A nice sized group of us collected over in Westchester county for a social 40+ mile jaunt up the North County Trailway. A rail to trail conversion project it has a fairly consistent 2% grade while you’re headed north. The ride leader thought to start off with a bucolic scene of a local farm and cows grazing in the fields. Don’t let that wall like double climb worry anyone… it’s short. Naturally, it completely fractured the group.

After spending a long time regrouping (almost) we were heading up the trail. I didn’t snapshot the speeds enough to know for sure, but most of the riding was in the 13 – 15 area, and of course, stunting and sprinting, and playing around ensued so there were section cranked up to 28.7 mph while we all goofed around.

I still seem to be bonking after about 18 miles… I’m not sure why. A short rest and some light pedaling is all it takes to revive, but I never noticed it in prior years. Hmmm.

Anyway, it was a beautiful day for a ride, and much fun was had. Thanks always to my sponsor… my lovely wife, who sprung me loose for the day.

I should also point out that the giant blank area on my back could be displaying *your* message, advertising, or company logo. Feel free to get in touch.

Little steps. Bit by bit. The “Winter Weapon” is coming to life. Long way to go. Long way.

A quick ride with Gerry this morning. First I had to drop off Noah, then run down to Piermont for our start. Too much stress. Naturally, it was 35 degrees (F) outside as I was getting dressed, but it was warming quickly. Gerry had already been riding already (naturally) so after a couple of minutes of my fumbling around with clothes, off we went. First annoyance, the heart rate monitor wasn’t being read. It connected shortly into the ride though.

This was the first ride on the “Weapon of Choice” with the light wheels installed. I’m not really any lighter, as I recover from the enforced carbs of Passover, but the winter wheels need some attention, and I don’t want to keep riding on them until they get it. Naturally, the beater wheels have an old, not really working cassette on them, so they were not an option. I kept a light thought and prayed that I would not drop into a water system cover hole or something and taco a wheel.

Stats for this sneak a ride before work thing were 15.67 miles in 1:03:39.44, Avg pace 4:03/mi, Avg speed 14.8mph, Max speed 23.8. Avg heart 130bpm, Max heart 158 with just under 500ft of climbing (essentially flat). Not bad numbers for me in spring—better overall for this time period than over the last two years.

In my never ending quest for more fun with bikes and more time (and fun) with Noah, I finally got a ride in with him in the trailer.

Scene 1: Enter the trailer

Really, I guess this should start with “enter Noah” but I’ve only got a few seconds here before you move on. So I EBay a bunch of stuff I’m not using and purchase a trailer… about a year and half too early it turns out. Ever the eager beaver am I, and in this case, hugely misjudge where Noah’s at as far as this was concerned. So I stored a large box with said trailer over the winter.

Scene 2: Try, try again.
Assembled last spring, Noah stepped in, pronounced it worthy of further study and stepped out. Getting him to wear a helmet for longer than three seconds was out of the question. It was an affront to his dignity that I even tried.

No helmet no trailer, soooo no trailer. I, btw, don’t think it’s absolutely necessary for him to wear it in the trailer, but I’m not going to try and explain why “no” in the trailer and “yes” on the trike, or why when we ride on the trail it’s ok, but not when ride on the road. So there.

Winter sets in and still no trailer ride with Noah. We continued to try but he was never interested. Then it got too cold as far as my wife was concerned, so I folded it up and once again, stored it for the winter. The plan became the just-work-the-trailer-into-conversation-about-going-to-the-park-when-the-weather-warms-up type stuff. Parentally sneaky, but isn’t that what parenthood is all about? I think so. (Plus I just received notice that I’m in the running for longest dashed sentence. Rocks.)

Scene 3: Behold the trailer!
In hopeful preparation, a couple weeks ago I rehydrated the trailer, inflated the tires and trailed it behind my bike round and round my short driveway for a mile (no, really, I measured) to make sure everything was ok. Nothing loose, no strange tipping, nor lack of soundness. Cool.

Today, as we prepare for the last couple of days of Passover (and the sad end to my vacation) Lisa needed some time with Noah out from underfoot, and the weather was calling. Taking one from the Better Daddy(tm) playbook, I whip out the ever so casual, maybe I should try and take Noah for a ride in the trailer? (Thus collecting good husband points, good daddy points, and bike time at once. A triple play!) And so we went. He’s been excited lately because the weather warmed up and we’ve been making excursions to various parks (slides, swings, pirate ships, bikes, trikes, outdoors!) and so with his helmet (just like daddy) on his head, his bear in his hand, he buckled up and off we went. First just around the corner to make sure everything was cool from his perspective and then down the block and back and then around the neighboring streets. Only once did he complain about the wind (he’s not a fan), and it was not generated by us, it was a sudden gust.

He did get a little freaked by a passing car—a nice, polite toot, and plenty of clearance on the pass, but stupidly I didn’t warn Noah. He very quietly said “Daddy” and I looked back at him and something had taken the wind out of his sails. I pulled over and he added, “Something’s behind us, Daddy”. I made sure he was OK, explained it was just a car, and that he had a window where he could see out the back if he wished, and we moved on. It took a few minutes, but he was fine. Hopefully we both learned something.

But mostly he was singing, and shouting out directions (“Go this way Daddy!”) and singing some more and enjoying the experience. And since he never seems to want to go home or inside once he starts, suspect there’ll be some nice long rides in our future. Wheee!

I’ve been riding outdoors at least once a week since roughly December 2nd… usually on Sunday. Sometimes more, but not usually. Sometimes on the trainer, sometimes on the rollers in addition, but mostly it’s been once a week on Sunday, and I can’t think of a break in the streak.

Until now.

Passover is going to eat the next two Sundays. It’s that simple. So while I’m going to try and get out in the middle of the next couple of weeks, odds are bad. So despite the slowly improving weather… (I’m down to three layers from five for these early morning rides) The next couple weeks could well be a bust. So it goes.

Today I rode with some folks I haven’t seen in ages… they didn’t ride through the winter. They were in typical Spring form, and to my delight, the ride felt slow and relatively easy. It was about half as long as the ride I’ve been doing, and every little rise seemed to stop one person dead in their tracks.

Normally, I wouldn’t even notice… I’m rarely amongst the fastest folks… especially these last two years with all the knee pain (first left, and then right, one year each). Last year was a complete disaster, as somehow I almost never made it out to ride. I got slower and heavier all season, to the point where I couldn’t keep up with folks I could blow away a year earlier. But this year, so far, I’ve been feeling good, and the consistent riding has helped. I still have a lot of weight to lose… but that’ll come along (it’s already started, but I have a lonnnnng way to go to get back to where I was.)

Today I wore a heart rate monitor for the first time. I got inconsistent readings, which serves me right as I spent no time testing before the ride. Other aspects of the new computer will unveiled soon. And I’ll make sure I get the heart rate thing going over the next couple of weeks. Should be fun.

As an aside… I been riding the “weapon of choice” road bike for the last three weeks. Simply amazing. It’s not in full regalia yet, I’ve been riding with the midweight wheels mostly because I’m heavy, and figured if I taco a wheel, it might as well be the less expensive ones, plus they’re all crudded up from the winter, so until the roads are a bit cleaner, and I’m lighter… plus I never bought a new high end gruppo as planned, because, well, I wasn’t feelin’ it. This one will do for this season at least, we’ll see what happens down the road. Even so, the bike is light, stiff, and comfortable. Truly amazing stuff.