Fred, yeah that's me!

Leaving the office today someone wrote this on the back of my car.  I won't deny it.  In fact I am proud of it.  especially after watching this video from NSMB.com on now to be Road Biker.  At 0:30 you might recognize a brand of bike that I once owned and some guys from East Hampton, CT that had a piece of that action, I think.  Might explain why they went belly up.

Not only do I have the Fred covered, but I got commuter, ranndoneur, and gravel racer, too!  They missed hipster, unless coffee shop poser is supposed to cover that label.

Spent another evening riding the trainer only I gave myself a little more incentive, a blue ribbon incentive!  Some guys have training videos or watch past bike races.  I prefer watching the TV programs that I missed earlier this week on Internet TV.  Hopefully, this weekend it's going to warm up to over 20 degrees and I plan on getting some serious riding in.  Might event take the Qball out on a mountain bike ride!

Getting some Ass...phalt

This guy should have followed my lead - say no to mud!

With Baseball canceled due to wet fields and after pouring rain yesterday and this morning there was no way I was going in the woods.  Plus, I saw the doctor today and he said stay off the mountain bike for a week due to this inflammation I have in my joints.  He said road riding was fine because it doesn't have the same kind of jarring effect that you get on a mountain bike.  I hate to say this but I am kind of liking road riding more these days.  Yikes, what's next?  Shaved legs and a Cannondale EVO 6? 

I went full Fred this evening.  Wanted to test out a fender on the Qball and just jumped on the bike in what I was wearing, t-shirt, basketball shorts and no socks.

New stem is really making this bike ride fun!

After all the rain we got Sunday night and Monday I rode down to the boat ramp at the end of Hanover Road, thinking that the water level on Lake Lillononah would have come up quite a bit from Sunday but it appears to have only risen marginally.

I don't think I have ever been this far out into the lake and not getting wet

 

 

 

Fredding around in Newtown

Decisions, decisions, what should I ride today?  As a consolation prize for not doing the Tour de Lyme, my wife gave me the green light to ride on Sunday.  The first decision was made for me on Saturday by going mountain biking at Upper Paugussett and I haven't been on the Cannondale so the bike choice was made.  Sunday morning's weather killed any notion of a good Gravel Grinder ride in Roxbury and Washington and as I was getting ready the power went out for all of 5 seconds -- typical Newtown, CT.  That meant I had to stick around to get the internet back up otherwise there would be a revolt at Chez Cyclesnack.  My four hour window to ride was now 2 hours so I decided to try one of my Newtown 26 courses that I have been mapping.

Right out of the gate I passed a big pack of riders and by the looks of their kit and blinged out bikes I would say it was one of the Bethel Cycle rides.  I did get a few waves and good mornings though.  Good think I waited till I did because it was perfect temperature and I dressed appropriately wearing a long sleeve wicking shirt with my Meatball Jersey over it.  It was still cool enough to warrant the extra layer and on the downhills I was glad for it.

I rode through parts of Newtown that I have never been in before including Hammertown and Huntingtown. Riding down Hammertown road was almost like a roller coaster ride with some great climbs and fast descents.  Somewhere along the way I passed a woman riding in the other direction on an old crappy ten speed, but at least she had a helmet on.  However, should she ever read this blog please take note that you should not unzip your jersey that far!  I was having a hard time with the routing feature on the Garmin 800 because I had the 1:24,000 topo map loaded and it had too much detail making it hard to follow the route sometimes, like the turn off to Castle Meadow.

I crossed over Rt 25 near the Indian Restaurant and then started my northward return towards home when I had to stop and adjust my seatpost.  A couple of cyclists passed me going the other direction.  One guy was on a full suss Cannondale Scaple without a helmet.  I got to learn first hand why they call Toddy Hill a hill because it was a nice, long climb up and a wicked ride down.  At one point I think I was going 40 mph!  I think I did pretty well in the feed and hydration department, drank one bottle, and ate a banana and two guus!  If I had more time I would have stopped in Sandy Hook for a can of PBR or a cup of coffee.  Of course when I got home is when the allergies kicked in and made me miserable the rest of the day but at least I had a great ride.

Some things that I want to modify on this route in the future:  stay off dirt roads.  The route started with Pond Brook Road and finished with Sanford Road work a little more climbing into the course like hitting Castle Hill - you can't beat the view!  Lastly, try to go by Fairfield Hills and work in the rec path into the loop.

Fred's Cape Cod Monster Cross Adventure: The Woods Hole Experience

This route includes Elm Rd 

to Surf Drive 

to Oyster Pond Rd 

past the light house 

and finally up FR Lillie Rd.

Fred's Cape Cod Monster Cross Adventure: Last Day

I meant to post this sooner but was having too much fun
on the concluding days of my Cape Cod vacation
and that didn't include any more riding!

I got out of the house kind of late Thursday morning and noticed that it was a lot hotter and humid than the two previous riding days!  I made sure I had two bottles of water with me because I new I was going to need the second bottle.

This route took me out of the center of Falmouth and the beaches area but I added another bike route along the beaches east of me with the hopes of getting some more good bike cam.  The one thing I forgot to check is whether my Drift HD170 was fully charged but it was not, so I took my chances.

I wanted to cross the rail trail where I have been doing it for the previous rides but found that the road that I was on crossed it almost immediately.  When I found the route I came to an intersection where I had the right of way but some asshole driving a Verizon truck decided to jump out in front of me and came within a foot of sideswiping me.  He didn't have to do that because there was no one behind me.  I yelled some four letter explicatives at him and of course gave him the one fingered salute.

To me, the highlight of this ride was to see the Woods Hole Light House on Nobska Road.  Leading up to the light house is very much like a roller coaster, too, and it was fun zooming down hitting all the turns.

Not a lot of wind, either, this morning which made the air thicker!  I found the rail trail to be a bit busier but that was my own fault for leaving on the ride so late.  I got the end of the line on the rail trail and finished my first bottle, ate a Guu, and then headed down 151.  By the time I hit the Roundabout at Route 28 I was already through my second bottle.  Once on Central Ave, the bike route to the beach, I finished my second bottle with only 2 miles to go.

Got home and showered and then went over to a friend of my wife's house for coffee.  I was really sweating and after a few cookies and two cups of coffee I started pounding down the water and I think I should have done that in reverse because I got a cramp in the back of my leg.  I was afraid I was going to have a repeat performance of the time I did trail work down in Trumbull and my whole body cramped up afterwards.  That was horrible.  I probably should have had a gatorade after my ride to replace electrolytes.  Live and learn.

Fred's Cape Cod Monster Cross Adventure, Part Deux

I expanded my course by 2 miles and did it in the reverse direction
and got the treat of riding a rotary for the first time.

Route directions on the Cape are screwy.
I am heading north but the signs say I am heading south?
WTF?

15 miles, almost half way, I hit the Shining Sea Bikeway

Definite proof that you can put a trail alongside actual railroad tracks!
Hmmmmm!

On the north end of the trail it was pretty empty
but when you get closer to Woods Hole, it got more crowded,
especially since I was riding the trail later in the morning,

I like how the signs say give an audible signal to those in front of you
when passing but how do you get the attention of someone
listening to the iPod so loud that you can sing along to the song
and they are running in the middle of trail?

You don't see any hardcore roadies on the trail
but that I came across were of course too smug
to acknowledge my presence as a fellow cyclist
with a head bob or finger wave.

 

About 4 miles out from Woods Hole I picked up a tail,
this guy named Pierre from Montreal was drafting me for about a mile
until I noticed someone hanging on me wheel.  So we drafted each other
until we got to Woods Hole.  It was fun.

 

 

Fred's Cape Code Monster Cross Adventure

Continuing my road riding adventures I brought the Qball with me on vacation to Cape Cod and mapped out a ride that included riding along some beaches, the Shining Sea Bikeway and some great roads in Cape Cod.

Riding along the beach and looking out

Martha's Vineyard

Thinking about drinking some PBR!

The Shining Sea Bakeway is awesome!

End of the line

Not sure where this came from but I like having a grease tatoo

Fred's Reversal of Fortune

Today's ride was the reverse of what I did on Saturday's Broken Spoke ride only with modifications to the route and threw in a new challenge at Stephen Badger's suggestion, a 12% climb up Town Line Rd from Bridgewater to Roxbury.  Riding in the other direction up Purchase Brook was a great, steady climb, that I was able to manage quite well.  However, in the flats prior to the hill I got passed by tri-geek who didn't have the courtesy to give me any warning that he was over taking me, compared to the roadies that passed me later who were nice enough give a hello or warning that they were there.  

 

I think I might have figured out how I broke the spoke on the last ride.  It seems when you climb, the slower you are going puts more weight on each spoke because the wheel has more contact time with the pavement but if you were going faster that time is greatly decreased.  I could hear my spokes twinging as I climbed and because of that pressure at slower speeds due to all the weight pushing down on it combined with the fact that it was a cheap wheelset (you said so yourself, Thom) means some failure is bound to happen, which it did.  Definitely, going to have to get the spokes tightened.  The On-One rear wheel, however, worked out nicely.

Town Line Rd was definitely a bitch but it wasn't a kick in the balls like I thought it was going to be and in fact could have made it all the way up without stopping only I dropped my BlackBerry as I was trying to pull out my Droid from my frame pack.  The surprising thing is with all this climbing today, not once did my HR alarm go off compared to last Saturday's ride, I went into the red zone three times.  I think I am definitely already starting to feel the benefits of this type of training.  Heck, with a real road bike, some fancy kit, and a ton of hair gel I might even be able to give Stephen Badger a run for his money!

 

Once atop Town Line Rd the views, especially looking east were incredible.  I should have asked the two women who cruised me in the cream colored VW bug convertible, in both directions, if they would take my picture or take a picture with me but I wasn't thinking.  One thing is for sure, don't ride this hill from the other direction because there are sections even steeper than the way I rode.  My route took me back down River Road and to my surprise was dirt which is the perfect surface for the way I build the Qball Monster Crosser, which got me thinking, I could throw the Shepaug railtrail into the ride the next time and bang out a little single track while getting back to Minors Bridge.  Next time!

The new route only added 25 minutes to the route I did last Saturday.  If I can hit the road early enough on Saturdays and stop farting around taking pictures I could probably start doing this route every Saturday morning from 6 to 8 am and at least I know that if I am running short of time, I can cut out the loop on Town Line Rd for a quicker return.  I think what I will have to try next, when I have more time, is after Town Line Rd riding into Roxbury Center and then up Judges Bridge and Walker Brook, back down through Steep Rock (on the rail trail of course) maybe up behind Mine Hill and down the Shepaug Rail Trail, and back onto my loop.  Now that could be the ultimate Monster Cross Ride for this area which could be as much as 50% dirt!

Riding a Busted Spoke

The path to be a stronger mountain biker lies in riding the roads!
Twitter:  der_dachs70

Saturday morning I decided to try a route that I planned out earlier
but I forgot to put it in the GPS  and took a few wrong turns.

 

Lake Lilillonah was resplendent with the early morning fog that was slowly
giving way to being a beautiful, summer day.  However, when I started out the 
early morning temperature was in that gray zone of 60 deg.  Too cold for shorts and jersey
meaning I would need a jacket.

 

The route was simple, north along my side of the Housatonic River,
cross over on the Route 133 bridge, then ride through Bridgewater,
Roxbury, and Southbury, and back across the river into Newtown.



I need to spend less time sight seeing and taking pictures for
Instagram posts and concentrate on riding, however, next time
will be different.

  

Roxbury Falls is always fun to look at.  If I had more time I would have

like to try and scout out the section of the old Shepaug Railroad line that

follows the river.  In looking at the maps you can only get down to Berry Road.

The Qball was riding really well up until this point.  I finally

figured out where the creaking sound is coming from,

the seatpost!  It was cheap.  I might see if I can take it apart and fix it

otherwise get a carbon fiber one is my best bet.

 

While I think it was a bit an error on my part by taking a right onto West Purchase Brook Rd  because there is an insane 11% grade climb that from the bottom looks straight up but once at the top, the view is worth the pain.  If it weren't for the morning mists and it was clear enough you might be able to see all the way to Long Island Sound. This morning, however, you could only see as far as Newtown.  

Somewhere, after West Purchase Brook Rd is where disaster struck because I started to feel a wobble and looking down noticed there was a noticeable wobble in my rear wheel that could only mean a busted spoke!  Having experienced this before, on this same wheel while commuting, only that time I had to two broken spokes, I took my descents much slower to coax the bike home.

At the end of Purchase Brook Road, which I had to descend gingerly is River Road.  It would have been nice to really hammer this section of the route so instead I took a few more pictures.

 

Riding along Lake Zoar (lower section of the Housatonic) the water was like glass! 

And here is the culprit.  Looks like I will be riding the On-One rear wheel for my Tuesday commute while I get this fixed.  Meanwhile, I think I might start looking for a better road bike.