Outer banks i

Im getting pretty bad at blogging again. There are plenty of pointless photos and text on there way so don’t worry. Last week I took a vacation down to the outer banks for some R&R. There were nice skies on the drive down but a wild amount of traffic closer towards the island. I almost went crazy with the long drive + stop and go traffic at the end.

I had to do some ‘relaxing’ and went out on a short cruise. You can either ride north or south. I picked south since a little up the road heading north had an intimidating raised bridge with no shoulder to deal with. I was hoping the same wasn’t true for the south.

At about 20 miles in I hit the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse.  I had been there before but took a quick photo, filled a bottle and debated what was next.  Didn’t want to end the ride and head back already so I kept going south.

The idea of riding roads that butted up to sand on either side made the ride more of a journey for some reason.  I really enjoyed it for some reason.

I had quickly glanced at a map before I left and Gmaps had shown a gap in the road from the south island to the next.  I thought it had just loaded in correctly but I found out there was a ferry to get across.

I didn’t end up taking the ferry but headed down another half mile to where the road met beach.  I did a bit of hike-a-bike to take in the scenery.

1 part tan to 1 part sand

I Ended up riding 70 miles at a fun pace.  The change in elevation down there was a amazing.  Strava showed my max elevation gain was 11ft and my min was 1ft… but where there are no hills there is plenty of strong wind 🙂

http://app.strava.com/rides/14145889

The rest of the day was almond white russians and lounging.  Ill post more vacation content in the next couple of days.

Bad Things Come In Three’s

This summer hasn’t been the best to me. After wrecking my knee during the last push of Crush the Commonwealth, I then broke my mtb frame… Earlier this week I got clipped by an SUV after they decided to run a red. The lights on this stretch are timed and I was catching lights (garmin says 25mph). I gave a glance to the right and saw two cars stopped (2 lane road with a bike lane that sometimes turns into a turn lane) and didn’t think much of it then continued to pedal as I got the green. Once I got to the start of the intersection I caught the SUV in the corner of my eye. I couldn’t see that they weren’t planning on stopping before because of the parked cars along the road. I was able to brake/turn enough that the vehicle that it only hit my front wheels and shifters without hitting my bars (somehow). From my quick glance id say they were going ~45mph as its one of those fast roads in the city. Not sure what happened next but I remember having one of those ‘oh shit’ moments before things go south. I ended up sliding on my back pretty far but luckily had a bookbag filled with tupperware/clothing from the day at work. It was over as quickly as it started compared to some other accidents ive been in where there is time to react. I popped up hastily and did a once over. Body was in one piece and my head didn’t hurt. I guess the driver wasn’t in the mood to stop and no one who saw it could give me the tag number, bummer.

Checked the bike and gear out. Wheel was in pretty good shape, the impact just loosened the headset and turned the wheel. The right shifter was busted and the left a bit tweaked. Hoping I can get the right shifter warrantied or at least a crash replacement. I broke my Rx sunglasses (which im a bit pissed about) but luckily my Rudy Project sunglasses are still under the 1 year old warranty so I can send them back for ~$50. Also landed on my Iphone in my rear jersey pocket and cracked the screen pretty nicely. I knew id be breaking phones as its part of my being so I have iphone insurance 🙂

Hard to say if this is good or bad. Obviously getting hit when its not your fault is the pits, but I cant help to not see the good in it. No broken bones, no hospital trip, no nothing. I mean I have some road rash, bruising, and the neck/back is a bit torqued, but nothing that bad. I hope to be as careful as I can but there’s always that ‘X’ factor that you cant control. Keep those fingers crossed and hope for the best, I was lucky this round.

Weekend.

Felt like a busy weekend which was good. The weekend mostly consisted of friends visiting from out of town, birthdays, bbqs, and a bit of bike riding. As much as I want to ride everyday Im trying to keep the miles down and not jump back into 150+ mile weeks, ie the daily commute.

Since Friday was national French fry day (or so I was told by the lady) we ended up at Good Dog for some drinks and a pile of sweet/regular fries with a bunch of friends.

The ride home was nice, well it was nice out. I havnt been drinking alcohol for a bit so our ride at 3am was much different than usual. I don’t think I ever took notice to how drunk some of the people actually are who try and ride home after the bar… it was amazing in a car wreck type of way. I watched a character spend a solid 2 minutes trying to get his U-lock back together after unlocking his bike, then proceed to do the swerve move when your attempting to get up to speed on your bike for a good 500m. Ahh anyway, the ride home with little to no traffic and low temps was fun. Ripping around on the cruiser, seeing the usually bustling streets dead.. its hard to beat that. It also reminded me that while I was off the bike for 2 months, there had been a lot of new Strava segments made in the city and some KOMs I lost during that time. A few late night/early morning sessions are in order to get some KOMs back once I can mash the pedals again.

Saturday morning got the car inspected (im pretty exited about this).

Went to a bbq that turned into a block party.

Then out to the burbs for some birthday wishes and to keep my buddy company after a compound leg fracture last week.  Riding a bmx bike for a living has its advantages and disadvantages.  I think the pain pills + beer kept him in a good mood though.

After getting back to the city a later that night and then off to another birthday party, I got to bed and woke up early to head down for a race at the naval yard. I wasn’t racing but had some friends/teammates who I could cheer on.

After the race we rode up to a friends new restaurant and got some food/ice cream.

Good to be back.

Been going crazing the last few weeks months sitting in the car. Last night I decided I ‘had to’ ride in. It would be a shame if I missed the entire summer of riding to work in bibs and a jersey. It was humid out and I forgot about all the distinct smells that come from West Philly, but it was great. Seriously made my weekend and it hasn’t even started yet. the only thing I had in the back of my mind is don’t push too hard, take it easy for once. I did pretty well. Should have probably small ringed a few of the ‘climbs’ but oh well. Cant wait to build the miles back up and get back on track.

Fart Museum.

Looks the same to me.

Road bike is down atm. That’s why you need 7 back up bikes.

Back back in the saddle

Sundays quick ride at French Creek was the first time I’ve ridden in over 2 months that my knee hasn’t been hurting/throbbing by the end of the ride. Mind you I wasn’t pushing it too too hard, and only did 7 miles. So last night I wanted to gauge how the knee was actually doing. The knee was going to feel better, or I was going back to the doctors.

I met up with a couple buddies for a loop around Fairmount. After warming up a bit I gave a few ‘spirited’ goes. The legs felt great, they’ve never been this well rested before, but the lungs… well they felt like shit. After a small effort my heart rate was pegged to the roof waaaay too quickly. I looked down, 200bmp… not good at all. A couple of the big ring climbs turned into me painting in the small ring. The legs still were able to put the pain in, the lungs just weren’t able to recover. I know im out of shape right now but I couldn’t be more excited to be back on the bike.

The last 2 months after CTC have been brutal with the lack of riding/racing. Game plan is to jump back in pretty easy, maybe commute a day or two and see how it goes. I’m just excited to see some progression in the knee finally. Never was expecting the recovery to take this long but good things are on the horizon, plus its almost cyclocross season!

My buddies back up full DA Colnago.  Ive never gotten into the old steel revolution but this is a sweet rig.

Weekend

This weekend was a busy one. There is actually some cycling that happened as well, fancy that! The cats have started to enjoy the hanging bikes. Ive found that our one cat really enjoys the bar ends, shifters, or seat to do his head scratching.

Next up was checking out my buddies band who was playing at the re-opened jazz club, Ortlieb’s Lounge.  The history of the tavern and the brewery next to it is pretty interesting.

Saurday we cruised out to the burbs.  On the way we did some damage at Su Tao, a vegan Chinese buffet.  I think it might be my favorite of the many buffets in the area since you can also enjoy non-heart stopping food like salad/fruit.

We drove out to West Chester for the pro race called the Ironhill Twilight Criterium.  The course is a four corner crit downtown in the city.  There are always a few crashes in the beginning and usually a break that gets away.  This year was the same.  Its always wild to watch how fast these guys truck.  Its like a whole different ball game.

We stayed out in the burbs that night and drove out to French Creek State Park for a trail race the lady was doing.  I brought the cross bike, a cowbell, and a camera.  I also brought my ‘viva la tour’ socks!  The trails out there are pretty much covered in rocks.  Some of it was ridable on a cross bikes, others were hike-a-bike.  I didn’t ride all that much but was able to cheer/cowbell-it-up at various locations.  Some guy even recognized my cowbell from a previous trail race, I guess in thew world of running they done use cowbells much?

After the race we got our history on at Hopewell Furnace.

We played with some farm animals for a bit then cruised home to relax before the work week.

The 4th

It was nice to have Wednesday off, but most of the day felt like a Sunday for some reason. We just moved into out new apartment this month and still trying to figure things out. It’s still a 1 bedroom and a tad smaller, but a lot cheaper. The last few days Ive been trying to figure out bike storage as 6+ ‘indoor’ bikes need theyre own space. I had envisioned a fleet staying in the basement but with the dirt floor its just a bit too damp/muggy for the nicer bikes. I have been eying up the stairwell into the basement though and figured that would be a perfect place to hang a few of them. Ive been slowly building up my own tool collection as projects come up as well. Nothing better than buying new tools, other than maybe buying a new bike

I put the Tour de France on http://www.steephill.tv/ and got to work. After a bit of drilling, some Tour watching, and screwing in some cheap bike hooks, there were 3 bikes out of the way. Only 3 more to go. I have some ideas but need to pick up some masonry bits and vertical bike hangers for the rest.

After feeling productive with my morning activities we were off to a bbq or two.  The lady had made a couple dishes, one included a red/white/blue bunt cake.

Next up was firework watching.  After stopping for dinner we cruised to a friends with a roof deck.  If you’ve never been around the city during the fireworks it gets nuts and fast, especially if your close to the art museum.  Even riding through the traffic is wild as its gridlocked and most of the people aren’t use to driving in the city.

Mandatory firework shot.

Zzzzzz

Ive been slacking pretty hard these days, I know.  The problem is this blog is about my commute to work, on a bike, not  in a car… so I have very little to report.  Im still off the bike as far as anything excessive goes and really trying to limit the amount of time I ride other than to get groceries/around town.  I need my knee to heal completely and properly asap as i think im seriously going stir crazy.

Quick recap of the last two weeks:

The lady and I cruised out a day to meet up with some teammates on the SRT.

Shes been trying to get some miles in for her first season of racing cyclocross this fall and an upcoming duathlon in a month or so.  Shes almost got the look down which as we know is 90-95% of the game.

Im not glad to be off the bike but it has been HOT and a humid around these parts.  Ive been trying to relax as much as possible, stretch, and strengthen the knee.  But mostly just the relaxing part.  Theres been a couple random pool sessions.

And motorbike rides to the beach.

Last night I cruised through Chinatown on the way to meet up with a buddy.  I was impressed by the hanging American flag banners thatthey had all over strung up.  I guess everyones in the spirit.

Cruiser/city bike in full force.  I even threw the lady bug bell on her to spruce things up though it rings over every crack and crebvice in the road, which is why I think I took it off before.  I also picked up a new front blinky.  Its a knog rechargeable via usb thats integrated into the light.  No more finding wires or needing to bring/keep them at work, its plug and recharge.  I also really likeed the light output.  Too soon to tell about quality and longevity but all in time.  Ill report back.

City hall was a blur.  I forgot how much fun it is to cruise around the city when there are little to no cars.  It was a great night.

They do.