware and actually could have been there without the crash.  As I got near Lowe's I decided to go the long way to get a few extra miles and that's when I crashed.  I still finished my trip to the store and must have looked like hell to anyone there.  An employee there was nice enough to give me a few band-aids and I managed to clean myself up a little in the bathroom.  And then I rode home.

I also still rode 35 miles on Sunday because it was just too beautiful of a day to not ride.  It's been a few days and the bruises are starting to heal and I plan on riding tonight too.  Just going to take it a little slower on those wet hills.

Where's the hills?

Last week I ventured out to the left coast and visited Seattle with Kelly.  It was a fun trip and if I'm not too lazy I will write a little more about it.  The highlight for me was getting to take a nice long bike ride around Lake Washington. 

I wasn't sure I was going to be able to find the time to get a ride in at all.  Fortunatley some "sister bonding" allowed me to slip away on Tuesday morning and get a ride in.  I was able to rent a 7-speed bike from a local bike shop that was right on a beautiful bike trail, the Burke-Gilman Trail, that took me from the East suburbs of Seattle down around part of the lake and into the Ballard neighborhood.  In between I got to see the University of Washington campus and the Gas Works park which had an awesome view of downtown Seattle. 

The ride ended up being just over 34 miles which is a new personal best for me.  When i was down in Topsail last summer I rode 28 miles in one day so I beat my best by over 6 miles.  I'm sure the cool temperature helped as it was only around 60 degrees when I set out around 10am. 

From End to End

I love riding my bike.  I love the beach.  When I combined the two last month it was bliss.

Since I had some extra room in my car for the trip to Top Sail, NC I decided to bring along my bicycle and get a few days of riding in.  Smart move.  The weather was perfect, the roads were empty since it was the off-season and the terrain was flat and had a scenic beauty.

I rode 50 miles between the two days.  Each day I set out around 11am, rode for about an hour and a half, had lunch and then rode back.  By the time I finished I was a sweaty mess and I was eager to jump into the ocean and crack open a beer.  I couldn't have asked for more.

I tried to take each ride in and enjoy the sights around me.   I spent much of the first ride looking for an Allen wrench to adjust my handlebars.  I stopped and asked a few construction works but wasn't successful.  On my way back I finally succeeded and had an quick, but somewhat enlightening conversation.