Cycle Ti Thunder

I took the original kickstand off my bike because it wouldn't hold the load when I had my ortlieb saddlebags on the rear pannier. I'm eager to test this kickstand that was made in Switzerland the kickstand brand is Pletcher Twin.

Lonnie Wormley enjoying pastoral hay fields on Eight Mile Road I have been gradually building up the muscles in my hip.  Today I could tell that they were stronger than a few weeks ago.  I measure the strength in the hip joint muscles above my right femur when I stand up and pedal up small hills.  When I tried to do this a few months ago my stronger left leg would greatly over power my crank and my right leg could not keep pace while I was standing.  I could only compensate for the week right hip by sitting when I rode on my sissy bike.  Today was the first time that I was able to maintain good balance and pedal up several hills while standing.  I am pleased with my gradual approach to rehabilitating my hip. Pastoral hay fields on Eight Mile Road Today was a wonder ride for a summer evening.  The wind was slight giving just enough breeze to evaporate the sweat off of my skin and keep me cool.  I love riding in the early evening as it is usually low traffic and the long rays

Lonnie Wormley at the Albany Museum of Art Evening rides During the month of July I have been riding my bike on Saturday and Sunday evenings. After a day of working on my house and performing various yard and renovation projects I take time to ride my Trek Pure through the neighborhood streets of the city that I love.  Riding my bike is always a transcendental experience for me and I enjoy the peace of mind that comes from rhythmically moving my body on a bike through quite neighborhood streets. This past weekend the weather made for some cooler rides than earlier in the month.  Rain showers were a pleasant treat on Saturday's ride.  Riding in the summer rain is one of the simple pleasures that I enjoy this time of year.  Not many cyclist that I know in Albany look forward to getting wet on their bikes.  When was the last time you intentionally rode a bike through a deep puddle of water on purpose? Go with the flow, it's just a game Planning my route in advance nev

Sunday nights are a lot of fun for me.  In the summer I love to ride my bike around in the dark.  The sound of cicadas , crickets and frogs fills the night with a symphony of sound as I listen to my bicycle cassette keeping tempo. My heart is racing at the Ray Charles memorial in downtown Albany, GA I use to never worry about matching my cycling gear.  Until moving to Georgia I only bought black cycling shorts and jerseys that were on sale.  I would always grab what ever was on top in my drawer and hit the road.  When I started riding with a cycling group here in Albany, I started wearing bib shorts with matching jersey tops.  Well now I am getting back to my style, kit bashing and wearing what ever is on top of the pile .  Tonight my heart was racing but my legs knew better. Kit Bashing Meandering through Albany neighborhoods and winding into downtown is one of my favorite things to do on my bike.  The peace and solitude of being on a bike and not caring where I end

The view ahead The view behind I wanted to continue my consecutive days of riding my bike. I decided to ride down a bar ditch trail near my house. My goal is to ride everyday at least two miles. I am slowly getting my confidence on mountain bike. I saw three small deer in the woods area near this bar ditch road that I was riding.  

Black Thumper parked in my office. No rest for web developers when a new site has to be complete by a deadline date.  This is my seventh day in a row working long hours. I decided to forgo driving my truck to work like I did for the past two non-scheduled work days.  My commuter is in the local bike shop for repairs, so I decided to ride Black Thumper to work.  One thing I have learned through bike commuting, if you ride your bike to work you will always have time to ride your bike.  Riding my bike also is a de-stressing activity. I took some dirt alleys and was chased by some dogs that got out of their yards.  Nothing like the thrill of racing to get away from rabies shots on a commute.  The rear trunk rides perfect on this bike.  I put my tennis shoes in it along with my trusty Thermos full of Bullet Proof Coffee.

With the weekend coming to a close I decided to take a evening ride out to Leary.  I have not been on this route for some time.  I use to bike commute this route a few times each month. HWY 55 is such a joy to ride as it has low traffic and lots of things to enjoy.  As I ride on HWY 55 I pass small ranches, farms with horses, pecan groves and fields of cotton and corn. Da Brim works great for sharing my eyes from the sun. This is GA HWY 55 looking south 8 miles from Leary

Last night for my evening ride I decided to do my old bike commute to the Albany State Radium Springs campus. I rode this route for several years when I worked there. Now I work on the Albany State Gillonville campus, The Albany State Radium Springs campus commute route that I love is 25 miles. The Albany State Radium Springs campus direct commute is about 8 miles. The Albany State Gillonville campus direct commute is 4.68 miles. Albany Georgia Downtown Skyline from Broad Street Bridge at Sunset Albany Georgia Downtown Skyline from Broad Street Bridge at Sunset I love this 25 mile commute because it takes me out on country roads and then brings me into the inner city and downtown.  Last night I rode this route and then after leaving the campus I then rode north and looped into the country roads in Lee county  My love for riding my bike on warm summer nights is a passion that I found once I had a lighting system on my bike that allows me to see and be seen on dark count

The Black Thumper Today I did a morning ride that was a reflection of my artistic side.  The university where I work has imposed a four day work week for two months this summer, so I have Fridays off for a while.  I decided to get up at my normal time and ride my bike, then work on the master bathroom after my ride.  I rode my Torrent 7.2 mountain bike and I am going to reflect on how it differs from my Trek Pure cruiser bike. One of the things that I know about myself is that I am an artist.  The artist in me always likes to have different tools for creating.  Take for example my color pencil drawings, I like having more than one color in my drawings.  When I paint, I like having more than one brush to paint with.  Sometimes I will use an airbrush when I paint. The Urban Assault Cyclist needs more than one bicycle to ride the surrounding terrain.  For the past three months I have been riding my  Trek Pure  to and from work and around the neighborhood on weekends.  My Seven Cy

I have seen a lot of things from the seat of my bicycle.  Living in SW Georgia way south of Macon, GA it is a whole different world outside of the Atlanta beltway.  I have past this house a few times as I cruise around the neighborhood, but today I circled back to take a picture. Parking a off road vehicle on the steps.

Pretoria Station at 8 Mile Road and Leary road Graham Angus Farms cattle on 8 mile Road Graham Angus Farms cattle on 8 mile Road On Sunday May 7 I went on a late evening ride.  I knew I was going to be riding after dark and I was looking forward to it. riding in the dark on country roads was one of the fears in my life that I overcame due to my desire to bike commute.  Riding around in the city is fun at night, but going down a country road when it is pitch black is a thrill.  I have a wonderful lighting system on my bike that generates power for my head light and tail light.  I have no problem seeing when it is dark and I am visible to the full extent of the law to motorists who are not driving distracted. My hip is getting stronger and I am really appreciating the fact that I use to ride 50 miles on a one way bike commute.  I seem to always get the wow factor after I have accomplished something amazing only when I can no longer do what I thought at the time was not en

Today just one day  after a lot of rain fell in the area I was surprised to find that it was a little chilly for my morning commute.  To be clear, anytime I can ride a bike here in the deep south without sweating is a blessing.  I really like it when it is cool and damp on a bike ride.  I even like to ride in the rain.  I guess I still have web feet from living in Oregon.

Yep, that is me riding without a helmet.  I was five miles from my house before I realized that I did not have it on.  That shows how crazy excited I was about riding my bike. This was my last ride in April.   I am happy with my progress with my right hip getting back into shape on my road bike.  I am starting today on the National bike Challenge .  From May 1 to September 30 I will try to ride as many of the 153 days of the challenge.  I am not  do the miles that i have been in previous challenges, but I want to ride as many days as possible. Where else can you see donkeys in a pasture?

Lonnie is tolerating sweat and gnats in front of Beggars Bush Plantation on Mud Creek Road Once again I really wanted to get on my Seven and ride out in the country.  I drove my truck to work today because of a meeting, so I did not bike commute to work.  When I got home I was wanting to get out on my bike. I am really proud of my time on split number three which started at Leary Road and 8 Mile Road.  I always like sprinting up this road during the last segment of my ride.  I averaged 17.5 MPH on 8 Mile road, which is the fastest riding that I have done since my hip replacement.  It felt good to just ride full out and not worry about hurting.

Lonnie Wormley having fun riding his bike on Mud Creek Road I had a wonderful ride through the country this evening. I am getting use to riding my road bike again, and it feels great to get our on the country roads again.  This evening there was a slight wind from the east and south east.  It was just enough to keep it cool and to add some resistance as I made my way down Leary Road.  This was the first time in a long while that I rode down Mud Creek Road.  This the longest ride of the year for me so far. Mud Creek Road, made in the shade. Cattle grazing on Mud Creek road

The retention pond about 1/4 mile from my office at work. Sometimes on my bicycling adventures I come upon a visual experience that I have to stop and capture. On Friday, March 31, 2017 on my way to work I ride down a gravel alley just before I reach the university campus where I work.  I pass this retention pond that sometimes has a bunch of ducks or geese hanging out.  The sky was covered over with low dark grey clouds for most of my short 4.68 mile commute.  Right when I got to this pond a few rays of sunlight poked through to present this wonderful view.  I had to stop and capture it. One thing about my photography is that it has sort of de-evolved so to speak.  I use to carry around a cutting edge digital SLR when they first became affordable for me.  I have since resorted to just taking photos with my Samsung Galaxy Note 5.  For me sometimes it is more important to be at the right place at the right time than it is to have all of the fancy cumbersome gear which may become a

My adventures with bicycling continue into 2017.  Today is the anniversary of one of the scariest moments of my life and I cannot remember the car hitting me. T oday back in 2014 I was hit by a car while bike commuting to work.  Today I am bike commuting to work on my cruiser bike with a titanium full hip replacement that I got on October 3 2016. I am glad to be alive and riding my bike. I use to have deep life reflections on the last day of the year, but now I have a fondness for doing life reflections on St. Patrick's Day.  I have never been a big fan of holidays.  I tolerated them when my two children were small and I seem to be getting back into the holiday spirit with my wife  +Sylvia Wormley  .  St. Patrick's Day was always at the bottom of my list of holidays when I was in grade school with all of the pinching and wearing green.  Well today I am wearing green.  I am not wearing a green bike jersey, just a plain old shirt because I am bike commuting in street cl

View of my bike Rufus' cockpit with retention pond in background. I have quickly gotten to a point in my routine bike commute that I am bored.  I yanked the speaker off of my road bike and installed in on Rufus.  My passion for bicycling is on par with my obsession for art and music.  I am a Spotify junkie.  I listen to Spotify all day at work, I walk during my lunch breaks with my headphones tuned in to Spotify and I work at home listening to my favorite play lists.  I knew it was only a matter of time before I put the speaker on my bike. 

I have learned that true happiness does not include the phrase "in order to be".  For me I am happiest when I am just being in the moment.  In this phase of my bicycling life I am just being on a bike. What does it mean for me when I say I am just being on a bike?  I will list some of the reasons. I am not riding my bike "in order to be...": ...healthy. ...faster and ride with the A group. ...in shape for a 200 mile bike ride. ...at the top of the Strava leader board. ...to have a 250 mile a week average. ...to ride 10,000 miles in one calendar year.  Today I rode my bike and I was just being on my bike.  It is just a coincidence that while I was on my bike being happy I also transported myself to and from work.

My bike right after getting it from Cycle World  bike shop.  I had a new taller seat post and had my rear rack mounted. This rear  Expedition Rear Rack Tall Boy - 29er by Jandd was purchased in 2002. Rated for 75 pounds Here is my bike with the Ortliebs  Back-Roller Classic. These were purchased in 2002 in Portland, OR The well worn product label Rear view of the bike. Today I completed my commuter bike build.  I am not going to be doing my normal 15 mile loop through the countryside bike commute for a while.  riding my road bike for a short commute takes too much time to put on the extra gear.  This bike allows me to quickly get on it in street clothes and take a short ride to work rather slowly without breaking a sweat. My goal has always been to keep one less car on the road.  So this bike,, while it will not be my choice for riding 50 miles, it certainly is a bike that I will use on short trips to work and to the store.  I can easily carry plenty of stuff

Today after the my 10 minute commute home I decided to ride my road bike.  My orthopedic surgeon , Dr. Pilcher, told me this week during my check up that I could ride my big boy bike.  For the past few weeks I have been riding my cruiser.  I love my cruiser, but it does not give me the special feeling that I get when I ride my road bike. I wanted to see how much power I had left in my hip.  I wanted to see if I could stand up and pedal without any problems.  The only problems that I am having with my hip is that the joint takes a while to warm up and get loose.  My  surgeon told me that I would experience this feeling for about a year.  In any event it took about 5 miles before I really felt like i was riding without being lopsided. I had fun.  This ride was a shake down to prepare for my bike commute tomorrow morning.  I am going to take the road bike to work for bike commute number two in 2017.

Almost near perfect weather for my short ride to work.  Feet first bikes are lousy hill climbers.  I guess I should not complain since I am use to road bikes for taking hills. Almost 53 degrees at 7:30 AM, almost too warm for a jacket, but I wore one anyway. I just had to wear the BCC colors today. My new parking lot for my bike. I am going to follow  +Aixe Djelal  lead and name my bike.  I have named my mountain bikes, the bike color followed by Thumper.  not sure waht to call this bike.

Ride Data Ride Description Today I wanted to ride one of the routes that I use to consider boring and easy.  The Flint Riverfront Trail is a short 3 mile paved trail that runs from downtown Albany to Cox Landing.  I say that I use to consider this boring because today it was the most exciting ride that I have had in a long time.  I have written this about my Blog before, but I will state it again, I write this Blog to inspire me.  I have been through a lot of things that have prevented me from riding my bike in the past.  When I have been injured or I am in a depressed mood for some reason, I read my Blog and get inspired by my own words of inspiration about cycling. Broad Street Bridge My bike on the Broad Street Bridge I took a picture similar to this one with my road bike on one of my 25 mile bike commutes. Here is my cockpit.  Once again I have a rear view mirror mounted on my handlebars.  the last time I had a handlebar mounted mirror was last century.