Full Moon Ride - 9/23/10

The Firestone Group rode its Full Moon Ride last thursday starting at Casino Beach with around 18 riders several of which were some of the younger riders. The pace was pretty spirited, at least for us on the tandem; captain and stoker worked very hard to keep up. It was a real struggle. I worked so hard that I took the next several days off the bike; that ride really tired me out. We had a really hard time finding a happy gear and the headwind on the way back from Ft. Pickens was stiff.

It is my understanding that this was the last Full Moon Ride of the season as the days are getting shorter.

Full Moon Ride

Last night's Full Moon Ride was a tough ride for this tandem team. The make-up of the group was young and fast and the wind was strong out of the east-southeast. It was pretty much a loosing battle to keep up; but we tried.

Pensacola Cycling Classic - RR photo

The Pensacola Cycling Classic is over now. I will write more about it in a later post with photos, but I wanted to post this picture of myself taken by Dana at the finish of the road race. Notice the Western Washington University jersey; that's one of my favorite jerseys. Looks like I need to loose some more weight.

Prentiss Berry (taken by Dana)

2010 Dothan Criterium

It has been almost a week since the Dothan Criterium, so I thought I better comment on it before this weekend's Pensacola Cycling Classic. The Dothan Cityfest was really nice. There was a decent showing for the criterium being the first year of the Cityfest event. The criterium was on Saturday with a century ride on Sunday.

Cat 4 Start

Both my son and I raced, but didn't put in a very good performance. The course was nice, but had a hill which hurt me. The Pensacola Subaru Team was very well represented and did pretty good in their races. This is the first race that I have participated in for over 20 years. I list good excuses for why I didn't do very well, but I'll just accept it. I did enjoy it, but I sure was glad to hear the final lap bell. I would definitely race it again. I hope Dothan puts this event on again next year.

Below are some of my favorite photos that I took. I took a total of 216 photos and then trimmed it down to 65. These can be viewed here. I only took photos of the Masters 35+ and Cat. 4 races. Hopefully my son and I will do better this weekend and I hope to get some good photos too.

Cat 4 racers - turn 1 - 3 man breakaway

Cat 4 racers - turn 4

Cat 4 racers - turn 4

Show and Tell (My Bicycles)

I got around to taking photos of my bicycles. I found this to be rather difficult and hope to eventually take some better photos. These will have to do for now. It sure makes me appreciate the photos that Alan @ EcoVelo and Veloria @ Lovely Bicycle take; they do such a wonderful job.

My favorite bike is my Bianchi Infinito. This bike is built up with Campy Record (11sp) and custom DT Swiss wheels. This bike is a dream to ride.



My Bianchi 928 SL I've had a couple years. It is a nice bike too but not as comfortable as the Infinito. It is built up with Campy Record (10sp) and Mavic Krysirium SL wheels. It is stiff and I plan to use mainly for criteriums.



I have a Salsa Mamasita that I built up to take to Washington State when my son was going to school at there. He doesn't go to school out there anymore and sadly enough this bike has never been ridden. I still plan to take out there as my daughter lives there and they mountain bike quite a bit.



Then there is Electra Townie; I wrote briefly about this bike in an earlier post. It is a beach cruiser. I had by LBS put on a dyno hub, but the light that came with it didn't work to good. I ended up ordering some lights from Peter White Cycles which made a huge difference. Both lights are LEDs, are powered by the dyno hub, and are plenty bright for the riding that I do on this bike. I also did away with the old saddle and put on a Brooks.



Those are my bikes for now. You know how it goes; always need another one...

A Beautiful Day

Today was too beautiful a day not to ride a bike. The weather has been wonderful the last couple of weeks with temperatures below 90 degrees. I have ridden the last 3 days, the first 2 with my son. My legs are now sore as when I ride with my son I tend to push harder. It has been great! Even in the 80's it is starting to feel like fall which is one of my favorite times of the year. Lately while riding I've been having flashbacks of wonderful rides I had 25 years ago. Of course I don't remember the pain. But I feel it now and wonder why it hurts so bad.

This coming saturday we are headed to Dothan, AL for a criterium which is part of the Dothan CityFest. It should be interesting as this will be my first race in over 20 years. I plan on riding in the same category as my son and ride for him. I expect to exercise quite a bit of caution. Also, we are preparing for another race the following weekend.

That's right, another race, but this time in the Pensacola area. The Pensacola Cycling Classic (PCC) is next weekend and last for 2 days. I will be riding this race as part of the Florida Senior Games. Yes, I'm riding with the old guys, but that is not to say that it will slow.

The PCC has been one of my targets all year, the first one being Ride Yellow in June. I had hoped to have lost more weight than I have and be in better shape. I had really wanted to win this event. But, I don't feel much stronger or faster than I did at the first of the year so my hopes of actually winning are slim. It will be more about the "experience". It just seems to be taking forever to get back into shape.

I'm not letting it get me too down. I have plans to get involved in randonneuring which means I need to keep working on getting in shape and doing longer distances. My rides lately have been quite enjoyable and I've been spinning a pretty high cadence which is good. It really takes time to get cycling muscles up to speed. I rode off my base for years, but the base went away. Now I'm rebuilding the base and it just takes time. The good news is that once I get a good base again then I believe I will be very close to where I want to be fitness-wise but now I have more wisdom and experience. I'm actually pretty excited about my future when it comes to cycling; I just have to be patient.

Labor Day Weekend 2010

The Mrs. and I spent Labor Day weekend in Destin at the Tops'l Tennis Villas. We played tennis, rode bikes, ate, and had a very nice relaxing time.

The restaurants we ate at and like are:

• Another Broken Egg(twice) Baytown Wharf
• Cantina Laredo @ Grand Boulevard
• Bud and Alleys @ Seaside
• Acme Oyster Bar @ Baytown Wharf

I think the thing we liked most was riding our bikes to Baytown to eat.


The bicycles that we took are Electra Townies. I would classify them as beach cruisers. They are comfortable, but kind of slow. They do the job they were designed for. On my Townie I have a dyno hub that powers a headlight and a taillight. The lights really came in handy riding to Baytown at night as the paths are dark. I plan to install a similar setup on the Mrs. Townie.

Tops'l is one of our favorite places to spend a weekend away from home. It is close to home, lots to do, lots to eat, private, quiet, and not too expensive. I highly recommend it.