Rollers and Rollers and Rollers....

Training time.
-WCFTW

ICEMAN COMETH CHALLENGE 2011

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!ICEMAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WOW, what a race.
I simply don't know where to begin, and quite frankly, don't know what to say.  To summarise the entire race would be impossible without vivid play by play detail, and that is what I hope to expunged from my flowy literal sense, for at least 47 hundred other fellow ICE Hominids would be a potential reader therefore, IO present you with my very first ICEMAN experience.

It literally started quite some time ago, about last year during this time as I was almost a new pup on the racing greyhounds, I was hearing l;little bits and pieces from the other riders about this iceman thing and only wondered just what was all the fanfare about anyway.   Everybody was himming and a hawing about this great mountain bike race in the north, I really had no idea what it could even be like, I don't even ride mountain bike trails, even though I have once or twice before in my life, I just never really had the right bike, and never really "got it" so to speak, it was quite different to my typical road rides, which in stark comparison, seem rather bland and boring really, all that asphalt, all that cement, all those cars!  It is really quite different in many respects, in which , much respect must be given to all of you who mountain bike.  WORD.

So December came around, as did my initiation to the team, and about a week later there was already talk about reserving our rooms in a sweet beach condo right on the bay, it was already far out in my mind.  Like , who would actually take the time to logistically plan out such an event, as to , have the entire team book an entire resort?!  AWEZSOME!  I'm In!  even without a mountain bike, I was just going to try it at least once, just to see what all the fuss was about, and in hindsight, I am really happy I stuck it through.

I was all about this race, and ever will be.

A week later, we continue writing via iPhone via couch.

GARMIN DATA

MAIKERU'S PICTURES

MEGUMI'S PICTURES


SUMMARY
Distance: 29.28 mi
Time: 3:27:22
Avg Pace: 7:04 min/mi
Avg Speed: 8.5 mph
Elevation Gain: 1,258 ft
Calories: 3,374 C
Details
Timing
Time: 3:27:22
Moving Time: 3:08:21
Elapsed Time: 3:27:22
Avg Speed: 8.5 mph
Avg Moving Speed: 9.3 mph
Max Speed: 26.9 mph
Avg Pace: 7:04 min/mi
Avg Moving Pace: 6:26 min/mi
Best Pace: 2:14 min/mi
Speed
Pace
Elevation
Elevation Gain: 1,258 ft
Elevation Loss: 1,360 ft
Heart Rate
Avg HR: 163 bpm
Max HR: 187 bpm

-WCFTW

Tour De Livingston

I love this ride, I just never remembered to blog about it, and now that I want to write about ICEMAN 2011.....

 The whole ride was photographed as well...
 Tour De Livingston Photos


GARMIN DATA:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/120239258


-WCFTW

The Cycle

The bicycle is a most interacting device as it is everything from transportation to art, and powered by you.

-WCFTW

Tour De-Troit 2011 High-Speed

A lovely stroll through Detroit at a higher paced playback with music by: Perplexa - "Beautiful Ride" which goes more than perfectly with the video, you got to love it when YouTube's "Audio Swap" feature actually works out.

If you so happen to be interested in reading about our little "tour", by all means please check out the blog writeup here for all the vids and stats.

The weather here is kinda poohey lately.

-WCFTW

Rain and Cycling: YouTube Playlist #1 Use While on your Trainer

So it has been borderline crappy outside all week, not impossible to ride, but not enjoyable by any stretch. Okay, I'm being a total marshmallow and need to follow Rule Number Five. I was 7 microns from going riding last night but the unthinkable happened: My excuse list exceeded my do list.

SO WATCH THIS PLAY LIST IN FULL SCREEN!

Total Riding time: 81 mins approx.

EXCUSES:

1. My Truck has a vibrating FRT RH Axle Shaft and is ready to fail, my truck resonates at 118 db after 45 mph and on the freeway it is insane loud, let alone the coins in my cup holder start to dance like Can-Can girls back in Vegas, it is intense. Extreme left turns completely silence the sound, let's hope it is cupping of the tyres, I doubt it entirely.

2. I have a cold and blew out my neck, I was not able to turn my head without moving my body at the same time, it made fellow co-workers uncomfortable when they would come by for snacks and see me slowly cringe whilst rotating my rigor mortised upper torso slowly to peer who it was, I could have used my mirror above my monitor but my eye sight is already messed up from staring at this screen all day, why strain by looking into a pair of aviators to catch a brief glimpse of a salsa thief when you can just spin around anyway? Oh yeah, my neck is screwed up.

3. The training location is Dorais Park in Detroit, about 60 miles round trip for an hour or so of intense HTFU riding / training in the cold drizzle fo shizzle... Rule no. 5 comes to mind.

View Larger Map
It is missing out in this ride that I am really beating myself up over.

4. I am almost finished reading Bike Snob and it is totally worth reading instead of riding a silly bike in the stupid rain any day.

5. My Gunnar is too clean to ride in the mud.


Those excuses are not worth their weight, I know, it is just too damn murkyblurky out right now and by the time I leave work (1800) it is dusk, the sadness sets in because this is exactly what I felt during winter until I HTFU, strapped some lights and blinky's on a bike and rode. I do love winter riding for some reason, that reason is that is NOT RAINING + COLD. Those two, not one or the other, are the main culprits for me staying indoors period. This must stop, or else ride rollers and watch videos, and that brings us to this lot of weirdness from my yesteryear.

The goal here is to ride, watch, drink water (or tea), and get fit.  The videos collectively:




[45:19] 20 videos in 24 hours Challenge!


[11:34] Autumn Riding, The unseen video from 2009.


[00:51] 1998 Destroying a door in the abandoned Hospital.


[ n/a ] A Private video still, but you can at least see the image of how "big" I was before cycling.
Sheesh.


[08:43] My Custom 1982 Mercury Cougar... R.I.P. I wish I didn't scrap it. the engine ran like a top.


[03:09] Curling Cam, my very own creation as far as I am aware. ;-)


[01:24] My very first upload to YouTube, as far as still being there and not deleted. [July 17, 2006 10:06 AM ] Many many years ago I deleted all my subs, friends, videos, mail, basically I cleaned out the whole dang thing just to support M13 as he was banned from YT for talking his mind, which was slander apparently.

So what does this have anything to do about cycling anyway? Two wheels is also motorcycling.

[10:08] There you go, my first "Nice" Bicycle, which has nearly 3000 miles on it now.

I've got it! Ride the rollers while watching the whole lot! Hmmm... Play list incoming.
I hope your rainy drizzle shut-in day was entertaining after watching these videos, thanks for your time to check them out.

-WCFTW

Tour De-troit 2011 - WannabeCyclist

TOUR DE-TROIT 2011

The morning was perfect.  Packet pickup wednesday that week was smooth and stress free.  The drive in was quick and easy, and parking was a breese, (we ended up parking near Michigan Ave and wabash, just like last year at 0720.)  Unloading and taking our first photos went well, we didn't forget our camera batterys and we laughed.  The ride was VERY eventful, see the teaser video right below for the basic details.

The Teaser Video

The High Speed Video  *NEW*

Fixie Crank Failure Translation: Operator Error (I should have double checked everything)

The last 20 minutes of the tour, it is a very very slow pace, but at least we had fun and had a chance to see Detroit in her beauty.

Megumi gets her pants caught in the cranks! (My fault for not telling her to cuff her pants proper.)

The Porta-Jon Theory and waiting in needless lines. (Philosophy 102)

Cartoon Cycling!  *NEW*

Summary
Distance: 18.30 mi
Time: 2:53:22
Avg Pace: 9:31 min/mi
Avg Speed: 6.3 mph
Elevation Gain: 71 ft
Calories: 2,472 C
Details
Timing
Time: 2:53:22
Moving Time: 2:02:14
Elapsed Time: 2:53:22
Avg Speed: 6.3 mph
Avg Moving Speed: 9.0 mph
Max Speed: 52.0 mph
Avg Pace: 9:31 min/mi
Avg Moving Pace: 6:41 min/mi
Best Pace: 1:09 min/mi
SpeedPaceElevation
Elevation Gain: 71 ft
Elevation Loss: 72 ft


There are some great pictures too!

 There were many people from all over here in the "D"  it is too bad we don't come out more often.

 These people shots are kinda filler shots, a bit boring IMHO, but I wanted to show a bit of the mayhem before the actual ride.  I totally omitted much of the video taking this year, saved the majority for the long 20 minute ride in my video collection.

 This is what 4000 people look like from a low vantage point, wouldn't it be sweet to see this shot from the roof of the Train Station?  I think it should be vlogged proper. 

 The best part of a ride like this is the bringing together of all the people, mostly recks, but people nevertheless who want to get into the cycling atmosphere and have a good time.  We really need to do more mini rides, i included, need to get out there, they exist, there is the "Beat The Train Ride"  and Crit Mass, but i never make the time for them, and feel kinda guilty for that, like I am less of a cyclist for not showing up to at least one of these cool events.

 Did I mention that I love my Schwinn Traveler Commuter Fixie?  It is true, this bike rocks and is a total blast to ride, when the cranks are built right!

 A bizarre random shot, look at the balance and chaos in the shot.

 So what happened in a nutshell is this:  I rush built my crank set to my new 103mm shortened BB, it was so tight the crank arms were binding up against the BB, it was failure from the start, that was Friday night.  I had to bust out the grinder and grind down a few millimeters on both crank arms to get this to work properly.  it was still too damn tight.  The Lock ring for the BB was missing in the rush as well, see last set of videos tomorrow for details.  so in order to keep from running too tight, I stopped grinding the cranks and just left the cranks "kinda loose" so it would work.  This ended up wiggling loose during the ride and I finally took the damn thing off and put it in my pocket until we made it to the break area.  It was there we found a cool SAG fella with a totally bitching custom army green commuter hauler bike, he lent me a 14 mm socket and a custom bent ratchet and viola! we were back in business and rolling again.

 Our cute lil' bicycles were cuddling while we went off to eat our food and give away our beer tickets.  Yep, standing in a line was worth too much time as it were, it was cheaper to go to the cooler and pop a few tops, just kidding, we were rolling outta there soon so we didn't have time to play.

Time for Michigan Central Station

 After the bike ride we just milled about and took pictures of the Train Station all the while tempting ourselvese to go inside and explore, but it was REALLY posted and razor wired off, there were other ways in but we were not prepared with our lights and proper gear.  If you are so ever inclined to explore Detroit and all the abandoned buildings around here, please visit this channel: Bagaauwk He is the REAL DEAL.

 All in all, this was a very well planned event, special thanks to all the Detroit police officers that escotred us, blocked traffic, and gave us warm friendly smiles as we greeted them from our bicycles, you all are very appreciated.  hanks go out to all of you who helped with catering, electrical, beer, sound, SAG, and organization to this great event.

 Hmm...  Back to cuddling bicycles again, I guess it is time to stop writing this blog for now!  Stay tuned because I will edit a really cool TDT video in the coming hours, it will rock!

The sunset on the 24th of September, 2011.

GARMIN DATA for all you data nerds.
  [Note:  As of 20110926 there are more videos and footage going to be uploaded so stay tuned!]
 [Note:  As of 20110930 there are 2 more videos added to this blog!]


2011 Tour De-Troit / Wannabe Cyclist



-WCFTW

My Velospace Schwinn Fixie

I finally have my Schwinn Traveler just about where I want it to be, it is a BA Fixie Commuter, here is the latest and greatest.

That was a brief "Bike Check" last week, it since then has a custom spash guard made from an old tyre.


Here is the review in Velospace, I hope you enjoy!



-WCFTW

Bike Path Cleanup [I-275 Metro Trail]

There was a very dangerous stick in the way, I had to make this better.


-WCFTW

Single Speed Commute - Schwinn Traveler Custom

YO!

As per usual, the GARMIN date for your viewing pleasure right HERE.

So Here is the story:

I awoke to one of MANY alarms this morning around 0530 ish in Canton while still dreaming about fixies and skid stopping, it dawned on me that today would be the coldest day of summer, as for commuting goes. It must be noted that I am no slouch when it comes to cold weather riding, in fact, I do quite a bit of icy rides and enjoy them quite much actually, to name a few, the Worst Ride Of The Year comes to mind, this was a doosey! and the Barry Roubaix wasn't too far off the pucker factor either with a freezing temperature of SEVEN degrees F! Needless to say, I love commuting and don't mind the cold at all, it is soothing to me.

This was today at 0700, it was actually quite nicer, I missed the shot as I was trying to get passed Ford Rd and on to the trail (I-275 Bike Path) so this shot was taken at Ann Arbor Trail and the path. The commute was very brisk thereafter as I decided to stow my yellow rain jacket atop my luggage. Honestly I was contemplating putting my jacket back on, but followed RULE #5 and kept on keeping on.

The commute was rather enjoyable and at a decent pace, all things considered, since I was rolling on my heavy commuter with gear all up hill, in the rain, and sleet and snow... barefoot.. okay not bare foot but it was a good workout all the same.

An hour and ten or so later we ended up at work, and made the aforementioned video doing the "Bike Check" and then after editing the video and upping it via iPhone to YouTube, I noticed something in the picture... it was something missing and now I want you to play Along with me and try to find it, be honest and you will enjoy the game more that way. First I present you with a photo of today, after shooting the video.

Great HUH?!

 

Now, scroll down if you want to see the answer.

Hint:  It was below the Play Arrow on the YouTube video above.

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I wasn't kidding.

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BOOM!

NO BLINKY!!! Whisky Tango Foxtrot!

I lost my damn blinker!! Not just a blinker but my very first blinker i had purchased two years ago in this video. So it is SPECIAL to me. I must have lost it between Seven Mile and work, most likely on the bumpy service drive, which compels me to ride back the same way to find it. I was planning on exploring a new site, however in hindsight, it would be far too dangerous going alone dressed in a Pink tight shirt, self preservation is key here. ;-)

We did meet our goal for the Komen for the Cure benefit thought, here is my page as it stands today. I want to publicly thank each and every one of you for contributing, that means you Dan, thank you very much brother! I single Dan out because he is the only one who reads my blog, at this time anyway. I'm content with that as I really don't post anything that cool anyway.



Well, that is my lunch hour, I must finish and check the grammar later. it is a fine good day and I would like to share a Bible verse with you now, it goes something like this:

1 Corinthians 16:14


"Let all your things be done with love."







-WCFTW

Cruisin' Boozin' And Losin'...

So I rode a cruiser bike today... and I liked it.

September 11th I went for a good ol' bike ride on the ol' lady's TOTALLY BADASS SWEET CRUISER BIKE and gave the built in bottle opener a good test, four times with some sweet Erdinger N/A beers.  I ride the I-275 metro trail to Morton Taylor trailhead near Michigan Ave, it was a totally fun ride!

Summary

Distance:	11.43 mi
Time:	1:17:17
Avg Pace:	6:46 min/mi
Avg Speed:	8.9 mph
Elevation Gain:	30 ft
Calories:	1,343 C

Details

Timing

Time:	1:17:17
Moving Time:	58:02
Elapsed Time:	1:28:41

Avg Speed:	8.9 mph
Avg Moving Speed:	11.8 mph
Max Speed:	21.3 mph

Avg Pace:	6:46 min/mi
Avg Moving Pace:	5:05 min/mi
Best Pace:	2:49 min/mi

Speed

Pace

Elevation

Elevation Gain:	30 ft
Elevation Loss:	35 ft

All In all, I love her cruiser bike.  A Lot.

-WCFTW

Scatterbrain Cyclist - In a Mind's Eye

-WCFTW

Commuting Hundreds of Miles...

私は一方通行にし、17マイル、約仕事から私の自転車に乗る Seventeen mile commute to work from Canton, all bike path, and all awesome. This saves in petrol consumption dramatically, in fact, it saves 40 miles round trip which is about six trips on my 255 mile 66 dollar petrol tank. Roughly 15 MPG and that is the savings of Ten bucks per commute, at the cost of three thousand or so calories, which could be replenished by eating ten bucks worth of food... However, it should be doubly noted that such activity benefits the human body in more ways than just burning fat. Let me expraign...

We ride our bikes for a great many reasons, some overlapping into others but all with the general consensus that there is a tremendous gain psychologically and physical towards our human bodies, that it becomes somewhat of a drug, a very extensive drug that melds into our every day lives, one spoke at a time, and one hipster fixie in Royal Oak at a time too, the Plymouth Hipsters don't ride as much. With that said, suffice it to say: commuting by bicycle can be totally rad like Helltrack bit without Mr. Duke Best's smug grin whilst riding his 24" Mongoose BMX. Where is this blog going now you might ask? Dunno, I'm laying in bed writing this on my iPhone hoping the grammar is correct and I am hoping to post some pictures in this post later on today at lunch time, just so you may see some of my commute. It truly rocks and feels so wonderful when I get to work an hour and half later, it is like stepping on the moon Eruopa for the first time, such analogy is moot as you or I have never been there. The Endorphins are released in our bodies and help create the euphoric, floatiy, and dreamy state there after riding all that way, be sure to carb up too! Well, I leave in a few hours so I must carry on later, until then, stay vigilant people, I will post an addendum to this here post.

UPDATE!

My morning commute: GARMIN
How is that for some bike path fun!!! I have a video and lotsa pics coming up, I might add as a new blog entry due to the size and quanity.

UPDATE NUMBER TWO!!
A Nice Slideshow with some nice X-tian Music from the Kry in it:

The Very Last part of my Commute, the rough section:



All in all, the I-275 Bike Path is a straight shot and one of the mmore enjoyable rides, even though we are riding to work!



-WCFTW

Hines Park TT 2011 -Wannabecyclist- 32nd Place in Merckx

Sweet! 37:33.01 I shaved off a whole 59 seconds and five tenths of a second from last years time of 38:32.51. :) 32nd in the Merckx, movin' on up...

Rule #4: it is all about the bike, period.
Lighter = Better times at same wattage.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/104890536


Sun, 7 Aug 2011 10:04 Eastern Time (US & Canada)

Activity Type: Cycling |
Event Type: Special Event
12.3 miles in 37:36 at 19.7 mph avg. -582.5c--75.5fc-- 27.3 max. [from a computer mapped to a 32mm tyre but rolling on 28's. ============= http://connect.garmin.com/activity/78501512 Compare to my best: 36:48 riding a 52:16 fixie with no brakes, water, tools, and shaved legs. Same conditions roughly, energy may have been more during the RGTPS race plus I had great Moral support.

Overall
Time: 00:37:32
Distance: 12.14 mi
Elevation Gain: 114 ft
Calories: 748 C

Timing

Time: 00:37:32
Moving Time: 00:37:32
Elapsed Time: 00:37:32
Avg Speed: 19.4 mph
Avg Moving Speed: 19.4 mph
Max Speed: 25.9 mph
Avg Pace: 03:05 min/mi
Avg Moving Pace: 03:05 min/mi
Best Pace: 02:18 min/mi
SpeedPaceElevation
Elevation Gain: 114 ft
Elevation Loss: 186 ft
Min Elevation: 589 ft
Max Elevation: 699 ft

Heart Rate

Avg HR: 175 bpm
Max HR: 182 bpm
Avg HR: 95 % of Max
Max HR: 98 % of Max
Avg HR: 5.5 z
Max HR: 5.8 z
Zones% of Max bpm

What I would do differently next year:

1. Better carb loading
2. Don't ride a 60 miler the previous day.
3. Rule number 5.
5. Build a lighter / sleeker bicycle
6. Shave my hippy ass body proper.
7. Have a well oiled chain and free spinning hubs.
8. Fix the shoe cleats.

All in all I had fun and I am happy that I beat my crappy time from last year, even if by a minute, it is still improvement.


-WCFTW

Komen - Ride For The Cure 2011

60 miler in 3:30, so far our best time on the bike, as for road touring times. Garmin Data:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/104478208

Help us reach our goal of $500:
DONATE NOW!!
We need just a few more donations to make the 500 mark!

I want to sincerely and personally thank every one of you who contributed a donation for this cause, I understand it is a tough time for everybody financially these days. I have uploaded a 3 minute 30 second video briefly glimpsing some of the event as the day had progressed. I usually video record many bits of footage, but have just come off of having a broken wrist, things are slightly more difficult there.

I hope to keep you all posted by September of any further updates.

Thank you all so very much,

-Michael Lorenger
A.K.A. The Wannabecyclist


-WCFTW

It Has Been a While

Since a real post here in this blog, or any of my many Internet persona's for that matter, suffice it to say, I have been busy. Or lazy, depending on how you want to look at things for there is really no excuse to not vlog or blog proper, considering all the interesting and amasing events that have come to fruition in my life both on and off the bike. Since this is a bicycle site we shall keep it that way, however a few bits of personal shall arise and help your understanding of the Wannabecyclist tends to be a tad bit... shall we say "odd"?

Hi Maikeru,
You have deactivated your Facebook account. You can reactivate your account at any time by logging into Facebook using your old login email and password. You will be able to use the site like you used to.
Thanks,
The Facebook Team

Whoops!~~

Did I just do that? What did he do?, you might ask.
Simple.

What I did was this:
I began to take my life back, one small portion at a time. What this entails is quite simple yet so very difficult as the flesh wants to hold on to it, to keep it, to nourish it, to slowly become addicted to it. What "it" is could mean many things for a vast slew of people, for me it was (amongst many things) the instant gratification of show and freakin' tell. "Look what I made!" Awwe Mai, it looks great!" so on and so forth, the self serving self gratifying, self important self needs to be quashed and extinguished in order to grow, at least in my minds eye at this point in time.

So why delete everything?
Are you not being more self sorting and greedy by keeping your "art" to yourself? Yes, to some extent I am, and believe you me, it is difficult, hence the immediate blog post herein, but far from the point. I am an overachiever in many... err.. An "over-sharer" in many hobbies, this leads to illusions of grandeur and self-importance, which is impolite and quite vain to boot. The illusion is fine if helping others, but who am I really helping?" not even me, in fact, quite diametrically, I am destroying myself, slowly but surely, I am becoming a attention starved human who diverts constructive energy into "social-media" thus de-valuing and dithering the content, although masked as "sharing" what is really happing is I am throwing up all over the Internet with incessant media-vomit that, quite frankly, nobody really needs to see, hear, or experience, rather, they , if were so interested, could search out for my "works" and view as they desire, rather to be force fed on a daily basis. This can be objectionable as the counter argument could be something to the tune of: "Well, if I don't want to read it, I won't.", or "I like to read your news feed." and again, I am in the wrong for keeping it all in, which is what I am getting at in this post anyway, discussion soon to follow.

I am rambling in a wordy sense, partially because I want to "show" you how educated I am, or my grammatical prowess with the English vernacular proper, but in all actuality I am writing this way because it is the circular, roundabout way of my pen, it is in fact my style. Also, this is due to my not writing anything in well over a few months time, and boy do I have so much to write. I really would like to write all the missing bits that were supposed to be in this blog, all my cycling exploits up until I got hit by a car a month ago to the date. So this is really a preface, an introduction to all the crafty stuff I may or may not write in this blog, after all, am I still over sharing? Am I having fun doing this? Both answers are a definite "Yes" which is cool, to some extent, after all I am an artist type who likes to make stuff and share it, or, photograph stuff and share it, like all the wonderful sunsets we have had in the past noticeable years, but that is a rather infinite focal point.

In limbo yet again, to shut it all down, even to go as far as privatising all my video content on all my you-tube channels. All for what? Is it so I can really have my simple life back, where I didn't need all this extra stuff, like this blog here. I am aimlessly clicking away at this blog post hoping for clarity and resolve, from within it is, and it is happening rather quickly, or the realisation that is. I am realising that I will be a human being forever stuck in a social media apparatus and the big debate is this: Should I remove myself from this world of Internet to help value my creations to make them so few and far between, a sought after gem if you will? Should I just keep yammering away and posting my every move for you to see, like my perfectly double tapered deuce I had the other day? I mean come on now.

I am not in anyway trolling for permission or support in these rather moot questions of insignificance, but rather, I am just rambling about nothing relating to bicycles at all, in fact, this blog post really shouldn't be here anyway, but really, who really reads these or actually gives two pence. Maybe in my death, these posts may someday be interesting to some people out there with similar woes in life, and maybe I could help enlighten just one soul, one soul who may have been like me, and after reading this they will say: "Boy, I sure don't want to end up like that guy." and my mission is complete, for that one soul may have the understanding that I was helplessly trying to convey in less than 12000 words, but couldn't because there was jst so much in there.

I may write again people, or I may not, I may never write again in this blog or the Internet, and just fade away until all my domains expire, my body decays, my memories dissolve, and my lasting mark on mankind as just am average Joe artist type who shared too much on social media sites, had am epiphany, shut it all down and did nothing of importance.

It has been fun people, remember to ride your bike every day or you will get depressed and only suggest to others of what to do rather than actually doing it for your selves.

later.





-WCFTW

Barry Roubaix 2011 Recap- From an average Joe cyclist point of view #601

Lookey Lookey! Wannabe is racing his commuter/CX Gunnar Fastlane bike in the
Barry-Roubaix Killer Gravel Road Race!!!!

Photo credit: Hans Nyberg at Tenmilemedia

(*__*)

Watch more video of Barry-Roubaix: The Killer Gravel Road Race on cyclingdirt.org

LOOK!!! at the 2:00 minute mark Number 601!! That is me!!!
Extreme Gravel Racing!

Oh where to begin... was it the eighteen degrees biting cold wintry snap that held our attention, or was it the fact that it was my very first road race?

At first I was all jittery and confused, didn’t know whether to wear my boots or my canvas shoes with toe warmers, glad I chose the latter, and whether or not to wear my other jacket, just wrapped up in my team kit and a sweater I was very cold, but this was at idle, which would surely change once we started pedaling about like mad men / women. So this is the Wannabe all dressed up in the RACING GREYHOUND team kit for the first time, a great day to try something new, on a less than perfect day of 18 degrees! But at least the sun was shining bright; this made a HUGE difference in all of our rides, guaranteed

Cold Crisp Spring day on Gun Lake

My initial excitement grew when I had realised that there was an absolute no turning back during warm up, and I had to just make do with what gear I was wearing and how my bike was set up, which was perfect as far as I could tell, I really wouldn’t change a thing but maybe clean the chain and use a dry wax lubricant instead of the oily lot that was on there gathering all that grime and grit from the road, thus causing inadvertent shifting errors and other crazy things we shall delve into at a more proper segment.

After rolling up to the group of people for the 35 mile route in my class, I had a sense of ease and well being, after all, everything was in its proper place, the bike was tuned the gear was sufficient and warm-ish, the food stores, although could be better, were suitable for the first hour, as so I had thought. I see some fellow hounds and roll up to then asking them if this was the correct group to be in, just to really make sure, and it was, as if it wasn’t then it would disqualify your race. Four minutes to go, I reset my Garmin GPS and just let it count, I was still too nervous to manually start the counter as we crossed the threshold, in hind sight I totally could have, so the first four minutes or so were added to the total time recorded, as well as the last few minutes or so, it really didn’t matter too much as my time was far less than acceptable, but hey, you got to start somewhere. It was time, I was shaking and feeling all kinds of emotion, it was so fast and so exhilarating to me that it felt euphoric in a weird way, all the pre race stresses vanished and I was riding my bicycle again.

RIDE DETAILS OMMITTED - STAY TUNED FOR VIDEO!

Yes, indeed, after a rough road race even the bikes needed to take a little nap. ;-) Wouldn’t you know that there was well over a Million dollars of bicycles here on race day, more like 3 million as 3 grand a pop times 975 entries or so, and is such a testament to the cycling community that, although not the safest measure, and most certainly not the brightest, you can just leave your 2400 dollar Sach’s laying around for the taking. But we cyclists would never do such a thing, that is like kicking down your door and having an affair with your spouse right in front of you while eating your supper and taking a crap on your throne whilst reading your favourite issue of Velonews. Sick and wrong on all accounts, therefore it is rather safe to presume that your bicycle will be safe at such event. We are a very trust worthy community, as far as I am concerned, for the most part that is, as there are bad seeds anywhere.

Like this one here in the center, number 601.

Photo credit: Andrea TuckerTucker Bikes

Enough reading? How about watching this small video clip of how the race pace was on these roads, this is the Sagar road segment, which was, quite rough in relation to the rest of the ride.

Not too shabby eh? A fellow GREYHOUND is shown in the yellow and black for the most of the video, and this pace was almost double my slow precarious pace in this section as I was both scared of crashing into the icy cold ground and wrecking my awesome Gunnar Fastlane, I know, kinda lame of an excuse but it is all I got. If you look towards the 4 minute mark, a rider goes down hard, he may have been the one with the broken bone injury. A few people were injured during this rough race.

See the map below for specific details if you please:




Links

The OFFICIAL Facebook page HERE
The OFFICIAL race results HERE
The OFFICIAL Garmin results HERE (Note: there was a four minute lead in and an outro to my time recorded.)

Cycling Dirt's Totally stellar review of the race, read this!!



The GARMIN results of my rather EPIC ride.
Summary
Overall
Time: 02:50:49
Distance: 35.26 mi
Elevation Gain: 1,882 ft
Calories: 2,099 C
Timing
Time: 02:50:49
Moving Time: 02:40:17
Elapsed Time: 02:50:49
Avg Speed: 12.4 mph
Avg Moving Speed: 13.2 mph
Max Speed: 29.5 mph
Avg Pace: 04:50 min/mi
Avg Moving Pace: 04:32 min/mi
Best Pace: 02:01 min/mi
Speed
Pace
Elevation
Elevation Gain: 1,882 ft
Elevation Loss: 1,884 ft
Min Elevation: 744 ft
Max Elevation: 1,096 ft
Heart Rate
Avg HR: 160 bpm
Max HR: 182 bpm
_________________________________________

Which comparatively speaking, in relation to all my other rides recently, including but not withstanding, sucks royally, period.

In summary: I went out too hard too soon thus depleting my main energy stores, hitting my "wall" and essentially falling off the back of the entire race. I basically did a "What not to do" during the event and seem to do the same subsequently on our Tuesday Night World Training rides, you would think I would learn by now. At least I have did this so many times that I am rather predictable, pathetically so, but always consistent.


Anyway, the ride back took 2 hours including filling up and on the way we so happened to see a wonderful Barn-o-gon in all its splendour:

Barn-o-gon?

I got fourth place... from the last in my class. ; )
81 601 Wannabecyclist M 36 Racing Greyhounds 2:45:32 12.7

It is not how fast you are, it is how much fun you have. Ride safe my friends!!





-WCFTW

Barry Roubaix 2011 (Pre-race thoughts)

Barry Roubaix - Killer Gravel Road Race

WEATHER
or not it is cold, sleeting, and windy, we shall ride the entire 35 mile route.
I just put on the Kenda Small block Eights and they are gooey. :)

As for training for this race... Not so much.

I do have a whole bunch of miles in this year so far, about 604.82 miles so far, which is on the cusp for my training program. I am supposed to do at the very least 200 miles per month until mid-march and then more outdoor rides, however, the weather has been less forgiving than last year this time. Oh, I have tried a "Tuesday Night World" ride for the first time three weeks ago, got dropped once I took a pull in the pace-line!! LOL Apart from feeling just about every emotion from defeat, joy, elation, sedation, and confusion, it was one heck of a fun ride, wind and all. :) This ride is here in Garmin format: RIDE DATA


All in all, the hardest part will be waking up at 0430 for this event, sort final details, eat, drive three hours out to the race, grab bib #601, put packet in car and do last second checks and roll out. This should be very similar to the Worst Day Of The Year Ride from January, temperature, wind, and elevation are just abut similar, so now I know what to do in advance. Hand warmers are a number one priority for the boots.

From the site:
Barry-Roubaix: The Killer Gravel Road Race
will be held March 26th, 2011. Registration will open December 15th, 2010. No limit on entries. The start/finish will be at the The Yankee Springs Recreation Areas Gun Lake Unit on Briggs/Gun Lake Road.

$2000 cash awards plus trophies or medals to the top three 65 Mile racers (no age categories). 1st-$500, 2nd-$300, 3rd-$200. Michigan Youth Cycling and Kisscross Events will award $250 in scholarship to the fastest under 18 year old male and female in the 23 and 35 mile races each.

Trophies to the overall winner of the 35 and 23 mile race. Medals to the top three in age categories (age categories are 10 year splits for 23 milers, 5 year splits for 35 milers), plus prizes to top 3, 4 or 5 and raffle prizes to many lucky racers.

Friday and Saturday registration is an additional $10 (Registration opens Friday from 3:00-9:00 p.m. at Bay Pointe Inn (join other racers for a meet and greet in the Terrace Grille from 4-7 pm). Registration will also take place Saturday from 7:30 a.m.-9:30 a.m. at the Gun Lake Unit). Packet pick up is open at the same times as above. There is no cap on the amount of racers.

You may confirm who has entered the race by going to the Bike Reg link and checking the confirmed riders list.

No refund of any kind will be allowed. Although you can transfer your entry to another rider via Bike Reg prior to 7 p.m. March 23rd, 2011.

New Again! State Park Passports, hang on with me here, this is the rule…if you have a plate renewal date from October 2010 through March 26th 2011, you will NEED to have paid the $10 opt in fee and have the “P” on your license plate tab. But if you have a plate renewal after March 26th through September 2011 you don’t need a sticker or have to pay an entry fee. Michiganders that opted out on the passport and out of state residents have to pay a$10.00 day fee at the shelter Saturday a.m. Please park first then get your day permit. The ranger booth will be closed at the entrance to speed up entry and parking.

What else can I expect?

An awards party with dozens of great prizes to random racers
What the Truck catering with tacos and burritos for sale
10 Kegs of Founders Ale!
A bonfire on the beach
Silent Raffle prizes before and during the event
Traditional Raffle at 2:30, must be present to win
Chronotrack Timing by Race Services Company. Rigid handlebar number plates with timing chips will be used for the best timing available.
Long Sleeve tee shirts and hoodies available for purchase when registering in advance
A very limited amount of pint glasses and t-shirts will be available for purchase day of the race
Hoodies, Long and Short Sleeve T-shirts available for purchase until March 9th when registering in advance.

excerpt from: http://www.barry-roubaix.com/info/


How about a sneek peek:

2011 Barry-Roubaix Course Pre-Ride from XXC Magazine on Vimeo.

I would post our top secret RACING GREYHOUND information right here, if you are ever so inclined to pry. ;-)

It is only two days away and I can already feel the tension in my legs, I cannot wait for my first official mass start road race!



-WCFTW

私の愛人です。 Wannabe Cyclist has a Mistress OMG! BMC SSX01 Review Part One

私の愛人です。Translated: My Mistress, in Japanese. After toying with the notion that in order to race legally with my Gunnar Bad-Ass All-Purpose Super Awesome Steed, I would have to first remove my coveted disc-brakes (AVID BB7's), and add a crappy V-brake from my Schwinn, or shall I say: "One of my Schwinns!" And as it be an all already "heavy" bicycle, 23LBS heavy, it still wasn't meant for racing no matter how I sliced the pie. It is great for Psychocross and such events where those mega awesome brakes come in handy dandy in the grimy gunk, but definitely not for 27mph peloton racing in a criterium for any given length of time, what I really NEEDED was a true road racing bicycle.

You can click the picture to see a bigger version, but not always better version of the picture.

It all started quite a few weeks ago when fellow RACING GREYHOUND "Miami" said he was selling his trusted steed, it was then that I had eyed the bicycle but didn't move in for the kill due to money being tighter than a frogs ass. Time went on by and it was getting time to buy, that led me to the consumption of this product for my bicycle queue. It was a fine Wintry Wednesday night at the Cycle To Fitness Bicycle shop, after a relaxed trainer night (Riding rollers and watching a movie), the bicycle kept calling out to me. Seriously just look at her!!!!!

That is an '08 BMC Streetfire SSX01 with a decent Mavic wheelset, Crabon Fork, Cane Creek Headset, with Sora, and Tiagra Dérailleurs. A great starter bicycle for road RACING and WINNING. Okay, that may be a tad bit overzealous but what the hay, ya know.
N+1 Definition
Anyhow, the miles accrued on this steed as per the trip computer were: 2156 as shown here in this image:

which has already been bumped up about thirty or so miles on both the rollers and the road. I am not able to discuss performance as of yet due to not having much time with her and not having clipless shoes too. Some of the finer bits on this awesome bike are the complicated skeletal frame components, I do like this a whole bunch. :) Have a peek:

This must help the frame deliver the stresses equally amongst the ultra thin aluminum tubing.

Now this fancy little doo-dad looks like crabon, and from what Maimi had told me, it was a special press fit style bearing or something fancy like that. Great technical prowess I know, I'm good with complex engineering wording eh. Seriously though, It all adds up to a definite step up in quality that I am used to when it comes to cycling and all that jazz. I could be happy on a 30 dollar huffy, just as long as it was "solid" enough to hold up when I am riding it, ....

So the so called test ride went like this: RIDE DATA Can you see the indecisiveness in the route! I must have doubled back three times! The great extent of the ride was riding to an abandoned comfort station and home to take pictures and prowl about the ancient landscape, a pastime that I hold dearly might I add.

Love the map feature, it adds so much more interesting value to my already boring blog posts.


View Larger Map
Notice the Fred just casually riding along Edward Hines Drive in this shot. :) I speak of myself, I too am a total FRED turned into a Wannabecyclist racer type.

Sweet, now thaT i HAVE YOUR ATTENTION, PEEP THIS:

This and much much more lay in ruin just beyond the tree line, I hope to further investigate this great find. Did I mention that I am an avid explorer too? yep. :)

Well, I hope this unfinished review serves you well, as for the BMC ride data and opinions thereof, I cannot make such statistical claim or opinion until there are at least a hundred miles under my belt with her. Speaking of miles, last season I rode over 2700 miles on bicycles, and about 450 miles this year so far, January 1st as the cutoff date for miles. Wow, who knew that cycling would be this fun!!!

Synopsis on the 2008 BMC Streetfire is this:

Quick, Nimble, Light in the front-end, very rigid, a very tight feel to it. That is about it for now, yeah I know, kinda a half cocked review, but really, who can judge at this point, especially when your ride was in the thirties with gusting wind eh!


Addendum:
As I write this, the sleet / ice mix coming down is rather atrocious and unforgiving if one were to be traversing the motorway in any vehicle, let alone a bicycle. I am actually glad that I didn't ride my bike here, it is nasty out. Might be an iced in day tomorrow, that sucks.



Photo Album:
BMC Aijin


-WCFTW