Overall Times
Saturday: 85 miles, 4:38 @18.3mph
Sunday: 80 miles, 4:20 @18.4mph.

The Ride: Route for reference
Saturday was absolutely miserable. The weather report was calling for 75F and rain. It was actually 60F and constantly raining. There was so much rain that I had found that my rims and frame were filled with water when I got my ride up on a rack for post-ride inspection. I deflated the tires, loosened the valve-nuts and re-inflated them to find water streaming out of the stem hole. The frame leaked from the neck as it was inverted.

Bergeron and I decided to head for the 75-mile option after mile 50. Every stop resulted in teeth-chattering trips to the john and quick restocking of sports drinks. I was wearing a thermal jacket/jersey and I was still cold. As I look back now, from a warm, dry seat, I probably should have just gone for the full 100-mile option. But I am not a cold-weather rider by any means. I am quite cumfy above 90F. Sixty and wet was killing me.

Overall, the route was the same as previous years. I had one instance where a police officer that was directing an intersection waved my in the wrong direction. Not only that, his fat ass was blocking the sign that told me to go straight. I turned left and added about 8 miles extra, which explains the inflated totals for Saturday. And then there the dump I took just after Hinkley.

I rolled behind Bergeron as we approached an intersection. There was heavy road construction, so we were rolling on crushed gravel and dirt mud. Not a good combo for razor-thin road tires. Add to that an very steep incline leading right up to a paved intersecting road. We have a stop, they do not. With a cop on my right, across the intersection and an MS support vehicle facing in my opposite direction, both watched an S-10 pick-up roll through at just the right speed to let Bergeron through and for me to slow down enough to dump my clipped-in ass into the gravel. I was beyond pissed and nearly heaved my ride into the windshield of the squad car. Yeah, I would have regretted that big-time.

Sunday Bergeron decided to take the ladies' route. The dude was in pain and let me out solo. The wind was out of the east on both days, with a slight shift from the south to the north from Saturday to Sunday. So, the first day's numbers are pretty fast, but given the wind factor, I was a little off due to the temps. Sunday was mostly into the wind, either straight east or north. But the increased temps and lack of rain gave me better times. I was quite pleased with a pace of 18.4 on a 80-mile recovery ride, after 85 miles had been put in the rearview the day before, with 10-15 mph head winds. Granted, towards the end of the eastern pushes I felt like I was pedaling in mud. More than the leg fatigue was eventually constant weight-shifting in the saddle, due to overall soreness in the crotch. I was training at 3.5hr, or sixty-five mile runs with minimum discomfort. I am not convinced there is anything I can do to eliminate that for rides that are above four hours.

That, and my fucking knee is killing me. Up and down stairs is severely painful. This sprouted up a month or so ago, while the bike was in the shop. My knee had acute pain that got worse as I was off the bike for a week or so. It went away, strangley enough after a good fifty-mile training ride, and now it's back. I give the pro's a lot of credit. Not everybody is built to spin for that duration, myself included, I think.

Tech Report
No issues to report. The new Winwood Carbon Fork that was installed as a replacement to the Forte that I demolished earlier in the season seemed to be solid.

As for new equipment goes, I did a bad thing just prior to the ride. I had been running a set of Shimano 540's for a few years. There the black rims with the funny low-spoke count set-up. There's only eight paris of spokes on the wheels, set in a way that makes is look like eight single spokes. Looks are great, and honestly I had no issues outside minor squirrleyness on certain turns. I'm a middle-weight rider so I'm not pushing the boundaries of stiffness. I did, however, switch to a higher-pressure Specialized tire set last fall. I was running 90 psi Hutchinson's prior to that. Since the switch I have had five flats. Rim-tape had been switched out, installations were done gorilla-style with my bare hands. The flats wouldn't even happen on the road, except for the last one. I would notice a flat while the ride was sitting indoors, idle. I'd replace the tube, and the next day it would be flat again. I actually had a tire blow while the ride was still on the rack. That was two weeks prior to the MS ride. I'd had enough and bought a new set: Ksyrium SL.

Yeah, I over bought. Whatever, I don't own a car. So far, they are fantastic. They removed about 2-3 lbs from the overall weight of my rig. Their construction is fantastic. There's actually no need for rim-tape. Inside the rim there is a added layer of AL that completely finishes the channel. The spokes holes are completely concealed. As for performance, we don't get many ass-grinding inclines around these parts. But, I will mention that the back wheel is so stiff that it took me a while to get used to the none-squirrley-ness. I had been anticipating the slight give I was getting with my previous wheels around corners. The Ksyrium's are laser-tight.

As for tires, I was not happy with the Specialized Mondo series. In addition to the flats, I noticed that they just got really chewed up. I had dings and tears after just a few hundred miles. So much so, that I had noticed my inner tube sticking out like a hernia one night while I was sitting on my couch. They were 130psi tires. They rode well, but at $45 a piece, I was looking to get more that a few rides out of each. I had slapped on a pair of Michellin tires that I was initially skeptical of. They are listed at 110psi. So, I thought they would be a little soft and slow. When I got them they are listed a little tighter, at 117psi. After putting over 150 miles on them over the weekend, they are fantastic. They are not actually round. The center of the tire comes to a point, which decreases the rolling friction. Their construction is nice and soft. Sure, the big bumps still feel like you are riding on concrete. But the small and medium stuff is real nice. I could actually feel the tire give just a bit to take off the edge. And they were just as fast as the Specialized Mondo's.

That's it. I'm still looking to participate in the North Shore Century this September 15th. Route options vary from 25-100 miles. Note: the full-hondo is a nut-buster. Last year, I ha the first fifty done less than 2.5 hours. The next fifty was straight down Lake Shore Drive from Kenosha to Evanston, right smack into the lakefront wind. That half took me 3.5 hours.

This is turning out to be an ongoing saga. The last episode had the wife and I reinstalling a newly adopted pup into our family. To recap, we initially brought her home over a week ago. Our current hound is a shelter-adoption with an obvious history of physical abuse and significant separation anxiety. We were hoping that a new, submissive dog might bring out the dog in Franklin, instead of the grumpy old man that he is with other hounds.

The first full day featured three seizures, the last of which being a four-on-the-floor grand-mal. The rest of the day featured Franklin exhibiting some signs of stress associated with the new face as well as an application of Frontline Plus. After the grand-mal we took Franklin to the vet ER for an overnight stay, and decided to remove the stress of the new hound from the pak. We took the new coonhound back to her foster parent that Sunday and then picked up Franklin on the way home.

After that, we did some additional research and found that Fipronyl, the active ingredient in Frontline Plus, has caused some similar side-effects in other dogs. Five minutes with a search engine and one can find some interesting information.

So, we sat on that for a few days. Franklin was down for a few days with symptoms similar to a bad hangover. Other than that he rebounded and was back to his normal self. We thought about things and decided to bring the pooch back. Scarlet came back into the mix this past Saturday. Things were better this time around. There was still some stress but that kind of thing can take some time to work itself out.

Last night we woke up at 3am to another grand-mal. This time around there was no incident to spark the seizure. The hounds were fast asleep. My wife awoke due to the thrashing of the collar. This morning Franklin had another and is now back at the vet.

So here we are, back where we started. Franklin will have to medicated to control the seizures, which can lead to other problems such as liver failure. The thing I am stuck on is the fact that the dog has never had an episode without the new pup. But, he has spent several extended stays with relatives and others that also have other dogs and has never had any seizures. I cannot honestly say that him staying a week-plus at a stranger's house, with other hounds and without us is any less stressful that the combination we have now.

As far as we know, this is the first time this has happened. We have come home to a floor full of pee, but he has not done that during any of the recent episodes. So, I am inclined to think that he did not have an unobserved seizure the past two years that we have had him.

That's it. You guys get to vote for the new pup. Right now, we are trying to find a great reason to keep her, other than pride.

By far, this has been the oddest weekend I've had in quite some time. For review, my wife and I adopted a Coonhound Friday evening. She was selected out of three sisters that we had visit on Monday.

Friday was fairly straight forward. We picked the hound up in the evening, getting back late from the burb that her foster parent was located in. After the entire hour-plus ride with me holding her in the front seat (our adult pooch was in the back) she puked as we rolled into our parking garage. I was covered in puppy vomit. We got things set-up at home and bedded down for her first night. Short of a few barking fits, the puppy was fine. My wife slept with her, and we got up every few hours to let her out.

As background, our Rhodesian Ridgeback-Boxer mix has quite a history. We got him from a shelter that my wife volunteered at for several years. He shows sign of past physical abuse as well as severe seperation anxiety. He's the poster pooch for rescue merits. From a stray found on the street to two squares of raw diet and a daily dog-walker, he's got it great. We were looking for another dog that would complement his insecure-alpha personality. He's not great with other animals, ignoring most other dogs and asserting himself with everybody else. We call him our old man. He is so undog like - chews, toys, treats are all useless with him. He never plays, period. So, that's why we picked a very young female that was submissive.

So the first night found the new puppy sleeping on Franklin's bed and he sleeping huddled in the corner. All-in-all, a decent first night. Saturday was another story.

By the time I had gotten back from a morning trip to the store, my wife informed me that our adult dog had what appeared to be a petit seizure. She said that he had a clenched jaw and foamed while mildly convulsing. She said it was quick lasting just long enough to make you wonder what the fuck that was.

As the day progressed, Franklin is not taking things well with the new addition. We set up a kennel that we were going to use with the puppy. He ends up seeking refuge in it to get away from the coonhound, who by the way is the sweetest thing.

By the mid afternoon my wife had decided to take Fanklin for a walk by himself. Before they could get out the door, Franklin had another seizure. This one I witnessed first hand. There is nothing like seeing your dog turn into what looks like a rabid animal. He appeared to be able to hear me, but he had zero control over his body. And the foam was lathered everywhere.

So by now we are thinking things are not going so well. Aside from an application of Frontline Plus flea and tick medicine, which we have used before, the only new thing is the coonhound. Given the stress that Franklin has been through in his past, it is totally possible that his epileptic seizures are brought on by the new arrangment.

After diner and well into a cocktail hour, Franklin had his third episode, a grand mal on the kitchen floor. All I could do was guide him to the floor and keep him from hurting himself any more. The convulsions were full body and severe. The foam lather was immense. My wife and I took him to the Vet ER immediately, with a couple house guest watching the uppy while we were gone.

After the second episode, he had a near seizure while I was sauteing some veggies on the stove. Again, he get stressed at odd times. If the kitchen gets alittle smokey, he wants to leave. So, I had soem asparagus on the flame and did his usual thing, only this time he had some odd facial expressions that were very reminiscent to the epileptic episodes. We were able to calm him down. But both the wife and I were thinking that any more trauma and we would strongly consider relinquishing the puppy in favor of not stressing out our first-born.

After seeing the grand-mal, and a trip to the ER followed by an overnight stay that was highlighted by a black lab that was brough in dead by the family members after being hit by a car, we decided to take the hound back to the foster parent in the morning. Which is what we did today. The $300 adoption fee as well as all the peripherals - kennel, leashes, toys, etc - we donated to a house that just got another liter of nine labs. So it goes, right? I mean we didn't want to leave the new puppy home with Franklin is the dog may have a seizure while we are gone. I couldn't go to work everyday with in the back of my mind.

Only, as it turns out, there may be a side-effect of the Frontline product that can cause seizures. While we were at the ER, we mentioned that we had applied the topical product to our dog the same day. They quickly discounted it,as well as the stress from the new hound, and told us to monitor the symtoms and consider epileptic medicine if they persist. We got that story after we had taken the coonhound back to her original home.

So here were are, Sunday evening. Franklin appears to be fine. The ER did not do a tox screen. So we have no way of knowing if it was the Frontline product or the stress, or quite frankly BOTH. The coonhound has been returned and we are left wondering if we are not complete fucking idiots. I need a god-damn drink.