Jazz-n-Bikes

11/1/11

2011-11-01T19:17:00.002-05:00

Bobk and Kimc made me not do homework this afternoon. If I fail it's because of them.

They made me breathe in lots of dust.

They made me go up hills.

They made see two gravel lions! They weren't huge.

They made me witness the horrible beast on 25th!

Then kimc made me travel through the wildernest in almost darkness.

Now it's way too late to get back to homework. Way too late.

Oh Kimmy

2011-10-16T08:54:00.011-05:00

Saturday morning, Kim was early. Roaring to go. Oh Kimmy.

After driving past Elkhorn she commented, "There aren't very many hills." Oh Kimmy.

She let me borrow some knee warmers. I realized I forgot my skull cap as soon as the race started. Brrrr... Probably why I'm sick today.

The first 20 miles was pretty easy. Joe the San Jose noticed the distinct gravel tracks of bikes where missing at one point so retraced and got back on track. Not a big deal. Probably less than a quarter mile mistake. For most of the beginning we could follow the string of riders and follow wheel tracks in the gravel. But after this offing, our group mostly looked for the tracks at intersections.

I got to the drop off zone at about noon. I had some food and changed jerseys, ditched some warm clothes and refilled the camelback. Kim was still roaring to go. Before we took off she had to comment on my choice of sunscreen. Apparently it did not accentuate my skin tone. Today my skin tone is Neopolitan (chocolate, pink and vanilla).

Ride ride ride, dirt dirt dirt, gravel gravel gravel and dust dust dust. (sorry mr. farmer)

We pass a tornado siren and I wonder who is around to even hear that thing if it goes off. There were some really isolated and quiet sections to this course. Kimmy saw the same siren and would tell me what she was thinking later on the trip.

Ride ride ride... we would yo-yo with a couple other guys riding. One was the course organizer and the other we will call Matt or Brad. Or just "guy."

We stopped just before turning on the co rd 26. Looking at our sheet, only 9 miles to go. "That sure went fast." Kim was already talking about where to eat afterward naming sammich shops. Oh Kimmy.

Turns out this was our first turn onto 26. We still have 17 miles to go. That doesn't sound too bad... if only the wind would die down.

Nope, we finally get to the homestretch with only 10 miles to go. Oh, it's paved? We cross a highway and then back to gravel. I imagine like we're heading back from Princeton. Just make it over this big hill and coast to the finish.

Okay, make it over this next hill. Okay, next hill. Okay, next hill... next hill... next, next, next... When I say hill, I'm talking short but steep hills. I'm in my lowest gear thinking to myself, "This is a pretty slow escalator." I pretty much keep my eyes to my front wheel looking for some kind of gripping line through the gravel. There's a line to the left but I'm not going to follow that near the apex.

At the top I look back to see if my compatriots are around. Nope, just the wind and the hills. Kim was running out of water and cramping up. I made it to the finish and saw a truck leaving to retrace the course. I asked them if they had water. They looked at me funny as if, "Why would people need water?" I started to worry that maybe Kim was stuck on the side of the road cramped up. Nope, she pops out onto Pawnee road not far behind me. She finishes and looks just as fresh as at the beginning. Oh Kimmy.

I, on the other hand, was beat. One more mile of hills probably would have dropped me. My legs felt like they were going to pop. I kept trying to stay under the stress limit but I didn't have any calories in them. I got motion sickness in the car, that or drinking a bottle of water too fast at the finish. On the plus side, I was able to eat and sleep after the ride. Something I couldn't do after GW. Was this tougher? Hmmmm... overall, no. Was it more brutal? Hmmmm... yes, after 95 miles, that 8 mile stretch of rollers into the wind was not kind.

Anyway, JackRabbit 2011, checked off. 9:23:11

look at my hundys!

2011-10-07T08:47:00.002-05:00

Going to put on my cleanest hundredwear next weekend and gravel them up.

Maybe after the event I'll report how the rocky roads north of Omaha compare to the ones around here... unless no one is reading this here bloggity blog blog.

BTW, this is ironic. I know nothing about bikes and even less about jazz!

Y'all better be getting yer bike on

2011-10-03T14:17:00.002-05:00

Ride a little ride for me.

I'm stuck with the relentless assignment after assignment routine.

Did get some miles in with the B and the K... no, not burger king...

In other news, I am glad to report that ring around the collar has officially been eradicated from mankind. Isn't that great?!?

What's up this week?

2011-09-27T10:51:00.002-05:00

Did anyone exercise yesterday?

I exercised my right to watch How I Met Your Mom last night.

I think school is keeping me inside this week. Hopefully I can do something this weekend... but it's not looking good.

A venisonce festival

2011-09-26T14:44:00.001-05:00

Dang, I just remembered Dale likes to eat the deers. I should have called him up to come and haul off the fresh kill.

In other news, HTML cannot be learned in 30 minutes...

Up, Down... waiting for the next Up now.

2011-09-26T11:22:00.003-05:00

Welps,

Yesterday was the first day this year I felt like I had my legs. Every other ride there was either some twinge, some ache, some weakness or something just felt off. Finally, now that it's heading to the end of the year for long rides the legs come around. Dangit.

I got to say it was a nice ride yesterday. The only complaint I got is in my wrists. Those graded sections were fine yesterday but today... I feel like my hands are going to fall off.

Great party last night. Bummed I couldn't stay later. Got up this morning and checked the ol' school message board and yup, at 10:36 yesterday morning another assignment was heaped on to us. So now this week I have a paper, I have to create some webpages and now a group assignment. Blech!

Scent o'Carveth

2011-09-16T10:02:00.001-05:00

I smell like a Carveth today.

How should I abuse this opportunity?

Anybody out there Major Tom?

2011-07-29T09:10:00.002-05:00

Testing, testing... Does anybody look at this thing anymore?

Sad news.

2010-09-22T09:59:00.003-05:00

This is the father of one of my students.

news story

He passed away last night. Maybe I should stop soft-shelling it.

Shackleton Shackleton Shackleton

2010-09-14T11:28:00.002-05:00

Hello to my little fwends!

I bet you want to know what I've been up to...

Assuredly, you are assuming I'm on wild adventures, galavanting with kings and queens, taking trips to the upper atmosphere and exploring the marianas trench... well no.

The answer is school. I'm being forced to read, at grade point, about an explorer who went to the Antarctic to reach the South Pole. He made three attempts and never reached it. What he is famous for is on his third attempt, getting stuck. Whoopie... well, I have to read this book to learn about leadership. Seems strange, but I guess this guy is admired because he and his crew were stuck for two years and none of them died. Nice story... but the admiration for this fella is over the top. It's like he invented leadership in the eyes of the author. There are actually institutes dedicated to his teachings... I should get an award for having to move my eyes over the words in this book. I should get an institute named after me for surviving this tortuous undertaking.

Well, that's where I am, in a literary wasteland.

Just an update

2010-07-22T12:33:00.003-05:00

Hey guys -- just an update. I haven't been biking much -- just commuting. The road bike hasn't been off the hook in the garage this year. Just haven't had the desire and have had other things on my plate.

One of those things is I'm playing in a cover band. We had our first two gigs last weekend down at Bob's Tavern in Havelock and it went pretty well. Just a few rough spots. It's a 6-piece band (two guitars, bass, drums, two singers). I play mainly rhythm guitar. We're having a lot of fun playing rock/blues/soul stuff. Fun music most everybody knows -- and enjoys dancing to.

We're off for a few weeks then will start booking regular gigs. I'll keep you posted, if you want to come check us out.

Anyway, been running a few miles during the week instead of biking. Doesn't take as much time and is a good cardio workout. Hope you guys are all well -- miss the camaraderie and margaritas.

Later!
Kew

Random stuff

2010-07-09T12:30:00.002-05:00

I had another couple of great rides this week. Last night's teamFIRE gravel ride is quickly becoming a regular favorite - it's a fun social ride with great people. It was nice having my friend Scott come along - he did a great job on his first group ride and had a great time. This is a good ride for introducing people to group rides - I hope we see some more new faces joining the familiar ones.

My daughter has been at dance camp at UN-L all week. As part of the team bonding, the seniors on the squad chalked our driveway and decorated her car. My oldest son, who is home from Oregon for the summer, is a little reluctant to borrow her car now that "Hotties on board" is painted on the windshield. He mentioned to us that he feels like we are all suddenly living inside the Disney Channel. It is an adjustment for the three males in the family to get used to all of this girly stuff.

Speaking of Oregon, we are heading out to the coast this weekend to pick up my son's car to bring home for the rest of the summer. We should get some good touristy stuff in as well - a visit to the coast as well as visits to Crater Lake and Redwood National Park are in the plans. I'll post some pics here when I get a chance. My main worry while gone is keeping track of which stages of Le Tour to dvr so I can watch some of them when I get back.

Speaking of the Tour - I have been thinking of having a little get-together at my house to watch one of the late mountain stages when we get back from Oregon. July 22 is the climb of Col de Tourmalet - should be the final defining day in the mountains and the last important day before the final time trial. We could do the regular Thursday gravel ride and then meet at my place for food and drink and watch the tour. Let me know if you'd be interested.

Duathlon and teamFIRE rides

2010-07-06T12:21:00.004-05:00

On Sunday I woke up to the sound of hard driving rain at about 5:30 am - I was scheduled to ride in the Nebraska Triathlon Club Duathlon out at Pioneers Park at 7:30 a.m. Believing that it would be cancelled or postponed, but not willing to give up totally, I threw on my bike clothes, put the bike in the car, and drove out to the park to find out what the organizers were going to do.

Unfortunately, as there was no lightning, they decided to hold the race. The rain continued to fall throughout the whole race, causing the road to be covered in large puddles and streams of water all along the course. This made for nervous descents and turns at the bottom of the hills - but as far as I know there were no crashes.

Peter and I were beaten out of first place by a couple of 20-something co-workers of Peter's (they work at the Oven where Peter plays guitar on Thursdays and Sundays). We did get second place, although we were a few minutes behind where we finished last year. I averaged just under 19 mph for the three laps, which I'll take given the bad weather, hills, and complete lack of any warm-up. We told them that when they get to their mid to late 40s, and they ever get diabetes and cancer, then they can talk smack about their win.

When I got home, I put the bike up on my rack to oil the chain - and heard a loud sloshing of water in my rear tire as I spun it. I took the wheel off and removed one bead of the tire, took out the tube, and poured out about a cup of water out through the valve hole. No wonder the bike felt heavy on that last lap :)

I have had some nice teamFIRE rides this week - although not on the official Wednesday ride, which may or may not still exist. On Thursday last week, I headed out with Adrian and Jace and a couple of friends on the Jamaica trail for a nice ride, and last night several of us (Kevin M., Nicol, Jen, Conrad, and Rachel) took a nice short ride to Sprague, followed by a quick visit to the team clubhouse (Janna met us there after finishing her teaching ride).

Sounds like the Monday teaching ride is going to be a regular thing - an opportunity to introduce newbs to group riding. After watching people struggle into the wind during TdN while riding 20 feet behind people riding the same pace, this is something that could really prove to be useful. Jen can always demonstrate the proper water bottle techniques:

Challenge

2010-07-01T11:03:00.000-05:00

Anyone want to do the TDF Versus Challenge this year?

Tour de Nebraska Pics

2010-06-27T21:08:00.011-05:00

I just got back from TdN, so I thought I would upload my pics and do a quick ride report. Daily stats:

Day 1 - Clay Center to Minden - 61 miles, 16.2 mph avg.
Day 2 - Minden to Cambridge - 80 miles, 18.1 mph avg.
Day 3 - Cambridge to Alma - 61 miles, 17.6 mph avg.
Day 4 - Alma to Red Cloud - 60 miles, 17.5 mph avg.
Day 5 - Red Cloud to Clay Center - 55 miles, 16.0 avg.

On days 1 and 2 I rode primarily with Bruce and Alisa S. and Jordan and Angie M., which made it easy to form an echelon and fight the crosswinds. Day 1 was a pretty brisk cross/headwind. We were fortunate on day 2 as it was the longest day and we had a slightly helping crosswind. Days 3 and 4 had light crosswinds and very hot temperatures (it reached 100 degrees each day). On day 3 we had a nice rotating paceline going with the same people as days 1 and 2, with the addition of David R. On days 4 and 5, we had a light crosswind until we turned north, and then had to fight a pretty good headwind for the last 20 or so miles. Those last two days I rode with Jordan and Angie, the tandem towing company, as David either rode with Martha or took off into Kansas to get in a century.

Here are the pics, starting with Rich's opening instructions:

Once on the road we formed up our line to fight the wind - it was a pleasure to ride with such good cyclists.

Day 4 was supposed to be a short day (48 miles), so we took a detour and did a nice 6 mile climb out to the Willa Cather Memorial Prairie - which also put us right on the Kansas state line.

It is interesting what you can see on the road. Here the base for one of those big windmills gets stuck as it tries to make a turn and can't clear the RR crossing sign.

The community lunch stops are usually either hosted by some organization or the town bar opens up for us. It is always a welcome time to refuel, get off of the bike for a minute and stretch, and meet some new folks.

It can also be fun to check out the different towns as we pass through them. We found this sign in Oxford:

As a musician, I enjoyed this one in Funk (sounds like a good band name from the '70s, I think):

My only mechanical incident happened in Oxford when I somehow lost two screws from my cleat and I couldn't clip out. I had to take my foot out of my shoe and wait for the Bike Rack truck to come help.

After showering, post ride activities include finding a good spot for the tent:

The search for a bar with lots of unhealthy fried appetizers:

Exploring town and looking at all of the shops and buildings:

We couldn't figure out if this sculpture was a bike rack, an ad for a dentist office, or an ad for a proctologist. Bruce helped us visualize the possibilities:

In Alma we walked down to the Harlan County Reservoir - it was nice to see that it has filled back up.

Once back at the campground, there is always good conversation at the tents:

Or maybe a nap:

Or a card game:

Several of us on the tour are friends with a Lincoln musician who also has a nice little house in Cambridge. We gave her a call and she invited us up to have a drink on her deck:

I'm tired, sore, and happy to be home, but it was a great time.

Packing

2010-06-22T12:21:00.002-05:00

Today I will spend packing for the Tour de Nebraska - tomorrow morning I will leave about 5 a.m. to head out to our starting point at Clay Center. Hopefully we are done with the rain and will get nothing but sunshine and tailwinds.

Thanks to everybody (Julie, Nicol, Jordan, Jen, Kevin, Janna, Megan, Conrad, and Rachel) for the nice ride and the post ride birthday festivities last night. That was a blast!

I'll post pics here as soon as I get back.

A Good Week

2010-06-17T21:06:00.003-05:00

The week really started off last Friday with the FAC at Yia Yia's. It was great to see everybody again. On Saturday I went on a short ride to Roca - I was going to go do the rollers to Bennett, but I felt lousy (not related to the FAC, I'm sure) and decided to cut the ride short. On Monday, a nice sized group rode out from the Bike Rack to Pioneers Park - finishing with KimC, da Term, JenDeluxe, Nicol, KellyB, Loup Garou, and I heading to Las Margaritas afterwards for some more good storytelling and laughter.

On Tuesday, the weather was perfect, so I took Sprague road to Crete and then took the Denton Alps past Denton to W. Van Dorn before heading home. I felt great, and was really happy to be able to do a 50 miler with no pain or fatigue - especially with TdN coming up next week. Wednesday I drove up to Omaha to play golf with a musician buddy of mine and then stuck around to pick up my oldest son who was flying in from Denver - of course since he was on the last flight of the night, his flight was delayed and we didn't get back to Lincoln until 1:30 a.m.

Tonight, I went out with Jace and Adrian for a ride on the Jamaica trail out to the Roca tavern. I was feeling lousy in the afternoon and thought of not showing (the late night, the heat, Tuesday's riding and the golf all hit me at once), but as usual, once I got out I was glad I went. Bonus - we beat the weather home.

(photo courtesy of Adrian)

I won't get to ride much this weekend because of some family activities that are going on, so I'm glad this week was a full one. Next Wednesday I'll head out for TdN - I'll try to post a pic or two on Facebook during the trip, and then I'll put up the rest of the pics here.

Have a good weekend!

Two Questions

2010-06-08T14:36:00.002-05:00

1) Where do you all want to meet Friday for FAC? Shall we keep it simple and just make it Yia Yia's at 5 pm again?

2) It's coming up on duathlon time - this year it will be the morning of July 4. Peter B. and I are registering today as a team. Who else is in? More info is here: http://www.teamnebraska.org/

FYI:

Rode to Sprague with Jen and Janna last night on Jen's first ride of the year - we ended up at Las Margaritas and talked about having the same destination next Monday rather than next Wednesday - this would work better for both Jen and me since she works later on Wednesday, and I have to pick up my son at the airport in Omaha that night at 10:50 pm. We will join the Bike Rack 6 p.m. ride and finish with some Mexican food and cerveza. See you there!

Making Plans

2010-06-04T11:24:00.004-05:00

I've had some nice rides in the past couple of weeks, so I thought I'd update even though I'm not sure anybody visits this blog anymore.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays I have been occasionally attending the Bike Pedalers 6 pm ride. This is a no drop ride - so far the ones I've been on have started out quite easy, with a destination in mind like the Bridges or Pioneers Park. Once at our destination, everybody does some laps at whatever pace - the racers take off, guys like me try to hang as long as possible, and then we all regroup at the end to ride back to town at a nice easy pace again. This structure makes a lot of sense, as it lets everybody get some work in, but still feels like a no drop group ride.

I've tried to hit some of the Wednesday rides when my schedule allows. There has been a disappointingly low turnout from teamFIRE members - this has basically turned into a Great Plains ride. One night a couple of weeks ago, however Jace, Greg, Dennis, Kelly and I were all there to ride - that was fun. Kelly and I are usually the only teamFIRE members there, though - I have enjoyed riding more with Kelly as he has also come to some of the Bike Pedalers rides.

On Memorial Day, I rode with a large group that left from the bench - they wanted to stop to take off some layers (the morning was a bit chilly), and Kim C. was on a schedule, so along with Chris H., the three of us took off to do the Cortland and the Hallam loop on a beautiful day.

Wednesday, Kelly B. and I were the only teamFIRE members to show again, and the GPBC group wanted to go to Sprague (with a northwest wind) we decided to wait and see if anybody else showed. When nobody did, we took off with the intent of going out to Emerald. When we got to Pioneers park, we ran into Janna, who was waiting for Conrad. The four of us took off - eventually heading out to Pawnee Lake, with a stop at Merle's in Emerald on the way back for a burger and a brew - don't do this if you're in a hurry to get home, because they're not in a hurry to serve you. We almost got home before dark - but not quite.

Discussions with Kim, Chris, Janna, Kelly and Conrad during the last two rides produced the following plans (hence the Making Plans title to this post)

1) We need to start up the 8 am Saturday morning ride from the old Wilderness Perk strip mall again. I won't be there this Saturday because of a funeral - but promise to show after that if others will.

2) Next Friday (June 11) we need to do an FAC. More details to follow - email notifications will be forthcoming.

3) In two weeks, on Wednesday June 16, we agreed to meet at the bridge at 6 pm for a ride which will end at Las Margaritas.

Hope some of you cycling recluses will join us.

Capital City Criterium

2010-05-24T19:50:00.005-05:00

I rode down last Saturday to watch and snapped some pics while there - tough, windy day for the racers.

Floyd Landis Confesses

2010-05-20T14:02:00.004-05:00

Floyd has confessed to doping, and implicates Lance, Levi, George and others in statements that can be found here, here, and here.

Ride tonight?

2010-05-18T14:24:00.001-05:00

It's going to be a perfect night - anybody want to try the Bike Pedalers 6 pm ride tonight? It's a no drop ride with a possibility of post ride fun.

A dream I had

2010-05-10T08:55:00.002-05:00

Last night I had a dream that I went on a group ride, and a bunch of fun people showed up, and the group stayed together the whole time, and we had a good time laughing and telling stories, enjoying the perfect 72 degree, sunny, calm weather.

Then I got off of my unicorn and woke up.

Time for a teamFIRE ride

2010-05-02T15:46:00.003-05:00

I've been busy most Wednesdays, but I'm definitely in the mood for a ride like this:

(as posted on the teamFIRE website)

teamFIRE Wednesday Night Ride - RETURNS

WHAT: teamFIRE Wednesday Night Ride - no rider left behind
WHEN: Wednesday, MAY 5th, aka CINCO DE MAYO!
TIME: 6PM -ride leaves at approx. 6:05pm
WHERE: S.27th & HWY2 (North Bench)

Invite your buddies! Head out for a good 30-40 miles ride. Head back to town and stop in for refreshments at Las Margaritas.

Roll call...

2010-04-29T09:22:00.001-05:00

Who all has been riding? Who all hasn't been riding?

My son can ride a bike... finally.

2010-04-20T22:41:00.002-05:00

Haven't posted in awhile. Figured this would be good to share. My 6-year-old son finally conquered the bike. I had a three day weekend a couple weekends ago and decided on Friday that it was time. No more wimping out for Jr.

I lowered the seat so he could touch the ground while sitting, planted him on the bike and forced him to ride it without help. The first few times he steered down the driveway, then off to the left and fell in the grass. I then said "No more turning into the grass, if you're going to fall over, it will be on concrete." Long story short -- we were out there for about an hour. He had tears, I had anger/frustration and the wife couldn't bare to look out the window. Then, it happened. He made it all the way across the cul de sac and into the neighbor's driveway.

The next day was even better. At the end of the weekend, he was cruising around the circle and jumping off curbs. He rode with me on the trail to his soccer practice last week and is finally enjoying all the things I told him he would once he learned to quit worrying about crashing and ride.

I knew he was bit by the bike bug when the Saturday after learning, he was out riding his bike at 8 a.m. instead of watching SpongeBob in his pajamas.

Time to catch up

2010-04-19T10:11:00.005-05:00

I haven't posted anything in a while, so I came to the conclusion that either I need to write something, or just let this blog die a natural death. I still hold out hope that this can be a place for people to post ride (or FAC) announcements, pictures, stories, or whatever.

The last three weeks or so have been pretty stressful for me and my family. Kind of a long story which begins with the natural frustration we have all felt due to the long and harsh winter. Seems like everybody I talk to is behind where they usually are this time of year.

Anyway, about three weeks ago, we had LPS spring break. I was looking forward to riding a lot during this week, but was unable to because my father in law had a stroke and we needed to spend time in the hospital with him, the weather didn't cooperate very well, and because we went through a kind of forced remodel in the kitchen (microwave broke, followed by the need to replace cabinets so the microwave would fit, followed by a new stove and fridge so that all of the appliances would match, followed by more new cabinets to install so the fridge would fit). Also, my rear wheel on my road bike broke (not a spoke, of course, but the actual hub broke). At first I was unable to get anybody to sell me a single rear wheel, but eventually I found one at CycleWorks that Kris sold me cheap. I have new wheels on order from a custom wheel builder (Psimet.com) who comes highly recommended on Bikeforums.net. They should be here in a week or two. Obligatory pic at the Cortland gas station of the new wheel I'm riding now:

And of the wheels I have on order:

At the end of spring break, my father in law passed away (suddenly, but not totally unexpected). We spent the next week doing what was necessary for the family. It is amazing how much it helps when a family comes together when something sad happens.

So recently, I have been riding a lot solo - out to Cortland, or the Roca rollers, or just downtown to watch part of the spring game. Obligatory pic of the huge crowd at the spring game:

We just got my son a bike as well (Kona Jake), so maybe he will join me on some rides. I have done some group rides - a couple of Mondays ago I started out with the JoyRide ride, but saw Janna and Kim and Gravy and others go flying by while we were waiting for a guy to fix a flat. I decided to chase (they were a quarter mile away by the time I started, took me from the Crete bridge to Princeton to chase them down). Turns out that there is now a 6 pm ride on Mondays from the Bike Rack - I will be joining that one when I can. I also tried the Bike Pedalers Thursday ride finally - seemed like good fun, a mix of racers, wannabes, and noobs. We got out to Pioneers Park before a big rainstorm hit - we headed for the shelter and I got out my cell phone - the rest went ahead and did some laps in the rain. I didn't trust my ability to see in those conditions, so I went home.

I'm looking forward to things getting a little more normal - hope to see you all on the road!

Ground Zero

2010-04-09T09:57:00.002-05:00

Make sure you take a second to read today's Ground Zero section in the Journal-Star.

Click here to read the article online.

Windy

2010-03-23T14:07:00.004-05:00

I decided to brave the wind and went out for a solo ride Monday afternoon. The temps were nice, but the wind was tough. It's hard to keep your mind in it when you are working hard in your small front ring going downhill. What a difference after turning around at Sprague and heading through Roca. I hit 40 mph for the first time in a couple of years coming down the hill on 54th street by the quarry (the older photo Adrian referred to on Facebook was actually 44.1 mph - still my highest max speed, and was from 2007).

Monday night I played my only Monday Night Big Band gig for this month - Loup Garou came on down to listen and hang out. Always more enjoyable to play with friends out there.

Today I may go ahead and try the Bike Pedalers ride - it's going to be windy and I will need to be sucking wheel like these two:

Spring Break is Here!

2010-03-22T08:16:00.001-05:00

Spring break has arrived and I'm ready to get caught up with my riding and playing. Tonight I'll be leading the Monday Night Big Band down at Brewsky's (as featured in the recent edition of L Magazine) should be a great night to ride down and listen! Kew - bring your guitar, it's only $3 cover if you bring an instrument to sit in :)

The rest of the week is going to be taken up with riding and practicing. I have to get both my legs and my chops in shape, as I have not been riding much, and I have a big performance on April 13 with the Nebraska Jazz Orchestra. Hope to see some of you out enjoying the nice weather this week!

Evening Rides Starting?

2010-03-16T11:46:00.005-05:00

I need the evening rides to start to motivate me to get out and ride - I'm having trouble shedding the hibernation weight and need a kick in the butt to get moving. I'm going to try the new Bike Pedalers no drop ride tonight (I called and they said they will start tonight), and I'll show up at the bench tomorrow as well. I haven't heard any official word on starting date for the teamFIRE ride, but it is supposed to be nice (mid 50s, light wind from the SW), and it only seems right to have a green jersey ride on St. Patrick's Day. Depending on whether anyone shows, we may have to stop afterwards for the traditional adult beverage.

Here's the info on some of the rides I am aware of that are not racer-oriented:

Monday, 6:00 p.m. - JoyRide Chit Chat Ride
Tuesday, 5:30 p.m. - Bike Pedalers No Drop Ride
Wednesday, 5:45* p.m. - teamFIRE No Rider Left Behind Ride
Thursday, 5:30 p.m. - Bike Pedalers No Drop Ride
Thursday, 5:45 p.m.* - teamFIRE off-road ride
Saturday, 1:00 p.m. - Bike Pedalers No Drop Ride

* start at the 27th and Highway 2 bench - time will change to 6 p.m. later in the year

The Great Plains Cycling Club also has rides at 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday and Thursday leaving from the bench - they start next week.

Does anybody know if Bike Rack still has a Monday night ride?

Anybody gonna come out with me on Wednesday???

Russian Singer on Star Trek

2010-03-10T16:31:00.002-06:00

Everybody has probably seen that video of that Russian singer - but did you know he was also a guest star on Star Trek?

Weird - but funny :)

First Group Ride

2010-03-08T09:05:00.005-06:00

Got a call from da Term on Saturday to meet up with some other folks at the Y for an afternoon ride - my first group ride this spring. I think there were nine of us, some familiar (da Term, Gravy, KimC, Richard, Steve) and some faces that were new to me. We headed south into a pretty brisk breeze, regrouped at Sprague road, and were enjoying ourselves and the nice temps enough that we decided to head out to Cortland. Unfortunately, right after we got to Cortland the wind shifted to the west and was a crosswind instead of the tailwind we were looking forward to having.

We made our usual stop at the gas station for refueling:

After grabbing a snack or a drink there (thanks for the Snickers, KimC), we headed over to the brewery.

Janna loved the samples so much she decided to bring some home :).

It was a lot of fun riding in a group again - looking forward to the increasingly warm weather and the opportunity to get out more. Word in the group was that Bike Pedalers will be starting up some no-drop rides on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, so stay tuned for more info regarding those rides.

Also, I got a notice today that TdN is almost full, so if you were thinking of going, now is the time to get registered.

See you on the road (or gravel)!

FAC

2010-03-03T23:05:00.002-06:00

Let's find out where Tinkerbell's been hiding all winter. FAC meet at Yia Yia's after work (5 for me), then head down to art walk if your into that sort of thing.

Let's Try Again

2010-03-03T08:53:00.002-06:00

It is supposed to be 47 with a 10 mph wind out of the west on Saturday. I am going to be in Kansas all day Friday, and won't get back until 2:00 a.m. Saturday morning, so I'm going to need some people to come along to keep me motivated. Anybody up for an afternoon ride, say about 1 p.m., out to Bluestem (or out to Kramer if we get ambitious)?

Future Olympic Sport?

2010-02-28T16:05:00.002-06:00

As a soccer fan and ultra-competitive cyclist, Gravy should be a star at this:

Saturday

2010-02-26T12:29:00.002-06:00

I actually have some free time this weekend, so I may take out the road bike on Saturday. Kind of depends on how the weather shapes up, whether or not we decide to go car shopping for my soon-to-be 16 yr. old daughter, and how energetic I feel. My plan is to head out 14th street to Saltillo, then if the wind is out of the NW as it is supposed to be (it is supposed to be less than 10 mph), I'll probably take Saltillo to SW12, then head north through Pioneers Park and if it's nice maybe out to W. 84th before heading back home. If anybody wants to go along, I will stop by the old Wilderness Perk strip mall (14th and Pine Lake) at 1 p.m. before I head out. If I decide not to go, I'll post here.

Have a good weekend!

Time for Toodlin'

2010-02-23T07:51:00.004-06:00

It is supposed to be sunny, light wind, and a high in the upper 30's on Saturday. Anybody interested in a little afternoon toodlin'?

Grabbing a drink

2010-02-13T18:50:00.003-06:00

Check out the action at 0:55 in - what do you think, should we try this at the gas station in Cortland on our next group ride?

Fun Gig

2010-02-12T09:02:00.005-06:00

I had a good time playing with good friends down at Brewsky's on Wednesday night. I even got my son to sit in on a couple of tunes. Tonight I'm heading up to Omaha to see Chicago at the Orpheum (will hear a number of friends who are in the pit orchestra), and then going back to Omaha on Saturday night to play in a back up band for a jazz vocalist - should be fun, as he does a lot of hip Sinatra tunes with really good arrangements. Hopefully I'll have the time, energy, and opportunity to get on the bike some this weekend as well.

Jazz @ Brewsky's

2010-02-08T20:01:00.002-06:00

I'll be playing at Brewsky's on Wednesday from 7:30-10 with my jazz quintet - come have a burger and a brew and listen to some jazz.

I HATE WINTER!!!

2010-02-05T08:22:00.000-06:00

That is all.

Embarrassing moments on a bike

2010-02-03T19:16:00.004-06:00

A thread on BikeForums.net inspired me to see if we could share some stories here. Here was my contribution to the thread:

When I brought my first road bike home, I put it on the trunk rack, put a bungie cord around the front wheel and the downtube to keep the front wheel from banging around while driving, and took the bike home. When I got home, I put my new cycling shoes on, took the bike off of the car, practiced clipping in and out a few times (first time with clipless shoes as well), clipped in and pushed off to start my first ride on my new bike.

The ride lasted approximately 1 inch as I immediately fell down in the driveway. Seems I had neglected to remove the bungie cord from the front wheel before attempting to ride off. I looked up to see my wife disappearing from our front window as she fell over laughing.

Ok, your turn. Keep in mind that no matter how awful it may have seemed at the time, it probably won't be as bad as what happened to old Tom B. here:

Weekend of Fun

2010-02-01T08:29:00.005-06:00

Well, only part of it was fun. Here comes a long story:

For some time wife had wanted me to install a deadbolt lock on our front door. After purchasing all of the necessary hardware and tools (hole saw, etc.), I was ready to go. Since I wanted all of our exterior doors to use the same key, I also had to buy new doorknobs for the front door and garage door. I installed those, then I cut the holes in the door for the deadbolt even with the doorknob so that they would line up. As I install the deadbolt locking mechanism, I notice that things don't seem to line up correctly. As I look closer I realize that the mechanism is about 1/4 of an inch too short to reach the center of the hole - meaning that the hole, even though cut with the same amount of setback as the doorknob hole, is off. This is potentially a $1000 screw-up, as we would have to purchase a new door.

At this point I throw a huge tantrum over how stupid I am, and how stupid the lock company is for putting a doorknob and deadbolt lock together in the same package with different setback distances from the distance from the door, etc., etc., (my middle son came home from school during this rage fest, looked at his mom, and said with a smile, "Ahhhh, good to be home").

After I calm down, I decide to take apart the whole mechanism, and discover that there is a way to change the length of the mechanism to make it centered again (this was nowhere to be found in the instructions, by the way). Big sigh of relief.

After I install the lock, I have to cut the hole in the door jamb for the deadbolt to slide into. I go into the garage to grab a drill bit, where my wife has just pulled out into the driveway to give my daughter a ride somewhere. I come back to the door into the house, and realize it is locked. As is the front door. And the back door. And the new keys are all sitting on the kitchen counter. Another bout of rage at my own stupidity ensues. Fortunately, I am able to catch my wife's attention before she leaves. We call a locksmith, who arrives in about 15 minutes to get us back in the house.

The locksmith was quite amused at our predicament, and complimented me on tackling this job myself instead of spending the $300 to get it done. Of course, I told him that the install was no problem, and that the $95 we spent on having him come and spend 5 seconds breaking into our house was well worth it.

Then the fun part of the day begins. Later in the afternoon, I went on my first road ride of the year - I needed to work off some of the leftover adrenaline from the morning. As it was about 30 degrees and calm, it turned out to be pretty pleasant. I headed out to Sprague by myself, then just as I was turning back onto highway 77 I saw Msgr. Tucker coming south on 77. He turned around at Sprague road and joined me for the ride home - we had a nice chat on the way in. He told me that he is not doing the trainer sessions at his gym anymore, so those interested in the Saturday morning sessions either need to go to one of the health clubs, YMCA's, or to Sidney's sessions. Here is a pic from the ride:

After the ride, we went out to the Dish with some friends (more fun) and had a great meal and some wine. Things are looking up. After dinner, I had a gig at the Zoo Bar - more good fun, but also a very physical, demanding gig that required me to be on my feet for 4 1/2 hours (after my first 25 mile ride of the year). By the end of the gig at 12:30, I was pretty tired, and I was tired an a little sore all day Sunday. Here is a picture of what the Zoo Bar looks like when you are a trumpet player relegated to the back of the bandstand:

So, how was your weekend?

Goin' to the Zoo, Zoo, Zoo...

2010-01-28T08:54:00.003-06:00

How about you? I will be playing at the Zoo bar on Saturday night from 9-12 with the Fabtones, a rhythm and blues and oldies band (if you have heard the Lightning Bugs, it's the same guys, with a couple of keyboard players, another vocalist, and horns). Come on down if you can. Here's a cheesy pic of the band:

Rode with Coach Troy in the basement for an hour last night - I think that I was starting to catch up to him on the road at the end of the workout. Or maybe I have been doing this too much and my brain is getting foggy. Weight this morning - 177. Six pounds lost since Christmas, 12 to go.

Inspiration

2010-01-27T08:21:00.003-06:00

Report for today:

Exercise - 45 minutes on the trainer last night while watching reruns of The Office. I did commercial intervals - easy spin in the small ring/15 cog during the show, and then going as hard as I can in the big ring/17 cog during the commercials. I find it too easy to quit early when I do this - I think I do much better when I do one of the structured workouts on the Spinevals DVDs.

Weight - 178 I was good and had fish, broccoli, and a salad of red peppers and cucumbers for dinner last night.

Reading BikeForums.net last night, I got inspiration from this article about a former racer who quit cycling, ate a lot, gained a lot, trained a lot, lost the weight, got strong, and is now on a ProTour team. Make sure to play with the slider thingy on the picture at the top of the article - highly entertaining.

Roll call for those who rode in this morning...

2010-01-25T10:08:00.000-06:00

Present!

Hot and Cold

2010-01-25T09:20:00.002-06:00

Seems like when it comes to my playing, bookings definitely run hot and cold - I will be extremely busy for a while, then I'll go weeks with nothing. I'm coming up on one of my busy times during the next five weeks (you can see my performance schedule on the right), with a gig about every five days or so.

When this happens, I find myself eating out more and exercising less - here's to hoping I have the discipline and energy to avoid that trap this month.

Sunday - installed new handlebars and taped them, then rode 45 minutes on the trainer. Weight 179, so no change there. I was busy all day Saturday and missed out on a great day to ride - I'm sure a number of you got out this weekend.

If you're not busy, the stretch of gigs for me starts tonight with the Monday Night Big Band at Brewsky's in the Haymarket - come on down.

The Good and the Bad

2010-01-21T13:52:00.003-06:00

Good - Worked out for an hour on the trainer last night - used Chris Charmichael's CTS Time Trial DVD. Weight down to 179 this morning.

Bad - Had Paul's BBQ today for lunch. Mmmmmm, smoked brisket. As a result, no rest day for me - I'll need to workout again tonight.

First Ride and a Weighty Disclosure

2010-01-20T12:47:00.005-06:00

I finally got out for my first ride outdoors on Monday. The Surly and I headed down the hill from my house to get on the bike path towards downtown - the paths are fine except where you have to cross streets - lots of snow in those places. I have been riding the trainer in my basement 2-3 times a week, but there is no substitute for riding outside with hills, wind, temperature, etc. all affecting performance. I was surprised at how slow I felt. I think I know why.

When I got married 25 years ago, I weighed 175. About 5 years ago, I weighed a lifetime high of 206. Diabetes took me down to 155 before the meds kicked in, causing weight gain. I was able to hold steady for a year or so at about 165-170. Just after Christmas this year, however, I weighed in at 183. Too much good food, not enough exercise. That is going to change.

To motivate me and to keep me honest, until I get down to my goal weight of 165, I am going to post regular updates on what I weigh and what I am doing for exercise. I may even post what I am eating. This blog is going to become a virtual version of Wii Fit. To keep this from becoming to self involved, I invite anybody else who has similar goals to do the same - either by posting or writing something in the comments.

So here is my first report:

Monday, January 18
Weight - 180.5
Exercise - 45 minute bike ride on city paths

KC Sprints

2010-01-18T11:06:00.005-06:00

On Saturday (after spending the entire day putting in a new garage door opener when our old one broke) I went to Duffy's to meet Gravy and Kew and to watch the KC Sprints roller races. Gravy was his usual anonymous self:

This picture is from the FFL blog.

The races featured two guys going head to head on rollers - the front fork was fixed so no fear of falling. The racers were required to go all out for 500 meters - a full on 30-40 second sprint. They had two modes of competition - challenge matches and a bracketed tournament. I left before the tournament as I:

a) had more work to do on my garage opener to finish the installation.
b) was not all that entertained as it was pretty much the same thing every time - 30 seconds of two guys pedaling like mad, followed by 5 minutes of setting up the bikes for the next two guys. It would have been more fun if I had known more of the racers (or if I was inclined to wager).

These guys were brave enough (or stupid enough) to chug a beer right before their race.

No puking while I was there, though.

The screen behind the competitors showed speed and distance covered, so you could see who was going the fastest. The fastest I saw before I left was this guy in yellow on the right - who got the computer to register faster than 50 mph. Most guys were in the mid to low 40's.

I was hoping to get outside with the bike this weekend, but just more listening to Coach Troy for me this week.

Dr. Road Rage

2010-01-09T10:18:00.001-06:00

From the L.A. Times:

A doctor convicted of assaulting two cyclists in Brentwood by driving in front of them and slamming on his brakes was sentenced today to five years in prison, ending a case a judge described as a wake-up call about tensions between cyclists and motorists on Los Angeles' streets.

The complete story is here.

Is it spring yet?

2010-01-06T11:28:00.002-06:00

Can't find studded tires?

2010-01-04T18:22:00.002-06:00

You could always try these instead:

I've had enough -- I'm buying these.

2010-01-04T12:22:00.002-06:00

Have a pending order in. Apparently, they're hard to get this time of year.

Time to Catch Up

2010-01-03T15:11:00.005-06:00

I have been lazy about updating this blog - mostly because I have just been lazy, period. Too much watching football and eating, and not enough time on the bike have made it easy to ignore the blog, so I thought that I would catch up today with some random stuff.

Julie and I went to Chicago for our regular trip to the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic the week before Christmas. The convention moved from the Hilton and Towers south to the gigantic McCormack Place convention center. This was good and bad, as there was more room for clinics, concerts, and displays, but made it inconvenient to travel back and forth to the hotels, restaurants and shopping.

The display room in particular was huge:

We attended a great concert by the Chicago Symphony Brass up at Orchestra Hall in the Loop:

One nice thing about the move to this site - it is closer to Chinatown which has fun shopping and some great places to eat:

We still managed to get up to the Magnificent Mile for some shopping. Here are Christmas decorations at Bloomingdale's and at Macy's:

I've always enjoyed the architecture in Chicago, it is a fascinating blend of old and new. Here is a view of the Wrigley building and the Tribune tower with the new Trump tower in the background, and a picture of the buildings along the river taken next to the Trump tower.

After returning, we had our Christmas totally screwed up by the weather. We didn't get to see my wife's new nephew due to their family having to fly back to Arizona before we could get up to Omaha to see them. My son (who is in the Husker marching band) had his trip to San Diego cancelled, only to see his sister (who is in the LSE band) take his place. She missed the family celebrations as we couldn't get up to Omaha to see family until after she had left for San Diego.

My big Christmas present was this Spinervals DVD.

With this weather, it looks like the only group rides in my near future will be with this guy:

This is my first Virtual Reality workout DVD - all of my others feature other cyclists on trainers. I must say it is a little weird when Troy calls "Car up" or scolds me for not staying on his wheel. I am convinced that by the end of winter I will be able to take some pulls, and maybe even drop him.

In other cycling news, the Tour de Nebraska brochure is out - we are heading to south-central Nebraska. Dates are June 23-27, the route runs from Clay Center to Minden to Cambridge to Alma to Red Cloud and back to Clay Center. Day 1 - 57 miles, Day 2 - 65 miles, Day 3 - 60 miles, Day 4 - 73 miles, Day 5 - 54 miles. It will be a counter-clockwise loop, so with a SW wind we should have some kind of tailwind the last two days. Looks pretty easy, should be plenty of time for exploring the towns. Anybody else going to do the tour this summer?

Some Lovely Christmas Music

2009-12-12T16:01:00.001-06:00

Turn the sound up on your computer, and make sure you're not drinking anything, 'cause it'll come out your nose.

Pre-Ride Conversation

2009-12-06T15:01:00.001-06:00

Some cyclist somewhere has been having a lot of fun with this text-to-movie app.

Saturday Ride?

2009-11-26T10:59:00.002-06:00

First of all, happy Thanksgiving to all! Is anybody interested in doing a ride on the Jamaica trail early Saturday afternoon? Gotta work off all that good food. Weather is supposed to be in the mid 50s and sunny.

Pic Post

2009-11-23T08:44:00.007-06:00

I haven't done a picture post for a while, so I thought I'd post a few pics.

Night rides have taken over this time of year - here is the group from last Thursday's ride out to Roca tavern:

On Sunday I rode out to Pioneers park to watch the cyclocross races - always fun to watch, especially when friends are out there suffering :)

Here are a couple of LoupGarou:

Here are some of Tom H.:

I tried to get a pic of Monsignor, but he was too fast and I just got him going by:

The crowd watching seemed to be having their usual good time, from the little girl banging on the bike frame to cheer riders up Hooligan Hill, to the impromptu bbq and the traveling tunes supplied by CVO and cc-rider, everybody enjoyed the weather and the race.

Post Ride chat

2009-11-22T22:18:00.004-06:00

Tweed anyone?

2009-11-18T10:03:00.002-06:00

This looks interesting...

I'm bettin' Gravy has a closet full o' tweed.

Thursday Night Ride

2009-11-18T09:00:00.004-06:00

Adrian has posted that there will be another Thursday night ride - meeting at 6:00 p.m. at the bench at 27th and highway 2. The ride will be to Roca Tavern and back. The last two Thursday night rides have been a blast, and it should be pretty nice - if a little cool - this Thursday as well.

Bob Marley + morning commute = Goodness

2009-11-12T10:02:00.002-06:00

Never mind the fact I got buzzed on my neighborhood street by a shiny red Chevy Impala. That dude was an ass.

Bob Marley mellowed me, though.

October in November

2009-11-11T10:59:00.004-06:00

It sure feels like we had November in October this year, and now we're getting the payoff by having October in November. For once, I had some time free on a nice day, and was able to take the road bike out for a spin to Bluestem. It was a bit breezy, but nice - I can tell that I've been riding the Jamaica trail more than the road lately, as hills and wind felt like a bit of a challenge.

The other challenge came halfway through the ride when I lost my right contact riding near Sprague. The rest of the ride looked like this:

So, if you're out riding the road that runs from Sprague up to highway 77, and you happen to see a contact lens, that's mine.

Brush with Greatness, part 2

2009-11-10T09:41:00.003-06:00

Last winter, my wife and I ate breakfast in Chicago at a table next to this guy - who was in Dumb and Dumber and was also featured on a recent episode of The Office. Last Saturday, my son ran into Joba Chamberlain and shook his hand at the NU-OU game, and before the game, my wife and I saw this guy driving around the Haymarket:

Five points goes to the first person who guesses who this was.

Night Rider

2009-11-06T11:30:00.006-06:00

No, not that Knight Rider.

Warmer, but still not quite.

I am referring to cycling at night - a newer experience for me since I just got the Surly this summer. There have been lots of rides home on the road bike from the summer post ride gatherings - but those rides were on well-lit streets for the most part. Riding at night on the Jamaica trail is completely different, especially when the ride starts and ends in the dark. A couple of weeks ago on the Monday night cross ride, I ran into da Term and Nicol out by Roca, and along with Greg, we rode back together in increasing darkness.

Last night, Adrian, Byekin, Ho Fo Sho, Da Term (who ran into us by accident, and had to leave us at 14th street 'cause we were too slow), and I headed out in the darkness to dodge the deer on the way to the Roca Tavern. Great weather, and a great ride with lots of laughs. I will definitely have to get a better light if I want to keep doing this, though - a light more like this:

instead of this:

Doctor convicted of assaulting cyclists

2009-11-03T12:09:00.007-06:00

Have you been following this story? This is remarkably similar to the incident that happened to Kew, Jace, Adrian, Aaron G., Kelly B., and I on the last day of TDN in 2007. In that incident, a pickup driver buzzed Kew and I on Roca Road, and then drove around and cut off the other four guys, slamming on his brakes when he got in front of them. Fortunately, no crashing in that incident, unlike this one:

From velonews:

A Los Angeles Superior Court jury on Monday found Dr. Christopher Thomas Thompson guilty of assaulting cyclists by abruptly stopping his car in front of them on a hilly Los Angeles County road last year.

Thompson, a former emergency room doctor, was found guilty of six felonies and one misdemeanor and could face as much as five years in prison.

He was remanded and ordered held without bail until sentencing. He was handcuffed in the courtroom after the verdict was read.

Thompson was accused of assault with a deadly weapon, reckless driving causing specified bodily injury, battery with serious bodily injury and mayhem. The most serious charges stem from a July 4, 2008, incident on Mandeville Canyon Road, the road where Thompson lives, where he was accused of abruptly stopping his car in front of two cyclists. Other charges relate to a similar incident on the same road that did not result in injuries.

In the July 4 incident, the two cyclists hit the rear of Thompson's car; one slammed through the rear window, the other catapulted over the car into the road. In the earlier incident, the cyclists said they narrowly avoided hitting the rear of Thompson's car.

I am hopeful that this will set a national precedent for how these situations are handled in the court system.

NJO w/Wayne Bergeron

2009-10-28T10:16:00.003-05:00

Thursday night I have the pleasure of performing with the Nebraska Jazz Orchestra and our special guest top Los Angeles trumpet player Wayne Bergeron. Name a movie or t.v. show from the last twenty years, and chances are Wayne has played on the soundtrack. A partial list of film credits include Superman Returns, Mission Impossible 3, The Guardian, Ice Age 2, (the Meltdown), X-Men 3,The Incredibles, Spiderman 2, Fantastic Four, Pink Panther, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Team America, National Treasure, The Life Aquatic, Friday Night Lights, Anchorman, White Chicks, The Notebook, The Day After Tomorrow, 3 Musketeers, Starsky and Hutch, Pirates of the Caribbean, Paycheck, Hollywood Homicide, Legally Blonde 2, Drumline, Catch Me if You Can, South Park, Flubber and The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

The concert is at 7:30 p.m. at the Cornhusker - here is a short video of Wayne playing some sizzling trumpet:

Mud and Cornbread

2009-10-27T09:34:00.002-05:00

I was really looking forward to the ride to the corn maze on Sunday - I haven't gotten out on the bike nearly enough this month. Stupid mud. Thanks to Nicol, Loupy, and Da Term for helping to reduce the gumbo surplus at my house Sunday night, and thanks to Da Term for bringing the killer jalapeno cornbread - good stuff (and lethal, too).

Plans for Sunday

2009-10-22T12:46:00.003-05:00

To review:

What: Ride out to Corn Maze

When: Sunday, Oct 25 at 1 p.m.

Where: Meet at the Bison at Pioneers Park, then ride out to Benson Farms.

Cost: $10

Post-ride food and drink at my house - I plan on making way too much gumbo for just the three of you who have told me you are planning on coming over so far - so even if you're short of time, come by for a quick bowl of good stuff if you can. E-mail me if you need to get my address.

If it looks like we'll get rained out (or if the maze is closed due to mud), feel free to come by for food, drink, and fun anyway.

This might be fun...

2009-10-20T14:19:00.001-05:00

Anybody interested?

From Bike Pedalers:

On October 22nd, Bike Pedalers invites you to join us as we experience a One Night Event in movie theaters nationwide featuring the debut of “Race Across the Sky” – a documentary covering the 2009 Leadville Trail 100 bike race. Known as one of the most intense endurance races of all time, this film features Lance Armstrong, Chris Carmichael, Dave Wiens, and other elite and amateur cyclists who overcame extreme challenges to participate in this grueling race.

EVENT DETAILS
Race Across the Sky – Leadville Trail 100, featuring Lance Armstrong, Dave Wiens and Chris Carmichael.
October 22nd at 7:00pm CT at Southpointe Theater. Call the Southpointe movie theater box office to purchase your tickets, 441 0222.
Followed by complimentary drinks and socializing with your fellow cyclists at Bike Pedalers (16th and Pine Lake).
Thanks again, we look forward to seeing you.

EVENT OVERVIEW
At 10,000+ feet, against the misty backdrop of a former mining town, Leadville, Colorado, 1282 cyclists line the starting line. For many, it will be the most difficult race of their lives. For some, a bragging right to say they raced alongside the best in the world. Some imagine victory. Most hope only to finish. But everyone will count

The race that started 25 years ago as a running race to drive tourism in Leadville has now grown to a lottery cap of 1000+ competitors, many of them the world’s most elite cyclists. But the Leadville Trail 100 "Race Across the Sky" Mountain Bike Race is not just a race of man against man: it’s man vs. man, man vs. self, man vs. elements, man vs. time. A clock set for 12 grueling hours slugs through 100 miles, over 14,000 vertical feet of climbing, some two miles above sea level, through extreme climate changes ranging from heat to hail, from rain to snow. To the racers, the risks of injury, fatigue and mechanical failure pale next to the chance that they will fall behind the 12 hour cut off mark and be eliminated.

Rivalries include six-time defending champion Dave Wiens vs. international star / seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong. Inspirational stories of human triumph include a Leadville woman rider who was critically injured by a car while training for last year’s race, another who suffers from multiple sclerosis, and 45+ rider who has raced all 15 years.

Whether they’re international stars of the sport or everyday folks with the will to finish a race whose difficulty is on par with the Ironman, the grit to push to their own physical and emotional limits strikes an elegant symmetry between racer and environment and a struggling former mining town whose very existence now relies on the tourism generated by this race.

To view additional still photos and watch the trailer for the movie from the 2009 Leadville Trail 100 race, visit www.raceacrossthesky.com

At 12,600 feet anything can happen...Don’t miss this intense one night event!

cornish maize- OCTOBER 25th

2009-10-19T10:22:00.003-05:00

Riding, taking off from the Bison at Pioneers around... say 5pm'ish.

Get to Denton around 6'ish.

Cost, about ten bucks... but they accept plastic money now.

Someone hook up with LT and try to get the cookie-sag-mobile again. That was sweet!

Anybody for a ride Sunday afternoon?

2009-10-15T17:37:00.002-05:00

Could be Jamaica trail or road, doesn't matter to me. It is supposed to be nice this weekend, and I am working on Saturday all day, and I really need to get out for a ride. If others come along, it'll be harder for me to blow it off.

Quick! post whatever comes to your mind!

2009-10-15T11:10:00.002-05:00

Don't think! -- just post! Hurry!

M&M's mean nothing to me...

More pics from the Temps

2009-10-13T14:15:00.004-05:00

I'm the trumpet player next to the drummer.

Fall in!

2009-10-13T10:11:00.000-05:00

Heard any scuttle-butt about riding out to Denton this year?

Music filled week

2009-10-11T09:29:00.008-05:00

This week was a busy one - not much time for riding the bike. Last Saturday I spent the day in Grand Island judging the Harvest of Harmony field competition. On Sunday, in perfect weather, I took the Surly out for a spin out to Princeton and back on the Jamaica trail. Fall colors were definitely starting to show around the pumpkin patch at Roca Berry Farm.

It was also fun exploring some of the dirt roads in the area before getting back on the trail.

The rest of the week was given over to music. On Monday, I played with the Monday Night Big Band down at Brewsky's, on Tuesday I went to my daughter's choral concert, and on Wednesday I spent the afternoon and evening attending clinics and a concert by Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. It was especially rewarding being able to attend the rehearsal and sound check right before the concert. This is one of the top ensembles in the world, and Wynton is one of the great trumpet players of all time. One of the trumpet players in the band is originally from Sioux City - I used to play gigs with him when he was still in high school. He was amazing even then - it was a thrill to here him play with these guys. This is a bad cell phone pic of the band at the sound check:

After dying through 3/4 of the Husker game and being amazed at the final quarter on Thursday, on Friday I went to the Southwest vs. Southeast football game to watch my daughter march, (and to watch LSE win, sorry KimC) and then headed down to the Crescent Moon in the Haymarket to listen to my son play with his jazz group.

On Saturday, I spent the day in Grand Island again, this time to rehearse and perform with the Temptations. It was a fun gig, but a long day as we started rehearsing at 2 p.m. and didn't finish the show until 10:30. The concert was in the new event center which will host events for the state fair - it's a very nice venue.

There was a nice crowd, the promoter estimated an audience of about 3,000 people. Here is a view from the stage right before we started our set.

The rhythm section that travels with the group was very strong, especially the drummer, who had the loudest sound on the snare drum that I've ever heard. Unfortunately, I was sitting right beside him, so it may be a while before I can hear out of my right ear. :)

It is thrilling to play with an act that has had so many top hits. I've played so many of their tunes with cover bands at weddings or other gigs, it was quite an experience to play with the real deal. Here is a video from their fan website - this is the same group and setup we played with on Saturday.

Some people have too much free time

2009-10-02T13:17:00.003-05:00

See more funny videos and TBT Videos at Today's Big Thing.

Jazz is an accident...

2009-09-30T15:35:00.002-05:00

Spinal Tap on jazz music:

Jazz @ Brewsky's

2009-09-28T15:13:00.003-05:00

If you are too impatient to wait for the upcoming Kew tour announcement, I am playing at Brewsky's in the Haymarket with my quintet this Wednesday from 7:30-10. Come on by if you have time.

ho hum

2009-09-28T11:53:00.003-05:00

What's everybody been doing?

I've been off the road bike for awhile. Strictly a commuter now, and that's cool with me. I've got plenty keeping me busy.

A little birdie told me a couple people were bummed about not getting an FAC invite last week so let me explain:

I only had time for a quickie (beer, that is) and since I knew Gravy always has a few anyway on Fridays, I decided to go minimalistic. It wasn't a full-fledged FAC, you see. The whole thing lasted 25 minutes so I didn't feel it warranted a big announcement/invite. You know I wouldn't forget my FAC peeps.

Now ride safe out there.

Best Week Ever

2009-09-23T08:48:00.015-05:00

Ever have one of those weeks? The fun actually began two weeks ago, when I got a call to go on a nice easy ride. I rode over to the home of the ride host, and upon being invited in and noticing the nice wood floor and stairs, removed my cycling shoes. After a nice conversation, we were ready to go. Not remembering that I had super slippery cycling socks on, I managed to fall down a flight of stairs, wrenching my injured shoulder and adding a nice bruise to my backside in the process (be thankful there are no pics of the bruise).

After sitting there for a minute to make sure I wasn't really hurt, we continued on the ride, which turned out to be a lot of fun - until we were on the way home and I discovered that my rear wheel was badly out of true - as if the wheel had fallen down the stairs with me. The wheel was too bad to ride any further, so I had to call my wife for a ride home. My companions insisted on waiting with me, even though it was growing dark - much appreciated.

Then, on the next Saturday, we left for Oregon to take Paul to graduate school. We loaded his car and our car up with his stuff, and headed west. Somewhere after Kearney, my wife turns to me and says, "I just hope we get there with no car trouble." We had just taken Paul's car to the mechanic for a trip check and had put almost a grand into it to make sure it was ready to drive cross-country, but still, when she said that the first thing that came to mind was that now we're jinxed.

Sure enough, shortly after passing Cheyenne, Paul calls us on the cell phone to let us know that his battery indicator light is flashing in his car. To make a long story short, (I'll tell the long version at the next FAC or bike ride, whichever comes first), we ended up being stuck in Evanston, WY, from Sunday afternoon through Tuesday mid-morning waiting for a part to arrive. Ironically, Evanston, while having almost nothing else going on, has a lively cycling club which hosts a national level race (Levi Leipheimer is one of the past winners) and has a number of great ride routes posted on their website - and I had my cross bike with me. In keeping with the theme of the week, however, it poured rain the whole time we were stuck there.

The McDonalds in town (fine dining for Evanston) had an amusing theme in the play area:

We left Evanston about 11:30 am and reached Bend, Oregon at about 10 pm. After spending the night in Bend, we drove the last stretch to Eugene. The road here carries you over the Cascades past rain forest, volcanoes and lava fields. This is Mt. Washington, with a lava field in the foreground:

At the summit of the pass, there is an observatory which is built entirely of lava:

You can get a nice view from there of two of the Three Sisters volcanos, again with lava rocks in the foreground:

We finally arrived in Eugene late Wednesday morning (we were supposed to get there mid day on Monday) and got Paul checked into his apartment. We had the rest of the day to find furniture, rent a truck, move the furniture into his apartment, and return the truck. Luckily we found a Goodwill superstore that was pretty much one-stop shopping for cheap furniture. By the end of the day, he was pretty well situated:

Julie and I had big plans to do some more wine tasting, go to the coast to go whale watching, and then take our time heading back through Portland and up the Columbia river gorge, taking time for side trips to see Mt. Hood and some waterfalls. We had to scrap those, although we did have time on Thursday to take Paul to the King Estate winery for a tasting and some lunch.

We left Eugene on Thursday afternoon, still hoping to get through Portland and have time to stop at scenic sites along the Columbia river, but we ran into a huge traffic jam due to a pileup on the interstate, and it was almost dark by the time we started up the gorge. We still got some pics of the gorge as the sun was going down:

and we made it to Multnomah falls just in time to see it before it was too dark (although it was actually much darker than it shows in this pic).

This is the second highest waterfall in the lower 48 states - more than 600 feet. Driving on, we stayed the night in the Dalles, and then drove to Ogden, Utah the next day. During that drive, we were going to take a break in Pendleton, and take a look at Pendleton Mills, but all of the roads were closed due to a huge week-long rodeo taking place in town. Foiled again.

We had intended to leave Ogden early with the intention of being in Fort Collins in time to see the Husker vs. Va. Tech football game, but overslept and left town late. The GPS unit we had been using to navigate also was unable to find the satellite, and the one road we could find on the map to get back to the interstate was closed, so that cost us some time as well. Are you sensing a theme here?

Anyway, we got to Fort Collins in time to catch the 2nd quarter at a local sports bar that hosts the local chapter of Coloradans for Nebraska - they even took our picture and put it on their website.

We enjoyed the game - until the last minute and a half. That was the cherry on top of a week where nothing seemed to go right. After the game we went downtown and had some great Mexican food with some friends who now live in Fort Collins, and then spent the night at their place.

We returned to Lincoln on Sunday, and I managed to get out to the chit-chat ride Monday night for my first ride in two weeks - brutal wind, but we all stayed together and shared the work into the wind and had good fun. I'm looking forward to tonight's teamFIRE ride.

Looking back, I guess that if that counts as a lousy week in my life, then things are pretty good.

How was your week?

Nice Moves

2009-09-08T12:18:00.002-05:00

There are unsubstantiated reports that the kid in the red shirt saw Kew dancing and has copied all of his moves.

Bring your flippers

2009-09-04T11:28:00.005-05:00

No gravel ride Thursday night this week, but I did ride the Surly down to see what the 3 inches of rain yesterday did to the pond and the bike path. There were several places where the water was within a couple of feet of the bike path.

Anybody want to do a ride on Labor Day? Saturday is full of football, and we're heading to Omaha for family stuff on Sunday, so I hope to get a nice ride in on Monday.

A study in contrasts

2009-09-01T12:50:00.003-05:00

On Saturday Adrian organized a ride in the morning. Six of us rode out to Bennett, through the Roca rollers and back home via highway 77. It was a fantastic morning - temps in the low 60s, almost no wind, and lots of sunshine. Armwarmers were almost a necessity at the beginning of the ride - and it's still August! One of the riders, Tom, has an interesting goal he has set for himself. He just quit smoking recently, and has no family or business obligations at this point in his life, so he has decided to train to ride from Lincoln to California this spring. We should be seeing him on lots of the group rides as he gets ready. Here we are taking a pause for the cause towards the end of the ride.

On Monday, a number of friends and I were evidently part of history, as we took part in what is being described as the largest group ride ever in Lincoln (as far as anybody there could remember). Before we left, I counted 46 riders, and I know some joined us on the road, so there were close to 50 riders at some point during the ride. We broke apart on highway 77, but everybody got back together at Sprague. It was quite a sight to see the pack heading up Sprague road - it looked like it stretched for almost a quarter of a mile, with people riding 2 and three abreast. Maybe we can break 50 next Monday!

Thursday Gravel

2009-08-28T09:39:00.004-05:00

Last night Ho Fo Sho, Kew, Greg W. and I saddled up the fat tires and headed south on the Jamaica trail to the Roca tavern on a perfect night. After a couple of cold ones and some good storytelling (ask either Kew or me about our embarrassing falling while riding clipless pedals stories), we decided we were hungry, so we got back on the trail and headed back to town for some Mexican food at the usual post ride gathering place. Definitely my kind of ride.

I haven't posted about rides for a while, so here are some random thoughts and pics from the last month or so:

I had a great 45 mile SOLO ride last Saturday while evidently some people were still recovering from FAC. You know who you are - you missed a great ride, and I was disappointed to not get the opportunity to ride with you and laugh some more, but it was a great morning, and I enjoyed myself anyway. The only thing that bummed me out was when I took the turn at Hallam to go back to Highway 77, and realized that they had covered that perfect, smooth, road with chip-seal.

Since returning from vacation badly out of shape, I have tried to get out more on some of the group rides. The Monday ride has been a big one lately, with lots of folks showing up and a very reasonable pace. With a lot of riders, it seems like we get more flats, though. One night a guy showed up who had never had a flat or changed a tire, and was ready to call his wife to pick him up until we convinced him that it is possible to change a tube on the road. Here we are waiting for him to finish learning how to change a flat.

The new chip-seal on the shoulders and some of the roads around Sprague is also contributing to more flats than usual. There have been Jendeluxe sightings on several of the Monday rides - here she is recovering after catching up to the group when she had to stop to fix a flat.

The Wednesday ride has also been well attended. The pace has also gone up. The first ride I did on the Wednesday after vacation I got dropped, which I expected since I hadn't ridden in a while. However, this last Wednesday I got dropped again, which really had me questioning my fitness until I checked my average speed when I got home. I averaged 18.5 mph, and that was doing the last third of the ride solo after getting dropped. That is faster than that ride usually goes, and is a pretty healthy speed for me on any ride, so I guess it's not me getting slower, it's just that everybody else got faster. Here is a pic at the turnaround spot at Bluestem Lake.

I enjoyed last Friday's FAC - let's all get out together to ride bikes again sometime.

Oops!

2009-08-25T11:40:00.004-05:00

This is Deron Williams of the Utah Jazz riding clipless for the first time. Notice how this clip incorporates both jazz and bikes!

Video Clip.

This Made Me Laugh

2009-08-13T15:33:00.008-05:00

From the Road Bike Rider newsletter this week:

A roadie gets up early, as he has for so many Saturday morning rides, and softly slips out of the bedroom so as not to wake his wife.

He dresses quietly in the next room, grabs his helmet and water bottles, and goes out to pump the tires. As the garage door opens he's confronted by a windswept rain.

He's ridden before in these conditions. He doesn't like it, but when it's Saturday morning he never misses. He ponders the dismal conditions and then retreats to the kitchen to tune a small TV to The Weather Channel.

The forecast only sounds worse. Tornado watch. This is one Saturday when he just can't make it happen.

As thunder booms in the distance, he slips off his shoes, quietly returns to the bedroom, undresses and slips back into bed.

There he cuddles up to his wife's back and whispers, "The weather out there is terrible."

To which she sleepily replies, "Yeah, can you believe my husband went riding in that crap?"

This was pretty amusing too, posted in the same newsletter:

This is a must do

2009-08-10T14:18:00.001-05:00

I believe this to be a bike trip must this fall. Who's with me?

Nacho ride report

2009-08-05T11:49:00.003-05:00

Peter B., Kim, Nicol and I met at the bench to ride out to the MoPac trailhead at 5 - which for further reference was about 15 minutes late if the desire is to get to the trailhead by 5:30. After meeting up at the trail with my musician friend Scott V. and Gravy, we left Kim and Gravy behind to wait for Loup Garou, who had gone to the bench at 5:30 instead of to the trailhead. After a nice ride on the trail, we all met up with Peter's wife and my wife, who had driven out to Eagle to meet us. Afterwards, Loupy G, Nicol and I rode back to the trailhead, where I took leave from them to ride to the Oven East for a nightcap with my wife and friends. Good conversation, nachos, tacos, beer, a ride back in the dusk, and a beautiful night made for a fun ride. Thanks to all who came out!

Check your credit card statement carefully

2009-08-03T22:58:00.004-05:00

If you've purchased anything online through Nashbar anytime in the past year or so, you should check your credit card statement carefully. They had a security breach and 150,000 credit card numbers were compromised. The breach happened last December and they didn't catch it until May.

We noticed a handful of mysterious charges dating back a few months on our card. Since the amounts were small, we didn't notice them for a couple months. We have since canceled our card. Not cool.

Mmmmmmmmm, Nachos

2009-08-02T21:28:00.002-05:00

Anybody interested in doing the Nacho ride on Tuesday?

Good Wine

2009-07-29T19:07:00.005-05:00

This morning we started out the day with a bike ride around campus and the surrounding neighborhood. We took a picture of my son's future apartment complex, and then rode from there to the music building to see how long it would take - 5 minutes even at Mom's pace. :)

Paul's apartment complex

After the bike ride we drove a little ways out of town on some beautiful roads to a couple of local wineries. There was a cycling tour traveling on the same road. We saw a number of fully loaded cyclists (with their gear, not with wine) and several couples on tandems pulling their gear behind them.

First we went to Kings Estate winery, which is one of the largest and probably best known of the Oregon wineries. The winery itself is perched at the top of a large hill - it looks like it is in the middle of Tuscany.

We started at the tasting bar, where they feature a sampling of eight different wines.

After the tasting, we settled on their Pinot Gris and ordered lunch at their award winning restaurant. The scallops and the crab cakes were amazing.

We will be coming home with several bottles of their Pinot Gris, as well as a bottle of Pinot Noir and a dessert wine.

One amusing side story - as we were leaving we noticed a drivers ed car (with an instructor and two students inside) leaving the winery.

Following lunch, we headed to the Sweet Cheeks winery, where we had another tasting and picked up some more wine. Sooner later we will need some help drinking all of this wine, so a party may be a necessity soon.

Oregon

2009-07-29T09:48:00.004-05:00

So far we've had a successful trip. We drove out, staying in Ogden the first day and driving to Eugene the second day. It was about 12 hours the first day, about 14 hours the second. Fortunately, the scenery made it interesting. The drive up the Columbia river gorge has to be one of the most beautiful in America.

After looking at several horrible apartments, we found a nice one for Paul about 8 blocks from the music building. We then had time to head west out to the coast, where we visited a sea lion cave, a lighthouse, and a beautiful beach. We then drove to Florence for a nice seafood dinner on the harbor.

Sea Lion Caves

Heceta Lighthouse

Heceta beach

View heading up to the Lighthouse

View of harbor from the restaurant

Today we are going to take a bike ride around the campus area, then head out to some wineries for some wine tasting and lunch. More to come later.

Change in plans

2009-07-23T22:01:00.001-05:00

I am going to Omaha on Saturday night, and will not be able to go hear Blue House at Red9 this Saturday. Maybe we can do this the next time they are in town. Still planning on riding on Saturday morning, though.

Random thoughts while watching Le Tour

2009-07-22T09:41:00.002-05:00

I never received my Duathlon t-shirt - did any of you get yours? Anyone know who to contact about this?

12th Street Pub = good FAC site

I haven't had time to ride much during this great weather, but I had a nice 15 miler with my wife last night - she had to climb some real hills for the first time, and did great. Fun.

I will ride the teamFIRE ride tonight, and would like to do a Jamaica trail ride tomorrow night - will there be anybody at the bench at 6 p.m. tomorrow to ride with me?

This Saturday, a blues band I have subbed in (Blue House) is playing down at Red 9 starting at 9 p.m. I may head down to listen and maybe sit in on a tune or two. Anybody want to go? There will be a $5 cover.

Leaving for Oregon for a week on Sunday - hope to take bikes with me and get a couple of rides in.

That is all.

Be careful when riding solo...

2009-07-16T10:28:00.001-05:00

You don't want this to happen to you.

Aha! Take on me, jazzercizing bike peeps!

2009-07-13T09:55:00.004-05:00

http://fantasy.versus.com/cycling/draft/draft.asp

League: jazz-n-bikes
Password: jazz

Sign up on Versus and take on my uber-ultimate team!

Or add yours if you already have one.