January 29th Training with Stephen

Today was as great a day to ride in January as I think I've ever seen! It was 60 degrees and sunny with a light breeze. Stephen and I left his place in Clemson and headed toward Central with the intention of making up a new route that really ammounted to nothing more than a big loop around the two towns. On the way through central we stopped and shot the breeze with Red, another cycling buddy of ours, then headed out for a few more miles headed back to Stephen's place. Our ride was a good one, mostly recovery pace, seeing as we were both recovering from being sick this past week. I felt pretty weak at the start but by the time we ended I felt better though tired. We did a fair amount of goofing off and cutting up as usual to make the miles more interesting and ended up having a great time once again. We were supposed to be joined by Jim but early this morning bailed out and did'nt show. I think his riding panties were dirty or maybe his skirt got caught in the chain on the last ride, I really don't know. He is now known as our rolling human stimulus package due to his "BAILOUT" today! Hahahaha! Just kidding Bro! Stephen and I "LANCED IT UP" today by wearing our Lanceish kits, he in the Livestrong kit and I in my Discovery kit; go Lance we'll never be like you! We may have confused some motorists into thinking that in some way we were actually somebody, until they got close enough to notice that I was really a fat guy pretending to be a real cyclist. We still had fun and I went on pretending! Well to all of my followers; five now I think, hope you enjoyed the update and check out today's video, we had fun!

Riding with Stephen and Jim

Today was a enjoyable day of winter spinning with my two buds Jim and Stephen. We headed out from Jim's place for a 25 mile winter training ride that almost turned into a bonk-fest by yours truly. We started the ride off with a nice warm-up pace of 15mph or so and slowly ramped it up a bit. I was doing fine as well as my two faithful companions until a fairly steep, but short(so I thought) hill on one of the secluded roads in the townville/fairplay area. I decided to stay on Shephen's wheel and put forth a leg shattering performance that would rival even the best(fat guy)climbers in the area. I very soon regreted that descision and never really recovered from it, sending me to the back of our trio for the rest of the ride. The last 3-4 miles were better and I was able to scrape enough strength to shoot a short video and a couple of cameraphone pics. So congrats to Jim for dropping me, I'm sure it was a huge boost to his ego! As usual Stephen didn't exert himself even the slightest bit. I know the back of his Kestrel well...whew!

Winter Beauty

This winter has been cold but beautiful at the same time. I find that however awful the cycling has been this new year there have been other things to command my attention. The snow we had was epic for our area seeing as we got 10 inches of the fluff; which hasn't happened in some 20 plus years. The kids went nuts and us adults had to fight, slip and slide our way to work. I had a wonderful time tearing it up with Evie on the 4wheeler out in our pasture while our cattle stared on oblivious to the joy that the snow was bringing us; they were less amused I'm sure.
The photos really don't do the sky and the snow justice but cameras can't see everything. I enjoyed the opportunity to try and capture the beauty for you.
January has offered a select few days to ride and enjoy the company of good cycling buddies, Stephen, Jim and I made it out last Saturday for a nice 32 miles of flat and rolling hills near Townville SC. The prior Saturday Stephen and I made the first Eastatoee loop of the year which was cold! He made fun of my freezing toes as we made our way through the valley and we caught some strange looks from some local trout-fishermen as we stopped at the little eastatoee creek bridge. Most folks look on us as crazies as we roll past them in the cold but they are always nice. Stephen's fun was due to the fact that he had planned for the big freeze by stuffing hand warmers in his shoes and gloves; I didn't though and paid for it. Nevertheless the ride was really great and we had a blast in spite of the numbness.
I hope this year has more of the same great rides and times of great fellowship that last year did. I look forward to some of the new cyclists that I know getting out there and enjoying what so many of us have been! Come with me and give cycling a try, you'll be hooked.

New Year

Well, here is 2011 and this years early training has begun. I welcome any and all who would join me in my journey to top fitness this year.
Plans for this year include the Stars And Stripes Challenge, a personal ride to Mt. Mitchell from home, and SCride4life. More to come later!