Monday came and went with nothing really going on. Despite the nice day. Just wasn’t feeling going out.

Tuesday was another story. Only 3 people ended up on this ride. It sucks we can’t get more humans for this; It is too much fun. Maybe we need to send out a postcard and market this ride. Couple of firsts on this ride:

First time on road pedals
First time using a cadence sensor
My Garmin picked up someone elses heartrate

First the road pedals; These were good and easy to get used to. I got down the flip-the-pedal-and-clip-in. I can really feel how much stiffer they feel and I love them. I flatted about half way through this ride and forgot the whole bottom of these shoes are plastic. I’ve always unclipped and put my foot out early to avoid any embarrassment of falling on the road. When done with road pedals, plastic + pavement = sliding feet. I caught myself doing this twice. Also, The toe covers I used weren’t warm enough for 3 hours of riding. Woops. I’ll either grab a set of booties or stick with the MTB pedals in the mean time for warm toasty feet

Next was the cadence sensor; Mandi went to grab cold cuts Monday, so I grabbed some batteries for this thing. Damn it is finicky. After some time I got it lined up and working. I was intrigued by how low my cadence is. I get near 80-90 on the flat roads, which I think sounds normal. Somewhere along the ride it died, along with my HRM, so I didn’t have any cool squiggly lines to look at after my ride

As we were JRAing up the climb, I looked down to see how I was feeling and my HR was extremely low. IM A BEAST! No. I stand up to hammer and make myself hurt a little, and nothing happens. I ask if Lances heart rate is 135 or whatever, and he says yes. LOL. Kind of funny. I think my heart rate is 135 when walking up a flight of steps.

Oh yeah, we hit some dirt roads up and down, Capers water bottles fly out of cages on dirt road downhills, I chased a fat ass possum up a hill, Capers was almost hit by a deer running across the street; What else could you want from 3 hours in the dark riding with your buds?

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/153587590

We got back to the LTC Barn at around 10pm, let my car warm up, finish my water bottle and a power bar and split immediately. Not without eating something delicious from the king himself:

These didn’t last long.

How could you not want a burger from this dude?

Now this has to be the roughest part about these rides; getting home, unwinding, showering at midnight, and then being at work the next day.

So now, I’m not exhausted, but could have easily stayed in bed another 3 hours. I’ll get hopped up on caffeine and steamroll through today.

I was attacked by my allergies. I usually am able to get on top of this because I can predict when the weather will start to warm up. I did not think it would happen in freaking February. This kind of put me in the mood to just sleep and spend as much time indoors until my ****** kicked in.

I was Saturday to hit the bike, but seeing the wind and still sniffling like a cokehead made me not want to get out. The trees were sideways. No thanks. We went to the mall and I saw DMX leaving H&M:

You can’t see his face but it is spot on:

I’ll let you all take a second while you google who he is…
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Heres a video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FFK5Oh10os

Probably the most bad ass dude to ever spit on the mic.

Anyway, I picked up some things I needed (I got a sick blue underarmor) and enjoyed aimlessly walking around and people watching. We watch the birds shit on everyones heads in the food court. Can’t they kill these things?

We then headed over to my homies house for his surprise 30th birthday. He lives in South Plainfield. I’ve known my friend for about 7-8 years. He has lived in various areas around South Plainfield. Still to this day, I get lost all the time in South Plainfield. It is the most confusing area in the world to me. Everything looks the same. The streets have forgettable names to them. He has two kids, one is 7, and it makes me say “wow i remember when you weren’t even alive”. Anyway, the highlight of the event was this:

Tons of food. I think I had 4-5 little dishes of a huge sliver of sub, chili, chicken cheese dip, and some type of crackers/triscuit shit. It was all delicious. We skip out a little early and get some rest for some BSA work in the AM.

Sunday we show up and head out with the second shift to bench cut America.

Kirt is looking at this sweet switchback section.

Work goes by quick when you have a team of almost 10 people, and even faster when everyone meets back up with you to be 20 deep. Everything went fast like chopping a knife through butter.

We head back, smash a bagel and ride both new courses with Falco, Lance, Robin and Alex. They are both totally different and a blast to ride. We meet up with Matty after riding one of the loops and he takes us out for a couple of sections that aren’t short track loops. It was nice to switch it up and ride something fresh. I still have no idea what trails we were on, but I enjoyed them. We were heading down a trail with a purple blaze and Woodys tire burps causing him to take a pretty good spill down a techy rock section. He landed pretty hard on some rocks but somehow pounces up.

Matty tends to the situation, leaving a couple of us to hang around and make stupid faces:

and some not so stupid faces:

the ride ends without any more noteworthy stuff. It was a good time.

We then head to Chilis with Lance and Robin to enjoy some eats. I could have ate more food after we left, but at this point it was late and I just wanted to be home to do… Nothing. Jam packed Sunday.

Monday I planned to do the short commute in, but I didn’t really wake up. I’ll go out after work in the wind for a quick hour or so. It will be my first time on actual road pedals, which I’m kind of interested/nervous about. I did a dry run with one foot inside next to the couch, and they do release. So that is good news.

Then is just shoeDecision 2012:

I got the shoes on the left from Jason for free a while ago, and just dug them up. They look funny. This is not a serious question BTW, but I think the shoes I inherited from Fred may be a little too tight. I will see if my toenails agree after my ride

I’m also extremely hungry right now. Last time I was extremely hungry; This happened:

Few things in life are truly epic. On a daily basis, you don’t do “epic” or find it. Our friend Eric Capers truly does experience epicness, at least twice a day.
If you have a minute, watch this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tQwhn5j7jI

Finally venture down to the Lambertville training grounds and suit up with Capers, Ben and Lance.

We all suit up and all complain about not wanting to kill it. This always seems to be the case, but as soon as the first hill is throw into it, we change our minds. Luckily, Ben was around to keep us in check. At points he would grab onto our jerseys and hold us back. At one point we created the human centipede. We go down some road that was closed. Right at the end of the road, disaster. Flat.

We were right in front of a pizza place, I was half tempted to run in and grab a slice and inhale it. Lance blurts out that hes been running these tubes/tires for so long. Bad move. Guess what happens next? About 40 minutes later, Lance flats. His tube has a pin hole in it. His patch kit is as dry as the Sahara desert. We throw a tube in his wheel and go directly home. I was able to stay in the big ring the whole time, which made me feel good about myself. Lots of good giggles and butt touching going on.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/151831034

Capers then mentions he has tons of left overs to feed us. And beer. And Reeses peanut butter cups and KitKats. He showered us with food and hospitality before we all went on our way.

I was debating on taking a half day today, but I realized it wasn’t the most responsible thing to do. Also my legs are a tad toasty. And I’m sleepy. And my allergies are really bothering me. I started taking my drugs that I will take for the next 3-4 months until the season is over.

I won’t be buying anything new for this for a while, but yesterdays ride made me believe in the standard a tad more. I also want to be able to talk about my standard size crank.

Tuesday I bailed on Capers (but will 99% be making it up to him tonight (no homo)) and headed out for a spin. I wanted to bury myself and I accomplished that. I overdressed a ton incase it started to drizzle which it did not. I was a sweaty bastard. I also enjoyed an hour of cloudy sunnyness.

I’m hoping that I’m becoming stronger and the new bike is just exposing the strengths even more, but man I feel snappy on it all the time. Everything felt great on this ride. Always felt like I was on top of everything. Of course its easy to feel like a boss when you’re riding by yourself, so take it for what its worth. The only thing noteworthy on this ride was that I felt really good. I didn’t almost crash, throw up, or pee on the side of the road.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/151554804

Came home and smashed some stromboli Mandi made the night before. Oh man. I could have ate the whole thing, but left some for her.

Today, the lights are charged and prepped for tonights ride. It looks like mother nature is on our side again. Now Thursday looks beautiful too. I need the job of the weatherman.

I’ve been accidentally streaming music at work overnight by accident.

Finally some riding. Work has been a little more stressful than normal. But Friday Afternoon I was able to take the new cycle in the house for a ride. I skipped out of work early and got to catch some vitamin D. Very excited about this. Mandi and I headed off into Princeton for dinner. Stop and Panera and post up on a bench and enjoy a quick bite.

We head back home and have to eventually flick the lights on. Wack.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/150316394

Man, I think I’m in love with this bike. It feels so snappy and just wants to get going. Effortless. All I want to do is go fast.

Saturday Morning comes around and we head out again, Out towards the Sourlands and Zion. We see TONS of people. First set of people was Ben and Emily on the tandem and Sherry FLYING down Cherry Hill Road. I only knew it was Ben because of the flash of Halters Green, and maybe the tandem and the tongue sticking out.

We also see Maurice chugging along up a stead false flat. I think he knew it was us, maybe not.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/150525695

I really like this loop. It beats you up. I’ve been so used to riding my CX bike and being able to sit in the big “49” ring up everything. Realizing I run out of gear really fast in the big ring up front is something new. I guess this starts the whole compact vs standard 53/39 gearing convo/argument.

We were buggin for food so grabbed some slices. These guys think we are going to be on the Tour.

This was dinner. I can’t wait to eat more Arby’s.

Sunday We made plans to build some super fun Short Track Series trails, but Mandi was smoked from a LONG week of riding. Rightfully so. I head up and meet Matty, Woody, Chris26er, Iggy and Norm for 5 seconds at the MTBNJHQ. All I have to say is this new section of trail is pretty awesome. It is amazing how you can rake a seciton of trail and it instantly rideable. I won’t go into details in order to preserve how sick this section of ST is, but you are in for a treat.

Once done raking I kit up and chase Iggy and Woody around the new ST that was built, as well as the old course.

Man those hills hurt. My legs are on fire as well from yesterday and I was not a happy camper. After we hit both of these I’m ready to call it a day, an hour of Allamuchy was enough for me today. We as a group decided to add a couple more miles in and ride from the Hike-A-Bike (or better known as Hurricane Hill) section onward on the Mooch Madness course. Hiking that hill sucks.

The downhill is another story. Man that is fun. I instantly forgot how much my legs hurt and just was in a groove. I was saying in my head that I would even hike back up to ride that section again.

We hit the end of the ST and dump out on the road. Well BSA has decided to put these roads under construction. The final product is awesome, as we experienced some of it as we were on other parts of the course. This unfinished section brought back nightmares of why I hated cyclocross. The beginning wasn’t bad, We were able to put in a good effort and at least keep our shoes clean. It wasn’t until the last section where it finally unfroze and we were in soup/concrete type mud. If locked up all of our bikes and we were forced to walk with a 45 pound bike. The only solution was to take a swim:

We bush wack back to a nice section of finished road and back to BSA to hose off. Woo! Something about making it back to the car in one piece after Allamuchy is a great success. Maybe its because I have no idea where the F I am.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/150989787

My legs were unhappy to walk up the three flights of steps with my stuff, so I didn’t even bring my bike off my roof rack yet. I was hoping the fresh air and the drive home would knock some more of the mud off. Sadly this bike wont bring itself upstairs, so I will have to suck it up one of these days.

Check out this Monday morning ride I just smashed: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/151123741

Too lazy to go back and see what I messed up on, maybe I do that later today before anyone replies.

Saturday morning came around for a cycle ride. Fresh on my mind the disappointment I had in the road ride I did on Thursday. I really wanted to get out and crush my previous (all-be-it) weak attempt.

The 30 minute ride to the loop is a good way to find out how you will feel; I don’t feel 100%, but slowly I start feeling my legs show signs of life under me. I cross over 130 and hit the lap button, off we go. I feel the same way I did for the first half of this ride, nothing too crazy to note of.

I make the turn that went into the wind and bam, it wasn’t howling between the trees. Cool. Lets see what happens. This part has slightly more climbing compared to the beginning of the route, but I keep the tempo up. I get closer and closer to Hightstown where I want to end the timed loop (but not coast home) and I still feel fresh. I start getting into Highstown and the traffic and feel like this is a great point to hit the lap button. I find a stop sign and sync with that. Woo!

From here out theres a couple of spots where you have to put your foot down/keep your head on a swivel for car/ wait for a light, so I feel like it’s a good point. I cross back over route 130 and get stuck at the light for what feels like 10 minutes (probably more like 5) but my legs start to get heavy. Slowly I can’t put the effort I had in before in, but thats okay. Cruise all the way home trying to get back the .1 I lost on the hang out ride back (was at 19.0 when I finished). I slowly realized this was a battle I was not going to win.

Good ride, felt good about it: http://connect.garmin.com/splits/147101038

Sunday We headed to Allaire with a bunch of peoples. This was the first ride in the Gary Fisher Rig since it’s been put together, which I was kind of nervous about. I was just hoping I would actually like the way the bike fit, let alone see if I had the legs to ride a single speed.

We head off and I feel fine in the beginning. At some point I’m drained, I don’t have anything. We weren’t flying but I was the one off the back of the group, trying to chase Mandi. We looped back to the lot and I called it quits. Haven’t felt that drained on the mountain bike in a while. I felt like I still could climb with the single speed, which felt good. The positive in all this is that I LOVE the way the Rig rides. Feels silky underneath me. Needs a couple of little things to make it 100%, but so far I’m happy with it.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/147433743

Along with the rest of America, we went to a homies house and watched the superbowl. Pounds of pulled pork, buffalo wings, italian & roasted peppers subs, assorted dips, strombolis, brownies, cupcakes, all around. I haven’t had a food coma in a while, and this was one of those days. Not sure how I will eat again.

Monday is here and I’m still full from Sunday. I just realized I have no photos from the weekend. Whoops.

The last two days have been pretty hectic at work, but I’ve been out on the bike both days. I feel like I’m writing this really quick in the bathroom stall or something in between classes. Or like how those kids used to smoke cigarettes really fast in the stalls before they got caught.

I’m not on the bowl.

Wednesday Highlight of work: Updated my monitor to this:

How could you be in a bad mood when this cat is looking at you?

I met up with Bill in Cranbury and cruised around the corn fields. I didn’t even wear any gloves it was so nice. Great night to be out and be overdressed for the first time in a while Nothing out of the ordinary on this one, just a nice night out on the bikes.

We get back to Bills place and I split, and instantly I am FREEZING. Glad I brought this winter gloves. I now have nice toasty hands. I cruise back home and decide I needed food now (Mostly because Mandi was out prepping for another certification in RealRyder, which means I must feed myself) and stopped at my pizza joint on the way home for this:

Chicken Parm Pizza with Hot SAUCEEEE

Much needed. A nice 3 minute roll back home with a full belly

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/146498075

Thursday Was more of the same, except without the monitor excitement or meeting up with Bill. I went out the same way I did and tried to hammer this loop out with one little short cut back to 539 to shorten this up. I noticed some wind on the way out, but figured it would die down as the sun sets. Wrong. It seems I had a nice tail wind the beginning of my effort. Once I made the second right hand turn, I knew I was in trouble. The front wheel felt like a sail and I was just fighting to stay straight. I’ve seen those videos of those guys dealing with those crazy crosswinds, I felt like that, even though it wasn’t that serious.

A little over an hour into the effort I give in to the wind, as well as my legs gave into the wind. I limp home getting blasted by this wind, and boy it hurts. I could have just curled up and waited for a ride, but I suck it up. My legs are toast.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/146704303

Really want to come back down and do this again, when its not 14MPH winds in my face. I aint even mad doe.

Noms:

Chicken burrito sonz

Housed whatever was left in this box and went to bed.

Friday Still yawning, but I feel okay. We are having Superbowl party at work, so that should be fun. I wore my Giants jersey. I will let you know how Friday goes throughout the day.