TimBrown(.net/.us)

A little different this week. 

Not at the same time, mind you.  I had some good workouts this week with Ben.  I went to the spinning class after my Monday workout and got in a 26 mile ride on the road Tuesday.  Tuesday night I installed Wipperman master link on Debby’s chain.  I was finally able to get all of the grime and gunk off her chain by soaking it in some citrus based degreaser.  I also moved over my old wheelset, Shimano RH-500, to Debby’s bike.  It was interesting that the cassette was made by SRAM when the derailueres are Shimano.  It took a little effort to get the brakes adjusted, but part of the problem was probably due to some pressure on the rear cable while the top tube rested in the bike stand.

Wednesday night at Jellybeans was interesting.  There was a group of about 20 people there to celebrate one of their 26th birthdays.  As much as I hate to call out people for bad behavior over the mic, these guys were not listening to regulars who were telling them that they were doing wrong and  they were going to get called out by me if the kept doing it.  Basically, me having to make the effort to keep them on the right track, made my night go on for hours when the time usually zooms by.  Thursday at my real job wasn’t much better and I will leave it that.

I followed up my workout yesterday with 30 minutes on the eliptical machine.  I would like to get in a ride on the road today, but there are some pretty rough thunderstorms headed this way and wind gusts already hitting 30mph.  Last night one or more tornados hit about 60 miles from here devasting several families and taking at least two lives at this point.  Now that I am hooked on riding, it’s a hard pill to swallow knowing that road riding is pretty much over.  My Tuesday ride was my semi-cold ride with the temperature at 58^oF.  I wore my long sleeved jersey, wind jacket and knee warmers, but in the shade and when cloud cover came, I was cold.  Hopefully I can start doing some mountain biking and keep up the spinning classes over the winter.

I went riding planning to make my first 40 mile solo trip yesterday.   The weather was great with cool crisp air after an early morning shower.  I did not blast out trying to set some new average speed record or anything.  I tried to pace myself knowing this would be a little further than I was used to.  Everything was going great up until about two-thirds of the way in.  At that point,  I ate some Smart Beans and drank some water and starting feeling sick.  With another 15 miles to go, this was not a welcomed feeling, and I was very thankful for the coasting capabilities of the new wheelset.  I don’t think I was bonking, but my glucose level was pretty low when I got home.  Even with my problems, I finished the 41 miles in three hours with about a seven minute rest stop for a 15 mph average speed overall.  Hopefully something like that will not hit me mid-ride again.  I have the next two days off and hope to get in another couple of rides while there is still a little warm weather left.

I followed up the recent portrait session with Sonia and Carlos with a shoot of their wedding yesterday.  The ceremony was very romantic in spanish and a lot of fun to shoot beautiful people. 

Today I got in 30 miles out to the lake and back.  This was my first trip with my Garmin cyclocomputer/GPS (via Craigslist) and the Neuvation Cycling M28SL wheelset.  I was very impressed with both of these recent acquisitions.  The computer showed I made record time out with an average speed above 18mph to the lake, which is decent considering my lack of opportunities to ride.  The only thing to which I can attribute the improvement is the wheelset.  Compared to other sources of replacement wheelsets, the Neuvations were deal and I opted to upgrade the bearings to ceramics when I ordered. The boxes were a little beat up when they arrived a couple of weeks ago, but the condition of the rims was not affected.  I ended up putting on 700-23c Conti Gatorskins initially, but swapped out the 23’s for 25’s once I saw the23’s mounted on the rims.  I have to give it to the folks at Performance Bikes, it had to be easiest return without a receipt I have ever made.  I simply provided my Performance Team membership card and my previous sale was retrieved from the sales database and the amount credited my credit card, once the employee re-swiped it.  The Garmin took a little getting used to and I have downloaded the history. My heart rate was in zone 4 for most of the ride and averaged 152 for the whole ride.  My cadence averaged 94 and total trip avergage speed was 16.5.  Once I figure out how to pull some of the graphs without just doing a screen print, I will post them up for review/advice.

Since my last entry, I have entertained my wife’s relatives from Michigan, attended the Martinsville Sprint Cup Nascar race, spent the week in San Antonio, attended the North Carolina EB support group get together in Emerald Isle, and managed to get to the State Fair today for lunch and a review of the photography competition/exhibition.  After the fair, I mounted my new GPS enabled bike computer and uploaded the images from the support group event to the web gallery.  The password for photos access is the name of the city where this year’s patient care conference was held.  Back to work tomorrow; with a fund raiser ride scheduled for the morning of the 1st and a wedding to shoot that afternoon.

Debby completed her first fund raiser tour ride, the Tour De Femme, this past Saturday.  We also met another cyclist at Debby’s 25th class reunion get together after the Cary High football game Friday night.  Hopefully all three of us can do the Spooktacular ride for Hapitat for Humanity in Durham on Novermber 1st.  After Debby’s ride, I shot some pre-wedding portraits for Sonia and Carlos on our church grounds.  Sunday I rode 39 miles and averaged 17.1 mph on the first 25, before slowing it down and finshed the whole ride with an average speed of 16.5.  I was dragging a little bit Sunday night and yesterday, but think I have recovered a little today.  My fat percentage was out of whack when I tested it at the gym last night and Ben said it was probably due to still being dehydrated from the ride.  After my workout last night, I went to the spinning class for about 30 minutes before heading over to Massage Envy for some much needed deep tissue work.  Hopefully I will get to spinning class on Thursday. 

Hopefully I will make it to spinning class at least once this week between my Monday and Friday workouts.

Boy, would I like to take those words back.  I worked out Monday and found out that the Les Mills RPM class is at 5:30pm on Monday.  So my workout was followed up with a 45 minute spinning class.  Then on Tuesday, I tried to conveniently leave my workout clothes at home, but Debby assured me it was no problem to swing by the house and pick them up for me.  So, I did a one hour spinning class on Tuesday night.  I did manage to avoid any exercise yesterday, but spent about  four hours at Jellybeans DJ’ing after work.  Tonight, we did another 45 minute spinning class.  Compared to the other two, I think I could have taught.  My heart rate monitor was getting up there, 170+ a couple of times, but I did not sweat half as much nor did I get totally winded like I did in the previous two classes. 

It would be nice to get out an ride tomorrow before my workout if the weather cooperates.  But I have to find time to take Debby’s front wheel by the LBS to get it checked.  It seems like the bearings are adjusted too tight as I can feel a sort of grind when I hold the wheel by the axle and spin it.  That could explain a few things.  I also replaced the rim tape on her back wheel.  The cheap stuff that came with it had too large of a hole by the valve stem opening and she has lost air more than usual for the last two weeks.  When I pulled the old tape off, every spoke nipple opening had sharp protrusions of aluminum that needed to be filed down.  It’s a wonder she had not had more problems with that wheel.  Hopefully I can get every thing done on the bike tomorrow so she can have a uneventful Tour de Femme ride Saturday.

After my photo shoot Saturday, I came home and uploaded the photos to the web site and linked to them in the previous post.  Then I headed out for a ride and ended up completing 38 miles.  On the first leg out to Lake Jordan, I averaged 17.1 miles per hour.  Then I settled in for rest of the ride, which was the long way back home, and averaged 15.7 miles per hour for the whole trip.  Once home, I was little out of it and Debby wanted to go out.  I’ll be honest with you, I don’t remember a whole lot after the ride.  Today Debby wanted to get in her ride, so I went out for another 31 miles with her.   Thank goodness for the triple.  I really did not feel like standing up on the hills today.  Hopefully I will make it to spinning class at least once this week between my Monday and Friday workouts.

Today was our annual Touching Lives for Christ (TLC) event where we go out and perform community service for folks who might need help with yard work or other needs.  There were a lot of projects as well as nursing home and shut-in visits.  We even have a knitting group.  Who knew!? 

Today started early this morning as volunteer photographer for the American Diabetes Association Triangle StepOut fundraiser, which was followed up by an afternoon of shooting Costina for some portraits.  As a Type II diabetic myself, I really appreicate all of the support of the walkers that came out today.  I am still trying lose a few more pounds and eat better while continuing my exercise program.  My fasting blood sugars are in the 80’s on the mornings after working out or riding the bike the day before.  Hopefully I will be med free in another six months.