jinxed again

Weekend started great. We stopped at Hanson Hills for a lap on Friday then headed to Traverse City to check in and get ready for the race on Saturday. I decided that I didn't need to race which was good since we got to the start line late again and ended up at the back of our start wave. My plan was to ride fast but not to race. I planned to ride with Darrin for at least the first 30 minutes as a warm-up and then let my legs tell me what came next.

Well, for the second year in a row my equipment had other ideas. I left the start line and my right foot didn't feel right on the pedal. I thought maybe I had a loose cleat and considered pulling over to check it out. I pulled my cleat out a couple of times and re-seated it in the pedal and it still didn't feel right. Continued on feeling good about my gearing choice and happy to be starting the race at a reasonable pace. Just after the 3 mile mark, I pulled my foot again to re-seat the cleat and looked down to see half my pedal missing. Stopped to inspect the damage and found that the spindle had snapped in half leaving about 1/2 inch left sticking out from the crank. My race was over. I decided that riding backwards on the course was not smart and continued on with one pedal. I was having fun and considered riding the course until I could take some back roads to the finish. As things got more technical I decided it would be best to take back roads back to the start line and pick up Brian's car. I ended up riding 17 miles on one pedal and got back to the car in snow and riding the last 5 miles into a stiff headwind along M72 with 60 mph traffic zooming by me. Not the way I wanted my first singlespeed race to end up . c'est la vie.

Snow man?

Forecast calls for up to 6 inches of snow btw now and the race. Should be interesting. A 27 mile adventure ride.

4000 miles this year

I just added up my mileage for October and verified that I have ridden 4059 miles this year. This work and moving thing is getting in the way over the last month. I don't think I will be anywhere near 5000 miles by the end of the year.

Oh well the reason I won't hit 5000 is because this year I will shatter all records for days on the snow. More to come.

Gotta love Michigan Weather

It rained all day Saturday, didn't get to ride which was OK with all the things going on on the homefront. Sunday was a wash again due to personal stuff. Then along came yesterday.

What a beautiful day and I wasn't going to waste it. Sunny and temps in the mid-60s. Is this the end of October or September? Cut out of work early and got on the bike thinking I would get in 2 hours by riding the SS to Commerce doing a couple of laps and heading home. The riding was fun and Darrin and I did some exploring on the way home. By the time I got home, I had logged almost 3 hours in the saddle. So much for a taper before Iceman. Can't wasted good weather when it is supposed to be wet and cold the rest of the week.

Who knows what the weather will be up north for Iceman on Saturday. Guess I may finally get to see the legendary conditions, hope I choose the right gearing on my singlespeed. Either way it will be fun to spend the weekend with my buddies.

Back to Michigan

Well, didn't get to do a lot of riding in Colorado. This was more of a work trip. As I mentioned before we are looking at a biz opportunity out there but I don't want to say what it is unless it goes thru. Superstitious I guess.

Only rode 5 of 8 days and none of them were much over an hour. Between crappy weather and being busy I couldn't dedicate a half day to riding like I do on vacation in July. Got home and found out the weather sucked here as well so I guess I didn't miss anything but two 20 hour drives in 9 days definitely hurt.

On the positive front, I tallied up my mileage for this year and sometime last week I surpassed my total mileage for all of last year! I am honing in on 4000 miles and might have a chance at 5000 but it is doubtful with winter approaching and a potential move to the mountains. Still I am very happy considering the challenges I had to overcome in the middle of my year.

Next up is Iceman . I am doing it on a rigid singlespeed this year. Still trying to decide if I should take it seriously or go for the rockstar award with my buddies. Guess the decision will be made on Friday night.

That's all for now. Lates

Off to Colorado

The van is packed and we head out tomorrow morning for a 20 hour drive to Vail. Going for 8 days to check out an interesting opportunity. Will let the cat out of the bag if it becomes certain.

Stupid Rain

Mother nature has been very fickle lately. Seems like it is raining everyday. I took Friday off, got rained out on Saturday then could not get on the bike Monday due to packing for our trip to Vail this week. We had a monsoon Monday night so my best option yesterday was to hit the roads. Managed to work in a commute to and from work for 56 miles total. We have another nasty weather system rolling in now that might keep me off the bike again.

Only good news is it was so warm yesterday we had our last boat night of the year. I finally slept on the boat as well. Didn't anchor out but slept under the shorestation canopy to be safe from any possible rain. Slept great, should have done this sooner.

Off to do my sun dance