down the 'shore

So Amy and I made our annual trip down the 'shore (for non-Philadelphia people that means we went to the beach in New Jersey) today. We left at 9 this morning and drove down to Cape May, the southern most town in Jersey. Not a bad ride and the weather was perfect, 90 sunny and not to humid. Of course I forgot my camera so no pics, but the trip was a good one, take my word for it. I ate some seafood advertised as "fresh" but I am pretty sure it was frozen until right before it went in the fryer, but with a healthy serving of tartar sauce it was delicious.

However as is the case every year when we do this we realized that we are not 'shore people. While a trip or two is great fun (we still welcome invites to shore houses...) the thought of going down there every weekend in the summer is just a little much. Happy to be back in Philly tonight and enjoying the mostly empty city.

Welcome Back Football Saturdays

A #2 in the AP ranking out of the gate and an easy win today over Youngstown State ( I know a 16-0 lead early in the 2nd is not the end of the game - but come on only Michigan loses to a Div 1-A in the season opener). Now to plan my smoked meat schedule for the rest of the fall, delicious smoked meats and football, throw in a little beer and all is right with the world.


Also just to keep up with the trend and mention the bike in every post REI was great about adjusting all of the derailleur and brake cables to get the bike back to full functionality, and even scheduled a full tune up 2 weeks from now all gratis.

Road Side Repairs

On the way into work today my front derailleur jammed, and as luck would have it stuck on the big ring. For you non-bikers that makes it very had to pedal up hills. And I was still 4.5 miles from the office. So it was time to break out the alien tool and see what I could do to fix it, turns out the cable had just slipped and after a few trys I was able to get it to work, well mostly. I can shift between two of the front rings without chain rub. Looks like tomorrow I will be collecting the 100 mile tune up that REI gives you for free with a new bike purchase. I am sure that is easier than me playing with that cable for an hour to get it adjusted correctly so I can shift to all three rings and not have chain rub.

Biking certainly makes for more interesting commute than by car.

New toys for the bike

For those that do not know I have not been riding to work recently for two reasons, one being I have been traveling quite a bit for work and I had a bit of an accident two weeks ago on the way home. Turns out that taking a turn from pavement to gravel at 20-25mph on city slick tires is a bad idea, so while I did not have any serious injury I did have a pretty bad case of road rash on my arm, shoulder and leg. But that is all better now, so back on the bike.

So I rode into the office again today and had a couple new toys for the bike. Performance Bike was having a summer clearance sale on gear, so I was able to pick-up a pair of panniers so I can carry my clothes with me vs. having to bring them the day before (and forget my pants) as well I got a wireless computer so I can really see what my speed and distance is. Big surprise is that my trip is 15.5 miles each way not 13. So in a round trip day I am doing 31 miles, not to shabby.