BI Trip Photos

I have posted some photos of a family trip to BI during my recent Vaca in RI...

18 miles in RI

I just road 18 miles at 16.7 mph on the back roads of Wakefield RI.  Nice Ride.  I took a couple of roads otherwise unridden before. One of them was tree covered and with some great twists and turns, then back to the beach on RT 1, fast!  Took it relatively easy today to be fresh for tomorrows longer ride with Nick.    Off to BI this afternoon for some beach and sun.  I look forward to the ride home with Kelt and a cigar.

Rest day...Off to play golf

Today I went back to CT to resign from the Hartford school system, and do some laundry.  I left RI at 5am and made it back before noon.  I am now headed out to play golf on my day off from cycling.  I am not really into playing golf, but what the heck, when in Rome...   I won't really get a chance to practice first so I don't expect too much.  Should be interesting, and I will definitely get my moneys worth.  Playing at Weekapaug in Misquamicut RI.  A shorter 9 holer with lots of wind to make it challenging.  They also packed it with pot bunkers in key landing zones, which toughened it up a bit, but I think they help frame the fairways and greens.
Eating at Crazy Burger afterwards in Naragansett...Yummy.

30 miles under 2 hours out in Kingston RI

Road for the last 3 days in RI, today for 30 miles in just under 2 hours.  A great ride on some bike friendly roads.  Took the bike path in Wakefield up to the train station, then down rt 138 to route 2.  Rt 2 is a bike route with a wide shoulder, and some very fast roads, even the hills, which even for RI existed.  Then to rt. 1, which is known as a TT's dream road.  I did the first 10 miles in less than 13 mph, that mean the last 20 was extremely FAST for me alone....NICE!
Fixed my crank which was making noise.  I had to tighten both the Bottom Bracket, and the crank bolts, and they were quiet as mice today.  The portable tool kit I bought on Nasbar.com paid for itself with that one fix.
I have to return to CT tomorrow to file my resignation letter, and do some other errands, so it will be an full day of rest.  I will be going back in the early afternoon to play golf at Weekapaug with Nuni and Bubba.
Eating at Crazy Burger tomorrow night.  Crazy burger is an eclectic establishment that catters too vegans and the health food crowd.  I will be getting the black bean burger.  It is good!
Hopefully Thursdays rain with hold off till the evening so I can ride in the AM.  Open mic night at Tara's in Matunick, and Ben is going to play...Awesome!  I will be making my three bean chilli for the crowd.

Two shops ride...slowly...

OK I road the two shops ride today to Berlin and Cromwell to home, about 24 miles very slowly.  The first 8 I did at about 16, but slowed significantly after that tow an avg of about 13 mph.  A good base building ride. Yesterday I had an intestinal thing going on all day, severe gas.  I guess that sapped my strength a bit.  I did not sleep well because of it until about 4 this morning I was just trying to get comfy.  A good sweat today helped, but I still feel it a bit.  Going to fast a bit today I think. 
Headed to RI this morning for the week, although I will be back mid week to take care of some business with CREC, and resign from Hartford before Friday.  I hope to ride each day in RI, mainly mornings, and fish in the PM...NICE!  I want to run out to BI to fish the south east shore for Strippers if I am allowed. However, Fluke is always on the menu!
Should be an interesting week with everyone there.  Not sure if we will all fit, but we shall see.  Going to be over by the biker bar on Matunik Beach, I do not look forward to this at all.  I am not a night person or bar person.  I like the quiet and restfull, but my adult kids should enjoy it.

Hills....I hate hillls...Again!

Yes I do...I HATE HILLS!  Went to Marlborough for 20 miles of hills.  Tonight Nick and I road with Scott Sieka, one of Nick work buddies.  He is doing the Block Island Tri next weekend, so as part of his training, Nick wanted to get him to ride with us.  He did quite well, being new to cycling this year.  He is tall at about 6'2", so hill are about as much fun for him as for me.  Being alot younger though, he managed them better.  I still managed to run away from both of them on the flats...NICE!  I did manage the hills better today, averaging 14 MPH which is a personal best for me on that route.  The 3 mile hill near the end of the ride felt better than the steep rollers in the beginning.  My one pet peave on that ride is there is no warm up, it is about a 1.5 mile hill right of the bat.  Although not steep, it still gets my heart rate in the red, which puts me at a disadvantage right of the bat, and don't recover until much later, making the middle of the ride slow. 
We went to Loco Noco (or something like that) for blackened chicken Fajitas.  I ate two of the 4 and brough the rest home for tomorrow breakfast with eggs...Yummy. 
Recovery ride tomorrow on the flats to get rid of some lactic acid built up in my legs.  I need to go out early before the rains though.

New Bottom Bracket ON!

Well I received my order from Nashbar.com for the new BB6601 Shimano Ultegra SL Bottom Bracket and Tifosi Glasses.  I bought the Tifosi's because my other riding glasses are too small for my NOSE.  No surprise to anyone who knows me.  They are quite large, and fit nicely. I changed to the Orange lenses as I am going to ride tonight near dusk.  I also installed a new BB, an Ultegra Sl version of the Ultegra I had already on.  I bought it cheaply, mostly to match the color scheme of my bike, as the SL is icey grey...NICE.  They disappear into the frame.  I had a tough time getting the old ones out as I starting the right side the wrong way, but it came out eventually.  I used web grease to install them, and it sticks to everything.  I used it because I could not find my Phil Wood grease.  I figured the BB would be a good place for this stuff as it seals better and might lube longer in the BB than phil. 
Going out for a group ride tonight at 6pm.  Have to call Dave to get the route so I can put it on my Garmin.  Hope I can hang onto the B group tonight.

Dura Ace on...19 mile ride at 16 mph... NICE

After watching the TDF, I went to Cycling Concepts to have Zander put on the new DA 7900 rear D.  From there I did a quick loop through Cromwell back to CC and then home.  I did not do a long ride, because tomorrow is a group ride and my brother wants me fresh for that, (No excuses he says).  What he doesn't know is that I always have one...
Did not have breakfast or lunch yet, just a couple of GU's.  Starving...
Found my Garmin in the car yesterday, and it was a relief to have it back.  Nice to have stats.

My new Dura Ace 7900 Rear Derailleur.

Rush and Dura Ace 7900 Rear D...

Last night my brother Nick and I went to a Rush Concert at the Mohegan Sun.  This was possibly the 6th time for me, and many more for Nick.  They were amazingly tight and played Moving Pictures almost in totality during the last set.  Neil was of course incredible on the drums.  The first set was rather mellow, and almost put me to sleep, but they rocked the second set. 
Prior to the show we went to Bubba's, and I had BBQ Chicken with rice and beans.  Since I drove I did not drink any beer, which I surprisingly did not miss.  For the ride home, I bought two Fonseca Cabana Reserve Belicosa's for the ride home that turned out to be less than spectacular.  The creolo wrapper made the smoke leathery, and with no drink, just made my mouth dry.
I am going to ride out to Cycling Concepts just to work my legs and to find out where the group ride is for tomorrow, then I will take the Cynergy Class tonight, as my legs are stiff as hell.
Nick bought me a new rear Derailleur for my birthday, a Shimano Dura Ace 7900 to match my rear cog set of 28-11.  The thing is like a fine watch or work or art.  So light, yet amazingly rugged, and so finely crafted.  This replaces my Ultegra SL, which will go on the spare parts shelf.  I also bought a new bottom bracket that I will replace at the same time.  I am going to wait until I have both pieces and till after the Group Ride on Wednesday, but before my trip to RI, to replace both, as I only want to take the chain off once.  I will also clean and repack all my bearing during the mid season tune up.
I will be in RI for next week at Matunick Beach, over Tara's Pub.  I know my boys will enjoy the bands next door.  I am not sure I look forward to the late nights anymore, but will have some fun anyway.  I want to get some serious fishing in during that week off of the block.  Hopefully catching some strippers, but definitely some Fluke for dinner. That might be my only chance to get any meat that week, as my dad is a Vegan.

Lymann Orchard Ride...HOT!

Today after taking my daughter cloths shopping, I road out to Lymann Orchards in Middlefield 36.52 miles according to mapmyrides.com.  I still don't have my Garmin so I do not know more stats than that.  It was a HOT HUMID ride, so I stopped 4 times along the route to get cooled off: Twice at Cycle Concepts (once going, once coming home), at Lymann orchards where I had a freshly picked peach, and at Pedal Power to dunk my head. 
Going out the wind was briskly in my face, but many hills made that OK. Coming home along route 3 was very fast.  With the wind at my back, I could maintain a high cadence and speed...Fun!  This would be my second longest ride to date, since my re-emergance, and it felt great.  My legs now are tired, but not spent.  I hydrated well, and was able to keep cool by dunking my head and cleaning my headsweats at each stop along the ride.
I came home and had my three bean chilli over rice, yummy.  Made it with 99% lean ground turkey this time, needed the protein. 
Tomorrow is a rest day as I am headed to RI to finish fixing the Egg.

Long slow two shop ride...

Today I road my two shop ride, but extended it quite a bit, about 30 miles or more, (no garmin so I could not tell speed or distance; left it in RI).  This morning I drove to Newington Cycle to get a few things, and to see about getting a Fixing Bolt for my Crank.  Hopefully they will remember to call.  Bought a chain cleaner with degreaser for the next time I clean the chain.  I then road to Cycle Concepts and had Zander re-wrap my handlebars with Bontrager Tape (White).  I went from there to Cromwell near the TPC, out to Berlin Cycle.  There I saw Scott, who is a racer, and the man who did my bike fitting this spring.  Road fromt there back to Cycle Concepts because I forgot my headsweats sweatband.  Dave had thrown it out because it was nasty dirty.  I knew I had left it because the sweat was just pouring down my face onto my glasses on the ride to Berlin Cycle. I love those headsweats!  I then road to Rocky Hill Center, down to Old Wethersfield, and finished by going up NOTT STREET.  Wow.  Actually a good thing not having my Garmin along.  I was able to ride by feel, and felt better in the long run. 
I think I am going to make some chilli today. I have to get some turkey breast through, so I will be off to the store soon.
Tomorrow is suppose to be hot and humid.  A morning ride no doubt.

Hills....I hate hillls...

Yes, I will say it again....I hate hills. Road with Nick tonight out in Marlborough.  Although we only did 11 miles, it was a tough 11 miles tonight.  It was humid, which my big body does not like, so our time was slow.  I managed to recover by the end, but wow...I love the shoreline...Flat! 
Bought a ping pong table for my brother for his birthday, and dropped that off tonight.  I cannot wait to play.  Should be fun. 
No dinner tonight, but need to eat something. Maybe a salad, I just don't want to make it.  Not really hungry though, so I might just have a granola bar with peanut butter and call it a night. 
Tomorrow bring another day, with a long slow ride out to the res maybe, or maybe to middletown to pedal power to see if they have a Fixing bolt for my crank. 

There's a hole in the boat, fill it up....

The weekend and early part of this week was spent fixing the rotten wood on the 1966, 39 ft Egg Harbor all wood, now with fiber glassed deck boat.  This is my Dad's baby.  Last week Nick took the egg to BI, and found that the anchor would not work (Windless).  The switch had stuck in the up position causing too much tension on the chain, and upon inspection found the whole front deck of the boat had gone to mush.  Nick surgically removed all the rotten cross members and decking, and we began the rebuilding of the deck to support the Windless.  Thanks to an Old sailor, Dave, who had done work on the boat before, we were able to fix the decking, but still need to attach and seal the Windless to the platform Dave carved out.  We got the last piece of Marine Plywood down and it the rain let loose.  I was merely a peon on this mission, which was just fine with me, with Nick taking the reigns.  I will be in RI for the whole week of the 24th, and hope no other issues arise. 
Nick and I will be going back down on Saturday, and I will forgo the Muster to finish the project, as my services will be needed to lift and hold the pull pit to the deck for attachment.  My main contribution, other than being a gofer, I kept telling them I am a golfer not a gofer, but no go, was to recondition the motor and drive shaft for the anchor chain.  This came out beautiful....:)  Simple things for simple minds I guess. 
I did get to ride on Monday, only about 11 miles at 17.2 MPH.  The ride would have been longer, but I had a flat on the rear.  Our first venture into C02, and it worked like a dream.  I did notice a slight wine on my bike when cranking out of the saddle.  I think it might be my front hub or bottom bracket.  I bought a new Ultegra SL bottom bracket just in case, and should be here next week for install.  I have to repack the front hub, and clean and oil the bike, because it rained last night on the return trip.  I also need to re-tape my handlebars.  I think I will let the shop do that today before our ride tonight, Maybe. 

swimming

With the heat I went over to Healthtrax in Newington and lifted a full body circuit with mini-circuits for chest flys and arms.  In addition, yesterday and today I swam laps.  Yesterday for about 1/2 hour, and today 20 laps or about 15 minutes.  This was after a morning ride on both days.  It seems to help keep my legs limber.  I also did a quick stretch in the outdoor hot tub...Nice!

Slow and easy...

The answer to the facebook question was: YES, I DID RIDE!  However, because of my previous two days of hot long rides, I choose to ride a bit flatter route slow and easy.  I did my Old Wethersfield ride of about 20 miles at 13.3 mph.  I tried to keep my heart rate max under 140 and avgHR at or around 110.  This would enable me an "Active" recovery day on the bike.  Doing this my legs felt great until I was pushing my HR into the 130's, then they were tired.  Tomorrow is going to be a rainy day, or storms, and I will be going to RI, so most likely tomorrow will be an full rest day for me.  Doing around 100 miles this week in the heat, they need it.
I am going to relax now and watch the TDF on Versus till 11:30, and then go to the gym to soak and stretch in the hot tub.  Then off to Sears to buy my brother a B-Day present: Ping Pong Table.  This is somewhat selfish, as I love to play, and he has the perfect place for it.

Early morning ride to the Res...

Road out early this morning at about 6:30 am on the Reservoir ride.  The ride is a somewhat hilly 30 mile route around the New Britain Reservoir and back.  This brings me up to about 90 miles this week total.  The sweat was dripping off of me like water off a faucet.  I am sure glad I had two water bottles, one with water to poor over my head.  Another slow go of it, but right now miles in the saddle are more important that speed. 
On one of the long downhill on the back side of the res I managed to catch a car....NICE!  I am also feeling a bit more confident on the hills, as I am able to keep up a spin longer, and even ride out of the saddle in bigger gears cranking over most rollers.  I still have a long way to go, but it is coming. 
When I got back I made myself and hot pepper omelet with egg beaters on a whole wheat wrap...I used Mancini Long Hots, love them.
Going to watch the 5th stage of the TDF for the last hour now...Cao.

Long slow ride to middletown and back...

Although I got started later than I wanted, due to an uncharge Garmin, I managed to get in 27 miles going to Middletown and back via Berlin Bike Shop.  On my way into Cromwell by Lowes, My chain came apart due to poor shifting on my part, and I had to stop and find the master link.  I manage to get it back together and on the road, but lost another 20 minutes to the heat.  Road up the hill into Middletown, and then back Rt 3 into Rocky Hill to Cycle Concepts.  I got there about 9am, an hour before the shop opened.  I decided to wait it out, because I wanted to make sure the chain was ok to ride on.  I went to Dunkin to cool off and wet my head down to cool off, as sweat was pooring down my helmet from Cromwell to Rocky Hill.  I manage to get both my water bottles filled, and moved a picnic table to the shade, and waited having a gu, Vanilla Bean...N ICE!  I drank a whole water bottle while waiting the hour.  Dave came a bit early, and check my chain out before opening the store, and I road home.  Road very showly on the last part of the ride, as the heat index had climbed dramatically. 

Strategy for riding in heat that worked for me,  2 water bottles: 1 drink mix (gatorade) and 1 water.  This was key as I used to water to cool my head at lights, and on the road.  

New Job....NICE!

Today was my last day as a Hartford System of Schools Employee, as I was offered and excepted the job at This being a mill stone summer for me in many ways: turning 50, new job, and being healthy and more fit.
Exciting to me was the encouragement I got to refine and market my "Fitness 1st" program over the coming year. "Fitness 1st" is a cycle of health fitness processes students can use as a tool to improve their Health Fitness Assessment Scores. It utilizes a web component that I created to track student score, ongoing physical activity, physical activity goal setting and planning, and much more.  The crucial component of Fitness 1st is the cycle, which is not dependent upon any computer integration, but is just sound fundamental adherence principals in action.  They wanted to know if I could package and market this tool for others throughout the state, and that has already been put in place.  This is a big opportunity for me.
Only one drawback so far is my vacation is cut short by one week, as I must start August 23rd.  A small conciliation, and one I am more than willing to sacrifice.  The other is that the commute is just outside my comfort zone for commuting by bike.  I might drive part way and park in a commuter lot and ride from there on nice days. Another would be to ride once there on the bike path that runs along the Farmington River. Most likely I will be doing a combination of the two.
Well here's to brighter days ahead!

Recovery Ride...

After yesterday's fast ride, Nick and I road a slower recovery ride in RI.  Took some back streets, and a bit on RT 1 for about 10 miles at 14 avgMPH.  Although it was hot, it was not humid, so the riding was easy.  Nick had to take care of his girls before leaving so I road along East Matunick Beech to Jim's Dock in Jerusalem adding about 4.5 miles to the ride.  My Garmin went down, battery, so I did not have any tools to use, or analyze later.  I used Perceived Exertion, which I do not like to do.  Tomorrow may be a late afternoon ride after my final interview with CREC.  We will be talking Money and Contract most likely.  We shall see.

RI Ride...Fast...

Well on the 4th, my brother Nick and I road in RI about 17 miles at 17 mph.  This is a personal best for me. We even started slowly, but as we made our way out of the bike bath in Wakefield, we cranked it up a notch.  A fairly short ride, due to time constraints.  We then went down the pond to Hanson's by boat, and had lunch, Veggie Burger.  Although it was hot on the ride, it wasn't as bad a I thought it would be.  Took both water and Gatorade for hydration.  My legs felt great today as I took yesterday off completely.

In looking back on my garmin training center files, this time last year I was riding shorter 9 & 12 miles at about 12 mph.  Today, we did 17 at 17 mph, which is a nice jump in performance.  Hopefully I will see that same improvement, or 1/2 that in the next year to get to 19 mph.  That would be great, although far shy of my distant past pinnacle.  I would actually be happy just to maintain, or get to a better pace on the hills, my next goal.  To get there I will have to loose more body mass, but I am not sure I have more than 20 fat lbs left.  I definitely don not want to loose muscle mass.

Tomorrow, I might leave RI early to ride in Essex, but we shall see.

Recovery Ride...

After last nights Hills of Hell, I had a slow recovery ride today through Berlin, about 19 miles at 14 mph.  The wind was with me on the way out, but in my face on the ride back.  Although the weather was dry and cool the wind was not so forgiving.  My legs, and more my hip flexors, were sore and tired.  Stopped at both the Berlin and Cycle Concepts bike shops to say hi, and bought some new lube because I lost my old stuff somewhere. 
Going to go clean and lube my chain, and moving parts for a ride tomorrow in Chester.

Hills....I hate hillls...

Last night I road out in Marlborough will my brother.  We did our 18 mile loop around his house, (actual about 19 miles).  The ride is very hills, most short steep hills that never give me time to recover my heart rate.  The first part of the ride was very hard for me yesterday, as I could not catch my wind.  Probably from smoking the cheep cigars I bought last time.  The second part of the ride was very fast, for me anyway, as I caught my second wind  The final 3 or 4 miles has a mile long or more hill which usually kicks my ass, but last night I was able to maintain a cadence in a bigger gear and got up it no problem.  Right after that is a steeper hill, although much shorter, which I did not have legs left to climb. 
Nick says that these rides will make me stronger, but I just say, "I hate hills!".  Being a heavy riders makes hills no fun for me, not even going down.  I prefer the flats or rollers.  I can maintain a pace, and even out my heart rate so it does not always spike.  It also allows for me to warm up properly and does not put such a strain on these old legs and heart of mine.  Today, I am going to ride out through Cromwell again, my two shop tour, rollers...NICE!
To date I have 1233 miles on my garmin.  This is how many miles I have on my Tommaso road bike, give or take 100 miles.  I have many more miles commuting though, where I do not use my Garmin.  This week I have 63 miles in so far, going to 100. 
Might order chinese today, Steamed chicken and veggies over white rice.  Probably will make it though.  I like mine better.