Bike Noob

Because I'm Always Learning Something New

  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • Partners

Tour de Florence washout — and sundry stuff

09.12.2008 by Ray Niekamp // 1 Comment

They cancelled the Tour de Florence today.

It was the smart thing to do.  Although forecasts for Ike keep sending it a little farther east, we’ll still get lashing rains and winds of tropical storm force (>39 mph).  They plan to reschedule the Tour for October.  I might be able to use it as my long ride warmup before the century.

So, since I’ll be sitting indoors all day Saturday watching college football, I got in an 18-mile ride this afternoon.  The hurricane is already sending some pretty good wind in our direction, and riding into the north and northeast was a chore.

I had a nice chat with another rider who caught up to me.  He was riding an old bike from the ’70s or ’80s, a British Thunderbird, he said.  But he had taken it down to bare metal, repainted it and rebuilt it.  The paint job was eye-catching: blue top tube and down tube, fading into red for the head tube and seat tube.  He had replaced the down tube shifters with brifters, put on new wheels and better brakes.  It looked like a nice ride, and he could really shoot ahead if he put his mind to it.

Today’s ride was a treat I’d promised myself as a reward for getting my annual physical, which I did today.  Had a bit of a scare in the doctor’s office.  He was looking over the EKG printout, and said, “Don’t put your shirt on just yet — I don’t like the look of this EKG.”  Huh?  He examined it another minute, and said, “Oh.  I see what happened.  She [the physician’s assistant who did the EKG] mixed up the leads.  Where you’re supposed to spike up, it shows a spike down.”

I got hooked up to the machine again, he double checked the connections, and this time it turned out fine.  “With all that biking you’re doing now, your heart should be in better shape, not worse,” he said.  “That’s what got me concerned.”

“So I’m gonna make it?” I asked.

“You’ll make it out the door, anyway,” he replied.

Other encouraging news: An uptick in my cholesterol in my semi-annual check in March may have been a machine error.  He’s trashed the gizmos that read blood drawn by a finger stick — the gizmos that give you your cholesterol figures immediately.  Turned out his machines, at least, were inaccurate by as much as 20 percent.  If the figures from today’s blood drawing are as expected, I’ll cut back my cholesterol medicine to once every other day.

The doc may also have pointed me in the direction of a solution for my numb toe problem.  I’ll have to update that in a future post.

Ike is supposed to barrel through Texas quickly.  We might be able to get out and ride as soon as Sunday.  If college football bores me, I can always clean my chain.

Like this:

Like Loading…

Related

Categories // Rides Tags // hurricane, Ike, medical, Rides

Comments

  1. Titia Arledge says

    September 13, 2008 at 12:08 am

    Bummer the Tour de Florence was cancelled, I was looking forward to the ride myself as well…think I will just ride South and have my husband come pick me up, who knows how fast I could ride to Georgetown??? The tailwind should be the sweetest ever! But I don’t plan on tackling the headwind back tomorrow.

    Reply

Leave a ReplyCancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Get Email Updates

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 257 other subscribers

Categories

  • Accessories
  • Bike fit
  • Bikes
  • Blogging
  • Books
  • clubs
  • Cold weather
  • Community
  • Commuting
  • Components
  • crash
  • cycling
  • Equipment
  • Favorite rides
  • fitness
  • food
  • guest post
  • Heat
  • Injury
  • logs
  • Maintenance
  • Mental
  • Nutrition
  • Odds 'n ends
  • People
  • Poll
  • Racing
  • Records & stats
  • Review
  • Rides
  • running
  • Safety
  • soreness
  • Specialized
  • Technique
  • Technology
  • Tips
  • tires
  • training
  • Travel
  • Uncategorized
  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • Partners

Recent Posts

  • Getting Back on the Bike: Road Cycling Tips for Older Cyclists
  • Are BCAAs and EAAs Good for Cycling?
  • How to Fix Numb Toes When Cycling
  • How to Find and Vet a Bike Club
  • Celebrate Pearl Izumi with Big Savings in the Memorial Day Sale

Categories

  • Accessories
  • Bike fit
  • Bikes
  • Blogging
  • Books
  • clubs
  • Cold weather
  • Community
  • Commuting
  • Components
  • crash
  • cycling
  • Equipment
  • Favorite rides
  • fitness
  • food
  • guest post
  • Heat
  • Injury
  • logs
  • Maintenance
  • Mental
  • Nutrition
  • Odds 'n ends
  • People
  • Poll
  • Racing
  • Records & stats
  • Review
  • Rides
  • running
  • Safety
  • soreness
  • Specialized
  • Technique
  • Technology
  • Tips
  • tires
  • training
  • Travel
  • Uncategorized

Archives

  • May 2024
  • December 2023
  • November 2023
  • March 2022
  • October 2020
  • November 2018
  • May 2018
  • September 2017
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • January 2016
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • August 2010
  • July 2010
  • June 2010
  • May 2010
  • April 2010
  • March 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010
  • December 2009
  • November 2009
  • October 2009
  • September 2009
  • August 2009
  • July 2009
  • June 2009
  • May 2009
  • April 2009
  • March 2009
  • February 2009
  • January 2009
  • December 2008
  • November 2008
  • October 2008
  • September 2008
  • August 2008
  • July 2008
  • June 2008
  • May 2008
  • April 2008
  • March 2008
  • February 2008

Copyright © 2026 · Modern Studio Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

Go to mobile version
%d