Thursday, December 18, 2008

DOH DEUX!


If it were not for bad luck, I’d have no luck at all. As fate has had it before and will surely have it again, mechanical difficulties were abundant today. While commuting to work, away from my dog and comfortable domicile, I had not pedaled 20 feet from my drive way when I felt something was a miss. My left foot felt funny. I looked down to see the threading of my left crank arm being dispersed amongst the seasons leaves. The sight of the metal shards sent anger to my stomach like a third bowl of Kashi. I stopped to inspect and within fractions of a second I knew a the crank arm had seen its last revolution. I had not mentioned that my bike is still out of commission and the sin had been committed to my brothers Rockhopper. I knew he would jump with joy when I informed him of what I had done. Fortunate for me, he just purchased an older Cannondale road bike, and I knew I could by a little time with this distraction.

Thankfully I wasn’t far from home and was quick on my way in the saddle of the Trek 3700. Then, after completing over 75% of my commute; an awful, atrocious, deafening, blinding sound from my back wheel…DE-RAIL-LEUR!!! Then I hit the pavement. Ouch, and thank god there were no cars in my lane on Centerville Rd. In what now feels like an innate reaction, the sound caused a clinching of the breaks. So fast in fact, that I didn’t have time to wedge my foot out of the freakin cages. What can I say; I’m not used to riding sans clipless. Bruised knee and ego aside, I had to lock up the Trek to a fence right at the corner of Centerville and Betton and then hustle to work. I arrive at work with perfect timing. I spend the next 6 hours trying to figure out why god hates me.

Monday, December 8, 2008

Wile E


This mid week entry is brought to you in part by our friends at the US Army. One of which I encountered at the parking/trailhead after he put his convertible Mustang GT on top of the fence. Yes, on top of the thick wooden fence surrounding the parking lot. The fellow, with US Army vanity tag COYOTE managed to rest his car on top of an 8”x8” post with all but one of his tires suspended slightly off of the ground. As I approached him with Ginger, he was disposing of a gallon sized ziplock bag with what looked like trash in it. I enquired, “What did you do man?” I’m not sure if it was an unfamiliar dialect, drunken slur, or the chicken leg that he had spent no less than an hour gnawing on that rendered his response pointless. I did get from his gestures that he intended on trying to drive his car off of the mangled fencing after which point he would be barricaded in a shallow holding pond. Not a well thought through plan. I urged him to reconsider. I could also tell that he had no intention in notifying the county that he was responsible for the damage. Worried that this was the second DUI I witnessed at the trailhead within two weeks, I was relieved by the prompt response of the county’s finest. I leered like the nosiest neighbor you ever had for what seemed like an hour but was probably closer to half that. Coyote’s cousins showed up. As they were assisting their kin by pulling his car off easily from the broken wood, the “Major” only applied the brake, preventing him from backing into the helping truck, after warning screams from the fam. Even though the sheriff seemed to take note of this, I never did see any testing of our subject and I believe that the County deemed him ok to drive.

Despite the expense of new fencing to the county, there is good news regarding the supposed closing of the singletrack in our greenways. Apparently earlier reposts were not 100% accurate. The county will not be closing any trails. There may even be an opportunity to work with the powers that be to develop new trail, and in a potential best case scenario, the city may take over responsibility of the land. This is merely what a little bird on a snow bike told me and may or may not be more than wishful thinking. More reports on this in the not so distant future.

Saturday, November 29, 2008

Rain Out

Our first. From the sounds of it several of us were dressed out and ready to go, but the huge blob on the radar stayed its course during the second of what will be at least three days of rain fall. The good news is that Tripp will be happy to find out that stipulations for a trip to Dauset Trails have been met. http://www.dausettrails.com/trails.htm A date will be set for sometime in the next month or so. If anyone has an interest in riding some trails that are a little bit different than what Tallahassee or north Florida has to offer, please join us. At this point we are planning on camping a night or two and riding/hiking the wide variety of trails.

Saturday, November 22, 2008

"Sometimes it feels like...somebody's watching me."



I’m not sure if the beginner riders on our ride are impressing me more, or if I’m impressing myself less. After sprinting to the peak of every hill we ascended, I turned to see Tripp on my tail as usual and James almost immediately behind him. After a short explanation of his claimed asthmatic condition, I searched somewhere in my brain for the lost information on CPR. Nothing. Good thing for me that James hung extremely well for his first 15 mile trip down the Greenway and back. Good job James.

Dennis also joined us for the first time today. To the rest of us on today’s ride, Dennis is obviously an experienced rider. With his experience he also brought unfortunate news. We learned today that we may be losing all of the single track on the Alford and Miccosukee Greenways. It was speculated that the decision was made by the county due to the lack of their willingness to commit funds for the single tracks maintenance. No time frame was given but I will be riding the hell out of it as if its days are numbered. I am looking into who at the county we can direct our disapproval towards. Because of a commitment the cinema, Dennis was only able to experience half of the Grinn ride. As long as it wasn’t for Transporter 3, we will accept him back for another ride.

James, Tripp and I took the route along Haunted Hallow to pour some Propel out for our homies. No, but we really did walk through the grave markers for some of the unfortunate dating back to the first quarter of the 20th century.

Other note worthy news…Sandy sighting! Quinn and I ran into Sandy at the Cyclocross( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRZOa_E9Qs8) races at Rickards High School this morning. She was officiating her first event and looked to be having a very good time doing so. The course ran literally through the playing fields, parking lot, bus ramps and back to the starting line at the foot of a steep 50 foot hill.

Both Jose’s ride and Our ride started out bit cold, but turned out perfect. Can’t wait to see what cold weather gear Santa is bringing.

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Slippery When Wet

Today’s Grinn ride had something a little different and new to offer. For those of us who can barely remember high school, it was a chance to experience youth athletics again in a new light. Quinn-i-poo and I were far from the cycling type in high school and even further from something that resembled a cross country runner. Chiles High hosted a regional championship this weekend over 5k of the Miccosukee Greenway. It was a brief interlude beginning at the top of Edenfield and continuing to a turnaround point near “Church Hill”. Although it was something that slowed us down for a short period it was pretty neat to see the Greenway being used by so many people. It was a little rough swallowing the fumes from the rear pace car(forgive me John for being unaware of its official name), but witnessing the popularity of our trails(and John for that matter) was well worth it.

Kelly joined us again this weekend, which was really cool. She is training for San Felasco and I look forward hearing about her performance in the arduous 50 miler. Today Kelly exposed her self as an equine sympathizer at the Crump Rd. TH. This reminded me of another Grinn attendee, Christine. Although she accompanied us only once, Christine offered as much insight as any other rider, if not more. To witness her approach and interaction with a pair of riders on horse back helped to open my eyes to the appropriate relationship between those on bike and those on horses. I have always had tolerance for the equine variety b/c I feel like they are a huge part of why we have the greenway. I have never enjoyed riding through the bumps of their wake, but never would have classified myself as annoyed or frustrated. Riding with other cyclists who seem to have a rich history of riding horses has pushed me from someone who tolerated them, to someone with complete acceptance of our four hoofed friends. I now dismount where as before I would have merely slowed down in what I thought was an adequate signal of respect. Knowing riders like Kelly and Christine has resulted in a sense of compassion that I regret not having before. Plus, I can’t get the thought of Superman off my mind.

Chris made me proud for the first time since “aftercare” when he took the short hill after the interstate with almost too much ease. I was impressed with the small amount of encouragement it took for him to make a stab at it, and even more impressed that he was successful in what I am sure was less attempts than it took me. Totally a noteworthy occurrence. Next week I will announce the same thing about Quinn and Sandy(pressure!).

I anticipated a mandatory ride through water at the Arvah Bridge as a result of heavy rains in the days that preceded this weeks ride. The gang lucked out and I was the only one who elected the wet route that paralleled the rebuilt wooden structure. This made for some wet feet on the way home.

Tripp’s absence was less obvious this week because of the aforementioned events, but we will be glad to have him back next week. See you then dudes! Dress warm!

Saturday, November 8, 2008

We stood on the shoulders...


This week’s ride sure was a learning experience for everyone.

My brother finally joined us and was very glad that he did. He chose an excellent week to do so. Coincidentally, Sandy, who Chris knew in a former life decided to return to the Grinn ride. With or without him this was a treat because Sandy brings with her one of the most positive spirits and inquisitive minds. She always seems to ask the questions that I have had previously but have failed to find the answer to. It felt good to facilitate the re-connect of Chris and Sandy. They spent some of the ride talking of mutual friends and former co-workers, one of which happened to drive by us while we were chatting at the trail head after our ride…another neat coincidence. Chris wound up riding much stronger than he had feared he would. I was very happy about that and for him. After impressing himself, I think there is a good chance that he will join us again. Besides, he will need another justification for the Chinese buffet, as will I.

I regretfully postponed setting a date with Tripp for our excursion to Dauset. I’m really looking forward to it and hope we can do it before it gets too cold. I also hope we can recruit some other companions from our ride, or even anyone who may wonder into these writings.

Due to the impromptu schedule change for the ride, Kelly, a determined rider, meet us close to Crump road after she looked for us at Fleischman. She road her sweet, skinny, Trek 8000 while John admired her handlebars and I envied her components. Kelly learned not to trust the internet.

On that note I learned that even mediocre bikes can be suitable for the Grinn ride. My bike of the week was a GT Saddle back, with yes, the triple triangle.

John learned today of my incredible spur of the moment sprint speed. We all learned, or reaffirmed the importance of seatbelts.

Join us next week, and walk away a genius!

Monday, November 3, 2008

Doh


Due to my absence on Saturday, our first blog entry will cover my ride today down the greenway that included a very frustrating and familiar experience.

My ride was a solo one today to make up for missed time this last weekend when I got the opportunity to ride Red Bug and Magnolia. It started out as every other ride does; fast through the rolling descents to Edenfield. The air was beginning to cool and the sun made me a silhouette to approaching runners.

Looking forward to the small amount of single track past the first Miccosukee crossing, I flew through the hills that precede some decent twisty climbs and descents. Then after only one good downhill run and one some-what short climb, it happened. The oh, so, to familiar sound and feeling of crunching metal in between my spokes and chainstay. I break immediately, reacting surprisingly quickly. I think time slowed down, because I swear it felt like an eternity waiting for the bike to stop so I could look down and see if I had sucked my derailleur into the throws of 40 steel bars spinning at a like 1,000,000 rpm. I had. This time the culprit was still at the scene. A stick slightly shorter than a Bic pen but just as thick. The small piece of wood ripped the derailleur of at its hinge arm. The hangar bent only slightly. Spokes, survived for the most part. So, minimal damage.

Experience has taught me only that I have a long walk ahead of me. That and that I really should bring tools, especially a chain break tool, if I’m going to continue to travel 6-7 miles away from my starting point. Anyhow…at this point in our narrative, I’m actually a little relieved in that I’m not being swarmed buy bird sized mosquitoes who wanted to carry me away, as was the case in my previous broken derailleur experience. I’m about 2 miles further from home but I know I can fix this without a costly trip to the repair shop. Just a new cheap derailleur from ebay.

I’m not sure what bike I will be using this weekend but I am looking forward to riding with the group again. I understand we are going to be meeting an hour earlier due to daylight, or lack thereof . Also, a Grinn trip is tentatively planned for the the end of November or so. We are hoping to camp at Dauset. Oh cool, we can call it the Grinn “Tripp”. I hope everyone will enjoy or blog and consider joining us on a ride one day.