bonnie & jason

Davis Livestrong Century

Eric and I rode our first century, a Livestrong event up in Davis. I had been trying to increase my mileage slowly over the last couple months with little success given some knee pain and a bunch of family activities. Then Eric sends me the link to this ride 10 days in advance and we decide to go for it. After all, we had been talking about doing a century for at least a couple years. It was a pretty flat course, so I figured I could muddle my way through it. Anyway, after feeling pretty good after both a 20 mile and 40 mile training ride, the day was suddenly upon us.

The ride started at 7:30 AM so in order to get up there in time to register, get ready, etc, we had to leave at 4:15. Here’s the bike in the pre-dawn darkness while I wait for Eric:

By the time we get registered and lined up (and fix the flat Eric discovered while loading up) the sun is up and we are raring to go after a nice little pep talk by Lance Armstrong himself:

Soon thereafter, we and the other 1500 or so riders were off and riding. Before too long, we’re into the hilly part of the course and Eric is nice enough to beat me up the mountain by more minutes than I care to admit and take a few pics of my struggles.

As it turns out, I got a flat myself after about 3/4 of this first climb. I was able to re-inflate enough to ride to the next rest stop though and have the techs fix me up with a new tube.

Before too long, after a PB&J, we were back on the road again:

As you may have noticed by now, Eric was riding comfortably throughout the day given he’s in so much better shape than I am. So much so that he was able to take a few scenic shots along the way. Here’s the Lake Berryessa Dam:

Unfortunately for me, they changed the course on us and we ended up having to do quite a bit more climbing than I had originally bargained for. Even worse, I didn’t know until after we had completed all the climbing that was on the original course. So after preparing to go downhill for the last 40 miles, I had to switch gears (mentally and literally) and grind it out. Looking back, it wasn’t that big a deal, but in the moment, I was cursing the event organizers.

The rest of the ride was pretty uneventful with one exception. After 100 miles and 5 miles to go, I got too close to Eric’s rear wheel and ended up taking a header into the ditch on the side of the road. Dinged up my right side pretty good but got up and finished the ride. The medical tent folks patched me up:

Unfortunately, my helmet didn’t make it out alive:

You can’t tell from the picture, but it’s cracked in about four places. It did it’s job though as my head was none the worse for wear. My arm on the other hand…

Not pretty. Still healing up now, 11 days later but it’ll be fine. All in all, a great experience and another bucket list item to mark done!

Archive of “Biggest Loser” Page

New year, new “resolutions” page. So I’m archiving the old Biggest Loser page here.

May 2, 2009:
In the months since dropping my weight down to nearly 150, I’ve relapsed a bit back up to 157. I blame the twins. And Bonnie’s penchant for chips that I seem to have no will power against. In any case, it’s time to publish the new goal like I did last year. This time, however, I’ve managed to lasso in two others into the fray… Dennis and Eric.

So what’s the deal?

By September 1,
– I will be at or below 145 lbs (about 12 lbs less than I am now.)
– Dennis will be at or below 160 lbs (about 25 lbs less than he is now.)
– Eric will have a six pack (He’s already lost 30 lbs… now looking to get all cut up!)

And on September 1, we celebrate reaching our goals by hitting up a prime rib place. (House of Prime Rib, Broadway Prime, or San Mateo Prime.) Whoever doesn’t reach their goal gets to pay a little extra as penance.

So there you have it. Consider the gauntlet thrown. See you all at 145!

5/3/09: 155.5 lbs
Went for a run around Lake Merced. About three miles. Felt pretty good. Went really slow though.

5/5/09: 155.5 lbs
Same 3 mile run around Lake Merced. Went a little faster, felt much worse.

5/10/09: 156 lbs
31.6 mi bike ride with Eric.

5/21/09: 155 lbs
Kinda been slacking lately on both the exercise and diet thing. Stalled out… need to get remotivated.

5/24/09:
Another ride with Eric:

5/31/09:
Another ride with Eric:

First time up old la honda road (1500′ of climbing over 3.3 miles.)

6/27/09:
I seem to have plateaued at 154. It’s pretty difficult to find time to exercise more and I don’t think I can eat too much less. I guess this is a good weight to be at considering the other priorities in my life at the moment.

New bike: 2010 Motobecane Le Champ Titanium

The Lemond Zurich I’ve been riding for the last couple years was great. Never needed adjustment, handled well, and was pretty comfy. But on longer rides, it became apparent that the frame was just a bit too big for me. Even with using a shorter stem and adjusting the saddle, I still couldn’t help but feel a bit too stretched out. So I decided to sell it on craigslist (sold it for the same amount I bought it for!) and get a new bike that fit me better.

I ended up going back to bikesdirect.com and ended up with the Motobecane Le Champ Titanium.

It came via UPS today and so far so good! I probably still have some minor adjustments to make, but this frame definitely fits me better and of course, there are the other benefits of being Titanium (lighter) with new components (Shimano Ultegra 6700).

I still have to put any significant saddle time in so I’ll update this review after getting to know the bike a bit better.

More pics here.

Bike finally done… for real

Last time I posted my bike, it had been clear coated and had a very raw look to it. Unfortunately, the clear coat did not do a good job of fending off rust, so I had it powdercoated. Blue. So now I have three blue bikes.

Alissa’s bike

We got this bike at Ross for Alissa a number of months ago. It’s the smallest one I’ve seen but Alissa is still too short for it. Now, at least, she can sort of stand over the seat on her tippy toes. It’ll probably be another few months before she can reach both pedals.

Also, here’s the obligatory twin pic of the day:

Ready for a test ride!

I got the bike back from the shop today and installed all the parts. Unfortunately, when I first stomped on it, one of the joints came loose (left side dropout). Oops! I rebrazed it and now it seems fine… for now. As a first time bike builder, I’m not all that confident in my handy work so I won’t be going on any long rides on it for a while.

Anyway, here’s a pic:

Detail work in between the chain and seat stays

I wanted to put some braces between the stays but all my scrap was tapered so I had to use two pieces, butted together to make a single symmetrical brace. Instead of doing them plain jane straight across, I decided to give them a little flair and angled them a bit. Here’s the result:

Chain stay stiffener:

Seat stay stiffener:

The only other thing I did today was trim off the excess head tube. Now I just need to spend a little time making some of the joints a little prettier and then it’s off to the bike shop to get the head tube faced and reamed for the headset and have the seat tube reamed for my seat post.

Main frame done!

I got the main frame done today by brazing on the chain stays and seat stays. Still have to put in a bridge between each set of stays and do a lot of cleanup. But this is a major milestone! Yeehah!

My wheels came today!

Other than the frame itself, the biggest expense on this bike is the wheels. I didn’t go as cheap as possible since I think the wheels play a significant part in how the bike looks so I semi-splurged on a new set with radial bladed spokes in the front with black hubs, black spokes, and black rims to match the color scheme I’m planning. Black on steel.

Not a big fan of the decals so I’ll take a hair dryer to them tonight and peel them off.

Brazed on the track ends

I brazed on the track ends today:

I also mitered the chain stays and will be getting ready to braze them to the bottom bracket shortly.