Ride The Rockies is about Comfort Zones – being YANKED out of them, if I did not make myself initially clear. I had my first post RTR ride today in my comfortable 30 mile loop around the Lake Tuscaloosa area. It felt really good being back on the bike, and being in familiar surroundings. Oh, I know many of you … Read More
Getting Philosophical
My 2nd Ride The Rockies in five years is coming to a close; only Friday’s ride remains. In ’09 on my first RTR, I was 206 lbs at the start after making Weight Watchers Lifetime membership, 196 lbs when done. In ’14, I think I’m stuck at 237 lbs start to finish, as I took literally someone’s advice that “You … Read More
Piece of Cake
My buddies are laughing this morning – but sure as Hell weren’t after Sunday’s epic “Blizzard Day” at Berthoud Pass. After surviving that — and the wet freezing night in Winter Park — my buddies have given me a new nickname: “Piece of Cake”. We had trained so very hard for Ride The Rockies. We were on our bikes at … Read More
Taking a “Clarity Break” – Why I Ride The Rockies
My wife asked, incredulously, “So you’re actually PAYING to do this crazy ride?” I’ve been married 26 years and have known my high school sweetheart 37 years, so I’m used to her candor. “Well, I might ride again with somebody like Lance Armstrong”, I say (pre-scandal, and you’ll have to read the whole post to get that story.) So why … Read More
Cycling in Alabama
Cycling in Alabama? If you tried it, you’d love it! Alabama is truly a beautiful state with immensely varied geography, elevations from sea level to 2,600 feet, deep forests to open prairie, mountain rock outcrops, and tons of country roads along rolling terrain perfect for cycling. And water – so much of it – that one fifth of all the … Read More
Ten Commandments of Cycling
“My dear boy”, Coach Aldo Safalcin said to me, looking me up and down, “No matter what your size, you can be a better cyclist. You just have to remember a few things.” He’s really quite a character, and I was there to learn his “Ten Commandments of Cycling”. Coach Aldo’s website quotes him as saying “Cycling knowledge and experience … Read More
1st Time Rider Profiles – Johnny “Country Boy” Turner and Paul “Reverend” Roberts
My two best friends are also my two bike-riding buddies, and each will be first time Ride The Rockies riders this year. I did RTR first in 2009, and since I’ve ridden other week-long rides in Colorado and Alaska. But Johnny and Paul are doing a big long traveling/camping ride for the first time, and are very excited. We went … Read More
The Anti-Hammer Manifesto
(told in the voice of Si Robertson of Duck Dynasty) HEY! You Hammer-Heads! You know who you are. You think that from the moment you mount a bike, you should go all-out, fast as Hell. That somehow, unless you are hammering all the time (pedaling at full-out effort, high-speed averages to the non-cyclist), even uphill, for Heaven’s sake, that somehow … Read More
Introducing: The Middle-Aged Gasper
Being bigger than your average cyclist by 50 – 75 pounds, I like to play a guessing game with people I’ve just met: “So how much do you think I weigh, and what is my sport?” Once people learn I’m a 235-pound road cyclist, they look at me and say, “Gosh, you just don’t look that heavy. But then you … Read More