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Bike Noob
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I’ve only been at this since the summer of ‘07, so I still consider myself a newbie — hence the name of the blog. My experiences as I get back into serious cycling might be of interest and use to others who are getting into the fun and challeng
Recent Posts Tagged With 'rides'
Garmin, Shmarmin
Guest poster Don Blount finds that sometimes, it’s better to just ride. This was to be an early morning ride. And because of my schedule, I had to be back home no later than 7:30 a.m. I don’t like these early wake up calls when it is dark...
Goats and Ghost Bikes
I decided to ride with the B’s this morning, even though I’m not fully recovered from last Sunday’s crash. But I felt pretty good on a 15-mile jaunt with my wife yesterday, and we were scheduled to ride one of my favorite routes tod...
Give a Little Bit…
A few weeks ago, I signed on for my very first charity ride. Okay, it’s not really the first first, but it’s the first at which riders were encouraged to not only enter for the cause, but to do a little fundraising as well. It looked like a fun r...
Riding in the rain
I carefully checked the weather forecast Saturday night, because it looked like we would be rained on again on Sunday morning. After a record hot summer, Central Texas has been drenched in rain over the last four days. And if it was raining Sunday, I...
Biting off more than we can chew
I bonked today. But so did four of the six who started our Sunday morning “B” ride. It started out routinely enough. We were going to do a well-known biking route, the “Tour de Austin.” As the name implies, it’s a ride t...
Le Burrito ride
Our usual Sunday morning club ride had a twist today. Instead of meeting at our neighborhood Starbucks and heading out from there, we went into Austin just south of downtown to Bicycle Sport Shop, one of the bigger bike shops in town. BSS has a club ...
Are you a century fanatic?
This heat wave won’t last forever. I’m looking ahead to more reasonable weather, with lots of long rides. In fact, I’m toying with the idea of riding another century. It seems that many cyclists set riding a century (100 miles) as a...
Our Tuesday morning ride
During the school year, I’m off early enough on Tuesdays that I can get home, jump into my bike clothes, and take off for three laps around the Veloway. It’s a nice 15-mile ride, and I use it to work on technique. But during the Texas sum...
But sometimes the rabbit is you!
Just a day after gloating about beating some poor guy who didn’t even know he was racing, I was brought back to reality. Out again on Mopac for an easy ride with Pat, I thought I would spin up the hills and wait for her at the top. It was anoth...
Sometimes you chase rabbits…
Got out to ride in the morning today, while the weather was still reasonable. It’s been getting really hot around here lately, and riding in the afternoon is not pleasant. But today’s run, along the Mopac time trial route, was great. I ha...
I was a ride volunteer
Since I started biking, I’ve ridden in about six organized rides. I’ve been impressed with the organization of each one, even though some are inevitably going to be better done than others. A lot of work goes into putting on a ride, and i...
An early thousand and a good ride
Funny how what used to be major biking milestones now pass almost unnoticed. I completely missed it, but back on May 13th, I hit 1,000 miles for the year. Last year, I didn’t hit that magic mark until June 13th. Now I’m wondering what...
The dreaded chainring tattoo
First of all, thank you to all who rightly threw my whining back in my face and told me to get out and ride some different routes to break out of my pity party. Today, I did. Temperature in the high 70sF, no wind to speak of, and bright sunshine R...
Riding without goals
Got out this evening for a nice hour-plus ride with David. I’m trying to ride every day this week, now that I have some time on my hands, so this was a good one. Temperatures are relatively mild — have to enjoy them while they last —...
MS 150 Day Two: Success!
(For an account of Day One, see the previous post.) Jared and I got up at 3:45 a.m. to dress, pack, and head for breakfast. The buses would load at the ride headquarters hotel, and head for LaGrange at 5:30. We were disappointed to find that they w...
MS 150 Day One: Washout
We probably could have seen it coming. It had rained lightly in Austin all day Friday, and when I went downtown to load my bike on the truck and myself on the bus, it was still raining. The check-in tent for MS 150 riders on a gloomy, drizzly a...
Time for the MS 150
Tomorrow’s the day. I’ll take off work early, head home and pack up my bike and stuff. I’ll drive to downtown Austin, where I’ll rendezvous with a bus for Houston. The bike goes on a separate truck, which will take it to the ...
Mounting a new tire
I set a record the other night. It took me a full hour to get a tire mounted on a wheel. I bought a new tire to replace one that had some severe cuts on the tread. Since I had a 52-mile ride coming up Saturday, I didn’t want to risk anythin...
Smoked by a smart gal
I took advantage of the first day of Spring Break and the first really nice weather day in Austin in some time, to get in some real bike mileage this morning. I went out to Mopac, planning to do a few loops. Since I have the week off, I plan to b...
Planning the MS 150
As you know, I’m getting ready for the MS 150 Houston-to-Austin ride next month. I’ll ride along with 13,000 other riders, and pedal about 98-99 miles the first day, overnight in LaGrange, Texas, then go about 80 miles the second day int...
Bad vibrations
Thought I’d get some hills into my ride today, so I took the Southwest Parkway route. It’s got several long climbs, and would be a challenge to me, since I’ve been riding too many flat routes lately. The first two miles from my ho...
Why haven’t I been riding more? (Guest post)
Bike Noob is proud and happy to turn over this blog to a post by my friend and colleague, Gilbert Martinez. Gilbert is the Vice President of the Austin Cycling Association, the city’s largest bike club. His biking interests are somewhat differe...
Gettin’ tough
Weather has been weird around Central Texas lately. While much of the rest of the country is dealing with late winter snow, it’s been extremely dry around here, and extremely windy. I got out for a ride yesterday after work, and it was 88F! ...
We need a pre-ride checklist!
My wife has ridden in the Hill Country Ride for AIDS the last two years, and has started training for the ride again this year. Today, some friends were planning to ride some hills near Dripping Springs, about 15 miles west of here. Since it’...
MS 150
I am riding in the MS 150 from Houston to Austin in April. Actually, it is really a 180 mile ride — 90 miles two days in a row. To prepare for the ride, I’ve joined a team and expect to go on training rides with them soon. All the ridin...
Use it or lose it
Joe Friel would not be happy with my latest ride. Instead of a moderate increase over my recent average workouts, I decided to go for a long ride with some real hills. Mrs. Noob wanted to get in a ride, too, so we headed out together for Mopac. But...
CO2 — A new top post
Here’s a minor milestone for the Bike Noob blog — there’s a new King of All Posts. “CO2 cartridges or a pump?” from July 29, 2008 has overtaken “Smoked by an Old Guy” from April 16. “CO2″ has ra...
Bikely –> Bike Radar
Way back last spring, I posted about ride mapping sites that let bikers trace favorite routes on a map and post them online. One of the featured sites was Bikely.com. Today I learn that Bikely is being merged into the web site BikeRadar.com. Bike R...
I hab a head code and other sundry stuff
Broke into a sneezing and runny nose fit yesterday afternoon. At first, I thought it was a bad attack of allergies, but no…when I woke up this morning, I realized it’s a cold. I hope it won’t affect my riding any. As I’ve a...
My First Century
A big day for me: I rode in — and finished — the Outlaw Trail 100 in Round Rock, Texas. Finally, I have a century ride under my belt. And as it turned out, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be. I thought I was pretty o...
