Post #9 - New Bike Youtubed & Stravafication

My first Youtube Video!

The new bike is here, and it is awesome!  I am impressed with it.  I really am a bit critical when it comes to bikes, but honestly I am quite happy with it after my first few rides.  It has a taller headtube that has me in a slightly more upright position then my old bike, which should really be quite nice for longer days in the saddle.  I could go into a detailed bike nerd review about the components and bottom bracket stiffness, but most people really could care less. So, I'll suffice by saying that its pretty sweet and I am fairly happy with everything so far.  (ok the brakes suck and the wheels are heavy and were way out of true, had to get that out there).

I know the blue bottle cage looks dumb, black ones are on the way

Mmmm Stiffness

Good ole 105 shifters

The new and the old... 

Alright so I have a new toy on the way.  I finally caved and ordered a Garmin Edge 500.  It is a GPS cycling computer, so I'll be able to plot all my training rides and my coast to coast ride on a map, which is pretty stinkin' sweet.  I have been in need of a cycling computer for a while. What finally convinced me?  Strava.  Strava is a website/phone app where you can track all of your rides and compare them to your buddies and even complete strangers.  People name sections of rides (big climbs, fun straight sprints, stuff like that) and anytime you ride them it ranks you versus everyone else who has ridden that section.  Pretty neat huh??  I thought so.  So this summer if our route takes us across any named sections I'll be able to see who all else has ridden it and how much they spanked my time by.  

So I'll be able to post detailed ride data from each day on the road this summer.  I'm pretty stoked.  Here is a little ride Brian and I did yesterday.  

Post #8 - Altitude Training & Artistic Representationsn

Well I'm back in Alabama.  Dad and I took off to Colorado for a few days of skiing last week.  It was pretty dang awesome.  Good snow every day, not too crowded, pretty much everything you can ask for out of a ski trip.

Dad found a great deal on the room.  And it did have a little bit of a catch that we didn't know about.  The second bedroom was at the top of a steep little set of stairs, and it was not designed for normal sized humans.  It was straight up hobbit sized, no lie.

Seriously, it was a tiny shower

Yes, I hit my head, more than once

So whenever you get back from skiing (at least around here) people always ask if you broke anything.  I guess that's due to the high percentage of people from the South that actually do hurt themselves skiing.  I didn't take any hard falls skiing this time, but I did manage to do a little damage to myself.  I took a hard fall at 5 am on the elf sized staircase.  The gas logs would start whistling after they kicked on for a while, so I went to turn em off.  I hit that first stair and slipped.  My butt bounced down the next few steps until I got tangled in the railing.  Painful?  Yep.  Embarrassing? Definitely.  

I consider this trip part of my training for the summer.  Steamboat sits at over 6,000 feet up there in the Rockies, which counts for some altitude training in my opinion.  Got my legs burning plenty on some of the longer bumpier runs.  Hiking to the highest peak (an easy 3 minute walk) counts as cardio right?  It was definitely worth it to get the less crowded, steeper runs.

Ok, so maybe saying it's training is a little bit of a stretch, but it definitely wore me out.  It was great getting to spend the time with Dad too.

So from the plane I scouted out what it's going to look like as we head into the Rocky Mountains.  

I rule at paint!

Basically its all nice and flat and then boom!  You're going up, and then up some more, and then you go a little higher.  I took a sweet picture from the plane, but it's on Dad's camera.  So I think my drawing gives a pretty good representation of what we will be doing.  Yay for compact gearing.  I've gotta get a little more climbing worked into my riding.  I see a few runs up Skyball (local big hill, its pretty brutal) in my future.    

Tour De Cullman route.  The green highlighted part is Skyball.  

So as my legs sit here quivering in anticipation of burning over the Rockies, I am racking my brain trying to decide what my next step should be in fundraising.  My current total is $1,930, which is still a good ways away from $4,500.  So if you are reading this and haven't yet donated, please consider making one.  Affordable housing is truly a great cause.  

Here's a quote from the B&B website:

"According to Habitat for Humanity, the world’s largest nonprofit affordable housing organization, over 5.1 million American families have "worst-case" housing needs in which they endure overcrowded conditions and/or live in physically deficient houses. Additionally, more than 13 million American households pay over 50% of their income for housing (www.habitat.org)."

In today's society many people are willing to pay extra for free range eggs and organic beef (which is legit), while there are still many Americans that are living in unsuitable (non free range??) housing.  Just think about it and please consider donating.  Thanks!