I reconfigured the Cannondale last night, and it is in cyclocross mode. I always chuckle a bit when I finished this conversion, as there’s only about two months out of the year that this bike actually rides in its native dress. I do need to bite the bullet and swap out the rear mech cable. I’ve been avoiding since I hate fiddling with indexed shifting, but the poor interface at the downtube stop is causing ghost shifts. Not good. I rode around Schenley for an hour, re-acquainting myself with mounting and dis-mounting. Good fun. I need to home-brew some barriers to bring over to the park for morning practice.
I’m also trying to determine how to approach ‘cross season. It looks like I’ll be doing at least four races with minimal non-family travel (which constitutes a packed month for Pittsburgh). I signed up for the B (3/4) race at Murrysville. I’m a little intimidated by this, because I know that some of the competition has actually been training. Part of me wants to wimp out and do the C race, but since I won that last year, it would feel like sandbagging. I suppose as long as I don’t get lapped, it’s all good, and still good fun. I’ll likely still do the C race in the Philly race, because I assume that those easterners are faster than I am. I’ll likely race Bs in the Fayetteville race, but we’ll see how Grove City goes, I guess.
Posted on 11 September 2009
So I was convinced that I was done with racing for the year, instead focusing on the local brevet and the Dirty Dozen. Then I looked at the local ‘cross racing calendar, and realized I could do at least four races (including one in Fayetteville, WV, meaning climbing and ‘cross on the same weekend!) in October and November. So tomorrow, the bike comes out of rando mode and into ‘cross mode, and I start the lunch-time DD hill rides to get myself into some semblance of shape (note: I haven’t ridden outside of commuting for three weeks). The race schedule looks like this:
4 October: Grove City
18 October: Fayetteville
24 October: Murrysville
8 November: Philadelphia
Posted on 7 September 2009
So the plan was to go to the New this weekend, Sunday and Monday, after going to the David Bazan house show. Except then we all got sick with various colds. Fun, that. I dislike few things more than to be ill during the summer. Blah.
The Bazan show was quite good, and his “question and answer” interludes are always interesting, given that he seems willing to talk about anything. I wonder if anyone there was shocked when he started talking about the Bible and the importance of the Christmas story….
So, to pass the time, I finally upgraded our WordPress installations. Hopefully this will keep the crackers out for a few weeks….
Posted on 6 September 2009
From a specification meeting I just suffered through attended:
“I’ll set up a meeting to talk about whether we need to have another meeting to talk about this.”
Words fail.
Posted on 2 September 2009
(Except with more falling)
We climbed at Summersville Lake on Sunday. A fine day was had by all, and it was good to be there with some motivation to actually climb. Some friends were climbing Apollo Reed (5.13a), and Jen and I thought about joining them. I was actually a bit nervous, since I knew I didn’t really have the conditioning for the route. But, I also knew that if I could pull the move at the second bolt, I could probably do the majority of the route. I had no issues with that move, and managed to do all of the moves with a few hangs, even linking the upper crux (it’s amazing what having a route wired will do for you). Jen and I have made a pact to work this together for the rest of the fall. Should be fun.
As for bike-related news, I am committed to riding the 200km brevet in two weeks. After that, I’ll do the Dirty Dozen. It seems as if there will be a decent ‘cross season ’round these parts, but I’m not sure how much I’ll actually participate. Most of that is a matter of convenience–having only a single bike for all endeavors makes it difficult to do ‘cross, and right now, the Cannondale is in full randonneuring mode, with fenders and a handlebar bag. I suspect my priority for the fall weekends will be climbing, but if rain and mud await, perhaps a ‘cross race or two would be fun.
Posted on 31 August 2009
We just returned from two days of climbing at Rifle Mountain Park in western Colorado. It’s been quite some time since we’ve climbed at Rifle (how long, you ask? Long enough that during that visit I sent Vision Thing (5.13a/b) in just a few tries), so it was good to be back. It was great to be there with the kids, as there are no approaches to the climbs (thanks to the narrow canyon and dirt road) and there’s a pretty creek running through it. I have nothing of interest to report, unless you find stories of falling all over 5.11 to be interesting. Still, even with more failures than successes, it was still good fun, and further motivated me to get back in shape for a fall trip.
Posted on 18 August 2009
Today was mostly some random noodling around Erie, CO, trying to connect as many dirt roads as I could. Many of the east-west roads north of Erie are still dirt, so it was fairly easy. Most of them were flat or slightly rolling, and the road beds were in generally condition–not terribly washboarded. It was also quite a bit less windy today, which made the ride generally easier and more pleasant. I wasn’t looking to do a hard or long ride–just something easy to get the blood flowing after yesterday’s painfest at the climbing gym.
Posted on 15 August 2009
Jen and I ditched the kids and spent the afternoon at the Movement Gym in Boulder doing some rock climbing (hey, it was really, really hot outside). I am decidedly not in climbing shape (I fell off 5.10b at the end of the session, and nearly fell of 5.9), but had a very good time. I’m looking forward to the weekend in Rifle, though I suspect that I will top-roping most everything. It is entirely possible that I am slipping back toward climbing. That’s not to say that I won’t still ride my bike, but perhaps racing will be less of priority (and with the Pittsburgh Randonneurs getting in full swing next year, more brevets may be in my future). It’s more reasonable for me to train for climbing, since Jen does already, and we spend quite a few weekends climbing out of doors. Training on the bike requires time alone (which isn’t always a Bad Thing™). I’ll likely still race next year (in the Cs), but I can’t imagine trying to schedule my time around racing.
Plus, climbing is too fun.
Posted on 14 August 2009
(Sorry, no map)
Rode out toward Boulder, then did a big loop around the old Rock Flats facility. Generally, a nice ride on the plateau below Boulder. A few of the roads (most notably Indiana Street and SR 93) were very traffic-y with no shoulder. Then I lost a contact, which meant I rode about 20 miles with one good eye. Good fun, that. I may try to do another ride in this direction, probably riding out SR 128, then weaving over to Eldorado Canyon. It’s very tempting, though, to simply ride north through Erie, as the roads are considerably quieter.
Posted on 13 August 2009