Yeah, it’s not a real race. I liked the quiet streets on the last trip, so I figured I’d go more-or-less on the same route.

Turned off to my main street, and there were probably 50 cyclists, a few tents, bunches of cars and the odd random officiant wearing dayglo orange. Now, I was feeling very manly today, because I had just put on my 2 ft long rainbow windsock on the back of my already tres manly recumbent, so I sped up behind some wedgy riders and asked what the race was. It was apparently the High Desert Road Race. I was peeved. It was my road, after all.

So, I figured out which way they were going, and I went the other direction. It wasn’t a closed route, so I wasn’t being a dick…there were still other cars passing me. Anyway, turns out guys don’t look at you when you’ve got a rainbow windsock recumbent, but the ladies all smile. Sure, they’re laughing on the inside, but it’s all good.

I also found a few really nice smooth roads, one that went on a really nice gradual 3 mile or so descent. It was completely awesome until I saw the Pavement Ends sign. The 3 miles back felt longer.

Also broke my first spoke, which was pretty nifty, and I felt hardcore wrapping it around a good one and going on. The wheel was pretty untrue by the time I got back, so the wheel’s in the shop. They look at a 20″ tire with a road wheel on it with some questions.

Hot freaking day today. And the gaps that my GPS put into the Map My Ride map ended up ripping me off of a full 5 miles today. The GPS, which I trust more than MMR, showed a little over 41 miles…2900 calories burned. I feel it too. I just about barfed three times afterwards.

Sara wanted to go to lunch and a movie, so we did. It’s a damned good thing it was the Bourne movie, ’cause I wouldn’t have made it through any other movie without falling asleep. As it is, the camerawork only made me want to barf one more time.

I know I should leave earlier in the day, but I just can’t bring myself to do it.

Well, I took nearly three weeks off, because my back went out a few weekends ago. Rooting around all day in the crawlspace was not a good idea, apparently.

So, this was a short ride, but good for a few reasons. A lower traffic route to China Hat, and finally getting my goggles figured out. No dust, no fog. Perfect.

Only one downside…after a family breakfast, I didn’t get out the door until around noon, when the temps were in the mid-90s. Bad idea. I sunscreened well, but I burned my lips, of all things. Think I’ll have to start earlier next week. Backs all strong again though.

Whew.

I had to get back on the horse after the horse lost it’s rear wheel last time I rode it. So, I opted for the wedgie bike this time, and let me tell you, shoving a seat back up your ass really doesn’t feel as good as I remember. And I didn’t remember it feeling too good.

I created this route originally on MapMyRide, and imported it as a course into the GPS. Sadly, because I didn’t go the exact same route at the beginning, it kept telling me how far away I was from like the second point in my course. There must be a way to say, “hey, tell me how far to the closest point, not the one way back where I started.” Didn’t want to fiddle with it on the ride though, I wanted to ride.

The good news was that on the map view, I got to see my course, so it would show me when I needed to turn, which was useful because I went a few places I hadn’t been before. One thing that I didn’t pay attention to on MapMyRide was the fact that I had to pedal over FUCKING AWBREY BUTTE. I wasn’t expecting that. There was a fairly short distance that was at a higher grade than I ever remember going before. Pain.  [note: the GPS shows me grade.  13% on that patch.  Yep, that beats short term my highest grade.]

At any rate, it’s a good thing I didn’t use the recumbent, because it’s pretty unstable under 6mph, and I was going up that sucker at around 3mph. After the end of the steep, it just kept going up. Got some nice speed on the way down…33 was the max, and that’s probably pretty close to my all time max. I’m not so much with the speed.

One change I need to make. The goggles are very nearly airtight, which just completely gums them up when I get hot. They came with something that converts from the strap to the regular glasses-esque earpieces. I’ve put them on, and it seems like it holds it slightly away from my face, so we’ll see how that works next time. May go for a shorter ride tomorrow just to get on the ‘bent this week.

Oh, and I sooooo need to figure out how to get rid of all of those stop signs on the route. I actually stopped twice on the route, not the 50 or so stops it shows. So, more manual reading…

This thing is friggin’ awesome. Sara got it for me for my Birthday, and while I haven’t been on any bike rides since getting it yesterday, I’ve carried it around when we go out and about town. It’s a geeky-statistician-wet dream. Elevation, maps, heart rate, routes, integration into google earth and mapmyride.com. It’s awesome. Upcoming bike rides will be a lot more detailed…

Wordpress really hates my big picture. This is meaningless text meant to pad so the image doesn’t break the layout. Awesome.

Oh yeah, even better, that wasn’t enough space, so I need to add more.  The Edge is a lot cooler than wordpress is right now.

Today was a tough day. I knew it was going to be a long one. 50 miles was 20 miles over my last ride, so that’s pretty ambitious, especially considering it was on a relatively new bike. Read the rest of this entry »

Goddamn China Hat Road.  I was so ready to like you.  Rolling, steady uphill (meaning rolling stead, fun downhill on the way back) and it went for almost 10 miles straight.  I had a route planned that would let me take a left in about 6 more miles, hit Hwy 20, and cruise back in style, after one huge hill.

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Mixed up the grocery run with some light hills behind where we used to live. Fucking dusty again. I actually had to pull over because I got dust in both of my eyes.

Groceries, Mailboxes Etc, Library, Bank, Home, whew!

So, after spending yesterday crying like they re-canceled Arrested Development, I decided to find some goggles, or glasses that better protected my eyes from dirt and dust. I found some at Amazon offered by a company called GogglesAndGlasses. Amazon Marketplace allows their companies to enclose a personal message when an order has shipped. Here’s the one I got:

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