Category: Training

  • Completing the 2020 Rapha Festive 500 in a single ride!

    Completing the 2020 Rapha Festive 500 in a single ride!

    “Quick” 500km ride in Southern Mississippi and Eastern Louisiana to pick up eight new-to-me counties.

  • Epic catch-up: Nuevas Esperanzas 15km vertical, Eddington 250, County progress, goals, and more!

    Epic catch-up: Nuevas Esperanzas 15km vertical, Eddington 250, County progress, goals, and more!

    It has been quite busy with 16 weeks compressed down to 13 weeks so we can end the semester before Thanksgiving. I’ve still been riding because that takes priority over blogging, but between riding and work, I haven’t had a lot of time for anything else! 15km vertical for Nuevas Esperanzas 15th birthday celebration It…

  • Everesting Smyer

    It may have taken over 25 miles longer than we had planned, but Luke Caldwell and I successfully completed an everesting of what may arguably be the most scenic and iconic climb in the Birmingham area – Smyer Road. Here’s a quick look at the numbers: Distance: 250.0 mi Total elevation gain: 30,102 ft Total…

  • Mini Tour of the Southeast

    TLDR – quick stats and map Day 1: YELLOW – the Alabama Skyway – 273.51mi. (22,838ft) Day 2: BLUE – the Cohutta – 177.57mi. (19,836ft) Day 3: RED – the Memories – 177.20mi. (19,344ft) Day 4: ORANGE – the Counties – 256.04mi. (16,388ft) Day 5: PURPLE – the Home Sweet Home – 173.77mi. (14,639ft) Total:…

  • Cheaha Challenge 2020

    This has been quite the year to remember. Coronavirus has changed up everybody’s lives and plans. And now we are seeing and hopefully participating in a movement to bring change to the systems of racial inequality that have lingered on for far too long. This year’s Cheaha Challenge got hit by the coronavirus with postponement…

  • Adventure in the Bayou

    Adventure in the Bayou

    Rouge Roubaix My first ride in the bayous of Louisiana was this amazing race in 2010. Before the race, I had dreams of winning. By the end of the race, I was happy just to have finished. My best shot at winning the race came in 2012 where I won the $100 KOM (you physically…

  • Essom Hill Rd

    Recap This was my first cold ride of the season – 252 fast and cold miles from Birmingham, Alabama to Cave Spring, Georgia and back. The average temp for the ride was 39 degF, with a low hovering around 25-27 degF for several hours. I woke up at midnight and left the house by 1:15AM.…

  • Low to high point fat bike fun in Minnesota

    Ice beard less than halfway through the ride. Fun adventure in the north woods of Northern Minnesota today. I rode from the lowest point in Minnesota (Lake Superior, 603′) to the highest point in Minnesota (Eagle Mountain, 2301′). It was a tough ride with lots of uncertainty. I had attempted this same ride in 2016,…

  • Adventure Home in the Apps

    View of the Great Smoky Mountains from near the top of Cherohala Skyway. “Apps” as in the Appalachian Mountains, not mobile apps or webapps – although both of those were discussed at the ACM Computing Conference I was attending in Gatlinburg, TN. I have been attending this conference in Gatlinburg every year for the past…

  • 2016 Season Statistics – All of Alabama

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G07XcasQYLA 2016 Season StatisticsBeing able to participate in such a significant life-changing endeavor as the 2016 Ride4Gabe was certainly the highlight of my cycling year, and that led spontaneously to the establishment of a primary goal for 2016 – to ride in every county in Alabama in one year. I set this goal when I…