Dobovedo's Journal of Journeys

Today’s ride left me with 914 miles for April, just 30 shy of last year. Hadn’t planned on that just a couple days ago! I was tempted to grab the lights and go out for a 30 mile nite ride to tie… but dinner sounded way better. :bothhands:

The month was a bit of a strange one. It started off hot, with 100 miles on April Fools day. Then I got sick and the weather took a dumb, and I only rode 250 miles the whole next two weeks. Then in the second half I rode 550 miles in 15 days, with 4 of them in GA mountains! Crazy month.

Read more on April roundup…

Today was one of those days that turned out just about perfectly. It wasn’t as planned, but what fun is doing things as planned?

In reality, the difference wasn’t all that much. I had intended on starting out on the route and then turning for home, netting about 45-50 miles. I ended up with nearly the full package, cutting off just a couple miles.

Read more on Easy metric…

This evening I decided to change the tube/tire I blew on the Bianchi earlier in the week. Is this really a journal-izable event? One wouldn’t think so, unless one has ever attempted to put a Continental tire on a Campy wheel.

The two just don’t fit. Like square pegs and round holes… or maybe big round pegs and smaller round holes is more appropriate, since I have yet to see a square tire.

Read more on Tire woes…

Damn.. I really gotta learn not to read email until after 1pm.

At 11:45 I checked, and there was an email from Vince… we’re riding at 12:30, moderate pace.

Moderate pace? I’ve heard that before. Hmmm… yesterday I was whining that nobody was riding, and today I get an invite to ride. Seemed like bad mojo to ignore the invite. On the other hand, I really didn’t want to ride another day. On the other, other hand, it was gorgeous outside with warm, not hot temps, sunny skies and lighter than normal winds.

Read more on Rest Day… in Minster?…

I’m starting a new category of journal writings today… nutrition. I don’t like the d-word (diet), as it implies doing something for a short period of time rather than making long-term lifestyle changes.

After a weekend climbing at 5-7 pounds heavier than my ‘normal’ weight, I’ve really been thinking about what I want to get out of my riding. I have brought this topic up before and paid it lip service, and I’d like to think that this time will be a little more serious. My hope is that by publishing my thoughts, goals and weekly progress, I’ll be more likely to stick with it. This has worked with riding… as long as I make a claim or state a goal publicly, I’m very likely to follow through. In other words, you all are my lie detector test and my yard stick.

Read more on Nutrition Plan…

I waited all morning and afternoon for the temps to warm up to 65. Finally, at about 2pm, I got what I wanted. So I headed out on a solo ride. I had surprisingly few ride options presented when I asked prior to the weekend, but that’s probably because nobody would believe I was going to show up. Accuweather said wind was 10-15 mph and NW, which pretty much decided my course for me – Minster. When the choice of route is mine to make, I always start out into the wind so I can enjoy the second half of the ride.

I started out tired and sluggish and more or less things never improved. At the top of Bunker I had only managed a 17 average. By the time I got to the Minster sign, I had lifted that just shy of 18. I saw it creeping up and figured the wind must have been more W than NW. I took a bit of a breather, adjusted my water bottles, switched the Inno to the other arm and started back on what was supposed to have been the fun half of the ride.

Read more on Mental problems…

Even with a ‘rest’ day I managed to hit my next millenium mark today. Woohoo! Am I the first one there? Hard to say, because a certain other alpha mile hog hides his statistics unless he’s comfortably ‘in the lead’.

[but we're not really competing]

Read more on 3000…

Lest anyone else think I’m a pussy, I did ride my full metric today despite the weather not cooperating. So who said that? Why… SloMo! C’mon dude… of course I rode today. Belgium… Ohio… it’s all the same thing. I didn’t like it much, but hey… the plan for the week said ride, so I rode. Fortunately I had some company most of the way, since Craig is also Belgian at heart.

The day started out miserable, and early. I had to be at work for an 8:30 conference call. I realize I won’t get much sympathy from most of you workin’ stiffs, but that’s just not my thing. I tried to go to bed early the night before and did manage to be asleep by 2am, but 7 came WAY too soon. I looked at the radar and outside and all apeared to be dry, if very cloudy.

Read more on Forecast Schmorecast…

Time to get up on my little soapbox here and share some thoughts on recent events while we were down in GA. This stuff has really been on my mind lately and the feelings are pretty strong after finding out today that the guy who crashed while descending Brasstown died from his injuries.

I saw that Craig wrote a very nicely worded entry on his journal as well, and has exchanged emails with a gentleman from GA who filled us in on the news about the crash. I’ll start by saying that I agreed with just about everything he wrote.

Read more on Risk & sharing the roads…

Today the radar was opposite of Wednesday. It wasn’t raining when I was ready to ride to work, but it was obvious it soon would be. If I made it out of town I’d be lucky. I had also ridden 7 days, 250 miles and ~25,000′ vertical. So I took advantage of the drive to work by stopping at Kroger on the way to re-stock the lunch supplies.

Read more on Rest day? Not!…

The good weather doesn’t last long in Ohio and today was total shit compared to yesterday and, wind aside, the day before. I had heard that it was pretty nice over the weekend while we were gone as well. Nonetheless, today was wet, cold, and just plain miserable. It seemed like a good day to leave the bike in the house and drive to work, but I just couldn’t do it. It was raining when I was ready to go, but a check of radar showed that I would only need to wait about 30 minutes and it would clear off. What the heck…

Read more on Butt Ugly Day…

What a wonderful spring day to be out riding. I went in to work a bit early, while there was still a hint of chilliness to the air. That made for a loooong afternoon waiting to get back outside to enjoy sunshine, warm (but not hot) temps, and…. NO WINDS! What? No way!

Yes way! I actually read on accuweather.com “E winds @ 5 mph… gusting to 8″. 8mph gusts!?! That’s not wind… hell, I can fart stronger than that!
Read more on Beautiful day, except……