Beer Drinker's Appreciation Society--Always Open (Page 5)

Thanks everyone for the kind words - it really is appreciated.  Yesterday I cleaned/oiled the chain and gears on the bike, swapped out the saddle (which is no small feat on my bike, trying to get the barrel thing to sit still underneath the saddle to put the bolt in from below is a test of patience!), got the saddle positioning sorted, and went for a 19.5 mile ride in the 70 degree Florida sunshine.  Then when I got home I went out for a 40 min run/walk with my wife, daughter, brother in law, and nephew.  We're all doing the 'Me Strong' 5k in a few weeks, which is a local charity set up for people going through cancer treatment, started by one of my daughter's 'Girls On The Run' coaches.  Couldn't have been a better way to celebrate Helen than that, I think.  

Gretchen - you don't screw around when you get sick or injured do you?  It's never "ah I've got a chest cold, going to take a couple days off" it's "i've contracted a rare form of the plague unseen previously by medical science.  Going to move my 4 hour ride from this morning to this afternoon".  Feel better soon!!!

Andrew - getting the bag in the car is a big first step!  Is it as hot there as it is in Australia right now, or are you far enough away to be spared the extreme heat wave?

YES!!  This is fantastic news.  And apologies if I knew this already and forgot.  I've spent the last few years in hiding as a Pats fan, so now that we have Jackie we have a majority over the Ravens fans MWOOHAHAHAHAHAHA!    And...you worked for the Celtics!?!  THAT'S AWESOME!

Also Bell's Two Hearted is one of my all time favorites.  Not like Dave where it's his favorite ever...  But I do consider it hoppy, also well balanced with the malt.  Are you starting to become an IPA drinker?  Hahaha. 

Also also really exciting about the tri group on the road!  I need to find something locally......

Honest question - what's a workout trampoline?

Do you guys get the Guinness lager over there?

and John - sorry to hear your mentor/friend. 

What saddle you got at the moment?

I did a cheeky 11.67 miles along the canal (with Paris-Roubaix esque cobbles next to all the down locks!) and then home along past my old school: was fun! What was most fun was my slice of Guinness cake after! 

i run this on my hybrid:

 nice and squishy but with the necessary cut out!

and this on my roadbike:

it took forever with both to find one that works! I feel ya pain sister!

I'm more or less back from the plague.  Got in a pathetic barely Z2 ride on the trainer on Friday and basically passed out in Bikram Yoga on Saturday but am feeling like 80% now, still some pesky head and chest goo to deal with.  Contemplating swimming later but it's 15 degrees with a -10* F wind chill right now and I don't want to go outside.  LOL

Oh, and &%@*!! Brady.

Haters gonna hate

Mike and Gretchen glad you guys are making your way back from your respective plagues!  And Jenn glad you made it home safe!  My friends in the north of MA got lots of snow, though of course not nearly as much as you.  My family in the south of MA (for the uninitiated, MA is around an hour's drive north to south) got an inch of snow followed by rain followed by the deep freeze.

Here in FL, I was outside watching the eclipse last night in my short sleeved Patriots jersey with some native Floridians bundled up like it was well below zero.  It was like 40.  Hahaha.

Managed an hour Z2 trainer ride before the AFC Championship game.  Today since it's one of those holidays that school has off but I don't have off work (MLK Day), the family is at Disney and I'm home working.  At least I can get a run or a bike ride in after work before they get home.

Managed a bike ride in the 'frigid' late afternoon January temps of Central FL.  52 degrees hahaha.  The bike trail felt cold too, in the shade and at 85% humidity (high humidity makes the cold feel colder - think raining above freezing vs snowing below freezing).  Even in my time in MA, 50F is about my low limit for riding.  I have pants and thicker gloves and have ridden as low as 20F, but no matter the layering anything less than 50 I hate.

Anyway got a good lesson in bike handling on the trail.  Was coming down the only real descent, a ramp from the bridge over the railroad tracks.  Seriously, the only hills in FL besides the 340' Sugarloaf 'mountain' are bridges.  It's hard to be on the brakes on the way down because instead of being smooth, it's stepped with flat bits like some of the wheelchair accessible ramps are, which cause me and the bike to get little bits of air on each.  And then right at the bottom is a quick left/right chicane.  In the late afternoon sun/shadows, with the sun setting in my eyes, I misjudged the chicane and went off roading.  Would be no big deal if it was grass, but it was more of a sand pit from where all the 4 wheelers cross over the bike path to the sand trails.  There was a split second of thinking I was going over the handlebars and wondering how much it was going to hurt.

I managed to save it, basically using knowledge from motorcycle safety classes.  Brake as much as you can while pointed straight and on a stable surface (the pavement before I left it), then let go of the brakes and go straight through the dip and the sand pit, having scrubbed enough speed.  Came out the other side without even a bobble.  I really need to work on my bike handling skills....

We need pics of the bike!  New Bike Day (NBD) is very important around here.  Any new gear actually but especially bikes since they cost so much they're few and far between.  Congrats on NBD!!!

Regarding bringing the drops in closer - 2 inches is a lot but there are adjustments that can be made usually.  At least on road bikes, tri bikes tend to be more 'integrated'...  Can you move the saddle forward at all?  The height usually has to be adjusted to compensate but if you can get it forward at all it will help.  Also, is there a stem or is the 'cockpit' so integrated that the drops/aeros/stem are all one piece?