Signed up yesterday to the Budweiser Century ride out of Cartersville, GA on September 18. It is also called the Beautiful Back Roads ride. Starts and ends at the Budweiser brewery and I noticed in small print that you must have an id to prove you’re over 21 – which means – brewery taste tour afterward!
Still putting back my Opti together and will test ride it this weekend.
Namaste!
I’ve never named a bike – but this relationship to further develop must have a name.
Any suggestions?
Tormentor ?
Flash?
Mork from Boulder?
My bike just started its ride back from the Colorado mountains and I’m ready to get back to it.
Hey baby Opti, make it back safely
from where you were born
your Daddy is waiting for you
to ride your through rail trails
all the way to ‘Bama
and back to Duluth,
your sweet home….
PS. Update 8/12/2010 – bike is back home but bikeshop became retarded and couldn’t put it back together. I’ll try my best to put her together this weekend and take my super e-bike for a ride.
Actually just shy of a year. The last months have been consumed by my volunteer activity and having to travel every week.
In any case, two days ago I pulled out the trusty Optibike and cranked out (with the help of the MBB) 25 miles in an hour and five minutes with an average cadence of 84. When peddling I tend to stay between 90 and 100. Strong headwind on the ride out then the joy of the tailwind returning. Lots of juice left so headed up the hill just to extend the ride and enjoy the decent at a touch over 40 MPH without an assist. Just an amazing amount of fun.
Today I did a quick tour of the downtown area to scope out a market then rode the hill the other direction with a decent of 45+. About 15 miles just playing. I’ll go out again in a bit.
While I won’t meet my objectives in the year timeline I certainly will meet them as the year unfolds and couldn’t be happier with the Optibike. Just need to get out there on a regular basis. Let’s see what we can do with the remaining few days then go from there. I’ll be in Boulder at the end of the month and will stop in on the good folks at the factory.
Also a big congratulations to Eric. Amazing stuff.
Last Saturday – after a few weeks of vacationing in California – got back on the saddle for a pleasurable ride around Berkeley lake, Georgia.
All systems go for 19 miles using the Fast setting. I’d play leaving each meeting point last and getting to the next point first. Oh, about 30 people wished they had an electric bike during each uphill climb. They really smiled internally when I had to quit the ride due to a system reset…. but I’ll be back.
Check my ride at the Garmin site . Max Speed: 44.2 mph
1,587 miles to go.
Here is my proof on how far I’ve gone down my belt sizes.
Tale of two belts
I also have a few more pictures so you can see that both belts were put side by side.
My two belts side by side
Belly stretched belts
The brown belt was bought in Durango, Colorado on December 26, 2001. I think it has been 4 years since I was able to wear that belt.
Watch out Jared!
The wait was worth it. Prepared Saturday night making sure I didn’t forget a thing. Bike, check! helmet, check! B vitamin liquid energy drink, check! Last minute bike charge with charger connected through window, check! GPS, check! Went to bed like a kid the night before Christmas. 5:30 am I was up before alarm clock started buzzing. Had my three shots of espresso and almost started driving still connected with the charger thru the rear window…..
Sunday morning Atlanta traffic was a little heavy and when the sign flashed 3 lanes closed a few miles ahead I decided to take the long route around downtown via I-285 And you would have thought that at 6:00 am on a Sunday traffic should be nil? Not in my hometown!
Made it to the starting point with a few minutes to spare before the American century ride left. At the moment I decided against going for this 100 mile ride since it has been 5 weeks since my last ride (Atlanta -Athens on April 10-11). As I age , I have become a little more cautious on how I decide to stress my body. Having re-installed the battery on Friday night and not knowing the current performance characteristics of the internal battery, I decided against experimenting with a probably very painful ride that could have potentially extended over 6 hours on the saddle. That was a very wise move!
Having a few extra minutes before leaving for the 62 mile ride, I lingered around the Waffle House tent for a simple breakfast of a sausage biscuit and took the preventive measure of taping my exposed fingers (specially the right thumb – or throttle finger). Left about 7:50 am ( a few minutes before the official start, since some groups already started the ride and there was little organization at the start line). Quite a different animal from the MS150 ride where Atlanta was full of banners, balloons and police escort on Harley’s to cover the riders while going through downtown.
The ride started going through the town of Tyrone, Georgia and the route was well marked until I got through Main St. Noting that my Garmin was not so trustworthy on my previous ride, I decided to check if there were signals of the route and went straight for a couple of blocks until it made no sense. Happily I found a very strange landmark, the front car of a very futuristic looking Disney’s monorail poking at me from the parking lot of a General store. I mentally noted that I should take a picture of it since it was so odd but decided against stopping (while wearing my clip on MTB shoes – sometime stopping is not an option). I therefore went back to the confusing corner and continued my ride through Georgia’s countryside. The first 20+ miles were uneventful. Every 10 miles we had a pit stop for bio breaks and hydration. At around 26 miles I finally started arriving first to the pit stops. Note, that I’ve been riding at a normal speed of about 18-26 mph aerobically exercising without exertion. Noting that I was riding first – I began riding with the objective of arriving first for my distance group at the finish line. This is where my internal battery decided to quit on me. I quickly switched to the external battery and continued with my ride with no worries since I’ve ridden 50 miles with only the external battery and I only had 36 miles to go.
Then things started to get interesting. I found the most beautiful lavender field extending for what it seemed like a couple of miles and a church steeple that made the scene very movie-like. Now I could imagine rolling on my bike through a European campagne scene. You can find the location of this Georgia euro farm scene here.
Next was the cop. When I turned on the next street, there was a cop on his car with a radar gun. Speed limit was 30 mph and I was going downhill!!! The thought of getting a speeding ticket on my Optibike started floating around my mind… should I try hitting 40 mph as I passed the cop? I had to work really hard to not go over 29.83 mph because I didn’t wanted to spend precious minutes getting a speeding ticket. But it was a noteworthy concept that I latter send on a email to see if Opti was interested in paying a speeding ticket while riding an Opti bike. I’d love to see the print ad with the picture of the extremely big guy (me) as the speeder doing 45 on a 30 mph zone…… I think Craig got the message across on the Opti web site – but with a skinny guy.
As I got closer to the finish line – I started seeing many short distance riders that where doing the 32 mile, 16 mile and 8 mile rides. The look on their eyes was amazingly incredulous as I zipped by them going 25+ mph. I felt like Mario Andretti. I even skipped the last pit stop that was sponsored by my home town bike shop (Suwanee Creek Bicycles). I was cranking up to 30 mph with a 160+ heart rate on my way to the finish line since I had battery juice to spare. Riding on fast mode with a moderately high cadence was exhilarating. When I arrived I went straight to the massage tent area and then my thighs collapsed in pain. I had to be extricated from my bike and hopped like a toad to the massage table. Amazing what 10 minutes with ice on my thighs did to eliminate the throbbing pain due to a build up of lactic acid. I was able to get on my feet without any pain. Having massage therapist on hand is the greatest perk of riding on a organized bike ride.
62+ miles this past Sunday. 4 lbs to the ether.
1,606 miles still to go in 2010…
Tomorrow will be my first electric century ride. Starts at 7 a.m. about an hour from my house. Leaving by 5:30 a.m. to make it on time. Hope it doesn’t rain too early. Will I lose 10 lbs in a day? Stay tuned….
My 2010 bike riding goals (other than mileage)
1. Accomplish my 10% body weight challenge with Opti before the deadline next September
2. Reach the Alabama -Georgia line on my bike riding the Silver Comet. June 2010
3. Learn to pedal using clip ons…. (before this year end).
4. Learn to layer warm clothes properly and conquer winter riding.
5. Conquer the fear of night riding.
6. Dabble in Mountain Biking. June – July 2010
7. Ride while at my time sharing adventures this year (Anaheim, San Diego, New Orleans, Destin, FL )
8. Take my grand-kids on bike rides (non powered). Summer 2010
9. Ride to work daily for a week (250 total miles). Want to average at least once a week for the full year (about 2000 total miles). May or June 2010
10. Ride with my wife (need to teach her to use the Opti since she can’t exercise due to her lungs). September 2010.
What do you think my performance has been for this my first year with Optibike?
Your comments are welcomed!
Update 8/5/2010 – due to hardware & vacation issues (and also heat) – the time frames mentioned above have been shifted 60 days.
Optibike + 4 months of riding = normal cholesterol + more muscle + weight loss
Thursday I had an official weight measurement at my doctor’s office and I was at an official 274 lbs. That weight is 32 lbs lower than my standard operating weight of 306 lbs for the previous 2 years. I’m now able to wear XL shirts instead of XXXL, and I was able to “test drive” size 42 pants instead of “rising” 48 inchers. Now I can wear my 44 and 46 inchers that have been relegated to the left side of my closet for quite many years. That is a tremendous improvement. A few years back – during the despair years – I went to a bariatric surgery seminar at Emory University and the presenter made a clear point that most people can’t lose 10% of their body weight without the help of surgery. Bull!
So what did I do for the past couple of weeks after my Atlanta – Athens 10 hr bike ride? Due to an issue with my internal battery – I took a forced vacation from biking and decided to do a little nutrition. No sugar, breads nor carbs. Only tuna fish, salmon, steak, vegetables and shakes – until my trip to Boston last weekend. I would have been crazy if I didn’t sample New England’s finest cuisine such as clam chowder, lobster rissotto, swordfish, oreo chesecakes and those Dunkin Donuts following me all the way to the airport. I’ve never noticed so many DD’s in my life – at least one every two blocks and one per concourse at the airport – all calling me by name… (Nancy, I promise I only had two donuts – the ones that were yelling for me to take them to Atlanta). Even with splurging with all day “gourmet” airport food courtesy of Delta (due to weather delays and Delta’s ancient airplanes having mechanical troubles) – such as lobster and shrimp rolls, Mr. Chang’s famous spicy chicken, and my 2 donuts - I was still able to lose 1 lb last weekend. The “nutritional dieting” coupled by the high metabolism due to biking created the perfect storm for extreme weight loss – to the point that even I was worried my blood chemistry would be out of kilter. That is why I did a second blood test this past Monday and got my results Thursday. My cholesterol came down to 131 and I now have a perfectly normal blood chemistry (my liver is now done building muscle).
My next upcoming ride is for the American Diabetes Association on May 16th. I signed for a 62 mile ride that I might decide to extend to my first century ride (100 miles) since having a lot less weight to carry – my bike range should extend accordingly. My battery issue should be resolved by next weekend so that I can re-start doing what I love and follow my one of a kind nutritional program (all you desire to eat – but with my new twist of “healthy”).
1,668 miles still to go in 2010 …. and given the weight loss rate of 5 lbs per 100 miles – does this mean I could be 85 lbs lighter and full of muscle when I’m done with my personal distance goal? Scary thought – keep watching out Jared!!!
PS. I did check out an interesting non-electric bike while in Boston. Patrick from Dynamic Bikes let me test ride a couple of their chainless bikes. I loved the crisp Alfine rapid fire gear changes and very silent ride going around the shopping center by his store.