boomana

I did nothing today. Chose to sleep in, which I needed. It's been raining this afternoon, but if it clears, I might try to get in a short ride.

What Gene said!

I'd forgotten about this thread. Thanks for the reminder, Jeff.

Brent, I've read the new brooks has a rough, expensive-shorts-ruining surface. The thing that pisses me off about my friend is that he does this every year. He doesn't ride for months, doesn't take care of his bike, is horribly slow for a couple weeks, then will be doing 100 miles at 18 mph within a few weeks. I work all year and can't do that. He also has a little speaker system on his bike, and he blasts bad pop music with horrible distortion, singing along the whole way. Truth is I'm jealous.

Nice, peoples. I got in a 32-mile ride with a co-worker today. We were slow, and by slow I mean about 12 mph. It was even hard to go that slow, but my friend hasn't been riding at all, or lubing his chain (was squeaking the whole way), and was struggling. Maybe what I needed, though. The humidity has been getting to my ankle, so keeping it in the easiest gear and just spinning was probably a good idea for today. The Aliante is not going to work out. It's almost exactly like the Vitesse, which is fine for short rides. I'd ridden it enough this past week to be raw, so not happening. I switched up to the Terry Butterfly again, which felt much better. I'd like to find the identical saddle with a little less padding. The search continues........

Let me know what you find out.

Nice ride with John and Mike this morning. The weather's been so damn deary and/or stormy, the only plus side is that we had no sun beating down on us. Looking forward to a similar ride tomorrow, though would love a little less wind. Glad to see you on your bike, Dan.

The loonies in the crowd on today's stage were downright scary. http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/2929539/outofmywayimonabike.gif

Good point. It's not been that hot here because it's been raining non-stop for days, seemingly weeks with a day or two of sunshine. Really frustrating. It's supposed to be stormy throughout the weekend, and I'm hoping at least not in the mornings. I'm trying to get in some longer rides pre-Sebring, and also to test out some loaner saddles I have to return on Monday. I can handle light rain, but I'm tired of the wind that comes with the stormy crap we've been having, and I'm not going to ride in it if it's dumping rain. Bah.

When I expressed concerns about the pearl, Joe assured me that he only used the 50-year-old, excellent, lead stuff. The guy is good, but a bit nuts. Marshall, heal up. The main organizer and leader of the team I'm riding with on the Miami to Key West ride in November was hit by a car (hit and run) on Saturday. He has a broken and dislocated clavicle, five broken ribs, and expected road rash, but will otherwise be okay. Scary stuff.

Yay, Steve!

Congrats, Colin. My smoothie this morning was a variation of the same thing I make every morning (got branch out soon): 1/2 gala apple two giant handfuls kale 1 scoop vanilla protein powder a bit of water, guessing about a cup Shelly, your first smoothie sounded and looked disgusting.

On it. Thanks, Mike.

Cool, Chris. Parris, I'm just going to wait it out at this point. I will, however, reveal my color choice. I decided on a pearl white (low pearl) bike with cobalt blue panels and a very small (hopefully) candy red (that was Joe's idea; I was thinking more deep blood red) stripe. I told Joe I didn't want people to look at it and think what a nice red, white, and blue bike like the Trek postal bikes. I wanted a blue and white bike (kinda like Nate's avatar) with just a touch of red as a little extra. Still keeping fingers crossed. Mikey, John is riding with me and Phoenix on Saturday. Neither Phoenix or John has been riding so the plan is for me to ride down to meet them at Palmetto at 7AM, ride up to either the Seaside Deli or Lake Ave., depending on mood, and then back. Wanna join us?

Spoke to Joe Bell this afternoon. My bike is partially painted, but the holdup is the stencil. Apparently he ran out, had a local guy make some, but he doesn't like the quality. Looking at the end if the month before it goes back to Dave, then here for the build. I'm ballparking another month to five weeks before I'm riding it. and

I'm using Publix brand vanilla. I was using a bunch of expensive ones I'd buy at Whole Foods (Vega, Raw, etc.), but for my purposes and amount (one scoop a day, maybe two as part of a smoothie), I think cheap and tasty is fine.

^ I clean it the same way as postjack, and I've never used peanut butter.

^ Beautiful shot! Congrats, Peter! I know a couple people with that bike, and they love it. I'm also pretty sure Gene has a Quick.

What water bottles are you using? I have a camelback one and a polar something or another. Neither seem to do much as far as I can tell, but then again, they're the only water bottles I've ever had, so I have nothing to compare. As far as the group rides go, I'm over being pissy. I'm happy riding by myself or finding a couple people who will ride with me as I go along. I'm also quite used to getting passed on the road. I think today was frustrating because I was actually trying for once and came close.

Looks great, Ian. Nate, happy vacationing!

Nate, I can hang at 19.1. Remember, we have no hills here. I was getting dropped in the mid 20s. I'd try to ride with a group, get dropped, ride by myself for a bit, latch on to another group, repeat. The first seven miles was me getting out of my neighborhood and out on my own. The rest of the ride was me trying to unsuccessfully keep up with the groups, with a dip in speed in the middle due to being in downtown Palm Beach. The last five or six miles was me on my own and damn tired. I got dropped five times. What blows me away is that other groups were flying by the ones I was in like we were in a parking lot.

Recipe?

19.1 good for me, but I keep tucking into groups and would get dropped by all after a couple miles, and faster groups were flying by all along the way. These folks were all doing metric centuries, and started before me, so it's not like they were just sprinting for a few miles. There are a lot of good cyclists down here. I'd like to find a group to ride with, but I just can't keep up. I was chatting with the people I was trying to ride with. Supposedly, they were all B groups, but as I said, drop city.

I didn't get the miles in I wanted to do, but I think I did okay. I tried to do a Raffy or Nate ride http://connect.garmin.com/activity/342318304 I did, however, confirm I'm still one of the slowest people out here. The Frank Stark Ride was happening today, and there were literally over 500 cyclists on the road. I tried to hang on, but got dropped by every group whizzing by me.

I've made decent kale smoothies with a Nutribullet (belongs to a co-worker) at work, and it smoothies things up better than regular blenders I've had in the past. Although I wouldn't trade my Vitamix for one, they're a lot cheaper, take less space, and are easier to clean. I'm seriously considering buying my own one for the office. It keeps me away from all the evil goodies the skinny people bake and bring in everyday. I forgot about almond milk. It's excellent in smoothies. Will go get some today. I'm avoiding as much dairy as I can.