Action Shot!

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My roommate made this video while we were on our bikes in Central Park a couple of weekends ago. The noise from the wind is quite loud, so make sure your speakers are turned down.

(Until I get this on YouTube, I can’t have the video play from this screen, oh well, you’ll just have to click the link)

Pray these two clowns never have a dance-off

Bush is a man of intense pride. And, being a break-dancer himself, you don’t let someone run up on your turf like MC Rove did at the Radio and Television Correspondents Association Dinner.

So, as long as Rove is making a mockery of African-American culture, Bush joined in with a Senegalese Performance Group in celebration of Malaria Awareness Day.

Big thanks to Shakesville for the lovely pictures:

Does McCain have something to learn from Biden?

As reported by the NY Times: McCain Officially Enters Presidential Race

But wait, hasn’t McCain been driving around in his Straight-Talk bus for the last few months? Are we supposed to be excited about this announcement? I mean, since he went all-in on the Iraq War, he’s been really trying to be that candidate who you vote for if you want to stay at war for the next Presidential Term. Well, take a look at his fundraising numbers and you’ll see how much his one-dimensional campaign/gamble on being the War Candidate is paying off. I’d like to believe that re-announcing his intent to run isn’t going to help. Maybe he should let that plan cool off for a little while because this latest announcement reeks of desperation, especially in the face of the Dem’s latest attacks on Gonzo-Rice-Cheney.

Makes you kind of wonder when Joe Biden is going to remind us that he is a candidate after going into hiding following his truly idiotic characterization of Obama as “African-American,” “clean,” “nice,” and “articulate.” I don’t mean to dredge up old dirt, but man if that didn’t shoot himself in the foot on the same week he announced his intent to run for president. Biden for the moment is totally off the board, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he gets back in the race when we get closer to the primaries. All I hope is McCain will stop his self-destructive campaign of Stay the Course; it just hurts to watch a guy bet everything and stay in when he’s got nothing in his hand.

Chipotle, it’s what’s for lunch

Chipotle has got to be the best lunch place in the neighborhood where I work. I eat about three of these burritos a week. With my metabolism through the roof as it has been when I exercise, it’s not a good sign when I am hungry again at the end of the day. As a result, I’ve tried to cut back to having it just twice a week, but man, if I can’t resist all that gooey burrito mess. I recommend the burrito with about 20 napkins.

As compared to other fast food establishments (which interestingly enough, McDonalds sold it’s remaining shares from) they pride themselves on healthy food selection. I remember going in one time and having them tell me that the rice was not up to standards and therefore their would not be any rice today. Ok, so they have good standards, and I don’t feel like I’m eating anything fried. But I was shocked to see the high salt content. I generally stay away from salt, because I am sensitive to it and it makes me thirsty, but the nutritional information that I found for it was shocking.

For people on a diet and might look at this, I recommend getting it with out the wrap in a bol–cuts the calories by about 300.

My Chipotle Burrito:

Chipotle Fan.com

Chipotle Nutrition Facts Serving Size: 1 Burrito Amount Per Serving Calories 1230 Calories from Fat 529 % DV* Total Fat 59g Saturated Fat 19.5g Cholesterol 70mg Sodium 3568mg Total Carbohydrate 139g Dietary Fiber 16.5g Sugars 10g Protein 35g Vitamin A 89% Vitamin C 135% Calcium 57% Iron 34%

Chipotle Nutrition Results provided by:
Chipotle Fan.com

Staying relaxed on the bike

Saturday of this weekend I did one of my longest rides to date of 55 miles. I’m happy with my progress and each ride keeps getting longer and I had a feeling that I might just be able to take on the 100 miles in stride, but I know see the other kinds of challenges that I am going face. They come as you rack on the miles, and it’s different than running out of energy in your legs.

I’m glad that I’ll be riding on a new bike for the ride, not only for the sake that it is lighter, but it is far more mechanically sound. I more than likely will not need to deal with malfunctions, loose wheels, finicky shifters, etc. So that is one concern taken care of. I ordered an under the seat bag today to put spare inner tubes, CO2 canisters, and tire levers just in case I need to change a flat on the road, but so far into the season, I have not faced a flat tire. My fingers crossed that for the century ride, I don’t run out of luck in that department.

From my ride over the weekend, which was about 5 hours long, I at some point banged my right foot against something and I don’t remember when. But it developed into a bruise making it painful to pull up on my bindings. Being on the bike that long gives you plenty of time to make a mistake and have an injury, so the most important thing, as always, is safety.

Now I’ve been trying to make a better practice of doing this, but sometimes when I ride I notice a lot of tension in my neck. It’s bad posture to have your shoulders scrunched up. Ideally, your whole body should be relaxed when you cycle. Hands should not be clenching the bars, your back should be long and loose and your whole body should be comfortably balanced over the bike. Now I don’t know if this was due to extra strain from having a backpack on, but about 40 miles out, I had a stinging feeling at the very base of the back of my neck. It was excruciating, but I pedaled through it and did my best to keep that part of my body relaxed. I realized, if I were to have kept that part loose for the first 40 miles, I wouldn’t be having this problem then. So even though I hadn’t noticed the slightest amount of tension earlier, as the miles carried on it developed in to a real problem. Had I to go another 50 to complete the century, I may have needed to stop, even if my legs were still willing to carry me the whole way.

My goal in my shorter rides now is to practice as relaxed of a posture as possible, even if I’m only doing a couple loops around the park. On these short rides it is important that I practice this, because if I am not immediately discomforted by it, it will eventually catch up with me to sting me. Actually, concentrating on relaxing on the bike is, surprisingly enough, quite relaxing. It is a very thoughtful time for me and I really enjoy the exercise outdoors. When I am at work, it helps me concentrate and, I think about not carrying tension in my shoulders when things get busy around the office. When I feel fatigued, I will often allow my self to completely relax, downshift to a low gear and just do light circles, letting my self totally loosen out. Sometimes I will even put my head down and just think about the little circles that my feet are making. After I do that, when I look back up, I’ll be surprised to see that I have caught up to the person in front of me and I’m recharged to put myself in a higher gear and keep on going.

My baby

Buying a new bike, especially one of these new bikes they make now, is kind of like getting [having, whatever] a kid. While my new bike isn’t born from the miracle of life, it is made of some serious technology. But the fact that makes it most like a little baby is the crap I need to buy for it now and the constant supervision it requires. By all standards, the maintenance of the new bike is minimal compared to say my older bike. I’ve heard claims that you will have to make adjustments very, very infrequently.

I guess I shouldn’t get too worked up over spending money because all I’ve really bought specifically for the bike so far is a tire pump and a water bottle holder, which didn’t set me back too much because I caught one on sale at www.performancebike.com . But I’m realizing that I’m going to need another set of inner tubes, wax for my chain and some emergency air/CO2 canisters. I’m holding out on that until I get some more money in my bank account or Coach Josh comes down on me for not having them. Overall, there is so much stuff that I don’t have on my bike that I could spend, starting with a bike computer. Now I get the point that you want to check your cadence and know how far you have traveled, but I like to separate my biking experience to anything that likens it to sitting in front of a computer. So I don’t think you will ever see me with one of those.

So babies are expensive, and so is my bike, but the real problem with kids are that they are so damn cute and sometimes they get poop on them and you have to clean them. Not to sound ridiculous with this, but yes, I wipe down my bike after I ride, check my tires for glass and am always refilling the air in the tubes. Why? I have no idea. I guess when it comes down to it, I really like it and it treats me good, so in turn I make sure it has what it needs.

Yes, I really like my bike. I didn’t expect to ride out of the store with a carbon bike, but after test riding three $1,000 aluminum bikes (Bianchi and Cannondale) I rode the Cannondale Carbon Synapse and knew I wouldn’t be taking any of the aluminum ones.

The first bike I took out was a hot looking Bianchi Vigorelli. It was the last one they had in stock and it was an inch or two too tall for me. But that didn’t make a difference, I hated everything about it. The steering beyond being really twitchy then felt loose because they have some kind of adjustable stem attached to the handles. I’d have to sub that out. Aside from bring faster (due to being lighter) than my old steel frame. I’d rather be behind everyone else riding than feel like I was going to swing out of control at any point. Also, I felt everything from the road. All of my previous riding experience had so far come on a very heavy steel frame, which for all it’s faults is a very smooth ride. On the Bianchi I had to ride through a section where the road was a dug up, and it was terrible in that, I felt everything even through the carbon fork.

The next bike he sent me out was an aluminum Cannondale CAAD8 with a carbon fork—a little more expensive but fit better and had pretty good equipment on it. Right off the bat I noticed it took off faster than the Bianchi bike. The handling was pretty good, but if the road wasn’t smooth, it was pretty unpleasant. I took it around the block, got up to a pretty good speed. When I got back to shop I figured it would do the job for what I needed, but it didn’t make me smile. I was complaining about how uncomfortable I was with the vibrations, so I asked to take out one of the all-carbon bikes.

I don’t know how carbon works exactly, but it super strong, super light and super absorbent of vibrations. The next bike I took out, and was the one that I left the shop with was the Cannondale Carbon Synapse.

First off, it fit me perfectly. The old Raleigh steel frame I had been riding on was too tall, but I never had any pain from riding it and I liked the way I was balanced on it. The Synapse had that same feel, so that was something personal to me and the way I ride, but what I really appreciated was how much FUN it was. I rode through that same section with the construction and the gravel and was comfortable and had total control. Also, at this time, I was climbing a hill and I was picking up the speed. At the top of the hill I kept going and built some incredible speed really fast. I had thought that the CAAD8 had some wheels, but the Synapse was that much quicker. Coming down the hill where the road was smooth it felt like I was skiing on butter. The Shimano components on it are top notch, the braking is soft precise with the pressure you put on the tires and the shifting is quick and hardly noticed while peddling. As of this point, I have no complaints except I’m afraid to let it out of my sight.

I had a huge grin when I came back in the store, this is what I had been looking for and whether the sales guy had intended to get me to buy something more expensive or not, I purchased it. We put some clip in bindings on it and I was out the door.

I had never rode with clips before so in front of the store I stepped in and promptly fell over.

That weekend I rode about 100 miles on it and have been dying to get back on it if only it were warmer. So it’s my new baby.

Quick Update

So I know it has been a while since I’ve written about my progress and training for the Century Ride (May 20–not too far away now), but that doesn’t mean that I haven’t been doing anything. Actually, quite the opposite. Most excitingly, I bought a new bike a couple weekends ago and I really haven’t stopped riding it. It is about a mere fraction of the weight of my old one and it is so much fun to ride. In the last 72 hours I have biked around 110 miles (30 on Saturday, 40 on Sunday, 20 Monday night and another 20 this morning) and if the weather is nice when I get home from work, I’ll probably be out on my bike again.

In the coming week, I hope you will look forward to a few posts that I have been working on, but haven’t quite finished.
1. I’m going to give a full review of my bike (a Cannondale Synapse Carbon) and what I have learned about biking from being on it.
2. I’ve also bought a new phone (a Cingular Blackjack) which I have some opinions of as well.
3. Finally, in what may be a two-part installment, I’ve been writing a piece about JetBlue’s flights to Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard.

Of course there will always be the excitement of what blows up outside my office window. As an update to my last post, the exploded jackhammer was hauled out of the site on Friday and a new one is already there. Listening to this banging all day is going to make me lose it. Believe me, I didn’t shed any tears when the first one blew up (and of course, nobody was hurt in that incident, so all is good).