Author: Rich

A Real Conditioning Ride

Posted on October 26, 2015October 26, 2015 by Rich

A reluctant conditioning ride today. Went to bed planning to go, and when I woke up I didn’t quite feel like it. Fortunately, I headed out anyway, northeast up Bush Highway. I started out grinding against a 10mph headwind and figured to be working really hard out by Saguaro Lake. About 10 miles in, however, the wind vanished into a dead calm. As any cyclist will tell you, this defies all odds. The desert hills around the lake were beautiful, as always. The effortless 10 mile rip southwest back down the Beeline Highway was a joy, as always. Lunch at

More Conditioning

Posted on October 20, 2015October 26, 2015 by Rich

Another semi- (half-assed) conditioning ride today. Had breakfast with Jesse at IHOP in north Gilbert. We had some especially good converstaions about race relations, America’s global role, and the golf swing. Afterwards, I took off east to Crismon Road, then north up over Usery Mountain. Motored up the hill – riding with a 10mph tailwind is always encouraging. Legs started to ache just as I reached my neighborhood. Let the conditioning continue. 39 miles unloaded.

Half-Assed Conditioning

Posted on October 12, 2015October 26, 2015 by Rich

Let the half-assed conditioning begin. Jack and I have decided on a short fall tour, and if we’re lucky our friends Phil and Dave will join us for it. We’re talking about doing some kind of loop in southern Arizona. At the moment I’m thinking of leaving from here and heading to Douglas, then west through Nogales, and ending in golf territory (Tubac or Green Valley), where Linda could meet us for a few rounds. Neither Dave or Phil have panniered bikes, so Jack and I would be carrying their street clothes. That should work out fine since we’ll live

Off the Sidelines

Posted on August 19, 2015August 19, 2015 by Rich

The broken finger has been quite the adventure. I learned a lot and have a new appreciation for being able to do everyday tasks with my hands. The splint came off 3 weeks after surgery (4 weeks after injury), but the pins stayed in. I couldn’t believe how stiff the fractured finger AND my pinky finger got. It was a real eye-opener how hazardous immobilization can be, even when required as in this case. Got the pins removed 4 weeks after surgery (5 weeks after injury). No, it didn’t hurt – surprisingly so. As soon as they were out I

Sidelined

Posted on July 19, 2015August 19, 2015 by Rich

On July 2nd, while pruning a branch, I broke a bone in a ring finger. Nothing spectacular, I just never seated the tool handle properly in my palm. Fortunately my left hand. Very fortunately I was able to remove my wedding band before the thing ballooned. In medical-speak, the x-rays showed a multi-plane spiral fracture of the proximal phalanx. Lovely. After a week in a splint, I finally saw a hand orthopedic doc. He confirmed what I already knew: the finger was both angled and rotated, something like 5 or 8 degrees. We decided to realign it and then secure

Product Review: Ortlieb Trunk Bag

Posted on March 17, 2015August 12, 2016 by Rich

Rear box trunks are great on touring bicycles. For years, I had a cheap one velcro’d onto the top of my rear rack. I came to use it almost as much as my handlebar bag, storing spare tubes, tube repair kit, bungies, toolset, pump, seat cover, lock, and often my arm warmers, shorts, hats, and food. The reason they’re so great is that they’re easy to unzip, and then you have large square top-facing access in to everything you need. Only a couple weeks prior to this year’s summer tour, the zipper on my cheap trunk finally gave out, no

Two Wheel Journal Is Back Up

Posted on February 25, 2015February 25, 2015 by Rich

Two Wheel Journal has been down for about 3 months. If you’re reading this I warmly welcome you back. By all accounts, my previous web host ran into some misfortune, likely health related. Back in November, the servers abruptly went offline and no one knew what was happening. Fortunately, they came back up for a few days. That allowed us site owners who don’t religiously back up our sites to do so. In January, I played with this site locally, re-formatting it to what you see. The general idea is to format it for larger photos (800 px wide) and

2014 Riding Year in Review

Posted on January 1, 2015March 16, 2015 by Rich

A lot less riding this year than last, less than 2,000 miles total. In past years, if I’d have been this close to 2000 miles I’d-a been out on my bike in the cold rain getting there. Not anymore. Like last year, my average distance per ride is still about 35 miles, but I only rode 57 different days in 2014. The highlight of the year, without question, is the September tour Jack and I did through the Deep South and up the Natchez Trace, and then through Tennessee, and Kentucky. A truly great trip. I continue to do all

NT16: Finish in Henderson KY

Posted on October 1, 2014March 22, 2015 by Rich

Natchez Trace Tour Day #16 Cave-In-Rock IL to Henderson KY Today: 62.6 miles Cumulative this tour: 870.0 miles Another nice night in the tent and sleeping bag. Temperature and humidity perfect for camping. We watched as a few RV fogies watched us pack up and roll off. We returned to Rose’s for breakfast, where I had the “Hungry Woman’s Breakfast” (eggs, ham, grits, and toast) and Jack yet another veggie omelet. We were entertained by a loudish sort of guy “man-gossiping” in the corner, grousing about how if one of his neighbors didn’t bush-hog his field soon, he wasn’t going

NT15: Cave-In-Rock IL

Posted on September 30, 2014March 27, 2015 by Rich

Natchez Trace Tour Day #15 Grand Rivers KY to Cave-In-Rock IL Today: 57.9 miles Cumulative this tour: 809.4 miles Morning came too soon for me. My first thought of the day was that we might want to take another rest day right here. Jack and I were both kinda quiet this morning and left the motel by 7:30am, rolling over to an adjacent restaurant called Miss Scarlet’s. The interior was decked out like a speakeasy with Scarlett O’hara memorabilia adorning every wall, including signed photos from Vivian Leigh. Incongruously, a funk Philly soundtrack played in the background. I scored 2