New roads.

Found some new roads today. Rolling hills for 40 miles.
No wind and 80 degrees, doesn't get any better then that.
















New Wheels for the bike.

Tomorrows ride

50/50

Yesterday was 70 degrees and 2o mile per hour winds gust to 30. Today the high was around 55 with very little wind. A little cooler but today was my day off.

Got the honey do's done as fast as possible and got ready to ride. What little wind we had was out of the north west, so ride north. I know most of the roads north. I take about 8 different routes to work so I thought it would be kind of nice to loop them together.

Head out along the river, with all the nice weather the Rock River is high! With all the flooding from last year the road is completely repaved. Smooth as glass!
No hills to speak of a few rollers and wooded roads.

Another great ride in Wisconsin and another great ride on the new bike.
When it was over I had got in 50 miles in a little over 3 hours. Not bad for a fat boy.

Till next time.....Peace and Grease.

Cold and wet.

Went for a little spin on Saturday. 39 degrees, raining the whole time. Took out the old bike, didn't want to trash the Ottrott yet. Sometime light other times heavy but always rain. 2 hours in the cold and wet. Stayed warm while I was riding, but once I got into town starred getting cold. Not working hard enough to stay warm. The last 5 miles or so were a chore but made it home. But still it was nice to get out and ride.

It was the first time I had the chance to use the Garmin and power tap together. The Garmin picked up the signal very quick, and showed the changes just as quick. I was told that that the Garmin did not respond as fast as the Power tap head. Could have fooled me.

Garmin Connect has updated there website. It has a player that lets you look at your ride and data.

With a little luck yesterday and today's weather will not stay around for long and I can get in some more miles. I'm so glad that time has changed. Now if the weather will just straighten out.

Peace and Grease.

Grumpy.

3 Feet Please!

Wisconsin has this law! They support us. Please help them, click the link buy a Jersey.

A short cold ride.

First ride of the year, short but cold.


Still a lot of snow here, only the second day above freezing this year.

Went for a litle ride today!

Took a spin on Cervelo's new S3.

Wow what a rush

Riding in the water & wind

The ice is melting and the river is rising.



The water had been over the road here. Down the road it was still over the road.
Houses in this area had sandbags all the way around.



And yes the ride. 25-30 MPH wind. But it was a nice ride.


"B" roads in Wisconsin ya just gotta love'em

Getting in some riding

Went for a little spin on Sunday with some of the guy from work.



Still a lot of snow.



And some crazy guy on a single speed.



A good day for a ride.



Still a little cold.



But a good time!

We got in 31 miles took it easy on the hills. I guess I had to, not very many miles with the winter that we have had. 92 inches of snow for the season with a little more to come. The weather man said we have gone 10 days without any snow, and thats the longest between snows storms this season.
With a little luck I'll get out and ride some more tomorrow. Day off and all.

Peace and Grease.

Google Maps 'Bike There' Feature

Check it out sigh or not. I think it's a cool feature for Google to have.


http://www.PetitionOnline.com/bikether/

Grump

Spring will come early!!

The old ground hog may see his shadow but we refuse to believe him. Friday, February 22nd, 2008. Join the party! The Cronometro Spring Classic.

The party starts at 6:00 PM and will go till 9:00 PM (or later). Stop in to just say Hi, or spend the evening chatting, it’s up to you.
There will be free food, drinks and prizes.

We will be showcasing a few of the bikes that Cronometro has designed over past years. Some are big, some are small. Some are carbon, some are ti. Road and tri. All of them are great examples of fine custom bikes.(The list is too long to go into detail and the store is to small to show them all.)

Some of our bike industry friends are coming from all around the country to join us.

Jon Sison from Shimano

Brett Kane from Cervelo

Dave Powers from Serotta

Mattison Crowe from Seven

Ed Nasjleti from SRAM

John Lindstrom from QBP(Quality Bicycle Products)

Ted Schweitzer from Reynolds

Mark Van Gemert from Zipp

Wyatt Jirsa from Saris(PowerTap)

Brad Menna from Ochsner(Campy/Assos)

Ryan Hall from Veltec(Sidi/Enervit)

They’ll all be here. And…They’re bringing some really cool things of their own! We hope you and your friends can make it too!

This is the first event of its kind for Cronometro, Please join us for the 1st Cronometro spring classic.

For updates check http://www.cronometro.com/springclassic.html

See you on the road!

Scott

scott@cronometro.com

It's not new anymore!

I took the new Red for a spin today! Weather wasn't to bad 40ish with some wind. Not a lot of wet so I decided to ride Red.

It worked great, the front seamed to shift faster the force. The rear worked great! The new levers felt easer to get to. I haven't adjusted the reach on either lever. They just felt closer. Who knows.

Lots of salt on the roads and the tires were covered. All in all I road my bike 18 miles beats setting on the couch. B-)

Now we get to deal with sub freezing temps for the next week. Sundays high, a balmy 4 degrees.

A little wet today

What can I say I'll take 55 degrees any day. Yes it was a lot wet, with all the December snow that we received. Over 30" total and about half of that was still on the ground as of Friday morning. On Wednesday and Thursday the high was in teens. And Friday the morning low was below zero. So to get 55 plus degrees on Sunday, Wow what a rush!!
I took the Moots out for the wet ride. I guess you know your a bike snob
when your bad weather bike is better then most other peoples race bike. I don't feel to bad it is over 10 years old. Poor me right!
Anyway back to the ride.
My route today was flat to rolling hills with 2 short but steep hills. The first short clime is a little over half way into the ride. Not to long about 200 yards with a 8% grade.
The second clime is about 8 miles from the end and is only about 100 yards long but has 12% grade.
My last ride was November 3rd. so it's been a while. Had some wind today as well, 17 mph with 25 mph gust out of the south not to bad most of the ride was in trees and not exposed to the wind. Man all I can say is "what a great day for a ride"! I don't think I can remember a January day when it was this nice.
I didn't get any pictures of the ride, but I did take some of the bike when I got home.
I hope the weather was above average where ever your are and you all got a chance to get in a good ride.
Grumpy

Hurt!!!

I stole this from a way cool blog
Check it out

Kick Ass ride

I got the chance to ride around New Glarus the last 2 Sundays.
Man was it SWEET!

100 miles HOORAY!

Got in the first 100 miler for the year! To be honest it's the first Bennie that I done in over 5 year's. I've done five 90 plus day's but it's not the same. Had to add an extra mile before I got home just to get in 100. It was all good.




I think I might work with one of these guys. But I didn't stop to ask. Kinda odd place to take a nap? Bed pussy!


Just a little fog left about 10 miles into the morning commute.


Met up with Colin (the boss) and John (the Florida guy) about half way up to Madison. It was nice to ride with some people for a change.
We have gotten over 17" of rain this month. Thunder storms make it hard to ride as much as I would like. But I think the down pours have stopped for a while.
We'll see!

Headed for the land of OZ!

Had a good week, didn't get in as many miles as I had hoped (167). I won't get in any bike miles this week but a lot of windshield time about 1500 give or take. My parents 50th is on the 27th and we are headed down to Kansas for a little get-together. The kids get to pick on Grammy and Granddad for a couple of days, then its back to the land of cheese.
I have a new plan to get in some more miles in. We will see if they come through.
A 300 mile week is in the works. I guess time will tell.

Not the sharpest knife in the drawer

So I get the chance to drive to work and ride home, SWEET! As soon as 6:00 comes we lock the doors and get changed into my riding gear, and I'm off like a prom dress. (note to self if it looks like rain its going to rain)
A little windy 10-12 mph, whitecaps on the lake as I ride past. Walkers and runners on the bike path, normal path congestion. I get passed after I slow down for on coming riders. No big deal I have 47 miles ahead and now isn't the time to get an ego.
We both get held up at a stoplight and I start up a conversation, he wants to get in at least 40 and hopes he can make it before it starts to rain. He ask how far I'm going, I tell him Janesville.
"Dude your going to get wet, and be in the dark" Ya it will be close.
We ride and talk for about 7 or 8 miles when its time for me to get off the trail, I'm looking for any short cut that I can find, This road heads south and the trail heads west, South is good, right?
Oops one big ass lake and a dead end after about 5 miles NOT GOOD!!
Back track to find a road that heads west Dam it (another note to self, if you don't know where the road goes don't take it).
OK so the short cut isn't a short cut, I take another chance and this time it pays off. Back on the commute route home. And did I say that it looked like rain? Over cast and windy. If not, now I have. I think the wrong turn was just about a wash and didn't loose time or add mileage to the ride. Anyway moving forward.
I think I'm making good time, with the head wind, its not going to bad. Left turn, right turn, up hill, down hill. Why is it when your on a road that has no shoulder you meet cars just as you are getting passed by one? You can go for miles and not be passed or meet a car but when you see the car in front you know that one is coming from behind.
So far the ride is going fairly smooth I'm eating and drinking, head down riding hard. I'm over half way home and I feel good. Cooksville about 20 miles to go.
So this is the part of the story where things start to go not so good. I've had my rear light flashing for the whole ride. As I stop to get my headlight out I find out that in my hurry to leave I forgot to grab it! Double Damn!! And yes its dark, windy and starting to RAIN!
Now remember the 2nd note to self? "If you don't know where the road goes DON'T TAKE IT"
Screw that I need to get home and the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. RIGHT? And its not like I don't know where the road goes "the wife" drove it and I kind of think I know that it goes through! So forget note #2. Besides I'm a guy and I know these things!
To add to the fun (lets see we have wind, rain and darkness) now we have lighting!
Triple Damn! Nothing to bad, just a little to let me know it was there, you know off in the distance, for now. So now I'm think get home as fast as possible straight line here I come.
Now the problem with this is that the road that it connects to is a major highway, the up side is that there is a "bike lane" on the highway the down side is ITS A F*&$ING HIGHWAY!
To bad I need to get home. Head down, Head wind and Head strong. (also see brain-dead)
So as I head down the road the lighting becomes a little more frequent, still off in the distance.
I guess I had about 6 or 7 miles of dark riding (no moon or stars). Then I see the cars crossing in front of me, yup it's the highway.
Now the rain is coming down a little harder, not to bad I'm not wearing glasses and I can still see. Traffic isn't to bad, happy for the bike lane and the flashing red tail light. And things look up a little the head wind has turned into a cross tailwind. 20 mph sweet. I think I was about 1 mile into this 7-8 mile leg on the highway when the brightest and loudest clap of thunder hit. I don't know how close it was but the flash and the bang were close to the same time. So I'm thinking to close for me. With no where to go and no place to hide Head down and ride harder. Nothing will get the blood going like a good scare. I haven't looked at my computer yet but I'm sure I was maxed on the heart rate for about 30 min. Didn't drink didn't look back just road as fast as I could till I could get off the highway.
Now once I'm off the highway I still have about 6 miles to get to the house. It's not to bad low area my thought are low area less chance of getting hit by lighting. So when I hit the county road I'm feeling good. I see cars coming from behind I pull over and let then go by, no need to take a chance. One mile till I'm in Janesville and as luck would have it a car comes up behind me just as another is meeting me. No place to pull off so I just hope they slow down and wait to pass. Sure enough they do, only after the oncoming car goes by they pull up beside me. ?$@& now I have to deal with some Drunk redneck, telling me I don't belong on the road and blah blah.....
But know nice people asking me if I want a ride "its very dark out and your hard to see would you like a ride?" "No thanks, I'm almost home".
10 min. later I'm home, wet, tired and hungry. Less the 3 hours to go a little over 47 miles.
Cant wait to do it again.
Only next time I'll be sure to take my light's
Peace and Grease!
Grump

Another Saturday, Another ride to work!

Well I guess I'm getting in better shape or the ride to Madison is getting shorter.
Saturday I road to work again, and over halfway back. A total of 77 miles! Not bad for a fat boy!
Its easy to say now that is over but I'm sure that I could have made it home. I'm going to find out this Saturday, riding to work and back home. Should be about 104 miles give or take.
I'll keep you posted.




Over 25 of the 52 miles on the way to work were in the rain,



Swiss stop carbon brake pads work very well in the wet!




But the ride home was sunny and dry. You gota love the land of Cheese!
Peace and Grease!

My last ride!

A cool little graph of my ride on Friday. Red is heart rate and green is Elevation.
Kind of go together.