Well this will ruin a ride.

When I went to get Turtle out of the van for the Sunday Garner ride I found the rear wheel rim was splitting. This was most anoying - how many 68 to 70 degrees day does one get in the late Fall. But as much as I wanted to I just did not think it was worth the chance to do the ride so I went to the ride start in my van instead of riding there on the trike like I had planned and met everyone and wished them a good ride. I have ordered the parts and paid for 2 day shipping in hope I can ride this Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Slow Spokes Saltbox Village 50 miles

From my forum post -

We had a real good ride today - did the 50 mile - the weather was real nice but it was cool at the start of the ride but ti did warm up nicely. There were about 12 of us on the ride and 10 of us did the 50. I had a close call with a Porcha(can't spell it) He really did not come real close to me but I thought he was going to hit me and went off the road - scared me a bit. I am very glad I am safe. Made for a strange ride for me. My GPS data is HERE. My pictures are HERE.

Well

Riding the American Tobacco Trail old and new sestions

I had a real nice ride. Meet several new folks and did a 22 .5 mlie ride on the American Tobacco Trail. We started out on one of the first parts of the trail I had ever ridden and down all the new sections we could ride on. The trail and the new trail were real nice.

My GPS data is HERE.

My pictures are HERE.

Thanksgiving Day Ride

I had a nice little ride Thanksgiving day. When I went out to ride from my home I found my trike had a flat on my rear tire. The rear where is a bit of a problem to remove so replacing the tube took 40 minutes. I was able to get in a 20 mile ride and it was nice - cloudy, overcast and foggy when I started but then it cleared and was beautiful.

My GPS data is HERE.

Wendell 50 miles - Nice

From my forum post -

I had a real nice tide and felt it was a real good ride. The roads were good and we had good but cool weather. There were a few dogs but no real trouble. I liked the route and would call this route rolling to slightly hilly. I will do this ride again.

My GPS data is HERE

My pictures are HERE

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MS 50 Making Room for Turkey ride 11-21-09

From my forum posts -

I had a good ride, the roads were for the most part in good shape - there police directing traffic and lot of the intersection, the route was well marked and it was a lot of fun. I am sure they will get better at it but there were a few problems. There was nothing but port-a-potties at the first rest stop also the first rest stop was at 6.7 miles and the second was at 30.8 miles the third was at 40 miles a much better distance for a 50 miles ride is 12.5 miles. The route had more turns I have ever seem - try as much as I could not get my average speed to 16 mph because of all the turns. I did enjoy myself and would do the ride again.

My GPS data is HERE

My pictures are HERE

I

Tango Foundations 2 first class

This was a pretty unusual class - I liked it but we did not really work on anything new. Jason took us thought a history of Tango and the music of the different era's of the dance. We danced to the different styles of music as he explained how and why they were different and he of course taught us while dancing and made corrections and suggestions but he did not show us anything new. I really enjoyed the class and found it interesting I also enjoyed the time to work on what we had learned earlier while learning and being exposed to the different styles of music.

Great weekend 11-14&15-09

From my forum post - Saltbox Village 50 mile ride.

Truly a great ride, Turtle and I had a good time. The weather started out with the roads wet but not raining and about mid ride it turned beautiful. I was so nice to see the Sun. We had eight cyclist six of us did the 50. I just really enjoyed this ride we had a great group of folk to ride with today.

My GPS data is HERE

My Pictures are HERE

I really enjoy riding. I seem to prefer riding with groups of other riders but I do ride alone some it is just fun to ride with other cyclist.

Sunday - Dad and I went to the Benson JARS Hamfest - it was a real nice Hamfest we both had a real good time - I really enjoyed being there with Dad.
At the Saturday I had stated that I was going to the Hamfest with Dad and so I was not going to the Sunday Team CBC ride. Bryan and Peggy were not riding Sunday morning and suggested we might get together for a ride from Garner. So the Garner chapter of Slow Spokes had its inaugural ride. We dicided to meet at the Lowes food store at the corner of Timmber Dr and Aversboro. I got there a few minutes late Peggy and Brayn were there. We talked about where to go and since Brtan had do some riding in the area he became ride leader. All of us rode to Lows from our homes so our milages will be different.. We rode to a store at route 50 on a route that Bryan knew. Took a break then turned around and rode the same route back. The wether was great and everyone said they had a great ride. When almost back we found the the new park in Garner White Oak was open so we took a short tour. The park looked nice. After we got back to the shopping center we had dinner together. It was just such a great ride. I rode Peggy home - she did not need me to but it was dark and she is new to the area and it helped me feel better know she was home safe.
BUT - there had to be a but - after I left Peggy when trying to get started after a stop I was on a incline and believe it or not bent my chain ring and possible damaged my High Speed Drive - I am really upset about this and real worried about how long my trike might be out of commission. I know my legs are very strong but to bend a steel 34 tooth chain ring - I guess i figured I would break the chain first but I have done that to.

My GPS data is here

My pictures are here

Tango Tuesday

I had a real nice class Tuesday in spite of the weather - only Ellen, Katia and Don showed also Jason of course so we did have a nice group, I felt I made a little progress tonight. It always seems to me at least most of the time Jason works on things I need help with - I am sure he does not do that but it does happen a lot or maybe I just need help on so much it does not matter what he works on I need it - lol. Jason even told me what I was doing was very nice - I am not sure he has ever done that before and he said it several times - I did feel a bit more relaxed this week.
Next week Foundations 2 - we do things that are a bit more complex - cross step for one but I am getting a little better with this - also close embrace - this does not brother me but I worry about how the ladies feel about doing it with me. I made a comment about not having ever been to a social dance and got several comments from the ladies saying we were both good enough dancers to go to dances (Don and I are the students) Ellen and Katia are accomplished dancers - it is such a pleasure to dance with them and I feel blessed to have such as them to come to the beginner classes to help not that I mind dancing with the new dancers either some are better than others but they are learning just like me. Don even said something about this and I said I agreed with him about how nice it was to have them there and how boring it must be for them but they both said they enjoyed it Ellen told me she still learns something almost every class.
Ellen, Katia, Jae and Cecilia just started hosting the Practilonga - a 2 hour practica every Thursday night at Triangle Dance Studio. Ellen and Katia both said the helping in the Tuesday night classes help them when they teach - that is great.
I guess learning to Tango means I will have to get up the nerve to go to a social dance but when I started this I had a partner at least for dancing or I thought so but she does not dance any more so I am not sure what to do. I guess for right now I will just keep doing the classes until I get good enough.

What is that bright light was it sunshine on a Saturday

From my forum post -

What is that bright light was it sunshine on a Saturday - YES - had a great ride - beautiful weather, low traffic, lots of cyclist at least for the Fall and we had fun. Met one new cyclist - welcome to Slow Spokes Peggy. I felt good and had a good ride. Could not ride Sunday do to family conflict but I bet it was just as nice if not better. My GPS average speed is messed up - I had turned off auto-pause so it did not pause at the rest stop - the cycling computer had 16.8 mph as my average.

My GPS data is HERE

My Pictures are HERE

I still have some trouble staying with the group, I am not usually too far off the back mostly less than a minute behind but I really want to be able to hang with the group. My weight is stuck again between 348 and 351 this is also annoying - after I made some changes in my diet I expected to lose a bit more before it stopped again.
I was hopping to ride Wednesday as it is Veterans Day and we have a holiday but it looks like rain again.

Tango classes

I went to my second Tango class last night since I started taking them again - I had to stop for a while over a year ago due to a knee injury.
My first class was not so great - I had forgotten a lot and felt awkward. To my great satisfaction I had no trouble getting tired but really enjoyed the class I just was not dancing well at all but I still liked it.
There were two of the regulars there who I remember from before, they remember me and welcomed me back. There were five students and two regulars there - one couple was just there to see if they wanted to do the classes. Jason was just as good of an instructor as I remember - he really is so very good I wonder if he knows how good he is.
The second class I did better I was dancing a little better and was a bit more comfortable - I think being comfortable or relaxed is important. There were three students this week the couple from last week did not return. We also had three of the regulars this week. We seemed to work on things I really need to work on and it helped me a lot - I do not think he would setup his class just for me or anyone one student but he does seem to work on things I need - maybe I just need everything - lol. Class went well - I learned some but still have so much to learn and get comfortable with. Once again I was not tired or worn out by the end of class. It is interesting that the next morning my legs were a bit stiff mostly in the quads so I must be doing something with the muscles of my legs which is different then when I walk and cycle and it that it true it is great.
Looking forward to next week - final class for Foundations 1 - I plan on doing Foundations 2 and doing at least one private lesson - I really want to master cross step doing it, moving to it and back to parallel so that it is seamless.
If you are interested in social dancing you should try Tango and Jason. His website is HERE