Biking

Blue Blazer

I've never been a huge fan of heights, so rock climbing has never been high on my priority list. Though, I do find pulling my body weight, plus gear, up the the side of a sheer cliff with sweaty knuckles quite invigorating. Now, imagine doing that on a bike! I attempted to ascend a very steep will laced with loose rock with roughly four inches of surface area worth of rubber backed by one hundred and fifty three pounds of muscle.

I broke out my bike yesterday for the first time sense January. I had procrastinated long enough. I've been meaning to start my biking season at the beginning of April... that didn't happen! But, I have officially started, just a month late... minor detail. Part of me was saying "Hey, it's May first! Get the Blue Blazer out and put the peddle to the metal" while the other half of me was say "nah, it's cloudy, misting, and almost time for school to let out, which means crazy high-school drivers, which means that you have a higher risk of becoming a Belgian Waffle!" I told the latter half to shut up. Be equated to European breakfast foods has never been high on my priority list, so I left my lazy half behind and hit the streets.

I got to the top of our road and realized that I grew sense I hung op my wheels last year. Either that or my bike shrunk, but that seemed a little unlikely, so I stuck with my first theory. Either way, the seat was about an inch to low and it completely threw me off. Now, you might be thinking "An inch, Big Deal! ... NOT!" But, if you have ever done serious biking, you should know that an inch is a lot! That's one more inch that you cant stretch out your leg, one more inch worth of power you cant put into the peddle which means it's one more inch of energy wasted... per peddle pump! And when you are up around 500 - 700 RPM's, that is a lot of unnecessary waste!

So, as I'm sure you guessed, I raised my seat about an inch. I had already been laughed at for having my seat three and a half feet off the ground. Now people can laugh at the new height! Bring it on! I have to admit, it does feel like I'm riding a moose sometimes - the Mount Everest seat and my custom added vertical handle-bars that slightly resemble antlers, but only slightly, mind you...

Okay, I'm starting to ramble so I'm going to get to the trip itself.

I ended up doing about seven miles of both street riding and trail riding. I had one point where I did a little bit of mountain biking - that's when I went rock climbing with a bike... However, that was very lame mountain biking. What is the difference between trail riding and mountain biking? Besides the name, trail riding is done on a bike trail, class six road or four-wheeler trail and is normally just a fun ride through the woods. Mountain biking is the the four-wheeling or white water rafting of the biking family, normally something along the lines of biking up and down a mountain (...imagine that...) or any kind of biking where you blow out your shocks and get a brain massage from rocks and roots. Your feet will spend more time pushing you away stones or trees, so don't do it if you have bad reflexes... like me. I've been asked what I prefer for biking. To be honest, I've really only been mountain biking once, so that doesn't count. I would say that it depends on the time of day and the area that I would be biking. I'n my opinion, nothing beats a hard, flat, clay trail in the woods. you can fly and the only thing you really have to look out for are chipmunks. But a newly paved tarmac that hasn't been been riddled with potholes is nice if the traffic is minimal! Oh look! I was rambling again.

Here are some pics from yesterdays trip. Sorry for the poor quality, they were taken from my flip phone.

I really like this picture!

The river from the bridge

If you look closely, you can see my bike leaning against the guard rail.

The river from where i took the last picture.

Being the over achiever that I am, I decided that this bad boy biker gang of one would terrorize the downtown once again today! (Like the skinny guy on the peddle powered Harley is going to scare anyone...) I did nine miles today with about half on the trail, half on the road. I attempted to bike the power lines but found out that it might be a better option to water ski it instead. You don't notice how much water there is when the trail is buried under three feet of snow. Suddenly the snow is gone and the miniature rivers and ponds end their vanishing act. My chain fell off so my hands are still stained with grease, but I'm okay with that cause it makes me look tough.

Total mileage for the past two days: Just a little over 16 miles. Not bad for a guy who is out of shape and only two days in...    

Biking

Oops! I haven't been good about updating my biking blog log. Since the last post, I have biked 43.28 miles putting me at a total of 80.58 miles, a far cry from the 1,500 I intended to do, but it's still better than nothing!

Biking

I did 8.1 miles today. First time I've been out in a while so I struggled a little on some hills. I did a lot of them today. I think 15 good sized ones. That and i was using my dads bike since my is getting a tune up.

37.3 miles down and 1,462.7 to go... I think I better start cracking!

Biking

Once again, I hit the streets with my two wheeled, peddle powered sports car. it has a really nice two stroke engine- a left leg and a right leg... generally mine!
I did 12.7 miles today putting me a a total of 29.2 miles out of 1,500.
My grampa gave me the good idea of finding out how many miles I have Left and dividing it by the number of days Left in the year. I figured out that if, starting today, I biked 5.794921875 miles everyday, I will meet my goal at the end of the year. But, since getting the .794921875 part of it will be getting pretty hard, I will just go for 5.8. Yeah, I'm and over achiever! 
Anywho, 29.2 miles down and 1470.2 miles to go.

Biking

I am now at a grand total of 16.5 miles out of a 1,500 needed to meet my goal for this year! It's great- I was really out of shape when I started a month ago, but now I'm pretty "buff" (for lack of a better word) and takin' every hill that my tiers set rubber on! Maybe I'll try riding Mt. Washington... in a year... or five!

16.5 miles down and 1,483.5 left! I'm on a roll!

 

Biking

Another 6 miles today! my hands are covered in graese! My chain fell off in the middle of a really steep hill I was climbing. Do you know how scary it is to be peddling you heart out up hill and the next thing you know you're rolling backwards down it... towards an intersection... at high speed? Not fun!

Anyways, 10 miles down and 1,490 to go! Ten hardly seems like a noble feat compared to what I still need to do...

Biking

First time on my bike this year and found out that I'm really out of shape!!! 4 miles down and 1496 to go!

Yeah, that dork is me in my biking uniform! Man, I look really weird!

My BHAG

No, I didn't spell bag wrong! BHAG stand for Big Harry Audacious Goal! This year, I am setting a goal for myself! Bet you can't guess what it is! That's right, I am setting a goal for a biking mileage this year. Starting today, and ending December 31, 2013 at 23:59:59, I intend to bike 1,500 miles and keep a log about it. Yes, I will bless you by putting my log on my Blog! Hey! I'm a poet and I didn't even know it! 

Biking!

50 miles on my bike today! Can't wait!!!!! I will post after the ride is done. (Which might not be until 7:00 pm)

I got tagged

Ok, so my buddy Matthew tagged me, so now I have to answer these questions.

Here are the rules:

1. I must post eleven facts about myself.

2. I must answer the eleven questions the awarder has given me , and create eleven questions for my awardees to answer .

3. Tag eleven fellow bloggers.

4. Notify them that I have awarded them .

So here are some random facts:

1. I do ads for our local Christian Radio station

2. I love to play the piano and compose music, but I can hardly read music.

3. I am planning on shooting a deer with my bow on Saturday.

4. I love to repair bikes.

5. I love to ride my bike.

6. I am doing a 50 mi. bike race next week.

7. I really like country music.

8. I like to make cool things out of junk.

9. I love Geometry.

10. I understand and enjoy learning about nuclear reactions and radioactivity

11. I love Boy Scouts.

Now here are my questions:

1. What is your favorite Bible verse?

Probably Deut. 6:31

2. Who are a few of your favorite authors?  

Rudyard Kipling, George Washington, oh and F.W. Dixon.

3. What am you reading right now?

 Um, nothing! I don't really like to read.

4. Did you do school throughout the summer?

Not really. It depends on what you mean by school. If scouts is included, yes I did do school. everyday.

5. Do you like dogs or cats better?
DOGS!!!!!

6. Would you rather have friends over or spend a quiet night at home?
Probably have friends over, because we always have quiet nights at home.

7.What do you like to do in your free time?

Play the piano, work on my bike, go biking, shoot my bow, go for a walk in the woods.

8.Chocolate or Vanilla?

Both!

9. Who are some of your favorite speakers to listen to?
Doug Phillips, Bill Potter, R. C. Sproul, Phillip DeCourcy, John MacAurther.

10. Do you enjoy *GASP* SOCIALIZING WITH PEOPLE???
YOU, BET!!!!!!!!

11. Do you like to drink coffee black or with "Stuff"?
I Don't drink or like coffee!

Now I have to make up 11 questions:
1. What is the name of you Blog?
2. How many followers do you have?
3. Sky Diving of Bungi Jumping?
4. What is you dream job?
5. Mac or PC?
6. Colt, Glock or Sig Sauer?
7. Do you know how to do CPR?
8. Police Officer, Fire Fighter or EMT?
9. Sports Car or Pick Up Truck?
10. Do you like to bike?
11. Welsh Corgi or Bassett Hound?

Alright... I tag:
Noah and David

You two don't have to do it, and anyone else who wants to do it is welcome :)

Biking! (Again)

I just got back from a 20 mile bike ride and am out of breath, but feeling great. (I don't smell to good, though!) My top speed was around 40 comming down one of the steepest roads in town. Not fun ti go up, but awesome comming down! I even out ran the cops!!! (Just kidding! Really!) Time to go put on deoderant!!!