Battoowoo Greekgreek

Paving in Alexandria

2009-08-11T09:16:00.003-04:00

The bike trail North of Duke St. that runs along behind the library and over to Polk has been freshly paved. Until now, it was pretty much unridable on skinny tires. It opens up a whole new set of potential routes for rides. Now it is pretty easy to get from Holmes Run parkway to Duke and over to Eisenhower.

Luggage Free - That Was Easy

2009-08-07T10:47:00.003-04:00

Twitterstract: Luggage Free is definitely worth the price for travel abroad.

I used Luggage Free on my recent trip to France. If I had not shipped the box ahead, I know that the travel would have been much, much worse. Going over, my plane out of National was canceled and they had me catch a flight from Dulles. If the bike was in the checked luggage I never would have made it. In Paris, I had to herd my two pre-teens and their bags through the airport and onto the TGV. If I also had a bike box, oh man. Then, at the car rental counter in Avignon, the agent kept remarking that we had gotten such a big car; yet it turned out to be about the size of a Mazda5. Just for this part of the trip alone, Luggage Free paid for itself. It was about $300 to send the bike over and get it back.

A few weeks before the trip, I had to supply the people at Luggage Free with a photo copy of my passport and itinerary. I also had to make a good faith list of what I was planning to pack into the box. Just before the trip, a courier appeared at the house to pick up the box and leave us a receipt. He somehow got the box up to New York where Luggage Free filled out the appropriate paperwork for French customs and just used regular Fed Ex to get the box to my destination (a small farmhouse in the middle of the French countryside).

When I first saw the box in France and saw the FedEx labels I felt kind of used and wondered why I couldn't have just dropped the box off at FedEx myself like I normally do when going on vacation. After going through the paperwork, I saw that they had included their "Exporter's License" which must be the key. There was also a "signed" affidavit declaring some things about the box contents. They had signed my name, which I didn't care for. They didn't even try to match my handwriting.

The return worked about the same. The day before we left, a courier arrived and gave us a receipt. I was impressed that he took the time to call into the dispatch office to verify that the box going to Washington (mine) and the boxes going to New York (my friends') were all properly accounted for.

In Paris, our plane was again delayed and we got shuffled to another airline. Every time I saw someone pulling their bike box through the terminal (there were quite a few) I was glad not to have that hassle.

The day after I arrived home, my normal FedEx man delivered my box. As before, it had lots of extra stamps and papers.

So, next time I ship the box I'll consider Luggage Free. I will definitely use them next time I go abroad. Domestically, I have more options so I don't know if their premium is always going to be worth it to me.

My Ventoux Dream

2009-08-06T09:58:00.005-04:00

I just got back from a trip to France. The hilight of the trip from a biking perspective was to be my first assault on the Mt. Ventoux. Originally, the climb was to be the morning of the Tour stage, but crowds and gendarmes foiled that part of the trip. People I met later in the week said that the mountain was so crowded that you couldn't ever bike faster than a walking pace anyway. So, my ride that day was probably better.

On Tuesday of last week, we set out to conquer the mountain. Gone were the crowds from Saturday, but plenty of bikers were making the pilgrimage. In Bedoin we made the turn onto the start of the climb and reset the cyclocomputers to record the journey. The climb starts easily but the profile changes to pain numbers soon enough.

Two hours and 12 minutes later, I reached the top. 13.5 miles by my computer. I remember the road covered with paint, the wind, the other riders creeping up the road, the heat and the flies. Little black flies that don't bite, but who sit on your handlebars or on your glasses lenses mocking your turtle-like pace. On other riders, I also noticed the flies on their backs, riding up the road, adding extra weight. Finally, when I turned onto the moonscape and got out of the woods, the wind kept the flies away.

As a last test of strength, there is a quick rise to the finish, so steep that your front wheel rises from the pavement when pedal. At the top, people stand shoulder to shoulder and cars creep along. I was overwhelmed by the smell of burning clutches and overheated motors.

At this point, I post the pretty power data graph and gloat about how I've suffered more than you. However, when I downloaded my data, there is no record of the ride. I've also managed to lose the card of the little man who stood about 1/2k from the top taking pictures of each cyclist for purchase. Maybe the ride didn't happen. Maybe it was all a dream. I know it happened, but without proof, will anyone believe me? Then I remember, AFAIK there is only one store in the world that sells these and it's at the top of the Mt. Ventoux.

Luggage Free and Learning French

2009-07-15T06:27:00.002-04:00

I'm going over to France next week to ride the Mt. Ventoux the day before the Tour and to watch the Paris stage on TV. My family says that we are actually going to be visiting lots of Roman ruins and chateaux, but I know they wouldn't deprive me of this chance to do some quality riding.

I am flying over with two of my kids and without my wife (she comes the next day) and then taking the train to where we are staying. So, I decided to try to ship my bike rather than fight it through the airport. Turns out that FedEx and UPS don't really want to ship bikes to France. I've gotten quite used to FedEx and have had good luck with it. Oh well. I'm trying out this Luggage Free service. So, this morning I'm packing the good bike and hoping that I will see it again some day. The only thing so far that is unsettling about this venture is that I'm not supposed to put a shipping label or anything on the bike box. I hope that means that the person coming to fetch it has one to stick on.

I used to be able to speak French well enough that people thought I was from Germany or Belgium rather than the US (although if a French person says you are from Belgium, it's not always a good thing). However, I wanted to do a little prep work since it's been a while. I found some good podcasts with French lessons. I even found this lesson with lots of vocabulary about Lance Armstrong and doping and how to construct a pro or con argument about him. Could come in handy. I've also been reading Sheldon Brown's English/French cycling terms page.

Brake Pad Breakthrough

2009-07-12T12:48:00.005-04:00

Twitterstract: Learn some tricks to make swapping out your Campagnolo brake pads really easy.

Brake or break is one of those bicycle grammar crossovers likely to start a yelling match in some circles.

I have come to dread replacing the pads on my Campagnolo brakes. As with many other things, the Park Big Blue Book makes it look easy, in fact in their picture, the person is removing the pads with his fingers. I have never found it that easy. Today, though, I finally did the smart thing and Googled it. My daughter would say that the smart thing would be to ask over at Spokes, but those guys have muscles on their FINGERS that are as big as my biceps. I've asked before about other things and they just politely smile while they perform some dexterous feat of strength that I am a few thousand dollars worth of steroid regimens to be able to replicate.

Today, I found this blog Sprinter Del La Casa and something that used to take an hour and frequently resulted in bloodshed took me about 15 minutes. The biggest 'duh' moment for me was his direction of "don't remove the brake shoes from the bike". This tip alone was worth the price of admission. So often I've been trying to pry the pads from the holders with the holder in one hand when the implement I'm using slips and I hurt myself. Also, when I've got the holders in the palm of my hand, I just can't get any leverage.

Next tip, use a small screwdriver to pry the tabs out. I found that a 3.0mm flat-head, jeweler's screwdriver was perfect. I just slid the tip between the pad and the shoe as far as it would go and the pad popped right out.

Another tool I learned about was Channel locks. I had never considered using those for my bike work. Spdlc used his channel locks to remove the pads, but mine were so worn that I couldn't get a grip on them. However, I did find that they worked perfectly to get the new pads those last few cm's into the holder. I put a piece of bar tape on the end of the brake holders so the tool wouldn't scratch them and then positioned the tool on the pad/holder so that by lightly squeezing the handles I pushed the pad into place.

Now off for a ride before it gets even hotter.

Time for Cyclocross?

2009-06-29T20:09:00.002-04:00

Besides building bikes, Richard Sachs races and races hard. He's always been a good one to listen to about the drive and mindset needed to crush opponents. He's gone Cross crazy though. He's gearing up for the Fall now. Read about it here http://rscyclocross.blogspot.com/

Open Letters:
To the pathelete I passed on Military Road yesterday: I'm sorry that I offended you by passing. Perhaps if you had yelled at me a little less you wouldn't have blown up before we reached the top of the climb. I hope your lady friend was impressed.

To the tourist I gave directions to: I hope you found your way to Vienna. It wasn't until after you drove off that I realized that the "first left after the overpass" is actually how you get onto the bike path. I realize now that I don't know how to get to Vienna by car.

Bicycle Videos

2009-03-27T18:28:00.002-04:00

Here is a link to a top 10 list of best music videos featuring bicycles. Do you know others? I have always like the Bikescape episode about biking music and continue to play it now years later on my iPod.

Desperate Times

2009-02-22T18:37:00.002-05:00

Why is it that things that you think are really good ideas when you are riding on the trainer sometimes seem like they might not be such good ideas later?

At least I'll be buying my new bling hoops $20 before you will be buying yours.

When it was all done, Isabel declared that "it doesn't look that bad!".

Stage 2

2009-02-16T13:41:00.005-05:00

My trip originally didn't include a look at stage two. I'm supposed to be on a plane right now about an hour from touching down at Dulles. There has been a blizzard though up in the mountains and my daughter is stuck up there (bringing the daughter to CA was the extra insurance to try to preserve husband points).

So, here are some photos from the start of stage 2. The riders have just come across the Golden Gate bridge (neutral start) and started their real racing about 1k before they came to where I was sitting/standing/shivering.

This first real trip to California as a cyclist has been great. I can start to see why you can't help but be a strong rider if you have this terrain as your normal training area. My favorite quote from the trip is by one Mr. Schuffman concerning a road race (running) that is in danger of losing its permit because of recent public urination, nude racers and trash (and we thought these were just bike race venue problems). "This is San Francisco! If you can't run naked in the street here, then where can you?" Maybe I should visit more often.

I have more pictures of the caravan and all of the wheel cars but when I saw this picture I thought of Joe Jefferson. If he ever makes the big show for announcing he would be sure to chastise these guys for already stringing out off the back.

Apologizes for the picture quality. It's a cell phone after all. Like I said, I wasn't planning to be here.

Pavement Conniseur

2009-02-16T09:14:00.002-05:00

Out here in wine country I keep overhearing people talk about all of these characteristics of their wine: its feel, finish, legs, terrain, etc. The more I ride, the more I've come to appreciate a well made road. I imagine writing Hugh Johnson or Robert Parker-esque reviews of the roads. We could start discussing the vintage of paving jobs ("That VDOT team in '03 was one of the greats!"). Older guys can wax poetic about when the run out to Mason Neck was fresh, smooth and the tires whispered. We can all lament the chip seal movement as an affront to the grace and fluidity of our riding. Blogs, websites and whole listserves could appear that track the schedules of the dot paving teams and riders would go to great lengths to be the first cyclists on a road. People can become obsessive about anything if we enable them.

The rain and wind drove us inside yesterday and we watched the Santa Rosa finish on Versus. I'm glad they've got Bob R doing interviews and out of the booth. I think he's better there. I'm hoping that Mancebo's heroic effort turns out to be natural and not chemically driven. Nibali could have probably taken the stage if he'd just blown by Mancebo instead of playing the "no, you go first" game.

It's pouring rain again right now. I'm about a mile from the route so I'll either ride over and then do my ride or walk over and then walk back and maybe ride later this afternoon. Taking the red eye back to DC tonight. I'm sure I'll be fun to be around at work tomorrow.

Mt. Tam

2009-02-15T09:23:00.002-05:00

Thanks Chuck for the idea of Mt. Tam. Epic ride.

I've ridden more than 3.5 hours before and I've ridden more then 42 miles before but I don't think I've ever done multiple 4+ mile climbs in one ride.

We started from a place called Mill Valley. The weather looked dicey and I had to trust that Mt. Tam existed as where my group pointed was just a mass of clouds and obvious rain. I was having one of those "am I crazy to be riding" moments. The weather was clearing in SF as we crossed the big bridge and there was sunshine. The sky was black to the North.

We began to climb up Panoramic Highway which actually is. So often you see those signs for "Scenic Byway Ahead" or ride on streets named for something that is a nice idea but clearly not a statement of fact. But as we climbed though the different layers of dense forest and fog we were sometimes rewarded with a vista of the Pacific Ocean or SF Bay.

I think I read somewhere years ago that the Pacific Northwest is a rainforest. It's not as hot as the Amazonia exhibit at the National Zoo but just as lush. There is moss everywhere and ferns, and dense stands of trees. Clearly no "winter" here either. The cherry trees down in SF are in bloom and Indian Paintbrush, butter cup looking flowers, and giant bluebonnet looking things are along the roadside.

We reached the turn for the Mt. Tam climb itself and I made the error of saying that if were were here, we might as well climb to the top. The sign said it was only another 3 or so miles to the end. So, off we went. I'll tell you a secret if you've never done this climb. The highest point of the road is not at the end, it's the hairpin turn just after the Transportation Maintenance garage. So, mentally it's a little challenge. We reached the "top" and were rewarded with a brief break in the clouds and fog for a view all the way into the valley. Then, instead of a welcome descent, we had to climb back out.

We rode along Ridge road to the North and it alternated between being fun and terrifying. The road twists and rolls out before you at the ridge (another truth in advertising street sign here in CA) but the wind came in gusts and you would find yourself going sideways. Someone later said they shoot lots of car commercials along the road, I can believe it.

My second tactical blunder came when it was time to decide whether to ride down to Alpine lakes and make that loop or go along the coast to Sintson beach and up Panoramic to make that loop. The road to Alpine lakes looked wet and dark and covered with redwood needles (we had descended back to the forest layer). I was starting to get that chill that leads to uncontrollable chattering of teeth so I voted for the shore route.

There was sun and the roads were dry along the shore, but the wind was very strong and pushing against us. The fact that I'm riding a borrowed bike that doesn't quite fit, was really starting to make me feel pain in my back, shoulders, neck and hands. But, with a little pacelining to ease the wind, we made it to the foot of Panoramic Highway to make our last climb of the day.

As the road wound up the hill, the wind would sometimes give me a little push in the back, but I could tell I was losing steam. I could see riders going the other way with their downhill smiles. The dialogue in my head turned to the grim (you can't stop pedaling because then you will never start again). Thankfully, as with many things in life, the bad part comes to an end and you reach the top of the climb.

Back in Mill Valley we stopped into a bike shop to get some tubes (I spared you the account of the tire change, you're welcom). They were having a Wiler demo day and had it been a different day for me, I would have liked to take the bikes around the parking lot for a spin. Some had the new Campy 11's on them. I made a comment to the rep that I didn't think that I use all my 10's effectively and he replied with a Spinal Tap-esque "but these have 11".

Today, it is raining and the forecast is for sustained winds over 20mph with gusts up to 50mph. The racers will be riding into the wind or experiencing crosswinds. I'm wondering how I will get to Santa Rosa and whether or not it might be a good day to watch Versus.

Weather in SF

2009-02-14T11:29:00.002-05:00

I'm out here in SF for the weekend to do a little riding and to watch part of the ToCA. We took an early flight from Dulles and arrived at SFO about 9:45AM. In the taxi riding to my relatives' house it was sunny, then a little rain, more sun, back to rain and then sun again. I got the bike put together and then headed out for what my friend called a "just a little leg opener".

The idea was to go up through the Persidio, over the Golden Gate bridge and then up a little climb to the Rodeo Lagoon beach area and back.

On Monday, the ToCA will go across the Golden Gate bridge and down into SF. They get to have the road blocked off though, we rode on the pedestrian walkway which is about as wide as the walkway on the 14th (or is it 12th) street bridge. However, it is crowded with people wandering and there is only a tiny railing separating you from the water.

We made it across pretty well, though the pack of Middle School tourists almost did us in. Then it was up to the Headlands.

After weeks on the rollers, that first ride when the terrain actually changes feels odd on the muscles. I was warmed up by now and the most recent rain shower had ended. I've never been to this part of the world, and as we wound our way up the side of the cliff the folds of rock on one side from some long ago oorogany and the hawks flying at my eye level on the other side made me realize why people get stuck out here. At the end of the climb is a pretty large installation of concrete bunkers and artillery platforms.

Then we headed down the other side to the beach. The road is narrow, steep and winding. I tried not to think about the fact that the little guardrail would likely catch my bike at about the hub and just ensure that I would cartwheel down the cliff into the Pacific. My friend later told me that it took him about 10 times down before he wasn't worried about dying and another 10 or 20 times before it became fun.

At the beach, we watched the surf for a while and then headed back. It only rained on us a time or two. About the time I was wondering if any of the pro's would be riding around before Saturday a guy passed going the other way in a HighRoad jersey. Didn't look too racery. Howerver, the Jittery Joes guy I saw later fit the bill. He started up the big climb to the bunkers just as I was heading over to the bridge. He was making it look a lot less steep than I had remembered.

Diet Tips

2009-01-25T08:17:00.002-05:00

I'm starting to think that portion control is the poor man's diet scale. We've all heard about how obsessively the Texan weighed his food. I don't have a fancy scale or a food diary. What I do have, however are lots and lots of little cups and bowls with cartoon characters and other kid motifs on them.

Today, we experimented with filling different bowls with "1 serving" of Rice Krispys (1 1/4 cup) and "1 serving" of steel cut oatmeal (1/4 cup uncooked). In the grown-up bowls the serving barely takes up half and begs me to add more...tricking my eye and my stomach into thinking I'm getting cheated. If we use the little ducky bowls or the farm animal bowls the serving almost overflows the sides (and actually does when the little girl attacks her breakfast). I feel like I've had a full breakfast because I ate the whole bowl.

Mind trick? sure, but isn't that what cycling is based around...lots of mind tricks...no one at this gas station thinks I look silly in Spandex and cycling shoes...I won't get dropped until I reach that lamppost...I am a strong and powerful cyclist...I can do one more interval...I am a winner.

My other diet trick of the day: 1 serving of bread is one slice (check the bag) but it takes two servings to make a sandwich, so the bread in your sandwich is about 220 calories and 20 or so grams of fat. A tortilla is about 110 calories (but 35 or so grams of fat) and it only takes one to make a sandwich. A PB&J wrap might raise eyebrows at the work cafeteria, but just wear your Spandex and cycling shoes to lunch and no one will notice the wrap.

Crazy Fitness

2009-01-24T05:56:00.002-05:00

After a strong start to what was going to be my breakout '08, I wound up not racing after May or so. Instead, I was a dad and a taxi driver and an over worked IT director. Somewhere around August it seemed pointless to even try as I would have no form or pack sense. The great thing about this sport, though is that there is an off season and there's always next year. So, welcome to next year. The hair is off the legs, I've got races circled on the calendar, and I'm starting to check bikereg on a regular basis.

With a constrained schedule, the only thing I'm worried about is not being able to get in enough long rides to build the endurance to race longer than an hour or so. I envisioned myself as a road racer but I think I need to reinvent myself as a TT/Crit guy.

As I'm discovering where I have time in my day to try to regain some form and get back to race weight I've been working on some non-standard strength/agility goals. Whether these will pay off during the race season remains to be seen. However, they fit into the time available and they aren't as easy as I thought, so they must be good for something.

- One hundred push ups (following the plan at hundredpushups.com)
- Two hundred reps of the ab roller (the little wheel thing with handles, it's hard on the knees)
- Ride out of the saddle for five minutes straight (pedaling the whole time)
- Ride out of the saddle while on the rollers

So, with Tradezone only a month away how am I doing?
- Week 2 of the push up plan
- 60 reps of the ab roller this week
- Can ride out of the saddle for 3.5 minutes
- Still too jerky on the initial motion to get out of the saddle

What a Cool Hand

2008-09-27T18:22:00.001-04:00

If you've never seen this movie, you should. Also check out Butch Cassidy. RIP Paul Newman

Soon the Season Will Start

2008-07-20T19:54:00.004-04:00

I give you the Alexandria team waiting to get some MORE HOT DOGS! The boy reports that he ate 4 hot dogs this evening. You haven't lived until you have hot dogs for breakfast. Over the weekend, the team managed to beat Wise County and York County to advance to the quarter finals of the state tournament. I think that Wise traveled almost 400 miles to this tournament.
Bully for Alexandria I say. The boy did well, and is hitting .500 for the tournament with two stolen bases and 3 rbi's. Lamentably, after spending six hours baking in the sun out at Freedom Park in Leesburg today and 5 hours yesterday, I just couldn't bring myself to get out to the Hunny Bop. Hope you 30+ fellows didn't miss me too much. I see that teammate Greg is riding well.
If you're in Leesburg Monday evening and want to see some youthful exuberance, you should drop by the fields after 4:00.
So, if the boys manage to continue to win, the state championship game is on Wednesday. Win that, and it's off to West Virginia for the regional tournament. That gets us to the middle of August, so I think in the worst (best?) case, my next race is Turkey Day.

I bet I'm getting really fat.

Hagerstown!

2008-07-12T22:16:00.002-04:00

I should have liked to have been at Hagerstown. I figured out the second turn last year and was looking forward to punishing those people who haven't yet mastered it. Still, Squadra Coppi takes the Cat 4 honors and I am proud to wear the sky blue.
Instead of Hagerstown I was watching baseball. It would be a lot easier to watch these games if my own children weren't participating. That's my boy on the ground in the picture. Nothing is broken and he was able to play in the next game when his team won the District championship. He looks kind of like a racoon right now and we are trying to figure out how to get the swelling down.
Next weekend it's the Va State tournament in Leesburg. I'm signed up for races that weekend as well, but I think that yet again I may be sacrificing my entry fee to the greater good. For those of you who lurk at the registration tables to pick up the last minute entries from the guys who don't show: you're welcome.

Bike Part Innovation

2008-07-06T06:43:00.004-04:00

I saw this yesterday in the parking lot at Target. Sorry for the quality of the photo, I was using my phone. However, clearly the owner of this bike has his pliers wedged right there into the drive train and I have to believe it's on purpose. At first I thought it was for shifting (like 4 on the floor) but I can see the cable in the picture. I can't decide if this is a new wave of tool holders, some anti-theft device or what.

Sometime It's Not Just the Bike

2008-06-16T19:58:00.003-04:00

Here is the boy. They won the game but then lost in the next round. He has made the town all-star team so we have 3 more weeks of games to look forward to.
The girl is also out of the playoffs in softball and is really glad to start her summer.
I spent the last week in CT riding with family friends. My original intention was to do the Housatonic Hills Race. However, one of my riding companions suffered a massive heart attack and died after one of the rides. Somehow, I just didn't feel like racing. I did take the sprint at the top of Grassy Hill later in the week though.
Since I was away from a computer I got shut out of the Giro di Coppi and the Hunny Bop. As my coach says: "Cat 4 MABRA slots are harder to get than Hannah Montana tickets".

A Class Act

2008-06-09T19:09:00.003-04:00

I don't know Joe Jefferson well. I doubt he would recognize me if he saw me in street clothes. He's a fixture of my racing experience though.

I do know that the work that Mr. Jefferson does enables me to race my bicycle in a number of varied and interesting areas. When I learn that he is promoting a race, I often break my rule of "no races when you have to drive for longer than you will ride". When another promoter has made the effort to have him announce their race it adds a little extra. I feel fortunate that he is willing to do the work required to let me pursue this hobby; work that I don't think I would do for others; at least not to the extent that he does.

Recently, someone posted to a very public board a comment they attributed to Mr. Jefferson and called his character into question. That was followed by a demand that he apologize and that we expel him from our community.

Given what Mr. Jefferson has done for us, we must give him the benefit of the doubt. The man who I have come in to contact with as I have trolled the basement of the MABRA rankings has been a class act. He enables all of us to imagine that we are only a few extra hours of training away from vaulting into the pro ranks. He has my support and I will continue to patronize his races to the best of my ability.

Some day, I hope to hear him announce that "it's single file for a mile" as I lead the peleton past the judges' stand.

What Gets in the Way

2008-06-07T22:36:00.003-04:00

Today's workout plan was 3:30 at zone 2. Well, I'm hoping that I've gotten the equivalent:
- Pull a wagon with two girls in it for 5K while still posting a respectable 47:30.
- Pull a wagon home with at least one of the three kids in it at all times (2 miles)
- Stand outside for a double-header of girl's softball where the only shade is your umbrella (4 hours)

I'm scheduled for another 3 hours of zone 2 tomorrow. However, we've got a soccer game and another double-header of softball. Stupid rain make up dates. I'll be lucky to get 2 hours in before it gets too hot.

The boy's team lost tonight in the playoffs so they are in the loser bracket now but still in it. Next game on Tuesday and he's the starting pitcher. The girl is trying to improve her seed for the playoffs which start Monday and needs to win both games tomorrow. Otherwise they face the team that pretty much crushes them every time. The bribes required to get the littlest to go to all of these games are getting more expensive.

Team Ride Almost

2008-06-06T16:08:00.002-04:00

I got started late this morning for the team Muffin ride. I figured I would catch everyone just after they rolled out from the Java Shack since Friday is supposed to be an "easy" ride. Around every turn, I expected to see the paceline and around every turn I saw nothing.

Finally I caught the tail of the group when I was almost all of the way around the loop. Then I got caught behind a light with a few others and the group was gone again.

My legs felt good and I wound up doing the Muffin loop twice. Once to catch the group and then another time just because.

I'm wondering if I just hit the workouts and pretend that I didn't have all of this slack time the last few weeks if my body is stupid enough to believe that it's in shape. Doesn't hurt to try.

Got into the Reston 4 and 3/4. I was surprised they didn't fill up right away. That is a fun but really hard race. I'm also in the 4/5 at Housatonic Hills in CT. Housatonic is not a fun race but it is hard. They changed the course around a little to avoid some really nasty road conditions. We start the race with a 9/10 minute "neutral" climb up a really steep hill. I have a feeling that it won't be neutral and that it will shred the field. I'm going to try to spin rather than grind up the hill so I have some pop left when the race "starts". Historically, the finish was at the top of this climb; this year the finish will be on a flat but the promoters assures everyone that he has found some other climbs so that the total for the race is about the same. Great.

Still, I'm glad to be racing. I'm feeling a little stronger and more alive each day. I imagine I'm covered by a patina that was making me lazier and fatter and slower. I am slowly melting through with hard effort and time on the bike.

A Sign of Summer

2008-06-05T07:29:00.002-04:00

After the rains last night, the weather was actually nice for the commute home. I was taking my time as I had to dodge some limbs and sticks and things. Now that it's summer, the cars sometimes have their windows down, so I can hear the drivers yell their helpful suggestions.

@the lady in the station wagon: I'm not supposed to ride on the sidewalk, I'll stay here in the clearly marked bike lane.

@the man in the pickup: I don't believe it would be physically possible for me to do that.

Comeback Trail

2008-06-01T20:50:00.002-04:00

Did Murad and CSC this weekend. Murad is a totally different race in this part of the season. I'm pretty out of form right now though. Still, I expected to be there for the finish and I wasn't. The longest ride I've done since mid-April was about an hour and it was about at the one hour mark at Murad that I ran into difficulty.

CSC is one of those races I do for the atmosphere and for the future. One of my career goals is to finish this race. It's not a good race to do when you haven't ridden in a pack for a few weeks, but I did much better than last time at staying off my brakes and not wasting momentum. Some of the pedestrian islands that Arlington has put at street corners really pinch the turns down. After closing a few gaps I thought I was in contact with the main group. Unfortunately, there had been a field split and this was just the back part of the field. We all got pulled en masse. There were a lot of riders in the group who I know are better than me, so maybe I'm not as far out of form as I thought. Hit 1000W for the first time in 2008, so that's something.

I looked at the schedule today, I haven't even hit my stride, and there are only about 5 races left in the season. What happened? Chantilly, Silver Spring, Bowie, Plesant Valley...poof! On the bright side, Bunny Hop has moved so maybe this year I can do that one. There's always the option of driving down VA or out into PA but now that we are a one car family, that doesn't work as well.

Regardless, I'm excited to be racing again.

Ark Racing

2008-04-20T16:41:00.005-04:00

Headed out to Columbia, MD Sunday for my first experience of DC Velo's Carl Dolan Race. Things at home came together so I could sneak away for a few hours. All of the Cat 4 stuff was full by the time my schedules gelled, but there was room in the 30+. So, riding for experience would be the goal since I recognized lots of names on the pre-reg list and as much as positive thinking can help you...Cat 2's are still generally faster than Cat 4's. From my team, at least, I was the only Cat 4 registered. My goal for the day was to stay far enough forward that I could watch the race and then try to finish just behind the sprinters so I could stay out of their way but still try to pick up some experience.

The rain got steadily heavier and I focused on staying far enough forward that I couldn't hear the trailing moto. I took the glasses off after a lap or so as they made me blind. All through the race, I alternated between tucking into the pack to rest (but getting spray in my eyes) and swinging out to the edge so that I could see (an thereby putting my nose into the wind). I wondered if tire companies do studies on the shape of the spray of their tires. At times the water on the road washed over my rims and it felt like I had a flat. By the middle of the race, I got used to the feeling.

A group had gotten away, but the other people in my team weren't chasing so I figured that either we had someone in the escape group or the pack had decided to let them go. I spent the second part of the race marking riders I know are better than me to see what I could learn from how they worked through the pack. Followed teammate Bill as he snuck up on a prime and took it from a rider who thought he had it won, so sat up. With about 2 to go, the rain stopped and the sky became a little brighter.

Sometimes you are the strongest, sometimes you are the smartest and sometimes enough people drop out that you get a good result just for finishing.

Tale of the tape:
Average Power 238W (NP 278)
Max Power 973W
Average Speed 26 MPH

Definetely not for Racers

2008-04-10T21:24:00.004-04:00

I got some unrequested magazine in the mail today called "DC". It has an article on what is fashionable and it mentions bicycles, so I read a few pages to see if they talk about all of us amateur racer folks. No mention of us, but it does point me to this blog, which is definitely sometimes about bicycles but not racing. Then it has a nice blurb about the nifty bicycle suitcase from Pinel and Pinel which comes complete with a bicycle. They seem to be aiming at a different market than TriCo though.
It's only $12000.

My friend, Jim, knows a guy with a Brompton, maybe he could suggest a purchase of the case next time they meet.

Patriotism

2008-04-10T08:57:00.001-04:00

I got rid of my car last fall. So far, so good. I'm doing my part and so is this guy.

I found this in response to those State Farm Ads that have been running recently.

Context is Important

2008-04-07T12:53:00.002-04:00

Ride like a commuter in a race and you increase your chances of losing.

Ride like a racer during your commute and you increase your chances of dying.

Tyson's Weekend

2008-04-06T19:28:00.005-04:00

You would think that after having read The Monkey's Paw and Pet Cemetary, I would know better than to wish for things. Karmic balance seems to happen. So, I wished for rain and I got the tempting rain on Friday but Saturday was dry, so instead of Walkersville I got some Little League and Youth Soccer action. Carter's team batted around in the bottom of the last inning to pull off the come-from-behind victory. We all had ice cream and wore short sleeves. But, today was really cold and finally the rain I wished for arrived and all Youth Soccer and Little League was canceled. Rats...Walkersville was supposed to be my race of glory and Tyson's just a little leg opener to round out the Peak week.

For some reason, the rain, the family, the whatever got me distracted this morning and I wasn't prepared at all to go out of the house to the race. My original plan had been to ride to Tysons but in retrospect, the rain would have made me so cold that I would have been done before I even started the first lap. First, I couldn't find my shoes (in the hall closet) then I couldn't find my gloves (one in the basement, one in the bathroom) and I never found my gel flask but I did find, one Gu shot left over from last year. By 10:30 I knew I HAD to go to the race, NOW. So off I went, ticking off the things I would have liked to have but didn't as I drove to the course.

Traffic was fine and I arrived at the course at 11:10 for my 11:30 start. Registration was a little hidden but I found that, and got my number and then my bike put together. Warm-up for this race consisted of me riding from my car to the line and then once around the course. I had forgotten my HRM strap, and it's just as well since I'm sure my heart rate was all over the place. Thankfully, the race was delayed for a minute or two while guys got their numbers re-pinned. There' s lots of new faces in the Cat 4's this year. I noticed two of the really squirrley guys from last year and tried to make a note to avoid them.

And we were off! Just like that the race began. The course itself wasn't terribly technical. There was a big hole in the outside part of turn 2 and the wind would sometimes gust enough to make you think someone had touched your wheel, but the rain had stopped. I laughed to myself a few times as we've been so conditioned no to cross the yellow line that even though we had from the curb to the cones for racing, guys wouldn't go over the line most of the time.

Some attacks went early so I worked my way to the front and tried to help bring them back. Early on, Lance from ARBT was working to bring one back, so I hopped on his wheel and pulled through. That group got caught. I had to drop back though and rest, the lack of warm-up and lack of any riding on Friday or Saturday was making my legs actually hurt. I felt like there was wax or sludge in my veins.

I've noticed that for me, at least, there is often a group of riders who become my riding buddies during a race. No matter what I do as far as attacking or sitting in or whatever, when I reach that equilibrium pace in the pack where I'm not pressing but not falling back to rest, it's the same guys. Today it was Ray from Bicycle Place. and a DC Velo rider. Whenever I would see them, I knew I was in my appointed position for the day.

It was a Cat 4 race for sure and we had our share of close calls. Once on a corner, I felt the gentle nudge of someone's arm and handlebars in my side. Later, an Evo rider (I think) took out a few cones that I had to dodge. I was too winded at the time to swear out loud, but the guys behind me had the lungs and they let it fly. Note to Mr. Evo next time: just go outside of the cones for a few hundred meters and come back in when it is safe. The referee will understand. Near the end of the race I was thinking that this is just about the time that someone will lose their concentration and touch wheels when an NCVC and another red/white rider went into the curb together. They weren't there the next lap, so I guess they are ok.

With about 4 to go, I found myself sitting about 3rd wheel chasing down a group of 2. The lead rider was a Bike Lane fellow, then there was an NCVC sitting in (he had someone in the escape group) and then me. The Bike Lane guy really needed to pull off, but the NCVC wasn't making it terribly easy for him. I finally figured out what was going on and pulled through to help catch the escapees. Bike Lane made some comment as I came by; sorry dude, I was doing the best I could. I lead the field down the easy section and then could hear people coming up the outside.

I was happy to drop back down to 5th or 10th as I knew we still had a lap or so, but that wasn't in the cards. I assumed that as the guys came around me they would realize there was a corner and take it wide. They didn't and I got cut off and lost some momentum as we started up the little hill. I'm pretty sure that was my last match I burned as I floated back to find Ray and Mr. DC Velo waiting.

On the last lap, things bunched up again before the sprint, but I didn't have another field spanning surge left so I just went hard up the left side, passed a few and secured the coveted 34th place. Bleh.

So, bright spots? My peak 30s for the day was 584W and that was on the last climb up the hill. I got to the front a few times and twice helped to pull back escape groups.

Tale of the tape for the 4 race: average power 247W, NP 300W, avg speed 24.4, avg cadence 91

Between the 4 and the 3/4 I sat in the car and tried to stop shivering. I had brought some dry clothes, but they weren't really what I needed. I talked myself into and out of that race a thousand times during the hour I was waiting. Finally I put on as much as I could stand and put my feet into my wet shoes and went to the line. Of course, the karmic balance wasn't quite done, so I couldn't find my gloves and then couldn't find my car keys.

The 3/4 race had lots more faces that I know. I've got to become a 3, just so I have people to talk to again. I rolled up to the line as they were giving final instructions so I was near the back. But at least I didn't have to stand there and start shivering again.

During the first lap, I noticed that the wind had picked up a lot. So much so that you really had to pedal going downhill and more than once the wind blew me off my line. No place to rest. After the second lap I was warm again though a stitch was forming in my ribs. I realized that this is where I'm happiest, when I'm riding so hard I can't think and my entire world becomes some colorful jerseys and a quest for little gaps so that I can move up.

I was too far back and started to work forward. A big gap formed about half-way back in the field and I was behind it. Thankfully, it was early and there must have been lots of Cat 4's in the race, because the lead group sat up and we all regrouped.

Sadly, I hadn't eaten enough, or I had wasted too much energy shivering or burned too many matches in the 4 race. After about 20 minutes of riding I started to hear the trailing moto. Then, on the hill I realized that the pack was escaping and I was falling back. Then, there went the moto and I rode to the line so they could record my number and then rode to the car and drove home. Average power 242W, NP 291, avg speed 25.1, avg cadence 88.

I don't know when I'll get to race next. Maybe not till June. I might get lucky, though and the game schedules and the race schedules will give me a little window.

Praying for Rain

2008-04-03T12:04:00.002-04:00

I guess I had to know it was going to happen, the family has said they need me to man the carpool on Saturday. Apparently all of those reminders that I am racing on Saturday didn't register, nor did the placing of the race on the big calendar in the kitchen, nor did the promise from the family that they would let me race in exchange for no other racing from April 7 until May 25.

A nice, soaking rain on Friday nigh into Saturday morning would cause the City of Alexandria to close all of the playing fields and would eliminate the problem.

Baseball and soccer games can be made up (there are even "rain dates" built into the schedule). Peaking for a road race takes months of preparation and they won't reschedule Walkersville.

Selfish, yes, I know. Still, I'm praying for rain.

Chasing Rob

2008-03-31T18:34:00.005-04:00

I spent the weekend and the later part of last week in Jupiter Florida tuning up for the season. My family and I have gone down there for the last three years so I'm getting somewhat familiar with the local biking scene. I participate in the group rides that start at dawn at Marsinski Rd and A1A. They are sponsored by J-Town bikes and also seem to be lead by folks from Cycle Science. It's a different scene down there as you see lots of aerobars in group rides and, it being Florida and all, a whole lot of Master's racers. Not just the 35+ kind of masters, but some REAL masters like Mr. Mertens. Some really beautiful bikes as well. For every person on a tricked out carbon ride, was an equally fast person on a handbuilt steel frame.

On Thursday and Friday I rode alone, up and down Jupiter Island. Intervals on Thursday and a light spin on Friday. Each day was in the 80's so I got to break out the shorts and start working on my biker tan. However on Saturday and Sunday, I got up early and made it down to the starting spot in the pre-dawn. I remember a few riders from year to year, but for the most part, the people on the rides are a sea of tanned, slender riders with foreign kits. I wanted to simulate some race situations this year so I talked to one of the guys I remember as being fast about what to expect. After some initial tactic talk, he shrugged and said "pretty much, we are just going to chase Rob all day". He didn't point Rob out but I quickly discovered that Rob is the guy on the Guru with the aerobars who rides for Cycle Science.

Since all of the rides start at the same place, they all have many of the same roads to cover. The only hills are overpasses and the big environmental factor is the wind. I'm amazed at how the power required to maintain speed can change as you ride along and all of a sudden, you come to a break in the trees and the wind is blowing off of the beach. For the first 45 minutes or so each day, we would head North along the island in a pretty serious paceline of 30 people. Whenever the pace would drop much below 25 mph, there would go the Guru with Rob on top rocketing up the side and off the front. He liked the pace to be nearer to 27. He would attack and we would chase.

The problem with being an outsider in these things is that you don't know where the sprint lines are. A few times, I think I could have contested the sprint, but I never could figure out where the line was so I didn't know when to jump. Thankfully there were some regroup points and slow sections after the sprints, so I was able to catch back onto the lead groups. One thing I've learned in Florida riding is that if you go off the back, you are done. Between the wind and the pacing, you just can't make up the distance without some help.

You don't change gears much on these rides and after an hour or so your butt begins to hurt like in a trainer session as the roads are straight and flat and I think there are only 3 or 4 stop signs during the entire 30-40 mile loops. But, this is how they ride in Jupiter and we would just chase Rob until he would back off enough to let us catch him, only to take off a few rotations later.

On Sunday, we finished our 40 miles with Rob in an escape group of 5 and me in a chase group of 5. We chasers were flying South on Rte 1 at around 26 mph in a pretty rotating paceline but the escapees kept their distance. It went on like this for about 20 minutes with me putting in little 650W bursts every 2 minutes or so as I would move from the slow line to the fast line. Finally, we crossed the road that signaled the end of the hard part and caught up with the escapees for a nice spin back to the parking lot.

So, what did it cost to chase Rob all weekend?
Saturday (the easy day):
834 Kj
Avg speed 22.4
NP 244, Avg power 188

Sunday (the hard day):
1263 Kj
Avg speed 24.5
NP 266, Avg power 243

Now, I'm resting and looking forward to next year.

Packing for Florida

2008-03-24T20:27:00.002-04:00

Gonna spend the later part of this week in Florida. On my team we talk about people being fast, and being "California" fast. Sometimes I think they should also talk about Florida fast. Where I go with my family there is a group ride almost every day that starts at dawn and goes for about 50 miles. On the plus side, the rides are really fast and they might as well be races as I think we only see about 3 stop signs the whole time. On the minus side, there are no climbs, every day is the same route and the wind ALWAYS blows from the North. This will be my last big riding before I start to taper for Walkersville and Tysons. I had to do the 35+ 4/5 at Walkersville because of the start times. Can't decide if it will be easier to win because there will be fewer 20 something who are invincible, or harder to win because there will be guys who have gotten back into racing after they retired from the Pros and downgraded to 4 because they don't have "time to train" anymore.

So, tonight I'm packing the bike up. I have a TriCo Iron Case. I highly recommend them. Though if you are a little bigger than me you might find that you have to remove your crank or at least your 53 chainring to make your bike fit. I don't know how you guys (or women)

with the seatpost mast bikes will manage.

As you take your bike apart to pack it, you can clean the little bits that never get a good cleaning. Right now, my bike looks and smells like it just came from the shop. I need new brake pads but I didn't discover any other cracks or bad things. I should get some spoke reflectors so that those Florida folks will think I just came from the shop (the dirty, white bar tape might give me away). Then I will drop them on the little "climb" that is the overpass at mile 20. I almost laughed out loud last year when I realized that guys (or women) were dropping into the 39 to go over the overpass.

And on we press to the "start" of the racing season. I would like to be here for Jeff Cup, that was a fun race. I've already had 21 interval workouts in 2008. That's more than I had all of last year and I haven't even done a "real" race yet. I am a little discouraged to see that my current power output is at my peak levels for 2006. I'm hoping that means I will improve over the Spring and Summer.

Saw pictures of me at Cold Toes, I look like I have one of those parachutes that baseball players use. No wonder the wind felt so effing strong.

I let me hair grow over the winter. I got one leg shaved last week, this week it's the other. The first shave of the year is such a pain. My wife let me use her "epilady" once. I don't recommend it.

Cold but Dry Toes

2008-03-22T17:28:00.002-04:00

I told myself that if it was raining at Cold Toes I would skip it. The last thing I need is a crash this close to my first peak races. Just after I paid my entry fee the rain started to come down. Luckily, it stopped pretty quickly and I didn't bail on the race.

The wind was pretty stiff but the course itself has enough trees that it's not relentless. One thing that did seem to mess people up was that the roads were not straight, ever. This made for close calls as we came out of the turns sometimes because people would have "finished" the turn but the road would continue to come around.

I didn't have a plan for this race. I wish I had a plan as I felt pretty strong. There were lots of 3's in the race so it tended to be a little more animated than a four race. But, even with the wind, we weren't able to shred the pack. That kind of got to me after a while. I would put in a huge effort and move to the front. Then the next time there was a lull, I would realize that everyone was there and I had just been giving them a nice place to draft.

I had one close call when the pack let a big gap open on the leeward side. A bunch of us started to move up into the gap and then the leaders closed the road off. Lots of yelling and swearing. I felt someone's knuckles in my hip for a few pedal strokes (I don't think he was copping a feel). I think that last year, after something like that, where I was pretty much at the back when I finally got my momentum going again would have finished me off. I was pretty happy that I was able to move back up.

All day, it seemed that I could move up. But, I am still much better at moving back. It was a shame to realize that it was taking me two or three laps to move up but less than a lap to get all the way back to where I started.

I was sitting in the top 10 at the bell lap. I was pretty excited by this and vowed to keep my place. I knew that people would surge just after we turned from the headwind section to the crosswind section. They did, and I sort of pinned myself behind someone who was going backwards. I felt like such an idiot, I was fixated on their wheel and guys were streaming by on the leeward side. I should have just gotten into the wind and gone forward. By the time I woke up I had dropped back to around 20th which is where I finished.

Tale of the tape:
Time 44:09 (38:11 minutes pedaling)
Avg Power 257
NP 287
Avg Speed: 25.4

On the plus side: It was a 3/4 race and I bet I was one of the higher placing 4's. The road surface was really smooth. The rain stayed away.

I've got a new way to tell where I am in the pack: they guys at the front pedal through the turns, then there's the group that is coasting through the turns, finally there are the guys who are braking through the turns. If you're back with the brakers, maybe you should move up.

Pearl of Wisdom for Spring Rides

2008-03-19T08:13:00.001-04:00

In the early morning, as you start your ride...if you are not uncomfortably chilly, you are probably overdressed.

Getting The Edge

2008-03-16T07:00:00.007-04:00

I turned my racing age this week. I'm glad it corresponded with a rest week because I could drink some extra wine.

I got some nice cycling things from my family and some non-cycling things too. My daughters made me some art for my office.

But, I'm getting to be an older fellow now. If I'm going to be competitive against the young bucks I'm getting to the age where I need a little something *extra*.

My son and wife conspired to secure for me, direct from Switzerland, a little performance enhancer.

Maybe this is Fabian Cancellara's secret. It's not as painful to use as other performance enhancers I've read about. I knew it was going to be just the thing when I saw the magic, black bag that came with it.

It's only the good "stuff" that comes in bags like this. Very mysterious indeed. The doses are pretty easy to administer. Here you can see our lovely model preparing the machine.

I can make a single or a "dope"io. The machine is built to let me make about 25 doses between cleanings.

Here is the finished dose, ready to give me an edge. To keep me young, and full of antioxidants as well.

It's four ounces (118.3 ml) of pure performance enhancement. It's all the thrill of coffee house without all of the tattoos and piercings. It's the Capresso Ultima, only $299 at a web retailer near you. A few more of these and I won't care that it's raining today.

Rest Week Riding

2008-03-15T18:30:00.002-04:00

I've been on rest all week. I'm riding every ride at over 90 rpm this week, next week I'll be riding everything at near 100 rpm. The body adapts quickly I see. I was spinning at 70 and it felt really, really slow.

Beautiful weather today so EVERYONE was out. I got started too late in the day to have the trails to myself. But at least there was better people watching.
Worst sight: aftermath of a cyclist/rollerblader incident being attended to by the paramedics.
Best sight: (tie) woman riding with one hand because the wind kept blowing her beret out of place AND man in the CSC kit with furry legs, a really clean cassette and spoke reflectors.

I hope people went out to UMD today. It would have been awesome racing.

Training or Racing

2008-03-05T19:01:00.006-05:00

	Tradezone	Intervals
I have come to believe in the radar in motion map. This morning goes to show that you can't trust anyone. The map swore that the rain had moved off as I went out. By the 45 minute mark, rain was comming down really hard.
Today was billed as a "high intensity workout" with 8x3 min intervals. I figured that with the rest times added, I would end up going hard for about the same duration as Tradezone the other day. The intervals were hard, but I'm getting into the groove.
So, a comparision for you:
Date	2 March	5 March
Temperature	51F	51F
Conditions	Sun, Wind	Rain, Dark
Duration	1:00:00	1:06:00
Total Work	868 Kj	611 Kj
Distance	24 mi	16 mi
Normalized Power	270 W	250 W
Average Power	238 W	152 W
Peak 5s Power	809 W	673 W
Max Speed	29.3 mph	34.2 mph

So, they both hurt, but the Tradezone race was harder. It was also more fun, but that may have something to do with the rain.

There were other comparisions of course.
Service vehicles dodged: 1 ambulance during Tradezone (hope you're OK Cat 5 guy); during my intervals, 3 buses, 1 taxi and a garbage truck.

Momentum killing events: during Tradezone, the guy that kept jumping to the inside of the turns; today, that stop sign half way up Valley Dr.

Fans and specatators: Tradezone had girlfriends, parents and boyfriends (not mine, but they clapped anyway); today, day laborers waiting to get picked up (they didn't clap).

When I wanted to quit an take up botnay: both days 3/4 of the way through.

Finish line markers in blue: Tradezone, MABRA's finest officials, honing their skills; today, Detroit's finest late model Dodge Caravan.

I think racing is harder, but you can really beat yourself up when training. More intervals tomorrow.

I'm in for Walkersville's 35+ 4/5. I wanted to throw down with the young bucks but the family want's me to do some things in the morning. I'm also in for two races at Tysons. That should be a killer weekend. I'm still thinking about UMD, but the training races are looking better every day.

Nothing Like a Race

2008-03-02T19:35:00.004-05:00

I was eager to get out there and do some racing today. The weather was pretty nice and since I haven't really ridden with anyone all offseason, I really wanted to test myself.

My coach said I should not try to win the race but focus on trying to get in 6 hard efforts of about 3 minutes. Basically that was my interval schedule for today. So, the only difference between today and a regular interval day was to be that I don't go all out so I could avoid getting dropped.

Another trick that he passed to me that I'll pass to you, because it worked as advertised: if you're doing intervals off the front, stay in the middle of the road and let the pack swarm you instead of moving to the side. It is much easier to get back up to speed and tuck in.

So, to any of you who were pissed at the Coppi guy who kept going off the front and then sitting up, sorry. I was just doing my intervals. I would start each one when I was about 10 or 15 places back and then I would just try to shoot up the side and then get a little gap on the field and go pretty hard until the next turn. I'm getting to know Tradezone pretty well, so I expect the field to bunch up at a few places and for the most part, it always does. I was timing my intervals so that they would end at about one of the spots where the field always slows anyway.

I'll admit I didn't have the pacing just right. I would like to have done the whole 3 minutes (about one lap) at as close to 340W as I could stand. I tended to jump out at something over 600W and then stick in the 300's for a while and then softpedal into the corners. It doesn't make for those table smooth interval graphs. In fact, because my HRM was going all crazy all day that doesn't go so well either.

My Training File

I hope that works. It should be a link to my workout graph and then from there you can download the actual WKO file if you want. In the WKO file I actually marked the start and end of the race, but in the trainingpeaks graph you can't see it.

So, the race. Well, I'm glad it was a training race. As much as getting ready to actually race, I had to get my stuff in the car and get to the race. At some point during the morning I had to hunt for:
- my license
- water bottles
- my sunglasses
- my extra wheel
- hat (never found it)
- gloves (never found them, did you notice my fashionable, non-cycling gloves)
- powermeter

It was nice to see all of these people I know again. I had some good warmup and by racetime I had shed some of my layers and was down to just some shirts and a thermal vest on top and my knickers and some nice, wool socks with booties on bottom. I was going to wear my St. Patricks day socks, but they are cotton and thin.

The race was a little delayed because of an ambulance tending to a C race crash. The butterflies were ther but I felt pretty relaxed. Maybe because I am getting more experience, maybe because it's a training race, maybe because I was just there to do intervals. We were off, racing had begun.

For the most part, I stuck with my plan of hard efforts followed by a few laps of spinning in the pack. I was amazed that if I sit in the pack, out of the wind, I can put out 150 - 200W and hold my position. Once you get out into the wind though, things ramp up over 400W very quickly. At 400W I'm not good for very long.

There were a few crashes in our race and some rubbing of wheels. There was also some guy who must have had the wrong pads for his wheels. A few times he put on his brakes and this loud noise like a siren or howling woul make us all jump.

Because of the interval workout, I got to the front pretty often. I wasn't really paying attention to the race though. Bryan and a little group escaped, I think he started during one of my intervals. I remember shooting off the front and then looking over to see that he was riding point at the time. He escaped a short time later.

It was good fun I think. Going into the last turn I was placed in the top 10 or so of the field but I didn't execute the turn well and went wide and lost a lot of places. They don't place you after 3rd, but I counted fewer than 20 in front of me after we crossed the line.

Next week, I'm gong to be a soccer dad, but I'm hoping to get into the UMD crit or another Tradezone before Walkersville and Tysons.

Cold Cold Cold

2008-02-28T21:11:00.002-05:00

Yes, I'm alive.

I've been really busy at work; I have to devise a 1, 3 and 5 year strategy. Who knew that could be so hard. It's a lot of thinking. Funny thing is, that I do my best thinking when I'm riding in the pre-dawn up the Mt. Vernon trail or our on the 4 mile run trail. I can't think so well on the Custis, I don't know why. Maybe tomorrow, I'll go for a ride in the middle of the day if it isn't too cold.

Out for intervals this morning. The thermometer read 23F when I started. Thankfully we got 2x3minute intervals so I could do them in the neighborhood where the trees protect me from the wind. 3 minutes is the longest I can do in the neighborhood. 5 minutes, you have to go over to Hains or down to Mason Neck or something.

The Wattage? I'm glad you asked 338W and 324W. I'm getting better at pacing and my weight is going down and down (164lb). But now I'm tired. I had to cut the workout short because I didn't have enough clothes on. My thumbs and toes were in so much pain after only 45 minutes.

I've signed up for two races at Tysons. I plan to do one race at Walkersville. I'd like to win this year. I can't decide whether to do the 4/5 or the 35+ 4/5 or both. I think that both would be a silly thing since I'm doing two races the next day. But still, I could sing the Ironman song to myself and know that I'm a bad man. However, if you race that much and don't podium at all, I think that "bad man" isn't what they think about you (or maybe it is, but the other bad).

If the weather is nice, I want to do Tradezone this weekend. I'm a little embarrassed by what happened last week. I wasn't even there. I would hate to lose that venue though. I love Tradezone. I liked the Bethesda venue and I loved the Solarex venue too. Solarex, I can understand losing because there is a big, giant building there now, but it seems like we lose other venues because people are jerks.

I might sign up for UMD but I can't decide. That first turn is a hard turn to take so early in the season. If UMD was in August, it would be easy, but when it's the early, sketchy part of the season, it's a different story.

Curses

2008-02-20T07:32:00.002-05:00

It's just after 7:00 and I've just gotten back from my sets of 3min intervals. I curse you James Wattt (the inventor, not the Secretary of the Interior). The output is ok I suppose. I averaged 340W per interval. Which is only about 5% off of my numbers last summer.

Still, those darn numbers controlling my life. As the readout touches 400 I know that I'm putting out some serious hurting but the little voice starts screaming that I'm going too hard, I'll never make it to the end. And he's right. The first minute flies by and then time slows...panic starts as I realize I'm done but there are still 45 seconds to go. Hang on and watch the power drop, now sometimes a 250 will appear...AAARRGGHH...250! I can do 250 for 15 minutes and now I struggle to bounce off the low. During those last parts of an interval I feel like I can think a thousand thoughts.

While I'm in the cursing mood, how about one for James Joule. After all of that suffering and all of the pain, I only expended about 70KJ per interval. Not even enough to burn off the calories in an apple.

Blustery Day

2008-02-10T21:45:00.001-05:00

Stuck on the trainer again. Nina finally was up and about late this afternoon but still doesn't feel right. I think it was just as well that I was home all day because of her and because of the wind. The wind acted like it was one of those days when I feel like I might die going over the bridge from VA to DC. That bike path seems so narrow when the bridge is moving and you are fighting to keep a straight line.

Intervals today were 276W, 269W and 268W. This is on rollers, which I believe sap some of the power. Still pretty consistent and better than a few weeks ago. My weight is getting down in the 165 range. So that's about 3.68 W/kg. Same as early May 2007 and much better than late March 2007.

A lot of guys who were 4's upgraded and if not too many guys come from nowhere to dominate the fields. I've got to believe that I'll do well this year.

I've got to learn to be patient and stay well placed. I've re-read my blog and report notes to myself from the last two years. I'm finding a pattern where I am too far back going into the endgame. I also am noticing that I put in a hard effort early that has no purpose other than to settle my nerves. Now that I know these courses a little better, I want to really focus this year on being well placed as we approach the final sprint. I think if I pick a few spots that are well before the finish and try to be in a particular part of the field at each spot, I might do better. Tradezone will be a good place to test this as I think I've raced the course about 15 times now. I know that waiting until the last turn is too late and I'm starting to think that you really need to be well placed entering the second to last turn. We'll see. I also need to decide if I am better served staying in the pack rather than wasting the energy it takes to "settle my nerves" through an early attack.

Of course my coach says that if I want to do the training races they should substitute for one of my z5 interval sessions; he wants me to attack then recover and then attack again. Basically to make the race into my own personal set of one to 5 minute intervals. Then try to lead out the sprint.

We will have to see. I'm getting excited to race again.

Don't Look Outside

2008-02-09T13:05:00.000-05:00

It's 50F right now and the threat of rain is gone. The sky is blue and it doesn't look like the wind is strong.

My wife is really sick, so I am taking care of the kids. She's been out of bed for about 20 minutes total today. I dare not go for the four hour zone 2 ride that is on my schedule.

I had really been looking forward to riding today. But, it looks like rollers in the basement after the kids go to bed. At least I found Blazing Saddles on DVD at the library. I wonder if it's as funny as I remember. We never got many more movies from Cleavon Little and actually, I think he's now dead. So is Richard Prior who co-wrote the movie. Mel Brooks had a whole string of movies with similar casts: Gene Wilder, Dom DeLuise, Madelin Kahn, Harvey Korman. Funny stuff to an old guy like me.

Focus, spin breathe

2008-02-06T08:36:00.000-05:00

Going for consistency today in the intervals. A cool thing about these crazy computers is they can make you remember to do the basics. I was looking over graphs of my power output for the last few sets of intervals and I noticed that the power is high for the first few minutes of the first interval. Then it steadily declines until the last part of the last interval. We all know that you want the first reading on the first interval to be near (or slightly below) the last reading on the last interval.

So, today, it was all about focus, spin, breathe. Hover around 270W and pour it on for the last two minutes of each 15minute interval.

Interval 1: 272W
Interval 2: 272W
Interval 3: 275W

That's some good, honest work and the NP was the same as the average. I am almost down to fighting weight (now around 165lbs) so I know that power to weight is on track. My total KJ output for those three intervals is higher than my total KJ output for any three intervals yet this year. When I could feel that I was in a good rhythm, I would try to zone out and then check back in to see where the power was. Today, it was staying where it should or rising slightly. I wasn't fighting the bike, I wasn't being herky jerky.

Focus, spin, breathe.

If the amount of time spent staring at a company logo equates to brand loyalty then State water heaters and Sears table saws now have a customer for life.

I see that in two weeks I start doing the z5 work. The legs don't know it but the mind can see that we are about to enter the short, sharp, shock phase. Poor, mindless legs, being lead to the slaughter. There are the legs, happily spinning, keeping the cadence around 90, la...la...la...laa, then...wham!

Signs of a Cyclist

2008-02-04T09:52:00.000-05:00

I've been looking for signs that I've arrived as a cyclist. I mean, when do I know that this is more than just an extension of how I get to work or a more healthy way than alcohol to escape my problems. I used to think that the only sign was standing on the podium. Now, I'm not so sure.

I'm starting to find signs and signs that lead to signs.

- Wearing out a pair of shorts or socks says something, but when a jersey starts to tear because of all of the safety pin holes says more.
- Reading other blogs about cycling is the start, commenting on them is step two, writing you own, step 3.
- Dropping some coin on bike add ons leads to the realization that it's your legs and mind, not the bling wheels.
- It's not a problem when you go for a spin for an hour or so on the weekends, but then it's every day, and then you find yourself getting up at 4 AM so you can get in a "quick 50 miles" before work.
- A sign is that I know my max HR, resting HR, body fat percentage and my weight. I even know my weight in kilograms.

What sign told you that you were a cyclist?

Nice Weather and Black Ice

2008-02-03T21:28:00.000-05:00

Had a good ride on Saturday with Kyle and his friend Jesse. He showed me how to ride the GWP south of Alexandria. I went back on Sunday to do my 15 min LT intervals. The road undulates a little too much but I was able to keep the NP and the Avg. Power within a few Watts so I think this will do for the next few weeks as I have more and more intervals. I'm still not thrilled with my average power 262W for the three intervals. My excuse for today is going to be that I didn't do the intervals until I'd been riding for almost two hours because I was waiting for it to get light before I was brave enough to venture out onto the GWP. For a 15 minute interval with a 10 minute cool down, the park at Bell Haven to Mount Vernon is just about perfect.

Saturday, we started early. There were little bits of black ice here and there but it wasn't too bad. It was exciting when I went to accelerate once and my back wheel slipped, just like it will on the trainer when you stand to sprint. I didn't care for that much. Late in the ride, there was a big patch of ice and we slowed and spread out across our lane. At this point a little Mazda gunned it to go around us. He did a lot of fishtailing on the ice but didn't hit us or the curb but hopefully he still learned a valuable lesson about driving.

Over seven hours of riding this weekend and my kids still remember who I am and my wife says she loves me. I think the trick is that four of the hours were before they work up. If I can just figure out how to get by on less and less sleep, I should do fine.

More Life with Tweens

2008-01-30T08:20:00.001-05:00

Yes, I have bike related things to say, but I'm going to say them tonight. I think my coach is trying to kill me. I have 12 hours scheduled this week (I know Bryan and Ray, how will I even FINISH races with such a light schedule) but hear me out. I get to do 8 LT intervals over 3 days. So, with warm up and recovery included that means 4.5 - 5 hours of this week will be spent in interval land. But that's for later.

I have been combing iTunes for music for Mike May's project. I always thought my musical tastes were pretty mainstream, but according to iTunes, I'm way, way out there. I've gotten lots of searches that turned up nothing. Australian rockers Cold Chisel...nothing; Webb Wilder's cover of Baby, Please Don't Go...nope. And down it went from there. It actually did have "All Along the Watchtower" by Dylan and Hendrix (Dylan wrote it, but Hendrix's cover is probably better known). But by then my brain was fried and I couldn't focus on whether the Electric Ladyland (Hendrix) version or the Live at Budokan (Dylan) version would do more to make a tempo workout more exciting. I think it's easy to discount any of Dylan's studio versions of the tune, they are good, but aren't right for riding. It's only live with the electric guitar playing off of the violin that I find my pulse goes up on its own. While I was searching for music my daughter was bugging me to buy her something. So, we have now added "Oops...I did it again" to our library. I know that this will make it harder for me to get a good father grade:

"They don't grade fathers, but if your daughter's a stripper...you f-ed up!" - Chris Rock

Here's what's actually funny. I got the recipt for my Britney purchase (iTunes put it on a different recipt than the other tracks for some reason) in my email this morning. And, what do I see in the "Those who bought your selection also bought" section: "Jimi Hendrix, Live at the Fillmore East". Bet a lot of dads buy stuff for their little girls. Wonder if this whole tracking-your-purchases-to-market-to-you thing will implode because of families like mine. The suggestions that Amazon makes to me are already pretty disjointed because it can't decide if I want to buy some Barbies or the latest book on software testing methodologies.

Breaking the Law

2008-01-27T15:47:00.000-05:00

I went to Hains this morning to do a set of 3x15minute LT intervals. I've been looking forward to this workout all week. Finally, I can see if I'm closing in on 300W for this interval.

Instead of regaling you with my story of triumph I can tell you about how much it just kills your average power when you have to come to complete stops at the stop signs. My normalized power is of course higher than my raw power, but even then the stops just killed me. If you come to a complete stop at each sign, you will stop up to 5 times during the interval. Kills the average, even if you put in fifteen or twenty seconds of standing sprint so that you can Enron the average, it takes a lot to make up for a bunch of strings of zeros. When I recalculated my averages without the zeros (through the magic of computers) I gained about 30 Watts. As it is, the averages were 270, 262, and 240. OK, even with the lost power for stopping the third interval sucked so I've got some pacing work to do still.

Why did I decide to stop during the intervals? Simply put, there were two nice policemen giving me the hairy eyeball on each lap. They were camped out right there on Ohio for a while and then on the East part of the park for a while. I knew from the regional list-serve that they had been ticketing cyclists who blow the stop signs, but I figured that early on a Sunday morning, with no traffic, they would be elsewhere. I was wrong. I didn't see anyone get a ticket (I didn't really see anyone except for two rec. guys) but the police were there anyway.

I understand that it is illegal to speed (limits are 25 and 15 depending on where you are on the loop) or to blow through the stop signs. I appreciate that those laws are for my own protection as much as anything. I chafe at knowing that there is a great stretch of road that is underused around dawn. If the laws continue to be enforced, I can no longer use Hains for intervals. I get over 25mph on my short intervals (heck even today I was over 25 when I had the tailwind) and I run the stops on the long intervals.

So, I'm now on the lookout for a stretch of relatively flat road that is between 6 and 8 miles long between stop signs and cross streets. I'll check a map of the W&OD, but the speed limit there is like 15 I think. I know of some places where I can do the shorter duration intervals that will be arriving in the next few weeks. But, Hains was really convenient, mostly car free, and I could compare myself to previous efforts simply by knowing where I ended each interval.

Sound of the Tailgate Dropping

2008-01-23T19:17:00.000-05:00

I respect those long multi-hour rides, I really do. They don't feel like training to me. They tend to be pleasant rides. I see the scenery and sing little songs to myself as I admire the view. Yes my heart-rate is in the proper zone and my cadence is in the right place. But, it doesn't really hurt most of the time. It doesn't usually feel like training.

I feel like the season really begins when I start to get into the interval sessions. I've got 2 to 3 Threshold Interval sessions each week for the next few weeks. Now, I'm training. I started the day with the music blasting in my ears, sweat dripping off my nose, and my legs trying to keep the SRM at 300W for 15 minutes.

I've noticed an interesting correlation between speed and power with my rollers. At 300W the rollers read that the wheels are spinning at 30mph. The two measures diverge pretty quickly on either side of that number, but 30mph and 300W is a good thing to shoot for. I've tried to watch cadence, but this doesn't work for me very well. Watching HR doesn't work for me either as HR seems to lag by about 30 seconds from changes in effort.

And, so here I was with my nose over the bars watching a little number on an LCD screen. I was elated when the number approached 300 and frustrated when the number would drop to the low 200's. The music pounded and I could see the reflection of my knees in the silver metal of the furnace. Intervals like I remembered them with all of the pain and the focus and their special time slowing properties. Time can almost stop during an interval as you pedal and pedal and pedal but only a few seconds have passed. You know that time is mocking you because you can swear you've turned those cranks a thousand times since you last checked the clock. Finally you have only three minutes. Then only two. Then the time remaining is in seconds and you are going hard and your heart rate is nearing its max. Then they are done.

Outside, I would spend the rest time between intervals slowly rolling along. However, inside, I find that I climb off the bike and stand before the fan with my hands on my knees for the first few minutes until my head stops spinning. Then I go outside into the pre-dawn cold to cool off. 30F doesn't feel so cold when you have just finished an interval and you stand outside looking at the stars. Then, it's back in to do another. Now I feel like I'm doing something that is going to make me a racer, that will make me able to crush my fellow Cat 4's.

The tale of the tape is not my best. There is too much of a gap between the first interval and the last. 278W, 262W, 264W for the 15 minute intervals. Based on last year, I lose about 10% when I do intervals on the rollers as opposed to outside. These are similar to when I was stuck on the rollers for a few intervals last June. Oh yeah, baby, last June. One of my goals that I've missed for the last two years is FT of 300W. I think that if I can sustain that kind of power and not race like a moron I can become a competitive Cat 3.

I have a picture frame on my mantle. It is made from an old bike chain. I am going to put a picture of my first win in it. Maybe this will be the year.

Training Video

2008-01-22T06:30:00.000-05:00

I was watching Hell on Wheels while riding the rollers. It's sort of bizarre to watch it knowing what has gone on since. The movie follows Erik Zabel and Rolf Aldig and the rest of T-Mobile during the 2003 TdF. A lot of the documentary is Erik talking to the camera while he is on the massage table. One handy thing about this movie is that it is subtitled in English so I don't have to really crank up the volume.

Kloden and Vino had good tours that year but maybe they didn't have the same contract or weren't interesting to the director since we don't hear much from them. As any good Euro film does, it seems, we get to wallow in Zabel's dispair. Some of the slow motion, close up shots of him losing sprints are powerful. Even when Aldig does well in a stage, the focus is more on how much energy he's expended and that there is no way he'll recover enough to do well in any future stages. When Kloden has to drop out of the race, I think the film crew was probably pee-their-pants-giddy as they got to take lots of pictures of the broom van and the shattered riders in it.

As these guys are riding and you see occasional shots of Lance, Tyler, Jan, Mayo and others, one can't help but think about doping. The talk of how the Tour takes superhuman strength rings a little hollow. I do realize one thing, though, any way you slice it, Lance has to be called a great rider. Either he doped along with the rest and was on equal footing but still won OR he didn't dope and was the greatest rider of the Tour ever. I think we'll never know, and at this point I don't think I care any more.

All in all, this actually isn't a great movie to watch when you are on the rollers. The racing scenes are good but all of the scenes of talking and massaging or soliloquizing don't do much to keep the heart rate up. Still, I'm in the tank for Zabel. He's only 18 months younger than me, it makes me feel young. Heck, if Cipollini really does come back, I'll feel like a kid again for sure. Maybe if he is with Rock Racing he'll do a few of the 40+ (or Masters Pro-1-2 as teammate Dave calls them) races to cool down.

Spinning Class on a Budget

2008-01-16T17:09:00.001-05:00

In the basement this morning on the rollers I came up with a crazy idea to mix things up: I turned the rollers so that instead of looking at the water heater I looked at....the furnace! It was crazy.

That got me to thinking as only one can when riding a bike in a basement in the pre-dawn on a really cold morning. I realized that the light fixture with the crack in it would make for a passable strobe. The fixture gets hot when the light is on and once it is hot enough to expand, the light turns off. After the fixture cools the light comes back on. The ambient temperature of my basement seems to determine the length of this cycle. I bet I could swap out the bulb for a black light or some wacky color too.

I've been experimenting with listening to podcasts during some of the indoor riding and discovered today that you can take these new fangled iPods and shove them in the leg of your shorts like a gel packet so you can mess with them while riding. This is especially handy if you decide to go shirtless or wear a non-cycling shirt. Today's podcast was of some DNB house music which is as close to what Joe Jefferson plays at crits as I've found.

To complete my new spin studio and give me all the wonders of Gold's Gym without the travel time, I could go to Spencers (it's online now, same quasi headshop experience and cheezy teenage decor supplies that you remember from the 80's) and get some posters to show off the black light and for oggling while I ride. Spencer's posters might not approximate what I would see at a spinning studio, so if Team Kenda or Vanderkitten put out large, glossy prints that would be even better. I'll even turn the fan off so I can really sweat.

Then I noticed that it's 64F in my basement and started to worry about whether the "cover your knees below 65F" rule applies to spin studios. Then my mind wandered to the boxes in the corner and whether I even remember what is in them anymore. Then the Podcast ended and I got out of the basement as fast as I could. Riding down there, it can make you a little crazy.

Quote of the Day

2008-01-14T05:47:00.001-05:00

I saw this quote this morning

"If everything seems under control, you're not going fast enough" - Mario Andretti

It reminds me of teammate Ken Z's quote on riding fast TT's: "If you don't throw up you aren't going hard enough."

Riding in my Back Yard

2008-01-13T19:39:00.000-05:00

OK. First, for the math nerds: today's ride was 3107 Kj, 5:31:13 and 83.97 miles. That's the most I've been in the saddle in one day in a long, long time. At the end, I was craving a piece of banana bread and some chocolate milk so bad that I knew it was foolish to try to stretch it out to an even 100. The climb at the end up the hill to my house from Shirlington was ugly to say the least.

I know the first 15 miles of the W&OD really well. After that I'm touch and go to marker 25 and rarely venture beyond that. Today I turned around at mile 40. I discovered there's a llama farm at mile 40 (or maybe it's alpacas, what do I know). I wanted to go to marker 45 (the end of the trail) but didn't have enough time. It's interesting to me how a bicycle expands the world we live in. Normally I don't venture out of Alexandria any more since I live and work here now. But, on my bike, I know parts of Virginia and MD that I've never visited by car and wouldn't know how to reach except via the bike routes. I'd love to take my kids to see the quarry overlook near Leesburg, but if you asked me how to get there, I would only know one way, and I'm pretty sure my children can't get there the same way.

I was hoping for a quiet afternoon to recover, then my daughter made a toilet overflow and it was into the joy's of parenting. How can a child that small, excrete something that large? The human body has many wonders, unfortunately, many of those wonders are pretty gross when you have to clean them up.

Rest day tomorrow. I think I'll turn in early. I've cut back on the drinking and my tolerance has now gone to heck. I had a beer during the Charger's game and felt loopy for hours. Now I have a headache. One beer...my college buddies would never believe it.

Out of Shape

2008-01-12T18:48:00.000-05:00

I know that objectively I'm not "out of shape" and that compared to most 'Merkuns I'm in great shape. Still, I finished a 3.5 hour ride today plus a gym workout and have a 5.5 hour ride scheduled for tomorrow. I hurt. I don't want to start my vitamin I regimen this early in the year, but I'm tempted.

Philosophically, I disagree with my coach about these long rides. My longest race is likely to be just under 3 hours and most of them will be between 45 minutes and an hour. These weeks of three, four and now five+ hour rides just seem like they are not what I need. However, I pretty much sucked at all of my road races last year, finishing only Murad in the mix. So, I pledged to drink the coach's Kool-Aid this year.

Having Tweens

2008-01-09T08:24:00.000-05:00

The problem with having tweens in the house isn't the fact that they remind me I'm getting old, not the fighting, not the clothes they want to wear to school, it's the music that creeps into my head. Today as I rode in the dark around a loop that my teammates would recognize as the "muffin ride" I alternated hearing a number from "Hairspray", (Zac Efron's latest vehicle) and "Still" by the Geto Boys in my head. So, now I include them here so you can get them stuck in your head and maybe understand what it's like to have tweens in your house with their crazy music. NB: that's Geto Boys not Choir Boys so the language is blue to say the least. I've struggled with this as a parent but my son seems to know enough to understand that he needs to be aware of who is around him when he's yelling the lyrics of the music. One of these days I'll have to video the common sight in our house of three kids wandering around a room with head phones on "singing" totally different songs really loudly.

On the bicycling front, the workouts are starting to have some z3 and z4 efforts thrown in. I also finally feel like I am being efficient in the weight room but I'm still not able to move as much weight as I could last April. I'm even going to have to break out the racing bike/powermeter next week to do some measuring of progress. I'm excited. It's getting harder, I hope I'm getting faster. One of my workouts this weekend is 5.5 hours with a couple of "tempo" intervals thrown in. That's going to be like a hundred miles or so. So much for the husband points I've earned recently. Oh well, those things are earned to be spent I suppose.

Rest Day

2008-01-07T09:17:00.001-05:00

I can always tell it's been a good week of workouts when I get to the rest day and my hamstrings are sore and tight. I don't know what it is about how I ride, but these are the only part of me that will really hurt when I'm not riding. When I am riding their pain is a minor voice in the cacophony of screams from other parts of me. I've discovered, finally, that about 20 minutes of a light spin (not enough to sweat) will get them loose enough that I can sit at my desk at work. On weeks when I don't have to perform this ritual, I know that I didn't go hard enough.

Riding Naked

2008-01-06T11:52:00.001-05:00

It was raining when I woke up. I was about to start out in the wet when I remembered advice dispensed by Jim in his Unholy Rouleur: Murther! post: watch the radar! I saw that if I was willing to drink another cup of coffee and sit quietly in the dark (don't want to wake the kids) I could have a much drier ride. So I did. Thanks Jim.

I don't ride much by feel, I like having a heart rate monitor or powermeter so that I can be sure I'm doing what I'm supposed to. Right now, my heart rate monitor is broken and my powermeter is out of battery. So, how did I know that I rode for 2.5 hours today? I had a Timex on my arm, with hands, not even digital. There's a guy that goes on the fast rides down in Florida that I go to. He has no monitors or anything. But he sits at the front of the pack and says he's done the ride so much he knows how long it will take so why bother measuring. He rides wheels that cost as much as my bike and a bike that costs more than my car so I assume he could have a computer if he wanted one. I don't know how he keeps from blowing up, but he does.

I rode down to Hains today to look for some rabbits to chase. I figured that if I ride alone, I would have no way to know if I was going faster than 10 mph (except for the fact that at 10 mph I usually feel like I'm about to fall over). There were a few Tri guys so I would chase them down and then pass. Still, laps were taking almost 10 minutes, so I know I was going slower than I can. Still, it is January and I'm supposedly in zone 2 and 3 only.

I did see a Nissan Extera doing laps. I could see that the guy had a bike in the back but when he passed me for the third time, it was clear he wasn't looking for a place to park. I imagine his training journal: down at Hains today, laps were very fast and the wind didn't bother me at all today.

I was surprised that more people weren't out today. I figured that the warm temps coupled with the fact that most people's New Year's resolutions are still in effect would make for crowds.

89 days to Walkersville. By then I hope to drop eight pounds and get my peak 5s wattage over 1000 again. I haven't done much measuring of short duration wattage in a few weeks but I don't feel like I have a sprint right now.

Sometimes It Rains

2008-01-05T08:19:00.001-05:00

As predicted in the post yesterday, I never got in my good ride. An "emergency" which wasn't came up at work and by the time I got home the kids were warming up the tractor beam.

When I was changing the tire I noticed that maybe things work out for the best. These little marks weren't made with a Sharpie.

In all, there are five places where the rim is cracking. They are all on the cassette side so I'm guessing that the wheel builder guy (me) didn't have the tension right somewhere. I'd rather blame the rim maker (who's name is a condiment) but don't know if that's fair. This rim is approaching eight thousand miles and has seen it's share of ice and muck and commuting abuse. So, maybe it was time. I've had good luck with Mavic MA3's in the past. I know they don't make those anymore, but the replacement rim (Open Sport) looks nice.

Building a wheel is not too hard once you get the spokes the right length. There are calculators on the web and lots of instructions. I find it to be a relaxing endeavor that can take a few hours for a novice like myself. My favorite part is tensioning the spokes by sound before you make the final pass with the tensionometer. Here is a nice clip of how to do that (the wheel truing starts half way or so, but I really like this movie so include the whole clip).

I don't use a tuning fork like she does. However, I do find that if you plink each spoke as the wheel turns, you can find the one spoke that is way off in tension from the others. If we get another good, cold snap or a big snow, building a wheel makes for a nice excuse to hide in the basement and escape the family. One tip, don't forget the rim tape.

G$%@!@# Bike

2008-01-04T09:33:00.001-05:00

I planned to ride this afternoon to take advantage of the projected warm temps. Packed everything carefully, worked some extra time so I could leave early, ready to go. On the way to work, I got a rear flat and the bearings in my left pedal siezed up. AARRGGHH!!!

Go to plan B. Get the Zipcar and swing home at lunch to get a different pedal and grab a wheel with a good tire on it. All zipcars within walking distance of work are reserved. Not just reserved for lunch but reserved for ALL DAY!!!

So, now plan C. Change the tire at lunch, do one legged pedaling drills on the way home and then hope to escape for my ride. I can probably ride a mile or so on the bad pedal but I can hear it shreading as I force it to turn. The big problem will be if my kids are home when I try to get the new pedal. If the family is home, they may activate the Daddy tractor beam. Then all is lost and it's another night of rollers.

Giving the Rider a Run

2008-01-03T12:09:00.001-05:00

I've just finished Matt Seaton's autobiographical sketch of his amateur racing career entitled "The Escape Artist". It's printed in the UK so you might have to search for it. I found a few copies via amazon and alibris. I also found lots of copies on amazon.uk so I know you can get a hold of the book. It's under 200 pages and most of the words aren't too big, though a few Britishisms threw me.

I got sucked into this book pretty well. The account is of Matt's re-discovery of biking, first as an adult mode of transportation and then as sport. I could see myself in some of his scenes of hiding his love of cycling from his co-workers or his first experiences with shaving his legs.

As the story goes along, Matt experiences things that most of us know as we continue with this sport: being dropped off the back, sketchy riders, wanting to sprint for the win but blowing up instead, etc. It's not all bad, he has his successes and improves. Here is his description of a particular crit: "You knew it was going to hurt. You knew your legs would burn and cramp. You knew your throat would feel singed because of the dust kicked up by the bunch. You knew that at the end you would be coughing up sputum you'd sucked into your lungs because you had been breathing too hard and fast even to spit. And you knew that the racing was always a dogfight and that the circuit would give you a few white-knuckle moments."

He struggles with the fact that having a wife and children can really screw up a training plan. Like many of us, he finds that he has to train in the early hours so he can be home before the wife and kids need him.

Similarly, he finds that his cycling is for him and exorcises his demons. His family comes to watch a few times, but loses interest quickly. It's probably better that way for lots of us. "It strikes me how happy we were, sharing our lives yet going our separate ways every Sunday. Trusting one another, but scarcely curious about how each had filled the intervening hours."

Other scenes kept drawing me through the story as I've seen them before in real life. One that sticks with me now, given the time of year, is his bemusement over someone calling him skinny when he knows he has ballooned up to 80 kgs (176 lbs).

Though he is primarily in love with road racing, Seaton does flirt with cyclocross in the last part of the book as he looks for ways to get his racing fix in though his life won't let him train like he did. His descriptions of his cyclocross forays are pretty grim, but I'm told that can be what real cyclocross is like.

There is more of the life outside of cycling in this book than "The Rider". There are also more words devoted to the pain and boredom of training. Because the book takes place over the span of a few years rather than one race, there is less time to devote to describing the minute details of any particular race. In that way, the prose is quite different from "The Rider". However, because it is an amateur racers account and because Seaton is more the everyman and not the cycling prodigy I connected with the story in a way that is similar to my connection to Krabbe's work. In total, I think I will re-read Krabbe's book more frequently than Seaton's but I think that both books will find themselves in regular rotation.

Dreams

2007-12-22T06:41:00.001-05:00

I have started to have bicycles in my dreams. This is a recent development. Last week I dreamed that my spokes all broke and the next night that my chain came apart. Now I've had a dream that my entire bike team came to my house for meeting planning and then we went to the basement to ride on my velodrome.

I wonder if this is a sign that I'm not training enough? Maybe it's that I need to get out more and find other things to do that don't involve the bike.

New Wheels

2007-12-17T18:00:00.000-05:00

I have been saving for some new wheels for a while now. I am fortunate that a friend of mine lets me borrow one of his bikes when I visit. The bike itself is comparable in quality to mine, and we are about the same dimensions so I don't have to change out much but the pedals before I ride. However, the wheels are Campagnolo Eurus and the more I ride them the more I have realized that better wheels just make me faster. Normally I either ride on my Bontrager Race Lites or some 32 spoke wheels I built myself. It is hard to say why or what makes the Eurus wheels feel faster but they do feel faster. Consequently, I notice an average speed increase on my friend's bike over my own. As an example, yesterday I rode his bike for a little over 3 hours by myself and had an average speed that is much closer to what I would find in a group ride than a solo ride.

As much as I would love to have a set of Eurus or Shamal wheels, I know that they are more than I am willing to spend on wheels right now. However, I've heard great things about the American Classic 420's. People who have ridden both the Campagnolo's and the American Classics have deemed them to be close enough. In any case they are an upgrade from my current wheels. So, I started to save the thousand or so dollars they were going to cost.

I still don't have enough racing experience to know how to describe how different components feel. I remember when I went to purchase a new bike a while back, I rode all of the fancy frames and they were all so much better than what I was riding that I couldn't tell them apart. The guy at the shop finally admitted that if I couldn't tell the difference between the bikes, I should go for the cheapest. I feel the same about the wheels. My Bontragers feel faster and easier to ride than my self-builts. They are also a lot lighter and the aero spokes make them make a different sound when I am riding. The Eurus wheels feel even stiffer than the Bontragers and seem easier to spin. They make the same noise though. I've started to equate that noise with speed. You can hear it well if you stand in a quiet part of a racecourse as all of those aero spokes and smooth tires come flying by. That is the sound of speed.

From the reviews I read, it seemed that the American Classic wheels were a good choice for me. They wouldn't break the bank but they would give me some more speed. In the fall, my coach told me he could swing a sweet deal for the American Classics and thought they would be a good upgrade for me. Here was some speed within my reach. Perhaps a set of wheels is just the thing to help me be a regular in the top 10. I continued to save my money, bringing in sack lunches, putting off other purchases and making sure I could afford these new wheels. With the discount my coach was going to get, I could even upgrade to the ceramic bearings.

Finally, last week, it was time to purchase the wheels. I was so excited! I had to clear out the entire bicycle bank account but I know that it will be worth it next Spring. Here is a picture of them being assembled. If you look closely, you can see the guys upgrading the bearings to the ceramics.

I know that my wife sees no more leaks in the ceiling and that the children see that their trash cans can go back to holding trash instead of water but I see some American Classic 420's with the ceramic bearings and the aero spokes.

Getting Cycling on TV

2007-12-17T16:00:00.000-05:00

Maybe we just need to be more creative in how we show cycling. I know it's not for purists, but sometimes any exposure is better than no exposure.

Fired Up

2007-12-10T21:39:00.001-05:00

One of the best things my team does is our monthly dinner. On the second Monday of each month, we descend on a restaurant in Arlington and have some off the bike time together. The crowd ebbs and flows throughout the season. But on nights like tonight, man! It's electric. It was the night that the new kits were ready to pick up and everyone dropped by for at least long enough to get their stuff. We were loud, and we were happy. I noticed a few other diners in the restaurant and they did not look so hapy to see us. But, hey, I think we filled the place almost to capacity and on a Monday night in the winter, I bet they are glad to see us.

The best part was that most people stayed for a beer or two or for dinner. There was lots of reliving the last season and swapping stories of training. It sounds like some people have new rides and others are putting the final touches on some fast machines. I got to talk with guys who have forgotten more about racing that I'll ever learn. The guys who've upgraded were talking about the new competition, those of us who haven't are dreaming big.

I'm ready for these next few weeks of training rides now. I'm reminded I'm part of a team and we need to work together to win some races. I'm ready for the Spring races and going fast in the Summer. I'm ready. I'm fired up.

Fooling Myself

2007-12-10T11:15:00.000-05:00

I've been balancing work with family with bike racing for a while. Last year, when I hated my job it was easy to set the priority: bike racing and family were neck in neck and job was a distant third. Now, with a new job bike racing seems to get in third more often than not. When the week of hard training finished yesterday and I was only about 75% of the way to my hours goal and when I realized that I will struggle to get to 75% of the goal this week I started to wonder.

Then, last night, an email from my coach reminded me that I'm not really working hard enough to see improvement. He asked if my legs felt heavy yet. When I wrote back that they felt sore but fine he wrote back that he was amazed, with all of the saddle time, MT intervals and gym work, they should feel dead.

I have to figure out how to get back on track.

Books and Reading and Such

2007-12-04T18:32:00.000-05:00

Here is part 2 of my winter holiday shopping ideas. Most of the books below are fiction and all of them are books I've read. A nice thing about cycling being a niche sport is that I can claim to be an expert in the field of bike racing fiction and I'm pretty certain I've read a majority of the books in print on the subject.

Cycling Murder Mystery Series by Greg Moody. You should probably read these in order since the main character, Will Ross, builds on the story with each book. I read a few of them out of order and I was fine, but some characters get dropped in without backstory. Two Wheels is the first in the series, followed by Perfect Circles. These books remind me of Louis L'Amour westerns. Instead of a horse, Will saves the day (and sometimes the race) on a beat up Colnago that he refuses to let his team get rid of. They are mindless (in a good way) and the story moves along. There are enough plot twists that if you just surrender to the storyline you will be fine. If you analyze everything, you will probably get tired after the first book (if you even make it through that one). In essence, Will is a mediocre, washed up pro racer and he has some adventures on and off the bike. For some reason, Moody seems intrigued by guys with bombs, so plastique makes a frequent appearance. By the time you get to Deadroll (the last in the series, so far) things become a little predictable.

"The Race" and "The Tour" by Dave Shields. For these books, you must read The Race first. The Tour begins a day or so after The Race ends. Again we have the story of an American racer over in Europe. This time we get just the TdF whereas Moody visits a number of different races. Also, the lead character is not washed up, but an up-and-coming star. The Race follows Ben Barnes as he races for a French team in the TdF. He is not the star of his team but winds up with a chance to grab the Yellow jersey early in the race. Then the team has to decide whether to go for the jersey or support the team leader. Much of the book takes place during a stage up the Alpe d'Huez. There are lots of flashbacks so that we can hear a story of Ben and his main US rival, Kyle, and his gal Bridgette. The Tour picks up the next morning and follows Ben to the completion of the TdF. Where the first book is a feel good story of a kid from the American desert Southwest, the second book is a lot about doping and winning at all costs and skeletons in closets. There are a number of characters in this second book who seem to be veiled portrayals of real people. Still, both books have lots of chapters with racing and are modern enough that we don't have to wonder about terms like "toe clips".

"The Yellow Jersey" by Ralph Hurne. This is an older book (published in 1973 or so) and is betrayed by the descriptions of some of the bicycle parts. The lead character is again a washed up racer. He's more interested in sleeping with his fiancee's adult daughter than training with her boyfriend (his teammate). Still, the racing scenes are pretty interesting. I like his descriptions of a moto-paced criterium type race. Through a twist of events, the lead character, Terry, is asked to race with the fiancee's daughter's boyfriend, Romain. Though Terry is washed up he lucks into the yellow jersey. He's pretty happy about this turn of events, but knows that the chances of keeping the jersey to Paris are slim. The cycling passages are pretty good and the main character doesn't have so much super-human strength that he seems unbelievable. I am told that Hurne has written a sequel that was published earlier this year. I haven't read it yet.

"North Wind in Your Spokes" by Hans Blickensdorfer. This is a translation of a German book and follows, Bud, an up-and-coming star through the TdF. I will admit that I've tried to read this book two or three times and have yet to finish it. I've gotten through the Pyrenees but never made it to the Alps. It feels very much like The Tour and has lots of doping threats and accusations. As I can get as much of that by reading VeloNews, I think I just can't deal with it in my escapist literature. Bud befriends an old Basque/French man who seems as if he will fill the sage role in the story. But, for whatever reason, I just can't make it through this story.

"Bicycle Love" ed Garth Battista. This is a collection of 62 essays about bicycling that were part of a contest sponsored by the publisher in 2004. The stories cover riding bikes much more than racing bikes though there are a few stories in here about racing. Most of the essays are only a few pages long, so you can read a few and then put the book down for a while before you pick it up again. It has quite a few stories about crashing and oddly enough about how a tandem will either strengthen your relationship or ruin it. There are lots of stories in here that make me smile or wonder and remember my favorite rides but there aren't any that get my blood pumping and make me want to jump on my bike.

"The Rider" by Tim Krabbe. To me this is perhaps the greatest book about cycling as I understand it. I think I read this book two or three times a year. It is basically a long account of an amateur race that Krabbe participated in while riding in the late 70's. If you speak Dutch (I think) you can even read some of his current essays on riding on the web. As far as I can tell, he's still riding, still playing chess and perhaps now leading tours. I cannot relate to some of the characters mentioned earlier in this post because I am not a pro and I never will be. However, I can completely relate to Krabbe in this story. He is an amateur like me and he knows the other guys in the peleton and he is out there to ride his bike. He has his rivals and allies in the local peleton and he talks about those he respects and those he loathes. The book itself is full of imagery and quotes that are worthy of memorizing, either to say to others or to repeat to yourself on long rides. As Krabbe is racing his mind sometimes wanders just like mine does. I especially like how he describes the mind-clearing effect that a criterium can have on a rider.

Well, that's it for now. If I have the energy and time I'm happy to give some more descriptions but the cannon of cycling literature is a slim one and I've hit on many. After the Rider (which I don't think is fiction) I suggest The Race or Moody if you want mindless, feel-good stuff or The Yellow Jersey if you want something more maudlin. An interesting thing about all of the novels is the reappearance of common characters or themes. The main guy seems to be either an aging journeyman or a young phenom. A coach or other sage figure appears to dispense wisdom or famous cycling stories (with the names changed). The long passages about training rides are also common and maybe my favorite part about the stories. The writers keep returning to the feeling one has on a long ride when they can flow with the bike and escape.

I won't get into training books so much because I think they are worthless if you have a coach or if you aren't willing to embrace them completely and then use only those books for a year or two. However, I recommend "Road Racing" by Hinault or "Bicycle Road Racing" by Borysewicz because they have some good nuggets you can take with you to any training plan. I've turned to "Racing Tactics for Cyclists" more than once and think that most who are new to racing could probably gain some confidence if they read "Bike Racing 101".

For coffee table books, nothing beats "The Golden Age of Cycling". The book has two to three page spreads on all of the major riders from the 1940's to the 1960's with photos. It breaks the profiles into three groups, but I can't figure out why. The pictures of moth eaten yellow and pink jerseys get old after a while, but it is a good book for learning the history of our sport. For some reason the Graham Watston books just don't get me going so I've never purchased any of them. I don't think that you need to read "bicycle" by David Herlihy but if you want to know about what it was like when the bicycle was king of America and how bicycles are the reason behind the Federal Highway system it might be worth your time.

There are other books out there for sure, though I've been avoiding the Lance books. Still, if you are looking for something to read or to give as a gift, maybe this will help you out.

Thoughts for the Day

2007-12-04T07:12:00.001-05:00

Here's a thought: if you see a black thing in your "All Natural" oatmeal, just pick it out and throw it in the trash. Don't examine it too closely.

Workout this morning was good. I'm having an issue like last Spring during my high revolution intervals (easy gear, work on form but spin at 120+) where my pedal unscrews. Today I had to dig a big piece of the crank arm thread out of the pedal before I could get it back on. That's probably not a good thing. I think it is a function of the way that the axle of the Eggbeater pedal rubs against my shoe. I solved the problem last year by going with the Quattro which has a different design. Unfortunately, it's hard to use Mountain shoes with the Quattro and I like using those shoes in the winter.

170

2007-12-04T05:35:00.001-05:00

I'm going the wrong direction I think. I'm over 77kg for the first time in forever as of yesterday. I think that some of this is because I'm in the gym but I'm still a little worried. I weighed between 160 and 163 for most of the racing season. I've been creeping up all Fall.

I don't get on the scale every day. I usually just do the two poor man's fat tests: I stand in front of a mirror and count how many ribs I can see then I jump up and down and see what jiggles when I stop jumping. I haven't noticed a big change there, but something has changed. Now I just have to figure out what.

I did a food diary a few years ago. Maybe I'll do that again. There's a lot of them on the web. The pain about an online diary is that they mostly only cover processed foods and I don't eat a lot of that. It may be time to get on the wagon again but the 2000 and 2001 Chateauneuf's are SO GOOD right now. That's one thing I really like about the Rhone valley over the Bordeaux, you don't have to store them for 10 or 20 years, they are often good to go in under 10 years.

I'll spare you the quotidian accounts of my food intake. You're welcome.

Bonk?

2007-12-02T11:55:00.001-05:00

I was scheduled for a 3 hour tour today. Some "Muscle Tension" intervals thrown in. As far as I can tell, muscle tension means: find a slight incline, put it in the biggest gear you can stand and grind along at about 60 rpm (mind the knees). Like lots of things in cycling, they don't really hurt they just make my legs feel uncomfortable.

Saw some racers in kits today. I felt like I was out birding. I can record that green shouldered HPC List and those three red crested NCVC's. I even saw two blue legged Evo's. I saw a third Evo but he was in his winter plumage so I only knew him because I know him. I didn't see any of the blue striped Coppi's today, they tend to flock in Marlyand on Sundays. I also know that I wasn't riding in the normal range of the purple brested Artemises though I do see one now and again.

Out near Vienna I think I bonked. I'm newish to cycling still, so lots of experiences that others are familiar with are unknown to me. Perhaps it was because I had Bourbon and water as my recovery drink yesterday or because I feel so fat these days that I didn't bring enough food. Anyway, as I was ending one of my MT intervals my mind suddenly completely cleared and my legs turned to lead. The world seemed so far away and my thoughts became whispers. Regardless, the legs had stopped turning the cranks and a feeling that I could go no further washed over me. It was wierd. Unfortunately, I was about 45 minutes - 1 hour away from home and it was starting to rain. I drank some water and searched for a gear that I could manage. Poor average speed, I had been shooting for about 17mph but I was now going to throw in an hour or so of sub 10.

As I headed home the rain got heavier for a time which made me even colder. I started really craving a milkshake with a raw egg in it. I haven't had one of those in probably 20 years. A little more rain, a little colder. It's not just the drive to finish the workout that kept me going, it became something a little more primal. I began to realize that a cyclist who is cold and bonky and who's mind is wandering is more likely than an alert cyclist to be run over by a car.

A close call here or there but I'm home and the milkshake was good.

Bass-O-Matic

2007-12-01T19:57:00.000-05:00

I was bummed about Evel Knievel today for a little while. Truth be told, I thought he was dead already. I spent a number of afternoons as a kid pretending to be him. Back in the day of only 4 TV channels he would get prime time coverage. I distinctly remember him trying to jump the Snake River.

For Christmas dinner, my family said I could pick anything I wanted for the menu. To torture the children, I said I want bass-o-matic. Then, of course I had to go to YouTube to prove that a bass smoothie was just what they want. When doing that, I came across this. I love the Internet.

New Landmark

2007-11-29T16:27:00.000-05:00

The new stadium for the Washington Nationals is now lit up at night. You can see it as you come past the airport going North (you know where you always have to dodge people gawking at the airplanes). If you look towards the Hains point speedway it is just over the trees. It looks really cool in the pre-dawn hour when the sky is starting to turn red.

I know you haven't seen it at that time, because I haven't seen you. For all of the people in the blogosphere saying they are riding a jillion hours a week, they certainly don't seem to be riding between 5:30 and 6:30 in the mornings on the trail. Fine by me, I like having the road to myself. Unfortunately, if you race like you train, I should be really good at Zone 2 TT's done in the dark. I didn't see any of those on the 2008 schedule, but there's time yet. Maybe we could have a Zone 2 only race where everyone has to download their data after the race and anyone who went above zone 2 gets docked a few places. Those people who stayed in zone 1 the whole time could be accused of doping. Who am I kidding, I'd still probably place in the mid teens to low 20's.

Still, the stadium looks cool with lights. I'm excited to go there next year to watch a game. Makes me wonder how things could have been different if Mr. Cooke had been successful in building Redskins stadium in Crystal City or Potomac Yards.

Thanksgiving

2007-11-28T20:56:00.000-05:00

I went to NYC for the weekend. Good riding on turkey day itself. I rode from Manhattan out to Long Island on a road called Route 25. In Queens the roads were bad and the people on the sidewalks made me nervous. At mile 10 I witnessed about 3 police cars speeding to a street corner where a number of youts were congregating. At mile 11 the smell of a particular herb that is often smoked wafted across the road. Signs were not in English and lots of people were standing around. Then by mile 20 on the same road, I passed an Aston Martin dealership with a Porsche dealership just ahead. My guide said that we had reached "the land of F. Scott Fitzgerald". We turned off and went to Oyster Bay, passing mansions that put the modern day McMansion to shame. I realized that even if you won the lottery you couldn't live here because the upkeep on these places must be in the millions every year.

Also did some riding in Central Park. There is a great climb at the North end of the park. I was taking it easy but I found some bike trail guys there in the park. I guess they are everywhere.

I gained 2 pounds over the vacation. Not bad, last year I gained almost five.

Base 1 started yesterday. Big gears, low cadence, many miles. I think I'm going to try to peak for either Jeff cup or Walkersville this year. Might as well try to start the season on the podium.

Bike Trail Guys in the Winter

2007-11-18T17:57:00.001-05:00

Today the plan was 3.5 hours of zone 2. Something I'm having a real problem with is sticking to my plan. I want to go on the group rides, I want to hammer with everyone, I want to try to maintain the form I build up in August. But, I've paid a coach to tell me what to do and I need to follow his plan or else stop paying him. So, instead of joining my team for what was likely a fantastic Sunday ride, I made a long loop in Virginia with the goal of staying in Zone 2 (HR 126 - 147) the whole time. I saw two Route 1 guys and I saw Dave O. but otherwise I saw no racers.

I was going West on the W&OD through Vienna. If you haven't gone out that way, the highest point in the first 20 or so miles of the W&OD is just East of Vienna. Then there is a long, gradual decline until almost to Reston. Of course there is a decline going East from this point as well, but it gets broken up by East Falls Church and lots of turns in the trail. But going west, there is a five or six mile stretch that makes a rider feel strong. You don't feel like there is any effort but the speedometer is flirting with 20mph the whole time.

As I rolled through Vienna towards Hunter Mill Rd. (my turning around point) I noticed a guy up ahead a few hundred meters. Still on the downhill I was feeling no pain. I was about 2.5 hours into my ride so I wanted to catch him as I was getting a little bored and my mind was wandering. I picked up the pace and closed in when he looked back, saw me, and squirted forward. Ugh. A Bike Trail Guy in the winter? I thought they were in hibernation. I followed.

He was funny to watch as his saddle was too high. So, as he would pedal his newish (or maybe just really clean) red bike he would rock back and forth. I would close in and then he would look back and shoot forward. I was staying in zone 2 so I couldn't just close him down. I dipped into zone 3 a little bit but then backed off. Patience is not something I had last year, this year I'm practicing. This was good practice.

By the soccer fields he signaled that we was turning right, off the trail. He almost wiped out when he made his signal and then almost wiped out again when he made the turn. I think that it is best I didn't catch him after all.

"Silly bike trail guy with the seat too high" was a good mantra for the rest of the ride. I liked the rhythm that it gave me.

Holiday Shopping Guide - Part 1

2007-11-17T15:27:00.000-05:00

I think I have about two posts on this subject before I stop offering material that is worth your reading. I am still training, but I'll get back to that soon enough. I know there's only so much you can read about how I make myself hurt in the hopes that I will make friends with the MABRA podium girls next year.

So, gentle reader, you are in an exclusive club. You race bikes or you know someone who does and even more exclusive, you know someone who reads my blog often enough to have stumbled on this post. That being said, as the winter holidays approach you are in the market for gifts for bikers. Whether you celebrate one of the major winter gift giving festivals or are just celebrating the fact that you're not dead yet some gifts are in order.

If you're like me, you have access to a number of bike catalogs and magazines. They just keep appearing in my front hallway on the floor, right near the mail slot. We used to have a dog. Then, magazines and other paper products were always scattered all over the house when we came home at night. But, she died and now there is a little pile of dead trees by the door. By looking at these magazines, you might think that the only gifts worthy of giving a cyclist are jerseys, pizza cutters, media by Graham Watson and bottle openers. Although I am intrigued by Reynolds line of coat hangers at some point, you just say "meh". I also don't want to ask people for that little carbon or ceramic bit I've been drooling over because I want to get just the right one.

There's got to be more to bike gifts than this. Fortunately, there is some variety, but you've really got to look for it. Here are some of the intersting things that live in my bookmark folder where I've found gifts that I've either purchased or I would like as gifts. I've tried to stay away from things that you will find in the next gift catalog you see. Maybe you will see something here that you can offer on your list.

Pedaling History Bicycle Museum: The online store associated with the museum has a lot of interesting things. Though not as fixated on bike racing as I am, they offer a number of items that I've never seen anywhere else. I like a lot of their posters.

Taliah Lempert's Gallery: Chances are you've seen some of this art. However, she's always making new things and the quality of the media is pretty high.

Vintage Velos: I am starting to see things from this web store in other places, but there are still some interesting finds here.

CyclePassion Calendar: In 2006 when I bought the first rendition of this it was pure Euro cheesecake. Now it is getting a little more mainstream and a little more plastic. I am hoping success doesn't ruin this. If you are of a certain gender and a certain age, you grew up thinking that the coolest thing ever was a cheesecake calendar hanging among some tools on a pegboard in a workshop. If you aren't then you have no idea what I'm talking about.

Bicycle-Gifts: There are things here that you'll see elsewhere. But there are also a good number of things that you will only see here. The website is not very slick, but maybe they are bike lovers first and web designers second.

Other places to look are Cafepress.com and of course eBay. I find that eBay is a good place to look for t-shirts as is Velo-Retro. For the foodie on your list you can try 53x11 Coffee (I like the Chain Breaker and Big Ring flavors) or of course Jittery Joes, but why not try Alterra who sponsor a Mt. Bike team.

Then there's furniture. You've probably seen the clocks made out of chainrings or the picture frames made from bike parts. But what about a coffee table or a bar stool. Maybe a simple chair is more your speed.

Next up, books I've read about cycling and whether I think you should buy them. Also, some specific cycling gifts in non-cycling stores.

If you know of other good places to find bike gifts, please let me know in the comments section.

Stupid Rain

2007-11-15T06:17:00.000-05:00

Here it is, just after 6. Everyone in my house is asleep but me and the rain is getting heavier. I had hoped to get up early enough to do my sprints before it started, but just as I was going out it began. It's one thing to sprint in the dark, but sprinting in the rain and in the dark.....

I should be in bed right now.

Only in DC

2007-11-14T06:19:00.000-05:00

I rode in the pre-dawn for a nice spin. I see that my first set of sprint intervals is about to arrive. I feel like Jim Mora "INTERVALS?!?!? INTERVALS??!?!? Are you kidding me!?!?!!"

When you ride in the pre-dawn here in the DC metro, you see things that regular folk never see. Or at least things I never saw as a kid growing up in a more rural setting. I've long gotten over the frequent and varied helicopter sightings. I've moved on to more nuanced things. Today I noticed that not only does the Army go with a snazzy set of PT duds
but the other branches have now gone the same route. Now the Air Force seems to have copied the Army (though I'm sure they would deny it) . This could be a new game for me when I'm riding, PT spotting. It can be difficult, because though there is clearly a "complete PT outfit" and when you see a whole flock of them you an be sure of what you are seeing, sometimes a person is out with only parts of the outfit on. Added to that, I'm sure there are surplus stores around here and retired folks get to keep their stuff. I've never noticed navy guys doing PT, but I assume they must. Or maybe they just swim. The Marines probably don't bother wearing any kind of jacket in the winter, too sissy for them. Then again I was too chicken to sign up for any of the armed forces, a guy could get hurt or maybe even killed. I'll never forget turning in my Selective Service registration and then going to see the movie Platoon. After that I started to wish for world peace.

But, I digress. The ride...the ride...yes. In the pre dawn, with no wind, you can be struck with how majestic those darn monuments are. From the VA side, I could see across the river and it was impressive. Almost like they planned it that way. There was no wind so the water was reflecting some of the lighting and there had been clouds all night so it had remained pretty warm but the rain had not yet started.

That's one thing that zone one riding has going for it, you can see things. You are going slowly enough to notice the birds and the other sounds and you don't have the tunnel vision thing going. A nice thing about riding this time of year is that there are few cyclists. Lots of runners still in the pre-dawn, but gone are the trail guys. I guess they don't do cold. If no one is around to admire their speed and prowess, what is the point?

Something new I've discovered is that when you are really sore one of the best things to do is go for a nice ride. It's as if the blood needs to wash away the soreness. Thirty minutes into my ride, my legs no longer hurt and I felt really good. Unfortunately, I'm riding the PowerCranks, so fifty minutes into my ride and my hip flexors are starting to talk to me again.

Rest Day

2007-11-12T20:44:00.001-05:00

With my new job I need to ride to work every day. Parking is at a premium, so it is really difficult to take my car in just one day a week. I'm trying to decide what to do on days that are supposed to be rest. Going to work is no big deal as it's mostly downhill but there is a steep pitch on the way back home. Still, it is biking and not resting. I've thought about walking but that will take too long and there is no good bus route. So, I'm resorting to rationalizations:
- I'm coasting on the downhill so that is really resting
- If I ride really slowly it's the same as resting
- If your AVERAGE heart rate is zone 1 then it counts as a zone 1 only ride
- It doesn't count as a ride if you don't attach the powermeter to the computer

Perhaps the excuse is to get a "rest day" bike. People already have TT bikes and race bikes, rain bikes and training bikes, beater bikes so why not a rest day bike. Unfortunately, I really need some help going up the hill to my house. My fixed gear has 48x16 and that is hard on the knees as is. I haven't researched what the gearing is on those crazy "urban" bikes.

In Friel's book he tells about how he couldn't work with guys who don't do their resting properly. That sticks in my mind and makes the whole riding on a rest day thing feel a little dirty and scandalous.

I guess either this kind of thinking when breaking this rule means that I'll never be able to live with myself if I actually cheated; or it's just a slippery slope: today riding on a rest day, next week HGH cocktails.

Cross Training

2007-11-11T18:35:00.000-05:00

I did the weekend warrior thing today. I doubled up on workouts to make up for a missed day. Ugh. I'm not doing that again. Ever.

I did my 30 minutes of cross training by playing some pick up soccer. I haven't really played soccer in about 20 years. My legs really, really hurt now.

Cold but not Dark

2007-11-11T14:20:00.000-05:00

Got started a little late today so I didn't have to wear the headlamp. I don't like the headlamp, the battery pack bounces on my helmet. Another 3+ hour adventure on the PowerCranks. This being year two of them I am still not completely sold that they are miracle devices. My power did increase last season and I was able to get some good snap in my acceleration. Who's to say if it was the PowerCranks or just experience. My coach swears by their ability to increase efficiency, so I'll stick with them for another off season and see if I get some results this year.

Right now, they don't really hurt for the first hour or two but that third hour and beyond just sucks. I notice two signs of fatigue: I don't quite get my foot over the top of the stroke before I start the downstroke (so it goes backward) and I can't stay in the drops. Once those two things start happening then I know that fire in the hip flexors and this odd pain in my ankle are about to arrive.

I rode from Alexandria, down by the river and out to Reston. Then I came back via the trail. The temperature started just over freezing but had gotten all of the way up to 45F three hours later. Balmy.

It was nice to have the trail to myself again. I think the early morning in the winter is my favorite time to train (except for the freezing and the darkness and the near misses with deer) because I don't have to dodge people or think about whether or not I want to race that guy who just blew past. I can just think and ride and breathe.

Zone 2 in the Dark

2007-11-03T20:22:00.000-04:00

My workout called for 3 hours of zone 2 at a low cadence. Easy as pie I thought. Two things conspired against me though, it was really cold, dark and windy as I began and this was my first long ride with PowerCranks since April.

Things started out pretty well, I am glad to be training again. I was on the road before 6 so I had plenty of time. It did take me a while to find all of my gloves, booties, hats etc. The roads are still just as bumpy in the dark and it still takes me about 20 minutes to get my blood pumping. But, at the 20 minute mark, I had made it to the airport and I felt warm.

I only saw a few other people and only one guy passed me. I wondered if he was headed to the DC Velo ride. I wondered if it still runs in the winter. Some day, I will do that ride. I'm told you can really pound your legs there.

By the time I started up the hill by the Key Bridge I knew I was in trouble. The PowerCranks tend to make my legs actually hurt at the ankles for some reason. However, they also make my legs fatigue so that I get the sensation that I cannot actually turn the cranks and have to rest for a few beats. It's hard to rest for a few beats when you are climbing.

Last year I would lose my rhythm on the cranks. This year, that isn't happening, but when the fatigue hits I am still done. The last forty five minutes was just me pedaling for twenty or thirty revolutions and then coasting. I limped home at only 2 hours. Three hours will have to wait until next week.

Ommmmmmmouch!!

2007-10-31T06:45:00.000-04:00

I follow directions. That is one of the reasons I think I have been successful in my technology career. Software and hardware companies spend millions to write users manuals which most people ignore. Read the instructions and you will often find that your computer, mobile phone, VCR etc. do lots of really useful things.

Sometimes following directions hurts though. In April the workouts that I had been using as a proxy for my yoga went out of the rotation on the schedule. So, I stopped.

Today the yoga reappeared. Turns out that you can't just jump back into this stuff. The balancing poses were pretty hard but, I knew I was in trouble when I sensed that my downward dog and my forward bend pretty much looked and felt the same (and neither looked quite like the pictures in the links). At the end of the exercise, when I was supposed to be relaxing and letting my mind clear, I couldn't even focus because of all of the screaming from my back and hamstrings and calf. So much for quiet...calm...ommmm.

And So It Begins

2007-10-29T19:11:00.000-04:00

I'm waiting on my coach to deliver my first set of workouts for the 2008 season. Will this be my year? Have enough guys upgraded to 3 that I can be a consistent top 10 kind of guy? Will racing at 39 be any different than racing at 38?

I took a pretty hefty pay cut to get my new job, so no bling for the bike this year. Improvements will have to come from the legs and from the mind.

I've been lurking on other blogs and listserves watching guys worry about diet, and workouts and some guys still racing. I can't imagine racing right now. I feel so fat and jell-oey. The cold snap is going to make those early, dark rides hard to get up for. However, Jeff Cup is only about 20 weeks away.

I'd better get started.

Nature or Nurture

2007-10-11T19:43:00.000-04:00

No one taught my daughter what to do when it was time to stop her bike. So, she started doing this:

Now she calls it her "trick". She's never seen cyclocross and doesn't like getting muddy much. However, I mentioned that it would also be a good trick for her to jump back on the bike.

Not bad for a first try. Now if I could just get her to want to race, she could probably tear things up.

Unemployed

2007-10-09T08:21:00.001-04:00

Taking a day off between my old job and my new job which starts tomorrow. I also took yesterday off, but that doesn't count since my family was also at home. Today it's just me.

The new commute takes about six minutes by bike to get to work and ten minutes to get home. This new work has two beneys that I'm looking forward to: they pay $$ to cover expenses for people who don't drive and they offer $$ for gym memberships (I'm hoping I can convince them to let me use that to pay for my coach). They have a bike rack in the basement and a shower, so I should be set. The office is down by the King St. Metro in Alexandria, so I'll be looking for ways to get from there to good biking roads as quickly as possible over the next few weeks. However, this is the last week of my training plan and then I go into my two weeks off the bike before starting the 2008 campaign around Halloween. So, I've got time before I really need to know what roads go where. Historically, I have only ridden in Old Town Alexandria on weekend mornings. I imagine that the traffic is much different then.

I think that taking iron is having an impact. I rode well over the weekend and didn't experience the fatigue I had been having even with the hot and humid weather. My coach suggested a product called EP-NO for iron. The name seems a little cheesy and it's expensive compared to the generic CVS iron. But, I might give it a try. I'm guessing you have to take any of these things for a month or two before you can discern any impact they might have.

Since I have no job today, I am thinking of a mid-morning ride on the trail. I have to imagine it will be pretty clear since it will only be people without jobs who are riding.

Intervals and Iron

2007-10-04T10:45:00.000-04:00

When I left the house today for intervals the fog was so thick that I wanted to turn off the headlight as it was causing a glare. However, at 5:30 in the morning you need a headlight.

My schedule called for one 30 minute interval so I went down to Hains. Though the season is done for me, my coach wants a few of these intervals still so we have some benchmarks for various durations. My coach says to approach every interval to try to set a PR. It is really hard to motivate myself to shoot for PR's these days.

There were lots of runners there in the dark but not many other cyclists. I knew it was early as I rode down by the base on the Anacostia side of Hains and heard reveille. I also knew that meant I was going too slowly as I should only be able to hear the wind whistling in my ears. At about the 6 mile mark of the interval I almost quit. It was dark, my heart rate was in zone 3 instead of zone 4, my wattage was way down, I just wanted to stop pedaling and lie down, go back to sleep, take up a new hobby.

Then that stupid hackneyed phrase came to me out of the mist and fog: quitters never win and winners never quit. I hate that phrase. But, my legs picked up on it and started their clumsy churning again. The wattage came up and so did the speed. Quitters never win. Quitters never win. Around go the legs. I can tell from the sound that the chain is making that I'm pedaling squares. Quitters never win. Quitting becomes a habit. Winners never quit.

On through the dark I went, and though it's harder to check the PM in the dark, I could see that I was producing good wattage and finished the interval working hard. It will be a terrible interval statistically. But, as the hackney people like to say, done is beautiful.

Since my blood revelations, I've been reading up on iron, EPO, anemia and the like. It seems that hard exercise over time can cause some anemia because the body is unable to recover from the blood cells that are lost because of exercise stress. I had an A HA moment when I read that and need to read more about it. The recommended treatment is to take iron supplements and to rest for 1 - 2 weeks to give the body and bone marrow a chance to recover. If I find interesting links on this, I'll post them. I bet this is more common among cyclists than the general population.

Team Ride Again

2007-09-30T13:55:00.001-04:00

The weather again delivered and I set out for the Sunday team ride. Including my ride to and from the meeting point it is a 60 mile ride for me and usually takes right around 3 hours of wheels rolling time.

I wore a long sleeve shirt for the first time this year and it was needed for the first hour or so. I even considered knickers but knew they would be too warm by the end.

The team rides are my favorite and my most dreaded rides for the week. I dread them because big groups in traffic have a tendency to misbehave (or at least behave in ways that cars don't like). I love the rides because there are a number of guys on them who are slightly better than me. By paying attention to when they put me in a spot of trouble or when they drop me altogether, I get a good sense of how I'm riding. I won't be selling the power meter any time soon, but it only tells me how I'm doing relative to myself.

Today I got dumped on the rollers and then again at the very end of River. That is pretty good I think. Most of the people on the ride today are either 3's or upgrading to 3 this off season. I don't have the palmares yet to apply for an upgrade but I didn't expect them yet either. I'm still focused on the long term goals: competitive at the Cat 3 level in 2009 and competitive at Nationals before 2014.

I've started taking iron because of my recent blood test. They say it will take two to three weeks before I notice any affect. I've been attributing my being tired to stress and getting older. It would be really cool if it turns out that a lack of iron/red blood cells was causing a noticeable level of fatigue.

I went over 5500 miles for the year on my ride today. I am almost 1000 miles ahead of where I was last year at this time. This bike racing thing takes a lot of work.

Vindication

2007-09-25T20:37:00.000-04:00

I went to give blood today now that the season is done for me. I was rejected because my hematocrit is 36.

I now have an excuse for why I haven't been winning! And all this time I thought I just needed to train harder and get faster.

I did some checking on WADA's website and I think I could actually apply for a TUE (therapudic use exception) to use EPO to get my hematocrit into the 40 - 50 range.

Of course EPO is really expensive

and you have to administer it by sticking an actual needle into your body.

I think I'll have a spinach salad and some steak instead.

If a guy like me can apply for a TUE then anyone can apply and I wonder how many crazy loopholes and other "legal" ways to use performance enhancing chemicals exist?

Bike Tattoos

2007-09-25T16:14:00.000-04:00

I've been thinking that tattoos somehow make you faster because I've seen that a number of the fellows who beat me have them. So, I've been thinking that if I get some carbon wheels and a tattoo to go with my white bar tape (the fastest color), I'm sure to start winning races.

I found this blog that has a lot of ideas for my bike tattoo. One thing that baffles me though, why get a corporate logo inked on? Do they pay you for those? When you get old and saggy will they pay to have it removed?

Photos and Misc

2007-09-25T15:53:00.000-04:00

My teammates have been kind enough to notice that I finished 3 times at Turkey Day. I saw this picture today of my teammate, Steve. It looks like it's from the last lap of the 123 race. He also started 3 races at Turkey Day and in two of them he finished ahead of me. Now I know why he didn't show up in the results for the third race.

Steve is a strong rider. A common image I have is after I've been pulled from a 3/4 crit I watch the race and see Steve, tucked into the main peleton. Sometimes he is riding on the hoods, looking quite content to be in the pack while everyone around him is wearing their pain masks.

I'd like to be as good a rider as Steve.

Over at Bryan's blog he laments the fact that he didn't reach his goal of 150 BAR points. He hadn't noticed that cat 4 and 5 get combined in TT's so he mis-calculated his point total. I feel his pain. That practice cost me 8 BAR points in the 3 TT's I did this year (I got 1 BAR point instead of 9). Yeah, I wasn't gunning for the championship this year, but down here near the bottom of the results 8 BAR points is a lot. I would have finished the year at 58th instead of 85th. Still, I did a lot better than in 2006 and I expect to do well in 2008. Heck, maybe a good goal for next year would be to reach 100.

The Team Ride

2007-09-24T14:52:00.001-04:00

I haven't done our Sunday, team ride in months so I was excited to get out in the perfect weather and have a go. I had been holding off writing this until I could download my power data, but I've got a little time now, so I can add the power numbers later if they are interesting.

I'm beginning to believe that all weekend rides around DC are required to ride on at least one of these roads: Tuckerman, River, Rock Creek, Piney Meetinghouse, McArthur. I've tried to find some suitable alternatives in Virginia but have yet to find anything that is easy to get to from my house. I'm told that before a few years ago, you could go through Ft. Belvoir which would make for some great riding down towards Mt. Vernon.

Last year, our teammate Don S. left to join up with some other fellows so he could concentrate on winning a title at the Master's Nationals. Yesterday he joined us sporting his stars and stripes jersey. It was very cool and I was glad to see him again.

Since I was out to enjoy the weather as much as anything else, I took the left turn, short cut about 3/4's of the way through the ride. Maybe later I'll start attacking on the rollers again. The rollers are really painful sometimes though. A few of the guest riders also took the left so I rode with them to shepherd them along as much as anything. When I first started riding with the team on this ride two things often happened: I would hit my max HR when everyone was in the "warming up" portion of the ride and I would get dropped and sometimes lost out in Maryland. So, I'm always on the lookout for people in danger of that and try to help them out when I can.

Since I had taken the short cut, I decided I was required to go down into the park and back up the hill. As far as I know, this is one of the few long climbs in the area. Last year I always marked the climb with the lap button so I could see progress. I did it again yesterday and plan to see how it goes over the winter.

Much of the team regrouped at the entrance to the park and we set out to make our way back to Georgetown via the Clara Barton. The pace line wasn't as smooth as it is sometimes but it worked. When the pace started to ramp up, the group split and I found myself behind the gap. I regrouped with some teammates and a few of the guests and went along again. I was feeling strong and the pace was a little lower, so I took the lead for as long as they would let me. I really enjoy the ride along the river and we had a little of a tailwind which makes one feel even stronger. As we got to the Key bridge, I noticed we had lost one of our group. I hoped he would find his way and doesn't think too poorly of us.

When I got home the total mileage was just over 60 miles. I had to put my legs up for a little while because they were sore, but I'm recovered today. That may be just about perfect effort for a team ride.

Kevin Makes Me Famous

2007-09-21T21:08:00.000-04:00

My family has never come to a bike race that I've been in. I've taken them to Clarendon a time or two to watch the pros. They've never seen me race though. I'm too worried there would be a crash and I would be banned forever from racing or that I would have one of my spectacular 10-minutes-and-out crits which would make it harder for me to get them to ever come out again.

Sometimes though, I'm in the right places at the right times, and Jim Wilson or Kevin Dillard or someone else gets a lot of pictures of me in a race. This seems to happen about once a season. The 30+ race at Turkey Day was one of those days.

I showed the pictures that Kevin took to my kids using the slideshow feature on his site. They were so excited to see Daddy racing. My daughter lectured me on the fact that everyone knows that the white helmets are faster (I thought only the white bar tape was faster). My littlest one could pick out my funky blue helmet from a crowd even when I was in the blurry background. I was eating it up and they seemed actually proud and excited when I would be pictured at the front of a little group.

When the show was over, they were all smiles and I got a few hugs and some encouraging words. However, they were clearly at the limit of their attention span for this bike racing thing. Ten whole minutes of them thinking I'm a cool dad and a fast racer. My daughter said to me that now I am famous because "they don't just put anybody's picture on the Internet you know".

Resting

2007-09-20T13:51:00.001-04:00

Starting to actually do some resting. Lots of zone 2 riding or riding with no cyclocomputer. The twinge in my calf has gone away as has the soreness in my knee and the pain in my toe.

I'm going back through the season to try to remember what went well and what I can build on for next year.

Someone told me it takes about 3 years once you start racing before you realistically can expect results. I had thought that this was my third season, but based on the difference in training from this season and my Cat 5 season I'm thinking I might give myself a little slack. I trained almost 400 hours last season and I'm on pace for 500 hours this season. The year before (the Cat 5 year) I trained about 350 hours. Also, this was my first season of interval sessions.

I've eaten doughnuts almost every day this week. Krispy Kreme's original glazed (is there any other flavor?) are 200 calories each and 100 of those are fat calories. But, if you get them as they come off the conveyer belt they are like liquid crack. I usually try to stop eating them when my heart begins to palpitate.

Season Goals and Then Some

2007-09-18T21:02:00.000-04:00

Here were my five goals for this season:
1. Score BAR Points in April 1 race (Walkersville)
2. In the money finish at Bowie, Chantilly, Tradezone or Quicksilver
3. 5 Top 10's
4. Increase FTP to over 300
5. Raise 5s Power over 1000

I reached goal #5 and though I didn't reach goal #1 by the letter, I did score BAR points at Murad so I'm giving myself that one. I got 2 top 10's and my FTP is 277W. I had no podium finishes this year.

The funny thing about goals is that these all seemed attainable when I drew them up in January.

At least I'm doing better than 2006 when I attained 0 of my goals:
1. Break 1 hour in TT in August
2. Score BAR points in one crit and 1 TT
3. Place in a race (on the podium)
4. Increase comfortable spin to 100rpm
5. Raise FT w/kg from <2 to ~3.5 by September

Some of my accomplishments this year of which I am proud are not reflected in my goals though:
1. Finish a technical crit with the pack (BikeJam and Hagerstown)
2. Don't be afraid to gun for the first corner at a crit start (Hagerstown and Silver Spring)
3. Execute my part of a team strategy (Giro di Coppi)
4. Score BAR points in multiple races (Chantilly, Boonsboro, Turkey Day). I would have scored BAR points in both my Church Creek races but the BAR guy combines the cat4's and cat5's for TT's.

I'm still learning how to do this whole bike racing thing. My TT times show me that I have the legs and I'm building the motor though. I take comfort in seeing that I got beat buy some guys who are in their 40's at Murad and when I watch the good 40+ guys at the crits. I've always been haunted by the notion that maybe I started this too late and my getting older will cancel out my getting stronger.

Maybe I just need to set more realistic goals for 2008:
1. Get a boss tattoo
2. Chase down at least 10 breaks that would have failed anyway
3. Shave my legs all the way up to my waist
4. Get below 160 pounds for more than two days
5. Puke during a TT without getting off the bike or letting my cadence drop below 80

Beat

2007-09-17T20:41:00.001-04:00

My coach gave me an off day on Tuesday and a recovery ride today. I felt much better after the ride and much of the soreness in my legs was gone. The ride itself was painful as no other zone 1 ride could ever be.

But now, I'm writing this to try to stay awake until 9 so that I can put my son to bed. He's watching football, so I know that if I let him stay up, he will watch the whole darn game.

Day off tomorrow and day off Friday. I have a few training tests to do this month to establish training levels but my season is now over. I guess I should start to look back and figure out how the heck I'm going to stand on the podium next year.

I only reached two of my 5 goals this year. I think I need to set more realistic goals, but also need to work a little harder next year.

I saw Kevin Dillard yesterday at Turkey Day. Hopefully he got a few good shots of me. My favorite quote from Turkey Day was from a guy who when asked how he placed said "I don't know, but did I look good?".

Turkey Day - Season Finished

2007-09-16T20:51:00.001-04:00

I awoke with a really stiff neck today. I think it was from the stress of an hour and a half of staying in basically the same position at Murad. But, I felt good and was really looking forward to today. So, I packed up the car and went off to Tradezone.

As far as courses go, Tradezone is pretty boring I suppose. But, because it is the first course I ever raced on and because I have raced here more than any other venue. Races at Tradezone are my favorite. The roads are wide enough that you can move around in the peleton as much as your legs will let you. And, unless there is a strong wind or a really strong few riders, breakaways never escape.

I raced 3 times today so I could get racing out of my system for a while since I don't do cross. I'll get the data out of the way first.
Cat 3/4 - 678Kj, 246W avg, 1044W max, 26.2mph, 20 miles, 40th place
Cat 30+ - 704Kj, 243W avg, 1031W max, 24.9mph, 20 miles, 14th place
Cat 4 - 619Kj, 221W avg, 1063W max, 25.7mph, 20 miles, 24th place (?)

I didn't stick around for the official results of the Cat 4 race so, I'll update them for placing tomorrow or whenever the places are posted. As of now (Sunday night) Murad hasn't posted still.

So, with three races on the same course, I won't bore you with a blow-by-blow of the races. The short story is that I had a great time. The weather was great, I didn't place as well as I wanted, but tonight I am tired and happy and feel like a bike racer. I have things I want to accomplish in the off season and feel like I am so very close to podium land.

Here are some of the more interesting observations I made. I'm a detail kind of guy so I notice lots of things that you don't care about (the rips in people's kits, dog leash colors, etc.)

I think I need to try more 30+ races next year. If it is true that I have good top end power but still need work on accelerating then these are my kind of races. Until the last lap when I got pinched by a dying Artemis rider and then a dying Evo rider I was in the top 10. The 30+ riders proved again and again what the 3's and 4's don't know: there is no need to apply the brakes in the corners. I have on my computer some cornering speeds that approach 30mph from the 30+ race. I have nothing even close to that in the other races. I do need to learn what the 30+ guys look like though, as a few times I worked my way to the front, but then didn't know whether or not I was supposed to chase people. At one point, as I was moving forward and a break went someone yelled "you have to chase that one" so I bridged up to it.

The flags in the back stretch of this course must be made of the heaviest cloth known to man. They barely moved the whole day, but I'm sure we were racing in hurricane winds. At least it felt that way sometimes. Maybe the fact that we spent a lot of time in the high 20's didn't hurt. I have a max speed of around 38 mph in each of the three races.

The other thing I need to learn is what do you do when you get to the front and it's not the end of the race? In each race today, I got to the front at some point and I realized I had no idea what to do next and no plan.

I also need to learn how to finish a race. I feel like I was positioned pretty well all day, but when the last lap would come and the final surges would take place, I found myself chasing the lead group down the final straight. Regardless of my placing numbers today, I was always at the tail end of the lead group passing people who sat up. If you want to know how big the lead group was, just subtract 2 or three from my placing.

I was trying for some top 10 finishes today so I didn't contest any primes. There were a few times in the 30+ and in the Cat 4 race where I think I should have gone ahead and tried my luck.

By the end of the cat 4 race I was just holding on and tucking into the draft. I think I probably would have been wise to do only two races today (look at how the power drops). I was thankful that my fellow 4's are so predictable on the Tradezone course. I knew the few places where they would slow down and I could rest. However, I was in a hanging on mindset rather than an attacking mindset on the last five laps and I fell back a little farther than I wanted. My placing probably would have been worse except for the fact that there was the obligatory crash on the last lap and it happened in a line that I was not taking.

I had the same experience as yesterday where I would claw and fight to get to the front and then as I drifted back, I would stabilize around the same three or four guys all day.

I had two songs running through my head the whole day today. I was alternating between Bob Marley's "So Much Things to Say" and Black Sabbath's "Iron Man". I wonder if I behaved differently when I would be singing the different songs?

It was good to put some more names and faces together. I was glad to talk to Lance from ARBT. He's always so happy to be out racing and kicks ass at will. He had a great showing in the 30+ and then I saw him pull off during the Cat 4 race. He had been complaining about cramps at the start, so I wonder if they finally did him in. I also met Dave Harrell in person finally. I also said a word or two to Bryan from racing union. I see him almost every day on my commute to work, but we just nod.

I had to stop by Home Depot on the way back to Virginia. I was staggering around the store using the shopping cart like a walker. Two people asked me if I was ok, I hope they didn't think I was drunk.

Racing in Zone 2

2007-09-15T16:51:00.000-04:00

It was dark and cold when I left the house this morning for the MP Murad cat 4 race in Poolesville, MD. I finally got a decent night's sleep and I woke up when I was supposed to. When I got near the racecourse, I spotted a few riders warming up in jackets and tights. I finally opted for knickers and arm warmers. Somehow the time slipped away and I only had a twenty minute warm up. Thankfully this was a circuit race, not a crit.

I remembered from last year that it is really hard to move up on this course except in the turns and on a few of the uphill sections so I tried to get a good position from the start. I was probably sitting about 25 or 30th as we began. I assume all 75 people who registered started. During the first lap I finally decided to camp out on the shoulder side this year. I tried the yellow line side, but so many people were moving into the left lane to pass that I kept getting shuffled into the middle. After moving to the shoulder side, I only had to worry about people on my left. Also, the people in front of me would occasionally drift to the middle of the road and open a lane for me to move up a few places. On River road, there was a crosswind from the shoulder side, so when I was willing to get into the wind, I could also move up.

I think I'm getting smarter, I knew that I was tired from this week and so I resisted leading the pack along when I actually found myself at the front. Most of the race was at a pretty slow pace though. The rough road knocked my speed magnet out of line but my heart rate stayed in the zone 2 area for lots of the time. I kept finding myself around the same group of people regardless of whether or not I was trying to move up.

Add day long, people took advantage of the fact that there was no painted yellow line on much of the course and moved up in the opposite traffic lane. After a while it became apparent that the motos were not going to enforce the rule as strictly as they sometimes do. I was upset by this but I realized that there was little I could do to make them stop and I would waste a lot of energy by arguing and yelling.

As we got onto River for the last time, I was starting to fade. My left leg hurt and my hands were numb from the road vibrations. I consoled myself that there were only 3 miles left and it looked like the pace would not pick up until 1km to go. There were a few surges along River and a number of the good racers were now appearing near the front. I'm always amazed at some of these guys. I will race near the front and not see them all day, but when the finish is close, they appear.

I noticed something in my own behavior during the last lap. The more I heard swearing and yelling around me, the more polite I tried to be. I offered the gap in front of me to a few riders. I saw that Bryan didn't have any bottles after his crash and asked him if he wanted one of mine. When people said they were near me I thanked them. If you have to be a ruthless risk taker to win bike races then maybe I have a clue as to why I haven't yet won.

We came to the last turn and everyone knew we would get the whole road. Calls of "take the turn wide" abounded. I let myself go a little wide so I could avoid some rough patches I knew were soon to arrive. Just after the turn, there was an ambulance parked in the road. There is no shoulder, so he was in the lane. I had room and time to move to the right but a guy to my left must not have been looking up as I saw him go down and heard some others. Then as we came up to speed from that, there were two more cars blocking the left side of the road. So much for a closed road.

At the end of the race, some people remember everything, every detail, each rider, who is doing what. I can't do that yet. I only have some disjointed images. I saw one of my teammates go down. I saw two All-American guys almost take each other out. I saw two shapes ahead and to my right that I knew were my teammates (but only because of the color of their kits). I saw a line of riders across the entire road and wondered how the referees would ever pick the places. I saw the 200m line. I can't tell you if I stood to sprint or sat and spun (I know that my power flirted with 1000 near the end). I caught and passed a red and white rider at the line and he swore (hopefully at himself and not at something I did). After I crossed the line, I at least remembered to count who was ahead. I counted 14.

I chatted with a few guys as we rolled along. I introduced myself to the Evo rider who had also camped out on the shoulder for most of the race. I had spent a lot of the last hour or so looking at the Mavic sticker on his bike. It looked like people were going to go for long rides to cool down. I can't blame them. Our cold morning had become a glorious fall day for riding. Me, I needed to get home and help with the kids.

I talked with some of the team in the parking lot. Judd thought he was top 5 and Jordan and Sean were the two just in front of me. Lindsey was getting ready to represent the team in the women's race. I didn't stick around to find out the placings but drove home. I found out later that I'm at least a good counter. I placed 15th. This is good for 6 BAR points in a championship. That brings my total this year to 9 which should move me up about 20 or 30 places on the BAR list.

The power data was pretty much worthless because it had so many dropouts. The powermeter will turn itself off if there is no cadence, speed or power for 10 seconds (without a speed sensor, there is no speed reading after the first 10 minutes or so). So, there were a few times it turned off when we were descending or when the pack was just rolling along. However, from what is there, I have data over threshold (above 355+) and data at recovery pace (below 156W) and not much data in between.

Murad Tomorrow

2007-09-14T10:58:00.001-04:00

I haven't gotten a full night's sleep in almost two weeks because of work and other off bike stresses. I feel like I'm in a perpetual hangover and my coffee consumption has almost tripled.

So Murad is going to be a crapshoot. I'm expecting all of the breaks to be caught, so if I can hide near the front of the peleton, I may be able to make a move at the last turn and up the hill by the farm. If my team needs me to chase a break or attack, I may be toast and complete my perfect record in road races this year (no finishes ahead of the wheel van).

I've got to get some sleep. There is a rumor here at work about a guy who naps in the server room. I have a key to that room, maybe I'll sneak in there. Just for a few minutes.

Craptastic Intervals

2007-09-12T21:25:00.000-04:00

Turned 277 and 257 for my 2x15 minutes today. I've been hoping to hit 300 this year but seem to be going backwards. During the second interval, I could never get my heart rate out of zone 3. I guess it's good that the season is almost done. I think my body is trying to tell me something.

Lots of guys at Hains. I don't go down there much in the evenings.

Ken caught up with me on the way home. He was doing some cross work on the grass. Seeing him ride makes me worry less about when I wind up breaking my collarbone. Even if he's not completely healed, he is back on the bike and seems to ride fine.

More off bike stress. The place where I've been looking for a job wants to have a meeting tomorrow with just me and the CEO. Makes me feel like something may be less than stellar with the offer. I need to finish off this process, it's affecting my training and my race preparation.

I checked the weather for Church Creek. The time trial on 9/9 had 15% higher humidity and almost 20F higher temperature than the 6/23 time trial. It also had wind from the East rather than the North. I'm not saying I didn't suck on 9/9, but I think the weather was a factor.

Global Warming My Eye

2007-09-12T07:12:00.001-04:00

I got up in the pre-dawn to do my intervals. Last set of the season. In order to keep the family peace I lay out my clothes the night before and am back before anyone else wakes up.

It was warm yesterday, so I put out shorts and a short shirt. I started out this morning and knew it was too cold. By the time I got down to the river, it was really cold. I was under dressed.

I went home. I'll do the intervals after work. The thermometer outside my kitchen window read 59F. I know it was colder down by the river. My left calf muscle has tightened up. I'm feeling old.

Lesson learned: the weather can change overnight.

Bike Maintenance

2007-09-11T17:29:00.000-04:00

A sign that you take good care of your bike:

You often startle people on the trail when you say "on your left" and you really startle them when you forget to say it.

Apologies to the jogger this morning.

Maybe I should clip cards to the fork so my bike will be noisy.

Life Takes Priority

2007-09-09T17:10:00.000-04:00

I was supposed to have a breakthrough weekend this weekend. My training plan calls for a peak this weekend and a taper for Murad/Turkey Day.

There have been a lot of off bike distractions recently with the kids going back to school and my job search getting quite intense.

So, I guess I shouldn't have been too surprised when instead of getting up at 5:15A with my alarm, I got up at 7:30A with my wife poking me asking if I was planning to race. If I hurried I could still make the race, but when I got down stairs, the children wanted breakfast. By the time I got them fed it was already after 8 and I still hadn't started to load the car. There was no way I could be sure I would get to Wilmington in time. I decided to call it a day.

I made some time in the afternoon to ride my bike after putting the aerobars on it. I cut a tire bad enough that it needed a boot to get me home. I'm so happy that tires cost $50.

Today I got up early enough. I got out of the house on time. I felt great. Dawn as I went over the Bay Bridge was really pretty. There was fog and some clouds and pink coloring from the sun.

I was scheduled to be the 3rd starter in the Cat 4 race. I had checked the weather and it called for a light wind from the SSE. So, we would start into a headwind and then have some tailwind and finish with a crosswind. I was planning to better my June time of 1:01:59 by 2 minutes. I've been training pretty well lately and it seemed possible. I also didn't ride a very smart TT in June. Between those two things, that 2 minutes was as good as gone. I've told myself that I can't buy any more TT gear (I only have clip on aerobars) until I'm strong enough to break an hour on my own.

I started without incident. I was behind Dana Mellerio who tends to be faster than me in TT's. My plan was to keep him in sight for as long as possible as I expected him to break an hour.
I was on schedule for my first two time checks and could still see Dana as I turned on to Hip Hoof road. There, the road becomes really twisty and bumpy. But it's only about 6 minutes long. I couldn't see Dana around the turns, but I did notice someone gaining from behind.

Shortly after the turn onto Smithville Rd I was passed by Kevin Young. He had started five places behind me. I tried to pace myself on him, but he kept inching further and further away.

Still, at the bridge that is about halfway, I was about 30 seconds behind the pace I wanted. But now Kevin was gone and I hadn't seen Dana. I looked back, no one there either. My power started to drop somewhat. I was trying for 277W-280W but I seemed stuck down at 250W. Speed was down too, around 23 mph. Maybe the wind shifted around. This was supposed to be my tailwind section but wasn't feeling that way.

By the time I reached my 40 minute checkpoint, I was at 41:38 and not feeling so good. I turned onto the final road and directly into the wind. Whereas the wind was light to non-existent when I started, it was now noticeable. The flags were moving around and all showing that the wind was right in my face.

I tried to pick up the pace but felt sapped by the wind. Up ahead, I saw two riders. I thought I was going to catch Dana after all. Having someone to chase made me feel better. However, as I got closer, I realized that the dark jerseys were not the ARBT jerseys but Artemis jerseys from the Women's race. As I went around them, all of the hurt came back. I was developing a side stitch and couldn't decide if I was going to throw up or not. Speed dropped to around 20. This was just silly and my dream of breaking an hour was vanishing. I changed gears to find a better cadence and just focused on not losing any more time.

Finally, I saw the tent and crossed the line. They say that you should finish a TT and know you could not pedal another stroke. I have felt that now. Unfortunately, it took me 1:02:21 to get there. I was wishing for one of the many pickup trucks to swerve over and hit me so that I could get a ride back to the parking lot or to a hospital or anywhere. I didn't dare get off the bike because I knew I wouldn't be able to get back on.

Closer to the parking lot Dana and Alexander Meller caught up with me. They were the two that had started before me. Dana had caught Alexander and Kevin had caught them both. Dana and I made jokes about the fact that we were probably the same age as Kevin's dad.

It turns out that Kevin beat everyone. Ah, youth. My teammate Ken placed 4th in the 4's and teammate Jean placed 2nd in the women's 4. Bryan Vaughan had a poor day and so is still chasing those BAR points he wants. The Cat 5's were strong today, so I got completely bumped out of the BAR points. I placed 10th which is my best TT finish of the year. 3 TT's and I've placed 12th, 11th and 10th respectively. So that means I only need to race 9 more TT's in order to win. At my current rate of 3 a year, you'd better watch out for me in 2010.

Maybe I should buy TT stuff anyway. However, I've read that even if you spend a bizillion dollars you can only gain 3 or 4 minutes over 40K. I'm running about 6 minutes off the pace here at Church Creek so I still have work to do on these legs and this motor.