Day 2.0

I switched around my school schedule so now instead of only having class Tuesday and Thursday, I added a Wednesday class as well. I'm still not quite sure how I'm going to incorporate my commute into my miles for the day. I road downtown for class via Neil. Unfortunately, the Olentangy path going south is closed by the Drake. My storyboarding class is going to be interesting, I'm a little nervous about my drawing ability, but I think it'll work out. After class I rode up to Clintonville and test rode a Specialized Sector and a Jamis Aurora. I've gotta say, the Jamis was the first bike I've really felt a connection with. It just felt right when I was riding it. The bike was incredibly comfortable and climbed like a champion and the ride was just super smooth. After that I visited Liz at work and then headed to robothouse. Alex Ward, Mike, and I then headed up the Olentangy path to finish off my day. The ride was slow and comfortable, but definitely not as fast as it could have been. Now we're finishing off the night with some Chardonnay and hopefully a good flick.

Todays Stats:

27.09

2 hours 23 minutes 13 seconds.

Day 1.1

I was all over the town today, and then fell back relaxing watching "A Bug's Life". It was a pretty basic commute: I headed downtown for my first day of class and then came home. The weather was iffy; very hot and overcast. I stopped by B1 bikes to see if they had any thing that caught my eye, and I must say, the GT Peace Tour is quite intriguing. I'm probably going to give it a ride soon. I took Neil in and High home; both were pretty quiet.

Todays stats:

12.93 Miles

1 Hour 2 minutes 27 seconds

Day 1.0

Well, I didn't make it back to Columbus today until around 8 P.M, so I was a little nervous about how I was going to get my ride in. By the time I had brought all of my stuff back inside and made it out on the road it was about 8:30. The only riding I've really done at dusk and onwards has been commutes through campus/downtown via High, so I never really knew how wonderful of a time it is to ride. The temperature was great; it's a beautiful time. I actually ran into a few guys I would ride with up and down high last quarter because we all had about the same commute time. They we're heading up to worthing so I rode with them lots of the way. Their pace was quite a bit faster than I was used to, but it was quite nice. I never really understood the allure of racing no matter what the vehicle was, but tonight sort of gave me a glimpse. It's a great feeling to kick up gears, push yourself hard, and move up in a group. It started to get pretty dark, so I turned around at about the 6 mile mark on the path. By the time I made it to the Buckeye Lot I was at about 13 miles. The lot is very well lit and one lap is about .80 miles, and it's a very fast comfortable ride. The rear wheel wobble on my Trek is really starting to be a problem. I'm in the process of finding a new bike, however. The last few laps started to get to me but once again: overall the ride was pretty comfortable. Well, I head to my first day of class tomorrow downtown, but other than that it should be a pretty uneventful day!

Todays stats

26.06 Miles

1 hour 58 minutes 9 seconds

Day 0.1

I had to head downtown today to drop off some stuff for a client. Instead of taking the bike path I opted to ride the streets. I had to stop at Robot House to fill up my tires because my pump was there from when we had our mini Bike co-op day working on all of our friends stuff. My tires lose air pretty fast, which is a pain especially since I got a new tube/tire a month or so ago. After a week my tires lose about 30% of their air. Oh well! I took high street going downtown. I love riding through short north. There is a real sense of community, it looks nice, and most cars are willing to give bikers the space they need. As soon as I passed Nationwide, my gear side pedal actually snapped off. The end cap fell out a couple weeks ago so I figured it was only a matter of time. It was only a couple blocks over to B1 Bicycles and they hooked me up with some new pedals for a pretty good price. I really like B1. It's mostly young guys who just love bikes that work there and are always nice and willing to help. While I was there I looked at a couple CAAD 9's and some Bianchi bikes and talked to one of the guys about what I should be looking at. I really like the Bianchi's, and a few are in my price range, but I also really like the specialized Allez, which I should be test riding sometime next week. I made it to the south side on 3rd to drop off the DVD's to the client and started back via High. I'd never really ridden high street that far south and there's quite a bit more traffic, but the road is also much nicer. I made it back home pretty quick and now I'm waiting to head back towards campus to meet up with some friends before going to a Kevin Smith show I've been anticipating for months. I'm heading back to Geauga county tomorrow to help my aunt with her landscaping for some extra cash (most of which will go in my new bicycle fund!). I'll probably do a little riding while I'm home, but not too much. My bike there doesn't have a cycling computer so I wont be able to track anything. However, once I'm back next Monday I'll start with my 26 mile ride and get ready to keep my nose at the grindstone!

Todays stats

15.32 Miles

1 hour 22 minutes 26 seconds

Day 0

Just got back from the test ride. Ended up doing almost exactly 25 miles. Unfortunately, the Olentangy path from where I get on (Lane Ave.) to the end of the path in and back is only 20 miles, so it looks like I'll have to go to the end and then some extra going south towards downtown too as I add miles. The ride north on the path is great though, Columbus has done a great job with it. It is a great example of Urban nature. I would have tried heading the other way today but it was starting to rain, so I decided to finish the last 5 miles as laps on the road behind the schott so I could get home quickly if it got really bad. I won't say the ride was a piece of cake, it certainly took a little out of me, but it was still comfortable and I think it's a realistic starting point for this project. So it looks like next Monday I'll be starting with 26 miles!

Todays stat

25.09 Miles

1 hour 55 minutes 29 seconds

Ideas

Well, I had this idea on the drive back down to Columbus with Liz on Father's Day. I've started riding a lot again since April, thanks to a hand-me-down Trek road bike from Frank Jacobson. I've done quite a few 20+ mile rides during that time but have yet to really push myself. So here's the idea: today I am going to ride a comfortable distance that I feel relatively safe riding. Chances are I'm going to start off at 25 miles, riding mostly on the Olentangy Green Way Path. Assuming the 25 mile ride goes fine, starting next week, every M W F I will do a similar ride, the difference being I will add one more mile each day. On T TH and weekends I will also try to ride as much as time and my body allows, but I don't want to end up killing myself. So, this is what I'm planning on doing right now. I'm about to head out for my ride actually. Normally, I'll try to get out long before 1pm, just had some work to catch up on this morning and I also like to sleep in!