Flat Tire - Definitely a Monday

Got my first flat while riding to work this morning.
I have been shown how to change a flat, so I was kind of excited about doing this on the side of the road/parking lot.
Until I noticed that it's the back tire.
Which has gearing on it - and a rack and my pannier...
So, while I could do it - it might take me a little longer than I want it to (and I need to be at work).
Walked the mile and a half to work. Made it just in time as it started raining while I was in the bathroom changing.

Flat will be changed at lunch today. I'll have an hour to scratch my head, and figure out how to get everything off without screwing up the bike.
Hopefully Dimitrios might come by and show me a bit too as that would be most helpful.

From a LBS - that's not an LBS to me

I found this link to be amusing..and some of them very very true.
I'm sure other friends/cyclists that I have (and those who actually read this) will as well.

Biking Quotes I like

These will also be shown throughout this blog --

It would not be at all strange if history came to the conclusion that the perfection of the bicycle was the greatest incident of the nineteenth century. ~Author Unknown

The bicycle is a curious vehicle. Its passenger is its engine. ~John Howard

The bicycle is the most civilized conveyance known to man. Other forms of transport grow daily more nightmarish. Only the bicycle remains pure in heart. ~Iris Murdoch, The Red and the Green

When man invented the bicycle he reached the peak of his attainments. Here was a machine of precision and balance for the convenience of man. And (unlike subsequent inventions for man's convenience) the more he used it, the fitter his body became. Here, for once, was a product of man's brain that was entirely beneficial to those who used it, and of no harm or irritation to others. Progress should have stopped when man invented the bicycle. ~Elizabeth West, Hovel in the Hills

When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race. ~H.G. Wells

For instance, the bicycle is the most efficient machine ever created: Converting calories into gas, a bicycle gets the equivalent of three thousand miles per gallon. ~Bill Strickland, The Quotable Cyclist

Melancholy is incompatible with bicycling. ~James E. Starrs

The bicycle had, and still has, a humane, almost classical moderation in the kind of pleasure it offers. It is the kind of machine that a Hellenistic Greek might have invented and ridden. It does no violence to our normal reactions: It does not pretend to free us from our normal environment. ~J.B. Jackson

Get a bicycle. You will not regret it if you live. ~Mark Twain, "Taming the Bicycle"

It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them. Thus you remember them as they actually are, while in a motor car only a high hill impresses you, and you have no such accurate remembrance of country you have driven through as you gain by riding a bicycle. ~Ernest Hemingway

Nothing compares to the simple pleasure of a bike ride. ~John F. Kennedy

It is curious that with the advent of the automobile and the airplane, the bicycle is still with us. Perhaps people like the world they can see from a bike, or the air they breathe when they're out on a bike. Or they like the bicycle's simplicity and the precision with which it is made. Or because they like the feeling of being able to hurtle through air one minute, and saunter through a park the next, without leaving behind clouds of choking exhaust, without leaving behind so much as a footstep. ~Gurdon S. Leete

You never have the wind with you - either it is against you or you're having a good day. ~Daniel Behrman, The Man Who Loved Bicycles

Heat Index Over the 100's

Really makes me not want to ride.
It rained last night. The heat index is still supposed to be in the upper 100's today...therefore my lazy/heat exhaustion butt did NOT get on the bike this morning as I had planned.
Meh.
Will make up for it tomorrow and Friday...
and there's the King of Evil that's going on this weekend. Maybe we'll attend that on Saturday to give us some riding stuff to do ...
Maybe...

Thoughts on a Morning Ride....

- No Rain today = Riding the Trek in, I like riding the Trek in. She's a lot lighter and more streamline than the Miyata..maybe one day I'll get the guts to actually race.
- It's a lot less muggy this morning that it was Monday morning. Did it rain last night or something?
- Hello Mr. Cranky Confrontational White Aurora's House. I still find it very amusing that I know EXACTLY where you live should you attempt to mess with me on my ride again.
- OOOH...the light is GREEN! MUST.GO.FASTER.TO.MAKE.IT
-YAAAY made the light..and got up to 26mph to do so :).
- So my 'pace' speed seems to have gone up to 19mph now. Wonder what I can do on these short rides to and from work to increase that.
- Hello Crossing Guards! :)
- Every neighborhood I've rode through this morning smells like chlorine. Did everyone get their pools cleaned last night or something?
- YAY WORK! And even got here a minute early!

Events I'm going to try to attend in the St. Pete area...

The first one I'm going to be representing 'The Skirts' so I'm pretty excited about that.
I believe there was something going on on Davis Island within the next two months as well. As soon as I get more info on that, I'll post that as well. It should be a fun/good time.
I just gotta figure out how to carry the camera and the bike all at once now :)

If he can do it, why can't you?

Obama...
Probably one of the busiest men on the planet right now.
Biking.





He's even in JEANS..and there are a ton of mods that could be done to his bike to make it more comfortable for him.
But regardless
HE'S DOING IT

So...when are YOU gonna get on a bike?! *points at you*
NO EXCUSES! :P

Green Stats and Month Review

Not as much riding as I would have liked, but still in the hundreds for the month and that's what I'm aiming for until October (when I'm done with school and can focus more on riding)

Green Stats

Total Workout Days: 151
Distance Traveled: 1,727.94 mi.
Gas Saved: 96.00 gallons
Money Saved: $334.07
Carbon Offset: 1,858.5 lbs. of CO2

May 2009 Stats

Total Distance:165.73 mi.	Total Calories:1,495 (kcal)	Weight Change:4.0 lbs.
Average Sleep:n/a	Average Morale:n/a	Min. / Max.:123.0 lbs. / 127.0 lbs.

RAIN RAIN GO AWAY....

The Rain has kept the riding down a bit this past week/weekend, it seems to be leveling out, but it's now doing it's 'afternoon thunderstorms' ordeal (what it usually does in Florida this time of year). Which is ruining the riding chances 'The Skirts' are having on Tuesday evenings.
We tried to ride last night, and ended up just getting rained out/on.
It was still nice to see the ladies I ride with (hadn't seen them the week before due to schoolwork and selling the Honda), and I 'engaged'/committed myself to some 'Skirts' events that are coming up so I'm pretty excited about that.
They're also going to start doing training rides on Sunday afternoons @ 5pm. I'm going to try my best to go/attend as many of those as I can. Starting with this Sunday. It will be a 'drop' ride (meaning if I don't keep up, I off the group ride), but that's good too as I need to learn how to properly ride with a group that does that. And get my bearings when I do get lost/learn my way back to..my house or where-ever.

Rode the Miyata into work today. It's the first day I woke up and it wasn't raining in over a week. Forgot how heavy that bike is after riding the Trek during all the non-rain days. Will probably get rained on today on the way home, but that's ok. That's what the rain gear I got is for.

THIS WEEKEND - CALL TO CRANKS IN FT. LAUDERDALE

Title is also a link to the web-site.
Looks to be a lot of fun ...

Sadly, we won't be able to attend..but ..if anyone else can make it out, please do.

Ride Schedule Change due to Inclement Weather

Pretty much my commuting schedule has changed since the rainy season has finally hit Florida.

For now on, any day (with the exception of Tuesdays as that is my dance lesson @ lunch day) that it's not raining in the morning OR I have no appointments that day....I ride in.

Will be riding the Miyata a lot more too as she has fenders.

Lakeland Crit - 5/17

Dimitrios raced..and I took photos..and witnessed a pretty intense wreck. His friend, Taylor was also in the race so there are photos of him as well. Wanna see more? Well some have to be photoshopp'd/brightened, but the ones that don't you can also see on my flickr account, which is here.

Vacation: Planned

This year we'll be hitting up Denver, CO for some fun with a set of really awesome friends as well.

I'm sure there will be mountain biking (Dimitrios, not myself) with B-Man and Hillary (and old friend that we'll be seeing while we're out there)...among other awesome things that hopefully also involves snow..as I want to see some.

Sweet :)

No Win for me

Just an update.
I did not win the 'Women of Trek' essay contest like I was hoping.
So, no new Trek and gear for me
And, this blog will not be read by billions anymore (if it's even read at all).

But that's ok - I'll just keep trying every year until they eventually get sick of seeing my name OR I actually do win based on the essay I write. (hee hee).

'Resting Pace' increase

Hopped on the bike this morning and started going my usual route to work. I don't usually pay attention to speed or anything at this time as I figure it's my warm-up/resting pace or whatever. Today, I looked down though on my computer to see what it said.
I was up to 17mph and not even breathing heavy.
...

I can remember like a few months ago where it would kill me to be that fast. I can remember when I started biking my 'resting/getting started pace' was only 12-13mph.
So after one year of the sporadic riding that I've been doing (basically just meaning that I'm not able to ride as much as I would like cause of school etc) I have increased that much.

Ego-Boost = WIN!