Sunday, January 6, 2013

Biking in the New Year


Geez, it's been 3 months since I last posted anything.  If any of my blog friends remain, cheers!

I have to admit, since I got my iPhone, it is much easier to post stuff to Facebook and Twitter.  Those systems match my very short attention span.  Blogger, in comparison, is an investment in time.  Something I don't seem to have too much of lately.

But I can't believe how easy it is to load pictures now!  And in the same order I clicked them!

I finished 2012 with more miles than any other year.  It was a fantastic riding year.  I'm sorry I didn't share more with you folks.  Many miles were in pacelines, and I was afraid to take too many photos because I didn't want to cause wrecks.

Hi Luis!  A summer ride with the gang.
I had a ton of fun riding with these people this spring, summer, and fall.  I rode enough, and fast enough, that I could help pull at the front of the paceline, at least for a little while.

I've been riding Courteous Mass rides as much as I can also.  Here are a couple photos from the November ride.


The new Martin Luther King, Jr. Bridge.  Awesome at night!

 Alex and I were able to do some rides on rail-trails.  We did rides in Indiana, Wisconsin, and Minnesota this year.

Alex and I with Brooke and Anders in Door County.

I think I have finally come to terms with my randonneuring exploits.  After my failure to complete the 600k ride again this year, I've decided to concentrate on shorter brevets, although someday I'd really like to complete a 600 and even and 1200k someday (like PBP in 2015).

I did brevets in Ohio, Illinois, and Tennessee this year.  Best of all, I met some really cool people on each ride.

New biking buds in Tennessee

I did several brevets on the Trek 710 I purchased last year from Jon.

I got to meet the Dallas-Fort Worth blogger clan in February.  Unfortunately, the few photos I took at that event are somewhere in the cyber grave yard - our old computer finally gave up the fight.

I did the Hilly Hundred this year in Bloomington.  I did it one other time, back in 1985.

Buzzard Lady

K-Mart Dave at the finish

Mike and Luis

Blue Trek - built for hills - note the triple crank




Outside riding continues this winter as I have mounted my studded tires on the Tricross.  I had to de-fender the front wheel to make room for the studded tires.  Here are some photos from the Chilly Challenge, Fort Wayne's New Year's Day ride.


Studded tires mounted



Roller-bladers welcome too!

A stop to Johnny Appleseed Park to watch the Polar Bears


Luis and Jim

K-Mart Dave and I rode back to our starting point - Shoaff Park
I wish all of you a Happy and Safe New Year!

Bill

12 comments:

Wilson said...

Still with you, Big Oak.
Great summary of the past few weeks.
I hope you can make the PBP, I'd love to hear your thoughts.
~ Wilson

Pondero said...

Great job, Bill. I guess I'll live my rando adventures through you. Best wishes on PBP!

rlove2bike said...

Happy New year. It is nice to hear from you. I think you are lucky to live in an area where you can be involved in bicycle events. That is a downfall of living in the sticks as I do. Good to see you are able to take advantage of that.

Thanks for posting!
Best wishes to you and your family in 2013.

RL

adventure! said...

Welcome back! Good luck with your pursuit of longer rando rides. I'm hoping this year to do at least a 200k, if not longer.

TrevorW�� said...

Great to read a post from you again Bill..also congrats on you achieving your best years mileage...Well done!
I understand what you mean about the investment of time in the blog...but a blog tells so much more of 'the story' than Twitter or Facebook do - having said that I am on twitter myself @onemapshort . If you give me a follow I will be able to follow you back and keep up with your activities on twitter as well as this blog...All the best for this coming year....

-Trevor

RANTWICK said...

Hey man, I'm still reading this blog... I have a twitter account but never visit it. I think it auto-posts links to my blog posts abnd that's about it.

I'm still intrigued by this crazy "riding with other people" thing you do. Looks like fun, but I'm still a solitary weirdo, myself.

Jon said...

Good to see you back. And, it was nice to see the 710, too!

Here's hoping that 2013 is a great year for riding (and otherwise)!

DAN said...

I am still here

Steve A said...

Eww - muck without fenders! The Tricross MUST have some better solution...

Anonymous said...

Still here, Bill. And looking forward to pics from your rides in 2013!

GreenComotion said...

Happy Belated New Year Bill and wish you many happy rides in 2013.
Peace :)

Big Oak said...

All, you people are Awesome! Thanks for the well wishes.

We'll see about PBP. I have to do a lot of riding just to qualify for the event. Not exactly sure I've got what that event requires.

Steve - It's not the Tricross's fault - I cut the fender stays just a bit too short to allow me to slide the fender out for the larger tires. Mechanical short-sidedness.