Dennis B Murphy >>>>>>>>>>

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March 2008

3.30.08 Sold the Trek Thursday. I got the newly acquired Koobi saddle on the second Rush- just need Ergon-grips now (and another ForkUp for the Yakima rack).

Went for a good two hour ride Saturay as the weather was fairly mild. I ended up with a 26-1/2 mile ride with a thousand feet of climbing. Below is the GPS screenshot from my Garmin. Yellow shows the route and the green graph line is the elevation. I loaded the Garmin training software to the laptop which is how one get's this information.

3.29.08 What is it with these cheap-ass air pump operations at gas stations these days! I needed air in my tire and had to stop at three stations before I found one that worked- of course, for 75 cents. Rip-off. My dad ran Shell service stations for years and we had air available at no charge, so the money aspect irks me anyway. Add to that the supremely poor maintenance and it becomes doubly irritating. Many times these air machines are broken, the gauges don't work or the hoses or nozzles are damaged or non-functioning.

And in a related note, Saturday afternoon, I needed air in my wife's car tire and stopped by Speedway. I had to go inside to get change. The cashier says she can't give me change until she opens her till for a transaction and wants to wait on the guy behind me. I asked "don't you have a NoSale button"? Yes, but we aren't allowed to use it, she says. That's simply stupid, I replied. "You've got coin operated equipment outside and make money off these machines, yet you won't open the register so I can get change"? What a stupid policy. I know management ordered no NoSale's (these show up on register reports) to attempt to prevent employee theft. But, frankly, employees will find a way to steal and banning NoSale's won't prevent it. This simply inconveniences customers. The point is not to have no NoSales, but to establish a norm for how many NoSales are triggered in a shift. When the number of NoSales is out of line with the statistical norm, then the management can zero in on that employee as a potential problem. By eliminating ALL NoSales, management has actually eliminated on statistical tool for a catching internal theft- such theft is now disguised within all other transactions.

3.24.08 This month is flying by I got a couple of rides in the week of March 17-21, but this week isn't going to work after getting blasted by snow on Friday and it will be cold all week. I also have congestion and am trying to keep an annual bout of bronchitis at bay.

I've decided sell my old Trek Fuel. It has a RockShok Jett front shock, Cane Creek 5 rear shock. The rear wheel is a Parallax hub on a Mavic238 rim. I don't know the front wheel. The rear derailleur is an XT, the front id a Deore. $100. The bike is not in great shape- it is rideable, but would need some work and new parts if someone wants it to be a performance ride.

3.12.08 Today's ride was MUCH better!! Less wind-chill, I wore the balaclava and neoprene boots. I got in about 25 miles in a two hour ride. I have between 400 and 500 feet of climbing in the general route I take, depending on exact path, which should help as training heats up.

3.11.08 My first outdoor bike ride since January 4th- it was both fun and miserable in the 29-30 degree weather. First, in my haste to go riding I forgot my neoprene boots- so my toes got so cold they hurt once I made it back home to warm up. I also forgot my balaclava so my ears became quite cold. Next, I thought the roads seemed pretty clear so I decided to do my usual route down the Kent Trails. Big mistake. A mile in, the roadway became icier and icier- with nearly no clear pavement. I fell down twice, more of a slide-out really, so no injury or hurt. I ended up walking a few times due to the ice. I got far enough down the road to realize that the Trails weren't going to be good for riding so I stayed on Market and rode into downtown. Once I got of the "trails" portion of Market (actually Indian Mounds Drive), it was regular road riding. I went into downtown, to Fulton, over to John Ball Park, Butterworth to OBrien to Wilson... and decided to head straight down Wilson to home due to the frozen nature of my toes. (I usually cross Wilson on OBrien and take Kenowa south). All told I rode just about 17 miles in 90 minutes at a little over 10mph.

I got to use the Garmin GPS (which is how I know my mileage), though I didn't figure out the heart rate monitor part of it. The difficulty, though, in using the Garmin will be my eyesight! The Garmin is mouned to the handlebar stem of my bike. My vision is poor enough that reading the display just from that distance while riding is problematic. Oh well.

3.04.08 Long time no blog... it's been so busy here with work and MMBA stuff. Yankee race preparations is moving along well.

I haven't gotten as much riding as I'd like- maybe 4-5 hours a week at most on the trainer- I am simply itching for some real outdoor cycling.

I've been giving thought to the upcoming season and I think I want my first peak race to be Lumberjack100. To that end, I've considered strategy on my first two events- the 12 Hours of Addison and the 24 Hours of Boyne- and I figure I will plan to try to reach 100 miles on each of these events in the first 12 hours. This will allow me to ride hard for a successful race, but also build a bit of pacing into the event. It will allow me to have some gauge on how I can do to hit the 100 miles in mid-June.