The Top of Blue Hill

There's this tower, and another taller tower, and a whole bunch of weather and air measurement instruments. There's also a nice view of Boston, and Mt. Wachusett can be seen tothe west.

Specialized S-Works Ruby

Today I enjoyed a 40 mile ride with the Quad Cycles group in Arlington. There were at least 45 riders at the start, and upon reaching the termination of the Minuteman Bikeway in Bedford we split up into groups based on desired distance. Very good ride with temps in the low 60's and sunny.

Afterwards, I went to look at NEW BIKES!!! Yes, my Seven Axiom custom Ti is nice, but it's six years old! I want something modern-looking. I've had my eye on the Trek Madone WSD Women's bike and the Specialized S-Works Ruby - both carbon bikes with top of the line components. I tested a Specialized Pro Ruby because they did not have any S-Works in stock It's a step below the S-Works but has the same geometry, so as far as fit it would be very similar. I liked it quite a bit, however I am very accustomed to my Campagnolo shifters and have never ridden Shimano. I got it figured out pretty quickly, and I do not think it will be a problem. So I'm now waiting for the bike shop to find an S-Works Ruby for me. Supposedly there is ONE in stock at the Specialized distributor. What a nice bike, it's all Dura-Ace, with Mavic Ksirium ES wheels and a monococque (sp?) carbon frame. I ought to have it by the end of the week - very exciting. The thing that scared me about the Trek is the fact that it might just be too stiff and too much of hunched over racing position bike. I don't really need that, for me a little more comfort will be just right.

Good ride last night, bad leg today

Last night was a good ride with the CRW Thursday night group leaving from Hanscom. My only gripe is that the group I went off with agreed to a 17mph average - after 10 miles or so, we were over 19mpg average! So that was tough and I fell off the back with some of the other slackers and we made our own mini-group. We then merged with another, different bunch of riders that came from behind us, and got on pretty well with them. So it all turned out fine and it was about 27 miles averaging 18.4 for me.

Now today I had a chunk of my left thigh (a mole) cut out by my dermatologist (the wonderful Dr. Tang) and he's told me I'm not allowed to ride tomorrow, otherwise I may bust open the stitches. What a drag! He tried to tell me I had to wait an entire week - I convinced him I could not wait that long, so he put some kind of reinforcing tape stuff on top of the stitches and said I could ride the day after tomorrow but he was not giving me any gaurantees that it wouldn't bust open. Guess that's a chance I'll have to take.

Tomorrow I'm going to go test ride a women's Trek Madone, the top-level one (of course). I'm thinking I'll either sell my Seven as is, or have it refurbished and then sell it - it's all Record stuff but needs new rings and probably a new bottom bracket, and definitely new wheels - the Heliums I have on there are OLD! We'll see what they think at the bike shop...(famous last words)

Dieting Contest

Here is the bet: Whoever can lose more weight, percentage-wise, by July 31, wins. $3,000. That's a big bet. Mark and I are going to go head to head to see who can lose more. I need to climb faster. Him, I dunno, but he wants to lose weight. Weigh-in is tomorrow - I'm thinking, OD on water just before stepping on the scale. I think I can win - no, no I HAVE to win, and I WILL WIN!!!

Minimum percentage loss is 10%, then whoever's lost more above and beyond 10%, as of 7/31/07, wins. So, not to give anything away, I want to lose about 20 lbs. That's a lot, and I feel like most of it's in my buttock area. That's a lotta butt that has to go. But I REALLY need to climb better on my bike and this will be the way to do it. It's now or never, for real.

Hill Climbing - Plan for Improvement!

Nice ride last night with NEBC. I sorely realized that I need massive work on climbing. This was always my problem back when I was racing. Towards the end of the ride there were a couple of big long hills (Page Hill?) and I was dropped, had to work my butt off to catch up and overall it's just demoralizing. We did a total of about 26 miles and on the flats we were not pushing too hard so it was mostly just an enjoyable training ride. The warm weather made it a lot more enjoyable than some of the windy/low 50's weather that I've ridden in lately!

So how can I really give my climbing a jump start? Well, I read somewhere that to be an efficient climber you need to take your height in inches and double it, and whatever that number is, you should weigh LESS than that...Ok, so I have some pounds to get rid of, and hey, that's something I can do without even getting on my bike! I don't think I'm ready for scary Wednesday night group hill workouts quite yet. Maybe in two weeks I'll sign up for that torture. So my goal is to drop at least 5 lbs by then. Still won't be at my goal but hauling 5 lbs less has got to make it easier.

Bike Riding Season

It's here, full bike riding season. Tonight is the NEBC Women's Ride from Lexington Center and the weather is perfect, nice and hot.