Conference noted::bicycle

What a sickie!!!  Did YOU do a century yesterday???  Are you the first
member of the 1986 Century of the Month Club??  Or is it going to be Century
of the Week Club this year?  Most normal people are wondering "When is it
going to SNOW!!!"

Kathy

Reg, you are an animal! Who in their right mind would even think of doing
a century before Spring Soltice? Fishing season is more reasonable. April
Fools day is quite logical. For me, Canadian Thanksgiving is the best time
unless it rains. Then you should wait till next year. Don't you all agree?

	Re .1 and .2;

	Sorry folks, just testing your senses of humors.

Didn't see either of you at Nashoba's New Year's Day ride, about 25-30
other lunies, AS WELL AS MY WIFE ! showed up for it. 

Well, who said I had to be in my right mind anyway ? (Whatever that is)

	Anyone for a double metric this sunday ?

	Reg

	Century? Metric? Not this boy. I've been off the "real" (ie. not
mountain) bike for a month. If you want to do a short fixed gear ride 
(63 inch gears) this weekend, and promise to take it easy on us lazy folks
that would be great.
	I think if we are going to be setting up rides in the future it 
deserves a separate note.

CdH

The weather was ALMOST nice enough last Saturday for me to get the bike 
out, but I had to change the heater blower motor in the car, and then I 
came up with a couple of other excuses..

It was pretty nice yesterday, too, I probably should have gotten out, 
but a "decade" would probably have been more my speed..

Tom_who_is_not_apologetic_about_winter_wimpishness

A couple of weeks ago, I did 3 hours and 7 min. on my wind trainer. 

Does that count as a century or half century or a good excuse to call 
the guys in the white coats to send me to the luny farm?


  					Keith

re:6 This may deserve a separate note...but 3hours on a wind trainer? how
do you fight the boredom problem? I haven't been able to do more than an
hour. I have a "walkman" type radio on my favorite station (Robert J.  and
morning pro musica) and I set the trainer in front of a window that lookds
out on my 3 birdfeeders. one hour is max.   Three hours, you must have been
on more than a bike!

It helps a lot if you have a big race in the near future. I was training
for a triathalon in Hawaii and wanted to do my best. There was a foot of
snow outside and the temperature was around 0 so the wind trainer was
my only option. To prevent boredom, I put tapes of bike races and triathalons
in my VCR and I listened to rock and roll on the stereo. My wife was very
helpful by changing the records, getting me water on so on. However, I
had to return the favors when she rode the wind trainer.

I've heard that Lon Haldeman ( past winner of the Race Across AMerica ) goes 
8 hours at a time on his wind trainer in a dark room. But those people who
do the RAAM are a different animal.

set mode/topic=aside

Kieth,

	You're into triathlons. You must know Mark Suprenant. I have been
doing training races with him during the season on Tuesday nights in Hingham.
He's got lots of speed, but no sprint, which I guess is the ideal form to
be in for triathalons. Great guy.

CdH

	It's warming up again !   I managed the short route (7 miles)
commute from Hudson to Marlborough this morning, not too cold but
WINDED !  The car drivers were pretty good, probably not expecting me
so they didn't have their anger ready to vent.  One dog was ready, but
that was in a car going the other way - barked his head off, right
into the drivers ear.  There is just enough light in the mornings now
for my longer route (22 miles) but going home will have to be the
short way. 

	What say Kathy ?   Wanna meet up at Boyleston library around 
7:30 on monday morning for the Kamikaze Kommute Skoot to MR ?  Aren't 
you just longing for the frostbitten toes and getting almost run off 
the road by those bozos in cars again ?

	Reg

The Kamikaze Kommute Skoot to MR, huh?  Well, I think I can handle that
measly 10 miles, especially since it's all downhill.  If I'm not there by
7:30, you can figure I wimped out.  (And if you're not there by 7:30, 
you'll catch up with me, I'm sure!)

Anybody else interested?

Kathy

	Well, January AND February slipped by and STILL NO century.  
Maybe March ?

	Reg

Reg, I got in a half century on Feb 14. Does that count half way?

	Ahhhhhhhh !	That's better !		What a relief ?

		Reg	(Who_is_"resting"_today)

Well, I can't believe that it's the First Century for this entire
collection of fanatics but I'll claim it anyway.  It was a 112 mile
ride altogether with numerous highlights.

It was to be a 70 mi GSW ride from Concord, NH at 8 am, so I rode to it
from Merrimack, NH, starting at 6:15 and wearing more clothes than I would 
need later in the day.

After joining the group in Concord and riding for 2 mi, I got a blowout --
a 9 mm slice in my Specialized touring II that had no more than 1500 miles
on it.  A fellow gave me a 11 cm long piece of tire to use as a boot so
that I could limp home.  I encouraged the other riders not to wait for me
as I was convinced that I could not go on with this problem.  After
assembling everything I said, "what the heck" and chased onward toward 
Laconia.

I met a couple at a store and rode with them a ways, and we met everyone in
Laconia and proceded onward to Meridith.  We negotiated a new route to 
avoid the cement road (3A, bump, bump, bump) out of Bristol, and selected
104 to New Hampton and 132 from there to Concord.  The new shorter route
was only 81 miles instead of the planned 70.  (Most GSW routes are more 
accurately planned.)

As a "buns conditioner" for further Centuries, that bulge in my tire --
with the boot and 100 psi, the split was 2mm wide in the middle --
contributed by providing a "bump" every couple of meters and, therefore,
about 60000 times through the ride.  No, I didn't thibk about it very much.

I hitched a ride home to Merrimack from a fellow rider, "Rick from Fall 
River."

I quess this is the second entry for a real century this year.

There is a 100 mile circle about 35 miles southwest of Colorado Springs
called the Tour de Hardscrabble. Every year, there is an organized ride
on this loop with about 800 riders. Three of us decided to do it as a 
training ride yesterday. We left Florence, Co. at about 8:30 and proceeded 
to climb Hardscrabble pass which is about 27 miles and 4500 vertical feet of 
climbing.

There was a very strong headwind all the way to Westcliffe which was 10 miles
on the other side of the pass. It took us 3 hr. 20 min. to get there and
by that time we were all wasted and ready to quit. After a monstorous lunch,
we noticed that the wind would be at our backs for at least the next 25 miles.
We said what the heck and continued the big circle. Well, the wind that we
were cursing at earlier became a blessing. It stayed at our backs for the next 
63 miles and it was mostly downhill. Out total riding time was 5 hr. 46 min. 
which made the last 63 miles much faster than the first 37 miles.

At the end we were all very tired but happy we finished. We know that it will
make us much stronger in the coming months. There is only one problem. I've
been very hungry ever since we finished. Is it time for lunch yet ?

                                          Keith

    re  the last couple of "claims".  What I was trying to say in .14
    was, "I did it yesterday", March 16th.   I did my second one of
    '85 on the corresponding sunday last year and it was marvelous because
    there is just about no traffic around here the morning after a lot
    of SEVERE St Patrick's day parties.  I am trying to make this a
    personal tradition, though the St Pat's day phenomenon will phase
    in and out.  Another good day is "Boston_Marathon_Monday", it seems
    that those who don't actually go and line the route with paper cups
    and other trash sit in front of their TVs and the roads are pretty
    clear, this year it rained so I missed.

    	Reg
    		(Gotta get the May one now)
    

aha,  I had missed the pt in .14,

yes, off to get a few May C's in.

Truly, work is the curse of the biking class.

As for the Tour de Hardscrabble, wow, sounds like fun, hope it's
still there in September (comparable winds, too).

ed