40oz To Freedom- March

Rode the 40oz to Freedom March edition yesterday. There were a few technical problems for the ride.  First we did not have a 40 dog of malt liquor, instead we had a 40 of Budweiser. The second problem is I could not find a complete deck of cards at my house since Mr. Adam thinks he will be the next Rick Smith.  We had to pick from a deck of Old Maid cards.  Since we are training for the Gravel World Championship host by the PCL and I drew a pirate card I claimed myself the winner for March. 

40oz To Freedom

Over the weekend I was admiring my most prized bike related trophy. In the style of other infamous rides such as 24 hours of going nowhere, blow it out your ass, 24 hours on the towpath, and the crackpipe ride. I invite you to 40oz to Freedom series.

The format for the 1st annual 40oz to Freedom series:
Rides will start at Station Rd bridge.
Each loop will be the 16 mile Peninsula loop (no bonus points for getting lost at the Winking Lizard)
Riders do as many loops as time allows.
After each lap draw a card from the deck.
The best poker hand wins a fine 40oz Malt Liquor!
Ride will be on the last weekend of the month.
March 3 hours
April 4 hours
May 5 hours
June 6 hours
July 7 hours
August cards will be drawn when purchasing Nebraska Powerball tickets during the Gravel World Championship. 

Connesville PA 11-15-2006

Made a trip to Connesville, PA on 11-25-2006

New Toy

I just pieced together a new single speed.

I used an old XTR crank with a Hershey retro-disk to hold a 32t front ring, with another 32t ground down to be used as a spacer for the bolts.

The rear hub has a 16t with plenty of spacers.

Sorry about the bad picture I took them with my phone.

ps major props to John on his 11:22:32 at Leadville!

Sunday from Hell

Sunday I was able to get a ride in at West Branch even though there was a conflict of interest in the Bigring house. I wanted to ride my bike, and the Mrs. Bigring wanted to have a picnic with the kids and take the kids fishing. I came up with a foolproof plan that was a win-win for everyone. I was going to get a ride to WB with Dirt Diggler and Potenza while Mrs. Bigring would leave with the kids a few hours later.

The day started out bad when I woke up late at 8:30 when Dirt Diggler called and said he was on his way over and I was still sleeping. No problem, he would pick up the hairy Italian first. I had about 30 minutes to have the morning constitutional get my stuff packed and get the bike ready. I gathered up my clothes no problem, get the dump out of the way proceed to the garage to get my mountain bike the back tire is flat. Pump up the tire quick since all it looked like is that the kids playing in the garage let the air out of my tire again. I’m not sure how they have come to finding letting the air out of my bike tires entertaining. Go in the house to fill up my camelback come back outside the tire is flat again. Pumped up 3 inner tubes before I could find one that did not have a hole in it already. Once I found a tube that would hold air did the quick change and the bike was good to go. Go grab the bladder for my camelback, which by now is in a puddle of water because it has a leak. Rummage trough my junk pile to find a spare bladder that has not been cleaned in about 2 years. Quick rinse fill with water everything is good to go now.

Even though I had not been on the trails in a while I rode OK. I was riding in the front of a group of about 6 riders when we got to a log pile the rider behind says “Up and over” my response was “Off and walk”. Apparently he was not familiar with the Mr. Bigring motto of “Never be afraid to bust out the walk” My seat rail broke about half way into the ride. Luckily the broken seat never affected my busting out the walk. Trail riding is a much more fun than riding on the road. My big problem is time, if there usually is only a 2 hour time window to get a ride in and it takes an hour to get to the trail that leaves no time to ride.

Get done with the ride called the wife she was about 15 minutes away the plan was working out just as planned. We drive over by the beach to have our picnic the wind is blowing so hard our food kept falling off the table. I get the fishing rods for the kid’s fish for about 10 minutes when it starts pouring rain. So the master plan did not go as planned, it would have worked out if the weather cooperated.

Back by popular demand the crack-pipe ride will be Sunday, July 9th @ 7:00 am. Bring your climbing legs and your puke buckets. Anyone who attends this years massacre can blame the Rogue Mechanic for the request for a crack-pipe ride.

Playground Wisdom

Read this on the slide at the playground on Saturday.

"Kids in the backseat cause accidents.
Accidents in the backseat cause Kids."

I never knew life was so simple that all of life's answers could be found on a playground.


Sundays ride 60 miles 4030' of climbing.

Poop in my shorts

Got a ride in with roguemechanic and Potenza on Saturday morning. The details of the ride are below time was just under 3 hours. Came very close to crashing on the down hill section of Hines Hill Road bombing down the hill around 40. I don’t ride with a computer so not sure of exact speed however the road is a 20% grade. I was trying to make a left turn, but the bike just wanted to go straight. I was headed straight for the ditch with all rocks when my back wheel slid-out. With my quick cat-like reflexes unclipped my left foot while getting ready to lay it down. Somehow not sure if it was just luck or skill I managed to regained control of the bike and got it to turn with less than a foot of asphalt before the ditch. After that close call I had to stop and clean the pile of poop I left in my shorts :)

Saturday 

'I'M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!

After putting up with 12 consecutive day of rain and not getting any riding in, 'I'M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!’ The trainer could have been ridden but after riding it through the winter the boredom factor is too much to take anymore. Monday I was able to get a ride in with the Rogue Mechanic. Good thing he was there since my back tire went flat after running over a piece of wire. Since I am tired of being fat and out of shape drastic measures have to be taken.

The time to ride for me is limited due to work and other time constraints. Last summer I was getting up and doing a 20 mile ride 3 days a week before work. Now I have to be at work by 7am time is even more limited. Waking up at 4:30 to get a ride in is rather stupid, but I had no choice.

I may go ride at West Branch on Thursday.

Riding a race bike is an art - a thing that you do because you feel something inside. Valentino Rossi

I have nothing to say

It has been a month since my last post, and I still have not thought of anything interesting to post. I have been riding twice a week, and running once a week. Rode 25 miles this morning would like to get 50+ in on Sunday.

I would like to throw out The Divine Gear http://divinegear.blogspot.com/ for quoting me on not being afraid to break out the walk.

MRBIGRING.COM

I finally got around to posting some crap on the www.mrbigring.com website. Very basic only about five minutes spent on it so far.

15 Minutes

I was able to get my first ride outside for the year in on Sunday. I know thatÂ’s rather pathetic sine itÂ’s March already and I have not ridden outside yet (lame excuse to follow). My mountain bike has been disassembled since November. Lame excuse #1 my fork rebuilt by the master fork technicians at V2 Racing http://www.v2racing.com/ in December but I was waiting on new rotors and pads for my Hayes brakes before it was put together again. Lame excuse #2 I have not been able to find the time when the roads are not covered in snow or ice to ride. Even though my outside riding has been non-existent I have been working out. I have been running with the Rogue Mechanic 5-6 miles twice a week since October. I also have been done 30-60 minutes on the trainer once or twice a week, on some occasions three times.

With all that crap out of the way I was shocked when I reached the top of the Snowville Road climb in only 15 minutes. Not thatÂ’s incredibly fast or anything only about 3 minutes off the summer time pace. I was expecting to suffer for closer to 20 minutes or longer. The other gothinging about the climb was the fact I was able to stay seated tentireier time rode most of it a 39x19x19 gear, I think I went to a 39x23 for the steep section in tbegginging. With only 5 weeks until the Spokejunkies first ride I figured that I better start riding more outside and less on the trainer.

New Eurotrash Pimp Shoe 

cyberbob 

4 Days in a row

OK I will admit it, I've been to lazy to post for the last 2 months.

Too many other things going on to bother posting on the blog. I did ride 4 days in a row over the weekend on the trainer. Friday 1:10, Saturday 40, Sunday 1:10, Monday 35.

Mayor Bob on Snow

I went Deer hunting over the weekend, unfortunately I did not get any. While eating dinner Saturday night the local Mayor shared some of his wisdom with us.

"Sex is a lot like snow. You never know when you are going to get it, how much you'll get, and how long it will last."

Mayor Bob then added..

"And I have been praying for a blizzard since July!"

Turkey Trot

I have not posted anything about he races since I am so pissed at the weather pussies in Cleveland. So it was cold, snowy and windy, what better weather can you ask for.

The assholes at www.hermescleveland.com canceled the race.

Did a easy five mile run on Saturday.

Sunday

I was planning on doing a short run last night. Coach called me during the day to see if I wanted to ride, I did not have the time then. What he did do was plant the seed in my brain to ride, since it was going to be the last nice day until June. Sunny and 50 degrees hard to pass up a ride when the weather is so nice (at least for November).

I rode the snowville loop that I rode in the summer before work. I did not feel like I was going that fast in the beginning of the ride. Half way up snowville how I felt was another story, I felt slow as molasses. Once at the top of snowville there was still six miles left to ride. After I got home a saw what time it was I was shocked to see how fast I rode. I had no intentions of riding fast, just getting home before dark. Even though I have not been on the bike in a month my time was close to the fastest I have ridden the loop about 1:05.


I may have time to get a short run done on Tuesday evening. Thursday is the Turkey Trot, looking forward to the beer after the race more than the race itself.

Trail run

Not sure of the distance that we ran on Saturday morning, best guess is between 6-7 miles. Did part of the same loop as last week with a few modifications on the route. Total time was 1:04.


Did some work on the www.trailhead4x4.com website last night. I may try to get a short run in this afternoon.