Blogs from Norfolk, Virginia, United States, North America - page 3

norfolkChristoph Hall The whole group enjoyed Norfolk VA. Brandon and Rhianon were great hosts and a really cute couple as well. We needed internet so Brandon drove us to Panera bread for coffee and interweb. Brian needed to see if he could find parts to fix the AC but found that it would be just too much work to be doing on the road. Aside from that he would need to take it to a shop to remove the freon so it could be worked on and if he couldn't get it all fixed at this stop we wouldn't be able to get our freon back. The AC holds 7 pounds of freon coming in at around $300. Brian and I stayed at the house while the rest of the group went with Brandon to pick ... read more

Yesterday while out on our regular Wednesday night ride, Liz gave me a warning- "Wes, you do not want to do the Shenandoah 100 on a singlespeed. Get yourself a bike with gears! Heck, we'll find you a bike with gears!!" Carol was there to witness it. Fair enough, Liz, the gauntlet has been thrown. Or should I say the bike glove? There's something absurd about riding an off-road century, and there's something even more absurd about riding a singlespeed. It therefore borders on the idiotic to ride an off-road century on a singlespeed. But then it was idiotic to even consider riding from Boston to Montreal and back in less than four days. So what the heck? Why not? Oh, and Liz, you can collect your glove anytime... countdown=2007090211 text=until the Shenandoa... read more

Lundi le 30 octobre 2006 Il est présentement 16hres 45 et nous sommes ancrés à la Baie de l'Hôpital à Norfolk. Ce matin nous avons traversé le pont pour trouver la buanderie et avons découvert une belle petite place avec des gens très gentils qui nous ont expliqué le fonctionnement de la laveuse et sècheuse ... pas facile car toujours différent; avec des cartes magnétiques... la nouvelle technologie quoi. Pendant ce temps nous avons eu un cours d'histoire sur la ville Universitaire de Hampton. Pendant le séchage nous sommes allés faire un tour dans un parc où on nous avait dit qu'il s'y trouvait un arbre où l'on punissait les esclaves récalcitrants à une certaine époque. Après notre retour au bateau nous sommes allés à la "maison des vins" quelle belle surprise! Absolument pas comme chez ... read more

“How’s it feel to be done?” my mom asked. “Done?” In the eighteen years I had known of BMB, and during the nearly two years of preparation I had never really thought of being “Done” with it. I had read webpages and books on long-distance riding, prepared my body and bike for the rigors of riding through the night, night after night. I’d ridden out before the weekday dawn on training rides. I had slipped into my cubicle at work with a little smile on my face as I traded my biking cleats for the office shoes kept stashed under the desk, thinking, “I rode forty miles this morning, and dang! I feel good.” I had cursed myself as I made just one more online order for biking gear, “Darn it honey, this is the last ... read more

My mind’s always spinning. Constantly keeping a list of things that I’ve gotta do in my head. My bicycle commute in the morning becomes a traveling zen moment. At my best I weave the three and a half miles to work in an unstopping spinning of pedals, dissecting my movement into inches at traffic lights, near-motionless in the balancing act of a track stand, sliding behind buses, waving to friends on foot, smiling at the other bicyclists. Every block of so a bubble of analytic thought rises to the surface of awareness, and I slip past it, immersing myself again in the sound of the early morning city around me, slipping around potholes, sliding around parking cars before finally parking my own bike and stepping into the corporate elevator, a box within a box designed to ... read more