9/23/2008 BOT RIDE

Well today's BOT ride was good. Just Matt and I from our group. Greg pulled a Neal Miller. Not really but we had to pick on him a little bit for not being able to get away from work. Matt messed up his pace by tooling around the bank parking lot. I on the other hand only did that for a second so we went 18.14 miles @ an average speed of 15.7mph. It was a good ride. We met a new guy Chris who rode with us the entire way. We met up with 2 other guys at the turnaround so there were 5 of us on the return trip that stayed together. My son plays soccer @ 9 on Saturday and baseball @ 9 on Sunday so it doesn't look favorable for me to ride this weekend.

Flying in Atlanta

Got to give a shout out of support to Michael in GA. Yesterday he rode 22 miles at an average speed of 19 mph. Now that is moving considering they do ride some hills.

9/16/2008 BOT RIDE

Well today was an interesting Botanical Gardens Ride. Our group consisted of Greg, Matt and myself. We left out with 3 other guys. About mile 6 we caught up with a group of 15 or so and stayed with them until mile 9. At this point we started up 78 hill and I got dropped. Near the top of the hill Matt got dropped. Greg stayed with that group and even dropped some more of them along Old Leeds Rd. Today was my fastest time to do the 20.5 miles. My average speed was 15.5 mph. My top speed was 37 mph. Greg finished 10 minutes ahead of Matt and I was 3 minutes behind Matt. I must admit I was not feeling 100% around mile 12 but I pushed through it and felt good nearer the finish.

BAMA vs WK

Saturday A.M. Ride to see Floyd Landis

Well on Saturday I didn't have enough time to do the entire Floyd Landis ride. With that said I drove over to John Rogers Dr. to ride and hitch onto the Landis ride for a few miles when it came through. I did catch onto it and he pedals so effortlessly. I saw Matt and he was clippin along pretty good with a group about 3 minutes behind Landis. I got 12 miles in total @ an average of 15 mph. Then it was off to JB's soccer game and then on to T-Town for the Bama game. (Video to be posted tomorrow). ROLL TIDE ROLL

9/10/2008 Calera Ride

My son had baseball practice in Calera yesterday so I thought I would get a short ride in before practice. First of all I went to MapMyRide.com and mapped out the route. Too bad they didn't tell me one of the roads turned into dirt about 2 miles down it. I didn't like that but I made it through and got back to the pavement. Now here comes the good part. My bike only had 27 gears when I started yesterday BUT I found that it actually has 28 gears...The ROTT gear..as in ROTTWEILER GEAR...120 lb + barking, growling, snarling, can run 1/2 a mile Rottweiler. My friend says that gear is the OH SHYT gear. I made it to the top of the hill and he stopped there and watched me ride away. I rode 10 miles at an average of 16.8 mph. Kujo probably increased that by over 2 mph. I will only ride those roads again while I am prepared to defend myself with fire power. I was very lucky and I will be contacting the Calera Police ot see if they can have a conversation with the owner. BTW...I'm sure I reached my heart rate capacity yesterday..LOL

9/9/08 BOT RIDE

Well another great Botanical Gardens Ride yesterday. Brad, Matt, Brian, Greg and myself left a few minutes before the big group. We made it all the way to Hwy 78/Old Leeds Rd intersection before they caught us. Brad, Greg, Brian and Matt were 1/2 mile or so ahead of me at that point. I grabbed onto the back of that group for a minute but fell off. I didn't see the other guys until we got to the cars. I did have another guy draft with me on Old Leeds and we were up to 25-27 mph at times. Basically it was 20.5 miles with an average speed of 15 mph. Top speed of 38.5 mph. If I can get stronger on the hills, I should really be able to cut some time. Maybe some day.

I have to say I agree with Matt...Probably only do the 18 mile out and back from now on on Tuesday. It is getting way too dark on Old Leeds Road after 6 o'clock. Hey Brian "Was it too dark to see that turn you missed?" LOL.

On yet another positive note, I weighed this morning and I am down a total of 18 lbs.

9/2/2008 BOT RIDE

Well yesterday it was just Matt and I on the BOT ride. This is now a leaderless ride as it is getting darker earlier. This means some folks were pulling out as early as 5:30. We left around 5:50 and had a fun ride through Mtn. Brook. We kept waiting for the BIG GROUP to catch up and when they did WOW. Matt said "Look who's coming?" and then he told one of the guys we had been waiting on them which was real funny. Now seriously, we hooked on to the back and through some careful traffic light maneuvering stayed with the lead group through Irondale. To me this was a lot of fun. Then we headed up Hwy 78 and Matt got about a mile ahead of me and I didn't see him again until the car. Met a new cyclist, Brad, on Old Leeds Rd. He had only been riding 5 days but he had a new Giant bicycle and was riding well for his first time out (probably didn't hurt that he has been a runner for 10 years). Great ride 20.5 miles averaging between 14-15 mph. Next week we will leave at 5:30 to help avoid the darkness. Below Matt points out my place in line is somewhere BEHIND HIM!!!! LOL!!!