Firefly Custom Steel

I will let this one speak for itself:

Crisp Titanium

Built up with Campy Super Record and Fulcrum Racing Speed wheels:

Serotta Meivici SE

Custom carbon fiber frame from the US builder, tastefully built up with Campy Super Record and Mavic SLR wheels:

Ride Around the World - Days 8, 9 & 10

I am visiting my parents in Tampa this week and forgot to bring my laptop with me, so the updates are a bit sporadic.

Day 8 - I had a training class all day, but squeezed in a short ride (32.8 miles):

Day 8

Day 9 - Rode with some old friends in the morning (29.3 miles), then did a few laps (38.6 miles) around Flatwoods Park (where I have been a lot of my riding while I am down in Tampa, just because it is convenient) for a total of 67.9 miles:

Day 9 - Part 1
Day 9 - Part 2

Day 10 - Was doing well until I got rained up badly; still managed to do 42.8 miles:

Day 10 - Part 1
Day 10 - Part 2

These said, I am still struggling with saddle issues.  I really thought I had found something that fit my butt in my Specialized Romin but anything over two hours on it and it starts to hurt me badly.  I am not really sure what to try next; might give something flatter a try so I am not stuck in one position like the Romin puts you in and can move around a bit.

Ride Around the World - Day 7

10 miles indoors, 52.2 miles outdoors for a total of 62.2 miles today.

Day 7

Riding on the flats makes it so much easier to rack up the miles (although the winds were really strong).

Ride Around the World - Day 6

38 miles indoors and 23.9 miles outdoors for a total of 61.9 miles today.  Here is the link to the outdoor ride:

Day 6

Ride Around the World - Day 5

55.3 miles outdoors, 5 miles indoors for a total of 60.3 miles.  Here are the links to the outdoor rides (I turned off the Garmin when I took a food stop about halfway into the ride):

Day 5 - Part 1

Day 5 - Part 2

Ride Around the World - Day 4

6 miles indoors followed by 54.8 miles outdoors, for a total of 60.8 miles today.  Here is the Strava ride for the outdoor ride:

Day 4

My legs are feeling OK, but I am struggling a bit with my saddle; it is starting to give me discomfort after about 2 hours of riding.  I fiddled with the tilt a little bit and it seemed to make things better, so hopefully this won't be an ongoing issue.

Ride Around the World - Day 3

Today, I rode 37 miles indoors and 24.7 miles outdoors, for a total of 61.7 miles.  Here is the Strava data from the outdoor rides:

Day 3 - Running Errands Ride

Day 3 - Evening Ride

The indoor ride was pure torture; for some reason, I just can't get comfortable on the trainer.  So I will need to find a way to spend more time riding outdoors.

Ride Around the World - Days 1 and 2

Here are the links to my ride data:

Day 1

Day 2

I really wanted to do 100 miles on Day 1, but my legs weren't cooperating so I added a short ride on Sunday to make up for the mileage.  That said, I think I will continue to do the Sunday morning rides whenever I can because a) I like the ride and the people I ride with, and b) I think it will be good to build up some reserve mileage when I can, just in case.

Ride Around the World - Intro

So, for my birthday on April 13th, I made a resolution to ride the equivalent of the circumference of the earth as measured at the latitude of my current hometown (Atlanta, GA) in one year.  That comes out to a total of about 20,800 miles (33,280 km).  In other words, a long, long distance.  

The idea first came to me a couple months ago while I was daydreaming about something neat to do before I turn 30 years old.  When I first shared my idea with my wife, I was expecting her to just roll her eyes and walk away but instead she got very excited and was fully supportive, so with her motivation and support I decided to soldier on and try to see this through.

But there is a catch:  I don't have the luxury of taking the time off to actually ride around the world (not to mention, my wife and family wouldn't be happy if I left for an extended period of time), so I decided to accomplish this with a combination of riding outdoors around Atlanta (and anywhere else I may visit for the next year), as well as indoor riding.  I know actually riding around the earth would be way cooler, but this will have to do.  If I accomplish this, not only will it be a cool 30th birthday present to myself, but it should also get me in great shape again which hasn't been the case in several years now. 

Here is the plan to accomplish this:

- Ride at least 60 miles (96 km) per day Monday through Friday

- Ride at least 100 miles (160 km) on Saturday

- Take Sunday off to recuperate

I will be documenting my journey on this blog; all the posts related to this will be under the "RATW" tab on the main page, and you can also look at the "Ride Around the World" counter on the right of the main page to track my progress.  I will be posting all my outdoor rides on Strava, and I will be keeping track of the mileage from my indoor rides with a cyclo-computer and post those up as well.  I have a Garmin Edge 200 at the moment, which doesn't allow a speed sensor to be hooked up to it, but I plan to upgrade to an Edge 500 and post the indoor rides on Strava as well in the near future.

So here I go; wish me luck!

Crumpton SL

Custom carbon frame from the Austin, TX builder; built up with Campy Super Record and Lightweight Ventoux wheels.  That paint job looks luxurious.

Trek Madone 7

First Trek on my blog.  This frame has the lightweight "vapor coat" paint job (supposed to add only 5g), built up with Shimano Di2 9070, a rare carbon Dura Ace crankset, and Lightweight wheels:

Specialized Venge

Built up with Campy Super Record with a modified Berner rear derailleur, Rotor 3D+ crankset and Zipp 606 wheelset (more details here):

Ridley Noah

Yes, it is pink but I think it carries it very well; built up with  a Rotor crankset, Campy EPS electronic shifting and Bora wheels:

Cervelo S5

Built up with Campy Record 11-speed, a THM M3 crankset and Zipp 606 wheelset (404 front / 808 rear):

Cervelo Rca

Cervelo's latest carbon creation (this one weighs 622g for the frame, more details here); built up with Campy  Super Record 11-speed and Lightweight Obermayer wheels:

Pegoretti Responsorium

Stainless steel frame from the Italian master, built up with Campy Super Record 11-speed (more details here):

Storck Fenomalist

Built up with Shimano Di2 7970 and Mavic Cosmic Carbone SLR wheels:

 

Kirk JKS X

Custom steel with oversized tubes from Dave Kirk, built up with Shimano Di2 9070 and Enve 3.4 wheels (more pictures here):

Litespeed Archon

One of my favorite titanium frames; this one is built up with a Campagnolo drivetrain and Hyperon tubular carbon wheels:

Same bike, but with Easton EC90SL wheels:

Firefly Titanium

Great looking, no-nonsense build; custom Firefly titanium frame built up with SRAM Force and a pair of handbuilt wheels:

Rychtarski Custom Steel

Custom steel frame & fork from the Polish builder, built up with Campy 11-speed:

BMC Racemaster SLX01

These were short-lived, but they were one of my favorite frames while still around.  This is a particularly good-looking example, built up with SRAM Red and a pair of shallow carbon tubular wheels:

Bianchi Oltre

Celeste beauty, built up with Campy Super Record 11-speed and Mavic Cosmic Carbone SLR wheels: