Thanks for the nice birthday wishes!

Been a very nice day.

Happy Birthday Grady!

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Great ride after physio... Down to the park to see the baby birds and then back through valley for some quad burning climbing, not c&v but more fun than one should be allowed to have on three wheels.

Did about 100 miles on the Masi today. It doesn't have a computer so I had to trace it out on a map. (I'd mount a Cat-eye on it but I'd hate to cover up those nice Cinelli logos on the bar, and I've found I use all the taped sections.) Rode a circuitous route from home over to Harold Parker State Forest in Andover, and a more circuitous route home. It's my personal longest.

A few events from today's ride:

About 25 miles in I got stung by something under my watch strap. Never saw what it was. :eek:

There are a few significantly STEEP hills in Andover, just long enough to be a real pain. :eek:

Investigated alternate routes on the return but found nothing better than the original plan worked out from Rubel's bike map.:o

At one point I had to double back and do some exploring because a bridge was out. :mad:

At one intersection on the return where I stopped to check the map I had a nice conversation with a fellow cyclist, a woman who came up on a bent and asked if I needed help. It turns out she rides distances regularly, has ridden the Pan-Mass Challenge which amounts to back to back centuries. She told me about that bridge, said it would take a while to be fixed because the towns were fighting over who was responsible. :rolleyes:

I stopped in Concord on the return for a bite to eat and some water from the public fountain, and as I was putting the bike off the curb to ride away I heard another cyclist behind me tell someone "That's the bike from Breaking Away." We spoke briefly, and he said "That's a real classic." Ah, it's nice to be noticed!

The post-ride beer tasted mighty good. It was a good day!

Dropped my car at the shop for an [11 day] overdue inspection. Took the long way home and found a great mural.

http://i.imgur.com/vaP0Gl.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/V3grrl.jpg

Not that "C" and not at all "V", but I like the pictures, so there.

I took my car in for an inspection and a little work last week and forgot I owned a car...

Short ride today through the streets of my home town and local bike trail in Geneva Illinois 15 miles in all

Jim, I'm glad to hear you had fun on your ride today and congratulations on making your first century. :) Hopefully some of the pain you experienced today will pay off when we see you in August. I'm not much of a hill climber so I hope you can keep us clear of the worst hills. :eek:

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Rode to Greenlake Park. 1hr 30 min ride one way and 1 hr back. Probably the longest I've rode on this bike.

Did just a few miles on the old Gitane TdF yesterday. Rode down to the beach to keep an eye on my wife who went for a swim. And then a spin through some of the neighborhoods. I like the TdF, but it sure does feel different than my other French bike.

A friend was over for dinner and wasn't 100% sure of the way home, so I offered to bike along. It was such a nice night out that I felt like a bit of a tour of the city.
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I haven't been riding for about 6 weeks due to a myriad of personal and medical reasons, starting with a pair of wisdom teeth getting removed. Ouch! Lost 10 lbs thanks to being restricted to a liquid diet. Then addressed our car (BMW E39) that overheated on the highway. :rolleyes:

Like most of the USA last week, it's been too hot to venture out for a decent ride. But Monsoon season started a few days ago, and the storms and clouds have brought relief from the 110+F temps. I took advantage of the 90 F temps and cloud cover at sunset to take in a 7 mile sprint around the neighborhood on my Crosscut. Humidity was an amazing high of 60% as compared to 15%. I sweated like mad, but boy did it feel good to be back in the saddle.

Although it was Friday the 13th, it turned out a positive day with positive news on my ongoing personal matter, followed with a satisfying ride. :)

WNG: I'm hoping like mad for good weather tomorrow - myself and Alex Moll are going to do some horse-trading in the morning, then we're off for a ride in the afternoon :)

I'll be in AZ for about a month - with bikes - around November/December timeframe. We will have to plan on a few rides :)

I hope everything is working out okay!

DD

DD>
May the weather smile upon you and Alex and get in a great ride.

Sounds like a plan! It will be perfect weather for riding by then. :thumb:

First real break came yesterday. At least there's now a light at the end of the tunnel. Amen!

That is great news! I'm mucho happy for you and hope the rest works out positively at the end :)

DD

Alex Moll and I made a complete bike-related day of it today. First, he arrived with a bunch of goodies: parts, a frame and tools with which to remove the Masi's headset. He also brought his '73 Bill Davidson, so our ride was kind of special, having two Davidsons over 30 years apart in years.

The ride took us out of Oak Harbor to Coupeville for lunch. We stopped off at the Knead & Feed for lunch, and had a nice chat while waiting for a table with a guy and gal who were touring around the island. They were pretty impressed with Alex's vintage ride and my more modern rig.

Ride pics follow.

Alex heading uphill out of Oak Harbor (still in the big ring):

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8152/7...cde32d77_b.jpg

Coupeville pier:

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Knead & Feed - and our waitress:

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7129/7...786450aa_b.jpg

1973 and 2002 Davidsons:

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7274/7...fed88dce_b.jpg

Two generations separated by nearly 30 years:

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Alex and me:

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7258/7...ab058781_b.jpg

This bird liked my handlebar as a perch:

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8428/7...eeba49dc_b.jpg

Heading back:

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7247/7...09ba2d08_b.jpg

After lunch (which Alex treated me to - thanks, Brother!), we headed back to do the wrenching and horse-trading. Alex is finally adding an Italian stallion to his stable and I am assisting in putting the pieces together in that endeavor. As part of the process, he bought a donor bike off Ebay recently. I was the lucky guy who got first-shot at purchasing the frame/fork and a few parts he wouldn't be needing.

My job was to go through my spares and find the Super Record stuff he'd need - that, and hit the ATM for some cash, too :)

At the end of the day, the parts were swapped, Masi's headset was removed and replaced with a PC NR one and I had a new frame to build up. Icing on the cake were the two Campy Portacatenas Alex brought with - both the early and later versions. I'd never seen an early version in the flesh, so that was really cool.

And here's the newest basis for yet another Italian bike to add to my collection:

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8015/7...5339ea10_b.jpg

1978 Colnago Super which allows me to finally complete my personal Colnago collection. I've had the idea for a couple of years to find a Colnago Super to fit in between the '73 Super and '83 Mexico - and this fits right in the middle. So, my favorite era of Colnago is represented from beginning to end now - thanks to Alex.

Many thanks, Alex, for making it a fine bike-day!

DD

A friend and I drove up to Anacortes and took the ferry over to Lopez Island today. It was foggy until the Ferry turned out of the channel to dock at the island. Suddenly, the clouds parted, the angels sang and there we were.
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/j...d/P1050049.jpg
Lopez Island has a well earned reputation for being an ideal place for cycling.
Quiet roads
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/j...d/P1050072.jpg
Pretty scenery
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And friendly drivers. I suspect the locals are calm and patient because they have jobs like this gentleman
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/j...d/P1050058.jpg
The locals have an affinity for decorating mailboxes
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Our time on the Island was over quickly, governed by the ferry schedule.
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I'll have to come back again. This is a nice place.

^ Great pics! How'd you like that climb immediately after the ferry landing?

I'll be out there in 2 weeks or so - looking forward to a couple days of "getting away from it all".

DD

Thanks DD, the hill from the ferry dock isn't bad at all with this set up:
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/j...d/P1050085.jpg
36/48 up front, 14-28 in back. Really nice real world gearing. Same set up I used for Cino last year.

I am tapering off this week for a very hard ride next Saturday in Bend Oregon. Lopez fit the bill perfectly for a moderate ride today.

First ride on the new-to-me 77 Volare on a hot Sunday morning - Lake Harriet in Minneapolis.

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I rode 71 miles (my metric century for July) today in north central RI on the Cinelli. Sunny, hot and humid. I left early this morning to try and beat the heat. I added Greenville-Smithfield-Mapleville-Chepachet-Glocester in the middle of my usual Cranston-Scituate-Foster loop.

I rode several roads I had never been on before.

http://i1131.photobucket.com/albums/...2020/015-3.jpg

I'm not going out of my way to find these painted rocks, but here is another!

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Apples starting to ripen

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church in Chepachet

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Smith and Sayles reservoir

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I'll spare you the cemetery pics, but here is a sample of the 5 miles I did on dirt

http://i1131.photobucket.com/albums/...2020/025-1.jpg

I'm going to glue my new tubular on the De Rosa tonight, so this may be the last ride on the Cinelli for a while.

Sunday morning in the southwest Salt Lake valley. In the distance are the Oquirrh mountains and the Bingham copper mine, which I believe is the largest pit mine in the world.

http://i909.photobucket.com/albums/a...0438-800px.jpg

Took a trip down to the historic Sam Davis Home today, where I spent many a field trip back in grade school, and rode down a bit of the local Civil War trail in the surrounding area.

For any of you who are curious and want to learn, here's a link to the site: http://www.samdavishome.org/history.php

[IMG]http://i48.tinypic.com/24b2kps.jpg[/IMG]

Easy trail rides that past two evenings. Getting used to a new hydration pack and carrying an extra liter of water on my back.
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/j...d/P1050104.jpg
The new new tires I put on roll really well. My bike is ready for the High Cascade 100 on Saturday. I expect this to be the hardest ride I've done so far...
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/j...d/P1050106.jpg

I've been dying to ride my De Rosa since I glued on the new tire Monday night. I took it on a brief spin around the block, but that is not the same thing as a proper ride. I had today off from work and the forecast was for a sunny day in the low 80s all week; until this morning. Off and on showers all day in the 60s. It was 95 here weds! I would not be denied. When the rain slowed to a drizzle around noon I set out on a quick ride around the Scituate Reservoir. 15 miles in it started to pour and I got soaked. My sidi shoes were making squishy, water logged sounds.


http://i1131.photobucket.com/albums/...2020/001-7.jpg


The ride was wonderful. My De Rosa is so much lighter with the tubular wheels and dt shifters, I felt like I was flying. I ended up doing 34 miles @ 17.7 mph. That's pretty fast for me. It was nice and cool so I wore a wool jersey and I'm glad I did because I was a little cold. Best part, no flats! I wasn't bold enough to go on a dirt road, but it was raining too. I was ready though with my spare tire folded up diablo scott style and stuffed in an old wool sock. (Looks a little fred flintstone, I would like to find a more elegant solution.)

http://i1131.photobucket.com/albums/...2020/003-7.jpg


This ride put me at over 4000 miles on the De Rosa since I bought it in March 2011. Best $500 I ever spent! I made sure to dry off my rusty friend after this ride.