You know it's Spring when.....

Well, it was a bit of a chilly weekend but the sun was out both days and it was too nice NOT to go riding. I think it was 34 degrees when I left the house on Saturday afternoon and the wind wasn't too bad. The trick was figuring out a loop to avoid it. I had a flat tire in Rittman but luckily I had purchased a couple of patch kits at the bike shop last week and it was no trouble to find the hole in the tube and patch it. I even had someone stop and ask if I needed help. It just goes to show you that despite the supreme apathy of American society, there are still some really nice people out there. I fixed my flat and proceeded on my way. All told I had about a 35 mile loop and I think the temperature climbed to 35 degrees by the time I was done. I headed out again on Sunday afternoon but this time it was a little warmer, 36 degrees. By the time I finished this ride, the temperature had climbed to 41 which wasn't too bad. The wind was quite a bit stronger but there isn't too much you can do about it. When riding a "loop", you end up riding into the wind at some point. Sunday's ride was about 40 miles and I felt pretty good the entire time. This brings me to one of the ways you know it's Spring. While riding both days I really noticed the Spring Peeper frogs echoing in low lying wetlands. I've noticed quite a few squirrels and Robins. The flocks of Starlings and neat to watch as they constantly change direction in flight. Generally, there was a lot more wildlife about. We're starting out the week with a bit of lingering Winter and may even have a little snow today. Last night's ride over to the Steiner Center was a bit chilly but I still saw quite a few people out walking their dogs. I experienced something on my fixed gear that I've never done before and that's clip a pedal on the ground while going through a turn. Since I have the platform pedals on that bike, they stick out a little bit further than clipless pedals. It was a little unnerving but I didn't crash and realized that it was simply a brain fart on my part. Going a little too fast in a turn and forgetting that you can't coast on a fixie. On the way home from Steiner I came to an intersection at which I was going straight. While sitting at the stop sign, a car pulled up behind me and they were going straight as well. When traffic was clear, I rolled through the intersection and the car followed. I cut right down my usual alley while the car proceeded to go straight. They had gone down to the next street before turning right and I actually beat them to the intersection on the next street north. I love it when I can navigate through town faster by bike than by car. I smiled all the way home. That's all for now. Time to get back to work. ~Chris

Our New Car

Here's a picture of our new car. We liked the color because we thought it wouldn't look dirty... as you an see, that didn't happen. We put over 1,000 miles on it in the first week that we had it. Then again, that's why we bought it, for travelling to races and such. ~Chris

New cars, racing in the rain, and grad school

It's kind of funny how things can change in such a short amount of time. In the last post I was griping about how bad our car buying experience had been. Not more than two days later did we find a great deal on a Ford Focus wagon. The dealership we bought it from made it so easy and they even gave me more than Blue Book value for my Saturn. So we are now the owners of a "Fort Knox Gold" 2002 Ford Focus wagon. We picked it up on Thursday and proceeded to take it to Granville for its first bike race trip followed by a stop in Marietta and then back to Wadsworth. I think it's already on its 3rd tank of gas since we've had it. Speaking of Granville... You can read my race report in the OCC Forum if you follow the link below: www.orrvillecycling.com (click on the link at the top for the Forum) As a nice cap to last week, I received my acceptance letter from the University of Idaho. Talk about exciting! I didn't expect to hear so soon but it's official. Getting accepted is only half the battle because now I have to figure out how to pay for it because they currently don't have funding for any assistanceships. Bummer. That was kind of how I planned on paying for it but perhaps something will come through between now and August. It's nice to know that I have the option if I want to run up some good 'ol debt. (Something I DON'T want to do.) Lorena and I both have our applications into to Purdue as well. Lorena is waiting on notification from Idaho and we're both now waiting on notification from Purdue. Good times are likely! CAHLSB

The Hell that is buying a car... among other things

Let's just begin by saying that buying a car is not a pleasant experience. So far, we've been rather screwed three times... 1. A car we were going to go test drive was sold between the day we made the appointment and the day of the appointment. It's a good thing we called them before we left! 2. A car that was listed as an automatic was actually a 5-speed... but we didn't discover this until we had driven 45 minutes to the dealership. Grrr.... 3. We find a car we like in Canton that is priced over the Blue Book value. We plan on paying cash for the car along with trading in my Saturn. Apparently Blue Book values don't mean much because the dealership wouldn't budge on their price. I guess it's their loss because they had a sale. Just three more reasons that cars suck and bikes rock. I was completely looking forward to riding when we got home. I hope people thought I was wierd for being out there today. It's the weirdos that live the longest! It was a balmy 35 degrees today which made for a perfect opportunity to go ride outside. The sun was out the entire time and that always helps. I think that was only the second time my road bike has been outside since the first of the year. When we have been able to ride outside, it's been on some not-so-perfect roads down in southern Wayne and Holmes counties and that means cross bikes. Otherwise, my poor road bike has been on the trainer all winter. Looking forward to riding outside again tomorrow. Looks like a cool loop that Gorman has picked out for us down in Tuscarawas county. Time to go make (and eat) some dinner... the Cytomax is wearing off..... CAHLSB