Fixed

I managed to figure out I twisted my chain somehow, and twisting it back in place helped. It still skips, but no different from before. Muscles felt pretty weak today.

Route

Easy and yet frustrating

Today, trying to cross a stream made by construction crews working on an overpass, I screwed up my derailleur throwing my bike across to the other bank. I worried, when it landed hard on the front tire, that I might have bent the fork, but that turned out all right. In fact, everything seemed in good shape other than the rear brake and gear shift--it had been twisted a half turn around the handlebar. But I got out my allen wrench and put it back in place.

Once I got back up to speed, though, my gears kept slipping, and I spent the next 16 miles yelling and screaming at the damn things.

I had the most energy I think I can remember, maybe due to the rice omelette I ate before heading out; or it may have been adreniline from anger at the derailleur. In any case, I barely felt twenty miles, though I was starting and stopping due to the damn skipping gears.

I followed the Around Lawrence in 20 miles route.

Eudora by backroad

Today I took a killer (the bad kind) trip to Eudora, and, including a trip to the library earlier, managed to just barely beat my record of last week, with about 34.4 miles. But about half the time I was on backroads, hilly roads of gravel, and my entire body aches as if I had a fever, the constant bouncing was so bad.

I'm having a problem with bottoming out about half way through. I manage these (for me) long rides, but the back half is always a struggle where I can't keep a steady pace. Today I even considered walking up a hill a couple of times, something I'm proud to say hasn't occurred to me much. Need to eat more carbohydrates first?

My route. No, not all 34 miles because I didn't include the trip to the liberry.

The old Clinton ride and "utopia"

I usually ride and come home, and that's the end of it. Yesterday I went for a good ride (my usual ride from my mom's house to Clinton Lake), then went to a friend's house. Somehow it made me feel more engaged, less dependent on a car and freer. I can imagine a world where people ride bikes more, and only use cars for emergencies or out of town trips. It doesn't completely wean us from oil, but it would be a great step. Not that that would ever happen. But what a different world it would be if the streets were clogged with bicycles rather than with cars.


Route

Monday

Around 13 miles total today. 2.5 Getting to work and back, almost 11 on a "ride".

I'm still pretty worn out from yesterday's ride. Nice to know, though, that I can still manage a 10 mile ride, albeit at a fairly slow pace. It took me an hour, not too bad.

The ride out on 1400 is nice, though there are more cars than I would have liked. It is very pleasant, near the wetlands. I think I might venture further south on it some time soon.

Route

Half a metric century!

I'm exhausted, but I managed to make a new personal record: 31 miles. I went on a trip around Lawrence, very enjoyable. I ran into construction early on, outside of town to the north, and suddenly the mountain bike qualities seemed to come in handy - I had to ride through mud and down an uneven hill. However, that didn't last, and my front fork quickly choked in thick mud; I had to carry the stupid thing! Oh well.
It was nice ride, though I'm not sure how much I can handle on that mountain bike. I'm tired, but more than that, my body hurts from bouncing around too much.

Anyway, my route, a little over 31 miles.
Route