Merry Christmas

Poped on quickly to wish anyone that happens by a Merry Christmas.

Recovery

I skied Friday with a friend who is super fast. His birke time last year was 2:51. Yikes. I had skies the previous 4 days in row and my leggs are totally shot. I scratched my way up the climbs but it wasn't pretty. : ) I took yesterday off and will not ski today , too cold. -10 when I got up this morning and that's just a bit to cold for me. Tusday it warms back up into the 20's that will be great

Todays ski outing.

Amazing weather, buckets full of sunshine and 20 degrees, no wind, fast snow. perfect! 

here's a map from the outing today

12k and felt great.

skiing yesterday went really well. snow conditions were perfect as was temp and sunshine. Over all a great day to be out and skiing. I skied 12k and felt really good after. I needed to food but legs and lungs were good. so that is 1/4 the birke distance so progress! there are two more challenging sections of my regular haunt that I'm looking forward to getting into but we need one more round of snow first to make sure there is coverage.

Pictures above are of my outing yesterday. That's a friend coming up a long twisting climb. I was pretty nackard buy the top of it so stopped for a sec to take a picture.

Meeting with the ski coach today to get a new round of input and to do list to practice. I am really looking forward to her help it seems to be working already. Then again I'm such a newbie almost anything would help : ) 

Wrong wax

just got in from a ski, and really had the wrong wax. I actually had to double pole down some gradual hills or i would grind to a halt! sheesh. The wax i have is for 18-28 deg and it's 8 out there. I'm a believer now about having the right wax.

It was a really nice day out though very little wind bright , bright sunshine and beautiful new snow.

Too cold.

It's too darn cold. I have been skiing regularly and we even found a coach. I was really starting to find my stride then wham, crazy crazy cold. that negative double digit stuff is too hard to go out in. it's been windy to so the wind chills are in the neg 30's. AAARRRGG. So I sit like the kids in cat in the hat and wait for this to move through. I think it's supposed to break tomorrow. Just in time to meet with our coach. Not that i got much practice in, working on what we discussed last week. I may go to the y today and do, something? I've been idle for 3 days and I've had it.

In addition to having cold outside I have cold in my nose. it's been about a week or so on this cold and it's not going away fast. ratts! Times like these are what make those magic days so great. The ones where no matter how hard you press yourself your body can take it and there seem to be no bottom in the gas tank. As i have said on many occasions I wish i knew how one makes one of those happen on the day you need it.

Prior to the cold snap coming through we had a half day of light rain that was just above freezing so now all the ski base is a block of ice. reports say there is a small amount of powder on top of wind blown ice.. not the greatest. the groomers have there work cut out for themselves to get that in hand. I think we're due for an inch or two today as some warmer air moves in.

I did get the gps tracking working on my phone here is a sample of a recent short outing. I am hoping to have a live version of this running for the birke so my friends at home can check in on my progress if the wish.

Second outing on skis and putting my money where my mouth is.

Had a second outing on the skis and much better my stride is starting to come back, pheew was worried there for a sec. everything from the knee down aches like you would not believe when I'm skiing. If last year is a good measure this too shall pass in a week or two. while I was out there I slowed down and focused on form and it really helped. A couple no poles laps and then some slow-mo v2 and whammo there's the old stride! It was 18 deg. and windy so a bit chilly but it made the snow really fast so no room to complain.

as for my money and my mouth.... registered for the americam birkebeiner last night..... fuck.

So unless I wish to throw away 95 bucks I'm in. really the money isn't the issue it's the 50 k and 10,000 vertical feet. I have to admit i let the mouse hover over the submit button for several long moments before "click" then "Oh my god what have I done"
haha

So to my ones of readers stay tuned. My first birke has real potential to be a train wreck, and therefor potentially entertaining for you. : )

Skiing at last.

Finally got out on skis this week and boy am I rusty. The old skills have taken a vacation and haven't come home yet. I had forgotten how demanding skiing can be, especially when your form is garbage. Efficient gliding strokes is so important that when your not on it it's like plowing through sand rather than gliding on snow. But I needed to get out there and get the transition process started it's a long way to the birkebeiner and I have a lot of work to do to get there.

The only show in town is at elm creek right now they have a 1.5k loop on man made snow. Here are a couple shots of the coarce where we skied yesterday.

Ridin' in the snow.

One the guys on the team has started a regular sunday ride and will keep going out until the snow is too deep to pedal through. here is a little video ( not made by me) of the ride. I bought some roller skis from a guy online, they finally arrived and are all ready to go. may go give them a madden voyage today.

I have decided to race the American Birkebeiner this year I know it's a big leap but I think it's better to give it a try then to be scared off. for those of you not familiar. http://www.birkie.com/ It's 51k and big hills all day long. It, if I'm really having a good day will take 3-4 hours to complete. So not bonking is going to be a real challenge. X-country skiing is easily 900 calories and hour. If you do the math it's pretty easy to see that you could get in trouble. And bonking in freezing cold is nothing to take lightly.

But if as I've said this experiment is about challenging assumptions.... one that I've held is that the birke is too hard for me. So lets go see.


Here is the video from sundays ride:

Does a bunch of bricks ever become a house?

An interesting mood has been creeping into my thinking about my riding and whatnot. I've been at it now for a little under two years. For the last few months I have been responding differently to my regular training. In the beginning i saw training as a bitter pill you take 5 or 6 days every week knowing that it's good for you. That you get faster on the bike and that was something I wanted and the discomfort and pain of training as the price you pay to get what you want.

Lately I have noticed that I am craving to be faster less than I used too. I am craving more the workout itself. No longer is it a biter pill but a comforting friend. Someone I miss if they are absent too long and am truly happy to see again.

I am choosing to see this change as positive for two reasons. One I think being focused and driven on the workouts themselves may make them more productive. Two I think it is difficult to be solely focused on very long term goal and not have short term rewards and failures along the way.

So I am trying to build a house here... Then it makes sense to make each brick with care. If the house this made of bricks then how well you make each brick matters. Obviously you need a master plan or you end up with a pile of bricks and no living room. But I am finding the growing interest in the process and less focus on outcome freeing a bit.

Am I prepared to accept an unknown outcome that is inherent in this sort of process? If i do the best i can, will I be pleased with the results?

While I am intrigued by this evolution in my thinking but I am worried it could indicate a relaxation of focus. I guess we'll just keep an eye on this and see where it takes us for a while.

Friday something funny....

Here is a bit by David Cross, a tremendous smarty pants.   Enjoy

I have a handful of visitors!

hey all,

When I started this blog I was doing so knowing I would be talking to myself and that nobody would read it... ooops.  According to the stats thing I look at from time to time, I have a handful of visitors. Which it amazing and great! I know someone that reads the blog in real life other than that I don't know who visiting my blog. Please feel free to leave a comment and introduce your self if you like I would love to know who's visiting.  You don't need to leave personal info if you don't want to, maybe where your from and how you found the blog?  if you have a blog too?

To my mystery viewers .. hi,  and say hi back if you want.

Bits and pieces

Fall is in full force and comfy outdoor riding opportunities are getting thinner. We had a couple of warm relatively dry days in the last week so got a couple nice rides in. Short .. but nice. Cycling class with my coach has started and will run for 10 weeks. She starts the session with a threshold test. two 8 minute max effort intervals with a 10 minute easy spin in the middle. My perception of discomfort has changed for sure. Last year(my first year) I thought I was going to die.. this year ... It was hard but.. ok. Are the nerves sending less signal to my brain or is my brain ignoring some of the signal?

I borrowed a friend roller skis yesterday to try them ... Thinking about getting some. It was really fun. I could have stayed out there all day. oh to win the lottery and bike, roller ski or ski all day. Maybe in my next life : )

I have my training schedule in mind for the winter but need to get it down on "paper". I rode indoor trainer last night for about 2 1/2 hours watched tv and "rode". I am hoping to log a lot of low and moderate effort time on the trainer this winter. In the outdoor season almost all my riding is very high effort stuff and I am coming to believe that logging lots of moderate effort is a necessary component to building a really solid fitness base. Once again I am trying to figure this out on the fly here. so I am trying different things and seeing what effect they have.

so the winter schedule breaks down like this roughly.

2 days indoor trainer ( bike) 2 to 3 hours per
2 days skiing. maybe more if I can 1 to 3 hours per
1 day weight room ( I'm being told I may need some strength stuff). 1 to 2 hours

Total time per week: 7 to 14 hours a week ... pheew, does that sound like a lot to you too?


So now I am just waiting for the snow to come... tick, tock. the methadone that is you tube skiing videos will not hold off the heebee geebees to long.

here is one of my favorites.. check out the how fast they are going.... good heavens.

Hill running with poles

So ski pre-season has begun. That means running up and down the hills of a nearby reserve with ski poles. It looks easy enough in the video but as you will notice at the end of my last trip up the hill I fell on the ground totally fried. hahaha  The leaves here have been spectacular and so running in the woods has been wonderful.

enjoy the show.

thursday opus ride

My camera died part way into the regular thursday ride so this is the little bit I got before it died.

dull boy

All work and no rest, In this case is making Joel a dull rider. Today, mountain biking with a guy from the team was my third ride in row with lower than normal performace. My heart rates on really hard efforts are very low too. On yesterday's ride I was blowing up with heart rates in the low 170's. today I couldn't get out of the high 160's. All these are canaries for me to heed. My vo2 max is aproximatly 182,though I see high 180's to low 190's regularly on a strong day.

So I am laying down the law
" no bike for you tomorrow"

I think a full day of rest then a couple of medium pace cruisers ought to set things to right. The up side here is. I'm finally acruing enough experience to start seeing these trends and dealing with them before they get worse.

it would be great to get one of those magic days where you have tons of gas. Hopfully a little test will have my back on my better game.

Never better

I was coming home from a meeting yesterday. I had ridden my bike to the meeting about 40 minutes or so to get there. While i was in the meeting the weather changed and I started my ride home into a 40 mph headwind at the leading edge of an inbound thunderstorm. When the front rolled over the air cooled and the rain started. It was the industrial size drops that come with a good old fashion midwestern thunderstorm.

it goes with out saying that i got soaked. I could not have gotten wetter had I jumped in a swimming pool. But here's the fun part. Every once in a while l'll catch myself kavetching about something and just have to smile. This was just such an occasion. I was riding along in the rain grumbling. When it occurred to me this was some premier grade complaining!

Sometime complaining is just good clean fun and you shouldn't have to feel bad for it. So I laughed to myself for a few seconds then went right back to the highlight of my day, bitching about having to ride home in the rain : )

Lebanon hills

Here is a little video from a trip down to Lebanon Hills just south of minneapolis.

new and improved with video

a friend started posting video on their blog and has up'd the anti so I went out and bought a helmet cam and here is the first test. enjoy

Will mountain bike racing screw me up?

I have been riding a fair bit of mountain bike in the last couple weeks. It seems to go well with the fallish weather we've been having lately. I must say i am really enjoying it. i am worried however about loosing focus on my road goals. 

I think doing some mountain bike races may be really fun and put some energy into training. I've had to work pretty hard to acquire the fitness I have and don't want to jeopardize it. I'm not saying that mountain biking is easier. Obviously it can be as hard as you like just like road riding. It's  more a concern for maintaining focus and keeping my eye on the prize. 

I hired a full time coach last spring for a few months to help me get ready for the racing season. She is an ex pro mountain bike racer I am sure she will have all kinds of advice.  I can sort of already hear her in my ear. "well you have to decide what your goals are" 

I am really glad my season ended on a relative high note. It has me already thinking about the durand road race in the spring. Hopefully another season of skate skiing and the indoor cycling classes by my coach will have me all set to do better at durand than last year(crossing fingers).

These are the three numbers from the three races this year. Sort of a little scrap book above my desk.

Well better get back to it, i have a mountain bike ride at noon and I have stuff I need to get done before I can go.

Ratts back to fighting.

So I have avoided politics mostly because there is so much political ranting going on on the internet that it's covered pretty well. But.... after the speech by Gov. Palin at the republican convention I feel compelled to note something just this once.

the politics of the US has been driven by a strategy of the republican party that seeks to divide the country in a way that garners them the advantage. it's been very successful for them from the point of view of gaining and retaining power. But at what cost?  

This concept again and again demands of americans if they are to consider themselves americans in good standing to revile their neighbors and fellow americans. It demands that pick and support them in their entirety with out question and vowing total allegiance to their cause. It demands that you fight with every fiber to destroy those who would choose something different particularly the democratic party. It demands that you separate yourself from "them" politically socially geographically, and  religiously. The architects and tacticians of this strategy would have you forget that the " them" they may be talking about are your neighbors, family and fellow countrymen. Those who plan and impediment this dissecting of the american people would have you fill your heart with fear and hatred for your own family if they do not subscribe. 

The Mc Cain campaign has up to this point payed passing homage to this policy but largely avoided it and I have appreciated them for there courage. It would take some strength to not succumb to it as a leader in the republican party. this has been the way they have conducted themselves, that is until last night. 

Governor Palin last night demanded of the convention and the country that they fill their hearts with suspicion and hatred for anyone who doesn't support the presented ideology and it doesn't matter how kind or hard working or faithfully they and their ancestors have sacrificed for this country. If they will not march in lock step and carry the republican torch, you must hate them.

I am truly sad. I had hoped that We the People could take this opportunity to address some really troubling times but it would seem we will be wasting our time finding reasons to undo the work of our neighbors. 

Sadder still is how willing the american population is to give them their wish. So many of us will say yes. Yes I will oppose and disassociate myself with my fellow americans. Yes I will segregate my community and tell my children that they are not to talk to the kids across the street or across town. Yes I will say aloud that those who believe differently from me are dangerous and that peril will come to us all unless we destroy them.

Last night we returned to the gloom and I am sad and angry for it. I don't want to be afraid. I don't want to hate my neighbors to tell you the truth they seem ok to me. 

I don't want to be hated. 

look how far away we've fallen from, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself !"

Gone is the america that is a squabbling family that loves each other, and would do anything for their brother or sister.

Just really sad.

On the bike after a week

I finally got on the bike last night after being away from it for over a week. I've been getting thinner and thinner on patience for days now. It is a good thing I could finally got a ride in before I totally loose it. I can tell that I've lost some strength from my being away from the bike. But work and the beginning of the school year have made my bed for me. 

All the people that know fitness stuff say however good long term strategy comes with periods of rest and  recovery so I'll just pretend this is one of those. The people that ran the race I was in last still don't have the results up, bugger. I've even emailed them to ask when they may be up and no response. hmmmm. sort of frustrating, may be my best finish of the year and I can't find out. well we'll see. 

The air for the last two days has made a definite turn cooler and the smell of  fall is out there believe it or not. I am not ready to give up on summer weather but it's not up to me.

If anyone reads this please leave a comment I am curious if anyone other than Tamsin reads this at all. 

hey tam

State Championship Road Race

This is me and a team mate waiting to line up to start.

Starting rollout.

Pack going by on lap one. I'm in there but you can only see my helmet in the back (behind the guy in the red and white jersey.

My team mate won the race this is him coming across the line.

This is me coming across the line. by the look on my face and the victory salute you'd think I'd just won a tour stage. haha.  I was very happy it went well. so A little victory dance just for me.

This last saturday was the state championship road race. It sounds much more prestigious that is it . It's just another road race. It's just that it's the last for the season. I went and raced. I a happy to report that it went really well, on the joel scale that is. I felt relatively good throughout the race and finished somewhere in the middle. A group of about 20 got away on down wind sprint during the first lap. I held on for about another 15 miles or so then fell off on a big climb on the second lap. 

The front group just barely got away from me. But I had decided that in this race vs previous races i would not blow up trying to stay with the front group. So I put in the hardest effort i could that I thought I could recover from well enough to finish somewhere in the mix. At durand and marty I chased the front group to collapse then got passed by everyone later in the race as I was spent. this time after the front group got away I managed my effort to keep it sustainable then waited for groups to work with from the rear to catch me and I piled on the first one. there were 3 riders from birchwood, a grand performance guy and another i didn't recognize. 

Quick note on the birchwood guys, Super good guys, very cool and good to share the burden with. Kudos and thanks to the birchwood guys.

They haven't posted the results yet but I think I finished in the low 30's somewhere. There were 49 starters. 

While my finishing place doesn't reflect it I did much much better. I was very comfortable in the peloton. I managed my effort much better. I still had some cramping issues which is odd. I've ridden further and harder with the club and not had that happen. I think it's the food and drinks that i'm taking prior to the race that may be the culprit. have to do some experimenting there.

It was nowhere near as painful as durand or marty. I was spent when i crossed the line but the agony getting there was much less.

I am looking forward to the spring races now. I think If i stay on track with my training I may hang on the the front pile in one of the spring races, cross your fingers.

Bad days happen

So went out for a ride yesterday with the usual suspects and totally blew up.  I had no energy at all, nothing. I think a day like that is a canary in the coal mine. It's an indicator that something is going on. In the past these days almost always came at the end of a particularly wearing time or a time where I am not being mindful of recovery and rest. 

I have had so little down time after ragbrai. I am sure yesterdays debacle is nothing more than my body saying basta! So I need to go on a recovery schedule for a few days and see what happens.

I am sure this is boring for anyone who may chance upon this but if this i to be a semi record of my effort to become a middle aged bike racer I sure note this down turn for future reference.

So there you have it.

Back from Colorado

Hey all, home at last and home to stay for a bit. 

A bit up blog updatery. I finally posted a new song o' the day... enjoy!

Colorado was good. The mountains were beautiful as expected. we went for a couple of amazing hikes. One was way above tree line so everyone was huffing and puffing pretty good but we all made it. We hiked up to a ridge next to a peak and you could see up and down the mountain range to the horizon. Truly amazing and well worth the effort.

I did not get to Bike as much as I would have hoped. I only got out twice last week in the mountains. Both were high quality workouts though so not to bad. The hikes were also good workouts to i doubt I lost any fitness while I was out there. I am looking forward to settling back into a more regular cycling schedule.

 There is the possibility of one more race for the year. It's a really challenging road race. I may do it knowing I will likely get dropped. But if others on the team are going to give it a crack I will too. I don't think I'd like to go it alone like the marty MN. road race.. that sucked. 

Mostly I am totally tired from ragbrai and then going to colorado with no recovery time. So once again I'm looking forward to hunkering down into a more regular routine and getting settled a bit.

Also It august In Minnesota so it is time to start getting ready for ski season. Trail running and mountain biking as prep will start soon. I am already lamenting that road bike season is coming to a close. Like I didn't ride enough road this spring and summer.

One more race to close out the season I think..... see how we ended up for the year. Start planning for the spring races. The durrand road race is only 8 months away.... haha.  

I'll post some colorado pictures as soon as i get a sec to pull them off the camera.

until next time..

"the world belongs to those who show up"  my mom

Ragbrai 2008

Good heavens where to start? Ragbrai this year was as amazing an experience as last year. So it didn't fail to deliver. It was really great to reconnect with people I'd met last year. Good to meet new people that joined the weary band.  As much as I enjoy my bike riding... Ragbrai is about people. People you meet, you see, you hear. People that raise your spirit, inspire and confirm that we are alive and well.

Along the way I saw so many struggle and succeed, as I struggle, uplifted as I am uplifted and  reminded that we are human and magnificent. I can't imagine you can spend your week as I have and be ambivalent. It is such a unique experience it would certainly get a reaction out of anyone I would think.

I'll include in this entry some picture that I am sure will not help you understand what ragbrai is like.  I have no idea how to describe it so that anyone will understand it. You really do have to see if and ride it for yourself to understand it. the closest I can say is it's like woodstock-stugis-mardi-gras on bike. Your there to live in a wholly separate society from your regular life.

There really isn't much to ragbrai. Everyday you pack up your tent put on your bike clothes and ride about 70 miles or so through rural Iowa.. so what.  How could that possibly be interesting let alone inspiring? 

For me the inspiration comes from two sources. One,  as I have mentioned in this blog on many occasions I am interested in confronting assumptions. And so the physical challenge of riding 491 miles in 7 days provide many opportunities to challenge the assumptions we hold for ourselves. How strong am I? how weak? stronger than last year? And Two, knowing how physically challenging it is. You see thousands challenging themselves too... amazing!

As for how I feel I did this year. I am very pleased with how much stronger I was this year compared to last. I rode very very well. As an example, On friday I had to pace another rider up to meet with the main group that had left a half an hour or so before. So i soloed the first 20 miles and about 21 mph through rolling hills. Then after meeting up with the main group the peloton moved along at about 25 mph for the next 40 miles the finished the last 5 or 10 miles off at 27-30 mph! I did not get dropped! the guys on the front are obviously on another planet from me as far as fitness. I could have never hung on to that last year, no way. So I am feeling really encouraged about my progress. I rode 4 days with the fast squad and didn't get dropped once.

Well obviously I can go on and on about it but you have other things to do so i'll leave it there for now. Enjoy the pictures.

Next stop Dillon Colorado for a week. I am hoping to ride to vail pass a few times while I'm there. 

Keep your heals down

J

Hopkins Crit

This last weekend was the hopkins crit.  five of my team mates raced. I didn't race because I'm leaving for ragbrai on saturday and I didn't want to risk getting in a wreck and not having a bike for ragbrai.  

I really enjoyed watching the race though. A lot of people from the team came to cheer and I made myself nearly horse yelling at them as they whizzed by.  The race started really fast the first 3 laps (.7 miles)  were about 28 mph then is settled down a bit for the majority of the race then picked back up for the last couple of laps. 

Out of the 5 starters we had had 4 get dropped and one came in dead last. we really are the bad news bears. but you know for three of the guys it was there very first race. So i think we are all such beginners that the results show it.  But huge credit to the guys for going for it. As i have learned taking the risk of racing takes courage and a willingness to accept getting trampled the first few times. I am so glad some more of the guys are starting to race being out there alone was really hard. I think I may have helped some others muster the courage. If joel can do it... shit anyone can. haha. 

We had a couple of very hard group rides in the last week. I'm still toward the back of the pack but I'm hanging on ... not getting dropped,  this is a good thing.  I have so far to go to reach a place where I'm satisfied with my capacity but i continue to make painstakingly slow progress. As alway patience is so very important. there are defiantly time where I am pounding my head against a wall and seemingly getting nowhere. Then all of the sudden a dreaded hill is not so dreadful. 

courage and patience

I am tapering my training in preparation for ragbrai. So I only rode 20 yesterday and today. I will probably stop riding on friday and rest friday and saturday. Then get up sunday morning and it's day one of Ragbrai. WooHooo!

I may try to sneak into libraries or something to file some updates but realistically probably won't be able to say much until I get back.

a few things and items

Thing or item 1: I decided not to race today. I was concerned about crashing and making my bike unridable for ragbrai. so no race for tonight. I'll be racing in august after I get back. More of the team will be ready to race next month.

Thing or item 2:  I was at gooseberry falls over the fourth holiday. It's a great national pask on the north shore of superior and get a full endorsement. The camping was great and the trails and falls were really spectacular. 

Thing or item 3: A little while ago I posted  you tube video of a guy who stacks rocks in these precarious piles. While on the north shore this weekend there was tons of lakeshore stone so I thought I'd give it a try. And what do you know it's really not that hard to do. I'll include a pictures of my attempts at stone stacking. Once again no glue no wires. 

Next Race

I am considering racing next tuesday in a crit series here in town. I am a little gun shy after the debacle in Marty Minnesota. I have been feeling stronger since coming back from bran and have kept my miles up pretty well. I think it may be time to go test myself again see how I am progressing.  The crit is almost entirely flat and in an open coarse. So may be a good one for a newby like me. I am hoping more of the team will be interested in racing. Being alone at these races adds a level of stress to them, like it needs more! But I've been riding well lately and hanging on to the team rides relatively well. Something that was not true only a few months ago. 

Here is a link to the race series and the results from the last two iterations  http://www.spbrc.org/

I need to get me bike insured before I race again if I wreck it I will have a hard time replacing it.

Insuring it will be a bit expensive but worth it to ensure I'm covered if I wreck.

The new bike is riding really well tho I am a bit self conscious on it. It's a little conspicuous and it makes me sort of embarrassed. But I'm trying to take this seriously and do my best. So I put myself on the best bike I could afford. 

I am looking forward to racing again. I have no idea how it will go but as always courage is important.

Makin' Some Pie

My Dad came to town this last weekend and so we fired up the pizza oven. My dad loves makin a pizza about as much as me. It threatened to storm all day and did rain off and on in the morning. But held off for us to make pizza and hang out in the yard. this is the second time we've used it this summer. I am hoping to press it into use more and more as the summer continues.

Ride notes from the weekend:

I rode on sat only 25 miles or so and not really pressing. Then on sunday rode with a friend that is slower and so rode about 35 but really slow. as bad as this sounds it was hard to wait for them. I wanted to let out the rains and run so bad. my goodness all the kind people who've been held up by me.

I may try to go out over the next couple days and hit it harder to even up after a more mellow weekend.

In other notes you'll notice that ragbrai is 19 days away! I am getting really excited and nervous. the team/club is taking 40 this year vs. the 16 that went last year. So the tone of the thing will be different for sure. 

Fyi: home made wood fire pizza... nothing else like it....   everyone should have a clay dome in their yard.

Summer Buzz

I am feeling stronger and stronger on the bike. It's so hard to tell if your really getting stronger or are you just in a good mood and it seems that way. Am I getting faster or do I just have a summer buzz? As I've mentioned in recent entries I seem to be recovering well from longer days on the bike. I was telling a team mate the other day i feel like I am about to graduate from the beginning group to the medium group. I certainly hope that's true.

I went out with a team mate for climbing this morning we did about an hour of hill intervals. total ride time was a hair under 3 hours. We were climbing in flat threshold and climbing threshold. no max efforts today.. Woohoo!

I am going out with larger group this evening for a couple hours. It will be nice to get some peloton time in after grinding away on hills this morning.

Hopefully i can start a local tt series to put down some real numbers... we'll find out if we're any faster or not.

Coolest tv commercial ever

So this is my favorite tv commercial of all time. it came out a few years ago but I remembered it the other day so I thought I'd up it up for fun.  

Sony Bravia

Sunday ride

just a quick ride note.  Rode 53.71 today at an average speed of 19.6 we had 8 from the team ride to i sat in most of the time to try not to get droped. I burned 2300 calories. One of the guys rode a double century yesterday and then showed up for the team ride today... wow. 

For all you non cycling insiders a century or  100 miles is sort of a touch stone. it's something to accomplish, riding a century. From a caloric expenditure point of view it is roughly equivalent to running a marathon. So this guy essentially did a double marathon, then came to a team ride the next day. Once again.... wow.

Seat hight... who knew

I went for a ride with the team today. I adjusted my seat up about 5mm. After being fit for the new frame the seat felt a little low to me but "their the experts, right" so I figured I ride it on their settings for a while. I moved it to a more historic norm and what do ya know, the knee was great today. I did watch my cadence pretty close, but all was good today! 

Ride notes

35.98 miles 

1:59.22

18.09 mph ave

1691 calories

HUH OH,,, my knee hurts

I've been having mild knee pain for about a month. today I was on a ride with a team mate and it really  increased. hmmmmm. knee pain is defiantly something I am told to watch out for. I've been instructed to do some stretching and then ice it. So i'll go do that. 

There are full team rides scheduled for tomorrow and sunday. These rides tend to be really fast and very sprintish. I'll have to sit on the back for a while and see how the knee is feeling before getting into it with the guys.

Ride notes:

43.17 miles

Time: 2:23

Ave : 18.11

Nature Valley Grand Prix

As mentioned in the previous entry, I went to watch the Nature Valley Grand Prix in stillwater Minnesota this last weekend. 

It was a great experience It was the first professional race I had watched in person. Let me start off by saying I'm not sure these beings are the same species as me. The speed of it was so far beyond anything I am accustom to, both shocking and inspiring. Granted these are actual human being doing this, not aliens or robots. 

The star of the day hands down goes to Kristen Armstrong (no relation to lance). She won the day and the series that day. she was off the front from the second lap on and the gap grew throughout the race. by the final lap she was alone in front by 3/4 of a lap. really amazing. There is a tough climb in the coarse as you can see in the video. She was so consistent climbing, her last lap looked exactly like her first. No change in cadence while climbing same speed, she was a machine chewing up the road. 

I wish I were just enough faster to feel confident to race again soon. But I'm not quite there, patience grasshopper.

Ride Notes:

I rode today with two from the team. we did 39.79 in 2:11. so a hair over 18 mph average speed.

I continue to feel stronger after bran. I really think putting in some long efforts has been working well for me. I continue to recover better and better from hard efforts.

I think recovery is as much a mental process at a physical one. As a hard effort like a hill abates you have continue to apply pressure continue to work even after a max effort.you have to resist the temptation to coast over the top. Dialing the effort back just a bit then wait, wait, wait, for recovery to come. Training your mind to be patient and that relief is coming all the while you body is screaming for relief now!, takes some learning. I have so far to go in this area but am beginning to build some skill.

Back from bran

I am back from the bike ride across Nebraska. I went down there to ride with some relatives. I rode three days with them in rural Nebraska. I was very surprised at how remote and western it was. I had always thought of it as a midwest state but it is defiantly more western. Huge open expanses of rolling cattle land dotted with tiny towns that serve as the rail connection and grain elevator. Throughout the region we met incredibly kind and generous people who saw us  as lost children or perhaps mental patients. 

I rode 190 miles over the 3 days. The terrain was mostly rolling hills. the major defining element was the wind. Every day we had a stiff 20 to 30 mph wind out of the southwest. It is remarkable how wearing it is to be pummeled hour after hour by the constant wind. By the end of the day you are very tired not so much from the miles but from the exposure to sun and wind. 

I hope to have some pictures to accompany this entry soon so check back.

so for the last week I put on 277 miles. that's the most I've logged since ragbria last year. I must say tho I feel much better prepared for ragbrai this year than i did last.  i felt very strong on these longer days. I had little trouble sustaining long hard efforts and recovering quickly. It appears all the training is paying off!

On sunday I went to stillwater to see the nature valley grand prix. It is a professional bike race.  They did 5 stages here in minnesota. I saw the final stage on sunday. It was very inspiring. More on this and pictures in my next entry.

mendota loop

I went out for a 40 miler today. Warm and humid so nice to have real warm weather to ride in. I would much rather be a bit on the warm side than too cool. I rode with a team mate that is a fare bit faster than me so hanging on was tough. I was all over vo2 max on many occasions today. It was a hard ride but felt very strong even when at max.  I have been having a touch of knee pain on my left. I'll need to keep an eye on that. This is one area where you can get yourself in trouble. I may have to set aside my affection for low cadence climbing. At least until my knee starts to feel better. Very nice day on the bike. 

Ride notes

40 miles 

2:15

ave speed 17.87

calories 1982

e=mc2

So I went out for a quick 18 mile loop yesterday. The cervelo is definitely faster than my old bike. It's hard to say without precise calculations but I may have bent spacetime out there :)

A non-objective review of the RS

So I took the new ax out for a spin last night and it rode beautifully. It is light and nimble and very, very fast. But what really defines the bike are the subtleties. 

There is a layer of finely detailed feedback from the road and the state of the bike that is wholly new to me. The dampening qualities of the carbon filters out so much noise that the information you need appears load and clear because it's not lost in noise. This feedback makes the bike incredibly intuitive. You just think turn left and it does. It boarders on precognition. 

It is also amazingly stable. The track is so straight. This is a bike that knows how to hold a line. Even when pounding at the pedals the bike doesn't wobble back and forth, rather it shoots forward with each stroke. How can it have such stability and explosive power? 

It is clearly beyond anything I've ever ridden.

I will definitely have to bring my game up to be worthy of it.

The new ax is in.

Just a quick post before I take 'er for a madden voyage. A shot of the new ax... woohoo! 

ok I'm out.........

the first day of spring

Yesterday was the first day of spring. With the start of summer comes new chapters in the story.

I am no longer being coached be my cycling coach. I can not afford to have a personal trainer full time, all year. I am not a rich guy and I have to make my choices about what is a smart use of my money. So I'll need to push myself without an external motivator. 

Secondly my new bike is being built as I'm writing this. later today I'll go and get it fitted. and then go for a kick off ride!

I am concerned about maintaining training intensity. I can feel myself slipping and it's worrying. I've made so much progress but have so far yet to go. To tell the truth I am a bit sad. I wish I would have started this journey 25 years ago. It makes me sad to think of what i may have been able to accomplish if I had set my mind to it back then. Now all that opportunity is gone for me I am just too old to be able to achieve higher levels of performance. 

I'll try to keep an open mind about where this unknown journey is going. But I can tell I'm playing catch up big time.

I'll add ride note after the madden voyage.

A quick word on Stevie Ray Vaughan

I was watching tv last night and there was a clip of Stevie and I watched it.  I had forgotten what an amazing musician he was and what a shame he died so young.  Gifts that extraordinary are so rare it can be difficult to appreciate them in there time. So I've posted his rendition of voodoo child. Why that song? I think there are to beings who can play it properly jimi and stevie. Everyone else should just stay away from it.

 If played properly the guitar is a whaling voice, crying and tormented.  If played poorly it mechanical and lifeless. It separates gods that breath life from the mortals.

art and music this brilliant are like looking into the sun.

enjoy

New bike new goals

So the frame for my bike showed up saturday and I am wondering what the plan is for the new ax. I think my two stunning defeats this spring have left me a bit gun shy of another road race. It's a pretty big commitment and effort to attend one. And if poor results are a very good likelihood it doesn't seem to be a wise choice of limited time.

So what are my choices then?

1) set racing aside for a bit and concentrate on group rides and preparing for ragbrai. This feels like quitting to me and I'm not ready to give up yet.

2) the black dog road time trial series. Every two weeks they run a time trial in a southern suburb of minneapolis. So every other week you can go race your previous time and the other competitors. I think this is a good option for me. I would get some competition time and the roller coaster ride that comes with it and it's a good metric to gage my fitness and progress.

3) Stay in the batters box and keep swinging.  Keep going to road races and crits and take my lumps. Chalk it all up to learning.  the fun to pain ratio seem a tad steep for me.

I think what I'll do is... ride a bit on the new bike to get comfortable then start in on the black dog TT.  if I am doing well in my category consider another road race or perhaps my first crit.

I am going to start a new section to my entries on my training notes to keep a record for fun and review later.

Training Notes: June 1 2008

group ride three friends on the mendota route. one of the people was a relative beginner and so the pace was a bit slow. Also the beginner didn't drink nearly enough and was really fading toward the end.

37.14 miles. That's 59.77 k for all you nosey Aussies : )

max hr:178

av hr: 128

calories: 1693

 av speed 13.44

Hair metal

So I read on a friends blog a post about 80's rock ballads   ( http://www.tamsinkirax.blogspot.com/)   So in response. I must say I was in a related but slightly different place at that time. please enjoy the blast from my past.

then I skipped over a bunch of stuff and went straight to this sort of thing

Comments

I have received a few comments! thanks Tamsin. I didn't know I had to approve them before they will appear, but now i do. keep them coming.

The Management.

cowboy with no horse, is not a cowboy

Ever since my accident, I've been with out my bike.  Which for me is like a missing a trusted friend. Cycling is largely a solitary pursuit which is a large part of it's appeal for me. I find the demands of self reliance challenging, but a daily reminder of my true strength and weakness. There are no opportunities for vail the truth. Out there on the road pain is pain, actual pain not a metaphor for something else and you will pay for your mistakes with more of it. There is no pretense pain is pain and joy is joy, undiluted and without rational. The road is honest and unforgiving and I love it for it's lack of bullshit. When your on the road you have one ally. Your bike, it is there, to endure with you through torture and triumph. So when your trusted friend is lost it sort of upsets your apple cart. 

This week after some searching I think I've made peace with a new friend to be joining me in the future. I am really looking forward to it arriving I had to order a new frame for my bike and it will arrive in 5 days or so. Then all the components have to be moved over and the bike fit process done with my local bike shop.

So where will I go?  what will I see? what triumphs?  what failures will me and my new friend find together?

Lets go see

No apologies

I saw a documentary the other day.... It's been around for a few years and everyone else has seen it. So for all you.. like me that missed it. You have got to see this.I found this completely inspiring. The funny thing about trying to become a middle aged bike racer is that just about everyone thinks your 

1) unbelievably stupid

2) a narcissist

3) deranged

or

4) An old man that wants to be a child again.

To all of them I say go live your own life and fuck off.

The documentary as you will see, shows people being unbelievably driven to do something nobody thinks is a good idea and end up inventing something wholly new. unapologetically myopic and driven. 

Passion Matters, Go do the shit out of the things that make you who you are.

here's a clip from the documentary.

I broke my bike but not my head.

I had a bit of a mishap this last weekend. I ran into the side of a car on my bike. A driver tried to pull into a parking spot right in front of me and I plowed into the side of her car. I was going along about 20 when i saw her and started to brake. I think I had about a car length and a half of braking before the impact. I glanced of the side of her car because it was at an angle to go into the spot then got kicked onto the sidewalk beside the road.  It's my first wreck. I am fine, a bit sore but no bad at all.

My bike took the worst of it tho. The frame cracked and I'll have to replace it. carbon frame  ride wonderfully but are subject to fracture. Once the integrity of the moulded carbon is breached you have to throw it out and replace it. So my bike store is going to order a new one. I'll have to wait a bit for it to come in and get assembled so that's a bummer. I'm riding my old bike for the moment as to keep up with training.

It's odd I remember it in it's entirety. you hear stories about how it's all a blur or it happened so fast. not in this case while it did happen in the blink of an eye I remember it well and what I was thinking. I can remember seeing the car rushing toward me and thinking oh no! I could tell right away i was going to hit it. As I got close I can remember forming a plan to at the last second turn toward the side of the road to minimize the impact angle. I can remember my hand against the glass of the rear passenger door window, rolling onto my back in the grass.

Weird huh?

In other news the new team kits are here and got mine yesterday so new duds for the team!

Spring finally comes to minnesota

You heard it right, spring has finally arrived here in minnesota. The lilacs and trees are in bloom the leaves are out and the grass is green.  what a sight for sore eyes. Temperatures this week were in the 70's!  riding outside has been glorious this week, so i put on 178 miles wheeeeee!

I'll post a few pictures of what is blooming in the yard. I'm not going to write much more at the moment I'll be back in a bit going to go out and get some more sun!

Flotsam and Jetsam

Here is some random shit that I think is fun.

1. Andy Goldswothy very interesting artist. Here are a couple of clips from river and tides a documentary about him. Enjoy 

2) To continue on this theme a bit. Check out this guy. Keep in mind this is not a trick. no glue no wires. just rocks.

Work has been insane this week so sorry not to many entries. hopefully the tidbits will tide you over.

Am I funny?

We've all see it. That one guy that thinks he's very funny. At ever cocktail party he's over there doing his shtick and everyone around him nods chuckles and stairs at there drinks. Because he's not funny and everyone is to polite to tell him. Even his poor wife standing there embarrassed doesn't have the heart to tell him. The problem he doesn't know he's not funny. and he goes on and on embarrassing himself. 

My race was yesterday.  So after years of speculation  and rumor by many and there is finally irrefutable evidence the facts are in. I am in fact a looser. I came in dead last... and not by a little. Fuck. The part of the race that hurt the most was to resign to it. To roll over and die. About three quarters of the way through the course  it was glaringly obvious I was alone off the back.  I had such bad cramping in my butt that I could barely sit and when I tried to lean into the pedals I got shooting pains from the center of my butt where the muscle attaches to the bone all the way down into my knees. I was painted in to a corner. I couldn't go any faster. I crawled my way to the finish. 

As I crossed there were a group of riders and spectators standing around the finish line. I heard one say to the other " now that's just embarrassing"

So......... Am I funny?

Race Tomorrow

I am going to be racing tomorrow. There is a 32 mile road race this saturday and I think I'll go give it a whirl. I must admit I've been a little under the weather most of this week sore throat and cold/aches.

Maybe it will have no effect on me, but I've not felt really strong on the bike this week. I think for this racing season however being my first going and getting pack time is going to be helpful. Even tho My fitness isn't quite up to par and I may or may not be able to hang on to the end. It will bode well for next year. I've come a long way in the last year and I think by this time next year I'll be in a better spot to compete. Right now I think this is about getting experience. 

One of the things I am finding about getting fit is there are a million opinions on the best way to go about it. Which tells me there is more than one way to skin this cat. Part of the experience I need to work through, is finding the right way for me. What sort of workouts get me the results I want / what food/ what rest... what is the most effective way to warm up? I just need experience to help guild me.  

Speaking for warming up. For some reason this part of the equation is appearing to have a large impact on how a ride goes. I am finding that the warm up needs to be fairly long 30 -40 minutes, and fairly intense toward the end. i am finding that hitting it hard at the very first, creates a fatigue that I can't recover from. However if I slowly ramp up the effort in a serge and recover method I can push really hard at the end and recover relatedly well.

Well that's all the boring bike stuff I have on my mind at the moment. I'll right in to tell you how the race went.

Once more into the breach! We happy few.

Monday monday

I put something bumpy on for the song of the day to make monday a bit easier to swallow.  

Hope everyone is having a good monday!

cheers

Snow... can you believe it .... snow aarrggg!

So it's snowing here in fabulous Minnesota. Minnesota is actually a great place to live for the most part but the winter this year has really been hard.  It hasn't been the cold, Sure it was cold but not super cold, this year it's the length of it. wow it's just not going to give up! The leaves on the cherry tree out front are coming out and it's snowing?!

Here is a link to a local webcam so you can see for yourself. 

http://www.kare11.com/weathr/skycam-viewer.aspx?map=calhouncam.jpg

So, this will make getting out on the bike a bit tough this weekend, rats. I told my coach I wanted to take this last week off to ride with my buddies and sort of take it as it comes. I had been so focused on the race and training for it. I thought it would be good to let my hair down for a week. It has been nice but, I'm getting worried I'm going to start loosing ground if I fuck around for much longer. It's been 2 days since I've been on the bike. I am getting pretty anxious. I get this way if I don't get my riding in. I think I may have a monkey on my back: )

One of the owners of the team was commenting on a ride this week I seem to be having trouble recovering after max efforts.  ummm ya...  that's true

She is a personal trainer in addition to being the co-owner of the team and she knows what she's talking about so. unfortunately I think that means more max effort work for me..ouch. 

Moxy

So I had an interesting run in the other day.  I was coming in from a bike ride when this kid on a mountain bike starts waving me down on the road. So stopped and he was wanted to know where he could find a good road bike. There is a neighborhood bike shop close to my house and the guy that runs it is a super good guy so I told him (the kid) I'd ride over to it with him.

On the ride over he is telling me his story. He wants to ride the MS 150. A regional bike ride to raise money for multiple sclerosis. See he has a bone disease and goes to an occupational therapist for help. his therapist has helped him so much and he is really great-full to her. And you guessed it she ( the occupational therapist) just found out she has MS. So this 17 years old kid with this debilitating bone disorder is going to ride 150 miles in 3 day to help someone else! Bam!  Wow!

So I figure my role in this bit of kismet is to help this kid reach his goals. And so the wheel of compassion turns. I help him, he helps her, and she helps him... I love when you get see light and hope. 

Shots from the race.

Heres a couple of shots to put a face to the whole thing.

The top one is lining up to go, note the shoes on the race director.  : ) That's me on the front corner of the starting grid, in black... fyi

and the second one is after the lead group dropped me and I am fighting it out in the field.

More later......

22nd

I placed 22nd out of 40. 

Did I do well or poorly?  That depends on your perspective.  my team mate won the thing. so obviously  he did great. I am very pleased with how yesterday went. I fought as hard as I could. when i crossed the finish line there was nothing left. So how could i not be pleased. I faced my fears and fought as hard as I could. so I think I did good. 

The race was a fascinating experience. I had never believe myself strong enough to race as a young person who loved cycling. And as I have mentioned I am very interested in confronting the assumption we make for our selves and see what happens. And in this case I found I am strong enough. Strong enough for me, for someone else? that's for them to decide but for me I found I'm just barely strong enough. And I feel damn good to know it. If I had allowed my fear to keep me home. I would still have that assumption in my head that I am too weak to fight. 

courage as it turns out is really really important.

The other assumption, I didn't break. I didn't have a heart attack and die. I placed 22nd and I didn't come away from it demoralized. I pushed to my absolute limit and held it there for an hour and a half and I didn't break.   good to know that too!

Why is all this limit shit important?

How good of a man am I?  What is the limit of my care for my family? How hard can I fight for them? how compassionate can I be? how patient? What is the limit of what I can provide for them? ......  Courage

Not long now

Usually I have some idea what i intend to talk about when I sit down to post something.  Being new to the blogging biz, apparently you have to wing it occasionally. so here we go.

I just got in from a ride that was issued by my coach. short ride with 3,  2 minute max efforts in it. surprisingly unpleasant.

I have a few work things to attend to today. then I'll start getting ready for the race.

I really did think I would be feeling better about this by now... But I am worried I've given up and haven't even gone yet. Rather than live with my fears. So at this point I think more than fitness, or strong legs or a fast bike I need courage. Courage  for what?  what am I so afraid?

failure, At this point we are talking hundreds of hours in training. Ass breaking, pain and sweat to break your will. What if all that pain, counts for nothing. I am afraid it will break me after all that suffering I am no better for it. Courage is needed to face the unknown.. will tomorrow break me, courage, I don't know... courage.

I was thinking of a passage from the book dune while I was out riding this morning.

I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain.

cheery huh?

ok well that's enough gloom for today... I have to get ready....  perhaps the preparatory process will help... I sure fucking hope so.

50 % less looney bins

Went to watch some local races last night. Really fun and helped the calming down process a lot.

Not a lot to say today, sort of buried in work so not too much time to contemplate my navel. Which is a good thing. It's nice to concentrate on something other than the race and just do the regular stuff one does.

More later.....