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 enough. I was recalling this fact when I remembered one of my favorite songs, These Are The good Old Days by Carly Simon. It took me a while to fully understand the meaning of this song, but as I was riding my bike on Sunday I had the time to reflect on being in the moment and appreciating the beauty around me right now. I am so glad to be able to get on a bike and ride again.
I wanted to capture some of the information on the Internet written about my bike, a custom 1999 Serotta Rapid Tour (SRT). I have about 10,000 miles on this bike. This year alone I have 2,500 miles on it. I have 1,000 miles so fare in April on this bike. I have can only remember one major tune up done on this bike. Here is an interesting discussion that I found about my bike on the Pace Line Forum . Here is a quote about the bike that I own and love "Rapid Tour was Serotta's version of a bike that would fit reasonably sized tires with fenders, and could carry light luggage for credit card touring. In a word, "sensible" and not just a fair weather toy for let's play racer. There's nothing "low end" about that." ~ palincss 05-01-2010 03:33 PM I think that I have upgraded my components from what was on the stock SRT. My SRT has Shimano Ultegra derailleur and the stock SRT has a Shimano 105 derailleur. Here a photo of a stock SRT.
Cycle Thunder II I am recovering from a near death experience that happened on March 17, 2014. I was hit from behind on my way to work and could have died, but I did not. I could make up all sorts of excuses of why I should never get on a bike again, but that is not who I am. Cycle Thunder I was sitting in my living room this past week in front of the TV and my wife was napping beside me. Out of nowhere I starting sobbing and tears flowed freely from my eyes. Was I mourning the lost of a bicycle? I went to work for two days this week and I carried my bike in the back of my truck. I have not had the heart to take it out since getting it from the Dougerty Police Department. I guess I am having a hard time of letting it go. Before I had this accident I had already made up in my mind that this 1999 Serotta Rapid Tour was the last bicycle that I would ever buy. I had already decided that I would only ride just so fast and that I would never be able to keep up with
I did not set up the segment. I did not want to participate in the segment. I found myself looking at my results and wondering who was number on on the segment leader board list and then I was hooked. There are not too many hills in here in SW Georgia, but one of them is near my job. This segment is on the final approach to the ASU campus. The grade is a measly .7% to 1.4% (54M to 64M) over a distance of about 2 KM. The record was held by Edward Picolo at 4 minutes and 3 seconds. When I started bike commuting in September 2012 I was generally tired at this point of my commute. When I started using Strava in January 2013 I discovered the segment and I was a bit stronger in my endurance and I was always making an effort to finish strong up this hill. Only 5 riders appear on the leader board since 2012. I have been competing against my best efforts for a few months until yesterday when I decided that I was going to beat 4:03 on the segment. I finished at 3:48 and I was am
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