2 Ferry Ride in the books...

The weather was perfect for a long ride, slightly overcast and cool.  We began early, 7:30 am to ride the 100M Century through Central CT.  During the beginning of the ride, through a dirt covered road that was tree covered and damp, I got some kind of asthma attach or something.  Although I recovered from that about 5 miles down the road, I decided to turn back to do the 62 mile ride somewhere in Killingworth.  My brother Nick went on to complete the 100M journey through the hilly course.  By the end I had done 72.,3 miles at around 14 mph, including the ferry crossings.  Just east of the river we took 151 most of the way back to Glastonbury Ferry, and it was a bear!  Hilly is not the word.  Total accent was around 5000 ft. with most of that being EAST of the river...Wow!  Needless to say I took my time, and took it relatively easy on the hills, but did push some of the fatter parts and rollers.  My rear wheel needs a bit of a truing job, which I am too tired to do right now.  Tomorrow is a better day to do maintenance.  Got back to the Shop and had a cookout on the lawn...Nice!  Had a great chicken kabob, a hot dog and a hamburger...after burning 7000+ KCals, I felt I could indulge.
The Men and Women of Cycling Concepts did a great job putting on the ride...Thanks Keith!

Getting ready for the Century...

Tomorrow is the Two Ferry Century Ride out of Cycling Concepts in Rocky Hill. This ride has alot of hills, and as we all know Hills are not my Favorite thing to do.  Nick and I will be riding this ride together, and eiter riding 100 mile or 100 K, either way it will be a century.  Since I have already surpassed 100 miles this summer, I do not feel the need to do the 100 mile this time, but will go with what Nick wants to do tomorrow morning.   Below is the 100 mile Route -






Here is the 100 K ride that I just created.





Both Route have serious elevation changes.  Let's see what tomorrow brings.  Off to Cynergy!

Tour of Hartford in the books...

I just got home from riding in the tour of Hartford where I was a Marshall at the Keney Park entrance.  I started out in the front of the 1000 riders or so, and having to stay in the front and make it to Keney (about 20 miles) before anyone else....Oh man.  Not to mention the fact that I was on my sirrus, which is a commuter bike.  It was a good thing I changed my wheels Thursday night, as they came it handy.  I really had to push it to stay out in front, although the numberous lights helped. 
When I got to Keney, I had to direct traffic around the loop through the park.  The came in across the ongoing exiting bike and car traffic, not good.  It as an eye opener.  Bikers are funny about stop signs, they do not use them.  However this stop sign was imparitive that you stopped.  I observed that the more experience a rider has, the more daring they become.  The touring and mountain bikers, on the whole, stopped at the stop sign and waited for oncoming traffic, but true roaders ran right through it at speed.  It was only dumb luck that anyone did not get killed.  Almost every car took the time to stop for the bikes, and were very courteous, not the roaders...:(  This goes back to an earlier post were I blast roaders for not being more friendly on the road, same mind set here.  Fast, Fast, Fast....to hell with convention.  (by the way, I am a roader, and I have to admit to doing some of these same things, from time to time). 
All in all about 33 miles in the books. 
Have not eaten all day really except for granola bars and bananas.  Not sure what I want for dinner tonight...Might just order chinese again, or something from Vitos, like pasta primavera.
Tomorrow, I will be riding again, weather permitting, but back on my Tomasso where I belong...

Getting ready for the Tour of Hartford bicycle ride tomorrow...

Tomorrow I will be a marshall for the Tour of Hartford Bicycle Ride, and needed to get my Sirrus ready for the trip.  I have not ridden this bike all summer, as it is my commuter bike.  The ride is very slow, and most likely I will be a sweaper, which means I will be going even slower.  The glass and debre on Hartford streets is amazing, so I needed to change tires.  I put on my old Gatorskins on my 36 spoke Mavic Open Pro's.  I also had to change the cog set on the Ultegra Hubs to the 8 speed used on the sirrus.  The wheels that were on there were mountain bike 29er wheel intended for any trail riding I might do this past summer, of which I did NONE.  Took the cog set off of those wheels and put them on the Open Pro's.  I did have the OP's on my Tommaso until I recently bought my Dura Ace wheels, so changing them to the sirrus was a big upgrade. 
After mounting the wheels I check and cleaned the Rear and Front D and brakes.  I had to adjust the rear D a bit, watched a Performance video online, and it was a snap to make the needed adjustment.  Tightened the rear brakes because the rim is slimmer.  The last thing I had to do was change the seat height and angle, and now I am ready to ride.  I think I will take a quick ride on the sirrus tonight to make any last minute adjust and fine tune the ride a bit, especially to the SEAT!
Look forward to the lazy pace tomorrow.  Come join us at Bushnell Park in Hartford tomorrow at 9 for the ride.

100K DONE!

Today my brother and I road in the Cycle Concepts May Day 100K Century in Glastonbury...60Miles of Hills...Man I hurt everywhere, but especially my Butt!  My first Metric Century since re-emerging, and it was challenging, but I made it.  60 miles at 12.3 MPH, avgExHR was 131, MaxExHR was 158.  I burnt nearly 5000KCals.  Had a Veggie Burger upon return, then Nick and I went for a quick beer at Giovanni's Pizza.  Came home and callapsed in my chair after a shower.  Turned the Air Conditioning on and waiting for the house  to cool off for my Nap! 
Ordered Chinese, chicken and chinese veggies in a garlic sause.  I deserve it! 
Wonder what I will feel like tomorrow!