New Hampshire Gravel Road Cycling
Some photos from a gravel road training ride in the beautiful state of New Hampshire, August of 2014. Click a thumbnail image to see full size (hosted by Flickr). [alpine-phototile-for-flickr…
Next stop, New England
Saturday, myself and two of my teammates raced Savage CX in Nebo, NC. I will spare everyone the details until the ride report is written, but suffice to say, everyone…
Serenity before the mayhem of Savage CX
Tomorrow, we race Savage CX in the mountains of North Carolina. Today, we did an early evening ride to shake out the bikes, and legs. Some photos for your enjoyment.
Sardines in a Can
The next adventure is underway. Two races, gravel roads, five new states, one new country and a vehicle filled with bicycles. Inside the vehicle is a cross bike, a monster…
New website logo on the way…
To make everyone's visit to this blog a more pleasant and visually stimulating experience, I have commissioned a local Gainesville, Florida graphics artist to design a logo, indicative of what…
1987 Just Called
Flicking through a December 1987 copy of Bicycling Magazine, I found several little gems worth sharing. In case anyone says anything, EVERYTHING here is relevant to Gravel Grinding. Sort of.
Road Bikes & Limerock Roads
Another Long Road Ride
Picture a hot and humid Sunday morning, in Gainesville, Florida. Seventy eight miles were planned, from the agreed meeting place, but more if you rode to the start. That’s what I did. Weather forecast called for showers around 1pm, which is pretty typical in Florida for this time of year.
Note to self: prepare for the ride by wearing not your best kit, not your best shoes, and riding not your best bike, aka the “rain bike”, “frog bike”, etc. If you’ve only got one bike, well, that’s a bugger. The route was carefully chosen; I have a nice library of rides I have prepared over the years, and rotate them in and out on any given weekend day.
Is it “next right” or “right”?
This is the conundrum our grupetto faced during today’s 86 mile training ride. “Next right”, or “right”? First world problems abound here.
Setting the Scene
Imagine a two by two group of riders, 12 in all, chugging along on serene Florida back roads. The bloke leading the ride, yours truly, was calling out the turns to whomever was on the front. A few of the riders were ignoring me, as they had swiped a copy of my awesome course file, and loaded onto their little Garmin 705’s and 800’s. The purple line can rule your life. Lemmings.
The group was heading South along a paved road (at left). Yours truly, a row or two from the front, calls out “next right”, not once, not twice, but thrice, each time increasing in volume.
National Bike Challenge 2014
For the past three years, the League of American Bicyclists have held the above-mentioned challenge. Rather than explain it, allow me to quote directly from the challenge website.
“The National Bike Challenge is a nationwide event uniting 
thousands of current bicyclists — and encouraging countless new riders. In its simplest form it is a logging center for users to record miles ridden and be part of the national community of bicyclists. It is a free and easy way to challenge yourself, colleagues and the greater community to ride more. Users compete on a local, state and national level. The Challenge aims to unite 50,000 riders to pedal 30 million miles from May 1, 2014 until September 30, 2014. Now in its third year, the Challenge is a successful partnership between the League of American Bicyclists and Kimberly-Clark’s Scott Natural Brand.”