This post is only a year late!

It just occurred to me that i posted a 'teaser' post on here about some upcoming big news...well, that was over a year ago! I didn't remember to follow that post with the actual BIG NEWS.

Well, the news was that I decided to hop on my bike for a short, little, solo bike ride. And by a "short, little, solo ride", I mean just me and my bike going nearly 900 miles and 13 days cycling across the largest state in the continental US: Texas!

 While on the road, I kept a daily journal of all the things I saw and the people I met. Read all about it at this LINK.

I would very much welcome any comments or questions you have about the ride! I am planning (hopefully) on doing a similar ride in the future...perhaps next Summer/Fall.

Thanks for reading...please let me know who, if anyone, is still following this blog.

Jim

http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/CXT

BIG NEWS COMING SOON!

..just a teaser post to let you know about a big upcoming event.....stay tuned!

A hint is in the picture below!

Please write back and say hello if you are still following this blog.

Jim

 

2 MS150's in 2 weeks!

I've had no updates on here for a while, but I've still been biking.

Two weeks ago I completed the Houston-to-Austin BP MS150. Most of the bad weather stayed away and we all had a great time at the overnight stop in La Grange and then woke up early on Sunday to cycle the remaining miles into Austin. We finished at the State Capital building. This ride had several different route options, I chose the 150 mile route.

This past weekend, I made the long road trip up to Frisco, TX (just north of Dallas) for the Sam's Club MS150. Saturday morning we started in Frisco and didn't stop until we found ourselves at the Texas Motor Speedway. On Sunday morning we took one lap around the speedway then took off toward the north and then looped back south to end in downtown Fort Worth at Sundance Square. Once again, we had great weather all weekend long. This ride (including the lap around the track) was 162 miles.

Both of the rides are fundraisers for the National Multiple Sclerosis Foundation. Each rider is required to get donations for the MS Society in exchange for being a part of the ride. Unfortunately, I still have a few more dollars to go on my pledges. After the ride in Fort Worth one of my teammates challenged me to also complete the San Antonio MS 150 later in the fall in order to complete the Texas Trifecta of MS150's. It all depends on the fundraising! If I can get donations to help cure MS, I'll gladly do that ride as well! If you're feeling a bit generous (or if you just like making me take part in long, grueling 150+ mile rides), please donate: www.tinyurl.com/JimsSanAntonioMS150Ride

Yup, I'm still pedalling!

Sorry for having no updates for about 9-10 months. But I'm still biking. A few months ago I passed the "exactly 1 year since I started biking" milestone. The total number of miles on two wheels during that year was nearly exactly 1500! I expect to accumulate another 500-700 or so miles during the spring and early summer. Hopefully I'll find time to update this page when I do!

I've already signed up for the 2010 Houston MS150 bike ride as well as the 2010 Fort Worth MS150 ride. Both of these rides will be in the spring. If you'd like to donate to sponsor my ride, please click on the "SPONSOR MY RIDE" link on the right side of this page.

The Great Escape!

In spite of the threat of cold and rainy weather today, my neighbor and I woke up early and rode in a fundraiser bike ride called The Great Escape Bicycle Ride in Manvel, TX. This event is a fundraiser for the Brazoria County Sheriffs Office Reserves. As is typical for these kind of rides, there were several different ride distances to choose from: 14, 40, 52, 70 and 86 miles. Up until this point, my longest ride so far had been 62 miles, which occurred last weekend in Baytown. I figured another 24 miles wouldn't be too bad, so we took off on the 86 mile route.

The morning started out a bit chilly, but it wasn't long before we both realized that this was nearly a perfect day for riding. It wasn't too cold, very little wind, the rain stayed away and we had overcast clouds to keep the temperature from climbing too much...ahhh...PERFECT!

About five and a half hours after we hopped on our bikes, we found ourselves back at the car. A few miles from the finish line I heard a sudden popping noise from my rear tire. It sounded as though a wheel spoke had broken. However, after it happened, I didn't hear anything rattling around or grinding in the chain so I kept on cruising toward the finish line. Once I stopped, I looked back at the rim and noticed that it was severely out of round. Sure enough, a spoke had broken just a few miles from the finish line and the resulting unbalanced tension from the remaining spokes warped the rim! I bet the wheel would not have made it through the entire ride if the spoke would have instead, broken a few miles from the start. Lucky me!

The rain that had threatened to get us wet all morning started about 20 minutes after we finished the ride....Lucky me again!

Todays miles: 86, Total miles: 507.8

A One-Way Trip To Outer Space

Q: "Outer Space" is generally defined to start at what altitude?

This weekend I participated in the Gator Ride in Baytown, TX, a ride of about 1200 bikers, which is a fundraiser for the YMCA. The ride had two noteworthy features: First, within a mile or two of the starting line, we started the climb over the huge and beautiful Fred Hartman Bridge that crosses over the Houston Ship Channel (click the picture below for a very cool picture). Second, about 10 miles later, we hopped off of our bikes and took a short ferry ride on the Lynchberg Ferry.

Other than the cool bridge and ferry crossings (oh and let's not forget that we rode past the San Jacinto Monument), the first half of the ride was rather easy and very fast. The group that I was riding with averaged about 20-21 mph for most of the first 30 or so miles of the route. By the time that we had reached rest stop #3, we had approached the outskirts of the cool town of Crosby, TX.

At this point, the ride was going great, but then we turned back south/southeast to head to the finish line. By this time the wind had started to pick up (blowing at 20+ mph) and we were riding directly into it. Most of the last 20 miles of the ride were difficult not only because of the wind but also because I was peddling like crazy to keep up with a very good group of riders from our Johnson Space Center riding team, TMC (Team Mission Control). All of these riders are very good and fast riders, so I considered it quite an accomplisment that I was able to keep pace with them through the first 54 miles of the ride. I took a few more minutes than TMC did at the final rest stop, so I cruised the last 8 miles on in to the finish line by myself. Distance today: 62 miles, Total miles: 421.8 miles

A: It is generally accepted that Outer Space starts at an altitude of 62 miles (the same distance I rode today), and that altitude is called the Karman Line.

Biking Uphill....Both Ways!!

Even with some wind, rides of 30-40 miles at an average speed of 15 mph don't seem to present much challenge anymore....good for me! I now need to practice three things: 1) increased distance (rides in the 70-100 mile range), 2) rides on two consecutive days, 3) hills, hills and more hills. The MS150 ride will have plenty of all 3 of these challenges!

This past weekend, I figured I'd work on the last two items on the list. Saturday, I woke up and cruised about 38.5 miles in about 2.5 hours. Then, since the Houston area is as flat as ...well, you can make up your own analogy...I decided that I would bike back and forth over the Kemah bridge (see the picture below) on Sunday morning. The bridge has a cloverleaf-like intersection at each end, so you can start biking at one end of the bridge, and after about 2 miles of pedaling up the bridge, down the otherside and then up it again from the other side, you're back where you started without having to ever stop. A lot of runners and bikers in the area use this bridge as 'hill training'. Although there is lots of car traffic on the 4-lane highway bridge, fortunately, the shoulders are very wide, so it's a great place to ride and run.

Since I've never biked hills much since I've started training, I didn't know how difficult this may be. I had planned on only 3 round trips on the bridge. However, after the 3rd circuit, I felt like doing it again! I wasn't as tired as I thought I would have been, but later in the day, my legs knew that they had been pedaling up hill for the first time! I look forward to riding this bridge each weekend between now the MS150.

Total distance for the weekend: 46.3 miles. Total distance since I started: 359.8 miles