More bowling

I started out not hurting and was very thankful. I forgot to take some IB before, but it really did not matter. After last weeks performance I was feeling positive about my bowling, but part of me was thinking that a bad night would be a good thing to help my starting average. I hate it when I start out on fire, but then fall off terribly after the averages are established.

I was not rolling the ball the same as last week, but it was working fairly good. I was carrying a lot of strikes that were borderline. But, I am not one to complain about that. I have been left with a pin staring at me after much nicer hits.

I ended up with another real good series for the week. I had a 219, 246 and 192 for a 657. That puts my average at 217. I will have to bowl less then a 500 next week to drop my starting average below 200. I really do not want that to happen, but it would be good for the team. I would rather just keep rolling good games and keep my average above 200. That has been my goal for the last two years and keep falling short by the end of the year. I guess I will just have to see as the weeks go on!

Called in to sub

I was called in off of the bench last night to sub for the Monday night bowling team that I used to bowl as a regular for my first several seasons. I was feeling optimistic after my performance last Tuesday, but I was also feeling a little weak after all the climbs my legs took me up on Sunday morning. I am a little concerned about how well my legs will do for my normal Tuesday night league, but actually I figured it would be alright since I could stand to no do as well last week. See, I get a new averaged established after the first 3 weeks, so after last weeks 650, that starts me off with a 217 average. Now don't get me wrong, I would love to carry a 217 average, but my past has shown me that my scores go down as the year goes on. So, I would rather start off a little low and work it up all year.

As the night started I was rolling a good ball it just was not carrying. I left 10 pins the first few frames and then I left a 8 pin. I struggled to get it back together by the end of the game. I didn't end up near where I would like even for a bad game, but I have to take what I get. The second and third game was much better. I didn't carry all the strikes, but at least I was picking up most of my spares. I ended the night rolling 137, 204, and a 214 for a 555. I hope that 137 is by far my lowest game for the season. I guess we will see tonight how well it rolls.

There are fools in them hills!!

What a tough ride today. I planned on taking us out for some hills to get a good work out for the upcoming Tour de London race. Three of us headed out on what was a planned 46-48 mile route. I knew I was in for a long day when my legs were weak on the first climb. I need to figure out why my strength is fluctuating so much each week. I have one good week, then a bad week and so on. That is not good since the race is going to be on my bad week!!

I managed to climb all of this hills with out walking. There were a few places that I wished I had a triple ring up front or even a compact set up, but no, I was limping along on my old 8 spd gearing. I keep telling myself what does not kill me, makes me stronger. I think my legs were disagreeing today! Above you can see the log for the ride. The gray section is the elevation profile. It showed right at 2100 foot of elevation gain for 54 1/2 miles. We did average 17 mph. I was happy with that for how bad the hills hurt.

As we were finishing with the route I had planned everything was going good so I came up with this dumb idea to skip a turn and add a few more miles. I figured they were flat miles and should not be that hard. Considering we were just finishing up a long stretch running 24 mph, I actually was not feeling too bad. That was until the first little grade we came up. It seemed like a monster, but was not much at all. All three of us worked it through fairly well, that is until the last turn toward home. This is a long stretch of road that looks flat, but really is going up the whole way. Add that to a good head wind and we were all hurting. At one point I thought I was going to actually just fall over. Some how we managed to struggle home.

It was good to get the extra miles in after all the hard hills. It was also good to push myself past my comfort zone. This all should help in my building process. I just hope I can work out some good legs for the race.

Tour de London

Well, I have decided to try my first road race. It is the Tour de London. I am going to kick back and try out the citizen class to see what is going on. Not sure how ready I will be since it is a 40 mile race with a good amount of hills, but it should be fun either way. I have had an interest in trying road racing and this looked to be about the best chance I could find.

All of my mountain bike races/events that I wanted to do this year have had some conflicts, so I am making time to actually do something. I am not sure if I will do future road races, but it seems like something I could do alright in the lower classes.

I have told myself several times over the years to not do any more mtb races. Well, that bug is trying to bite again, but it has not taken full effect for most of the same reasons I keep telling myself not to race, but there are some new things that are starting to take interest. I tried to do a 13 hour race last year, but they stopped the race early. I have also been checking out these 100 mile races. I am sure I am not even close to guys like Team Dicky, but it would be nice. I think I am even more mental for the fact that racing it on my singlespeed sounds interesting. I guess I will have to wait and see what I end up doing. All I know is I better start riding if I plan on doing anything but getting fat!!

Bowling again

It is hard to believe, but bowling started last night. I am glad because I enjoy bowling, but that is really a bad sign for summer. I better cram in all the riding I can before winter gets here. I am sure that will be soon enough since it seems like we should be closer to spring.

We went out to eat after work since it was my son's birthday. Well, I think they lost our order because we sat there for a long time. I kept watching the time because I was on a limited time schedule before I had to be at the lanes. Well, the food finally showed up and I stuffed my face as fast as I could and out the door I went.

I was running late so I didn't get a lot of practice and I figured I would have a real bad night. Well, I was not that worried about it because your average gets re-established after the first 3 weeks. I would rather start on the low side and work it up instead of starting hight and not being able to keep it there. I am not sure what happened between practice and the first game, but when the game started it was rolling good. I have the first 5 strikes and left a 10 pin in the 6th frame. From there it went down hill some, but I managed to hold on for a 212. Not bad for the first game of the year. The second game didn't go as well in the start, but I was making all of my spares. I put a good string of strikes together in the second part of the game and finished strong with a 226. The third game started just like the fist with strikes the first 5 frames and a 10 pin in the 6th, but this time I didn't pick it up. I got back on for a few more strikes, but that is about all. I finished a little on the weak side and ended up with another 212. That gave me a 650 for the night and a 216 average. So much for starting on the slow side!! I guess I have two more weeks to bring it down to normal. If not, then I guess I will just have to bowl that good all year!! Yea right! Only time will tell.

2007 Brown County Breakdown

2007 Brown County Breakdown Registration Open!

This is HMBA's largest fundraising event of the year. All proceeds go directly to HMBA for continued trailbuilding in Indiana. A new, truly-epic 100 mile route will be unveiled this year as one of the ride options.

When: Sunday, September 30, 2007
Where: The start/finish is at Brown County State Park
Registration fee from now until Friday, August 31 is only $45!
Registration fee from September 1 until Friday, September 28 will be $60. Registration will be available the weekend of the event and the day of the event for $75.
Stop by HMBA for more information!!

Granny's 9 town tour

Well, I went out on a ride today with the JCC for a 9 town tour that has a few good hills mixed in to keep it interesting. There were 6 of us who started the ride at 5:45. The weather was good compared to what the normal temps have been. We started out a little faster then the ride was planned. We were averaging 18-19 mph. I was not complaining, but I knew it would be a long day and not sure if I am ready to hold that for the whole trip. Well after a few miles it slowed down and settled in at a nice pace. As we got closer to our first stop in Holland, there were 4 of us that pulled ahead some and hammered a long road section.

After some snacks and regrouping, we headed off toward Zoar where we picked up a 7th rider. We continued on threw Velpen and on to Otwell for our next stop. After a short break there was a small problem shortly after we started. The road had been getting some work done and there were some large rocks in the work areas that covered the whole width of the road. We eased our way with out a problem and headed toward Ireland and back toward home.

We ended up putting in 55 miles in 3 hours and 25 min. of ride time. That put it right over 16 mph average. We also did 1680 foot of elevation gain, I think. My computer is not set up exactly right yet, so I have been getting some incorrect elevation readings, but the total gain and ascent should be correct.

Strassenfest Ride

I put in a good ride for the Strassenfest ride. I originally was going to do the 62 mile route, but decided to help out with the sign up area in the morning. So, that changed to working and then doing the 35 mile route. It was probably a good thing. The weather has been crazy hot and with the lack of my riding lately I was feeling worse after the ride then I thought I would. I really need to get some miles in if I plan on doing the 100 for the Breakdown.

Strassenfest Bike Ride

The Jasper Cycling Club's big ride is this weekend. So, if you are in the Jasper area, stop by and check out the Strassenfest activities and get in a nice road ride on Sunday morning before the parade. Routes are available from 20, 35, 48, and 62.

If you are not that far south, the HMBA Century ride is also this weekend. Stop by www.hmba.org if you are interested in that one.