When I started biking about two months ago, I ride an average of around 6 miles per ride, 2 to 3 times every week.  In the past 1.5 weeks, it became almost everyday at the average of 10 miles per ride.

Yes, it has become a routine, and it has become increasingly difficult every day to drive myself out of the bed, and haul my ass to ride my bike on a barely 60-degree morning.  Two weeks ago, I was telling myself…”Damn, there’s no way this can become part of my daily routine.  It would eventually become boring.”

One day, I was waiting on a doctor’s lounge and I happen to pick up an June 2008 issue of The New Yorker.   I came across an article by Haruki Murakami.  It was entitled “The Running Novelist.”  The first part was very boring, it was “ME-Me-Me-I’m-so-awesome-you-should-worship-me” to the point that I thought it was a ego masturbation in essay form and had nothing to do with the title.

Then he talked about how he started running and incorporated it in his daily routine, and how he overcome the excuses not to run on a day he doesn’t feel like running. I don’t really want to spoil how he put it in words…but I would say that once you read it, you may find it condescending on his part…well, because…he’s a full-time novelist…he works, what, an average of 2 hours per day?  Compared to an average joe working about 8 hours per day?  Of course, he has no excuse to run everyday!

However, once you really think about it: in my case, I could easily waste an hour watching TV or playing video games…surely I have an hour to ride my bike.  It has become my inspiration/drive to get myself out of and haul my ass to ride my bike on a barely 60-degree morning.

Of course, it’s not like I drag myself to ride my bike everyday; most of the time, I actually look forward to it.

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…and I just put a down payment for my second bike!  This time it’s for a real mountain bike.  The bike is not going to be here until the end of this month…I can’t wait to hit the trails again with the proper gear…hopefully I’m not gonna fall next time.

I’ve been using AllSportGPS.com to track my biking activity…since then it was migrated to TrimbleOutdoors.com.  GPS upload is now broken.  So even though I’ve accumulated about 6,000 miles for the past two days…………………………

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Dear Mr. Miller:

(I started this letter with the phrase “I’d like to be Frank…” but I thought it would confuse people.  Fact.)

I just saw the trailer for your solo directorial debut, “The Spirit.”  I thought I was looking at the much-anticipated to your ground-breaking film adaptation of “Sin City.” And OH LOOKS! The Title font is just like your *other* film adaptation, “300.”
Please don’t be a copycat jerk, Frank.  That’s all I have to say for now.

KTHANKSBAI.

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Yesterday was an experience I would probably never forget: my first biking trail!  And it wasn’t exactly in my plans.  I fell off the bike twice (minor injuries only) because my bike wasn’t exactly built for the trail (LOTS of tree roots with a few jumps!!)…plus the fact that I’m a trail n00b.  I was cursing my bike buddies (who has REAL mountain bikes) the whole ride but in the end I realized how much I enjoyed it.

Looks like I’m getting a real mountain bike a lot sooner than planned.

-

Current mods on the 7.5FX:

• Replaced the handlebar grips with Ergon GP1 (Small)
• Upgrade shifter to Shimano Deore XT RapidFire
• Upgrade the road tires to Specialized Crossroads CX Armadillos
• Replaced the saddle with Brooks B17 Standard
• Removed tacky stickers on wheel rims and fork

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While I’m so much engrossed lately with anything to do with bicycles, I haven’t totally forgotten about photography.  In fact, I just updated my iStockphoto portfolio with a few images from my recent trip to Massachusetts.  It’s funny that I haven’t updated my portfolio for more than a year prior to this upload…that’s how lazy I can get.

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My bike has been out of commission so I wasn’t able to log trips for a few days.  As soon as it was fixed by my bike buddy, I logged about 15 miles.

I replaced my road tires with knobby tires designed for cyclocross thinking that I would not need to change tires whether I’m on asphalt or light sandy trail…man, that was stupid; using them on asphalt wasn’t as efficient as the stock tires that came with the bike.

I ended up ordering a real set of tires designed for on- and off-road: Specialized Armadillos.  They should be here by the middle of the week and will be replacing the tires again.  Based on the reviews these tires should be better and my lazy ass won’t have to change tires whether I’m on asphalt or light trails.  Maybe.

I spent too much already on this bike.

On a slightly different note: I started doing research on assembling your own bike (I want to assemble my next bike which hopefully would happen in this lifetime).  I’m surprised there’s not a lot of websites out there about this.  This is nuts.

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The family went to Eagle Rock Resort in PA with a few friends yesterday…My bike buddy dragged our bikes hoping that we find a decent trail.  Alas!  Nothing.  All we see is hilly roads…I think we rode about 5 miles before we gave up.  Worse, My Edge 205 battery went dead in the middle of our biking session even though I powered it off the day before…I wasn’t able to record the ride.  Bummer.

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I finished a 14-mile trail today with a few friends.  The terrain was a mostly level, but it was a little rough…I can feel my shocks-less Trek’s (and my butt’s) pain.  That said, I just LOVE how the 700c wheels zip through it.  Crap…this only means one thing…

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In a span of 12 days, I’ve racked up a total of about 52 miles.  Total bike time: 4 hours and 51 minutes.

The next upgrade I’m looking at is to replace the pedals with the clipless model.  I noticed that I find mind myself re-positioning my feet on the pedals, which is a distraction and keeps my eyes off the road…not a good idea when you have these jerks on riding these things called “cars” who could potentially hit you just out of spite.  Shimano M540’s looks like a good start without breaking the bank…

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I did a 7-mile path this morning, which is a second ride with my new saddle: a Brooks B17.  The butt pain that I get with the stock 7.5 FX saddle is gone with this one.  I am now a Brooks believer.

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