My cycling journal
From the monthly archives:
Dear Lexus Driver,
Hello, my name is Arlyn and I’m 39 years old. My wife and I have been married for eighteen years and we have two wonderful children; a seven year old daughter and a five year old son. I have many great friends and enjoy spending time with my parents.
Have you ever seen [...]
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Splashing through a creek, I looked over my shoulder to see how far back Virtual-Arlyn was. My Garmin said he was just 52 feet behind me and coming fast. I was racing a virtual version of myself, using a feature of my Garmin GPS that lets me race a previously recorded workout.
Around the next bend, [...]
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The first time Mark’s chain broke, we laughed and joked around while we fixed it. We were enjoying pristine weather on a beautiful desert loop which will be part of the Julian Death March next month.
It was a beautiful morning to be riding my orange bike.
Stopping to adjust Mark’s front derailleur took awhile, but was [...]
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For whatever reason, the little computer for my brand new PowerTap SL+ lost its grip with the handlebar mount on its maiden voyage. I can’t be sure, but it’s possible that it let out a little electronic scream as it fell slowly toward the pavement below, which was rushing by at over 35 mile per [...]
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It felt like we were descending into the darkest depths of middle earth. I fully expected to pass sea-level at any moment. We started the morning in 34 degree sunshine, freezing but happy to be riding. Descending more than 2,000 feet, we passed through the cloud layer we once looked down on, into a gloomy [...]
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The Summit Daily News is reporting that Lance Armstrong has officially entered this year’s Leadville 100. Last year, he finished 2 minutes behind Dave Wiens, 6-time winner and course record holder. Chris Carmichael is registered and there is also talk that Floyd Landis will make his return to Leadville this year too.
Lance racing Leadville. Summit [...]
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You see, I signed up for this crazy 100-mile mountain bike race held in Colorado called the “Leadville 100”. Well, this insane race actually starts at 10,200 feet above the ocean and goes uphill from there. I can smell the ocean from my house.
No, I don’t really live at 123 Main Street.
Both Lance Armstrong and [...]
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I spent all last week with my family in Mammoth Lakes snowboarding, hanging out and generally having one heck of a good time. I managed to get 7 consecutive days on my brand new snowboard which began to feel like I was in a stage race.
So why am I writing about snowboarding on my cycling [...]
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At first, it was just mud. And the mud was fun, maybe just a little slippy, but mountain biking through mud feels really elemental and soulful.
As we climbed higher on Middle Peak, the snow patches alongside the trail crept quietly until at last they covered the width of the fire road. You could ride [...]
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