Greenwood Cycling

Living without a car has a few extra challenges, one of the biggest is how do you go grocery shopping?

Even with panniers I’m limited as to what I can carry on the bike. Normally I’ll grab one or two items that I will be needing that day. I have no way to stock my pantry.

Today that changed because when i got to work there was a nice large box waiting for me. Inside was my new trailer.

To celebrate, after work I went shopping. A gallon of milk, ice cream, twelve pack of soda, the fixings for spaghetti, garlic bread, hamburger patties, buns and a few jumbo rolls of paper towels.

Time to get on the road. There were a few wobbly moments at first as I got used to the handling and I got a few odd stares from people as I passed through the Walmart parking lot. It ended up being easier than I thought it would be.

I took it upon myself to get out and ride this morning. I figure I want to ride at least every other day.

I I set out from Bankston around 8:30 with a nice clear sky and temps in the mid 60′s. Peddling was easy and I quickly hit an average cruising speed of around 16 mph with little effort and even hit 18-19 mph without breaking a real sweat for the next 9 miles. I felt good and even considered extending my planed ride but stuck with my plan because I still had to get home and cleaned up for work.

I made my turnaround at the turnoff for Money and quickly made a horrifying discovery. The wind giveth, the wind taketh away …

Did I mention that I was completely unaware of of the tailwind that had been pushing me the entire way? No? I guess it doesn’t matter because now it was a nice steady headwind. Ugh.

I didn’t have a choice now, I was out there and had to get home so I tucked in and kept peddling. The pace was a bit reduced but I made a conscious effort to not drop below 10 mph. I was able to get back up to 15 several times but it I was pushing hard to do so and I was glad to see the “finish line”.

Lesson learned, if it feels easy you’re just fooling yourself.

It was a beautiful day out today and I was able to get in on my first group ride with a couple of guys from the Money Road Cycling Club.

For my first time I don’t think I did all that badly. I was able to keep up, though not necessarily as part of the paceline for almost the entire first half of the ride. I pulled and fought the wind for the beginning of it ans one of them dropped back and put me in the middle of the group and they helped coach me on how to draft off the leader. Eventually they dropped me about a mile from the turnaround point and I got off the bike to catch my breath.

By the time they came back I was ready to go again and resumed my spot in the back of the group, keeping up with them almost all the way to the end but fell off once more. All in all I did about 16 miles at an average 15-16 mph pace. That plus the commuting miles back and forth to work put me at around 22 miles for the day and I don’t feel like collapsing and dying so it’s all good.

Time to celebrate. I’m going to hit the shower and head over to Webster’s for a nice meal.

I’m gonna feel it in the morning though …

So here I am, thinking about spending more money on bike stuff.

I’ve got a Delphi 5 cyclometer that I’ve been using to log my mileage on my commuter. It supports two bikes so I had planned on getting an extra mount and speed sensor to use it on the Trek. Once I add in shipping it’s nearly $70.

My other alternative is to hold off for a payday or two and upgrade to a Garmin Edge. The 305 can be found on the ‘net for about $180 (and I fully expect the prices for the 205/305 to start falling now that the 500 has been released).

I like the idea of gps logging my rides. I’ve been able to do so with an Android app on my phone called Ridetrac. I export the logs to .gpx and upload them to MapMyRide. A device designed just for that would be better than my phone, just in the battery life department alone.

Oh decisions, decisions …

I’ve finally managed to get in touch with the local riders, the Money Road Cycling Club.

I’ve known about them for about a year now but they are elusive. The only mention of them on the net comes from the Bikes, Blues & Bayous website. They sponsor the yearly event but surprisingly have no contact information on the site. Beyond that I found one casual mention of them in a post on bikeforums.net.

I was about ready to simply try camping out along the side of the road on one of their known biking routes for a day. I got lucky and didn’t have to though.

While commuting to work the other day one of the club members saw me and pulled over to flag me down, thinking I was bike touring because I was fitted out with panniers and a trunk bag.

Hopefully I get the chance to get out and ride with the club soon.

Today just wasn’t my day. The weather eventually broke, but to late to go on the long ride.

I did manage get out on the new bike and wander around Greenwood a bit but it was less than half the distance I planned.

The really aggravating part? I’ll be at work all day tomorrow and the forecast is clear and in the 70′s.

Tomorrow is my day off and the plan is to go on my “Inaugural” ride on the 5220 weather permitting. It will be just about 20 miles round trip.

Of course the weather decided to take a dive in the last 36 hours so who knows. Keeping my fingers crossed.

I’ve been commuting by bike in Greenwood since August of 2008 and recently aquired a Trek 5220 from a from a friend (Thanks Terry!) so I’ll be getting out to do some recreational riding as well.

As I get more involved in riding this blog will serve as my chronicle.