Saturday, June 26, 2010

Rust cleanup.


I started to cleanup the rims on Hercules, which is a 1971 vintage. Using 0000 steel wool and a lot of elbow grease they are starting to look real good! I discovered that a drop or two of oil and/or liquid soap help to make the removal of the oxidation a bit easier. Here you can see the progress.

Friday, June 25, 2010

New Michelins for the Hercules.


Here is a picture of the new tire mounted on the front wheel.

Old tires on the Hercules.


Here is a picture of my Hercules with the old black wall tires. These tires were cracked and although they still held air they were unsafe. Moreover they only held 65PSI, the new Michelins hold up to 85 PSI and I can really feel the difference when riding, they also hold the road better.

New tires for the Hercules (or Tyres if you prefer the British variant).


I just got my new Michelin World Tour tires for my Hercules 3 speed bicycle and mounted them on the bike last night. Here is a picture of them showing the reflective side wall stripe. During the hot weather I do less running and more bicycling so I am getting the Hercules geared up for commuting to work. I rescued the bike from the junk yard five years ago and have been doing some restoration as I have time.

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Island bicycle.


Last week we went to Chincoteague and Asseteague island's. Here we are taking a break on the wildlife loop, it is closed to car traffic until 3:30 PM every day. The area behind us is a salt marsh that is a stop over for many different birds. We enjoyed watching a family of bald eagles going about their daily routine every day. We also saw a large turtle(shell was about 2 1/2 feet long), which I believe was a snapping turtle, in the canal. The islands are very bicycle friendly with bicycle lanes marked and 15MPH speed limit which is strictly enforced by the police. JoAnne did some running, I did not as I am still giving my foot a break. I am doing more bicycling but I still get a few 5k's in each week.

Monday, June 7, 2010

When was the last time you did something for the very first time?

Back in December, just before Christmas, I started on a program to do 100 push ups in about six weeks. Well, six weeks wasn't going to happen, so I modified the program and slowed it down and today I did 100 push ups! I may have taken longer (almost half a year), but I made it. I have reduced my running to one or two days a week as I am still nursing my stiff ankle from training for the half marathon. I am still getting exercise though, I take two nights to mow my lawn with a non self-propelled mower, I walk a few miles at lunch every day and I ride my bicycle more in the summer. I also do my regular exercise and that includes my push ups which I will now hold at 100.

So yesterday my answer to the title question would have been April when I completed the half marathon, today the answer is "today", I did 100 push ups!

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

On the bike


Monday I got two of my English roadsters out for a ride. JoAnne and I rode around the neighborhood for about a half hour. I then ordered some new Michelin world tour tires for the one on the left, a 1969 Hercules 3-speed. After I get the new tires I am going to use this bike to commute to work, more pictures and information about the Allentown bike friendly initiative to come.