Adventures in Motion

Vacation

2012-01-08T19:38:00.001-05:00

Atlanta, Disney, Atlanta. Great first adventure of the year! Traveling with a almost 5 yr. old and my pregnant wife was interesting, but great! Visited my sister in the ATL, grandparents and other family in Florida and Mickey Mouse at Disney. Truly Magical!

Magical Place

2012-01-04T21:39:00.001-05:00

Dirty South

2012-01-02T17:21:00.001-05:00

Hotlanta

Kent's Bike Blog: How Bikes Can Save Us

2011-12-13T10:56:00.000-05:00

Kent's Bike Blog: How Bikes Can Save Us: Thanks to BikePortland.org for pointing out the wonderful infographic below. It's contains a lot of good info in an easily digested form. C...

November

2011-11-19T21:18:00.001-05:00

Road trip to Michigan. 4 dudes one car.

Pontiac Lake.

Frankenmuth Brewery

Iceman Cometh

Bell's Beer

Potawatomi

Leaves

Revelate Tangle bag

Wookies

Quality time with the Vaya

Kent Moon Tower

More time with the Vaya

Food

Sick boy

No snow yet!!!!! Yay!

October S24O

2011-10-12T21:19:00.001-04:00

Got out for a last minute overnighter followed by a extended ride home on Saturday.

I left the house Friday night and rode 32 miles down towards Massillon on the Ohio Erie Canal Towpath. I arrive at the campground around 8:45 and realized I should have scoped it out better because, I packed my ENO hammock, and there weren't any trees in the campground the right distance for the hammock. So after deciding not to sleep on the ground, I searched around the wooded area just off the campground and found a perfect spot.

After setting up the hammock I ate dinner, chatted with a couple of guys who had ridden up from Navarre to camp, and around 11:00 I went to sleep. Well tried to sleep. This was my first hammock camping experience, and I need to work on the set up. I would fall asleep and dream I was in a hammock. Not fun:(

I got up and moving around 8:00am. I didn't have to get home until 3:30, so I took a little tour of a few counties. I rode the Towpath until it intersected with the Sippo Valley trail and took that trail to Dalton where it ends. From there I rode around Orrville where I came across some cool sites. One was this little airfield that had a bunch of skydivers.

I also came across, which at some point my kinfolk lived.

And finally, miles of tar and chip roads, sunshine and cool old barns.

After riding around Orrville, I rode through Seville and stopped for a much needed lunch at Subway. From there I headed through Medina and visited my brother in law at work, then stopped to see a few more friends before heading back to Akron to get cleaned up and go to our friends wedding.

It's days like these that I dream of epic bicycle adventures. I dream of that one day where I have nothing in front of me but open road. I makes me dream of the Great Divide. Then I realize, I just had more adventure on my bike in 103 miles and less than 24 hours than alot of people. I was a great weekend.

The Weekend So Far

2011-09-10T15:32:00.001-04:00

Friday night a group of us rode from Peninsula to Kent for a burrito run to Taco Tonto's. I had intened on bringing my cooler with some beverages, but in my frenzy to leave the house, I left it full of ice on the dining room table.

My second mistake of the evening was bringing the Big Dummy. I was declared the purse of the ride. Papa D's sweater(and beer), Fuzzyman's wallet, keys, and mobile communication device, and Kevlar's rain jacket. The only persons crap I didn't have carry, was the Russian's. I really didn't mind since I got to carry the beer!

It was a relaxing pace, though it seemed to get dark fast! It may be because there was a storm looming around, which we totally dodged! We got to Taco Tonto's and while we ate it rained. We followed up our burrittos with a beer at Ray's a staple bar in Kent. When we left Ray's, the rain had stopped, which left us wet roads to do some long skids on the Big Dummy. The funny part was, when I would hit a bump, the empty beer bottles, from our earlier beer stop, would clank loudly.

Once we got closer to Peninsula I realized the night was coming to an end. So, with a mile and a half to go, we all stopped and BS'ed for a few then headed back. What a great night, we ended up with about 33 miles.

Today(Saturday), I went down to Mohican State Park for a mountain bike ride. I started of okay, but the combination of 6 hrs. of sleep and the previous night fun, I fatigued early. At mile 20 I started feeling good again for the final 5.

Hopefully tomorrow the weather will cooperate so I can ride to work.

Checking in

2011-09-07T19:31:00.001-04:00

Been spending some time with the family.

Went for some rides, but nothing epic.

Broke a seat mountain biking.

And did 1 S24O.

That's All Folks!

Perfect Saturday

2011-07-16T16:35:00.001-04:00

Though it wasn't a high mileage, epic, or that much of an adventure ride today it was fun. The Tomster and I did a little Towpath ride from Clinton to Massillon and back for 26.25 miles on the Big Dummy. I actually was going to check out one of the campgrounds down that way that I hadn't seen before, for a S24O in a couple weeks.

The camp area is super nice and is about 30 miles from my house so, it is perfect. For an added bonus you can actually build a fire in the fire pit!

We also got to see some Canal horses on the ride, though we really wanted to see the Canal boats running, but they weren't.

Just a fabulous sunny July day! One thing we did, that I had never done before was, stop at Ernie's Bike Shop/ Ice Cream Shop/Deli for lunch. I had a Rueben with chips and shared the chips and a Orange Crush with Tommy. Now I am home relaxing in the hammock!

Salsa Vaya

2011-07-10T10:36:00.001-04:00

40 miles on the Vaya so far, and have already changed the drivetrain. Swapped out XTR rear derailleur and 12-34 mountain cassette, for a Ultegra rear derailleur and 11-25 road cassette. The mountain bike rear with road compact up front was way to low.

Also, I've added fenders and a rear rack. Mostly out of boredom.

Happy 4th of July!

2011-07-04T20:53:00.001-04:00

I had a great 4th of July. The wife and I went down to Pittsburgh to go to REI, lunch, and a little bike ride.

After shopping at REI, we went to Fat Head's restaurant and had some great cheese steaks. It had really fresh jalapeños, tasty beef, exceptionally fresh bread, and of course cheese and onions. I washed it down with a Founder's Centennial IPA and a Stone Arrogant Bastard. When we were ready to go ride our bikes, it started to rain, so I had a Stone Pale Ale until it stopped. Coincidently, Fat Head's has it's own beer, which I did not have, is actually brewed in Cleveland.

When it finally stopped raining we went for a short ride around the Southside of Pittsburgh.

This was my wife's first ride of the season, so we only rode 11 miles, which was fine because the humidity was high and it was close to 90 degrees.

We finally got to ride across the Hot Metal Bridge, and get a good view of the river and Pittsburgh.

Then we finished our fun off with a milkshake.

Mohican 100

2011-06-10T17:56:00.001-04:00

On Saturday June 4th I raced the Mohican 100k MTB race. It was hot, around 8000 feet of climbing, and I did it on my Salsa El Mariachi single speed.
I didn't do as well as I had hoped, but I did beat my time from the last time I did it 2 years ago.

Memorial Day Weekend

2011-06-07T13:34:00.001-04:00

Like most people, we had a busy and fun Memorial Day weekend. Here are a few images.

Aunt Amy was in town and we went for a bike ride on the Towpath Bike Trail.

Smashed thumb on Saturday

Went for a bike ride on Sunday Morning.

Superman ice cream and Blossom Festival.

And finally WV on Memorial Day!

Raleigh Misceo Week One

2011-05-21T07:33:00.001-04:00

Had a few half commutes this week on the "Black Stallion" for a total of 82.24 miles. Though I will continue to commute the 24.24 miles each way, I feel the Misceo would be a better 10-15 mile each way commuter. The bike has perform flawlessly, with the exception of my fender vibrating loose, but I suppose that is a installation error.

When life gives you lemons, get a new bike

2011-05-17T14:38:00.001-04:00

I've had a incredibly shitty month, so to make up for it in material things, I got a new bike. Like my mood it is all black. This is actually a project I've work towards for a few weeks and it just happened to happen at the end or beginning of a dark point in my life depending on how you look at it. Anyways, meet the "Black Stallion" it's a 2011 Raleigh Misceo.

Today was my first ride in on it, so far,so good. Over the next few weeks I'll go over how the bike performs.

First Race of 2011...Fail. Easter Egg Hunt...Win!

2011-05-08T08:51:00.001-04:00

Raced at Vulture's Knob on 4.30.11 at their spring kick-off event. Though I didn't do the greatest, it was fun, and I got to race my new Salsa El Mariachi. Since it was the weekend after Easter, they had a Easter Egg hunt during the race, and since I wasn't counting on winning, I figured I would do my best at finding the eggs. On the course were 7 eggs, that would be turned in at the end of the race for prizes, and if you got the egg with the number 1 on it, you had to drink what they called "Dr. Knob's Concoction". 2 miles in on my first lap, I got a stuffed rabbit with a egg taped to it, which I had to ride with for the remaining 12 miles. On my second lap, I collected the evil egg number 1. I finished the race 6 out of 7 finishers, which helped me coin our new race team motto, " We don't always finish last, but we always try our hardest to".

At the award ceremony, I claimed my prizes. For my random egg I won a Peep basket with some Chamois Butt'r gifts.

And for Egg # 1 I had to drink a really nasty drink that I'm not allowed to tell all the ingredients, but it had Monster Energy Drink, whiskey, and 2 raw eggs. For drinking it and holding it down, I won $50.00! My first money winnings at a race! Even if I didn't keep it down, it would have been glorious, because I had just had a Chipotle burrito and 3 PBR's!

This photo was from Brandon, who left before my big moment of drinking the drink.

Pea pod 3 installed

2011-04-27T18:19:00.001-04:00

Here is my handsome model who is probably only going to be able to ride in it for this summer. Thought we were going to get out for a spin today, but it kept threatening rain. Hopefully Saturday.

It's Spring!

2011-04-11T08:53:00.001-04:00

Didn't take any pictures this weekend except this one.

My riding this weekend started Thursday evening when I expanded my evening commute from 25 to 36 miles. With a brief interruption of rain and work on Friday, my riding continued on Saturday where I met up with a friend to ride the Mohican State Park 25 mile mountain bike loop. We followed that up with a little beer tasting. My friend has recently switched hobbies from endurance mountain bike racing to brewing beer. We sampled his Doppelbock versus Great Lakes Doppelbock. Both were great, same flavor, but the homebrew was better for the simple fact that the flavor hits earlier, and last longer. I think the filtering of the commercial brewery takes some of that away.

After the beer tasting, I decided I wanted to ride more so I went to Vultures Knob in Wooster for a quick 7 mile loop. I ran in to a customer there, who's bike I had just overhauled a few days before. We had a couple beers and talked for a bit about bikes and life. What a great day I had, 4 hours int he woods and some beers.

Sunday was supposed to have a high of 80 so I wasn't going to pass up commuting to work. I rode my Surly Big Dummy in, because I had to take clothes and food with me. I took a little longer route in to enjoy the warmth and tailwind. I ended up with just shy of 31 miles in 2 hours, which was pretty good for a 50 lbs. bike! Work was busy and my legs were feeling sluggish, but it felt great. The ride home just plain sucked. Constant wind out of the south west, and that was the way I was heading. I had dinner plans with the wife, and after 20 miles in to the wind for 2 hours, for the first time, I bagged and called my wife to pick me up. Oh well, it was 80 degrees and sunny, just windy as hell! Ended the weekend with Mexican food and a beer.

Another mobile update test

2011-04-08T12:41:00.001-04:00

The ride home on Sunday. Towpath was super rutted, and 700x25 tires with 120 PSI sucked!

Mmmmmmm! Coffee

2011-03-16T09:08:00.001-04:00

Wednesday morning coffee date with my lovely wife!

A Day of Firsts

2011-03-13T15:50:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was a day of firsts, First singletrack ride of the year, First ride on the El Mariachi, and First Bonk of the season.

We will start with the ride. Brandon and I headed down to Mohican State Park yesterday morning thinking the worst. We have had a ton of rain and snow over the past month, but Mohican is just sandy enough that it doesn't hold much moisture and dries out pretty quickly. Still, we have had a lot of rain and snow, we had decided we still needed to ride off road, despite what the trail conditions were, Brandon's first race is in a month and I had been staring at a freshly built bike. Much to our surprise, other than being a little soft, the 25 mile loop was in fantastic shape, sure there were a few muddy spots, some erosion from the rain and snow melt, and downed trees. I will say that I was in no shape to take on the 25 miles on my single speed, but I did suffer through it, and survive. Barely! At mile 13 I began to wear down, because 1. I was pushing a slightly tall gear for me this early in the season, and 2. I was trying to keep up with Brandon who is 11 years younger than me! Regardless of my bonking, It was nice to spend the day in the woods.

Brandon and his Raleigh Hodala Single Speed

One of the best sections of trail

Another first was the ride on my new Salsa El Mariachi. Any one who has known me for the past few years, knows that I am a huge Surly Bikes disciple, and I have ridden and raced my 2005 Surly Karate Monkey for the past 5 seasons. So, the Salsa had a lot to live up to, and it did not disappoint. I built the Salsa up with a mixture of new and old parts, mostly new. One of the parts I am running on this bike that I haven't ran in the past is a White Brother's Rock Solid rigid carbon fork, and so far I'm pretty happy with it. It seems to move around a bit on washboard type stuff, and on bigger bumps, I just don't look at it. It is very stiff, but also very light. I am also running Hope hubs, this is the first time I haven't run White Industries' freewheels,but I haven't noticed any performance differences good or bad yet. I'm not running tubeless because I already had a pretty new pair of Velocity Blunt rims that I had polished to match my White Industries cranks. The brakes are Avid BB7's with Avid Speed Dial 7 levers which I've used on many bikes since 2002.

Glamour Shot

Post Ride, not too muddy for March in Ohio

As for the ride, the first thing I noticed was the stiffness. I think the two major contributors are the existence of a chainstay bridge which the Karate Monkey doesn't have, and the new Kung Fu tubing. I had only ridden the previous generation El Mariachi in a parking lot , so I can't really compare the two. Compared to the Surly, the Salsa rear end feels a little stiffer. With the carbon fork the bike is definitely lighter, it weighs in at 23.60lbs, which is not featherweight, but neither am I so, it's light enough. When I was decided on this frame, I knew I needed a longer top tube than was on my Karate Monkey which is an 18" frame with a 23.5" top tube. With the Salsa I went with the 20" frame with a 24.5" top tube which stretched me out nicely, and the stand over ended up only changing by a .25 inches. The fit on the Salsa seems to be perfect. Though blue is not my favorite color, it was nice to look down and see the bright blue paint job in stead of black, brown or army green which all of my most recent bikes have been. So, in conclusion of the first ride report, the El Mariachi was a good fit, and a worthy replacement for my beloved Karate Monkey. Hopefully I can get some more time on the Salsa, and hopefully my fitness level goes up, because right now, I can't imagine riding the Mohican 100.

Salsa chainstay bridge

Lack of chainstay bridge on Surly Karate Monkey

Hodala in Da House

2011-03-08T17:57:00.003-05:00

BURGLEKUTT stopped by the shop today!

Brent

2011-03-08T14:21:00.001-05:00

Mobile blog test

Moving On

2011-03-07T16:48:00.000-05:00

Alright, I stretched the San Francisco trip out too long. Day 6 My pregnant wife got food poisoning, and we spent the day in the hospital. That was not fun. I have also been to Minneappolis, for Quality Bicycle Products annual Frostbike event. That was very fun. I looked at cool bike stuff, ate great food, drank good beer, and got stuck there for a extra day and a half, because of a blizzard.

Moving on, I built a new bike over the winter. I had every intention to get a decked out racing carbon Specialized 29er Hardtail, but the availability date kept getting pushed back. Plus, in my head, I already had it parted out and had a different bike built up with it's components. Then, I was going to get a custom steel bike from either Siren, or Bronto. I had the trigger pulled on the Bronto, but between phone calls to put down the deposit and Thanksgiving, my wife informed me we were pregnant. I knew we were trying, but I didn't think it would have happened so fast. So, I did the semi responsible option, I got a Salsa El Mariachi frameset and built it up. There is always time for a custom bike in the future!

Bomb Pop Blue Salsa El Mariachi

Hopefully a ride report and review will follow, I will probably put the ride report on this blog and the review on the Solon Bicycle Blog which is where I work and will be over seeing that blog too. Hurry up spring!!

San Francisco Day 4

2011-03-03T16:28:00.001-05:00

House of Nanking. a photo by BForrer on Flickr.

Work, work, work. House of Nanking for dinner. Amazing food, Chinese beer, and crappy service. Did I mention MSG? Plan on dehydration, but go there. Ended up sitting next to some people, who knew people we knew. We had Mongolian Beef and Sesame Chicken with Sweet Potatoes.

San Francisco Day 3

2011-02-15T18:16:00.001-05:00

Black IPA at 21st Amendment Brewery
Originally uploaded by BForrer

On the 3rd Day of our trip, we actually had to start working. My job was to be "Mansisstant". My job was to do all physical labor, and find out where we were going to eat dinner.

Breakfast was at Starbucks, again. Coffee and chocolate croissants, again. Then still had to put the finishing touches on the booth, get our data retrieval computer, and have one on one meetings with potential buyers.

One of the highlights of the day other than dinner was lunch. The Fancy Food Show treated all of the vendors to, wait for it....a FREE Hotdog lunch! No sides, just hotdogs, buns, and condiments! We did get lemonade to drink. It was actually pretty good and if you really want to see a picture, you can search it out on my Flickr page.

After our long afternoon of meetings we finally got to go to the place I was really excited for, 21st Amendment Brewery. I came across their Brew Free or Die IPA this summer at Heinen's. I also heard their food was pretty good too. We sat down right away, then I was presented with one of the hardest decisions of my life,"What would you like to drink?" Not being able to decide, I ordered a Back in Black, Black IPA and A Brew Free or Die IPA. As you'll find out over time, I LOVE IPA's! The Black IPA was good, but it was a little to porteresque for me. The Brew Free was fantastic as usual! For dinner I ordered a Reuben, and well it was a tasty Reuben. I, once again forgot what my wife ordered, but I remembered she liked it.

Before we left, we asked the waiter to suggest another brewery to try and he suggested Magnolia Brewery and Gastropub in "The Haight" so that is where we will be going on Day 5.

San Francisco Day 2

2011-02-13T16:18:00.001-05:00

Sea Food Stew at The Ferry Building
Originally uploaded by BForrer

Our second day in San Francisco was a full one. After our Starbucks breakfast of coffee and chocolate croissants, we had to go over to the Moscone Center and set up the Main Street Cupcakes both for the show. It was a little time consuming, but we had to get it done so we could get a quick lunch and make our 1:50 p.m. tour of Alcatraz.

We finished up the set up and took a cab down to Pier 39, where we stopped by one of the many touristy Clam Chowder in a bread bowl spots. I ordered the Seafood Chowder which was crab and shrimp in a tomato base and a Anchor Steam. Sarah ordered Classic Clam Chowder. Both were good, not the best I've had, but good. I actually wanted to order a ton of fried seafood that they had, but did not.

After lunch, we walked to the Ferry building, where we planned to eat that night, to check it out. Being that it was lunch time, the Ferry Building was very busy. I got to see a custom Sycip Cargo bike,which was really cool. We figured we would definitely find some good eats there, so we headed back to Pier 33 to catch our ferry to Alcatarz.

Alcatraz was fun, the temperature was in the high 50's so being out on the open water got a little chilly, but it beat being in the 20's back in Ohio. I always got the feeling Alcatraz was a lot bigger, but the actual prison is pretty small, but you get a great view of the city! Just what you want in a prison! We were on the island for a good 2 hours.

After we got back to the mainland, we were starving, believe it or not, so we took a pedi-cab back to the Ferry Building for dinner.

We decided on the fresh seafood bar for dinner. I had the seafood stew which had, crab, shrimp, scallops, clams, and mussels. I washed that all down with a frosty Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. Sarah had a salad and a big bowl of clams. After dinner, we walked back to the hotel, but need desert, so we stopped at a creperie and had some Nutella and banana crepe. I also got excited to see they had New Belgium Ranger IPA on tap, but was let down because it was empty:( so I had a Fat Tire instead.

San Francisco by Stomach Day 1

2011-02-02T21:21:00.001-05:00

La Taqueria Cumbre, San Francisco
Originally uploaded by BForrer

I love to try new places to eat when we travel, so when I had the opportunity to go to The Winter Fancy Food Show in San Francisco with my wife, I couldn't pass up the chance!

A few days prior to leaving, I caught a episode of Man vs. Food or the Carnivore one, not sure which. Anyways, They were talking about this place in San Francisco, with amazing carne asada, so I had to check it out. The place is named La Taqueria Cumbre, and it did not disappoint.

I read a few reviews online about the place and the consensus was, good food, bad service. I worked in food before, I know it sucks waiting on tourists, so I didn't let it deter us.

When we arrived, it came across as a authentic Mexican joint, smoky from the grill, salsa bar, people speaking spanish, you know the makings of some great food! Great food it was, I ordered the Deluxe Burrito with Carne Asada and black beans, my wife ordered a side of nachos with all the fixings, and I can't remember what she ordered, but I know she liked it. It was fantastic. If you're ever in San Fran and are near the Mission District, check it out.

After eating our weight in burritos we decided to walk a bit. We hit up the Timbuk2 store in Hayes Valley, got lost a bit, and after about 5 miles of walking we ended up back at the hotel. It was now 4:00 p.m. so we called it a night. In our defense, 1. We got up at 4:30 a.m. in Ohio 2. We walked and ate a lot. and 3. My wife is pregnant. So, to bed we went.

The next day was more eventful......I promise.

My New to Me Specialized Singlecross

2011-01-20T19:58:00.000-05:00

Thanks to Brandon, I now have a bouncing baby Singlecross! Went out for a cold, slushy, and snowy road shakedown ride. While most of my friends are inside on their trainers, I refuse to ride inside. My original plan was to race geared this year, but that has since changed. That is why I was so happy that Brandon got a new frame and I have this to ride for the rest of the winter, and be ready to ride( the new MTB) off road as soon as the weather breaks.

I got the frame, fork, wheels, and tires from my man Brandon. The rest of the build was stuff I already had, which will be changing as needed or as funds come in. The build is and upgrades to be done are:

Frame: Specialized Tricross Singlecross
Fork: Specialized Fact Carbon Cross with Zerts inserts and Alloy Steer
Headset: Stock Loose ball IS UPGRADE: Probably Cane Creek 40 TBD
Stem: Easton EA30 105 mm 31.8
Handlebar: Salsa Bell Lap 44mm 31.8
Brake Lever: Old Ass Shimano SLR with Dirty Ass White Hoods UPGRADE: Heck No Tektro Ergo's
Bar Tape: Salsa Black Gel (which I'm sure will change colors frequently, but thinking Rasta)
Bottom Bracket: Shimano UN-54 68X113
Crankset: Sugino RD Somethings with Salsa Ring(45t road/ 42 or 38t cross or tour)
Pedals: Shimano PD520
Brakes: Avid Shorty 4
Seat Post: USE Alien Carbon
Seat: WTB Silverado OEM take off
Wheelset: Specialized Looseball Hubs With Alex Rims UPGRADE: Lighter Rims with Surly Hubs
Freewheel: White Industries ENO 18t
Tires: Specialized Houffalize(wirebead) UPGRADE: Something Kevlar

I was also in San Francisco last week, so eventually I will get around to blogging about that. What a tale it will be! Prison, Pedi-cabs, beer, food, and food poisoning. So, until then, Peace!

Couple of Good Rides This Week

2011-01-09T21:18:00.000-05:00

I had Friday and Saturday off this week, so I got some good rides in. Friday was my sister's 40th birthday, so in her honor I rode 40 miles. It was a mellow pace @ 10 miles per hour on the Chubby Monkey. The highs were in the low 20's, so my Heed had turned into a slushy, which was tasty. The down side was my drink was in a stainless steel Klean Kanteen, and I kept thinking my lips were going to freeze to it, but they never did. I rode from Akron, up the towpath to the Carriage Trail, up to the Hike and Bike to Brandywine Falls, and after a snack stop at Appalachian Outfitters I headed home. The "trails" were freshly covered with 3-4 inches of snow, and the roads were a slushy, salty mess.

The Chubby Monkey

Brandywine Falls

Summit County Hike and Bike

Saturday's ride wasn't as long due to time constraints, but it was on actual single track.

Quail Hollow

New Year's Day Ride

2011-01-01T21:28:00.001-05:00

New Year's Day Ride
Originally uploaded by BForrer

Just a quickie post! Went and did the Medina Bike Club's New Years ride today. Rode there from my house which was about 17 miles. All in a head wind and rain! Luckily it was kind of warmish, like mid-40's. I met up with my friend, Doug and headed out for the 24 mile ride. After missing one of the turns, we ended up back on course and got a few bonus miles in! Yay! On the way back to town we had a nice tailwind. Since I was soaked through, I persuaded Doug to drive me home, with the promise of hoppy beverages. I ended up with 42.25 miles, not too bad for the first ride of 2011! Happy New Year!

First Real Ride on the Snow Monkey

2010-12-09T21:29:00.000-05:00

We've been getting snow for the past 4 days and I finally got out on the bike to enjoy it. I've been doing the obligatory parental stuff, building snow people, snow removal, pulling the little one around the yard in the sled.

Today was my day! I went out to brave the snow, or what was left of it. Actually there was still quite a bit of it, in spots. I rode from my house down Portage Path, to Peninsula, and back, by way of the Ohio Erie Canal Towpath. This route usually takes me around 35 to 40 minutes one-way when it is dry. Today, it took me 1 hour and 20 minutes. There were a few sections left where no one had been yet, and some sections were trampled to a crusty hard pack. For most of the 23 miles, I tried to stay on the packed down foot prints of the hikers, but I would occasionally venture off in to the powdery stuff. The sun was out, so the 20-25 degrees didn't feel too bad. I actually broke a sweat, which is normally a no-no when winter cycling, but I wasn't that far from any where, so I didn't care.

The "Fat Front" worked really well. The front tire would pack down the track and the skinnier rear would dig right in. This did make me wonder how much different the Pugsley rides. With our weather around here, I could never justify buying one. We get snow, but its pretty iffy, and we don't have sand. I guess I don't really need a reason other than I want one. The Snow Monkey is a test mule of sorts, maybe it will persuade to get one in the future, but until then, I will " run what I brung"! As a side note, The OR Water Bottle Parka works well at these temps, my water did not freeze!

I would hate to get stabbed by one of these!

I rode my bike today!

2010-12-02T20:14:00.001-05:00

I rode my bike today!
Originally uploaded by GasSucks

We only got a dusting of snow here in N.E.Ohio, but I still needed to go out and test the winter set up on the Karate Monkey. It worked!