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.

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.”

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.

As I explained on FaceBook.

“Was going to ride today with an out of state friend but it rained. Instead: took kurt shopping at Target’s, grabed Jeanne some lunch at Dickie’s BBQ (She’s not feeling so good), stopped by the grocery store on the way home for this-and-thats and got a cheese cake for my sweety, hung a wall hanging and a painting, and leveled Jeanne’s new clothes washer. If I’m not careful she will start praying for rain.”

As opposed to the last ride day which was a beautiful day in the “it’s raining” and “getting wet” sense.

A beautiful day.

As I went by a Mexican restaurant there was a guy in a big burrito suit that shouted “I love you”. It must have been directed to someone in the other lane since when I replied “I love you too” he laughed. I could hear him laughing as I went up the hill.

Here is a followup post I made on the greenbuildingtalk.com forum where I had discussed my shop out-gassing problem. If you’ve read my old posts on this blog you know that I was very depressed because just a few minutes in the new building and I would start to itch, so much so that I would have to leave. I must be allergic to the formaldehyde used in the OSB. So, some of the following is repetitive but you might still enjoy it (photos added for here):

The out-gassing no longer bothers me. I started by ventilating the shop well. I had had my home AC totally replaced and ended up with the blower unit. I placed this in one door and opened the others. It moved a lot of air. Then I would shut the shop up and turn the heat way up, thinking this would encourage the out gassing. After a few hours I’d draw fresh air through the shop again. I don’t know how long it took as I did not take notes but it was longer than 3 months. The problem got better and better. Now I can stay in the shop all day.

The shop is a blessing to my retirement. It is 800 square feet divided into 3 parts. My part is 17×20. I have my bikes hanging on the long wall. I have 3 six foot work benches and have plenty of room to work on the bikes, dabble in electronics, program microcontrollers, a little wood work (although I usually move the machines outside through the garage door because of the sawdust). I’ll be setting up a small metal lathe and milling machine I already have (may have to buy another work bench). The point being that the shop is now the center of most of my activities. I can even watch TV from the web or movies from DVD while I work/play. I spend a lot of time out there; although I’m writing this from the computer room in the house where I also play my computer games, e.g. Battlefield 2, and do most of my internet work (I have a server in Texas where I host a number of sites - I use to design web sites as a midnight engineer but now just for fun).

I am really enjoying my retirement and seem to be in good health. Part of that is due to riding recumbent bikes which I have been doing for 3 summers. I wish I had know about them before then. A few words now so that you will know about them sooner than I did in my path to retirement.

Lining up for the start of a recent Withlacooche Trail ride.

You can ride a recumbent a long ways without any pain or discomfort. They are great for people with bad legs, knees, back, etc. I could not ride a lean-over-the-handlebar bike, not very far, but on recumbents I rode over 4,000 miles last year. My longest ride in one day was for 122 miles. It took 10 hours, including stops. Then I got off the bike and took my wife out to dinner. I was tired, as you would be with a 10 hour car ride; actually not as seat-tired since I had a range of motion. I typically ride 32 miles 2 or 3 times a week and then 60 miles on one of the weekend days. In addition I may take short rides with the family. I am 67 years old, I am not slow on the bikes but not real fast either. I’m getting faster, but it is not about speed. (I have averaged about 18 mph for a distance of 15 miles).

We have a great place to ride, i.e. the 40 mile long “Long Leaf Trace”. We travel to ride too; last year we had 3 riding vacations which were social events with other riders. There are also special events on the Long Leaf Trace. I rode two there last year, i.e. the Ridesouth Signature ride (where I rode 122 miles from Jackson to Hattiesburg) and the Birthday Challenge. Here is a photo of Butch at the Bassfield rest station during last year’s Birthday Challenge. If you think you might be interested take a look at my web site: http://bentrider.info

The temperature is up to 48 degrees; warm enough. Off I go behind a fairing with a Stratus XP attached. Right now.

And for comparison, here is the 2008 summary:

So, in 2009 I rode a little less often but for longer distances. And, my average speed was up by about 1 mph. Actually my cruise speed is up by several mph’s but I often rode at social speeds. It is interesting, maybe only to me, that I rode close to the same number of hours each year.

… Uh, well, it could have been a bike.

Maybe I should talk to her about a new bike for me, or a major mod, something like a PowerTap; heck, two PowerTaps. Oh, she has already said I could buy whatever I want. In any event, she is happy with her selection, to not be a materi…alistic kind of person. I didn’t believe the salesman when he said people would just stand and watch them as if they were the TV. Now to mess up some clothes. I think Jeanne is stripping the bed now.

The above is as it appeared on my Facebook.

Actually, what I want costs a lot more than a washer/dryer bike, i.e. I want a titanium Stratus XP; maybe. A titanium something. This requires a lot of thought; maybe more research. After all, I haven’t ridden a low-racer yet, such as the Optima Baron.

I called RideSouth yesterday to talk to Jim about the Optima Baron he has on the floor. He has a good price on it but doesn’t think I’d like it. Maybe I should buy a previously ridden one just in case I only kinda like it.

Of course I just read a discussion thread about an F-40, i.e. a faired, body-socked P-38. Supposedly you can hit 30 on the flats with very little effort. I’ve done that but not with very little effort. (Speaking of the P-38, here’s Dudley with his new one.)

Dudley sold me his old one, missed it so much he bought a new one.

Maybe carbon, not titanium. You can tell that I’m still on the quest for the “Big Boss Bike”. Too many bikes, too little time. No, that’s not right, not “Too many bikes”. After all, I still have wall space.

Someone reading my blog just asked if my new XStream is my main bike?.

The short answer is “No, but it is still a bike I will ride a lot, and it has the potential to become my “main” and my eventual “Big Boss Bike”.

So, this got me to thinking about why my favorite bike is my main ride, what my next purchase will be, and my future “Big Boss Bike”. For me it is possible to have more than one “main” bike; as I seem to prefer different bikes for different rides. But, in order to pick a main bike among main bikes I considered the following talking-points that are of particular interest to me:

Rough-road comfort
flexible frame
ability to mount larger tires
Basic seat comfort
tailbone, back, and neck issues
Rider position
upright angle for visibility
handlebar position for good arm circulation and comfort
low BB for good lower body circulation and feet comfort
seat height for ease of putting feet down at stops
Speed
safe at speed
availability of aerodynamic tail boxes and fairings and ease of attachment
ability to chase wabbits
Environmental
cold and wet weather readiness: e.g. good fairing fit and ability to mount fenders
Weight handling
suitable for a heavy rider and a heavy load
easy to balance, whether stopped or moving
easy to attach storage
Distance
last mile as good as the first.
Ever eat something where the first bite was heaven but the last not so good?
Just plain fun

When I consider all that, but not so much “low-speed stability” or “bike weight”, then the answer is clear, at least for me for the time being. My main bike is the Stratus XP. Its lead over the other bikes I own is so great that I’m now thinking my “Big Boss Bike” will be a new a Ti-Stratus XP. However, before that happens I still need to ride/experience other bikes, especially a lowracer. I also need to continue riding and tuning bikes I currently own that are still in the competition, i.e. Xstream, P-38 (which I have not ridden at all due to its weight limit), and the Rocket (the upgrade would be a VRex or Ti VRex, assuming a similar ride as the Rocket). A Tour Easy (like my wife’s), or one of its siblings, would be in the running if I owned one. But I’m thinking they are too much like the Stratus XP to purchase or differentiate (Your comments are welcome). Of course, Jeanne might let me ride her Tour Easy … maybe when she is out of town.

Here are a couple examples of my other “main bikes for different rides”:

I have already decided that I am not a highracer kind of guy; it’s a personal thing. However, I expect to keep riding my Strada which is the best looking bike I own, mostly because of the color coordinated, red aerospoke wheels. It even has red valve-stem covers and red bottle holders. When I want to look especially sharp, my Strada is my main spiffy bike.

I like my Greenspeed GT3 and look forward to many miles on it. I adjusted the seat-web tightness which addresses the only problem I had with it, i.e. sore tail bone. However, 3 wheels do make it a little wide and slow for some rides, e.g. it is a little hard to navigate around trail or road trash. However, the GT3 is and will probably remain my main social and trip machine. It folds for easy transport and is an easy perch for parking lot socializing. And, of course, when riding with other trikers it is a party on wheels.

So, I’m consolidating my thoughts, reviewing my experiences (it’s a winter thing) and planning next year’s rides, bikes, and modifications. I’m also especially contemplative about my eventually “Big Boss Bike”. Your thoughts are welcome.