The Weather People Lied (Happy Easter)

This turned out much different than I expected. When I took the dog out in the morning there were some snowflakes coming down. As the day progessed the weather looked like is was going to break. By mid afternoon the sun was out and the temperature was head toward 50 degrees. By 2:30 PM I was on the bike and out on the road.

Lots of other people had the same idea since I saw lots of other riders. In fact after I made the loop to start my trip back home I spotted a couple of riders about a mile or so ahead of me. I decided to try and catchup with them so I got up out of the saddle. While I did catch them it ended up making for a rough ride home. I did not have much left for the next 10 miles.

I am not sure if I am going to be able to ride today. I am kind of sore and I could use the day off. I have 2:30 PM reservations for Easter Brunch at the Avenue in Long Branch, NJ and I have a 7:30 PM flight to Richmond, Virginia. I am cutting things close.

Maybe I will just take the dog for a walk and leave things at that.

March Madness

I have been having a hard time coming up with stuff to write about. It is Saturday morning and I really should be doing my expenses from the past week. Since I am not really fond of doing paper work I am going to try and come up with with something to write about while I drink my morning coffee.

The last time I got a good ride in was on March 3. I have tried one other time but the wind was blowing so hard that I was struggling to get up Holland Hill Road. I am also sick of riding in the cold. I have been working in Richmond, Virginia during the week and it is well into spring down there. If I had my bike with me I could have gone on several nice rides wearing the new bib shorts I purchased at The Peddler with the gift certificate my parents gave me for Christmas. Unfortunately, here in New Jersey we are still fighting off the last gasps of winter. In fact there will be no riding today since there is snow and freezing rain in the forecast.

Good Friday was sunny but windy and I could not get my head around a ride. The thought piling on 4 layers and heading out to fight the wind did not seem worth it. I ended up going to the gym. On the way to the gym I saw a rider at the corner of Laurel and Holland. Made me feel wimpy for not being out on the bike. I justified it by telling myself that I was on the way to the gym and I need to build some muscle for the coming spring/summer/fall riding.

Sunday looks better but it will not be a shorts ride. I am going to have to go out early since I am returning to Richmond on 7:30 PM flight out of Newark. I keep thinking I should start driving down and bringing a bike. I do have flights lined up for the next two weeks. I am going to have to think about it. Driving by myself when I can take mass transit just seems kind of wasteful.

Instead of riding I have been spending a lot of time in the gym. My weight workout has been mostly what I call heavy lifting (dead lifts, snatch and jerk, flat bench) with some cable pulls and machines thrown in at the end when I start to get tired. As much as I miss riding it is great to feel strong.

I have been watch a lot of college basketball. Two weeks ago I spent over an hour on the eliptical machine watching Syracuse beat Marquette. It was a great game however the momentum did not carry through to an NCAA tourney bid so Syracuse will spend the rest of March playing in the NIT. It seems like Richmond is where all the Virgina Tech grads go to make there fortunes so it would be cool if Syracuse and VT met at some point. They love college sports in Virginia and North Carolina.

I lost the feeling for college basketball when I moved to New Jersey but I still try to watch the NCAA brackets. If Syracuse is not playing I usually root for the underdogs although I think that UCLA and UNC will meet in the finals. I watched San Diego upset UConn on Friday afternoon while I was doing my cardio workout. What a great game. San Diego will play Western Kentucky who upset Drake. Number 12 seed (West) and number 13 (West) seed play each other. I am still not sure why the West bracket is playing Tampa, Florida. When people say they are heading west Florida is not usually the state that comes to mind. However, Tampa is on the west side of Florida.

I cannot put off the expenses much longer. I have 3 cups of coffee in me now so I think I am ready to start. I am going to see which teams are playing today so that I can schedule my workout.

A Sunday Morning Ride March 3, 2008

I am now traveling down to Richmond, Virginia on Sunday evenings and leaving on Friday afternoons. I am currently sitting at gate B2 waiting for the jet from Cleveland that will take me to Newark, New Jersey. The flight is supposed to leave at 1 PM but is now 12:30 PM and the jet has yet to leave Cleveland. At least there is free Internet access here at Richmond International Airport.

I was not able to get a ride in last Saturday but I was determined to get one in on Sunday. The high temperature was expected to be 40 F. However, I had a 6:45 PM flight to catch so I was going to have to get out early if I wanted to get a good ride in. I got up early, got my morning coffee and got my mind around the ride. At least it was sunny. As I was leaving I looked at the temperature and noticed that it was still only 28 degrees and was not really warming up as quickly as I would usually like. At least I had the thermal tights I bought from Performance Bicycle in Richmond a couple of weeks ago.

I was originally only going to the 27 mile Holmdel, Marlboro, Colts Neck loop but as I got up over Holland Hill road I felt good and I decided to make the the right hand turn at Laird Road and head out to Rumson. All together I end up riding just under 47 miles. I was good and tired for my evening flight to Richmond. Instead of riding back through Fairhaven and Red Bank I rode across the Oceanic Bridge and rode up Navesink River road. The wind was in my face on the whole climb. I was worn out by the time I got to RT 35.

I ended up going to The Cheesecake Factory in the Short Pump Mall once I got to Richmond. I was actually planning my evening meal as I was riding since I could smell the restaurants in the Rumson - Little Silver area serving Sunday brunch. I did end up over eating which is one of the things I tend to do. I always seem to be able to justify it.

I guess there was a race over at the PNC Art Center on Sunday morning. When I got the corner of Crawfords Road and Holmdel Road I saw one of the Peddler race teams. One of the guys (I think his name is Mike and he is usually working at the Peddler) on the team asked me where the back entrance of the Arts Center was. I misunderstood what he was looking for and sent him the wrong way. However, before they clipped back in I realized what they were looking for I pointed out the new route. I could tell by the look on his face that he thought that I was screwing with him. The entrance was actually only a few hundred feet away. It just did not click with me at first. I am glad I caught them before they followed my original directions.

It looks like I will only be able to ride on Sunday this weekend. It will have to be an early morning ride since I have a 7:30 PM flight on Sunday evening.

I do not have any new pictures so I will have to illustrate this blog entry with some old file pictures I have. Just like the newspapers.