3 Feet Please!

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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!!

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

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!

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.

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.

The first week's down

Well I got my first week of commuting over with! Saturday morning had to be the toughest ride.
I road home Friday night, got home at about 9:15 p.m.. Eat drank lots of water and went to bed. I was on the road Saturday morning at 5:45 a.m. I think it took me 25 miles to get the tired rode out. And then I think that it was only because I was over half way to work that I knew I couldn't turn around, so I just kept riding! About the 30 mile mark I hooked up with some tri-ladies and rode with them till I got on the bike path in Madison. They showed me another route so I could avoid a 3 mile stretch of busy highway. And I think took a little bit of the route. Not much but when your tired every little bit helps! Plus I got to see some new roads.
Total miles for the week 189 miles :-)
We'll see what next weeks brings, it would be nice to get in 200. 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

I did it!

Well its in the History books now! I rode to work, and then rode home. Funny thing is last week the same route was 51 miles plus. This weeks ride was only 47 plus miles. So I didn't get in 100! Only 96! And NO I didn't ride an extra 4. I was toasted and needed to get my tired ass home!
But what a beautifully day! Had a little tail wind on the way up, not much about 4-6 MPH.
And on the way home about the same in a cross headwind. Till the last 10 miles or so and then none at all. When I got into town there were Hot Air balloons flying and they were just hanging in the air above the highway not moving. A pretty cool site!
Sorry no pictures and I cant seam to copy the data to prove that I did it You will just have to trust me!

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!

One word DUMB ASS

So you would think that if you drive in snow and ice you would know how to drive?

Dumb ass #1





Dumb ass #2






Dumb ass #3






Dumb ass #4





Dumb ass #5





Dumb ass #6

Tuff as NAILS

Doing the commute to work yesterday C-O-L-D as crap, look up and what do I see? You wouldn't beleive me if I didn't get a picture.



When I get to the store I check the weather its 1 DEGREE.
Dude bigger balls then me. I think he won the winter challenge in The Land of Cheese!