Back

So I'm back.  

San Francisco and the bay area has 8 million people on bikes, most helmeted.  There were people all over riding, tons of bike lanes, bikes for rent (by the Golden Gate Bridge) and tons of runners.  On Wednesday night we went down to pier 39 (and Ghiradelli square) and saw at least 4 different groups of runners.  I never see groups of runners out here... maybe 1 or 2, but you don't see a pack of people running together somewhere.

The conference and meet & greets were great.  Being cramped in a plane was not.

Next week Biking Brady is hosting another Bunyan to Bob's ride-- fall colors.  Anyone want to go with me?  We should carpool and stuff.

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Travel

I'm off to glorious San Francisco for the rest of the week. No rides til saturday - I'm bringing swim and run clothes and hope to see something cool. If my hotel is close to the golden gate bridge I will have to run across it.

This past weekend was the margarita ride in vermillion and the sanford breast cancer ride in SF. Kari and I went to verm and had a blast- it was raining so we took the 30 mile route as Kari had never ridden in wet conditions before. We were teamed up with fellow sioux falls folks (Jody, mayor, Barbara, John-surf shop) and had a nice pace, good conversation ride. When we got back we had time to kill so we rode over to Bunyan's for a root beer/beer bomber. When we got back we had our margarita and tacos then rolled back to SF.

In SF we stopped by Spoke to chat and hear about the SF ride. Apparently it was crazy w crashes, broke bikes and hospital visits. We met recent ironman Jon G who was shopping for a new tri bike. Then it was home for naps and bike cleaning.

hellimatbikes.blogspot.com

Armstrong out of retirement!

Read it here

I have no idea if this is accurate, but it's (of course) really exciting to me. I didn't get into cycling until after Lance had retired-- it'd be crazy fun to watch him in the big Tour (and, it looks like, a bunch of the U.S. races).

Beer and Pizza and 36 laps

Who else thinks that beer and pizza taste far, far better after exercise?

Who would like free beer and pizza after exercise this coming Saturday, Sept 6th?

Kari and I move from Brandon to SF on Saturday. A few fine folks have offered to help, but we could use more assistance. Here's the plan

1:00pm - meet in brandon at the duplex. load trucks with furniture first, boxes second. Hopefully the trailer will be filled with boxes.
1:30pm - first couple vehicles leave Brandon and head to SF. The new apartment is roughly 100 yards West of Sertoma park. Exact details will follow.
2:00pm - Unloading begins. If you don't have a truck/can't help at 1, ride your bicycle over at 2. Carry stuff to apartment. Continue carrying stuff.
3:00pm - eat pizza, drink beer.
3:30pm - go for a bike ride

I should point out that the FAB Helmet Hut will be on Saturday as well. I think a couple fine folks are planning to be at the helmet hut, then bike over for food and weight training. This would be an excellent idea IMHO :)

In other news, my finger (poor, poor swollen finger) has continued to heal. It still hurts gripping things (hence the bike has not gotten any love) but swimming (with a minor hand modification) is bearable. I spent yesterday in the pool at lunch working on speed-- after some warmup laps I'd sprint 50 yards, cool down, then do it again. Today I hit the pool with the plan to swim a mile nonstop. I got in the pool, start swimming, and didn't stop for 36 laps (1mile). That was one of my goals I set a couple months back and I'm happy to say I achieved it.

My time, for those interested, was 41 minutes. A bit slower than I'd like, but I'm totally happy being able to do the distance. I want to work it down to 36 laps in 36 minutes by the end of the year. Moving next door to the gym and pool will certainly help.