June
5
2010
I promise to start updating the blog again. It’s been rough with school, work, and not having a bike rack for a couple of months while my Jeep was in the shop after I was rear ended by a Dodge Ram. Here is the ride that I did today, I know it’s short but I haven’t been on the bike in a while and the heat was intense! -MJ
Ride Details and Map:
Name: Track 003
Date: Jun 5, 2010 3:17 pm
Map:
(valid until Jul 5, 2010) Google Maps
Distance: 7.84 miles
Elapsed Time: 33:46.4
Avg Speed: 13.9 mph
Max Speed: 17.2 mph
Avg Pace: 04′ 19″ per mile
Min Altitude: 849 ft
Max Altitude: 914 ft
Start Time: 2010-06-05T19:17:34Z
Start Location:
Latitude: 34.052259º N
Longitude: 84.271099º W
End Location:
Latitude: 34.052384º N
Longitude: 84.270951º W
March
7
2010
This was our ride last Sunday which was a light ride but for some reason I felt beat up the entire time. Anybody else out there enjoy riding the Alpharetta greenway? I like the path and the wildlife is fantastic, I used to bring my camera and take pictures but it got to be too difficult to lug around. Especially since I’ve went with clipless pedals and I have been dodging kids, dogs, adults and other obstacles all over that path.
I’m thinking about hitting the Comet and getting in some endurance riding. Does anyone know if the comet has less obstacles? I would like to get a good long ride in before the cold weather completely breaks.
February
4
2010
I promise I will be back to update this blog soon… lots going on, college, life, winter, etc…
MJ
December
15
2009
Hurricane Team HP Floor Pump
I have had a frame mount bicycle pump on my Trek for emergency situations and that seemed to work for a while, until I realized I wasn’t pumping up nearly to proper pressure when the bike started feeling sluggish. I decided it was time for a real pump with a gauge so I went to performance bike to get a decent floor pump with a built in gauge.
After some consideration, I decided on the Hurricane Team HP Floor Pump. This pump is on sale at performancebike.com for $39.99 and you can receive an additional 10% off during their shop during lunch time and save promo at their brick and mortar locations. They do have a cheaper pump on sale ($10 cheaper) but it doesn’t have a bleed valve (for overzealous pumpers) and the pump head appeared to be an inferior design. The Hurricane has a universal head fits all of the valve types (I only needed presta).
Some of the cons to this pump are that you have to be very quick when putting on and taking off the pump head. When you first put the head on the valve it will leak air until you flip up the lock lever. This shouldn’t be a big deal because you’re pumping up the tire anyway. Also when finished pumping you have to be equally fast to flip down the lever and very quickly remove the pump head from the valve. You will probably hear a loud pfffsshht! sound, I don’t know if this is air releasing from the pump, the tire, or both. The tires “feel” fine when giving the pinch and push tests (much harder than before) but I don’t necessarily trust that the psi stayed at 100 (likely 90psi given the loud pfffsshht! sound). And speaking of psi the pump gauge goes up to 260psi. I do not know if the pump will actually go that high but it was pretty easy to pump up to 100psi.
Overall I would recommend this pump to anyone needing a floor pump with a gauge even with the negatives it is still a great deal at the $39.99 price. You can see customer reviews at performancebike.com, They are all mostly favorable to this pump as well.
Feature list from performancebike.com:
Looking for a powerful, durable bicycle floor pump that you can use at home or stash in your car trunk for before a club ride? Then consider your search over!
- Tall and durable aluminum barrel with hose provides quick and efficient inflation of high pressure, high volume tires
- Easy-to-read gauge registers up to an incredible 260 PSI
- Padded handle offers comfort during inflation
- Wide base adds stability
- Hi-Q head automatically adjusts to fit Presta and Schrader valves
- Integrated bleed control makes pressure adjustments simple and accurate
October
15
2009
I’m sitting here bored and thinking about my usual Saturday morning Alpharetta Greenway ride. And with all of the recent rain, I really hope the boardwalk survived as it’s one of my favorite sections of the greenway. I saw some greenway pictures of the flooding posted online that showed the Roswell boardwalk underwater. I will make sure that I ride everyday as soon as these monsoons pass by Georgia. I feel like if I don’t ride at least once per week I am falling out of shape.
It’s odd how we went from a complete drought and panic to flooding and panic and we’re still not out of the drought. Shocking as that seems…
October
7
2009
The recent rain here in the Atlanta area has really put a cramp in my riding. I haven’t been out since before the Alpharetta Greenway flooded over. Although I did plant some grass seed in my lawn which hopefully hasn’t washed away and should soon sprout.
I know some people ride their bicycles in the rain, but with my lack of real riding skills combined with the skinny road tires on my Trek 1.2, I’m thinking I should probably just wait this out for a dry day.
I may eventually ride my bike in light rain once I have better riding skills under my belt and I am not as worried about breaking my bones. So I guess this will be an opportunity to blog about other things and continue to work on the theme/plugins on the blog.
MJ
October
1
2009
This blog will be about my bicycling, especially around the Atlanta area.
I mostly ride the greenways and charity rides.
MJ