Peep Jousters: The Original Peep Warriors (Page 35)

IF you didn't see the week three standings, here they are:

We are in third place, but only by a few tenths of a percentage point. There has been no indication that percentages above 100% can be counted towards the team goal total, making it that much more important that we all hit our goals!

Yes, there is a penalty for losing teams. The losing teams will have to display a peeps avatar during the month of April. Since we are going to win, this penalty is irrelevant!

Go ride! (and update the spreadsheet!)

Morning. I will get to 100%....hope to get in some extra miles in case we are given the opportunity to count those miles in our total...Hope everyone is having a great hump day!

Hope you will all keep my dad in your thoughts! he is not doing well. He was in the hospital for a few days last week running tests after he passed out...and even though they found nothing in all the various tests that were run, he is still feeling really bad...has no energy and just wants to sleep all day and night....I am soooo very worried about him! Thanks!

I hope things get better for your dad soon!  Do you live near him?

I am watching the rain come down and squash my morning bike plans.....so I will probably be on the trainer after I go swimming this afternoon.  I will make my goal, though!

lyssa-gator - 2008-03-26 1:00 PM you guys didn't have snow?? woke up to about 3 inches this morning!! stinky!! it's sunny now, and it seems to be melting pretty fast, so we'll see what's going on this afternoon, but for now, i'm putting off most of my riding plans--i DID however find a bike that i'm thinking of getting, let me know what you all think. it's a trek 1.2 it's got a shimano sora rear derailleur, SRAM 850 cassette, Bontrager Carbon bars, a carbon fork and an alpha aluminum frame. ok, i copied that right out of the magazine, i really have no idea what ANY of that means, LOL anyway, it's not that expensive, and since it'll really be my first road bike, (i mean since i was like 7 anyway) i thought it best to not go all out and get the $15,000 ferrari bike (although, it IS pretty cool looking ) so tell me what i need to know all you bikies out there --julie, will keep you dad in my prayers, keep us updated. <3

Sora is pretty much the bottom of the Shimano road component line. I'd prefer to see at least Tiagra back there (105, better yet). Is this a new or used bike? If new, ask about upgrading the rear derailleur. Are you looking at a double or a triple? 

I swammy mcswammerson tonight. It was hard! Geez. Past couple of days I've been dragging.....euch.  I kicked away from the wall and this pain in the back of my heel shot through my entire body, I honestly felt for a minute my foot had come off!!!!!!   It went away eventually but OUCH!

Oh and by the way. It's officially SNOWING in Renton!!! WTF!?  Where's SPRING!?

Hope everyone is doing ok!  If I can't commute home tomorrow,I will spin for an hour.  

Lyssa, know what you mean about the jargon. I was there 28 months ago. Just want someone to say, 'Yeah. That's OK' ? Everyone will have an opinion & no two will be the same. If that's your price range & you're not going to ride it to death, like some on this challenge , it's great. Take it that it is the Women's Specific Design? The more you pay the lighter the frame & components get, & the better quality they are. You get what you pay for.

Found this for you.

I can't make out from one of your photos if your current bike is a triple, three gears at the front. Do you use all the gears (on roads)? If so please count the number of teeth on the small front ring & the number on the large gear at the back & report back. If not the numbers for the easiest gears you use. It will influence our recommendations. (What I'm really trying to find out is what sort of hills you ride up & what sort of gearing you need).

How do you decide on the gears??  I currently have a triple chainring but I don't ride in the small ring very much, only on the very steep hills.  My comfort spot is the very middle of the rear on the middle front.  Go figure!  I am wondering if it will improve my cycling to swap this out for a double chainring, or if I will find myself suddenly unable to go up steep hills (there are many around here).  When I was doing the Spinervals DVD, they tell you to switch between the small and large chainring but if you have three gears, then to switch between the middle and large.  So I did that, and noticed that most of the people in the video with two chainrings were having to pedal a lot harder than I was, or maybe I am just so awesome.....no, they were definitely pushing harder at certain times.  Not that I was coasting through it.....but, it got me thinking, and then I saw this post so I thought I'd get your opinions!  I know my friend Liz, who I ride with a lot, has a double chainring and tends to kick my butt.....would a double help me keep up, if I was of similar fitness?  If so, what is a good ratio?  Do you get one installed/purchase at the LBS?

Thanks!  And good morning!  No snow here today, although further South there is some, I hear.  Did you southern pnw gals get snow?

lyssa-gator - 2008-03-26 6:22 PM thanks for the endorsment chris! i really just needed a "biker" to tell me it was going to be OK. all that jargon and stuff may as well be in chinese for as much as i understand it! dh bought me a road bike mag last night, so i'm TRYING to learn the language. i bricked a teeny little brick today. still getting over the crud, and am running on 90 minutes of sleep and WAY WAY too much caffine today. good times-good times! anyway, logging my brick. anyone hear anything else from julie about her dad??

You are sooo gonna be the biker mama when we are done with you! love the bike graphs that Martin sent too...my goodness there is a lot to these durn contraptions is there not!?! Today is a run day for me....gotta go run off all the crud I ate last night! bad bad me! and as for my dad...not doing well! keep the prayers coming!! we appreciate each and every one! keep up the great work...and pedal pedal pedal! I promise to meet my goal, and will try and hit the 12o% mark just in case Cat throws it in for good measure! Have a great Thursday you guys!!~

boys boys boys! leave it to you to find the word, nipple!! LOL

You've started something off now. This could turn out to be a very long thread. I need to go & do some research on my gears to explain. BTW there are two types of Double. One's a Double (funnily enough) used by the pro's & hard men & people who don't have hills, the other's a compact double (closer to a triple in the ratios, Oh no! I talking about ratios now. The only thing you need to know about ratios is the higher the no. the harder it is to turn the pedals).

The more you ride the stronger your beautiful legs become & yes you will progress from a triple to a compact double & possibly then onto a double. Back later.

Thanks guys. I forgot to press submit before I went away. 

PS Think CHR15 is Sheldon Brown in disguise.