Here's my new challenge.  As you have figured out the Deputy family HATES leukemia and what it does to families.  Well I have decided to help do something about it.  In a few weeks I'm going to sign up with the Leukemia and Lymphoma society's Team-In-Training to raise money to support their mission and train for a century ride.  Please join me in finding a cure for this killer.  Donate here: My TNT donation page  

9-9-09 - Talk about a bummer, I took off to do a "quick" 50 miler this evening.  I was cruising along, into the wind, and my bike computer battery died.  I really had no idea how much I use the speedometer as inspiration.  I was doing a ride I had done a few times before, so I knew what my mileage would be, but to not know how fast I was going or what time it was drove me completely nuts (Not that it is that far of a drive)  Oh well, at least it died now and not in Hawaii.  By the way, it still gets dark quick here in Indiana.  It seemed like one minute the sun was in my eyes as I headed west and the next minute it was black.  A three hour ride leaving at 5:30 ends as a dangerous ride.  All's well that ends well!!!

9-5-08 - Yesterday's ride was cut short due to rain and traffic.  I thought it would be good practice for the inevitable showers we'll have in Honolulu.  However I decided I'd rather wimp out and live to tell about it than keep riding and end up wrecking.  I plan to make up the miles tomorrow with a solo ride in the morning and a ride with friends in the early evening.  So it will all average out.

8-19-08 - Wow, it's been over a month since my last update.  It's been a busy month.  I have been biking quite a bit as you can see from the chart on the left.  Biking has been quite fun over the summer.  The 'Sizzling Century' ride in Kokomo was a really great ride.  The sags were incredible,  it was well marked and our TNT team had a good day.  I also did a short ride in Brown County due to a small issue with a tire, not a tube but tire.  I was heading down a hill at about 40+ miles per hour and right in front of me was a hairpin curve.  I locked up my tires and flat-spotted the back one so bad cords were not just visible, but apparent.  Oh, well I wanted new tires before Hawaii anyway.  Have fun!!!!

7-14-08 - I had a first today.  I was on a short ride to watch Mickey's softball game and my back tire went flat.  Bummer, standing on the side of the road changing a tire.  It was funny, I was thinking a few nights ago I ought to take a tire off my new bike and make sure there are no surprises when I change tires.  Well, I found out on the road that there is no surprises.  I had a nice gentleman stop and we talked about riding while I was changing it.  It wasn't a bad experience.  Mickey's game ended in a 0-0 tie. So her team is 1-0-1.

7-8-08 - It's been a couple of weeks, O.K. 3, but I've been traveling.  But I'm getting back into it now.  Last week was pretty cool for riding.  I was in Tennessee for a family vacation.  It was a lot of fun.  I took my bike with me but only made three rides.  One was a road ride between Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg.  It was quite nice until about 7:30 when people started to get up and drive their cars where I was trying to ride.  I must say that area is NOT bicycle friendly.  There are no shoulders and no bike lanes.  The next day I drove to Townsend and they have a five mile bike trail, so I rode it 10 times.  It was a little monotonous but I did get 50 miles in.  Wednesday was very cool.  They close Cades Cove to cars and let the bikers have at it.  Before 10:00 I was able to get 4 laps in.  I didn't even run over any slower bikers.  But that was the end of my riding for the vacation.  I did do some cross training (not really) and hiked to the top of Chimney Tops.  That is a cool trail, even if heights don't do a lot for you.  Well, back to riding.

6-21-08 - This has not been a good week for training.  I spent the first three days of the week in California.  I didn't take my bike with me, but it wouldn't have mattered. I was so busy while I was there I wouldn't have had time.  But I was able to get out tonight and got a decent ride in.  I love my new bike.  It is so much fun to ride.  I have group training tomorrow morning so I get to ride again in a few hours.  Have a great weekend y'all.

6-14-08 Today was my first ever group ride.  We did an easy 10 or 11 miles.  It was a lot of fun.  I had some nice conversations and we had a team social afterwards.  Good food, good conversation, and a good ride.  I rode from my house to the ride, then did the ride, then rode home.  So I ended up at 71.5 miles for the day.  Riding with a group is a little different than riding alone.  But sometimes different is good.

5-31-08 Today is the first official day of training for the ride.  According to my schedule I should ride 25 miles today.  Since today is full of baseball (two little league games and an Indy Indians game) I got up early to get it in.  I decided to do a 30 mile ride and I was on pace to break 15 MPH average (Something I don't do often in the real world)  I was about 7.5 miles from home doing about 17 MPH with my average at 15.4 I got a little to close to the edge of the road, the asphalt was a still wet from last night storms and all of a sudden my bike slipped out from under me and I hit the road hard.  Road rash on my elbow and hip, tore up my glove. I hurt.  I got back up and my bike seemed in good shape, so I finished the ride but didn't make the 15 mph.  Hopefully the rest of the day goes better.

5-22-08 I made use of being off work this afternoon and got in a good ride.  I took a quick glance at the radar before I left and I saw some rain clouds breaking up so I took off.  I got a little south of Franklin and it started raining.  But I kept going and it passed.  Life is good.  I got into SR252 and it started pouring.  Life is still good, just not a fun.  I rode into Trafalgar and was totally drenched.  I had a decision to make 20 miles south was Nashville (my super-stretch goal for the day) or turn North and head back to Indy.  I pulled into Subway and grabbed lunch and called Jenny to see what the weather was going to do.  It was going to rain and then rain some more.  I reasoned wet roads, southern Indiana hills, traffic, low visibility - It's time to head north.  So I headed north on SR135.  I had a 2 foot shoulder and cars going by at 60+ mph.  I was never so happy to see Bargersville SR144 in all my life.  So I took it.  About the time I headed east on SR144 it stopped raining.  I rode the rest of the way into Franklin.  Then headed north again toward home.  I ended with 81 miles and the knowledge that the next time I want to ride to Nashville, I will find a way that avoids SR135.

5-15-08 - Well, I did it,  I signed up for the century ride in Honolulu.  Now come the hard part I need to raise the money.  Please consider helping me out.  The page is pretty generic today, but I will be adding to it as time goes on.  Pleas go to http://pages.teamintraining.org/in/honoride08/mdeputy  Blood cancer patients and their families and I would be extremely grateful.

aloha!

9-17-07 - The ride is over.  No it didn't take me two days to complete it.  It's just been a little busy around here.  I finished in just under 5 hours, which seems a little slow for a 62 mile ride.  Well, according to my computer and a couple of others I finished around, it was the longest 62 miles of our life.  That's because it was a 72 mile ride.  That made the numbers fall into place a little better.  But it was a great time.  While I was riding Jenny & Brad did the Subaru scavenger hunt at the finish area and Brad won.  He won a Wild Ride race jersey.  He got it in my size.  He is such a cool son.  It was an awesome experience.

8-11-07 - I learned something new and reinforced something I had learned earlier.  First for the new thing:  Don't reach for your water bottle as you approach last night's road kill after it gets above 80 degrees.  It's not a pleasant experience.  What I relearned: I hate riding in town.  Since I am on-call this weekend, I needed to stay relatively close to home.  So I did four thirteen plus mile loops that probably had less than 5 miles out in the country.  All the traffic, stopping, starting and slowing to watch for said traffic is really a pain in the knees.  Humidity is not the friend of the bike rider either. 

7-30-07 - Every had one of those sucky riding days?  It feels like the wind is in your face no matter what way you are going?  Traffic was busy on every road.  The only bright spot was as soon as I got home, my son wanted to go on a ride, so we did 4 more miles.

7/22/07 - This has been a pitiful week.  I have had so much going on the I got almost no rides in.  Yesterday's ride got cut way short thanks to being on call.  I got a decent ride in today and am planning a big ride tomorrow.  So I'll let you know how it goes. 

7-15-07 - Although I am sore from yesterday's really long ride, I decided to hit the road again.  It didn't take long at all for pain to kick in.  I picked a place I went by on my ride yesterday and just went for it.  Google maps helped me plot the course and 23.3 miles (and a quick stop at Walgreens to buy some Gatorade) later I made it home.

7-14-07 - O.K., I'm crazy.  Here's the course: My house to the canal, one lap around the canal, back to Meridian Street (IN-135), to Bargersville, IN-144 to Franklin, Hurricane Road and several country roads (actually I got lost for a while, it is very frustrating to look down and figure out your shadow is on the wrong side of the bike and I was headed south instead of north) until I found Franklin road.  Franklin Road to Southport road, Southport road to Shelbyville Road, Shelbyville road into Beech Grove, Beech Grove to home.  33.5 miles was my longest to date so 66 was a bit more than a stretch.  

Last Update 09/09/2008 08:47:54 PM