I buy a new bicycle and my van develops a new rattle and the check engine light comes on. I am sure I am not alone in this feeling. It happens often enough when I am running, I get in shape, and get injured.
I feel there is something to learn from all of this. Perhaps it is that we delude ourselves into thinking we have control of many factors, when we typically have influence over very few. Perhaps it means something else. Whatever it means, it is important not to take things for granted. Who knows when your or my prosperity might end.
In other news on my Wednesday night bike ride we did 50 miles and around mile 45 we took on a two mile long 400 foot tall hill, and I made it to the top first. Of the ten people on the ride four of us were hammering, yet I managed to hammer hardest. It's the first time I have crested a hill first with this group. Perhaps the bike makes a difference... I also hit 50.8 mph going down a hill Thursday. I felt so in control I want to try 60 now. Right now, I have biking. I'm not taking it for granted, I'm going to do 200 miles on Saturday, or at least try. It is a life goal inspired by Gary Erickson's "175 mile epiphany ride". Read the back of a Clif Bar to hear more of the story.
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
My New Trek Madone 6 Series
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| 2011 Trek Madone 6 Series (50 cm) |
- Frame: Madone 6 Series OCLV2 50cm H1 fit
- Fork: I'm not sure but there is a Bontrager and XXX on it
- Components: Sram Rival with a 39-53 crank and 23-11 cassette
- Wheels: Bontrager Race (I think) they were $300 less than the wheels Trek recomended
- Pedals: Look (I think)
- Saddle: Affinity RL
- That little white thing between the handle bars and the fork stem: 120mm (I'm pretty sure)
- Handlebars: aluminum
- Computer: the cheapest DuoTrap compatible
- Bottle Cages: Bontrager carbon (c'mon I had to get carbon cages too)
It flies! I mean Friday I did 46 miles at an average pace of 18.5 miles and hour and it was not flat. Tuesday night, after running a workout on the track I did a little over 25 miles in an hour and a half that is a 16.9 mph average that was very aerobic. I am noticing that I am going up hills in bigger gear ratios than ever before. I'm going up hills in 3rd and 4th gear. That might not sound impressive, but thats a solid 15-18 mph. Of course, when the hill get steep enough, I still have to get off the pedals in first gear.
Why did I spend all that money on a bicycle, when I already had two? I have wanted a fast carbon bicycle for a long time. Why? Because going a little faster and getting uphill a little easier is thrilling to me and when I am on the bike, I usually spend a lot of time on the bike and those extra five pounds is a huge amount of weight to take off the bike. Especially considering the rotational moment of inertia and air resistance of my new wheels versus my old wheels. Plus, after being unemployed for so long I am have strong fear of being unemployed again and having a physical thing that I could either spend hours on or sell is valuable to me. In other words, if I have money I'll just pay down my debt, but if I have something physical I have some collateral that I will not sell, but I could if I had to.
Top speed so far is 46.5 mph and I was in top gear pedaling at the bottom of a steep hill. I'd like to take it over 50, but it might be hard to find that kind of hill around here.
Monday, June 27, 2011
I Live in Iowa: Week 10
It's past my bedtime and this is a day late so I'll keep it short. I worked 41 hours, ran like 20 miles including a few fast (70-71) 400s, rode my bike a lot, got my new Trek Madone (6 series custom), and took a road trip to Kansas City. Staying true to the title I am busy doing and learning to do. I've got pictures and a few articles in the queue of my head so I'll probably write those tomorrow when I do laundry.
Moral of the story: biking 46 miles solo at 18.5 mph average after work leaves little time to write.
Moral of the story: biking 46 miles solo at 18.5 mph average after work leaves little time to write.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Wait One Day
Warren Buffett apparently calculated that the money to spend on a haircut when he was young would be equal to $300,000 when he was older. His solution was fewer haircuts. Similarly, waiting to pay a bill so that you can earn interest in the meantime earns you money. By waiting even one day you can end up saving serious money. For example, at my bank I earn $0.01 per day on every $350.0 in my saving account. If we say that I spend $7 at the coffee shop on a latte and a muffin, if I do that twice a week, but I delay each purchase one day then I would earn $0.02 over the course of the year.
Where this gets better is the compound interest and frugality at the same time. What if I go a week without going to the coffee shop? I would save like $13. If I went four times the next week, I would spend all of the money I budgeted, but that $13 ($.50 cost of coffee at home) would earn a weeks worth of interest.
This all seems like small potatoes but if you are spending several hundred dollars per week on food, clothing, entertainment, and other things and getting any better than 1% interest (like 8-9% from international corporate bonds) then suddenly waiting a day or a week to go out sounds like a good idea. Of course, if you can go one day or one week without something, maybe you can go two weeks? If you can do that, then maybe a month. If you did not need that thing for a month, maybe you don't need it at all.
Where this gets better is the compound interest and frugality at the same time. What if I go a week without going to the coffee shop? I would save like $13. If I went four times the next week, I would spend all of the money I budgeted, but that $13 ($.50 cost of coffee at home) would earn a weeks worth of interest.
This all seems like small potatoes but if you are spending several hundred dollars per week on food, clothing, entertainment, and other things and getting any better than 1% interest (like 8-9% from international corporate bonds) then suddenly waiting a day or a week to go out sounds like a good idea. Of course, if you can go one day or one week without something, maybe you can go two weeks? If you can do that, then maybe a month. If you did not need that thing for a month, maybe you don't need it at all.
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Be The Change...
There is an elementary school in Dubuque that has "be the change you want to see in the world - Ghandi" on it's letterboard. While I am not the biggest Ghandi fan I'll agree with that statement. What does it mean to me at this point in my life? I need to ride my bike to work, give more money to charity, and throw a grilling party for all of my new friends in Dubuque. Well, something like that...
Monday, June 20, 2011
I live in Iowa: Week 9
Another pleasant week in Iowa. I only worked 41 hours this week, usually I work a few more but the weather was nice this week and when my eight hours for the day came to a close it was time to go outside. That being said it was a little warm this week, in the 80s, and air-conditioning at work is rather nice.
I hardly ran at all this week probably only 20 miles over a few runs, but I spent a lot of time riding my Miyata around in anticipation of my new 6 series Trek. I figure I put in around 220-230 miles this week on the bike. My biggest rides were 75 on Sunday, 35+ on Friday and 60 on Saturday with a few 25 milers in there. Cycling is so easy. You get to sit down the whole time, you don't have to pedal all the time, although I probably do 98-99% of the time. Plus, on a hot day there is constantly wind going across your body and towns around here are nicely spaced about one water bottle apart.
Speaking of traveling around this part of the country I rode to Galena, Illinois on one of my rides. That place looks pretty cool. A very well developed downtown complete with all sorts of stores to take my money including a number of historical sites. I have to make it back there when I am not wearing spandex.
Not too much else happened this week. I spent some time socializing both from the seat of my bicycle, and a restaurant. I am also in the middle of one of my anthropology experiments and I can't help but laugh about it. It deserves it's own article. It is one of those things that I figured out, with much help from my sister actually, and now I am applying it outside of my family.
Circling around to running, I have decided not to do an October marathon. My recovery, specifically my foot, is not healing fast enough for me to be ready for an October marathon. There is one in December and one in January that I am considering. In the meantime the local better-than-I runner is aiming for a sub-15 5k this summer and it's about time I set a personal record at that distance so for the next probably two months it will be the 5k then probably fall half marathons and a winter marathon. Who knows, I mean I have not run even one 5k workout yet so we shall see how it goes.
In all another good week, "living the life." Hopefully you are enjoying some success or more success than I am. At least hopefully you are employed. If you are unemployed, for the better, although possibly unknown reason, you are still in the game. Two 24 year old women died this week, one in Sheboygan and one in Dubuque. On had a six year old and the other was engaged to be married. Life is short y'all.
I hardly ran at all this week probably only 20 miles over a few runs, but I spent a lot of time riding my Miyata around in anticipation of my new 6 series Trek. I figure I put in around 220-230 miles this week on the bike. My biggest rides were 75 on Sunday, 35+ on Friday and 60 on Saturday with a few 25 milers in there. Cycling is so easy. You get to sit down the whole time, you don't have to pedal all the time, although I probably do 98-99% of the time. Plus, on a hot day there is constantly wind going across your body and towns around here are nicely spaced about one water bottle apart.
Speaking of traveling around this part of the country I rode to Galena, Illinois on one of my rides. That place looks pretty cool. A very well developed downtown complete with all sorts of stores to take my money including a number of historical sites. I have to make it back there when I am not wearing spandex.
Not too much else happened this week. I spent some time socializing both from the seat of my bicycle, and a restaurant. I am also in the middle of one of my anthropology experiments and I can't help but laugh about it. It deserves it's own article. It is one of those things that I figured out, with much help from my sister actually, and now I am applying it outside of my family.
Circling around to running, I have decided not to do an October marathon. My recovery, specifically my foot, is not healing fast enough for me to be ready for an October marathon. There is one in December and one in January that I am considering. In the meantime the local better-than-I runner is aiming for a sub-15 5k this summer and it's about time I set a personal record at that distance so for the next probably two months it will be the 5k then probably fall half marathons and a winter marathon. Who knows, I mean I have not run even one 5k workout yet so we shall see how it goes.
In all another good week, "living the life." Hopefully you are enjoying some success or more success than I am. At least hopefully you are employed. If you are unemployed, for the better, although possibly unknown reason, you are still in the game. Two 24 year old women died this week, one in Sheboygan and one in Dubuque. On had a six year old and the other was engaged to be married. Life is short y'all.
Friday, June 17, 2011
My Old Road Bicycle
I had a question from my friend who rode a bicycle from Vancouver to Tierra Del Fuego about my bicycles after the article about my cyclocross bike. Well I currently ride a 1980 era Miyata Professional with a Dura-Ace crank and Campagnolo everything else. It has six gears on the back ranging from 24 teeth to 13 teeth. My cranks are 42 teeth and 53 teeth. It's a racing bike.
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| Complete with a hard saddle, and new aerobars from my uncle |
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| It says, "Miyata" will be a cool restoration project |
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| "Professional", "Dura-Ace" and I just bought pedals! |
It's an amazing bike. I do not plan to ever get rid of it. In fact, I would like to get it restored some day. The problem is that it does not have the best steel technology in it so it is not as stiff as the modern bicycles, which means it doesn't climb hills as well when I stand on the pedals. It also weight as shown about 23 pounds. Light in it's day but my new road bicycle is going be 16-17 pounds, because I went with low class parts. With high class parts it would totally be 14-15 pounds. For a lightweight like me that's a huge difference.
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