I need to record when I do such things as tire and chain changes so I can evaluate products. Until I come up with something better a note here will do. Here’s comment from my FaceBook.

Just took the Marathon Racer tire off the back of my Stratus XP. The inner threads were showing in a few places. Replaced it with just a Marathon, still a kevlar tire. The Racer is durable but is hard off and on. A tube change can be a knuckle buster and I often ruin a tube. Just did that getting this one off in the shop. I’m done with the Racer (but like with child birth, maybe done until I forget the pain).

Kurt said, “Dad, if you are still around in 2 years you’re going to be really fit!”

Look me up. I’m Gary Johnsey.

The cops came to my door this morning and said my dog was chasing someone down the street on a bike. I said, I don’t think so, my dog doesn’t have a bike.

My last 9 main rides, 3 a week, have been metric centuries, i.e. a little over 60 miles. This does not include the 2 family rides a week which have remained at 10 to 15 miles. With this increased effort I’m paying more attention to nutrition and not just relying upon gel packs and liquid nutrition such as Boost.

For example, at the turn around I’m eating solid food. Here is a photo of one day’s lunch which I bought at a small store in Bassfield. The menu varies depending upon what’s on hand and the mood I’m in. A banana is usually included, but not the pineapple chunks. Or, I may eat at the Texaco station (those gals can cook), the Trace Cafe, or Ward’s. One day I was early enough to get a breakfast platter at the Ward’s. Actually, I was early enough several days but I had the thought and was in the mood the one day. If it is really hot I will be tempted to get a milk shake there. If I’m too early for lunch, late for breakfast, I may do as I did one day last week and wait a hour and eat back in Sumrall, La Tori’s being my favorite stop over.

Finished the week with 210 miles on the bike. That consists of three 60-mile rides plus a couple short family rides. I currently have 3400+ for the year. If I can continue to get the rides in I should hit 5,000 (my informal target) sometime in late September or early October.

Today was another 100+ degree ride day. The heat limits your performance but despite that Jeanne made it to Clyde Depot on our family ride. This was a 15 mile round trip and her first visit to that distance this year. This is about half what she was doing at the end of last season. If you don’t ride over the winter you lose ground. She wants some kind of indoor riding this coming winter to stay in riding shape.

Kurt’s knee was bothering him so he turned before Clyde and waited for us at Jackson Station.

Jeanne looks happy to be getting more miles under the bike. She says her hip and leg feel better after a ride than before (she has reflected pain from her back). She’s riding her Tour Easy which she loves. Could that be it in the background? Surely not, not with a green water bottle. I’ll have to ask her about that.

My Strada

I rode the red Strada today as I do on most family rides. I call it my parade bike. I can’t let Jeanne be the only one that’s color coordinated. Yes, I had a red shirt on, and a red helmet, and black pants. However, in this hot weather I most often ride the Stratus XP. The fairing shades my legs and hands a bit and I’m not laid back in the sun so much. And if it rains there is some shielding from that as well. Here is an old photo. I normally look over the fairing but could duck behind it if advantageous.

Saturday’s ride was particularly hot so I took my time, made extra stops, had a milkshake break, and ate a steak for lunch. Not sure what role the steak played but I’m sure it was important. I’m sure the potatoes and slaw that went along with it, and sweet tea, were also essential (all from La Tori’s in Sumrall, just a few feet from the trail).

Ran across Wiley at Sumrall who was looking for the cell phone he’d dropped. He used my phone to call his wife and ask her to continuously call his cell. We then rode back along the trail listening for the ring. 15 miles later we reached Jackson Station, still with a lost phone. While getting water a runner came up and said “Is this yours?” She had heard the phone ringing a few feet past our stop, answered it, and talked to the wife who apparently gave her Wiley’s description. What luck. Here’s Wiley with the wayward phone.

Coming up over the crest of a hill at a pretty good speed I had this guy on a road bike pulling up beside me for a pass. I knew that at the crest of the hill I would take off for a fast and long downhill run and it might appear that I did so because I objected to him passing. So, I wanted to say something to let him know my sprint had nothing to do with his passing and I said “You need to pass me going up hill because these things are fast downhill.” He said something like, “I wasn’t interested in passing you, just getting some exercise.” I was out of sight by the time it occurred to me how much of an a** I may have looked like. I waited for him at the next stop for a bit to explain but he must have turned around before the stop. Oh, well. Just a crazy old guy on a funny bike with a bad attitude.

As a consequence of paying more attention to nutrition while exercising (biking) I have also changed the way I eat off the bike. I almost never eat fried foods, especially quick foods. Grease really makes me feel bad. I’m also sensitive to salt in foods. I don’t eat many sweets. However, I have always loved ice cream, but after reading labels I’ve switched to sherbet (also spelled “sherbert” and “spelled” is also “spelt”). I use to (in the South we say “used to” unless following “did” or “didn’t” - but sometimes even incorrectly then) love biscuits and gravy from … well, any number of places. But the quick food versions now make me feel bad afterwards (”After Wards” - no pun). This morning I had gravy over my eggs and now feel good. We ate at the Forrest General Hospital. They seem to pay more attention to healthy eating than most. They also don’t charge very much. It is almost like they don’t have to “add bad” or charge a lot to make a profit. Maybe they don’t make a profit. Jeanne and I ate for about $6.

OK, now I’m going to hijack my own post. This was just a set up to tell the following as I posted it on Facebook this morning, and to explain why I’m eating at the hospital.

[quote]
We went to the Hospital for breakfast. Food is good and is cheap. The parking-lot cart driver said he did not remember it being this hot as a kid. He added that of course they had to sleep with the windows open, and didn’t have to worry about someone stealing their stuff. I said, “Nobody wanted out stuff. We didn’t even want our stuff.” (Just a joke folks)
[unquote]

… that I was self-actualized. I said, “Not really. I need a bike.”

In answer to “Do you count stops in speed measurement?” I posted the following on BROL.

I use my average as an assist to training. I typically ride in 15 mile segments, either 15 out and back or 30 out and back. I hit the lap button every 15 miles and ride that lap without stopping. I stop and take nutrition between laps and often visit with other riders at the stations. How long I stop at a station is of little interest to me in tracking my efforts, except I have noticed that if I stop more than just a few minutes I have to “warm-up” my legs again and the next lap starts slow (time of year does matter). I couldn’t care less how long my ride day is (except for practical reasons, such as planning for a long ride). It doesn’t tell me anything to know how long I stop at lights.

If my wife wants to know when I’ll be back, I’ll use my expected moving average for the planned distance and calculate a time. Then I will add the amount of time I expect to spend at stops. If she wants me back sooner I’ll reduce some of the stop times. If that does not do it I’ll reduce the ride length. I find it easier to manage the stop times than to try and make fractional changes in speed over a 4 hour ride.

If I ask about a ride for planning purposes, I like to hear your moving average and the distance (and it is best if I know something about your normal pace). Don’t care about how long you rested; probably would not be the same for me in any event, either less or more. I’ll add in my own rest planning.

I like monitoring and improving my performance (I compete with myself) but am not annal about speed. If I ride with other people I don’t care how fast or how slow we go. I just enjoy the ride. My family rides are at about 9 mph. With fast riders (18 to 20 is fast for me) I keep up if I can but do monitor my heart rate to make sure I stay in bounds. It has become obvious that I can claim all kinds of speeds but if I don’t tell you my effort level, i.e. heart rate or percent of maximum, I have not told you much. I can ride at an all-day level and maybe do 15 to 16 mph moving avg. Or, I can spend some heart resource, say 145 bpm, and do 18 to 20 (but not all day).

All of that just to point out that I probably don’t have the same approach to my rides as those that want to know the overall miles/time. And I’m sure their riding experience is just as valuable to them as mine is to me, maybe even more so. But for me, when I’m measuring performance, I don’t want non-performance variables in the measure.

I have (past tense), really. However, I just ordered a Bacchetta Carbon Aero 2.0. At a little over 20 pounds it is close to 20 pounds lighter than the Stratus XP (as configured). We’ll see what that does to my speed, especially up hills.

I was starting to think I’d get through the year without a new one, but fate intervened; well at least Jeanne did. When I took her and her friend to the airport Tuesday (a medical trip for her friend) she hugged me and said to buy a bike. OK, Jeanne, don’t ever say I don’t listen.

Here are the specifications:

I met a woman on the trail today at Sumrall. She was in a wheel chair and was out for a little exercise with her daughter and grand daughter. She laughed a lot and we had an enjoyable conversation. She said the mulberries were ripe so I walked and she wheeled to the other side of the pavilion and we enjoyed some berries. I put some in my water bottle along with cold water thinking I would enjoy them on the ride home.

However, on the ride home I decided to save them and share with Jeanne. When I offered them she said she did not care for any; so I ate them. Later, when I mentioned to the boys that I had had some mulberries Jeanne asked what they tasted like. I first just looked at her, then decided to simply say they were a lot like black berries.

When I came home from my ride today there was about a 2 foot green snake running into the car port. I thought, “Jeanne is not going to like this”. I developed a plan; I would ease her into the knowledge, maybe compare the green snake to a lizard without legs. Jeanne doesn’t really mind lizards; they eat bugs. I would point out that green snakes probably lower the cockroach population. Ah, good plan. So, I walk in and:

Gary: Hon, green snakes are a lot like lizards without legs …

Jeanne: Where did you see it? Did you kill it?

Lecture terminated.

Bikes on the wall
Bikes on the wall
Looking like a fool with your bikes on the wall

Here’s the original Pants on the Ground American Idle performance as shown on YouTube.com.

My Strada

I’m thinking about riding my Bacchetta Strada on the organized ride Saturday. This choice is somewhat influenced by the fact that Bacchetta’s John Schlitter (of Race Across America fame) will be on the ride. I changed out the seat on the Strada for a more comfortable one, but then the behind-the-seat-bag would not fit the wider back. This is the original seat and bag in the photo.

My new black Bacchetta bag will not be here until Monday. I’ll have to use my red RANs bag for the ride (I wish Bacchetta also had their bags in red, not just yellow and black). Sorry John, I know you like your bags on your bikes (Note: RANs and Bacchetta are competitors). I find it interesting that John’s brother Randy owns RANs. Here’s a photo I previously posted of the brothers at the 2008 Long Leaf Trace Birthday ride. I also find it interesting that John grabbed Randy’s new XStream model for the photo. That’s John on the right.

I just realized that I have not posted here about the Signature ride, although I have mentioned it on Facebook and Bentrideronline.com. I guess that can happen when you are posting in multiple places. Here are comments and links concerning the event.

Last year this was a one day, one way ride. I enjoyed it. Not sure I can recover fast enough for the back-to-back centuries. Of course there are other options. Here’s Jim’s email:

[quote]
The routes are all set for the Signature Ride coming up on March 27-28! Thanks to Doug Morgan for riding with me a couple of times to work the kinks out of the route back to Jackson from Hattiesburg! It is a great route that is sure to entertain everyone! We will have laminated cue cards for everyone and compasses available if you need one! Make your Saturday night reservations at the Holiday Inn and Suites at 601 296-0302. Ask for Randy, Jennifer or Felicia. We will have world class musicians Captain Johnny Rawls (banjo) and Jack McGee (fiddle) helping us relax after a good day’s ride!!

Here are some links to the routes and sign-up sheet. Thanks for getting these in early as this helps us plan! Remember, you can ride from 41-225 miles during the two day event, so there is a distance and a launch location for everyone! Yes, we will have SAG vehicles and transportation back to Jackson Saturday night. We hope to have a Highway Patrol escort on Saturday! Thank you Captain Johnny! We will have tee shirts and medals to commemorate your participation, so sign up today!

Day 1 - Ride South shop to Hattiesburg Holiday Inn or The Long Leaf Trace

http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Ride-South-Signature-Ride

Day 2 - Hattiesburg to Ride South shop

http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Ride-South-Signature-Ride-Part-2

2010 Signature Ride Info
http://www.ridesouth.com/email/Signature-Ride-2010.pdf
[unquote]

Note: And, add just a few more miles and make this a quad metric century weekend.

It is still not too late to plan to ride. You can sign up for the ride at 9:30 in the Holiday Inn parking lot with a ride-start at 10:00. This option will be to Prentiss and back for 80 miles. Of course you can turn at any time. I and 4 of my riding partners are planning on this start.

I like this one because it predicts what I have observed in myself.
It is from an article on the HowToBeFit.com site.

Males: 210 minus 1/2 your age minus 5% of your body weight + 4
Females: 210 minus - 1/2 your age minus 1% of your body weight + 0

Just one more from FaceBook (for awhile):

“Not going to bore you with each of my days, but here is another busy summary. Took Kurt to Walmart for new shoes (stopped at Taco Bell on the way but the line was too long), to Sam’s for groceries, to McDonalds for Kurt food, to home to drop Kurt, to a friend’s (who can’t drive) to pickup documents to get copied, to Fed Ex for copying, home to take Kurt to his group meeting, to pick up one passenger (same friend), to Wendy’s for 12 burgers for the group, dropping all at the meeting, to the Post Office to mail the documents and a package for Jeanne, to the bank to cash a check for Kurt, home for an hour to myself, to the meeting to pick up Kurt and friend, to friend’s house for drop off, and then home to eat some of the spaghetti the friend provided us all. Finally, tonight, 2 hours in the shop piddling, e.g. cleaning a bike, unpacking ride supplies (energy drinks), touching stuff, and then in to hug on Jeanne a bit before she goes to bed (still not feeling good).”

If I don’t ride soon you all are going to go crazy reading this junk.