Wednesday morning. Normally I would do the Glider ride, but I decided to ride solo. Mainly because I'll be out of town the next several days and I wanted to get in a harder workout. Much of a group ride is spent sitting in the draft where the pedaling is relatively easy. Also I planned on getting an early start but I didn't leave the house until 8:15. By coincidence the Gliders were doing the Racetrack loop today which is my normal solo route.

Three minutes from my start point I passed the Chevron station where the Gliders depart. They were milling around. They would be leaving in 10 minutes. I really didn't want to encounter them on the road. There would be awkward explaining and I just wanted to be alone. It would be tough to stay in front of them even with a head start. For one thing my personal route goes a couple of minutes further north on 441 before looping back. That meant I only had a 6 minute cushion.

However I was feeling good. The bike was riding smoothly and seemed more efficient since the Bikes and More overhaul.  The wind was light. I reached the 441 intersection in under 13 minutes which was  a good sign. The light turned green and I surged through with the turning cars. That was good for another minute cushion between me and the other riders because it is next to impossible for all those people to get through the light together.

The weather was perfect at just under 60 degrees. I was wearing these new velcro-less gloves. They just slip on. Christian at B&M turned me on to them last week. My old gloves had borne the brunt of 2 crashes and needed to be retired. The new gloves lack padding which makes them less bulky. That's  a good thing as the padding was kind of superfluous.

I turn on to CR 237 and it's time for my first 5 minute stretch of more intense riding. I do four of these during the Racetrack loop. Anyway I turn it up a notch, but I don't go too crazy so I won't blow up and have those Glider seersuckers  catch me. The part after the 5 minute interval is crucial. Even though I'm tired I can't afford to slow down too much. I keep checking the Italian Bike Mirror for Gliders even though by the time I see them it will be too late.

Traveling east on 156 I look to my right down the road they usually come  up, but I see nothing. I breeze through the next intersection, no cars and up over a couple of hills. I turn it up a little on the hills knowing that some of the laggards on the group ride will slow down the Gliders.

I make it through the next intersection no problemo. It's time for my next 5 minute bug out and I crank it up some. I turn on to CR 225 by the purple house heading south. I'm a minute in half under my usual time at this point. I feel a little tailwind and when I pass the Racetrack sign going 22.9 mph I know I've got a shot at something magical.

This whole time I've been killing it in the watts department averaging over 200W, which for me is good. Sure there are dudes out there who could power a whole town with their mastodon like thighs, but for me this is shaping up to be a personal best for this distance. I finally turn on to 53rd Ave and I'm pretty confident they won't catch me. Even with their end of the ride shenanigans they are nowhere in sight and I'm still feeling good.

So this portion of the ride I typically do 2 minutes of out of the saddle riding alternating with 30 seconds in the saddle all the way from Waldo Rd to 441. I don't know why, it just feels good to change position and it mixes things up a little. The trick is to avoid hitting random debris and wiping out while off the seat. The intersection of 53rd Ave and 441 is in sight. The light has been red a while. I sense that it is about to change and I speed up to try to catch it. If I can make this light without having to slow down or stop it will be like unwrapping a candy bar and finding a golden ticket. Sure enough the light turns green. I'm still a little ways away but I blaze it up being careful to avoid all the crap that is strewn all over this area and I make it through.

At this point I pretty much have a license to print money. I bring it home for the last 3 minutes with a hard solid effort and save the data on the power meter. I look back and still no Gliders. I slowly ride back to my turn off to go home and wait a few minutes. Still nothing. I wonder if someone had a mechanical problem.

Back home when I look at the data, I friggin' crushed my personal best by over 3 minutes clocking in at 1:25:16. Power was also a PR of 201W. Average speed 20.6 mph for just under 30 miles.

This ride was really a perfect storm of everything going right. Number one the Sempre was riding awesome after its repair. Also, I caught lightening in a bottle by not having to stop or really even slow down at a single intersection. Next, the wind was my friend for once laying low except to help me out on CR 225. Finally of course the extra motivation to stay ahead of those wheel slurping Gliders. All in all if this ride was a song it would be on my Greatest Hits album.

CVS' computers had some kind of melt down yesterday. They sent everyone over to Walgreens. As a result I didn't bike into my drive way until literally 2 minutes to midnight. Caught 5 hours of sleep then rode back in this morning. I passed some other biking dude by Westside park. He must of got ants in his pants because even though I was clipping along pretty well on the Cortina he passed me back a half mile later.

Today kind of sucked. My evening technician didn't show up. It was nice not riding home in sweltering heat. The same bag of garbage has been sitting on the corner of 34th and 16th for days. Wonder how it got there.
I've been working some long ass hours of late. Tomorrow starts a 6 day mini vacation. The oxycodone roaches are already freaking out.

Did my solo Millhopper route this morning. I broke out the Nitto wool jersey, shoe covers and lobster paw gloves to take the edge off the chill. I was expecting a Foghat-esque "Slow Ride" since it was my first day riding the Sempre since the accident. With my rested legs I wound up doing ok and actually set watts records for 20 and 40 minutes.

The Sempre felt smooth as silk after having the drivetrain replaced at Bikes and More. Remember all that noise it made whenever I pedaled? Now it sounds as quiet and peaceful as a napping kitten. Which reminds me someone brought a 5 month old kitten into the pharmacy the other day. This woman had it in her jacket pocket. It was adorable and I festooned it with treats and attention.

Sunday morning I decided to bike in to work after an over week long stretch of driving. I had been taking the car due to having to work longer hours, feeling run down and my accident last Wednesday. I was healed up some so I decided a test ride was in order. Everything went fine. It was in the 40's. I had to wear my $3700 lynx bike jacket. I was also able to bike in my work clothes which was a time saver. I am not looking forward to when it drops to the 30's. I saw a deer along 34th st which was a first. Riding home I smelled someone's pipe and it reminded me of my uncle and Christmas time at my grandparents when I was a kid. You know, they say scents trigger the part of the brain that store old memories and I believe it.

Special thanks to the Cyclist on Fire for picking up my bike from B&M and later bringing it to my house. It sucks that I wasn't feeling up to the Hawthorne ride Saturday, but my arm is feeling better today.

I think Bikes and More is like a band. Brian and Dave are the two guitar wizards each with unique but complementary styles like Thurston and Lee. Or maybe Glen Tipton and KK Downing, but honestly can anyone tell those two dudes apart? 

RIP Sempre. Like a surgeon having to tell a worried family that their loved one didn't make it, Brian at Bikes and More broke it to me that the Sempre frame was not salvageable  after the crash. They said that another Sempre frame wouldn't be available until sometime in January.

They're looking into other frames for me. Not sure what my next move will be.

Glider ride today. A half mile out we had an accident. I'm still not sure exactly what happened. There was a dead armadillo. The Kid in front of me lost control of his bike, I ran over him went over my handlebars and landed on my face. The old guy went down. He couldn't get up. Somebody called the paramedics and a cop on a motorcycle came to direct traffic. I hope the old guy is ok.

My left shifter was bent. My right arm is messed up and I lost some skin around my chin.  Other than that just some aches and scrapes that will probably heal in a week or so.

I think when I went down I partially landed in the armadillo carcass because the stench was unbearable. Gnats kept landing on my wounds. The dad was going to drive me back to where my car was but I had to get out of there.

Glider ride today and I had sworn not to let those wheel suckers Skeletor and San Diego lay back and out sprint me at the end. Well San Diego didn't even show up, but Skeletor was in the house as were Publix, the Parakeet and the Dad and the Kid. There was also some burly dude I hadn't seen before.

Anyway we rode out doing the 27/41 loop. We had to stop a couple of times for a mechanical problem and some truck cutting tree limbs. I think Skeletor has a thing for the Parakeet because a lot of times he'll be making time with her in the back. The Kid surprised me and tried to strike up a conversation with me. Apparently he has taken a shine to shooting squirrels.

So we come up to Chestnut Hill. The Dad starts tearing off on the downhill portion. I'm just sitting in the back boxed in by the Parakeet and the ride captain. As we start up the hill things opened up. I rose out of the saddle and pass the Parakeet and the Captain . I wove to the outside and went by the Kid, then Publix and Burly Dude. As I passed Skeletor next he hollered some encouragement. Somehow I blew by the Dad and crested over the hill solo. It was a pretty badass display of hill prowess by my standards setting new personal watts records for 30 and 60 seconds. In fairness the Dad had been pulling up at the front for about 70% of the ride and Publix and Burly had been at the front right before the hill so I was relatively rested. Still so many times the situation has been reversed so I'll take what I can get.

Next up the hill over I-75 coming back into town on Millhopper Rd. Again the Dad pulls his speed up on the preceding downhill move and gaps everyone. Again I let him go. Last week I rode side by side with him on a downhill freakout and I had no gas for the up hill. This time I've learned my lesson. I chill in the draft of Publix then I just rise up once we are on the hill and pass Burly, Publix and finally the Dad. According to my computer I was going over 25 mph up the hill which is insane, but explains why when I looked in the Italian Bike Mirror I may as well have seen Eric Carmen in the reflection because I was "All By Myself". So now I'm rocking solo, which is a tough proposition. But I double down and see how long I can stay ahead of the pack. I go down and up another hill, hit the flats. I'm running out of gas keeping it 21-23 mph. Publix and Burly Dude catch up. I keep going for a couple more minutes and relinquish the front. We trade turns at the front. I keep looking for sneaky Skeletor in my mirror but he must be way back in the weeds or just partying with the parakeet. After my last pull right before the end I can't reattach to get in the draft and I fall off the back with Publix and Burly out front.

All and all a pretty good ride. Those 2 hill climbs felt good.

The Millhopper loop was wet and windy this morning. Debris was everywhere, flying up at me, getting caught in the bike. I struggled to see through my glasses and my shoes were soaked. Still managed a decent ride in terms of time and effort.

I have to go over the Sempre pretty thoroughly for my Glider ride Wednesday. Clean it up and oil the chain.

Driving to work today because I have to visit some businesses in my official pharmacist capacity on the way in.

Rode the Cortina to work in the rain Sunday morning. I had to break out the rain cape. It was steady but not terrible. I can't find any evidence to back this up but I swear it get windier during cooler times of the year. It was blowing hard again on the ride home.

Set a couple of watts records on the Hawthorne trail ride with the Cyclist on Fire. I bested my 5 second mark on the little hill on the way out of the trail. Then I nailed the 30 second record on the hill on Glenn Springs Road by my house. My new goal each month is to set new personal watts records in each time category. It ranges from 5 seconds to 2 hours. Should be interesting. I have some in there from July so those definitely need to fall.

Did I mention when I carried my bike into the store the muzak was playing "Saved By Zero"? As I was stripping off my rain gear in the stockroom. Phil Collins' "I Wish It Would Rain Down" started up. If I ran a corporation the muzak would be programmed by artificial intelligence that analyzed the moods of the employees based on speech patterns, factored in meteorological conditions etc to play the most apropos selection at any given moment. Maybe that's why it plays Lenny Kravitz's "Fly Away" towards the end of my shift and "I Wanna Be Sedated" when my oxycodone roaches show up.

Did my one minute interval bug outs on the Sempre commuting in to work. Had to improvise due to traffic and obstacles. Still dialed up some respectable wattages. Paul and I are like matter and anti-matter in the above pic, a study of contrasts.

Been thinking about getting another wool jersey.


Also thinking about the next Glider ride. I know it's dumb but I'm really cheesed by Skeletor and San Diego's incessant wheel sucking only to sprint out at the end. Next week when they pull their shenanigans I'll size them up in my Italian Bike Mirror and pull some metal on metal Heat Is On shit that will make their decrepit asses consider switching over to water aerobics.