The Early Morning Sweat

As promised, I returned to riding this morning with my trusty new headlight. Waiting until 6 AM to get up made for a pretty good nights sleep. It wasn’t pitch dark outside since sunrise was at 6:30 but it was humid. I’m talking sticky-bun humid. Crazy. The stats for today’s ride aren’t huge but it was my first day back in the saddle after a long layoff. The numbers are over in the DailyMile widget. Here’s the workout on DailyMile.

Nascar Drivers in Training

As I predicted, traffic was very light for the first 35 minutes or so with no problem areas until I got about a quarter mile from home. That’s when I lost the bike lane and have to carve my space out of one of the two lanes going in the direction I am. It’s not bad but traffic by 6:45 is starting to build and folks here like to pretend they’re training for Nascar. If folks would simply drive the speed limit it wouldn’t be bad at all. I know I’m asking too much.

Lots of folks out exercising

Before I went to Dallas for 18 months, I got up at 5 AM to ride. I’d see a few dedicated people out at that time in the morning but not many. With me rolling out of the garage at around 6:10 this morning I saw many, many more people out getting the early morning sweat on. I saw no less than two dozen runners and a couple of cyclists. One guy passed me on on his tri bike. No ‘good morning’ or ‘on your left’. I did get a little finger wave though as he blew by me.

Knowing that I was out among those exercising this morning made me feel good. Every morning I drive to work I see people out running and I always felt guilty because I should have gotten my exercise in. No more.

The Crank Problem Came Back

I was just about ready to turn into our Condo complex when I noticed my left-side crank arm was starting to come off again. I had purchased a new bolt to replace one of the two that was damaged and put some ‘glue’ on the threads to help them stay tight but it looks like it didn’t work. I say ‘glue’ because it’s a Loctite brand glue my wife got because I told her someone suggested I use Blue Loctite on the bolts. Well, this glue came in a blue bottle so she thought it’s what I needed. I gave it a try but today will go get Blue Loctite. If I have the problem again the bike is going straight to the shop. I can ride my hybrid in the meantime.

A Potential Riding Partner

Last night, while taking pictures for the Cateye HL-EL450 review, my neighbor pulled up. Turns out he’s a road rider himself who doesn’t get in as much riding as he should. He’s a single college student studying micro-cellular genetic engineering…or something like that. I just know he’s way smarter than I am. Anyway, we talked for a while, he showed me his Trek 1.5, and we discussed maybe doing some riding together. I was up front in that there was no way I could keep up with him (he’s easily 12 years younger and 100 pounds lighter than I am) but he seemed OK with that as long as he got some more riding in. We’ll see how it goes.

How Do I Feel?

Well, I can tell it’s been a few months since I’ve ridden. I’ve got some aches as I sit here writing this article on my lunch break. My body has gotten really soft and it’s time for some pain to get it back where it needs to be. I feel much better having ridden but it’ll be a couple weeks until I’m comfortably back in a routine. While sitting here, I did come up with an idea for a t-shirt based on Jens Voigt’s “Shut Up Legs” statement. I’ll get something drawn up and get your opinions.

PHOTOC: David M*

http://mildstallion.wordpress.com/ Al

I bet that ride was a wake-up call to your legs, but I can imagine the good feeling you got from it.

bdewberry

It was a wake-up call for more body parts than just my legs!

http://www.satincesena.net Sabinna

Another blogger reported crank trouble of this kind. Is the bolt getting the initial correct torque? If done to manufacturer's specs, it should be solid.

bdewberry

Thanks for stopping by.

I actually found the problem with my crank this evening after talking with the mechanic at my favorite local bike shop . Turns out I'm missing the compression cap that goes in the left side of the crank spindle. Without it, the left crank arm can never be properly tightened. I picked up the part for $5 from a different store (that carries parts for Specialized bikes) and will take it back to my favorite local bike shop to have it put on and the bottom bracket overhauled. In the meantime, I'll ride my hybrid for a few days.

http://massivemtber.blogspot.com/ Clive Chapman

The “Way smarter than me” comment made me laugh, my Father in Law (God rest his soul) was a Dr in Electrical engineering and a research scientist in the field as well. (Basically he designed new types of power stations or something like that). Anyway, while he was cleverer than clever thing in his field, I always wondered how he managed to breathe unaided! He had absolutely no common sense whatsoever, I believe the phrase used your side of the pond is “no street smarts”. “Loads of qualifactions but no common sense” is another way I used to describe him. Lovely bloke though.

Well done for cracking on again, looking forward to seeing the T shirt!
Cheers
Clive

bdewberry

I totally understand what you mean. While in the Navy I worked in the Nuclear Power program for six years and saw lots of guys that had book smarts but no street smarts.

bdewberry

I totally understand what you mean. While in the Navy I worked in the Nuclear Power program for six years and saw lots of guys that had book smarts but no street smarts.
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