Vacation Time!

I cannot wait for next week’s vacation!  I plan on going up to New England, and thanks to my sister inlaw, we’re bringing a bike trailer.  So I’ll get to tow my kids around, which should be very fun!

Lately I’ve been so tired, that it has been very hard for me to get up on time.  I think I last rode in two weeks ago.  Today I actually got up in time, but was confronted with a huge rainstorm.  I’m hoping a vacation packed with a lot of riding will get me back in the saddle.

Our weekends lately have been spent working on the house making repairs and cleaning.  Our basement looks awesome, but the bicycles have collected dust.  Oh well, when life hands you lemons…

Last week, I was set on riding at the Denville day with the mayor and Kendra.  Unfortunately, mechanical issue prevented me from doing so.  I had bowered my sister-inlaw’s bicycle trailer for that ride, and while in the process of attaching it to my wife’s bicycle, I lost the quik release nut.  Spent the next hour on my hands and knees on the grass looking for this.  During that process, I managed to mangle my glasses, and while looking for my spare quick release set, I broke one of my wife’s lamps.  The day didn’t end as well as I planned.

My wife found the missing piece a couple days ago while weeding one of her garden beds.  Who knew something could mysteriously fly so far from the location where I knew I left it.

So, I’ll try to post some pictures of my adventures in New England.  You all enjoy the last few remaining weeks of summer!

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Flying Sodas

How anticlimactic is it when throwing a large soda at a cyclist, only to miss?

Ask the goofy teenagers in the black SUV who tried that yesterday.  They are so lucky they didn’t come to a stop light immediately following their failed attempt at humor.

Hot, Hot, Hot!

I’ve bumped into a Pete a couple times now.  He’s got like a 15 mile one way, compared to my 10 mile one way (if I take the route he rides).

Yesterday the chain kept slipping.  Pete gave me some great tips on checking to see if it is stretched out.  I guess you measure point to point at 12 inches and make sure it isn’t over by an eigth of an inch.  I’ll have to check that tonight.  I know the gears need a greasing and cleaning, and the chain could use some more grease.  It can really throw off your rythym if the bike doesn’t change into the gear you want it to.

I don’t have any aggressive driver stories, or anything extreme to mention.  Seems like drivers are adjusting to more bikes on the road, or I’m just tuning them out.  The occassional honk happens, but I’ve learned to not care about the feelings of a driver who might arrive 10 seconds later because I’m in their way.

It looks like summer finally arrived!  The humidity is dreadful right now, and the recorded temp on my cyclometer shows the old mercury hitting the low 90s.  Last night, when Pete caught up to me going up the hill on Zeek Road, we both had this look like we were enduring the worst form of torture.  That’s saying a lot because Pete is in much better shape than I am.

I have a planned vacation coming the first week of September.  We’re hoping to go up to New England to see family, but this time I’m bringing the bikes.  Hopefully we’ll have time so that my wife and I can get some fun rides in.  A couple years ago, I spent a couple hours riding around the town I grew up in, and it brought back my childhood.  I think bicycling slows the age process not just physically, but also mentally.  I remember riding past some of the old digs, and it almost felt like I was a 14 year old kid again with an entire world before me and the adventure of exploration was just around the corner.  I can’t wait for this vacation, I wish I had the money to purchase a bike trailer for the kids.

No riding today.  I am seriously tired today, and I thought I had a client visit.

Anyway, enough rambling.  Tell me your recent cycling adventures.