Rain

It rained over the weekend. Not that it bothered me as I don't hate the rain like some people in California who have been spoiled by sunshine their whole lives. I actually enjoy rainy days as most people stay indoors so those of us willing to venture out get to enjoy the world by ourselves. This past weekend it rained pretty heavy for the first time since May and 8 of us went for a long bike ride in spite of it.

To be honest, I was looking forward to riding in the rain as I just purchased some winter riding gear but I wasn't looking to have go for a 5 hour ride. I also had committed to completing a Strava ride challenge. I may have mentioned this before but Strava is "fitness facebook". I upload my rides to the website using a Garmin cycling computer and they rank segments of the ride based on time versus others that have ridden the same segments. Strava will also sponsor challenges to ride a certain amount of miles over a specified time period. This past weekend was a challenge to ride at least 79 miles in one ride.

We had set out on the ride at 7:30AM and it was lightly raining. After about 10 miles it started to rain in earnest and soon enough we were all fairly soaked. As a side note, I am pretty certain that their is no such thing as "water-proof" in cycling clothing. If it rains, you will eventually get wet. It stopped raining for just over 1 hour and then as we headed back it picked up again and didn't stop until we got back. The last hour was pretty miserable as we were all starting to get cold and just wanted to get rid of the road grime and warm up.


Just before my shower I took this picture and adjusted the color with Instagram. Below is a picture of a bicycle I found on a different blog, I think it looks pretty awesome.


I am currently in Washington state visiting with family and when I get back I will have to clean up the bike from the rain and continue fixing my backup bike to take back to PA.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Night riding

Just thought I would share a photo I took from my ride yesterday evening. It isn't the most clear picture but it is a palm tree lit with Christmas lights.

I also wanted to keep everyone informed of my training. I logged over 100 miles over the weekend and have continued my night rides on week nights. The plan is to continue this for the next few weeks and then to gradually build intensity into my rides. I won't race in January but I will most likely start in February with a few races to speed up my fitness level.

A quick story from my ride this weekends ride. While near the top of Patterson pass a teammate of mine ran over some glass on the road and instantly flatted. He pulled over to fix the flat but was having trouble finding puncture in the tire or tube. After a few more minutes we looked over at his bike to discover that the other tire was flat and that he had mistakenly thought the flat was on the front and not the rear tire. After a quick switch we put the front tire back together and had a new tube in the rear. Needless to say he was embarrassed from the mistake but it allowed for a nice break in the middle of the climb

A few photos from recent rides

I have started my training for next year in earnest and just in time as the race schedule was just released. I took a few photos on my ride Sunday and yesterday and wanted everyone to see. I have also just started my darkness rides and have added lights to make sure I am seen at night.