woozyspace - Cycling

Habitat For Humanity Halloween 100

(rweeks) — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 10:28:40 -0700

I'll be riding in the Halloween 100 again this year to help raise money for Habitat for Humanity of Durham, NC. The first year I did this we raised over $500. The second year, over $800. This year I'd like to shoot for $1000.

I know the economy is really bad right now and many of us have had the additional expenses of paying more to fill up our cars and donating to political campaigns recently, but anything you can spare will be greatly appreciated and will help to carry out the important work that Habitat for Humanity does.

Thanks!

Another Cyclist is Killed by Another Drunk Driver

robert@woozy.com (robert) — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 09:41:01 -0700

Bicyclist fatally injured by truck
NCSU junior, 21, faces DWI charges

http://www.newsobserver.com/news/crime_safety/v-print/story/1048055.html

RALEIGH - After shin splints sidelined her running hobby, Nancy Leidy turned to biking. It was something she and her husband, Ross, enjoyed together.

So when she called Ross on Wednesday morning with plans to bike a 10-mile path the two maneuvered together Sunday, he simply reminded her of a good parking place and then wished her well.

Nancy Leidy, 60, was half-way through the trip when police say an N.C. State student hit her with his pickup truck about 11 a.m. She died just before 8 p.m. Wednesday.

Brian Anthony Reid, of 302 S. Sixty Court in Graham, had turned 21 on Wednesday. The arresting officer said he smelled of alcohol, had glossy eyes and slurred speech at the scene. Records indicate Reid had a blood-alcohol content of 0.12. A level of 0.08 is considered impaired.

He was charged after the accident with one count each of felony serious injury by vehicle, driving while impaired and failure to reduce speed. Those could change because of Leidy's death, Raleigh police spokesman Jim Sughrue said late Wednesday night.

According to the police report, Leidy was riding on the right side of the road when she was hit. She was thrown 58 feet by the impact. According to the police report, she was wearing a helmet.

Leidy was taken to Wake-Med Raleigh Campus, where she died, officials said Wed-nesday night.

Reid was not injured. He was released from Wake County jail Wednesday after posting a $10,000 secured bond and signing a promise to appear in court next month to answer the DWI charge. He will appear in court today on other charges.

Leidy's interests

Ross Leidy said his wife took on many tasks when she stopped working in 1991.

She worked for free as an entomology professor at N.C. State University. She ran a local support group for wives of soldiers stationed overseas during Operation Desert Storm. She also hunted for antiques and racked up ribbons for her jellies at the State Fair. And she biked.

"She was the kind of woman that when she got into something, she really got into it," he said.

Wednesday night, as Leidy mourned his wife, he also empathized with the young man charged with hitting her.

"I feel bad for the guy," Leidy said. "I was young once, and I remember getting [drunk] before. I don't think it was at 11 a.m., though."

2007 Habitat for Humanity Halloween 100

robert@woozy.com (robert) — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 09:02:48 -0700

Here is my fundraising total for this year:

Here is the GPS data from the Friday night ride:

http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/player/4308372

And a few photos:

Habitat for Humanity - Full Moon Meander

The ride was great. Wish I could have ridden in the Saturday 50k also.

I owe a few folks some mugs and Habitat gets 6 hours of volunteering from me.

It was a great week. Can't wait until next year

Over $500 Raised for Habitat for Humanity

robert@woozy.com (robert) — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 10:55:13 -0700

I'm amazed, I never thought I'd bring in more than $100. Active.com rocks for making it so easy and all of the people who donated rock more that!

Now I have to ride 31 miles on Saturday. My longest ride so far has been 20 miles.

Third-Annual Halloween 100 (100k/50k) & Family Fun Ride

robert@woozy.com (robert) — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 12:33:36 -0700

If you would like to donate to Habitat for Humanity in Durham please visit my fundraising page. We've raised over $400 in the last 24 hrs!

From Roxanne Hall, at Durham Habitat for Humanity

The spooktacular Halloween 100 on Sat., Oct., 28 benefits Habitat for Humanity of Durham. Enjoy scenic views of Durham and Orange Counties on one of two fully supported routes. Thanks to 2005 suggestions, the routes have changed. Check out the cue sheet, http://www.durhamhabitat.org/files/2006_Route.pdf.

Is a relaxed ride more of a treat for your family? Join Habitat for the Family Fun Ride on the American Tobacco Trail. No pre-registration, simple check-in at the American Tobacco Campus the morning of the ride. Suggested donation is $5 per rider.

Register Today
For additional information and to register to ride 100k/50k or volunteer, visit www.durhamhabitat.org. Questions? Contact Roxanne, rhall@durhamhabitat.org or 919-682-0516, Ext. 113.

Ride with Team Habitat
Help Habitat build homes, hope and community in Durham! Pledge to “give or get” at least $50 in addition to your $25 entry fee and receive a long-sleeve event T-shirt when you check-in.

Scream the Word
Please forward this e-mail to all your cycling friends! Last year we had almost 600 riders and hope for more in 2006. In addition to forwarding this email, please help us post the ride on event calendars and distribute the attached poster.

Ghoulishly Good Times
Embrace the Halloween theme and compete for best costume! Though it is not required, consider decorating your helmet or coming out to the Halloween 100 in costume. Last year’s winner was Wonder Woman!

After the ride, stick around the American Tobacco Campus (ATC) for lunch at one of their tasty restaurants. Showers will be available at the YMCA located on the Campus. For information about the ATC visit, http://www.americantobaccohistoricdistrict.com.

One evening before or after the ride, visit the Durham Jaycees 34th Annual Haunted House at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park. The majority of the proceeds will benefit Habitat of Durham. For dates and details check out, http://www.durhamhabitat.org/files/HauntedHousePoster.pdf.

Roxanne

Roxanne Hall
Special Events Manager
Habitat for Humanity of Durham
215 N. Church Street
Durham, NC 27701
919-682-0516, Ext. 113
www.durhamhabitat.org

First cold day

robert@woozy.com (robert) — Fri, 13 Oct 2006 11:04:34 -0700

It was 46 this morning when I rode into work. After 18 miles my feet were frozen. I guess winter is on its way......

Wonder if he was wearing a helmet?

robert@woozy.com (robert) — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 12:13:15 -0700

Durham has a ride-by-shooter?:

Crime Log: Pedestrian fatally shot by man on bicycle

Oct 10, 2006 : 9:15 pm ET

DURHAM -- A pedestrian on James Street reportedly was shot and killed Tuesday night by a man on a bicycle.

The shooting reportedly occurred shortly before 10 p.m. in the 1400 block of James Street, which would put the incident in the area of James around Lakewood Avenue and Bivins Street.

Witnesses said the person on the bicycle fired three shots.

Sketchy information about the shooting was posted on a neighborhood crime-fighting e-mail list and was corroborated by a photographer who went to the scene. A passerby said numerous police cars were on the scene and that officers had blocked the street.

Official details -- including the name of the dead person and information about a possible arrest -- were unavailable Tuesday night.

The mayor is seriously delusional if he thinks Durham's bad rep is undeserved.

Finally some improvement

robert@woozy.com (robert) — Fri, 11 Aug 2006 11:43:48 -0700

For the longest time in my morning rides I've been stuck with an average mph of 12.5 - 13.5 over 17.5 miles. It seemed no matter what I did I couldn't go any faster and a lot of times I'd get slower by the end of the week. I've made a few changes in the past two weeks that resulted in me finally breaking out of that rut and hitting a 15.1 mph average this morning.

The first change is that I've started riding every other day now since the baby arrived. Now I have forced recouperation days. I think that this has made a big difference. No matter how hard I tried to have easy and hard days in the past I always ended up riding hard with the hills and the time pressures of getting to work on time.

The second change was to cut my breakfast down to a piece of flax seed / wheat toast from the 9th Street Bakery with a little organic peanut butter and 1/2 a banana about an hour and 15 minutes before riding, then have a GU Energy Gel half way through my ride. I've also been drinking GU₂0 during my rides, especially since its gotten hotter than hell down here lately. I read this article on sugars and gels in Bicycling and decided to give the gels a try. As anyone can tell from my average speeds, I'm no racer, but I can definately feel a difference.

Since I've been unsucessfully trying to loose weight, it feels weird to ingest something that is so calorie dense, but if it can improve my riding and fitness I imagine that will eventually lead to muscle gain and weight loss. I know that one of the reasons that my average time was so slow before was that I'd totally run out of steam after an hour on the bike. The last 15 minutes I'd usually be dragging my ass but this week I've been able to keep going strong all the way through to the end. Maybe I'm on to something here finally.

15.1 mph average is still pretty pathetic, I know, but it beats those Fridays where I'd use all my energy to drag myself in here at an average of 11.6 mph. Small improvements are better than none

Why I Support Floyd Landis

robert@woozy.com (robert) — Tue, 08 Aug 2006 19:22:18 -0700

This is how the NY Times describes the Tour de France:

The Tour de France?s status as the world?s most physiologically demanding event is largely unquestioned. The riders cover 2,272 miles (3656 km) at an average speed of 25 miles per hour (40 km/h), roughly the equivalent of running a marathon almost every day for almost three weeks. In the Pyrenees and the Alps, they climb a vertical distance equal to three Mount Everests. They take in up to 10,000 kilocalories (kcal) per day, the equivalent of 17 Big Macs, elevating their metabolic rates to a level that, according to a Dutch study, is exceeded by only four species on earth."

Anyone who can accomplish that, whether he finishes in first or in last place deserves some respect. When some of these armchair quarterbacks like Mike Lupica who make a living out of cutting others down can complete just one day in the Tour then maybe they'll have something to say worth reading.

If Floyd was doping he would have been waiting with an air-tight answer instead of the reaction he had. IMHO Floyd Landis has reacted the way anyone who was blindsided like this would have reacted, with confusion and panic.

There are no performance gains from taking Testosterone for a single day. Testosterone doping is done over time and would have shown up in Floyd's other tests.

There have been previous problems with this doping testing lab.

Floyd would have known that the stage winner gets tested and would have hung back if he were doping on stage 17.

No matter how you look at it, if you really look at it, it just doesn't add up.

We've become a society so quick to condemn. All we need is a sound-bite and we're ready to pass judgement. Never mind that this is a fellow human being's life, livelyhood and dreams that we are talking about here. Never mind that most of us couldn't sit on a bicycle all day much less pedal one all day. Give the man the benefit of the doubt and the respect he deserves and the due process that we all would want given to us if it were our lives and jobs hanging in the balance.

Back In the Saddle Again

robert@woozy.com (robert) — Wed, 02 Aug 2006 12:26:43 -0700

After taking two weeks off from cycling after the birth of our son, it feels great to be riding again in the mornings. Sunday morning my oldest who is 4 1/2 was waiting for me in his bike shorts and shirt because I had promised him I'd let him ride to church with me on his tag-a-long. When I woke up that was the last thing I felt like doing but seeing him there all dressed up in his bike clothes, there was no way that I could say no. Its funny how much better a good ride can make you feel.

Here's what the temperature was when I finished my 17.5 mile ride this morning. Its hot out there but it felt great.

The Ride of Silence

robert@woozy.com (robert) — Thu, 18 May 2006 07:48:38 -0700

Clay and I participated in the local Ride of Silence last night to honor of those who have been injured or killed while cycling on public roadways. I had my usual bout of people phobia / social anxiety and it was a bit of work riding up some of those hills with a 40 lb boy and a tag-a-long strapped onto the back of my mountian bike, especially considering that I'm gravitationally challenged to begin with. But we made it through just fine.

I've felt like an emotional basketcase this morning. At first I couldn't figure out what was going on but after I got into work it dawned on me just how much this ride affected me. Everyday when I ride to work I'm so hyper-aware of the fact that a car or truck or bus could take me out in the blink of an eye. To come face to face with the fact that so many others have met this fate is unsettling to the core to say the least.

Video from WRAL

Add to this the fact that I'm turning 46 this weekend and that I'll be away from my family for my birthday because I decided to take a workshop at Pendle Hill (when I'm not even feeling that sure about my capacity to do the Quaker thing) and maybe its starting to look like I have a few reasons for feeling like a basketcase this morning.

This bike is saving my life.....

robert@woozy.com (robert) — Fri, 28 Apr 2006 11:02:42 -0700

I just got the results back from my yearly physical and the previously mentioned torturous sleep study. This is my first physical and sleep study since I started riding last summer. Without revealing too much h.i.p.p.a. type information, here are the results:

Blood Pressure: 110 / 70
Sleep Apnea: Gone, none, zero, zilch
Cholesterol: Amazingly low
Blood sugar, insulin, etc.: 100% normal
Triglycerides, etc.: 100% normal
Everything else: Normal

That rocks. That was worth every morning riding this winter when it was 18 degrees out and dark, and every morning in the summer when it was 90 degrees out and humid. My bike rocks my freakin' world.

Hit-and-run victim dies; police looking for dark blue pickup

robert@woozy.com (robert) — Wed, 26 Apr 2006 13:55:23 -0700

From: http://tinyurl.com/mp9us

By Mary Fairchild, Freeman staff
04/21/2006

TOWN OF ULSTER - The bicyclist who was struck by a hit-and-run driver Wednesday night on state Route 28 has died, police said on Thursday.

Richard "Ricky" Shultis, 43, of state Route 28A in Hurley, was riding west, pulling a second bicycle alongside him, when he was struck at 8:27 p.m. by a westbound pickup in front of a Hess service station, according to town of Ulster Police Chief Paul Watzka.

Shultis was pronounced dead at Benedictine Hospital in Kingston, where he had been taken by a Mobile Life ambulance.

"He was killed instantly," said Sherry Shultis, a cousin. "At least we know he didn't suffer."

Sherry Shultis said her cousin was developmentally disabled and rode his bike everywhere he went.

"As long as he could be riding his bike all over, he was happy," she said.

WATZKA said the truck - described to police by eyewitnesses as a dark blue Dodge Dakota, circa 1987-90 - continued west on Route 28 after the accident without stopping.

"We hope the driver of the truck will come forward," the chief said. "It's possible he or she didn't realize they had struck anyone and just continued."

Watzka said the truck probably has damage around the right front headlight and turn signal and is asking anyone who may have witnessed the accident or who has information on a pickup truck matching the description to call the Ulster police at (845) 382-1111.

SHERRY Shultis said her cousin lived with his parents and frequently towed a wagon behind his bike on local roads, collecting bottles, cans and scrap metal.

"He did anything and everything to make a few dollars," she said. "He mowed lawns, raked, did yard work and odd jobs. He collected bottles and cans for recycling. Everyone around town knew Ricky."

Ricky was the middle child of nine siblings, Sherry said, and is survived by a 15-year-old daughter. He also had an infant son who died 23 years ago, the cousin said.

"ALL MY children were at the emergency room" after the accident, said Dorothy Shultis, the victim's mother. "I knew it was bad because they were all there."

Mrs. Shultis said her son rode his bike on Route 28 all the time and that she always worried about him.

"I hope they catch whoever did this," she said.

RICKY was happy this week, Sherry Shultis said, because city of Kingston workers had given him a new bicycle.

"He was so excited," she said. "He was telling me, 'Sherry, it has 21 speeds!'"

ASSISTING Ulster police at the accident scene were state troopers, the Ulster County Sheriff's Office, the Ulster Hose fire company and the Mobile Life ambulance squad.

New Morning Route

robert@woozy.com (robert) — Thu, 20 Apr 2006 11:14:50 -0700

I've been trying out a new route in the mornings this week. It raises the mileage from 14 miles a day to 20 and adds in some nice rolling hills that go past some small farms and rural communities. Here it is mapped out on wayfaring.com:

The new bike is just great and I'm really noticing the difference as I increase the miles per trip.

And the beat goes on....

robert@woozy.com (robert) — Fri, 24 Mar 2006 07:58:34 -0800

The weather is getting warmer and the mileage is getting higher. Another good week for riding.