Goal Achieved! Finisher of Rapha 500

Posted on January 1, 2012 by admin

Yesterday I achieved my goal of finishing the Rapha 500. I road 516 kilometers to pass the 500k goal of the competition. What a great way to end 2011!

Some highlights:

Road a century with friends and family on Boxing Day
I had a personal best for longest ride at 212 kilometers
Road with a new friend discovered through the Rapha 500
Helped a friend achieve a personal best and finish her first century
Managed to keep it rubber side down and finish with no mechanicals
Discovered several new cycling buddies on Twitter and Strava
Managed to stay awake to see the New Year’s fireworks

Rapha 500 Progress

Here are some photos from the rides:

Stopping at Catfish Corner for a photo

The gang at Catfish Corner

Just me and the cows

Discovering quiet country roads on Rapha 500

Fireworks ringing in the New Year!

Thanks to Rapha, Strava, my family and friends. The Rapha 500 was epic!

Rides Four, Five, Six and Seven For Rapha 500

Posted on January 1, 2012 by admin

Here are the rest of my rides from Strava for the Rapha 500.

Ride Number Three For Rapha 500

Posted on December 26, 2011 by admin

Ride number three for the Rapha 500 was outstanding. Accompanied by friends and family, the ride was 100k heading on a loop southeast from Dallas.

Sadly, my Garmin and my iPhone died during the ride so I only recorded 39 miles. Oh well!

Ride Number Two For Rapha 500

Posted on December 25, 2011 by admin

Ride number two was an easy Christmas ride with my brother Joshua. We rolled around White Rock Lake and Lakewood.

The ride was just under 30 miles, about 47 kilometers. With that ride I am now about 52% complete with the challenge with 6 days left.

Required Reading – Or Viewing In This Case

Posted on December 21, 2011 by admin

Spend an hour with CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta as he learns how to prevent and reverse heart disease through a plant-based diet. It is called “The Last Heart Attack.”

The Last Heart Attack from Chadron State College on Vimeo.

Getting Prepared For Rapha 500

Posted on December 21, 2011 by admin

My goal for the Rapha 500 is to not only get the patch, but also to kick the crap out of the 500k mark. Why not, right?

My buddy Ben and I are going far on the 23rd. The theme of the ride will be to celebrate “Festivus” from Seinfeld fame. We will start with an airing of grievances and feats of strength. Then we’re just going to pick a direction and roll. We’ll do a little mapping ahead of time but we’ll be exploring new roads so we’ll keep things pretty flexible. My wife will be locking in “Wife of the Year” for 2011 as she has volunteered to come and pick us up wherever we finish. This ride should be epic.

On the 24th I’ll join the Wild Stallions for their Christmas ride. My friend Christy organizes the Wild Stallion rides a couple of times a week and always has a good group. This ride will probably be 30-40 miles so I’ll look to add some on the end to get closer to 100k. Read more... (273 words, 1 image)

The Quest for Great Wheels

Posted on December 19, 2011 by admin

Ask 10 different cyclists what wheels you should get and you’re likely to get two dozen different answers. And for good reason. There are options for virtually every circumstance and even then there are different preferences.

My quest for great wheels lead me to skip the carbon (working with only $1,000 budget) and go with an aluminum rim. From there I was looking for a strong rim with decent aerodynamics that I could run tubeless on. I settled on HED’s Belgium C2 rims, proven yet innovative.

My buddy Ben pointed me towards Clive de Souza at Glory Cycles who hand builds a lot of wheels with C2 rims. I was able to catch up with Clive and describe what I was looking for and he helped me settle in on my hubs and some finishing touches. Chatting with Clive and bouncing ideas around was a great opportunity and left me feeling comfortable that I had made the right choice and was in good hands.

Wheel Bench at Glory Cycles Read more... (349 words, 6 images)

Local Bike Shop Review – Bike World San Antonio

Posted on December 6, 2011 by admin

November 14^th, 2011

readyforplanb.com review of Bike World San Antonio bike shop in Alamo Heights

I paid a visit to my brother’s LBS, Bike World in Alamo Heights, and had a great chat and a chance to learn more about the shop. At first glance, it feels like a lot of bike shops, offering the full range of gear and road, mountain, fitness and urban bikes. After spending a little time with them, though, you quickly get a sense for what makes this shop special.

Some highlights: Read more... (921 words, 2 images)

A staff made up of experienced cyclists
One of the best fit studios in Texas with fit specialist Tim Tilton
A demo program that lets you experience higher end products before you purchase
A return program that takes some of the pain out of buying a bike for your child
A new coffee shop on the list of ‘coming attractions’

Mesquite Texas Rodeo Bike Ride Review

Posted on December 5, 2011 by admin

June 4^th, 2011

Readyforplanb.com review for the 100k Mesquite Rodeo Bike Ride 2011

My hope for the Mesquite Rodeo Bike Ride was to get a chance to ride in a faster group to gauge whether I could achieve Goal #2, finishing the 100k at Hotter’N Hell sub 3 hours. Year to date on my journey to plant-based cyclist I had logged 2,254 miles and was down 18.6 pounds.

Saturday morning could not come fast enough. I was tossing and turning knowing that I was about to head just east of Dallas to Mesquite for a ride. The roads out in Mesquite and Sunnyvale are where we go for most of our longer training rides, so I was really confident about the course. I was also excited to pay back Mesquite for putting up with us all year by helping them raise some money, and to check out just what they have managed to build with their annual Mesquite Rodeo Bike Ride. Read more... (716 words, 1 image)

Goal Achieved – 5,000 miles in 2011