Sick and tired.

With the mild, more like non-winter that we are having in Wisconsin this year I thought that I might get through the year without getting to sick. But as all good things go I was wrong. Started feeling bad on Wednesday, went a head and do the Crono trainer ride. By the end is knew that I was headed for a ruff bout of the CRUD! A bad cold, Flu what ever you want to call it, I got "IT". Went ahead and went to work on Thursday, needed to, or that was what I kept telling myself. Made it till about 3:00 and called it a day. Came home, went right to bed and slept. I think if I just would stayed home the whole day I would have recovered a whole lot faster. But didn't, been almost a week, feel a lot better but still not 100%. And to top it off I'll be traveling the next two weekends. This weekend to Minneapolis and next weekend to Tucson. At least next weekend I'll be going to a warm place. Get to ride some Cervelo's and hopefully get to see the new P5. I guess we shell see.

Another warm January day.

Looks like the high today will bw near 50 degrees. But I will be working, no chance to get out and enjoy the nice weather. Can't complain to much. We have had a great Fall and start to Winter. Less then 5" of snow so far, and its one more day closer to Spring!

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.

A little ahead of the game?

It's 10:15 P.M. Friday night and the weather lady just tell's us that we have received 10.3 Inches of snow in the last 24 hours. We are at 31" for the month that is compared to 25.1 (a record) last year.
I don't like snow! In face I hate snow. Yet I live in the upper Midwest! What is wrong with me?

Oh ya we are going to get another 3 to 5" Saturday night :~(

And so it begins!

Not a big fan of the weather man right now!

Snow will develop later this morning and early afternoon... and
continue through tonight... becoming heavy at times. Snow
accumulations of 6 to 10 inches are expected by Monday morning.

In addition... north to northeast winds will strengthen to 20 to
30 mph... gusting at times to 35 mph. This will lead to areas of
blowing and drifting snow.

Tour de Trainer

With the announcement of the 2009 Le tour de France next week I thought it would be fun to incorporate that into my mundane trainer training.

For me to set and on a trainer for more that about 5 seconds is a major accomplishment. So in a attempt to add a little excitement to an other wise boring task I came up with "Tour de Trainer"

What is this you may ask? Simple! Every week you will ride a stage of the 2009 Le tour de France.

21ish stages with a prologue (or not) and 2 rest days. When the route is announced on Wednesday then we will have the total mileage.

The idea is,

Ride one stage a week 21 stages, 21 weeks. Divide them up however you want. If the weather is suitable for riding outside DO IT! We are not keeping score.

If you miss a day, you can make it up somewhere during the week or not, again we are not keeping score.

The point of this is at the start of nice weather you will have a head start on next years riding.

For those who do not need any encouragement, good for you. For the rest of us... Its a thought!

Peace and grease.

Grump

Bug eater and Weather.

I rode home Tuesday night. Beautiful night not a lot of wind but a lot of Bugs!! Every time I opened my mouth to get a drink or take a deep breath I got a mouth full of bugs!
I thought Nebraskans were the bug-eaters not people from Wisconsin.
Maybe I brought that with me. I don't know!



Coming home from shopping today, raining so hard I couldn't see!


Just what we need more rain! I know some where in Kansas they would kill for a little rain.
Sorry we have had enough!! You can have it! It is my gift to you!!

Rain and more Rain!!

The big RED line. Yesterday Madison received another Record!

"... Record daily maximum rainfall set at Madison...

A record rainfall of 2.23 inches was set at Madison yesterday.
This breaks the old record of 2.01 set in 1993."


So I guess we got another one in the books!

Most Snow fall in a season. (New Record 100+ inches)

Most Rain in a Month (last August 23+ inches)

And 24 hour rain fall!!

Good for us?? Makes it hell to ride X(

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

Have I said that I'm tired of this snow?

If this snow stuff doesn't leave soon I think I might go nuts!! 80 plus inches. And still more to come. The record amount of snow fall was 73.6" the average snow amount is around 40" we have to much snow and I'm tired of it. I want to go for a ride and not freeze my ass off! I want to walk Rachel to school in the mornings and not need to ware a face mask. I want to ride my bike to work and not drive on black ice for 50 miles. I want to wear shorts. I want warm weather!!!!

I want! I want! I want!!!

Man I'm selfish!!

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

Snow and More Snow!

The drive home on Friday was a little slick.



The big question was. What is dumber! Driving in a snow storm?


Or taking pictures of driving in a snow storm?


Do we really need to answer that?


This picture is looking out our back patio window.

And this is a dream come true! The proper use of snow!

Words ending in "uck"

The week started off OK and turn bad shortly. The first part of the week went according to plan. Drove to work on Monday there and back. Drove up to Madison Tues. A.M. rode home Tues. P.M.
So far so good. Wed Rain all day didn't get any Honey do's done.
Thurs A.M. get up a 5:25 look outside and what do I see fog! uck! I wait till 6:15 and the fog has lifted enough to start to work. Running a little late, still enough time to get to Madison and be on time for work. No wind and about 60'ish. So off to work I go, I get less then 3 miles from the house and the sound you hate to hear. POP ssssss! uck I found a piece of glass or metal I didn't go back and look.
Just a little note I'm running Dura-ace 7801 SL tubeless wheels with Hutchinson tubeless tires.
The shimano rep in Wisconsin told me that I could ride the tires flat. I tried it and guess want YOU CAN'T!
Now back to our story. I do carry 2 extra tubes just in case I also have a dollar bill for a tire boot.
Get the tube put in and aired up. Now its a good sized cut in the tire 3/4" long and as I look at the tire I see that I have cords showing through. So back home I go. I have a new tire at home.
Ride back the 2. something miles change the tire air it up and look at the clock. 7:20 uck!
Now with all the bad luck that I have had the worse is yet to come. I have to wake up my wife and tell her that we have to load up the kids and take me to Madison to work.
Now that goes better then I expected, "sure honey" is her response. Sweet dodged a bullet there. Work goes fine missed a ride in not a problem. The shop has a century ride planed for Sunday. The Wife and Kids are going out of town for the weekend I can ride the century and not need to get a kitchen pass.
Once again things do not go as planed. Rain all day Saturday, no ride. I'm staying in Madison to get an early start with the guys from the shop. Andrew one of the guys from the shop is in a band so we go listen to him, in the rain on Saturday night. Good band "Brown Derby" there a County band and sound good.
We leave the bar at around 11:30 head back to Mike's house for some sleep. And yes it's still raining. Weather.com says the rain should let up around 8:00am so all should be good, Right?
Mike and Andrew just bought the house the end of July and are still discovering thing about it.
Like the Basement leaks! That sucks I know ours did to! So you guessed it we get back to his house and the Basement has water in it. We move stuff off the wet part to the dry shop vac the water up and then off to the couch for some sleep.
6:45 my cell rings, "Dude it doesn't look good!" are the first words I hear. UCK! The rain did not stop it stalled over Madison. Thunderstorms all day! Double uck!
Now do we wait for this to pass over or just through in the towel? Yup I through in the towel!
Loaded up my bike and crap and headed home.
Maybe next week will be better? 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

A little fun in the snow!

Dylan the store chip head took his new Pugsley out for a little fun on the frozen lake Saturday. He said it only took 20 min. to ride across the frozen lake. With the temp. only getting up to the single numbers the lake should be thick enough to hold an heavy Surly.

I don't think we made it

It warmed up but not much. It got up to minus 2 grab your swim trunks!

Trying to stay warm

Today high is going to be -1