Addicted to the Tandem

I didn't realize this until I checked my Motionbased account, but I haven't been on my road bike since June 21st. My whole focus as of late is making sure that Laura gets in the miles and the confidence on the "Big Blue" tandem. She's been doing great and I have to admit that I'm thoroughly enjoying having Laura around on all the rides.

With the crazy weather we had early in the year and knowing I needed to get out with Laura on the tandem, I now realize how nearly impossible it would have been to train for the Gut Check (with or without Team Man Tandem). Trying to do that on top of all family duties and there is just no way it could have happened.

I don't have near the miles I did last year, but I'm having twice as much fun. I love the tandem! Laura loves the looks we get when we are out on it.

This in no way means that the Gut Check isn't in the back of my mind. I will be back. With a vengeance.

Two Truths and a Lie

It's been a different week so let's play a little game called two truths and a lie. Below will be three answers, two of which are true. Do your best not to cheat. Answers at the end.

Question 1: This week in Bicycling
This week I rode the following bikes:

a. My Specialized Rockhopper Mountain Bike
b. My Giant TCR0 Road bike
c. My Cannondale Tandem


Question 2: This week in Work
This week I worked the following:

a. As a funeral director's assistant
b. As a lay speaker giving a sermon at church
c. A 40 hour work week at the University

Question 3: This week in Birthday's
My oldest had a birthday on the 4th of July. The ages of my children are:

a. 12
b. 10
c. 5





ANSWERS:

Question 1: B If you answered B, you are are as shocked as me, but you are correct. Obviously I ride my Rockhopper nearly daily for commuting/errands and as of late the complete focus is on getting Laura ready for her first ever MS bike ride which will more than likely also be her first two seventy-five (75) mile rides.

Question 2: C I helped out a funeral director who needed assistance at a funeral this week and I also gave the sermon and prepared most of the service for today. Between taking off time for funeral and not having to work on the 4th (Friday) I did not work a 40 hour week at the University.

Question 3: C My youngest is still four until the 27th of July. He will turn five on the anniversary of Lance Armstrong's fifth straight Tour de France victory.

So, honestly, how did you do?

Walking Your Dog Via Bike

I was hoping to back this post up with evidence from a quick Google search, but unfortunately I could find very little. In fact, I found evidence of manufacturers who make attachments for bikes to "walk" your dog. I struggle with this from a safety standpoint.

I don't care how well behaved your dog is. If your dog gets spooked, sees an animal that it decides to chase, gets in anyway distracted, it could take you out if you are on a bike. Still, I see all to often here in Vermillion, people who "walk" (for lack of a better term) their dog by bike.

Why does it bother me? Maybe it shouldn't. Maybe nothing will happen. Then again, maybe Darwinism will take over. I know of at least three people who have broken collarbones while "walking" their dog while on bikes and been taken out. It is just one of those "duh" moments in my opinion.

Outside of the inherent laziness of walking your dog this way, am I the only person who sees this happen? Am I the only one who sees this as stupid/dangerous? Has anybody seen these bike attachments for walking your dog in action?

Who's Your Daddy?

Bike Path Meeting

If you remember in an earlier POST ,there was discussion on the PORTLAND bike path that had hit a snag with two landowners. I still have to be careful what I post here, so this will be a pretty vanilla scenario of what's going on.

Things really haven't progressed much since the last meeting except that all offers have been refused by the one party by our hired negotiator. The other party has not picked up their phone once in several attempts to contact and didn't answer his door at repeated attempts to stop by their house.

I think that many are feeling frustrated and the discussion has now centered around asking the PORTLAND City Council to approve a Quick Take on the land. Unfamiliar with the term? Me too. I just looked it up and found the following:

Quick take: In many states, there is a specific procedure that allows the government to deposit with the court the amount it thinks the property is worth and then take possession of it very quickly. Sometimes there is no opportunity for a hearing before the government takes possession. For residences, there is usually a somewhat longer period before the person must leave, but businesses in some states can be evicted very quickly. Once the government takes possession of a property through quick take, it can (and often does) demolish the buildings in question.

While we are not looking to demolish any buildings or kick anybody out of their homes, we need to get rolling on this stretch of bike path. We have federal funds to be considered and the clock is ticking. For those of you in the PORTLAND area, be prepared for more details. When the time comes, we need to show our support at the PORTLAND city council meeting and send an email barrage of support to the council before the meeting.

That's probably more details that I should divulge at this point, but things are about to happen pretty fast anyway, and most of the council are ready for it to happen anyway. Maybe I'll live to see this through!

The Day (Off) From Hell

Ah Friday. My day off to work on the honey-do list, go for a bike ride, enjoy the day. No problems here. I was confident that this was going to be a relaxing day to do a little work, do a little riding, and kick back. Then I got out of bed. Which was my first mistake.



First order of business: Wake up at 6:30 and go 20-30 miles on the tandem with Laura. Out of bed and start preparations. While Laura was eating I got the tandem out of the garage. Flat rear. Darn. No cap on the tube. Mayyybe the kids (okay, Carson) was playing with it and let the air out. Pumped it back up and it seemed to hold. Went in got dressed to ride. Came back out and the tire was way down. Change of tube necessary. Changed. Now too late to go over twenty miles as Laura had to go to work, so we did a short run to the bridge of about 15 miles.

Second order of business: Get last two loads of laundry finished and on the clothes line. Check. This actually went fine. Until the quick moving rain moved through before they were dry. Oh well, I'll get them later. That did work (barely) as another storm was RAPIDLY moving in and I was racing against the clock to pull it all off the line.


Third order of business: Clean out and arrange the garage. Part of the issue here is that we are having a garage sale tomorrow and the garage has been lost to loads and loads of stuff for the sale. So, I moved it all out in hopes of arranging the garage. Once all the stuff was moved out, the aforementioned rain came through. Hurry up and get all the stuff BACK in the garage. Then I had to go into work for a bit (coming up in next section). When I got home from work took all of it BACK out of the garage and started to arrange a little. Then I had to take a break to work on a computer (also coming up). When I came upstairs from fixing that some more dark clouds were rolling in and the wind was picking up. I yelled at the kids to start getting the stuff in the garage fast and I was going to get the clothes off the line. I BARELY won that battle. I could literally SEE the rain less than a block away as I got back in the house.

Fourth order of business: Going to work on my day off because of a slight emergency that needed to be handled. No biggy, but who really wants to go to work on their day off.

Fifth order of business: Fixing a computer that was dropped off to me. Nothing big, just putting in and setting up a third hard drive into a computer. Just time consuming is all.

Sixth order of business: Laura and her Mom went to a viewing for a friend that passed away. While they were gone a lady that Laura works with stopped by to pick up a few bags of girls clothes for her granddaughters. Problem now exists: They are mixed in with the rummage sale stuff due to the frantic storm dodging. I did my best to find the bags and I thought I did. Turns out that I sent along at least a couple bags I shouldn't have and now Laura is busy hunting them down now that she's home. I can't win.

Then, to top everything off, the poor lady backed out of our driveway and straight into our van, causing mild damage that will have to be repaired. It was pretty much expected by this time. I wouldn't have expected anything else!

That pretty much finished me off. I was spent. What I was so confident was going to be a good day ended up being a day from hell. What I really need is a beer. Crap. I'm out. I don't have the energy to go get any. I'm going to bed. Tomorrow pretty much HAS to be better.

MPP (Miles per Pound)

Damn you Barry!

Carrying on our recent theme of cycling calculations about Calories per Mile (CPM), Barry brought up the idea of how many miles would it take to burn one pound. The geek glasses are on with the nerdy bow tie. Let's solve this, shall we?

Using the information from the last post: 1000(CPH)/18(Miles) = 55.56 (CPM)
Where CPH = Calories per Hour
Miles = Miles ridden in one Hour
CPM = Calories per Mile
We can then start to determine MPP -- Miles per Pound

Assuming that you burn 1000 calories per hour at 18 miles per hour and also assuming that it takes 3500 calories to equal one pound of weight (a common assumption) then the following formula will give you hours to burn 3500 calories:

3500 Calories / 1000 CPH = 3.5 hours

Still assuming 18 miles per hour the following can be derived:

3.5 hours * 18 mph = 63 MPP (miles per pound)

Again, this is based on a "guesstimate" and would better be served by heart rate information.

Next time you are riding your metric century, eating anything you want, and wondering why you aren't losing weight, refer back to my little calculation. More royalty checks better be in the mail. Maybe I should set up a PayPal account for donations....hmmm....