Aside from a couple ride reports, the last real update I posted was back in March, and a lot has happened in the intervening ten weeks.

Instead of going chronologically, I’ll organize this post along four major themes. I’ll start with some major repairs I faced, and the challenges presented by the woefully incompetent local bike shop. Then I’ll ( Read more... )

Like the rest of my life, the 2014 cycling season was a big pile of extremes.

I started this year on a high, receiving the silver lifetime achievement pin that the Pan-Mass Challenge gives to riders who surpass $100,000 in fundraising for cancer research. Just a few weeks later, the world changed forever when my hero and charity ride mentor Bobby ( Read more... )

It might not be the end of the calendar year, but the cycling season has definitely slipped away from me.

There are no more organized rides on the calendar, and all the roadies have gone stupid about cyclocross season. It’s too cold to enjoy riding in the morning, and if you wait until midday for it to warm up, you don’t have much time to ride ( Read more... )

Saturday was my third year doing the Mt. Washington Century as a warm-up for the Pan-Mass Challenge.

Although it was my fifth century of the year, I also viewed it as a big test: my first 100-mile ride since my most recent crash, where my arm ( Read more... )

I’m now halfway between my accident and my next big event; so this is a good time to assess my recovery.

Two weeks ago I wound up in the ER after a crash. Two weeks from now, I line up for the Mt. Washington Century, which at 5,900 feet has more climbing than any event in my cycling year. Two weeks after that is PMC weekend, where I’ll ride an ( Read more... )

June has been quite a month, featuring some amazing rides, and then another serious crash. Here’s an update.

With Memorial Day coming early, this year I had an extra week between my big May ride (Tour d’Essex County) and my big June ride (Outriders). With beautiful weather on tap, on Monday June 2 I decided to throw down another solo century, just ( Read more... )

As in: it was the best of times; it was the worst of times.

This couldn’t have been exemplified better than Monday, April 15th 2013. That day I was supposed to pick up my brand new road bike. It had electronic shifting, and I’d gotten a $1,000 ( Read more... )

Yesterday I rode my bike. It was a ride that wouldn’t even bear mention under normal circumstances, but it was noteworthy because it was the first time I’ve been able to ride since my crash, more than three weeks ago.

As I was riding home from work one afternoon, I was involved in an incident with a car. I’m not going to go into the details of it ( Read more... )

Since I’ve always calculated my cycling season beginning and ending in mid-October, it’s time to look back and review my 2009-2010 cycling year.

In many ways, this was one of my best years ever, with lots of noteworthy accomplishments, but it also had its disappointments, which seemed to cluster at either end of the season.

2010 started with a ( Read more... )

Bicycling magazine used to have a monthly feature called “The Big Question”, queries which solicited short, witty contributions from readers. After my recent review of my old magazines, I decided to post my responses to a few of them. I’m sorry they’re more serious than witty ( Read more... )