They were custom jobs and $300 for the pair. I saw them in person, though, and they were damn sweeet.

The Saturday leg of the ride started at 7:30am from Rockett’s Landing in downtown Richmond. The route sent us out East along the James River along some quiet country roads that I was pretty familiar with. I do a good bit of riding out that way and it was nice to know where I was for the first batch of miles. We hit the first rest stop at the 11-mile mark where we were met by a dozen volunteers who were stocking the station with plenty of drinks and snacks. The weather was going to warm up later in the day so we took every opportunity to hydrate, even though we were only 11 miles in. The next leg of the ride took me off of roads I knew well and into the rolling hills of Charles City County, Virginia.

I had been riding over the Winter and into the Spring with an eye toward riding the century (100-mile) loop on the first day of the MS150. They make the 75-mile ride a 100-mile ride by adding a 25-mile loop after one of the rest stations. Basically, you take a right when everyone else goes left, ride a 24-mile loop back to the same spot, and then continue along the same course as everyone else. This year, the century loop was after mile 26 so my legs felt fresh and I talked myself into it pretty easily. 8 of us took the Century turn and we made easy work of it. A highlight for me was a nice couple of Centruy Loop miles on the in-progress Virginia Capital Trail. It was really impressive and I can’t wait for more of it to be done closer to RVA.

We re-joined the main course and kept a 17-18mph pace into the lunch stop. There were burgers and franks and PB&Js, with lots of chips and drinks and shade for everyone. And again, the volunteers that staff the rest stops provided a terrific lift with the way they cheered us into the stop, chatted us up about how glad they were to help, and then sent us off with more cheers and well wishes. Once I get over 50 miles of riding I tend to talk myself down because I’m tired and getting more uncomfortable. The volunteers make sure I know that they’re behind me and they provide a genuine lift that makes the last 1/3 of the ride feel like something I can close out.

In preparing for this century ride our plan was to approach the day one-third at a time. The first third should feel like relatively easy spinning. You don’t want to go too hard on fresh legs because you won’t have anything in the tank for the end. It’s tricky to temper your enthusiasm and adrenaline to keep a moderate pace at the beginning. The second third is tougher but tolerable and you should start to “feel your muscles” doing work. The easy spinning is over but you don’t feel like you’re killing yourself. The last third is the most difficult and things start to hurt. Riding your bike for 100 miles is an uncomfortable thing. You have to be able to set the discomfort aside and focus on turning the pedals over to get to the finish. Breaking the ride into thirds makes the mental part of a 100-mile ride a lot easier to deal with.

The final third of the ride came after lunch and it was kind of a struggle. The mid-day sun got things pretty warm but we just kept turning the pedals over, super-hydrating at the last 2 rest stops, and focusing on “the goal”. “The goal” was a vague term that took several meanings over the last 20 miles of the ride. The most popular “goals” were: the finish line beer truck, getting a massage, and a big dinner (with pie!) . I am happy to report that, in my case, I was able to achieve each of these “goals” over the course of the evening. It was hard work, but I found a way.

Sunday’s ride back to Richmond was supposed to start at 7am, with a breakfast being served from 5:45-7. I’ve been late to breakfast the last couple of years so I made sure to set a 5:30 alarm so I could get up wth plenty of time to eat and get ready. After Saturday’s 100 I knew I would need plenty of fuel. I woke to my alarm and, what sounded like, the circulating water in my room a/c unit. In reality, it was hard rain on my window that was making the noise and it ended after just a few minutes. I made it downstairs for breakfast before 6am and the skies were cloudy. The forecast had been for late afternoon storms but we would have been long-finished and home by the time they were supposed to hit. Overnight, the situation had changed. There was a large system of severe thunderstorms that had been pounding RVA and were lined up to trail right into Williamsburg all along the proposed bike route. The ride officials decided to delay the start of the ride for an hour to see how things developed. Unfortunately for us, they developed in the worst possible way and the Sunday Ride was canceled at 9am. There were reports of trees down along some roads and the amount of rain and lightning would have made a bike ride through it an exercise in stupidity. I’m not the brightest bulb, but I know enough not to ride a bike through a thunderstorm.

I got a ride back to Richmond from my lovely wife, Michelle, who left a warm bed to drive to Williamsburg to get me first thing in the morning. I was bummed that we didn’t get to ride the second day, but we certainly made up for some of those lost miles by getting the century ride in on Saturday.

I’ve been listening and listening and I’ve distilled the last 6 months of listening (and listening) to this mix for May. It’s just under an hour and it’s all over the map, genre-wise. I think it flows pretty well and I hope you feel the same. If nothing else, it will make fun listening for your Memorial Day cookouts, right?

Download it here and enjoy.

1. Make Some Noise – Beastie Boys
2. Halo – Disappears
3. I Only Have Eyes For You – The Flamingos
4. Friday – The Jet Age of Tomorrow
5. Give Me Back My Wig – Hound Dog Taylor
6. R-Love (Is Approaching Critical Mass) – Transistors
7. When You Find Out – The Nerves
8. Plenty For All – Hot Snakes
9. Woman – Bo Diddley
10. Hey Girl – Impulse International
11. Did You Forget my Name - White Wires
12. Silva & Grimes – Holy Fuck
13. Carpel Tunnel Syndrome – Kid Koala & Money Mark
14. jesus is a rochdale girl – Elbow
15. Death of A Disco Dancer (demo) – The Smiths

You can tell I was working hard. I’ve never looked that good in a bike jersey, thanks for the photo P.D.!

Pedal Power is a non-profit group I work with to promote energy conservation with a bicycle-centric angle. We host an annual event where pairs of cyclists compete to see who can generate the most wattage. That’s where I am in that photo up there. We take the electricity generated, charge batteries with it, and power griddles to make lunch for the riders. It’s a way to draw a direct line between effort and electricity.

In addition to the annual event, we set up at community events throughout the year where we do things like power a DJ setup at a pool party or run the cotton candy machine at a school carnival. We try to get attendees on the bikes in an effort to get them see how tough it is to really make electricity.

As a group, we’re only a couple of years old but I think we have a good idea and we’re moving in the right direction.

I hadn’t seen this before.

Oh geez.

[ via Super Punch]

Flinchy from Jason Harvey on Vimeo.

Jay Ryan is a funny guy. I am a fan.

There are going to be Richard Scarry originals there. I am geeked on that.

[via RVA News]

I’m here.

It’s as bad an idea as it sounds but I can’t help myself when it comes to this kind of thing.

Here’s another G. Annable short that I enjoyed, unrelated to the game: