[Dickie]

My friend needed motivation to tackle her goal of running 750 miles in 2014. I told her that I would try to ride 7500 miles and we could push each other. Well, she gave up by mid April… something about earning her doctorate in Genetic Neuropathy while also getting married….lame! I pretty much gave up as well as the winter had taken it’s tole on me. By April I had only ridden 500 miles. I made up mileage in the summer and suddenly the goal was reachable again (if I had REALLY long arms). If I keep up my pace of riding 40 miles a day 7 days a week until my last riding day (Dec 24th), I’ll come within 100 miles. Of course this will require hours of riding in the dark, cold, and most likely hung-over….missing holiday parties and quite possibly a divorce for Christmas…. and even then I would still be at 100 short. So be it, I am quite happy to let it go. I already passed last years mileage and will be happy with 7000+.

No goals next year, I’m gonna enjoy riding again.

[Dickie]

@peterw_diy 100534 wrote:

Maybe Bill Clinton likes paying $550 for a $50 watch because it’s “American made”

Please tell me where you buy your Swiss movement watches for $50.00…. I’ll be a rockstar at Christmas.

[Dickie]

Welcome Ian, any friend of PeteD’s is a friend of ours…. it also helps that you ride celeste as well. Pretty sure I’ve seen you out and about….. looking forward to meeting you at one of our happy hours. Cheers.

[Dickie]

@Terpfan 100373 wrote:

Was that you Fast Friendly Guy that I saw this morning on MVT wearing a giant turkey on his helmet? Looked kind of like him, but hard to tell as I was picking up pace on that stretch of MVT toward Roosevelt Island. I did smile and get a good chuckle out of it on a cold morning.

That was most certainly him, he left FCCII to do the loop with that thing perched atop his lid. Unless there is another turkey wearing, bell ringing, leaf picking, greeting giving, fast riding cyclist in town, you saw the bonafide Turkey Man.

[Dickie]

To the asshat heading South between 395 and Graverly Point last night around 6:30 who nearly collided with me because it was so important to pass a slower rider in the dark in my lane as I rapidly approached. You’re lucky I was paying attention and that your light was brighter than your brain. #dimwit

[Dickie]

@Terpfan 100370 wrote:

Of course, it does make me wonder about the people riding the other direction with super bright lights. I mean, the cars must be illuminating their paths like daylight based on how hard it is to see through them.

As the one rider (at least it seems) that rides north on the MVT at night I can assure you it is just as bad. The trail points me towards traffic in areas where I too have car lights in my face, especially after 395, and in the areas where it is bad for you that wash of light does little to help me. Going from pitch black to washed ambient light is not helpful. What makes it suck even more is the increase in cyclists using 1000 lumen lights coming towards me in droves, I can’t look in any direction without being blinded, but hey, it is what it is….. I just slow down and if I need to stop because I am only seeing spots I do.

[Dickie]

SW winds suck in the morning since I basically ride 6 miles south then 12 miles west… of course the cyclist law of wind shift will go into effect probably around 5:00 tonight when I am about to ride home. It also sucked that I had to skip all low fives this morning due to a work injury suffered yesterday afternoon. The silver lining; it felt warm this morning.

[Dickie]

I once wore a sarong to a party and let me tell you it felt so-right… albeit I have never considered riding in one, that sounds like a total disaster for everyone involved.

[Dickie]

Take what I am about to say with a grain of salt since I have never participated in Freezing Saddles…. and I’m British. Seems to me a large portion of this thread is concerned about; balancing the teams, keeping this a Forum event, and preventing random folks from signing up but never participating. The solution for all of these is simple…. set up an entrance fee. Those who love the forum and the people associated with it will have no issue paying the fee. It will also eliminate those folks who sign up without really thinking about the consequences. You could donate the money to WABA or Phoenix Bikes, pay for an after party, or buy an actual trophy…. whatever. The fee could be as little as $5-10, or as much as $20, regardless…. if we can afford to buy the proper gear to ride in the winter we can afford a small donation. Setting up a payment option wouldn’t be too difficult…. I’m sure PeteD could help us there.

[Dickie]

I don’t have time to read a ten page thread about Freezing Saddles never mind actually participate, don’t any of you have bosses? …. So, could somebody summarize what I’m not going to read

[Dickie]

Man, I should just go buy a Fat Bike so I can try that puppy out…. maybe I can deliver cabinets and furniture with it.

[Dickie]

@DismalScientist 99963 wrote:

South of the TR bridge? I didn’t see them at 8:00, but I went over the TR bridge.

yep, just South about 50 yards, there was a bunch on branches scattered around too… I was pretty tired and it was stupid early so maybe I was still dreaming, but I certainly remember getting off my bike and thinking “holy crap this is dumb”

[Dickie]

@Geoff 99926 wrote:

The troll bridge – you mean the board walk near Teddy Roosevelt Island? I didn’t see any downed trees there at about 7:10. Is it possible they were already cleared away? Nah, more likely I’m blind.

Yep, that’s the spot… and you couldn’t have missed them… I had to dismount to get under/around one of them. If you were blind you would have smacked straight into it. Crazy that it was taken care of so quickly.

[Dickie]

From 6:15am – Two trees down across the troll bridge on the MVT, also some frozen puddles along 4MR.

[Dickie]

Polarizing and often laughed at Steve Hogg has been preaching this for over a decade. When I spent a day doing my own fit a few years back I moved my cleat position as far back as possible… not midsole, but certainly beyond the “standard” ball of your foot stuff. This has significantly reduced knee pain and injuries for me.

[Author]

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