Perma frost- perma ride

So another snow storm hit Thursday but that didn't keep me in! I've been carrying on my tradition of riding no matter what the conditions. Here is a photo as I finish a ride. My house sits just past the road sign seen here. Friday evening I attended a retirement gathering for a good friend of mine and later that night i got called in to work for a customer so there wasn't any riding. Saturday morning, after returning home earlier from the callin around 1:30am, I looked over a few maps while drinking my coffee before departing the workshop (basement) for Kittanning around noon.

Why did I chose to bike to Kittanning? Why not! I knew there was a Sheetz downtown so it became my turning back point. Anyway there was some cool places to travel thru like Craigville, Buffalo Mills, Worthington, WalkChalk and West Kittanning.

Saturdays weather was fairly mild compared to the previous few days. Especially my Thursday evening ride which proved to be extremely difficult due to the heavy snow falling. I was lucky to know the roads so well or there would have been a good chance of getting lost. Many times I almost missed turns in the road because of the snowfall. Visibility was at best 10' in front of me.

It was however a very successful ride especially since I crossed paths with a couple from Rattigan (Bill & Sandy) who where at the bottom of their driveway. We talked for a good 15 minutes and I'm glad to have meet them. But anyway back to Saturday... mild weather, a couple pages of Google maps for Armstrong County, several Cliff Blocks, Jelly Belly Beans, fresh tracks of Pantera & Iron Maiden downloaded to my mp3 player, and my full fender Trek Portland loaded with tools weighing in around 30 pounds and I was off!

Taking my normal route thru Fenelton then taking a few new turns to Bottom Creek Road which was cool since it was mostly gravel and mud. This spit me out in Craigsville where I continued on to Buffalo Mills and climbed up into Worthington. Almost cresting the hill I got a cool surprise when over 20 BMX riders came cruising down the hill. They spread out full width across the road hoopin & hollerin as they passed by me making me dodge my way thru them all in good fun. I regret that I was to slow getting the camera out for that photo op.

The First Sign I say when nearing Kittanning caused me to stop and think "No peddling?" I'm not welcome? Do I need a permit? Oh yea I'm pedaling not peddling so I proceded into Kittanning and down to the Sheetz (which was to busy for me to go in and wait so I turned around for my return).

Leaving Kittanning behind me as I climb up from the river.

This ride took me around 4 hours which included stop times and turned out only to be 50 miles round trip. I had a great time and got the chance to see some places I hadn't been to before. Maybe next time I'll work this into a some type of loop. Anyway I'm off to eat!

stork

Cera Bellum

Maybe I should introduce you to Cera Bellum, shes not much of a looker but but shes full of brains.
Whats one of our organs that we as humans spend hours and hours along with loads of cash to improve? From our birth our parents have been working on its improvement and they always hope that ours will be better than theirs?
Yes its our brains! Meet Cera Bellum

Its the one thing that most of us use daily and are always trying to make its efficiency and memory better. It can make our life and our family's life better by retaining information or by dreaming up ideas or ways of solving problems or tasks which all can be sold for more money and a better lifestyle.
Parents pay taxes to fund our schools which work to improve our brains and then we as young adults will take out loans or grants to fund a college education in hopes of improving or bettering our brain function.
Doctors can transplant, livers, kidneys, lungs and even our hearts as a daily routine but our brains define who we are, what we know, how we do things, and what we like. Why then, I ask, do we do stupid things like ride a bicycle clipped into the pedals without a HELMET?

Today I saw someone, recently graduated from college, ride into the Trek store without wearing a skull box protector. Their reply to me when asked where their helmet was... "Its to cold to wear one, mine doesn't fit over a hat"
Oh now I realized that accidents don't happen in the cold. Since they where educated I'll assume this to be true, right? Come on even I'm smarter than that.
Wearing a helmet isn't done because we need to protect us from ourselves... its done to protect us from the wave of drivers on the road or the tree or rock on the trail.
Accidents happen, if they didn't we wouldn't have Emergency rooms. True we like to think they won't happen to us but believing in oneself isn't enough of a reason to forgo wearing the proper protection.

Stupidity is the answer. In case you forgot the question.. "why do we ride a bike without a helmet?" Ok I'll agree that a stroll through a rails to trails or around the campground can be executed without a helmet but it still doesn't mean there isn't a risk. I'm talking to the weekend warriors & elite riders who travel the local roads and trails that are open to everyone out there. The car driver who speeds up to make the left in front of you or the new guy railing around the blind turn in the single track at the park, these are the reasons to wear a helmet. Protect your investment!
Being a pro, semi-pro or seasoned rider doesn't make it less of a risk to ride with out a helmet, in fact it makes it more of a reason. Like other sports, take baseball for example and the helmets they use. Do you think that since the pitcher is more skilled in throwing the ball that the batter need not wear a batting helmet? Absolutely not! The pitcher has better skills but also throws the ball at a much greater speed than the neighborhood kid. The same applies to those of us on bikes. My skills are better than the average riders which means I'm probably riding at greater speeds and taking greater risks.
Alright I know as a kid I road miles & miles without wearing a helmet does that make it right? No, I sure wouldn't think of it now and my bike skills are 10 fold what they where back then.
I just don't understand this. Can someone explain? and please don't give me those idiotic answers like, it restricts my view, or I'm to hot in it, or it doesn't fit right. There are dozens of different makes, models & sizes ranging from $40 to $130 dollars. What, You would spend that just to register for a class but not for insurance to keep the information?
We all do things without thinking and sometimes we get away with them yet other times they catch us, which might cause us an injury. All in all i hope something never happens to any of you but being ignorant to something as easy as wearing a helmet leaves me little room for sympathy it only leaves me guessing about your IQ. Take a look at a few of my Helmets. True I only need one @ a time but some are fitted for Light systems others for wearing a warm hat underneath and still a couple for racing.

Here are some interesting Facts and webpages to check out.

Protect – Watch Your Head
Every 15 seconds, someone in the United States suffers a traumatic brain injury. Of the 1,000,000 people treated in hospital emergency rooms each year, 50,000 die and 80,000 become permanently disabled because of traumatic brain injury (TBI). This is higher than the combined incidence of Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and multiple sclerosis. Brain injuries occur more frequently than breast cancer or AIDS. One out of every fifty Americans is currently living with disabilities from TBI. There's even an association between head injury and Alzheimer's disease later in life.

http://www.lifesport-calgary.com/index.php?page=helmet


-There are 85 million bicycle riders in the US.
-784 bicyclists died on US roads in 2005. 92% of them died in crashes with motor vehicles (720).
-About 540,000 bicyclists visit emergency rooms with injuries every year. Of those, about 67,000 have head injuries, and 27,000 have injuries serious enough to be hospitalized.
Bicycle crashes and injuries are under-reported, since the majority are not serious enough for emergency room visits.
-1 in 8 of the cyclists with reported injuries has a brain injury.
-Two-thirds of the deaths here are from traumatic brain injury.
-A very high percentage of cyclists' brain injuries can be prevented by a helmet, estimated at anywhere from 45 to 88 per cent.
-Many years of potential life are lost because about half of the deaths are children under 15 years old.
-Direct costs of cyclists' injuries due to not using helmets are estimated at $81 million each year.
-Indirect costs of cyclists' injuries due to not using helmets are estimated at $2.3 billion each year.
-Helmet use in the US varies by orders of magnitude in different areas and different sectors of our society. White collar commuters probably reach 80 per cent, while inner city kids and rural kids would be 10 per cent or less. Overall, our best wild guess is probably no more than 25 per cent. Sommers Point, NJ, where a state helmet law is in effect, found that only 24 of the 359 students who rode to school in one week of the Winter of 2002 wore helmets (6 per cent) until the School District adopted a helmet rule. North Carolina observed 17 per cent statewide before their law went into effect in 2001.
-Helmets are cheap. The typical discount store price has risen from under $10 to about $15, but there are still models available for under $10 at major retailers.


So let me tell you in advance that if you ever come along with me on a ride you'll have to have a helmet. Otherwise I will not be riding with you.

stork

Dust Remover #9

Another weekend of snow flurries and temps in the low twenties during the afternoons. Lately I've been taking my rides towards the east into Clearfield Twp. This photo is overlooking the hills of Rattigan. Where is Rattigan? Well its one of those dots on my County map that when you get there its nothing more than an intersection or just a general area. Kind of like Fenelton, Carbon Center, or even Woodbine where I live. The cool thing about riding in these areas tend to be the fact that you see very little traffic and its mostly wooded roadways or open fields. Friday on my ride thru Carbon Center I saw a man sitting in the snow about 10' off the road in winter snow camo. I slowed to a stop and said hello. He told me he was hunting Coyotes and I could hear the the other guy with him working the "call" used to bring them in. How cool was this? Only a few miles from my house and there are guys hunting Coyotes! I wished him luck and continued on.

This is how I found my way around over the weekend. Somehow I ended up on Hickey Bottom road which was alright except that I had a tough time getting to it and found myself in Armstrong County for a while when searching for it. So what you ask? Well the map in hand is only for Butler County which made me "lost" for sometime while traveling the roads in Armstrong. No worries, the great thing about new routes is that you just keep taking roads until something looks right or turn around and backtrack.After all my riding this weekend I only did one other thing.... eat. Michelle's Homemade Cherry Pie (which lasted less than 24 hours)

Ummmm Butterscotch Pudding over Vanilla Ice Cream.

Visiting my godchild Hannah... oh look fresh pies. Blueberry & Cherry how nice, I had better taste both, which I did. Thanks Aunt Mary delicious as usual!
Dinner with the Family @ The Black Forest German restaurant & Bier Haus in Parker PA, where I had Wiener Schnitzel , Spatzel (buttered noodles) and Potato Pancakes followed by a huge piece of German Apple Pie.
Lots of riding and lots of eating which made for a pleasant weekend.

stork

.....WINTER STORM WARNING!.......

This is what I see rolling across the bottom of my TV screen tonight. We heard about the "storm" all day Monday and even Michelle had made the decision to stay home from work before leaving on Monday. I woke up this morning to watch the snow start while sipping a cup of "joe". I on the other hand had several things to take care of so I reported for duty but had plans to leave early and finish working from home later this evening. Everyone at work knows how much I enjoy riding in the snow so it wasn't a surprise to see me all "bubbly" so early in the morning. Most coworkers chuckled while asking "you're planning on riding in this, aren't you?" I could barely hold back with my reply of "hell yea!"

I managed to exit just soon enough to get a ride in before nightfall and on my way back I ran into Michelle who had just started out for a short loop so I continued with her.

Before catching up with Michelle I practiced my drafting techniques with the only other person crazy enough to be out on these roads with me.

I passed this particular Plow truck 4 times during my route and on one of our meetings he passed me with the plow close enough that I could have leaned out and placed my hand on it. He politely waved and I took that as an invite to draft. I tucked in behind the spreader (which he left off every time we passed) while still remaining in his sight and stuck with him for a 1/4 mile or so until he must have gotten tired of the speed and pulled away giving me a little beep. Now I don't recommend doing this but these guys have been seeing me a couple times a week and we are on some really rural back roads.

Later during my ride with Michelle we passed the plow truck from the Township that we live in and he stopped at the top of the hill to ask me how I managed to keep my bike upright on these roads. I told him it took some technical skills and a little help from him with the plow and ashes. He laughed at me, called me crazy and told me to be safe while enjoying the evening then proceeded down the hill past Michelle who was still cranking the pedals (maybe pushing) up the hill.

Well I hope you too got the chance to ride and enjoy the fresh snow fall.

......WINTER STORM WARNING......... The End

stork

A day with Relatives

So This weekend I found myself layering some clothes and riding the back roads of Butler County. I started from my house in Oakland Township and traveled east to Donegal Twp thru Clearfield Twp and on to Summit until returning back home thru the corner of Clearfield and Summit again. These areas are mostly woods, farms and PA gamelands. A short way into the start of my ride I came across Anas Platyrhynchos aka the Mallard Duck. In case you're not up on your wildlife/waterfowl I'll give you a few facts. The Mallard belongs to the same Kingdom, Phylum & Class as the White Stork so in a way its a distant relative of mine. It saddened me to crest the small hill while coming into view of the still carcass of this fine creature. I slowed down to take a better look which brought me to wondering... "just how did this duck come to its death?" No marks, no mess no anything. Just a frozen little being! For a moment I felt like an agent from DUCSI (Ducks Unlimited Crime Scene Investigation) as a meandered around looking for clues of this ducks untimely death, until finally I disturbed the crime scene by removing "Unlucky Ducky" from the road. I did however get a good chalk line and close up photos for the continuing investigation. Since she hadn't been damaged to badly I felt uneasy about leaving her there on the road for future motorist to dodge. I cleaned up the flares I had placed while documenting all clues and continued on my ride.

Here's a few facts:

Mallard Duck ( Anas platyrhynchos )
The mallard is the most common duck in North America. It is easy to tell the males from the female mallards. Most male mallards have grayish or brownish feathers, a green colored head, and a purple breast. On the other hand, the female is only brown and white and is smaller than the male. The length of the normal mallard is about 50-60 cm. ( 20.5 -28 in.). The mallard duck is found mostly in North America and Northern Central America. They nest under boulders, in tree holes, in the crotch of trees, or in open areas.
Mallards are omnivores. They eat various seeds including corn, wheat, barley, bulrushes, wild rice, primrose, willow, seeds of water elm, oak, hackberry, trees of swamps or river bottoms. They will also eat mollusks, insects, small fish, tadpoles, freshwater snails, fish eggs, and frogs. They usually feed at the surface of the water and are known as "dabbling ducks". They don't dive all the way under the water, but just tip their heads under to feed.
The mallard has only three defenses- swimming, flying, and camouflage, and it is prey to large mammals. Mallards have no defense against humans who are their biggest enemy. Many are killed by oil spills and pesticides.

For the remainder of my 40 mile ride I thought about all the animals I encounter during my rides in PA like cows, cats, dogs, squirrels, chipmunks, ducks, geese, owls, hawks, beavers, porcupines and so on. Suddenly I realized that the rides I take deeper into the country prove to be more interesting and educational that the rides I take closer to town. For instance after returning home & thinking about "Unlucky Ducky" I sat down and searched some facts about Ducks and their habits. Will I remember all of this, probably not, but it did enlighten me to my surroundings and to the animals that use the land around me as their homes. Without finding "Unlucky Ducky" I would have never spent the time researching Mallards. You can bet the next time I travel by bike thru "Unlucky Ducky's" old stomping grounds I'll be attentive and looking to catch a glimpse or even a photo of another duck along the waterway there.

Later that night Michelle & I meet up with my real cousin Jeremy & his wife Anastasia for dinner where I told them of my finding "Unlucky Ducky". For some reason I had an appetite for duck but at this small place it was nowhere to be found on the menu, if only I had brought the fowl with me! Would they have cooked it? Oh well the Cod will have to do with a nice slice of Apple pie for dessert.

stork

What to do when its Cold

Uummm! What do you do when its really cold? Well we eat! yea we eat more because we can't do anything else right? No not really, we still do things like riding the trainer when the outside temp is in the single digits or would that be single "digit"? Anyway Michelle rides the trainer a couple of times a week & when she isn't riding she's spooning the rice in as you can see!

I on the other hand have been able to get out riding most of the time regardless of the temps. But the other night I found myself being to lazy to brave the cold so I broke down & road the trainer myself. This was the first time I've used it in over a year! In fact last winter I never saddled up my road bike to it once.

Heres something we can do when its cold.... build a new bike. This is a photo of my new Lemond Buenos Aires Frame. I took all my parts from my older road bike and built this baby up for some upcoming spring training rides. Since I've been busy @ work Tj did most of the building for me with a little help from Bonnie.
Which left me extra time for yep you guessed it EATING. Bye bye time to eat.
stork

Jack Frost comes along for a ride

So here it is, it's been a few days since my last post so you ask "what's up?". Not much its darn cold here in western PA so there hasn't been a lot of time for riding. Michelle has been confined to the indoor trainer, yet I managed to get out on Sunday which had temps in the single digits and again tonight with a temp of 12 degrees. Both times I left the house on my Rig only to turn around and swap it out for the Portland. There was too much snow to make any headway in the trails which left me cruising the roadways with the nippy air in my face. It was nice to see Jack Frost out riding with me, you see just when you think its going to be nice all winter Mister Frost stops by for a couple of weeks! This allowed me to try out some new glasses I picked up which are made by Serfas. I believe the model is called "Hunter" and they have a full one piece lens. They worked well for me on the open road by covering most of my upper cheek and all the way around my eye. It was nice to be shielded from the wind which was responsible for the several cases of frostbite on the local news. These glasses didn't seem to fog up on me and the best thing is they are under $50! If I trash them or breakem I'm not out hundreds like some glasses cost.

Here's a look at my bike after my Friday afternoon ride in the snow. Sunday I got in around 28 miles in the frigid air and tonight i took it one mile for every degree of outside temp on my HAC4 Cyclometer, which read 12.

Later

stork

Do we ride when its snowing?

Have you ever been asked this question?

I know that TJ and I are always getting this question from someone. Then they ask, "don't you get cold?"

Do you ski in the winter? Do you get cold? Yes but you don't die! Dress for the activity and you'll be fine! So I was at the bike shop this week when a guy from Peru (no joke he was visiting relatives) stopped in looking for a derailleur, when he asked the question.... you guys don't get much riding in during the winter do you? I replied yes, yes we do get riding in during the winter and when it snows its some of the best riding I've ever experienced. TJ quickly chimed in agreeing! The dude from Peru looked surprised and all at once became very interested in how much riding we did in the snow and how much more intense it must be for training. Everyone that really knows me could tell you where I am when its snowing heavy! I love a heavy slow snow. Its even better at night to ride past the locals plowing their driveways and the couple Township plow trucks. These guys know me and mostly turn off the spreader as they go around or as I pass from the other direction.

These are awesome roads!

Proof that its really me riding!

I Love the snow as you can see

stork