Saturday morning, got up extra early to ride. Rode w/ Steve Steele from Hickam to join up with the 7am HACC ride on Schofield Barracks. Left the house by 5:45, to get 20 miles and a good climb up Kunia before the "official" 7am start. We just made it as the group was rolling away from the parking lot. We headed back out onto Kunia to link up with the Tradewinds Team, ended up hammering for about 35 miles up Kole Kole Pass and down to Dillingham Airfield. It was a hot day, and after getting in 60 miles before 9am, I was ready to call it quits, but still had about 30 miles to go. The climb up Pineapple Hill was a hard slog. Garmin died about 7-8 miles before the end, so this graph is missing some crucial stats. Finished just under 90miles...longest ride in over a year....not an easy one with several climbs and riding with a fast group.
Two weeks ago, I finally got around to doing some work on my 1998 Lemond Zurich. This was my first road bike, purchased in May of 1999. I finally broke down and bought a road bike after years of throwing road tires on my mountain bikes. That month was also significant, in that I also bought my first pair of "road" bike shorts...a month later I bought my first jersey. Prior to that, I was too manly to wear anything other than baggy mountain bike shorts and t-shirts. At the age of 23, I was finally secure enough in my masculinity to throw on tight clothes and ride my new shiny road bike on an Army base in SC. I had come along way from the 21 year old that was too cool to wear a helmet while riding a mountain bike down steep hills.
This was my sole road bike until 2007. The Lemond traveled a lot of miles, with very few problems. In 2007, a few things happened:
1) A couple of kids were playing and thought it would be cool to knock the bike down. The bike scraped up against a pillar on the carport and took out a fairly significant chunk of paint on the steel frame. Sonya knows the incident well, as I've mentioned this one hundreds of times...I will not let it die. 2) The right shifter started to work intermittently...not a good thing 3) I started riding a lot more.
Those 3 things prompted me to buy the Felt. I put the Lemond away in the closet. Over the past 2 years I only saw the bike when I was getting homebrew gear out of the closet. Always thought I'd get around to fixing it back up. It took awhile, but I finally took action. So far, I haven't made it far past step 1...removing all the components. I cleaned years of crud off the bottom bracket, derailleurs, cassette, etc. Some of that crap fossilized on the cassette after 2 years of neglect.
Step 2, acquiring new parts hasn't gone very well. After inspecting everything, I decided the only must-buy is a new set of shifters. My e-bay skills are weak. So far, I've lost 4 bids for a new set of shifters...maybe it's because I'm a tightwad. I need a set of Ultegra shifters...will even take 105. If you have some to sell, let me know.
Step 3 is the paint job. Any tips on touching up a 1-inch chip in the paint?
Step 4 is reassembly...this is something I've never done. I'll need some tips, but that will be months from now.
I've read a few good books recently. Netherland was a good book about an immigrant in New York. All the smarty pants literati compare it to The Great Gatsby. I didn't like The Great Gatsby's Cliff Notes in high school, so I do have to say this one was better. While in California for the Big Sur Marathon, I read Once a Runner...a perfect book to motivate you for a race.
After reading a good book, it always takes me awhile to find a good follow-on. I started reading Roadie, a book about cyclists. Seems entertaining, but it doesn't move fast enough for me. I'll come back to it in a few weeks. I picked up Chuck Palahniuk's Pygmy, because Palahniuk's a damn entertaining writer, and I saw a cool promo to the book on YouTube:
The same night I picked up Pygmy, Sonya handed me a book she's been raving about, How to Make Love Like a Porn Star by Jenna Jameson. She was handed this book a few months back, and said it was a very good biography. She also said that Jameson appears like an intelligent woman. I'm about 60 pages into it, and have already drawn a different conclusion. Here's one example of Jenna's genius, from page 34 of the hardcover edition--
Context: A teenage Jenna is trying to get a job at a strip club and is talking with the manager. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- He took one look at my face, said "Come back when you've go those off," and walked away. F***, I'd forgotten to cover my braces with my upper lip. .... I returned to Jack's house. He wasn't there, of course. I turned up the shower as hot as I could stand and peeled off my clothes. I stepped inside and just marinated. It's funny, but as soon as you stop thinking--or trying to think--all of your best ideas come to you. When you don't focus on a problem, your subconscious will solve it for you. And that's what happened.
About ten minutes into my soaking, I had an epiphany.
She then goes on to describe in detail how she removed her braces with needle-nose pliers. Is that really an epiphany? A strip club owner tells you that you can't strip if you have braces, so you remove your braces? I'm glad she marinated, stopped focusing and let the best ideas come to her. Who knows what she would've done if she really sat and overanalyzed the dilemma she was facing.
After reading this, I think I'll need some Tolstoy.
In my attempt to keep up with the hottest trends in boarded water sports, I tried stand-up paddleboarding. It was a lot of fun and seemed easy...except for turning around. I also struggled to avoid hitting this head sticking up out of the water.
cleaning out my t-shirt drawer today. decided to give a bunch of my race t-shirts to charity. i can't let go of this gem, even though i dare not wear this out in public...i'd get shot in the BX parking lot.
Managed to find quite a few beers last week that are new to me.
Santa Cruz Ale Works Pale Ale, A+...drank from a double-deuce. Exceptional Pale Ale New Belgium's Mothership Wit, A-...good Belgian White New Belgium's 1554, B+...meant to drink from a goblet, I sipped from a plastic hotel cup New Belgium's Fat Tire (Draft), A...not a new beer for me, but first I've had since Gizz & Humm's in San Angelo, TX back in '99 Bellehaven Scottish Ale (Draft), B-...one of my post marathon beers from the Crown & Anchor Pub...was decent enough, should've had a 2nd Fat Tire...aside from the creamy texture, there was nothing remarkable about the beer. Fuller's Porter (Draft), A...I've yet to find a Porter I didn't like Anderson Valley Amber Ale (Draft), B...OK...never heard of it. Carmel Pale Ale, A-...local pale ale, drinkable Humboldt Hemp Ale, B+...much better than expected. I expected a novelty beverage that barely resembled beer. Got a real pale ale. Anchor Summer Wheat (Draft), A-, drank at the airport. Not my favorite Anchor beer, but still pretty good.
