Monthly Archives: August 2012

Stolen bike- mine!

Personal stuff, , , , , , ,

Keep an eye open for ths bike. It’s mine!

Nice guy that I am, I let Patrick, our Redwood City service manager, borrow my prior ride… a 2007 Trek Madone 5.9 SSL with a very distinctive “Fighter Ace” paint job. A nice, faster alternative to the ‘cross bike he’d been using to do long rides on.

Unfortunately, this past Monday (August 27th, 2012) he went into a 7-11 in Palo Alto for “just a second” to get something, and poof, the bike was gone when he came back out. What we’re looking for is a 60cm bike that looks pretty much exactly like the photo here, with “ChainReaction.com” on one side of the top tube (close to the seat tube), and may or may not still have 10-speed DuraAce shifters, derailleurs & brakes. Cranks may or may not still be Bontrager carbon. Just like in the photo. Wheels I’m not sure of; Patrick had put on his own. Serial# WL3327306.

Reward? I’m sure Patrick will put up a case (or two) of beer, since this bike’s worth about $2k on the frame and maybe another $500 for the used DuraAce components. And I’ll offer 10% off any new bike for its return, and $500 if its return results in the conviction of a real live bike thief! –Mike–

Better than expected (day 2 back on the bike)

Tues/Thurs 7:45am ride

What a beautiful morning to be out on a bike! And for a little while, I actually stayed ahead of Kevin (pilot Kevin) and John on Kings. Who knows, maybe I could have stayed in front a bit longer if I hadn’t put in a pretty decent effort on the climb through the park.

Kevin (pilot; my son is still in Disneyland with his sister), Zack, Karl, Eric & John showed up this morning. Easy to keep track of everyone when there’s only a handful of us! And, just like Tuesday, it felt great to be sitting on my bike, completely comfortable, and admiring the absurdity of being completely relaxed while pushing myself as hard as I could up Kings. It doesn’t make sense, but it’s very real.

The 2+ weeks off the bike, in the middle of cycling prime-time (August), hasn’t hurt me as much as I thought it would. Average speed today was 16.5mph, getting us back to the start at 9:22, including an unscheduled stop on Skyline where they were doing some heavy-duty tree trimming. Strava even claims it was my 2nd-fastest time through the park, but Strava only measures my efforts from mid-2008 to present; I was certainly faster 8 years ago, before I took on the mission of getting my son into shape.