Started out as a century!

Hi, I went to Seaman to ride the BCBCBCBC ride planning on my second century for the month. I was riding by myself when after 40 miles I lost a bolt in my front derailleur and I was relegated to the middle chain ring for the rest of the ride. I rode up several hills on the middle and it wasn't bad, but there were bigger and badder hills coming up so I bailed and took a shortcut back to the start and ended up with 60 miles. It was a beautiful day too!

So Monday I'm headed to Ashland for 4 days to visit my Mom and a day or two of riding up there. I'll take the bent if I get a bolt to fix it or the Merlin if I don't. I'm headed to Lowe's tomorrow, where I've been told by a bike mechanic that I can find a bolt that will fit. Wish me luck as Kent and I are planning on riding a century while I'm up there. Later as that's all from here. Peace Paul

Long day in the recliner

Howdy, Again it's been a while since I've posted anything so thought I'd write about my PR day of 151 miles riding with Tom Wolf. Tom emailed me saying he was going to Xenia to ride 150 miles and wanted to know if there were any takers. Hello! I had ridden 70 miles on the Merlin one day last week and my butt told me to get back on the bent! I took the bent out and rode to Xenia and back with a hill thrown in for good measure and ended up with 104 miles and was tired and wondered how the 150 was going to feel. So I called Tom and said I was in. Won't know until I ride it.

I was going to drive up early Wednesday morning, but opted to go up Tuesday evening and start riding fresh. We were up at 5 and ate a good breakfast and were on the road a little before 7 for the first of two loops. We rode the first loop through mainly flat farm land with little traffic and sunny skies so life was good. We rode a loop so that we could end up at the cars to resupply our food and water supplies and then headed back out for a longer and different loop that had some rollers and a few short hills and the day stayed nice and sunny and not too hot.

We were riding in Greene County and I was really impressed with the riding conditions. I've ridden a little up in that area before with Tom and by myself, and I'll be returning there to ride again another day. We rode about 90 miles on roads and 60 miles on the bike trails and it was a good mix. Tom wanted to go out in to a cross headwind to start, then turn south and enjoy the tailwind, and then use the bike trail back to Xenia. The bike trail shields a lot of the wind so that cuts the wind factor a little.

All in all I felt really good after the ride. Tired, but good. That's the longest day I've had and wouldn't mind trying a longer one, but this took us 11 hours so it looks like I'm limited to not too many more miles. I stayed on for another night as I was too tired to safely drive home. Heck, I woke myself up snoring and I was just sitting in the bed! So yeah, that was a good call.

We got up the next morning and I had no pain so life is even better, but I will admit to taking three ibuprofen at bed time. We had breakfast and headed out for another 40 miles of easy spinning to refresh the legs. After those 40 I was tired and headed for home after two good days of riding. Life is good!

I'm heading to Ashland to visit Mom and do a little work for her and maybe, just maybe get one or two rides in while there. Oh yeah, I have to go see Dara as I need a haircut bad.

Time, as life is flying by way to fast and I'm really behind in posting on here, but that is relative. We had a great time in Laguna Beach riding with most of the Peckerheads and called it training for the Peckerhead Invitational which is this coming weekend.

Laguna had a little of everything with several 24% grades (mountains!)I just have to teach Coondog what a proper warmup is, but then I probably would have said no quicker. Will cover the negative aspects first. The sun was hiding until the last riding day, but that kept us cooler just restricting the views slightly. A lot of cars, but they were courteous! The riding was a little of everything that is near and dear to a Peckerhead. The roads and highways had bike lanes and there were a lot of bike trails. Food, the food was great and I even ate a little sushi, which was good, but I'll only eat so much raw fish and that was pretty much my life quota as far as I'm concerned. So I'm very appreciative of Scott's generosity. Thank you again Scott.

Tom Wolf is out on a ten day bike trip and spent Sunday night here. I went out looking for him Sunday and was going to ride here with him, but after riding in the rain for a long time we didn't meet up and I came on home. I even rather enjoyed the rain ride as it wasn't cold and a little rain never hurt anyone. Of course I had just finished totally cleaning the Merlin and I don't think it was too happy about getting dirty again, but enjoyed the miles. Tom showed up Sunday night and he had missed all the rain. He then talked me in to riding to Xenia with him on Monday and riding home Tuesday. We had a nice 80 mile ride over trail and back roads to Xenia and then after a good breakfast I headed south and he headed north. He'll end up back in Athens Sunday and I'll be riding in Ashland Sunday if the Peckerhead Invitational hasn't destroyed me.

I would assume everyone is ready for the Peckerhead Invitational.....at least most of us. Wait, am I? I have the miles and hopefully the hills as well. It's the age thing that will catch me if anything. The full Holmes will probably be hard, but then isn't any good ride hard? Have to really throw a compliment here to Jaybone and his family as putting on a ride like this takes a lot of time and thought. I mean just look at the invitations as a beginning. I always look forward to see what he comes up with. I think this years may have been a picture of Todd going for beer after discovering that his car was out of gas and his road bike had a flat tire! But I could be wrong.

I had a 266 mile week this week so am ready albeit slower than past Peckerheads. This could be wrong as I'll be on the Merlin instead of the recumbent, but time will tell. Looking forward to riding with all the Peckerheads this Saturday....even if it's raining, which is a real possibility. But hey, we're the Peckerheads! See you all Saturday hopefully!

A nice ride

Howdy, I had a nice ride today and started in Orgonia and rode some old roads and some new ones. I had found this one road the other day that was really pretty, but it didn't start until riding forty some miles from home, which is the reason I drove to the start. I'll have to admit that I got lost, or should I say I was just misplaced as I knew where I was in relation to the bike trail. I ended up riding the route I had planned on riding only rode it in reverse. What I thought was New Burlington Road was not really New Burlington Road. Now I know and it was a nice ride through rolling and flat farm land.

I've been getting some good miles and good climbing in and getting about 160 miles a week with significant climbing so I should be ready for Laguna Beach. The foam was working the other day, but not today that I noticed. It takes more than 54 miles to get foaming though. Today was a really nice day and I fought headwinds the first 20 or so miles, but hey, that builds character! It would have been a little easier on the bent so maybe next ride. Later. Paul

Feeling good, but still need to lose some weight

Howdy, I've been hitting the hills and feel pretty good. I'm heading out tomorrow for at least an 80 miler, but am hoping for a century. I'll be on the Merlin since that is what I'll be riding in California. Not the Merlin, but a regular bike. I still need to lose some more weight, but the best way to lose that weight is a XC bike trip! However, I think that long of a trip is done and gone. That was a long time to be gone from home according to Ann and I have a tendency to agree with her. The California trip is fast approaching and I have to admit that I'm looking forward to it. More just to ride with my friends, but also just to test myself since it will be long and hard miles every day for five days. The Peckerheads ride again! It would be nice if all the Peckerheads were there, but a couple of them just aren't riding like they used to.

I took Ann to the bike shop today and I think I'll end up buying her a comfort bike as I think she'll be more comfortable on that than converting her Salsa to a comfort bike. I've found a really nice bike shop close to here, Cycle Sport, since they changed ownership and are now customer friendly. Plus they have top notch mechanics who are also bike geeks. So that's it for now as it's time to hit the sack as I'm planning on being up and on the road by 6:30. Later. Peace to all. Paul

Sore butt and tired

Hi, I just got back from a 78 miler with some decent climbs and I'm tired. Yesterday I rode the recumbent climbing one hill in Indian Hill and then on to Walmart to get something. On the way back I decided to ride to the end of the bike trail. After getting to the end of the trail I thought about the ice cream stand and rode there and got a cone. Possum happy! Then on home getting 32 miles in.

Today was a beautiful day and was supposed to get in the low 80's which I think it did. I took off around ten o'clock and rode the trail to Stubbs Mill and then hit the roads and hills I went to Caesar Creek, but the wind was so bad up there that I returned shortly to the trail to try and escape the wind. The wind was brutal! As hard as any I saw on my XC trip......I think.

I wanted to check out the trillium as I knew it would be blooming as Athens was last week and I wasn't disappointed as the hill side was covered and then I rode up Hall's Creek and those were out too. Trillium ride in Southwest Ohio and loving it. There was also these yellow flowers that had a drooping flower and was very pretty.

The ride went well except for the fact that I was really tired and my butt is tired and a little sore. I bought new shorts and they have a thicker chamois and were very comfortable the first time I wore them. I guess I just have to toughen it up a little. So that's all from here and hope for more riding in the next couple days, but I also have a lot to do around here. Later.

Peace Paul

TTT April 19, 2009

Hello,I just got back from Athens to a greeting of rain. Yesterday was a beautiful day just about everywhere around this state so our ride was a lot of fun. Tom and I rode 72 miles and climbed 4400 feet so it was a fairly hard ride, but when you ride in Athens you ride hills because there are a lot of them all around. It is Little Appalachia in a lot of aspects and is pretty country. A lot of poverty and a lot of dogs.

The ride was the Athens Spring Ride (aka Tom's Trillium Tour) and there are a lot of wildflowers and the hills along a portion of the bike trail are blanketed in trillium. And then the bluebells took over for a scenic ride. They had fifty one riders and everyone seemed to really like the route.

We were riding along and this pit bull came charging out and I yelled, but seemed to have little affect so I got off the bike and the dog ran in to the yard, where the owner was yelling for the dog. I started to go and he came back out so I stopped and just waited until the woman came out and got it. By now the trailer emptied it's bowels of the other dogs! So now I have 'jaws' in the yard being watched by the angry woman and two more on the road, but the one was friendly and was cute, but it was time to move on. That was the first time I dismounted because I thought I would be bitten and wanted the bike between me and the biter. I've dismounted to chase dogs, but I was the winner in those.

So after 70 miles we decided that we had enough miles to feed the body and mind and we called it a day. The main reason I went to ride was that I wanted to test myself to see where I was on the hill climbing fitness level and what I had to work on and I found out, so life is good. I think all I really need is just more miles in the hills as my climbing is pretty good. I now know I can do the ride in California as I have over a month more to train and I feel good. It's raining today so I'll go work inside. Peace Paul