fear of cornering

a new video series: 'bike ninja wisdom'! these are going to be short, 30-second-or-so, vignettes, featuring a young bike warrior and the always wise bike ninja. in this first episode, bike ninja helps the young one overcome his fear of cornering.

burying 2009's first six

riding in the snow is fun! i rode for just over an hour and a half. it was 9 degrees when i started, 19 when i ended. the sun is trying really hard to come out from behind the clouds. it is a beautiful, practically windless day in kansas! the perfect kind of day to pass a milestone. and that's exactly what i did.

after riding once around the holden nature center loop which had a little too much loose snow for my tastes, i decided to ride up and down hard packed main street in argonia for as long as it took to put on enough miles to top the mileage of the first six months of 2009.

so i rode back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, up and down the mile or so of main street. twice i rode out past the river south of town and back, but mostly it was back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, up and down the mile or so of main street.

when my odometer hit 16.38 miles, 1/100th past what i needed to bury last year's first half, i stopped. melvin was out shoveling snow. i shouted at him: " i just rode more miles in one month than i did in the first six months of last year!" that said, i rode on and on and on. i added another five miles before calling it a day.

now its time to go shovel my own snow. (21.45 miles @ 13.0mph)

beautiful kansas

i started a photo group - snapshot argonia - on facebook two days ago. it has grown to over 300 people already. more than 200 photos have been posted. yhought you might enjoy it. (i took this photo today. it will be on the group's page soon.)

bike ninjas everywhere

at kris r's suggestion, i started a group for bike ninjas on dailymile last night. five worthy men have joined already. perhaps you are man enough to become part of this elite riding force. maybe not. (check it out: bike-ninjas.)

what would eric do?

after pedaling through the snow, i sat in the bathroom and thought, "what would eric do?" remembering the disaster that followed a similar question concerning jeff, i hesitated when the answer came to me. such craziness could only end badly for me.

despite my fears, i headed west toward argonia's ambulance barn. (it's a metal pole building. i don't know what else to call it.) it was rough going at first, but i was able to pick up the speed after i tucked in out of the wind.

i have never sweat so much in my life. i had streams of the stuff pouring off my body. at one point i felt water running on my leg and looked around for the source. it was perspiration coming off my elbow.

and so i rode for 30 minutes and got in another 9.96 miles. finished, i wiped the sweat off of my face and returned home. as i walked in the door i thought, "i am a man. i will hide these trainer baby miles. no one will know." and by the way, eric is crazy! (9.96 miles @ 19.9mph)

what would jeff do?

i woke up early this morning and looked out the window. snow was everywhere. we'd gotten somewhere around two to three inches overnight. it was beautiful.

i thought to myself, "what would jeff do? moser would go riding." so i bundled up and headed out the door. it only took a short ride up the high school to realize clipping in was a bad idea. i nearly fell several times. so i turned around and came back home to change shoes.

with more sensible footwear in place, i rolled down my driveway again. this time i headed west to main street and then turned south. i had in mind to ride the holden nature center loop several times. i got to the southernmost edge of argonia and turned west onto the dirt road that heads west toward holden's.

the going was pretty slow, but it was fun. i spun in a lower gear like i was riding on sand and most of the time i felt pretty steady. i still slipped this way and that a time or two, but the gravel kept me going mostly straight.

when i rounded the corner and started up the hill toward the center heading north, i was creeping along. then my rear tire spun out. i tried to keep my balance, but i spun out again and came to a stop. looking at what i had left of the climb and knowing i would keep spinning out if i tried to start up again, i turned around and headed back to town.

the trip back was slightly less pleasant than the way out. the wind was more in my face and the blowing snow kept hitting me in the eyes, blinding me temporarily.

obviously i made it home in one piece. didn't fall even once. "i have a beard. i am a man. i went for a ride in the snow." i will not ask myself ever again, "what would jeff do?" jeff is crazy! (4.53 miles @ 9.7mph)