My Engine Tuning Progress Bar

Monday, June 18, 2007

Fathers Day Report

I had a fairly nice Fathers Day-Did you?
After lunch on Sunday I received my gift from my family- A Kelly Kettle/1 pint. It is a volcano kettle used and originated by Irish Fisherman for over a century. http://www.kellykettle.com/ It uses small kindling (leaves, grass, twigs etc.) to boil 20oz of water under 5 min. It is fast. We can use it for a "spot of Tea or hot chocolate " on a bike trip or a picnic. or to heat water for freeze dried on a overnight 24hr trip. It is small enough to fit in a bike bag. I read about it on Kent Petersons blog. http://kentsbike.blogspot.com/
Later that afternoon worked on my TE and removed the rear fender and replaced it with a rat tail and then I replaced the 1.35 marathon tires on my Tour easy with wider XC tires. A Specialized CX Borough 1.9 rear, and a Kenda Kontact 1.8 on the front. I rode it down the gravel packed road by my place and was amazed at the difference!.The wider tires seemed to float across the loose stuff. My narrow marathon tires just seem to plough in. On the asphalt it was a little slower and more bumpy with the kenda on the front. So I switched it out with a 1.75 Chen S. from a Bike E and it improved the tarmac ride and speed and still rode exceedingly well on the gravel. I think I will take both tires on the tour and use the knobby on the days on the rail trail and the smoother chen s. on the road days. Speed on the tour is not primary, stability on varing rail trail surfaces is.
Marathon - Cheng S. - Kenda Kontact
Later that evening Alice and I went for a ride around Calmar - I was fooling around and the front tire went out and I ended up on the road. I thought I pulled a muscle in my foot when I got up. But rode home, a wee sore but not for worse. Until I got 50 feet from home when I felt/heard a pop from my left foot and I was in agony. Well it didn't go away over night; so I went into the emergency for an xray this morning. Nothing broken- just pulled and tender- so its no cycling for a couple of weeks or so. Hopfully I can be ready to go on my tour! My wife says it serves me right for "swoopin" around - but hey its so fun!
Take care - ride safely -
Larry

Saturday, June 16, 2007

07 MS Tour Report

Faster, Stronger,
More Endurance,
More FUN!


That really describes my tour this year.
It was a perfect riding weekend, Sunny warm lite wind blowing to south east on Saturday. Cooler, wind blowing strong to the west Sunday!


We had great ride on the weekend on the Leduc to Camrose AB. MsTour. Over 1.2 million dollars will have been raised for MS research and programing. Thanks for all you who sponsored Alice and me. Alice and I rode with Sandy and Murray G.


Every year I have had better times, due to a different bike, better conditioning and support from family and friends. I flew the course on the Easy Racer Tour Easy with comfort and speed. I hit 40- 50 kph on some stretches and avg in the low 30kph range alot of the east trip back-I almost felt like an athlete! Look out Lance - yeah a 300lb Lance! right......



Made it up ALL the hills, TOO!



It was alot more fun this year with my wife Alice along on her TE and our friends Sandy and Murrray on their Agios. Alice did great too, Not only did she look great she rode strong avg 20kph for the whole ride!

I really enjoy the comradery with other riders.

Sandy egged Murray and I to push it up a notch to ride a full metric century on Sunday. (It was easy -we had a east wind pushing us Sunday)

So I rode from Camrose to Calmar- 105km, for a total for the weekend of 180+km.


Not bad for a 300#, 50 year old eh?! I can hardly wait for my Kootenay adventure next month. Boy for a 300lb dude those 200km plus brevets look like they are in reach...next year. I need less of me and more time on the bike, but I can see 'em in the future!

Lower pic: The BEnt Posse
Larry, Alice, Sandy, Murray, Joe Justice - 70 yr. young riding a Bacchetta Corsa (He sells em at United Cycle!)
The more I ride- the more I want to ride. It is a real stress reliever and healthier way to enjoy life!

Now I'm getting into Kootenay Adventure mode: I just need to modify the TE for Rail Trails and keep up the riding 'til then.
I'll keep you posted

Larry

If you want to see some more pics click on the link to the right to see my flickr site.

Sunday, June 03, 2007

Long Ride

Alice, my significant other, riding and life partner and I went for good long ride today. It was +30 on the road. Sweaty, salty, hot. Anyways, we rode from Calmar to Thorsby and back on a long loop. 50.2k. Alices longest 1 day ride to date. It was a real nice day until we headed east on highway 39. Can you say HEADWIND! felt like we did 75k. I averaged 21kph for 2hr 23 min. Alice averaged 17.8 for 3hr 15. Needless to say I stopped and waited for her every 5 k or so. Hey she is worth it. I have several friends whose wifes would never ride woith them. I'm very fortunate. She is improving alot but the wind just messes with her head and she forgets to keep cadance and starts to mash dem pedals.
Well next weekend is the MS Tour, we are both riding along with the Greers and a new rider in our group named Teresa. It will be great to have company this year.
Put a terracycle idler on the TE yesterday. When I changed to a larger 52t chain ring earlier in the spring it shortened the chain a bit. So it was a good excuse to order one from the states and put it on. I saved about $50 ordering it instead of picking it up at a Lbs a ways from home. Mail order can cut into a lot of local business. But I only have so many dollars to spend and gas is getting real expensive.
Well, Get up off the couch, get away from the computer and family and go for a ride a couple of times this week, eh. It does wonders for the body mind and spirit.
Larry