Next Year's Goals

This year I have enjoyed doing the 15-mile routes on the event rides such as Sunflowers to Roses and Tour de BBQ.

In 2012, I want to up my participation to the 30-mile routes and I want to add a couple of rides.

Of course, Tour de Cure is close to my heart being a diabetic for almost a year now. The event is in June and starts out at the Kansas Speedway. I want to do some major fundraising for this event and get a Red Rider jersey.

I suppose Sunflowers 2 Roses will have a place in my heart because it was my first event ride. It's in August and they have a cool jersey.

The big event is Bike MS is September. This is a two-day event, and I think there is a 37-mile route each day starting in Olathe and ending in Lawrence the first day and coming back the second. I'd also like to do fundraising for this one.

October is the fun event. I did Tour de BBQ (another cancer ride) and enjoyed it, though I didn't get much BBQ on the 15-mile route.

There are a couple of other things I want to accomplish. I want to do a couple of rail-trail rides - maybe 30 miles on the Prairie Spirit Trail and two days on the Katy Trail with the family, maybe 30 miles each day. I also want to do a long ride on the Johnson County Streamway. Maybe an out-and-back loop along Tomahawk one way and Indian Creek the other.

Finally, I want to do my first half-century. A 50-mile ride, perhaps to Lawrence in Back. This would be a good thing to do in July, with event rides in June, August, September and October.

Ramble around the old neighborhood

I thought it would be fun to ramble around the old neighborhood today. It is cool, and it's not too far from the start of school. I started at my son's daycare and rode up to my elementary school. Yes, I'm a Red Bridge Roadrunner.

After that, I rode back to our old house on Washington. I discovered - and I don't know how I did not know this - that our driveway was exactly 1 mile from the circle drive at the school.

The neighborhood has not changed much. It's still a great neighborhood. I would like to move back there some day, but we live in the town just across the state line in Kansas that simply has better schools and better services. I feel guilty about not living in Missouri, but in order to be close to my parents we would have to live too far away. Living in Kansas City is difficult if you are already settled in a community that does not have the problems Kansas City has.

I noticed during the ride that I had developed a rattle. Sure enough, after the ride I discovered that I had gone flat. Time for new tires, I think. The Specialized Mondos are not up to the kind of riding that I like to do.

Mileage versus timed riding

Today I tried something different. I wanted to practice hand positioning and climbing out of the saddle, so I planned a 30-minute ramble around the park.

I had so much fun not concentrating on speed and mileage. I really relaxed and worked on my skills. So much so, that weather permitting I am going to do another, longer timed ride tomorrow. I am going to go for 50 minutes, which should put me at 10 plus miles. The focus is on time, not speed. I managed an 11 mph plus average speed, so I only dropped a few miles per hour.

There is a big smile on my face right now.

Lazy

Well, the Oklahoma Joe's we had for dinner killed my drive. I will have to move my training schedule back a day. I was planning a thirty minute ramble around the park, but there is no way. That is going to put off my ten-mile ride another day. I might only get one in before the S2R event next weekend, but I am not too concerned about it. The important thing is to get back on track tomorrow.

Electra Camera Mount Test

I have wanted a camera mount for my bike for a while.  I have essentially the top of the line (well, at the time I bought it) point-and-shoot camera. It's a Nikon Coolpix P5100, which shoots up to 12.1 megapixels and can go fully manual. It also shoots excellent video.

I did not want to go with a full camera and mount system like GoPro just yet because of the investment in my Nikon. So, I decided to try the Electra Handlebar Camera Mount. My local bike shop carries Electra and Electra accessories, but does not stock this particular item, so I had to special order it and buy it sight unseen.

My initial reaction upon receiving it is that this is a pretty sturdy mount. It is not light, so there are obviously better options if weight is important to you. However, this mount gives you a lot of bang for the buck as it is priced just shy of $40.

You mount it to your handlebars with a fairly sturdy collar mount that comes apart in two pieces. Electra even provides you a hex wrench for this purpose and rubber shims, which my handlebars did not require the use of. If you have a tripod for your camera, you know how to operate this mount. It is essentially a tripod mount with twist handle to make adjustment easier. The twisting handle also folds up to become flush with the mount, an added bonus.

In short, success. The mount is very sturdy and on my limited road tests so far, the only vibration is from the bike itself. This is something to consider if you want a handlebar as opposed to helmet mount. The video is only going to be as smooth as the road you are riding on. My purpose for shooting video is mainly to have something to watch when I'm on the trainer this winter. For that purpose the Electra Handlebar Camera Mount is perfect. I'd give it four out of four stars.

Here is some video I shot on my first test run. Not the most exciting, I'll admit, but exactly what I'm looking for. And what's up with that guy jogging in middle of the road?

Back on the Bike

Back on the bike after a week off. Really felt it when I started, but got going good after about a mile. I had to cut the ride short because it started pissing down rain after three miles. I could have gone longer and feel guilty about only doing three miles, but it was a good start to what I hope is a week of riding building up to an event ride I am planning on doing in two weeks.

Specialized Allez walkaround

This is a quick walk around my new Specialized Allez road bike.