Friday Fuel Injection: Event time!

Hey everybody, Blackie Bike here with another installment of Friday Fuel Injection.  Subject this week?  The big event.  I think all riders set some sort of goal for themselves each year- whether that be a number of days per week to commute, a big charity or group ride, even all the way to up to pro racers who plan an entire season around one or two big races (or the Olympics as it might be this year).  As we've mentioned on this blog any number of times, Buttercup's big goal this year was to finish the Total200 ride.  He's been training hard for it, he lost most of the weight he was trying to lose and he's got some good miles in his legs.  He's about as ready as he's going to get.  And a good thing, too.  Since it's here.
The big event is here.  The ride is tomorrow (Saturday, June 30).
Here's a map of the ride.

The weather forecast is brutal.

Day Jun 30

102^°FHigh

Isolated T-Storms

You've got to be kidding me?  102 degrees F?  Should be entertaining to watch.

But this is it.  This is what he's been riding for all year.  This is why he lost the 20lbs.  This is why he's been working really hard to stay hydrated all week.  It's here.  It's time.  Let's RIDE!

Training Hard!

We've been doing a lot of training for the 200 miler in the past couple of weeks.  Some new stuff coming in the mail for me today and tomorrow while we get me all set up for the big ride.
More soon!

Blackie Bike

Training.

Hi All!  Blackie Bike here to chat a bit about the riding we've been doing to prep for the 200 miler coming up the end of the month.
We've been doing some good rides.  Last week Buttercup and Blu Bike had a nice ride to Annapolis and back (81 miles).  A good solid ride given that it was on a Single Speed.  Blu Bike is running a 42/16 these days, so it was challenging on BC's legs on the hills and kept his cadence up on the flats and downhill stuff.
Then Buttercup took me out for a nice ride last this past weekend for 109.  It was a good time in the saddle. We went with one of BC's riding friends for a while and her brother.  Turns out her brother does some pretty serious cyclocross racing out in Colorado- so he was great for pacing good ol' Buttercup along the route.
Here's a map of the route.  Good stuff!

Then we had a small mechanical gremlin to find, so he put me on the trainer for a bit (that's an easier spot sometimes to search out a mechanical issue than any other).  Then we figured, heck- why not do a good interval workout?  So we did "Power" from Real Rides Training from Robbie Ventura.  So we've done that a few times in the past couple of weeks.  They are fun dvd's.  Especially for the off season or rainy days.  And it's a serious workout!
This week we've done the "Power" dvd again.  Then had a good spin yesterday watching a movie.  BC is dealing with a little bit of tendinitis right now- and it is getting better.  No sense in going into a daylong ride hurt.  That just doesn't seem like it would end well.
And just in case you are wondering what all this training is for?  The Total 200 is a double century ride in Washington DC.  It's on June 30th.  Buttercup and I tried it last year and didn't make it.  But we've both been working hard this year to be ready- and BC's body is ready.  His mind is ready.  And his bike (that's me!) is ready.  Let's do this thing!
Lastly- Buttercup is making some subtle diet changes along with all the exercise.  Result?  Weight loss.  He's now down just about 15lbs for the year.  Nice!  He still has a bit of a gut, but the love handles are gone!  Yayyyy!

Gotta boogie- see you out on the road!

Back to Training, and Sailing Vids

Blu Bike here with today's update.  I thought we'd start with a nice sailing picture.
I've been getting some miles in since Saturday's 75 mile ride that Blackie told you about in the last post.  Mostly due to the saddle sore that poor Buttercup has.  So Blackie is on the trainer downstairs to try to get that little mystery solved.  Remember when Blackie got that maintenance overhaul?  Well, it turns out that the mark that Buttercup set the seatpost to wasn't quite right.  Up about 3/8" too high.  Thus making his body rock a little too much on the saddle.  And on that Selle Italia saddle?  Not so good.  So he and Blackie are working that out on the trainer while I get to do the road miles for BC.
Hey- remember that whole "You're the 75th rider to stop at our rest stop" thing that Blackie was telling you about?  Well here's a picture of poor Buttercup.  Now keep in mind, he's like- "WTF?" and that he can't smile (all about passion), and isn't too sure about having his picture taken with the flowery thing on in his bike tights...

WHAT A DORK!

anyway...
So I've been after him to work on some of the sailing vid from their trip.  It's some good stuff.
First, here's a good spot from their trip from Crisfield to Reedville:

Then, the Contour website has a cool thing that let's the GPS info show with the video.  So we're going to experiment with putting that here.  Be patient if it doesn't work quite right the first time, ok?

Back on the bike! and running.

Hey everyone!  It's me, Blackie bike letting you know that Buttercup finally got home from his sailing trip on that dumb boat!  I even kinda felt sorry for him.  He was pretty landsick on Friday night when they got home, then he and I hit the road on the first annual SMECO 75th Anniversary 75 miler.  Ouch.  We had a great time riding with some of his friends, and met some new friends.  We chased a couple of guys at a hot pace for a while until they dropped us going up a little roller when BC's wide load got hit with a puff of wind.  But we had kept up with them for 15 miles or so at the hot pace, so that was good for us.  Then the rest of the group picked up me and my boy at the second rest stop and we rode with them the rest of the way.

The second rest stop was weird.  Nice volunteers were like, "Hey!  Come over here!  You're our 75th rider at the rest stop!"  Oh hurray.  I've never seen so much excitement over us getting dropped like yesterday's junk mail.  But Buttercup got his picture taken.  And got a pretty flowered Lei that he promptly put on me.  How embarrassing...

Dude.  Seriously?

Anyway.  The poor boy's legs cracked from the wind.  All that time on the boat (even with a couple of good runs thrown in) just didn't do us any good.  Which means it's going to be a LONG month of June with a whole lot of riding.  On that nice saddle sore, too.  Ouch.

So that was Saturday.  Sunday?  A bunch of rental house work for BC, and then a nice run with his Bride in the evening.  Today (Monday)?  I think he has some boat work to do- then I think he and Blu Bike are going to hit the road for a while.

BC is working on getting some of the video he took on the Contour processed so he can post it here.  The sailing vid is actually kind of cool- even though it's not riding.  So watch for it!

Here's one last cool late sunset picture from their cruise...

later!

Running, Sunset, and Sea Nettles

Hi there.  Blu Bike here with another update from Brooksies (the running shoes) about Buttercup on his sailing trip.
Seems they had a really good run Wednesday morning going 4.5 miles in just over 39 mins.  And only got a little wet from the rain. 
Then they left the marina and anchored out for the day while it rained.  It cleared up just in time for the nice sunset picture below.  Cool!  Onancock has a pretty anchorage!
BC looked down to see something not so good, tho... the sea nettles are already in!  They usually don't appear until mid summer!  Eeeeek!
I'm glad to hear that BC's run went well, since we've got that 75 mile ride on Saturday!
OK.  That's the update for now.  See you soon.

More Sailing!

Hey all, Blu Bike here again.  Our least favorite Buttercup (for the moment, anyroo...) is still off sailing.  I'm doing my duty to report...
Sounded like they had a fun couple of days with some great sailing.  I'll see what I can't do to post a little of stuff, but keep in mind that he doesn't exactly have super internet access to be uploading major amounts of vid or anything.  So the vids will have to wait, but I can tell you this- they were hauling the mail today!
Check out this pic BC sent me of their max speed:

Now, to us bikes?  That's about 8.5mph or so.  Big whoop, right?  But it is my understanding that 8 knots is pretty darned fast, especially given the type of boat that old "Sequoia" is.  And the fact that they were towing a dinghy.  Not bad, BC... Not bad.

Now, we do have an issue that we need to talk about.  BC and his bride are sailing around on the Chesapeake Bay- and one of the big attractions there is these two islands called Smith Island and Tangier Island.  They are sort of the last holdout for the old ways of the Chesapeake Bay waterman.  I'll take his word for it.  So when they were in Crisfield (at the very nice Somers Cove Marina), they took a ferry over to Smith Island and took a tour.
Here's a pic of  on the way in to Smith Island on the ferry.

So evidently things have gotten a little more tourist friendly since they were there last several years ago and you can now rent golf carts and bikes to get around on.  Seriously?  You went to some backwater island to rent a damned bike and left all of us sitting at home?  Jerk.  And look at what he ends up on...

Good Lord.  He looks like friggin' Pee Wee Herman.

Anyway.  I just figured I'd give you a quick update.  Maybe I'll be able to post some vid when he gets back home.  Although we have a 75 mile charity ride scheduled for the day after he gets back, so it might be a day or two!

Running & Cruising!

Hey all!  Happy Memorial Day Weekend from all us bikes, me (Blackie), Blu Bike, and old man Ingolstadt.  Well Buttercup FINALLY got that stupid boat all put back together and he and his Bride are out sailing.  Where do you think he left me?  That's right, stuck at home.  Even the dog got to go to "doggy camp", but not us.  We just wait here patiently.
But at least BC is keeping up his physical fitness where he can.  I got a message from Brooksies (his running shoes) this morning.  Here's what it said, "Hey Blackie- Brooksies here to let you know that BC and I went for a nice 3.5 mile run here in Crisfield this morning before it got hot.  The sailing thing is fun.  The wind has been good and the weather has been sunny and fair.  So we're having a great trip so far.  See you soon.  Brooksies."
And they sent a picture of them on the boat ready to go.

and another of the racing boat they crew on who is also out for the cruise...

Anyway- I hope he's having a good time out there, cause I'm going to bust his ass for some miles when he gets home so we can catch up on our training for the Total200!!

Later.

Back in one piece!

Quick mobile post from Blackie here... Buttercup got me back together over the weekend and even took me for a ride!
And I got cool suede feel bar tape.  Check it out in the pic!
BC is also doing some experimenting with Strava but we can talk about it later.
Just wanted to say hi since I am back together!

Friday Fuel Injection: Inspiration

Hey everyone (and everybike)!  Blu Bike here with this week's "Friday Fuel Injection".  This week- Inspiration.  I know what you're thinking, we already talked about passion in Another Post, what the hell?  Peeps, passion and inspiration are two TOTALLY different things.  I'm going to tell you where Buttercup (and through him, us bikes) finds inspiration.
There are 2 things that are currently fueling him:

• First, is that there is some really good bike racing on TV right now.  The Giro is going on and is a pretty great race as always, but Buttercup has been focusing on the Amgen Tour of California.  Why?  We don't race, so what's the point?  Watching the top competitors who are amazing athletes in top form (did you see Jens Voigt put in the blue collar effort in yesterday's time trial??? Wow!!) is inspirational.  And it's cool to see super hot rod custom and "production" bikes.  And check out the cool scenery in the pic above- what an awesome ride!  Lastly in this category is the young and the old.  The Bontrager/Livestrong under-23 team is busting ass, and so are some of the older guys.  Big George, Jens Voigt and others are doing great despite the fact that some of them were racing pro before the young guys in the race were born.
• Second?  Body Weight.  This whole journey for Buttercup started 4 years ago now with an effort to dump some weight.  It's been a real struggle (since he loves to eat), but as of this morning he's down 15lbs from the start of winter training.  In addition to riding and running, he's also working on a lifestyle change for him and his Bride with their eating habits.  BC's sister and the "not-so-terribly-observant-on-the-bike" Bob have lost a whole bunch of weight with a diet change based loosely on Vegan eating.  BC has been incorporating some healthier ideas from vegan and other diets to help with his weight loss.  I could here the "WooHoo!" all the way downstairs this morning when he stepped on the scale and it read 194.8 (and it wasn't even his "light" time of day)!!

So that's today's discussion.  Go find your inspirations.  Spouse thinks your sexy when you have that funky upside down "V" in your calf muscle?  Or maybe that you've lost a little weight?  Or that you come home sweaty?  Sweet.  You like the fact that you can see your toes for the first time in years?  Awesome.  Biking to work- Happy Bike to Work Day!!- makes you feel good all day long?  Great.

Whatever it is that inspires you- find it, use it, and GO RIDE YOU'RE DAMN BIKE!

Oh, and he says to tell you he's enjoying the feedback from some of the topic on the blog.  And yes, BC's Sister, we may discuss where the name Buttercup comes from some day...