Riding with the bean...

Hello all!

I'm perhaps the newest member of the 53x11 team, just joined a couple of weeks ago. Glad to be aboard, seems like a great group, and I love the coffee! I'm going to have to change my favorite brew to "The Big Breaker", I've really enjoyed a ratio of about 2 parts "Big Ring" blended with 1 part "Chain Breaker" - Just right! I'm in the Chicago area, western 'burb of Naperville to be exact. Hoping for more people to join from here to have some fellow riders at events this year. I'm new to road riding this year, having spent the past few summers casually riding a hybrid. For some reason, at the ripe old age of 43 I caught the riding bug - and am hooked beyond belief. For the past dozen years or so most of my summer has been devoted to golf. Played well in tournaments, won a couple small flighted events, got my handicap down to about 7.6.

Last winter I decided to get a road bike to take the riding up a notch or two. I loved it from the get-go. Golf definitely took a back seat this year to the riding obsession.

I've gone just crazy on buying bikes. I've now got three:
'07 LeMond Zurich - all carbon with Dura-Ace everything, Race X Lite wheels (going carbon tubular...)
'01 LeMond Victoire - All-titanium beauty that rides like a dream, Ultegra SL everything
'08 LeMond Poprad - Cyclocross bike for the prairie paths and rougher riding - and maybe even CX races next season...

Overall this year, I've ridden 3,250 miles, and will ride until there's ice on the roads... Last night I was sportin' the 53x11 jersey and did a fast 40 miler around the area. Beautiful crisp Fall evening in Chicago. I competed in 3 time trials and 1 road race this year. One of the time trials I won my category - the Citizen/Cat 5 group. Small group, but hey, a win's a win - right? I did my first road race at the end of September, placed 20th out of 50 starters. I met Scott Glendenning there, a fellow 53x11 rider. I was fairly happy with my finish, considering I took the first 8-10 miles *very* conservatively since it was my first race and didn't want to cause, or be part of, any wrecks. It was fun learning some strategy along the way, had a blast jumping from one group up to a faster group and then working together with a group of about 6 riders. I felt like they sucked my wheel more than any of the others in the group - but it was a great learning experience. I also did a charity ride this year for the American Cancer Society, raising $800 for the cause.

I look forward to next season, and the winter in Chicago will seem more like 6 years than 6 months until the snow melts and I can get back out there. I plan to do more time trials (getting some deep section carbon tubulars in the offseason to [hopefully] help my times) and road races next year - and will be flying the 53x11 colors!